Mathilde Wesendonck (23 December 1828 – 31 August 1902) was a German poet and author. She is best known as the friend and possibly mistress of Richard Wagner, who set five songs to her words, called the Wesendonck Lieder.
Agnes Mathilde Luckemeyer was born in Elberfeld (now Wuppertal) in the Rhineland of Germany in 1828. She married the silk merchant Otto Wesendonck (sometimes erroneously seen as von Wesendonck). Otto was a great admirer of Wagne...
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Mathilde Wesendonck (23 December 1828 – 31 August 1902) was a German poet and author. She is best known as the friend and possibly mistress of Richard Wagner, who set five songs to her words, called the Wesendonck Lieder.
Agnes Mathilde Luckemeyer was born in Elberfeld (now Wuppertal) in the Rhineland of Germany in 1828. She married the silk merchant Otto Wesendonck (sometimes erroneously seen as von Wesendonck). Otto was a great admirer of Wagner's music, and after he and Mathilde met the composer in Zurich 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 (which would not be resumed for the next twelve years) and begin work on Tristan und Isolde.
In 1858, Wagner’s wife Minna intercepted a romantic...
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