Auction Date:2010 Aug 11 @ 22:00 (UTC-05:00 : EST/CDT)
Location:5 Rt 101A Suite 5, Amherst, New Hampshire, 03031, United States
ALS - Autograph Letter Signed
ANS - Autograph Note Signed
AQS - Autograph Quotation Signed
AMQS - Autograph Musical Quotation Signed
DS - Document Signed
FDC - First Day Cover
Inscribed - “Personalized”
ISP - Inscribed Signed Photograph
LS - Letter Signed
SP - Signed Photograph
TLS - Typed Letter Signed
Early AMQS penned and signed on an off-white 8.25 x 10.5 page of musically-lined paper, dated Dresden, August 25, 1844: ten bars from Act III (including the battle hymn) of the opera Rienzi, the composer’s first success. Subtle scattered wrinkling, light soiling, and a circular area of surface loss near the right edge, otherwise fine condition. Rare in that Wagner disliked granting requests for musical quotations.
Oddly enough, he also grew to dislike this particular musical selection. Although it may have been Wagner’s first success, the composer later saw this work as an embarrassment. In an 1852 autobiographical essay, he wrote that he saw the opera ‘only in the shape of five acts, with five brilliant finales, with hymns, processions and the musical clash of arms.’ His wife, Cosima, wrote in her diary that Wagner, decades later, proclaimed that ‘Rienzi is very repugnant to me, but they should at least recognize the fire in it.’ Audiences did indeed recognize the intensity of the work, as it remained one of his most successful operas until the early 20th century. In Dresden alone, it reached its 100th performance in 1873 and 200th by 1908, and was regularly performed throughout the 19th century in major opera houses across Europe. Although atypical of Wagner’s other works and rarely performed for 21st century audiences, this quotation remains a desirable memento from the magnificent composer’s initial musical victory.
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5 Rt 101A Suite 5, Amherst, New Hampshire, 03031, United States
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