Wagner's funeral oration - the original manuscript

Wagner, Richard, German composer (1813-1883). "An Weber's letzter Ruhestätte auf dem Friedhof zu Dresden am 15. Dec. 1844". Autograph manuscript.

No place, [December 1844].

4to. 2 pp. (90 lines).

 85,000.00

Original draft for Wagner's famous oration held on December 15, 1844, when Carl Maria von Weber's remains were laid to rest at the Catholic cemetery in Dresden. The mortal remains of Weber, who had died in London in 1826, were transferred back to Germany in 1844 on the initiative of Wagner, and were finally buried there.

With small departures printed in: Richard Wagner, Gesammelte Schriften und Dichtungen, II, 1871, 61 ff., also: Gesammelte Schriften und Dichtungen, 4th ed., vol. 2, 1907, 46 ff. A facsimile of the fair copy of Wagner's speech, which has also survived, is published in Julius Kapp, Richard Wagner. Sein Leben, sein Werk, seine Welt in 260 Bildern, Berlin 1933, 40.

Provenance: Cäcile Geyer, Wagners half-sister (1815 - 1893), their son Ferdinand Avenarius (1856 - 1923), and his stepson Wolfgang Schumann (1887 - 1964), afterwards in private collection.

Mild toning and slightly spotty; small damage to edges.

Stock Code: BN#32528 Tag: