Cosima Wagner: The Lady of Bayreuth

By Oliver Hilmes
Translated by Stewart Spencer 

“A compelling and critical picture of a clever and powerful woman . . . well-documented [and] absorbing.”—Library Journal

"More than everything you ever needed to know about Cosima Wagner, this well-written book (translated brilliantly—as ever—by Stewart Spencer) offers a clear and scrupulous insight into how she created and stoked the peculiar mania that infected the Wagner cult."—Della Couling, Classical Music

“Bastard daughter of touring music celebrity, unfaithful wife of great conductor, marries genius and becomes one of the leading influences on Western culture. As the Aussies say, you couldn’t read about it. But, here in the pages of Cosima Wagner, you certainly can. And the story is enriched by the author’s access to available documentation at Bayreuth.…This [is] illuminating work”—Robert Giddings, Tribune

Selected as a Choice Outstanding Academic Title for 2010 in the Music category. In this meticulously researched book, Oliver Hilmes paints a fascinating and revealing picture of the extraordinary Cosima Wagner—illegitimate daughter of Franz Liszt, wife of the conductor Hans von Bülow, then mistress and subsequently wife of Richard Wagner. After Wagner’s death in 1883 Cosima played a crucial role in the promulgation and politicization of his works, assuming control of the Bayreuth Festival and transforming it into a shrine to German nationalism. The High Priestess of the Wagnerian cult, Cosima lived on for almost fifty years, crafting the image of Richard Wagner through her organizational ability and ideological tenacity. The first book to make use of the available documentation at Bayreuth, this biography explores the achievements of this remarkable and obsessive woman while illuminating a still-hidden chapter of European cultural history.

Paperback
400 pages | 30 black-and-white illustrations
Yale University Press, 2011
6 x 9 inches
ISBN 9780300170900
Biography, Music