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Minna Planer

August 28, 2023

Christine Wilhelmine "Minna" Planer (5 September 1809 – 25 January 1866) was a German actress and the first wife of composer Richard Wagner, to whom she was married for 30 years, although for the last 10 years they often lived apart. At an early age, she had an illegitimate daughter with a Royal Saxon Army officer, whom she raised as her sister. After a stormy courtship, which involved infidelities on both sides, she married Richard Wagner in 1836.

Minna Planer
Minna Planer (1835) by Alexander von Otterstedt
Born
Christine Wilhelmine Planer

(1809-09-05)5 September 1809
Oederan, Kingdom of Saxony
Died25 January 1866(1866-01-25) (aged 56)
Dresden, Kingdom of Saxony
NationalityGerman
OccupationActress
Known forSpouse of Richard Wagner
SpouseRichard Wagner (1836–1866)
Children1
ParentGotthelf Planer (father)

In the early years Minna was the main wage earner in the household, having a successful career as a dramatic heroine who drew both applause for her abilities on stage and admirers for her beauty. She shared in many of the escapades of Wagner's life, including a perilous sea voyage to London, poverty in Paris, and following him around Europe after his involvement in the Dresden uprising of 1849, which led to his banishment from Germany.

After Wagner's affair with Mathilde Wesendonck in 1857, Minna mostly lived apart from him. In later years she developed a heart condition which ultimately claimed her life.

Life Edit

Early life Edit

Minna Planer was born on 5 September 1809 to a former Army trumpeter, Gotthelf Planer,[1] in Oederan, Kingdom of Saxony. She was brought up in poverty and then at the age of fifteen was seduced by Ernst Rudolf von Einsiedel, a captain in the King of Saxony's Guards, who abandoned her after making her pregnant. Minna was sent to her relatives in the country to conceal the pregnancy, and when her daughter, Nathalie ("Netty"), was born, she was brought up as Minna's sister.[2]

Minna pursued a career as an actress, specialising in female juvenile lead roles ("Erste Liebhaberin") in tragedies.[3] She was in demand by many German theatre companies, and appeared in Dessau, Altenburg, Magdeburg and Dresden before she met Richard Wagner.[4] In a letter dated 27 December 1833, Minna sets out her conditions for employment: she would not accept guest appearances, but expected the leading tragic and young heroine parts. Her fee was 600 thaler plus travelling expenses.[5] While she was praised for her abilities as an actress, her physical charms also brought her admiration. One anonymous suitor wrote to her: "When Nature created you, O Fair One, she broke the mold and never more may create so fair an image. Ah, I have known you long, you splendid creature, beautiful in youth, your lovely image flitting around in my dreams..."[6]

Wagner Edit

"My Dear, Dear, my own unique Girl! Already more than 24 hours apart from you after I have so often treasured every minute! What will come of this? I am lost in my misery and tears, and I can find joy in nothing, nothing whatever! You have become too dear to me, I am sure of that, you dear and lovely child! How can I become accustomed so soon to our separation? How can I bear your absence? You have become part of me, and without you I feel in all my limbs as if a part of me were missing. Alas, if you felt only half my longing, then you too would be filled with love and memories. I still wept after you had gone."

Letter from Richard Wagner to Minna Planer May 6, 1835. [7]

In 1834 Minna was appearing as part of Heinrich Eduard Bethmann's Magdeburg Theatre Company during a summer season at Bad Lauchstädt, a spa resort near Halle. She was almost 25. Richard Wagner had arrived in Lauchstädt on 1 August to investigate the offer of a position as conductor of the Magdeburg company and was unimpressed by the offer until he met Minna by chance while looking for lodgings for the night. The 21-year-old Wagner changed his mind and accepted the contract in order to pursue her, taking rooms directly beneath hers.[8]

