Zweig MS 125

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 brown ink, with corrections and additions [in another hand?] in brown and red inks.

[2.] f. 1v. To an un-named music publisher; [Paris, Winter, 1839/40]. French. Written in brown ink with autograph corrections and additions.

[3.] f. 2r. To [Samuel Lehrs]; [Paris, 9 March 1841]. German. Written in brown ink, crossways, at left edge of f. 2r. Lehrs’s surname written in Greek characters.

[4.] f. 2r and v. To [August von Lüttichau]; [Paris, 23 March 1841]. German. Written in brown ink with autograph corrections, with paper lengthways and using space on recto left by previous item, and all of verso.

[5.] f. 3r and v. To [Friedrich] Brockhaus; [March 1841]. German. Written in brown ink, crossways; with autograph corrections. With brief notes, perhaps for an intended essay on the musical scene in Paris, at right angles to the remaining text in left margin of f. 3v.

[6.] f. 4r. To [Edouard Monnais?]; [May 1840?]. French. Written in brown ink, with autograph corrections and additions, on recto only; pen trials on verso. Bottom right corner torn away, affecting text.

[7.] f. 5r and v. To [August von Lüttichau]; [Meudon, 30 June 1841]. German. Written in brown ink, with autograph corrections and additions. The left hand side of the leaf has been torn away, not affecting the text of the letter, but removing part of the text of four unrelated lines at the bottom of the verso. For fair copy of this draft see the following item. Annotated in pencil on verso ‘Paris 4.12.40’.

[8.] f. 6r and v. To [August von Lüttichau]; Meudon, 30 June 1841. German. Fair copy of the above. Written in brown ink; signed and dated by Wagner on verso. Leaf subsequently used to draft the next item. Pencil annotations in German on recto identifying recipient.

[9.] f. 6r. To [August von Lüttichau]; [Paris, 9 July 1841]. German. Written in brown ink, with autograph corrections and additions. Written sideways in left margin, and with paper inverted in top margin, of first page of fair copy [no. 8] above.

[10.] f. 7v. To [an unknown recipient]; Paris, 15 Sept. 1841. German. Incomplete, beginning only.

[11.] f. 7r. To [August von Lüttichau]; [Paris, 14 Oct. 1841]. German. Written in brown ink, with autograph corrections and additions. Written with the paper reversed.

[12]. f. 8r. To [Friedrich Sebald Ringelhardt]; [Paris, Nov. 1841]. German. Written in brown ink, with autograph corrections and additions. Text on recto; pen trials only on verso. Leaf roughly torn at the upper edge, not affecting the text.

[13.] f. 9r and v, 10r. To [Wilhelm Fischer]; [Paris, 8 Dec. 1841]. German. Written in brown ink, with autograph corrections. On f. 10v, later pencil annotation in French identifying letter, otherwise blank.

[14.] f. 11r. To [Ferdinand Heine]; [Paris, Jan. 1842?]. German. Incomplete fair copy, breaking off in mid sentence, the whole text struck through. Written in brown ink.

[15.] f. 11v. To [ - Loizeau, tailor, Paris]; [Jan. 1842]. French. Written in brown ink, with autograph corrections and additions. The paper inverted for the last part of the letter. Bottom left corner torn away, affecting the text.

Numbers added in ink over pencil, in a hand which can be identified as the same which also appears on Zweig MSS 99, 100, 101, 103, 104, 106, 110, 118, 119, and 121 [it appears to be a numbering of an unordered group of manuscripts, added perhaps by an early owner; its occurrence on other autographs of the period is noted in John Deathridge, Martin Geck, Egon Voss (eds.), Wagner Werk-Verzeichnis (WWV). Verzeichnis der musikalischen Werke Richard Wagners und ihrer Quellen (Mainz, 1986), pp. 72 etc., and discussed in Egon Voss, ‘Wagners fragmentarisches Orchesterwerk in e-moll - die früheste der erhaltenen Kompositionen?’, Die Musikforschung, vol. xxiii (1970), pp. 50-54]: 107 (f. 1), 122 (f. 2v), 147 (f. 3r), 108 (f. 4r), 110 (f. 5r), 123 (f. 7r), 106 (f. 8r), 102 (f. 9r), 103 (in pencil, f. 10r), 115 (f. 11r). In addition are pencil numbers, assigned to these letter drafts by the Hinterberger cataloguer and also found on his draft descriptions of them (Add. MS 73173, ff. 20-29): 11-12 (f. 1), 2 (f. 2), 10 (f. 4), 7 (f. 5), 1 (f. 6v), 6 (f. 7), 3 (f. 8), 9 (f. 9), 4-5 (f. 11).

Most of these drafts are concerned with a possible performance of at least parts of Das Liebesverbot in Paris (see also Zweig MS 120), and with the performance of Rienzi in Dresden which eventually took place in 1842. Baron von Lüttichau was the Intendant of the Court Theatre in Dresden, Fischer the stage manager and chorus master, and Heine the costume designer. The use of the fair copy of the letter to Lüttichau of 30 June 1841 (no. 8 above) for a further draft suggests that the letter may not have been sent in any form. The same may be true of some of the other drafts.