Bidspirit auction | [MUSIC AUTOGRAPHS] - RICHARD WAGNER

[MUSIC AUTOGRAPHS] - RICHARD WAGNER (1813–1883) - Important autograph letter signed (“Richard Wagner”) - RICHARD WAGNER (1813–1883) Important autograph letter signed (“Richard Wagner”), to his agent Carl Voltz, concerning his performing rights, royalties and financial affairs. Bayreuth, 27 September 1873. Autograph letter signed, in German, addressed to Carl Voltz in Wiesbaden. Bayreuth, 27 September 1873. 2½ pages, octavo, written in ink on a bifolium, signed at the conclusion “Richard Wagner”. An important letter concerning Wagner’s financial and performing rights, written from Bayreuth at a crucial moment in the establishment of what was to become the permanent centre of his artistic enterprise. Wagner writes to Voltz seeking precise clarification of the sums to which he is entitled and when they may become available to him. Although conscious of his correspondent’s own financial circumstances and apparently prepared to accept that Voltz cannot at present provide him with an advance, Wagner insists upon receiving a clear account of his rights and the prospects of their realization. The matter appears to concern rights arising from legal proceedings in Leipzig which had resulted favourably for Wagner and Voltz. Wagner nevertheless fears that the sums due to them might still be lost through the bad faith of the opposing party, and presses Voltz for clarification and guarantees. His anxiety is heightened by the fact that the uncertain information thus far supplied by his agent has left him unable to give satisfactory answers to the administrator responsible for his own financial affairs. The letter is characteristic of Wagner’s frequently complicated dealings with the commercial and legal administration of his works. Carl Voltz acted as one of his agents in matters relating to theatrical performances and the collection of revenues from Wagner’s operas; surviving documents record payments made through Voltz to Wagner as well as further correspondence between the two men concerning royalties and commissions. Its date is particularly significant. Wagner had moved permanently to Bayreuth in 1872, and in September 1873 the financing of his projected festival remained precarious. His original intention to inaugurate the Bayreuth Festival with the complete Der Ring des Nibelungen in 1873 had proved financially impossible. Patronage certificates had been issued in an effort to finance the enterprise, each intended to contribute towards the projected performances of the complete cycle. Against this background, Wagner’s insistence here upon knowing precisely what money was legally his and when he might receive it acquires particular immediacy. The letter also belongs to a substantial and at times contentious financial correspondence between Wagner and Voltz. Their dealings continued throughout the decade: a letter of September 1874 discusses Voltz’s commission on revenues from a performance of Rienzi, while a surviving receipt of January 1875 records Wagner’s acknowledgement of 2,917 Marks 30 Pfennigs received from Voltz for the final quarter of 1874. A revealing document from the formative Bayreuth years, illustrating the practical financial and legal concerns that accompanied Wagner’s immense artistic ambitions and his continuing struggle to secure and administer the income generated by his works. Condition: In good overall condition. Original central and horizontal folds; light handling and minor age-related wear. Ink remains clear and well preserved. With an old typewritten Italian catalogue description and accompanying documentation.