Minna's relationship with Wagner was stormy: Wagner was jealous and possessive and there were frequent loud arguments which usually ended with Minna in tears.[9] However, by the time the company returned to Magdeburg to open the season in October 1834 the two were lovers, and by February 1835 Wagner wrote to his brother Alfred that he and Minna were engaged,[10] although to Wagner's fury Minna continued to be pursued by other suitors. In November 1835 Minna, dissatisfied with the Magdeburg troupe and probably with Wagner as well, left suddenly to take on a role at the Königstadt Theatre in Berlin. Wagner was wild with despair and implored her to come back and marry him.[11] Minna eventually agreed to return, but stayed only to the end of the season in Magdeburg before heading to Königsberg to join the local theatre company, while Wagner looked for work in Berlin.[12] Failing in this, he joined Minna in Königsberg and accepted a menial position as a junior conductor. Minna married Wagner in Tragheim Church on 26 November 1836, where they argued even in front of the minister who was to marry them.[13]

Early married years Edit

Minna soon found that being Wagner's wife was not the route to respectability that she craved. Wagner continued to run up debts, and she frequently had to deal with creditors not only from Königsberg, but also from Wagner's previous expenditure in Magdeburg. Wagner's position brought in little money and Minna's continued popularity on stage meant that she was the main bread-winner, earning 700 reichsthaler in 1836. She continued to have admirers, and on 31 May 1837 Minna ran away from Wagner with a local businessman named Dietrich, taking Nathalie with her.[14] Wagner eventually found her at her parents' home in Dresden, and begged her to return to him. Despite another short reconciliation, Minna ran away again with Dietrich in July 1837.[15] It was only in October that Minna finally had a change of heart and returned to Wagner, who had taken up a post in Riga as Music Director.[16]

Flight from Riga Edit

Minna also obtained a position at the Riga City Theater, and they lived in Riga for two years until Wagner lost his post in January 1839. He then decided on a wild scheme to evade his creditors: He and Minna together with their dog Robber would flee across the nearby Russian border and board a ship bound for London and then travel on to Paris, where Wagner expected that his new opera Rienzi would make his fortune.[17] Minna made her last stage appearance in Riga on 18 April in the title role of Schiller's Maria Stuart.[18] It was her income from this appearance that paid for their flight from Riga to London and Paris. On 10 July, they made the illegal border crossing safely, despite the risk of being shot by border guards, but on 14 July they were in a wagon which overturned, crushing Minna. Nathalie later claimed that Minna suffered a miscarriage as a result.[19] While there is no other evidence for this claim, it is a fact that Minna bore Wagner no children. Minna and Wagner set sail from Pillau on the Thetis and ran into a storm which led them to berth in a Norwegian fjord. They only arrived in London after a terrifying 24-day journey for a trip that should normally have taken 8 days. After a week recovering in London, they took a steamer to Paris.

Paris and Dresden Edit

 
Minna Wagner in 1853 with her dog "Peps". Watercolour by Clementine Stockar-Escher

Minna and Wagner spent the years 1839 to 1842 in Paris, enduring severe poverty. Wagner's plan failed, since the Paris Opera was not interested in producing either Rienzi or his newest work, Der Fliegende Holländer. Wagner was imprisoned for debt, and Minna had to beg their German friends in Paris for money to release him.[20] It was only the acceptance by the Hoftheater in Dresden of Rienzi that allowed the Wagners to leave Paris in April 1842.[21] In Dresden Wagner became Royal Kapellmeister and achieved the stability and social status that Minna had hoped for. However Wagner's involvement in the Dresden uprising in May 1849 led to a warrant being issued for his arrest, and Wagner fled to Zurich.[22]

Minna was furious with him and after this their relationship cooled irreparably. She considered Zurich a provincial town and lamented the loss of her social position as Frau Kapellmeister. It was only in August of that year that she agreed to rejoin Wagner in Zurich, but it was plain that their world-views were now totally different.[23] Minna could understand his work as a conductor, but increasingly found his operatic works not to her liking. Nevertheless, she was now tied to him since it was unlikely that she would again be able to work on the stage, and she had a horror of ending up in servitude.[24] Minna also began to show signs of heart disease, for which she was prescribed laudanum.[25] Before joining Wagner in Zurich she wrote to him:

