Details
RICHARD WAGNER (1813-1883)
Autograph letter signed ("Richard Wagner"), in German, to "My dear young Lady" [his friend and supporter Alwine Frommann], one page, 4°, Wagner's initials embossed in blue in upper left-hand corner, Dresden, 27 October 1844.
Regretting having just missed the opportunity of thanking her in person for the kind words that she had expressed from Berlin about The Flying Dutchman and which had meant so much to him and greatly boosted his self-confidence, explaining that he had himself expected to be in Berlin and therefore had waited to express his gratitude, mentioning Eduard Devrient, and sending a copy of the recently published piano score of The Flying Dutchman which he asks her to accept "as a reminder of the great happiness which you had given me through your sympathy as expressed in that letter"; he ends by stating that he is sorry that she has heard Rienzi, which he describes as a monster that he does not like at all.
Wagner gives the background to this letter and emphasises the importance of Alvine Frommann's letter to him in his Autobiography (English edition, 1994): 'The startling beginning made by Werder, on the occasion of his midnight visit after the second performance of the Fliegender Hollander in Berlin, was shortly afterwards followed by a similarly unsolicited approach in the form of an effusive letter from an equally unknown personage, Alwine Frommann, who afterwards became my faithful friend. After my departure from Berlin she heard Schroder-Devrient twice in the Fliengender Hollander, and the letter in which she described the effect produced upon her by my work conveyed to me for the first time the vigorous and profound sentiments of a deep and confident recognition such as seldom falls to the lot of even the greatest master, and cannot fail to exercise a weighty influence on his mind and spirit, which long for self-confidence.' (p. 326). Elsewhere he describes his relationship with Alwine Frommann, who was also well-known to Liszt: 'She was already past her first youth, and had no beauty of feature except remarkably penetrating and expressive eyes that showed the greatness of soul with which she was gifted. She was the sister of Frommann, the bookseller of Jena, and could relate many intimate facts about Goethe, who had stayed at her brother's house when he was in that town. She had held the position of reader and companion to the Princess Augusta of Prussia, and had thus become intimately acquainted with her, and was regarded by her own association as almost a bosom friend and confidante of that great lady. Nevertheless, she lived in great poverty, and seemed proud of being able, by means of her talent as a painter of arabesques, to secure for herself some sort of independence. She always remained faithfully devoted to me, as she was one of the few who were uninfluenced by the unfavourable impression produced by the first performance of Tannhauser, and promptly expressed her appreciation of my latest work with the greatest enthusiasm.' (pp. 374-375).
Autograph letter signed ("Richard Wagner"), in German, to "My dear young Lady" [his friend and supporter Alwine Frommann], one page, 4°, Wagner's initials embossed in blue in upper left-hand corner, Dresden, 27 October 1844.
Regretting having just missed the opportunity of thanking her in person for the kind words that she had expressed from Berlin about The Flying Dutchman and which had meant so much to him and greatly boosted his self-confidence, explaining that he had himself expected to be in Berlin and therefore had waited to express his gratitude, mentioning Eduard Devrient, and sending a copy of the recently published piano score of The Flying Dutchman which he asks her to accept "as a reminder of the great happiness which you had given me through your sympathy as expressed in that letter"; he ends by stating that he is sorry that she has heard Rienzi, which he describes as a monster that he does not like at all.
Wagner gives the background to this letter and emphasises the importance of Alvine Frommann's letter to him in his Autobiography (English edition, 1994): 'The startling beginning made by Werder, on the occasion of his midnight visit after the second performance of the Fliegender Hollander in Berlin, was shortly afterwards followed by a similarly unsolicited approach in the form of an effusive letter from an equally unknown personage, Alwine Frommann, who afterwards became my faithful friend. After my departure from Berlin she heard Schroder-Devrient twice in the Fliengender Hollander, and the letter in which she described the effect produced upon her by my work conveyed to me for the first time the vigorous and profound sentiments of a deep and confident recognition such as seldom falls to the lot of even the greatest master, and cannot fail to exercise a weighty influence on his mind and spirit, which long for self-confidence.' (p. 326). Elsewhere he describes his relationship with Alwine Frommann, who was also well-known to Liszt: 'She was already past her first youth, and had no beauty of feature except remarkably penetrating and expressive eyes that showed the greatness of soul with which she was gifted. She was the sister of Frommann, the bookseller of Jena, and could relate many intimate facts about Goethe, who had stayed at her brother's house when he was in that town. She had held the position of reader and companion to the Princess Augusta of Prussia, and had thus become intimately acquainted with her, and was regarded by her own association as almost a bosom friend and confidante of that great lady. Nevertheless, she lived in great poverty, and seemed proud of being able, by means of her talent as a painter of arabesques, to secure for herself some sort of independence. She always remained faithfully devoted to me, as she was one of the few who were uninfluenced by the unfavourable impression produced by the first performance of Tannhauser, and promptly expressed her appreciation of my latest work with the greatest enthusiasm.' (pp. 374-375).