4 Quotes by Christopher McIntosh

There gradually developed between them a relationship that was not without its ebb and flow. One moment she would receive an invitation to visit Hohenschwangau in the middle of winter… the next she would be toldhat she must leave Munich within 34 hours — to which she replied that she knew her rights. One moment the King would be lying passionately at her feet, the next he would forbid her to come near him...

By the end of Wagner’s life all this had changed. He had lifted the status ofthe composer to that of a seer, raised the standard of musicianship, brought intobeing a whole new school of singing and conducting, built the revolutionaryBayreuth opera house, and created in Germany an operatic tradition that was theadmiration of the world. Furthermore the mythology which he welded togetherand the ideology which he promulgated played a key role in the launching of anew German nationalism.

Wagner should have known from the Tichatschek affair that Ludwig was capable of acting with steely determination in order to have his own way. The King had set his heart on having the Rheingold production as soon as possible and was not going to allow anyone to sabotage it.

Ein ewiges rätsel will ich bleiben mir und anderen