My greatest pride and pleasure was seeing you as the head of the greatest orchestra in Germany. You may remember that I missed almost no performance which you conducted, saw only you and was happy. I believed that what I was hearing emanated from you only...the Ninth Symphony will be forever unforgettable to me on account of you. You appeared to me like a God governing all the powerful elements and working enchantments on men. See, dear Richard, you own the power, the glorious gift of creating something great even as a conductor...[26]

Zurich and Mathilde Wesendonck Edit

Wagner attempted to leave Minna in 1850[27] when he had an affair with the married 21-year-old Jessie Laussot, with whom he planned to elope to the Far East.[28] However Minna, together with Jessie's mother, put a stop to this plan[29] and Wagner eventually returned to Minna and for a while their relationship regained some of its original ardour. During a visit in the summer 1856, Ferdinand Praeger recorded "A picture of Minna", capturing the dynamic of their relationship:

As a housewife she was most efficient. In their days of distress she cheerfully performed what are vulgarly termed menial services. In this she is as fitting a parallel of Mrs. Carlyle, as Wagner is of Carlyle. . . . Minna's efforts in the house and sustaining Wagner in the dark days is the pendant of Mrs. Carlyle's scrubbing the floors of the little house at Scotsbrig in the wilds of Scottish moors.[30]

It was the affair with Mathilde Wesendonck while Wagner was working on Tristan und Isolde in 1857 that provoked the final breach between Minna and Wagner. After her discovery of a letter from Wagner to Mathilde in April 1858,[31] Minna accused them of adultery, which Wagner denied, claiming that Minna had put a "vulgar interpretation" on his letter.[32] Minna took the view that Wagner had been seduced by Mathilde, and in subsequent letters referred to her as "that hussy" and "that filthy woman".[33] Nevertheless, Wagner and Minna parted, Wagner to travel to Venice and Minna to take the waters at Brestenberg in an attempt to improve her worsening heart condition. Minna wrote to Mathilde before departing for Dresden:

I must tell you with a bleeding heart that you have succeeded in separating my husband from me after nearly twenty-two years of marriage. May this noble deed contribute to your peace of mind, to your happiness.[34]

Minna later described Tristan and Isolde as "a much too enamoured and odious couple."[35]

Paris and the final years Edit

"I haven't seen my good, excellent husband for almost two and a half years. He is happy, lives in Munich in the greatest luxury through the young King of Bavaria; he doesn't need me any more....If he were again in great distress he would come back to me. God knows whether I'll live to see that; and if I do, whether I should still be inclined toward a man who has so deeply and continually insulted me and has done this out of an exaggerated, silly vanity which miserable, slovenly women have awakened in him, whereby he became heartless and mean toward his stupid, faithful old companion. Unfortunately he'll starve as an artist, for he hasn't created anything since he separated from me; his whole life is taken up by insipid, unworthy, superficial trivialities..."

Letter of March 28th 1864, from Minna to Ernst Kietz.[36]

It was only in November 1859 when Wagner moved to Paris to attempt to perform a revised version of Tannhäuser at the Opera that Minna agreed to his requests that she join him, but again the relationship was not easy.[37] Minna disapproved of his rewritten Tannhäuser and thought that he could have secured a financial success with Rienzi. After the fiasco of the Paris Tannhäuser, in July 1861 Wagner went to Vienna, while Minna went again to Bad Soden and then to Dresden, where she, Nathalie and her parents lived at Wagner's expense.

In February 1862 when Wagner was living in Biebrich Minna made a surprise visit to him, which started well but all the old troubles were stirred when a letter from Mathilde Wesendonck arrived. Wagner referred to this period as "10 days of hell". In June 1862 he suggested they divorce; however, Minna refused to consider this.[38] Despite her repeated requests for him to join her in Dresden, he would not.

Minna and Wagner were never to live together again, but neither did they divorce. Minna was financially supported by Wagner for the rest of her life.

