Transcriber's Note
Obvious printer errors in the text have been corrected without note.
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RICHARD WAGNER
HIS LIFE AND HIS DRAMAS
A Biographical Study of the Man and an Explanation
of His Work
BY
W.J. HENDERSON
AUTHOR OF “THE STORY OF MUSIC,” “PRELUDES AND STUDIES,”
“WHAT IS GOOD MUSIC?” ETC.
G.P. PUTNAM’S SONS
NEW YORK AND LONDON
The Knickerbocker Press
1902
Copyright, 1901
BY
W.J. HENDERSON
Set up, electrotyped, and printed, November, 1901
Reprinted February, 1902
The Knickerbocker Press, New York
Richard Wagner
TO
ROBERT EDWIN BONNER
PREFACE
The purpose of this book is to supply Wagner lovers with a singlework which shall meet all their needs. The author has told the storyof Wagner's life, explained his artistic aims, given the history ofeach of his great works, examined its literary sources, shown howWagner utilised them, surveyed the musical plan of each drama, andset forth the meaning and purpose of its principal ideas. The workis not intended to be critical, but is designed to be expository.It aims to help the Wagner lover to a thorough knowledge andunderstanding of the man and his works.
The author has consulted all the leading biographies, and forguidance in the direction of absolute trustworthiness he is directlyindebted to Mme. Cosima Wagner, whose suggestions have been carefullyobserved. He is also under a large, but not heavy, burden ofobligation to Mr. Henry Edward Krehbiel, musical critic of The NewYork Tribune, who carefully read the manuscript of this work andpointed out its errors. The value of Mr. Krehbiel's revision andhis hints cannot be over-estimated. Thanks are also due to Mr. EmilPaur, conductor of the Philharmonic Society, of New York, for certaininquiries made in Europe.
The records of first performances have been prepared with great careand with no little labour. For-vi- the dates of those at most of theEuropean cities the author is indebted to an elaborate article by E.Kastner, published in the Allgemeine Musik. Zeitung, of Berlin, forJuly and August, 1896. The original casts have been secured, as faras possible, from the programmes. For that of the "Flying Dutchman"at Dresden—incorrectly given in many books on Wagner—the authoris indebted to Hofkapellmeister Ernst von Schuch, who obtained itfrom the records of the Hoftheater. The name of the singer of theHerald in the first cast of "Lohengrin," missing in all the publishedhist