Richard Wagner: ‘Die Feen’ (WWV 32), opera in three acts (libretto, the composer after Carlo Goldoni), 1833-4: draft of dialogue
Scope & Content:
Autograph. Written in brown ink, with corrections and additions also in autograph. Headed ‘Feen: Dialoge’ (f. 1r). The scenes are Act I, sc. 2 and 4 (ff. 1-3v), Act II, sc. 3 (ff. 3v-4v), and Act III, sc. 5, incomplete (f. 4v). Lacking Act III, sc. 3 of those scenes with dialogue. The leaves are...
Richard Wagner: ‘Das Liebesverbot’. Draft libretto
Scope & Content:
Written in brown ink, with corrections and additions (ff. 1r, 2v, 3r, 6v, 8v, 9r) in red ink. Incomplete, lacking Act I, scene i, and the end of the last scene of Act II. Portions of a number of leaves are torn or cut away. Of these, the following affect the text: lower fore-edge ff. 1, 2, and l...
Richard Wagner: ‘Das Liebesverbot’. French translation, with draft of a letter to Giacomo Meyerbeer
Scope & Content:
Translation of libretto as ‘La défense d’amour / ou / La novice de Palerme’. With draft of letter to Giacomo Meyerbeer; [1839, 1840]. Autograph. As follows: ff. 1-30r. Libretto; [1839]. French. Title and list of dramatis personae on f. 1; text (ff. 1v-30r) has marginal diagrams relating to met...
Richard Wagner: Notes and drafts, comprising translation into French of prose sketch for the opera ‘Die hohe Braut’, translations into French of text of three numbers from the opera ‘Der fliegende Holländer’, and notes on the ‘cornet à 3 pistons’
Scope & Content:
Autograph. As follows: ff. 1r, 3r and v. ‘Die hohe Braut’ (WWV 40), opera in 5 acts (libretto Wagner after Heinrich Koenig), [1835-1842]: translation of prose sketch; 1840. French. Written in brown ink, with autograph corrections and additions. ff. 2r, 1v. ‘Der fliegende Holländer’ (WWV 63),...
Richard Wagner: ‘Rienzi’ (WWV 49), grand opera in 5 acts (libretto, the composer after Edward Bulwer-Lytton), 1837-1840: instructions for staging for the Dresden performances
Scope & Content:
Autograph. Written in brown ink on both sides of a single leaf, with autograph deletions and additions. Arranged under headings of acts and vocal numbers. Numbered in pencil 160 at the head and 327 at the foot of the recto. The memorandum in this manuscript is principally concerned with ways o...
Richard Wagner (1813-1833): Letter to [C.F.] Peters, Bureau de Musique, Leipzig; Leipzig, 6 August 1831
Scope & Content:
Autograph. Written in brown ink. Text on f. 1r; address, to ‘Herrn Herr Peter’s (Bureu [sic] de Musique)’, f. 2v. Dated by Wagner at head of f. 1r, and signed ‘Richard Wagner stud: mus:’. Fragment of seal attached to upper edge of f. 2v. Annotated by the recipient (f. 2v) in ink; later annotatio...
Richard Wagner: Letter to Baron Ferdinand von Biedenfeld; Dresden, 17 January 1849
Scope & Content:
Autograph. Written in brown ink in italic script. Text on f. 1r and v; address f. 2v. Signed and dated by Wagner at foot of f. 1v. Weimar and Dresden postage franks, cancellation [?] ‘26’ in red crayon, and remnants of seal, all on f. 2v. Numbered 23 in pencil at top left of f. 1r. In this we...
Richard Wagner: Drafts of fourteen letters, with one fair copy, to various recipients, mostly written from Paris
Scope & Content:
Autograph. Written in ink on paper of various sizes, some leaves little more than slips. All but the fair copy (no. [8.]) unsigned; all but one of the remainder undated. As follows: [1.] f. 1r. To [Léon Pillet, director of the Paris Grand Opéra]; [Paris, Sept./Oct. 1840]. French. Written in b...
Carl Maria von Weber: Incidental music to ‘Preciosa’ (play by P.A. Wolff): no. 7, song ‘Einsam bin ich nicht alleine’, for voice [and guitar]
Scope & Content:
Not autograph; in an unidentified hand. Written in ink on systems of two staves, on the recto of a single leaf. In D major in 6/8 time; tempo marking ‘larghetto’. On the verso are unidentified verses, headed ‘Sängers [?] Abendlied’, with two lines of music, one above [guitar accompaniment?] and ...
Carl Maria von Weber: ‘Oberon’, opera in three acts (libretto by James Robinson Planché after C.M. Wieland): sketches for part of Overture and of Act III
Scope & Content:
Autograph short or condensed score. Written in ink on systems of two, three or four staves. As follows: f. 1r. ‘O Araby, dear Araby’ [no. 16]. Headed ‘Song Fatima’. f. 1v. ‘Mourn thou poor heart’ [no. 19]. Headed ‘Cavatina’. With annotations in red crayon and in pencil. f. 1v. Overture, eight ba...