Minna Wagner died of a heart attack on 25 January 1866 in Dresden. Wagner did not attend the funeral.[39] Minna's grave is in the "Alter Annenfriedhof" in Dresden.

Burrell Collection Edit

Much of the detail of Wagner's relationship with Minna comes from the letters they wrote to each other. After Minna's death, her daughter Nathalie kept many of these letters,[40] and eventually sold most of them to Mary Burrell, who planned to write a biography of Wagner.[41] Although Burrell died before completing the biography, the Burrell Collection of Wagner's letters, including some from Minna, was eventually published in 1950, with the originals being housed in the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia.

See also Edit

References Edit

 
The gravesite of Minna Planer in Dresden.
  1. ^ Gregor-Dellin, Martin 1983, "Richard Wagner—His Life, His Work, His Century". page 67.
  2. ^ Gregor-Dellin, 1983. page 68.
  3. ^ Burk, John N, (1950). "Letters of Richard Wagner - The Burrell Collection. " page 18.
  4. ^ Burk, 1950. pages 18-19.
  5. ^ Burk, 1950, page 456.
  6. ^ Burk, 1950, page 20.
  7. ^ Burk, 1950 page 25.
  8. ^ Wagner, Richard (Andrew Gray trans.) 1992, My Life, pages 87-89.
  9. ^ Gregor-Dellin, 1983. page 80.
  10. ^ Gregor-Dellin, 1983. page 70.
  11. ^ Burk, 1950, pages 31-42.
  12. ^ Wagner, Richard, 1992, pages 120-121.
  13. ^ Burk, 1950, pages 71-72.
  14. ^ Burk, 1950, pages 74-76.
  15. ^ Wagner, Richard, 1992, page 141.
  16. ^ Burk, 1950, page 79.
  17. ^ Gregor-Dellin, 1983. page 87.
  18. ^ Burk, 1950. Note on page 18.
  19. ^ Burk, 1950, page 83.
  20. ^ Burk, 1950, pages 87-89.
  21. ^ Gregor-Dellin, 1983. page 106.
  22. ^ Gregor-Dellin, 1983. pages 172-180.
  23. ^ Burk, 1950, pages 247-252.
  24. ^ Burk, 1950, page 372 - 374.
  25. ^ Burk, 1950, note on page 372.
  26. ^ Letter dated 11 August 1849, from Minna to Wagner, quoted in Burk, 1950, page 260.
  27. ^ Letter from Wagner to Minna dated 16 April 1850, quoted in Burck, 1950, pages 281-285.
  28. ^ Gregor-Dellin, 1983, pages 195 - 206.
  29. ^ See letter from Ann Taylor to Minna, quoted in Burck, 1950, page 307-308.
  30. ^ Praeger, Ferdinand (1892). "Chapter XXI. Zurich, 1856.". Wagner As I Knew Him.
  31. ^ Letter of 7 April 1858 from Wagner to Mathilde quoted in Burck, 1950, pages 369 - 372.
  32. ^ see Gregor-Dellin, 1983 pages 280 - 282.
  33. ^ Note to page 367 in Burck, 1950.
  34. ^ Burck, 1950, page 374.
  35. ^ Letter dated 15 December 1861 quoted in Barth, Mack and Voss (1975) "Wagner: A Documentary Study" page 198. Thames & Hudson Ltd., London ISBN 0-500-27399-5.
  36. ^ Burck, 1950, page 419.
  37. ^ Burck, 1950. pages 378 - 379.
  38. ^ Wagner, Richard, 1992. page 683.
  39. ^ Gregor-Dellin, 1983 page 367.
  40. ^ Burk, 1950, Chapter 2.
  41. ^ Burk, 1950, Chapter 1.

Further reading Edit

  • Burbidge, Peter and Sutton, Richard (eds.) (1979), The Wagner Companion, Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-29657-1
  • Burk, John N, (1950). Letters of Richard Wagner - The Burrell Collection. The Macmillan Company, New York.
  • Gregor-Dellin, Martin (1983), Richard Wagner—His Life, His Work, His Century, Harcourt. ISBN 978-0-15-177151-6
  • Millington, Barry (Ed.) (1992). The Wagner Compendium: A Guide to Wagner's Life and Music. Thames and Hudson Ltd., London. ISBN 0-02-871359-1
  • Newman, Ernest (1933), The Life of Richard Wagner, 4 vols. ISBN 978-0-685-14824-2
  • Wagner, Richard (Andrew Gray trans.) (1992), My Life, Da Capo Press. ISBN 978-0-306-80481-6

August 28, 2023
minna, planer, christine, wilhelmine, minna, planer, september, 1809, january, 1866, german, actress, first, wife, composer, richard, wagner, whom, married, years, although, last, years, they, often, lived, apart, early, illegitimate, daughter, with, royal, sa. Christine Wilhelmine Minna Planer 5 September 1809 25 January 1866 was a German actress and the first wife of composer Richard Wagner to whom she was married for 30 years although for the last 10 years they often lived apart At an early age she had an illegitimate daughter with a Royal Saxon Army officer whom she raised as her sister After a stormy courtship which involved infidelities on both sides she married Richard Wagner in 1836 Minna PlanerMinna Planer 1835 by Alexander von OtterstedtBornChristine Wilhelmine Planer 1809 09 05 5 September 1809Oederan Kingdom of SaxonyDied25 January 1866 1866 01 25 aged 56 Dresden Kingdom of SaxonyNationalityGermanOccupationActressKnown forSpouse of Richard WagnerSpouseRichard Wagner 1836 1866 Children1ParentGotthelf Planer father In the early years Minna was the main wage earner in the household having a successful career as a dramatic heroine who drew both applause for her abilities on stage and admirers for her beauty She shared in many of the escapades of Wagner s life including a perilous sea voyage to London poverty in Paris and following him around Europe after his involvement in the Dresden uprising of 1849 which led to his banishment from Germany After Wagner s affair with Mathilde Wesendonck in 1857 Minna mostly lived apart from him In later years she developed a heart condition which ultimately claimed her life Contents 1 Life 1 1 Early life 1 2 Wagner 1 3 Early married years 1 4 Flight from Riga 1 5 Paris and Dresden 1 6 Zurich and Mathilde Wesendonck 1 7 Paris and the final years 2 Burrell Collection 3 See also 4 References 5 Further readingLife EditEarly life Edit Minna Planer was born on 5 September 1809 to a former Army trumpeter Gotthelf Planer 1 in Oederan Kingdom of Saxony She was brought up in poverty and then at the age of fifteen was seduced by Ernst Rudolf von Einsiedel a captain in the King of Saxony s Guards who abandoned her after making her pregnant Minna was sent to her relatives in the country to conceal the pregnancy and when her daughter Nathalie Netty was born she was brought up as Minna s sister 2 Minna pursued a career as an actress specialising in female juvenile lead roles Erste Liebhaberin in tragedies 3 She was in demand by many German theatre companies and appeared in Dessau Altenburg Magdeburg and Dresden before she met Richard Wagner 4 In a letter dated 27 December 1833 Minna sets out her conditions for employment she would not accept guest appearances but expected the leading tragic and young heroine parts Her fee was 600 thaler plus travelling expenses 5 While she was praised for her abilities as an actress her physical charms also brought her admiration One anonymous suitor wrote to her When Nature created you O Fair One she broke the mold and never more may create so fair an image Ah I have known you long you splendid creature beautiful in youth your lovely image flitting around in my dreams 6 Wagner Edit My Dear Dear my own unique Girl Already more than 24 hours apart from you after I have so often treasured every minute What will come of this I am lost in my misery and tears and I can find joy in nothing nothing whatever You have become too dear to me I am sure of that you dear and lovely child How can I become accustomed so soon to our separation How can I bear your absence You have become part of me and without