Agnes Mathilde Wesendonck (née Luckemeyer; 23 December 182831 August 1902) was a German poet and author. The words of five of her verses were the basis of

Richard Wagner Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, essayist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most o ...

's ''

Wesendonck Lieder , WWV 91, is the common name of a set of five songs for female voice and piano by Richard Wagner, (''Five Poems for a Female Voice''). He set five poems by Mathilde Wesendonck while he was working on his opera ''Tristan und Isolde''. The songs ...

''; the composer was infatuated with her, and his wife

Minna Minna is a city in the Middle Belt of Nigeria. It is the capital city of Niger State, one of Nigeria's 36 federal states. Its original two major ethnic groups are the Gbagyi and the Nupe peoples. History Archaeological evidence suggests ...

blamed Mathilde for the break-up of their marriage.

Biography

Agnes Mathilde Luckemeyer was born in

Elberfeld Elberfeld is a municipal subdivision of the Germany, German city of Wuppertal; it was an independent town until 1929. History The first official mentioning of the geographic area on the banks of today's Wupper River as "''elverfelde''" was ...

(now part of

Wuppertal Wuppertal (; ) is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, in western Germany, with a population of 355,000. Wuppertal is the seventh-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia and List of cities in Germany by population, 17th-largest in Germany. It ...

) in the

Rhineland The Rhineland ( ; ; ; ) is a loosely defined area of Western Germany along the Rhine, chiefly Middle Rhine, its middle section. It is the main industrial heartland of Germany because of its many factories, and it has historic ties to the Holy ...

of Germany in 1828. In 1848 she married the silk merchant Otto Wesendonck. Otto was a great admirer of Wagner's music, and after he and Mathilde met the composer in

Zurich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...

in 1852, he placed a cottage on his estate at Wagner's disposal. By 1857, Wagner had become infatuated with Mathilde. It is not known whether she returned his affections to the same degree, or if the affair - if there was one - was ever consummated. Nevertheless, the episode inspired Wagner to put aside his work on ''

Der Ring des Nibelungen (''The Ring of the Nibelung''), WWV 86, is a cycle of four German-language epic music dramas composed by Richard Wagner. The works are based loosely on characters from Germanic heroic legend, namely Norse legendary sagas and the . The compo ...

'' (which would not be resumed for the next twelve years) and begin work on ''

Tristan und Isolde ''Tristan und Isolde'' (''Tristan and Isolde''), WWV 90, is a music drama in three acts by Richard Wagner set to a German libretto by the composer, loosely based on the medieval 12th-century romance ''Tristan and Iseult'' by Gottfried von Stras ...

''. In 1858, Wagner's wife

intercepted a romantic letter from Wagner to Mathilde. After the resulting confrontation, Wagner left Zürich alone, for

Venice Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...

. Minna went to Dresden to stay with her family. She wrote to Mathilde before departing for Dresden:

''"I must tell you with a bleeding heart that you have succeeded in separating my husband from me after nearly twenty-two years of marriage. May this noble deed contribute to your peace of mind, to your happiness."''

In her autobiographical reminiscences Mathilde later wrote about Wagner's stay in Zürich, but made no mention of troubles with Minna. In 1866 Mathilde met with

Johannes Brahms Johannes Brahms (; ; 7 May 1833 – 3 April 1897) was a German composer, virtuoso pianist, and conductor of the mid-Romantic period (music), Romantic period. His music is noted for its rhythmic vitality and freer treatment of dissonance, oft ...

in Zürich and enabled him to study some of Wagner's manuscripts.Musgrave (2000), p. 56. Mathilde Wesendonck died in

Altmünster Altmünster (; In the local dialect: ''Oidmünsta''), also known as Altmünster am Traunsee, is a market town located about 3 kilometres south of Gmunden in the Austrian state of Upper Austria, on the west shore of the Traunsee. Its economic base ...

(

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

) in 1902, and she is buried at the Alter Friedhof with the Wesendonck family in

Bonn Bonn () is a federal city in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, located on the banks of the Rhine. With a population exceeding 300,000, it lies about south-southeast of Cologne, in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr region. This ...

, Germany.

Selected works

* ''Gedichte, Volkslieder, Legenden, Sagen'' (ca. 1864) * ''Märchen u. Märchen Spiele'' (1864) * ''Natur-Mythen: Mai 1865'' (1865) * ''Genovefa: Trauerspiel in 3 Aufzügen'' (1866) * ''Gudrun. Schauspiel in 5 Akten'' (1868)
online at Internet Archive
* ''Deutsches Kinderbuch in Wort und Bild'' (1869) * '' Friedrich der Grosse: dramatische Bilder nach Franz Kugler'' (1871) * ''Edith, oder, Die Schlacht bei Hastings: ein Trauerspiel'' (1872) * ''Gedichte, Volksweisen, Legenden und Sagen'' (1874) * ''Der Baldur-Mythos'' (1875) * ''Odysseus: ein dramatisches Gedicht in zwei Theilen und einem Vorspiel'' (1878) * ''Alte und neue Kinder-Lieder und Reime'' (1890) * ''Alkestis: Schauspiel in vier Aufzügen.'' (1891)

In film

Mathilde Wesendonck was portrayed by Valentina Cortese in the 1955 film '' Magic Fire'', and by Marthe Keller in the 1983 film ''

Wagner Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, essayist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most o ...

''.

References

;Notes ;Sources * Musgrave, Michael (2000). ''A Brahms Reader.'' New Haven and London: Yale University Press. .

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wesendonck, Mathilde 1828 births 1902 deaths Writers from Wuppertal Writers from the Rhine Province Richard Wagner German women poets 19th-century women writers