Biography VIII. Maturity, Parsifal, Venice (1877-1883)

Miniature-8-ParsifalBiography VIII.
MATURITY, PARSIFAL, VENICE
(1877-1883)

The entirety of The Ring of the Nibelung cycle could be produced at the Festspielhaus in Bayreuth, and a decision that filled with happiness the first Wagnerians who could not go to the Green Hill – because the enthusiasm for Richard Wagner’s music was then part of an artistic movement throughout Europe – Richard Wagner authorized the performance of the Nibelung cycle outside Bayreuth.

Thus he renounced all staging exclusivity and made his work radiate throughout Europe, and even farther beyond. Among the “loyalists” authorized by the composer to perform The Ring (initially) in Germany, there was the impresario Angelo Neumann: he thus performed The Ring at the Leipzig Municipal Theatre in 1878, then at the Victoria-Theater in Berlin in 1881.

MVRW NEUMANN Angelo

If this way Wagner partly replenished the coffers of a Festival whose first edition created a deficit of colossal importance, it was for the goal of the advent of a new work. Thanks to Wagner’s creative power, 1877 marked the birth of Parsifal. An emblematic work, mocked by the composer’s rivals who perceived it as a weak late-century Christianity, a true swan song for others, the composition of Parsifal began with the writing of the poem that the composer-playwright finished in just a few months.

Despite his quarrel with Nietzsche (who, in the meantime, had published his work Human, All Too Human), despite his battles (he notably got involved in the fight against vivisection), despite the warnings of a worrisome health, Wagner finished rather quickly, in 1879, the musical composition of Parsifal.

mvrw-parsifal_1882Wagner thus organized his second Festival and planned to produce Parsifal in Bayreuth for 1882. The work was enormous, mingling technical problems and – once again – difficult funding. Furthermore, a strong anti-Semitic sentiment largely developed in Germany, causing a crisis situation in Wahnfried. Indeed, it was the conductor Hermann Levi that Wagner had chosen to direct the production of Parsifal. This choice was a source of controversy and the composer received letters accusing him of tainting the so-called purity of his work. Cosima was also anonymously accused of having an affair with the conductor. Levi, hurt, pulled away but was caught up by Wagner: he wanted him to produce his Parsifal and nobody else. The success of Wagner’s ultimate opera was immense, and – an incredible phenomenon – for the first time, the accounts of the Festival were steady.

But Wagner, exhausted by this new composition and this creation for which he worked his heart and soul out, went back to Venice. It was in the city of the Doges that he died on February 13, 1883. The body was embalmed, his remains were repatriated and Richard Wagner was buried with great fanfare at the Villa Wahnfried on February 18. He left behind a grieving widow, young children, a monumental work and a festival to manage.

MVRW-Funerailles-de-Wagner-a-Bayreuth

NC/SB

List of reference materials consulted for the realization of Section I : BIOGRAPHY

MVRW Picto Section 1

If you wish to share further information about this article, please feel free to contact us !