you I feel in all my limbs as if a part of me were missing Alas if you felt only half my longing then you too would be filled with love and memories I still wept after you had gone Letter from Richard Wagner to Minna Planer May 6 1835 7 In 1834 Minna was appearing as part of Heinrich Eduard Bethmann s Magdeburg Theatre Company during a summer season at Bad Lauchstadt a spa resort near Halle She was almost 25 Richard Wagner had arrived in Lauchstadt on 1 August to investigate the offer of a position as conductor of the Magdeburg company and was unimpressed by the offer until he met Minna by chance while looking for lodgings for the night The 21 year old Wagner changed his mind and accepted the contract in order to pursue her taking rooms directly beneath hers 8 Minna s relationship with Wagner was stormy Wagner was jealous and possessive and there were frequent loud arguments which usually ended with Minna in tears 9 However by the time the company returned to Magdeburg to open the season in October 1834 the two were lovers and by February 1835 Wagner wrote to his brother Alfred that he and Minna were engaged 10 although to Wagner s fury Minna continued to be pursued by other suitors In November 1835 Minna dissatisfied with the Magdeburg troupe and probably with Wagner as well left suddenly to take on a role at the Konigstadt Theatre in Berlin Wagner was wild with despair and implored her to come back and marry him 11 Minna eventually agreed to return but stayed only to the end of the season in Magdeburg before heading to Konigsberg to join the local theatre company while Wagner looked for work in Berlin 12 Failing in this he joined Minna in Konigsberg and accepted a menial position as a junior conductor Minna married Wagner in Tragheim Church on 26 November 1836 where they argued even in front of the minister who was to marry them 13 Early married years Edit Minna soon found that being Wagner s wife was not the route to respectability that she craved Wagner continued to run up debts and she frequently had to deal with creditors not only from Konigsberg but also from Wagner s previous expenditure in Magdeburg Wagner s position brought in little money and Minna s continued popularity on stage meant that she was the main bread winner earning 700 reichsthaler in 1836 She continued to have admirers and on 31 May 1837 Minna ran away from Wagner with a local businessman named Dietrich taking Nathalie with her 14 Wagner eventually found her at her parents home in Dresden and begged her to return to him Despite another short reconciliation Minna ran away again with Dietrich in July 1837 15 It was only in October that Minna finally had a change of heart and returned to Wagner who had taken up a post in Riga as Music Director 16 Flight from Riga Edit Minna also obtained a position at the Riga City Theater and they lived in Riga for two years until Wagner lost his post in January 1839 He then decided on a wild scheme to evade his creditors He and Minna together with their dog Robber would flee across the nearby Russian border and board a ship bound for London and then travel on to Paris where Wagner expected that his new opera Rienzi would make his fortune 17 Minna made her last stage appearance in Riga on 18 April in the title role of Schiller s Maria Stuart 18 It was her income from this appearance that paid for their flight from Riga to London and Paris On 10 July they made the illegal border crossing safely despite the risk of being shot by border guards but on 14 July they were in a wagon which overturned crushing Minna Nathalie later claimed that Minna suffered a miscarriage as a result 19 While there is no other evidence for this claim it is a fact that Minna bore Wagner no children Minna and Wagner set sail from Pillau on the Thetis and ran into a storm which led them to berth in a Norwegian fjord They only arrived in London after a terrifying 24 day journey for a trip that should normally have taken 8 days After a week recovering in London they took a steamer to Paris Paris and Dresden Edit Minna Wagner in 1853 with her dog Peps Watercolour by Clementine Stockar EscherMinna and Wagner spent the years 1839 to 1842 in Paris enduring severe poverty Wagner s plan failed since the Paris Opera was not interested in producing either Rienzi or his newest work Der Fliegende Hollander Wagner was imprisoned for debt and Minna had to beg their German friends in Paris for money to release him 20 It was only the acceptance by the Hoftheater in Dresden of Rienzi that allowed the Wagners to leave Paris in April 1842 21 In Dresden Wagner became Royal Kapellmeister and achieved the stability and social status that Minna had hoped for However Wagner s involvement in the Dresden uprising in May 1849 led to a warrant being issued for his arrest and Wagner fled to Zurich 22 Minna was furious with him and after this their relationship cooled irreparably She considered Zurich a provincial town and lamented the loss of her social position as Frau Kapellmeister It was only in August of that year that she agreed to rejoin Wagner in Zurich but it was plain that their world views were now totally different 23 Minna could understand his work as a conductor but increasingly found his operatic works not to her liking Nevertheless she was now tied to him since it was unlikely that she would again be able to work on the stage and she had a horror of ending up in servitude 24 Minna also began to show signs of heart disease for which she was prescribed laudanum 25 Before joining Wagner in Zurich she wrote to him My greatest pride and pleasure was seeing you as the head of the greatest orchestra in Germany You may remember that I missed almost no performance which you conducted saw only you and was happy I believed that what I was hearing emanated from you only the Ninth Symphony will be forever unforgettable to me on account of you You appeared to me like a God governing all the powerful elements and working enchantments on men See dear Richard you own the power the glorious gift of creating something great even as a conductor 26 Zurich and Mathilde Wesendonck EditWagner attempted to leave Minna in 1850 27 when he had an affair with the married 21 year old Jessie Laussot with whom he planned to elope to the Far East 28 However Minna together with Jessie s mother put a stop to this plan 29 and Wagner eventually returned to Minna and for a while their relationship regained some of its original ardour During a visit in the summer 1856 Ferdinand Praeger recorded A picture of Minna capturing the dynamic of their relationship As a housewife she was most efficient In their days of distress she cheerfully performed what are vulgarly termed menial services In this she is as fitting a parallel of Mrs Carlyle as Wagner is of Carlyle Minna s efforts in the house and sustaining Wagner in the dark days is the pendant of Mrs Carlyle s scrubbing the floors of the little house at Scotsbrig in the wilds of Scottish moors 30 It was the affair with Mathilde Wesendonck while Wagner was working on Tristan und Isolde in 1857 that provoked the final breach between Minna and Wagner After her discovery of a letter from Wagner to Mathilde in April 1858 31 Minna accused them of adultery which Wagner denied claiming that Minna had put a vulgar interpretation on his letter 32 Minna took the view that Wagner had been seduced by Mathilde and in subsequent letters referred to her as that hussy and that filthy woman 33 Nevertheless Wagner and Minna parted Wagner to travel to Venice and Minna to take the waters at Brestenberg in an attempt to improve her worsening heart condition Minna wrote to Mathilde before departing for Dresden I must tell you with a bleeding heart that you have succeeded in separating my husband from me after nearly twenty two years of marriage May this noble deed contribute to your peace of mind to your happiness 34 Minna later described Tristan and Isolde as a much too enamoured and odious couple 35 Paris and the final years Edit I haven t seen my good excellent husband for almost two and a half years He is happy lives in Munich in the greatest luxury through the young King of Bavaria he doesn t need me any more If he were again in great distress he would come back to me God knows whether I ll live to see that and if I do whether I should still be inclined toward a man who has so deeply and continually insulted me and has done this out of an exaggerated silly vanity which miserable slovenly women have awakened in him whereby he became heartless and mean toward his stupid faithful old companion Unfortunately he ll starve as an artist for he hasn t created anything since he separated from me his whole life is taken up by insipid unworthy superficial trivialities Letter of March 28th 1864 from Minna to Ernst Kietz 36 It was only in November 1859 when Wagner moved to Paris to attempt to perform a revised version of Tannhauser at the Opera that Minna agreed to his requests that she join him but again the relationship was not easy 37 Minna disapproved of his rewritten Tannhauser and thought that he could have secured a financial success with Rienzi After the fiasco of the Paris Tannhauser in July 1861 Wagner went to Vienna while Minna went again to Bad Soden and then to Dresden where she Nathalie and her parents lived at Wagner s expense In February 1862 when Wagner was living in Biebrich Minna made a surprise visit to him which started well but all the old troubles were stirred when a letter from Mathilde Wesendonck arrived Wagner referred to this period as 10 days of hell In June 1862 he suggested they divorce however Minna refused to consider this 38 Despite her repeated requests for him to join her in Dresden he would not Minna and Wagner were never to live together again but neither did they divorce Minna was financially supported by Wagner for the rest of her life Minna Wagner died of a heart attack on 25 January 1866 in Dresden Wagner did not attend the funeral 39 Minna s grave is in the Alter Annenfriedhof in Dresden Burrell Collection EditMuch of the detail of Wagner s relationship with Minna comes from the letters they wrote to each other After Minna s death her daughter Nathalie kept many of these letters 40 and eventually sold most of them to Mary Burrell who planned to write a biography of Wagner 41 Although Burrell died before completing the biography the Burrell Collection of Wagner s letters including some from Minna was eventually published in 1950 with the originals being housed in the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia See also EditWagner family treeReferences Edit The gravesite of Minna Planer in Dresden Gregor Dellin Martin 1983 Richard Wagner His Life His Work His Century page 67 Gregor Dellin 1983 page 68 Burk John N 1950 Letters of Richard Wagner The Burrell Collection page 18 Burk 1950 pages 18 19 Burk 1950 page 456 Burk 1950 page 20 Burk 1950 page 25 Wagner Richard Andrew Gray trans 1992 My Life pages 87 89 Gregor Dellin 1983 page 80 Gregor Dellin 1983 page 70 Burk 1950 pages 31 42 Wagner Richard 1992 pages 120 121 Burk 1950 pages 71 72 Burk 1950 pages 74 76 Wagner Richard 1992 page 141 Burk 1950 page 79 Gregor Dellin 1983 page 87 Burk 1950 Note on page 18 Burk 1950 page 83 Burk 1950 pages 87 89 Gregor Dellin 1983 page 106 Gregor Dellin 1983 pages 172 180 Burk 1950 pages 247 252 Burk 1950 page 372 374 Burk 1950 note on page 372 Letter dated 11 August 1849 from Minna to Wagner quoted in Burk 1950 page 260 Letter from Wagner to Minna dated 16 April 1850 quoted in Burck 1950 pages 281 285 Gregor Dellin 1983 pages 195 206 See letter from Ann Taylor to Minna quoted in Burck 1950 page 307 308 Praeger Ferdinand 1892 Chapter XXI Zurich 1856 Wagner As I Knew Him Letter of 7 April 1858 from Wagner to Mathilde quoted in Burck 1950 pages 369 372 see Gregor Dellin 1983 pages 280 282 Note to page 367 in Burck 1950 Burck 1950 page 374 Letter dated 15 December 1861 quoted in Barth Mack and Voss 1975 Wagner A Documentary Study page 198 Thames amp Hudson Ltd London ISBN 0 500 27399 5 Burck 1950 page 419 Burck 1950 pages 378 379 Wagner Richard 1992 page 683 Gregor Dellin 1983 page 367 Burk 1950 Chapter 2 Burk 1950 Chapter 1 Further reading EditBurbidge Peter and Sutton Richard eds 1979 The Wagner Companion Cambridge University Press ISBN 978 0 521 29657 1 Burk John N 1950 Letters of Richard Wagner The Burrell Collection The Macmillan Company New York Gregor Dellin Martin 1983 Richard Wagner His Life His Work His Century Harcourt ISBN 978 0 15 177151 6 Millington Barry Ed 1992 The Wagner Compendium A Guide to Wagner s Life and Music Thames and Hudson Ltd London ISBN 0 02 871359 1 Newman Ernest 1933 The Life of Richard Wagner 4 vols ISBN 978 0 685 14824 2 Wagner Richard Andrew Gray trans 1992 My Life Da Capo Press ISBN 978 0 306 80481 6 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Minna Planer amp oldid 1150184371, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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