Bülow, Hans Von. (1830–1894)
Original Printed Announcement of Marriage to Cosima Liszt
Printed announcement of the marriage ceremony of the influential pianist and conductor to Cosima Liszt, the daughter of Franz Liszt and later wife of Richard Wagner. 1 page, printed on the day of the marriage ceremony. Berlin, 18 August, 1857. Usual folds, else fine. 14 x 22.5 cm."Meine am heutigen Tage in der St. Hedwigs-Kirche zu Berlin vollzogene eheliche Verbindung mit Fräulein Cosima Liszt , Tochter des Grossherzoglich Sächsischen Hof-Kapellmeisters Herrn Dr. Franz Liszt, beehre ich mich hierdurch ergebenst anzuzeigen."
In 1857, Cosima Liszt married the piano virtuoso, teacher and orchestral conductor Hans von Bülow, who had been one of her father's pupils since 1851. She was 20 years old, he 27. During their honeymoon they travelled around Europe, and stopped in Zurich to see Wagner, who was working on Tristan und Isolde. Wagner was 24 years her senior and still married to Minna Planer, but within only 6 years, in 1863, he and Cosima would declare their love for one another (according to Wagner's autobiography, Mein Leben, dictated to Cosima later). They lived together with Bülow in a strange and famously scandalous threesome situation until finally, after Cosima gave birth to Siegfried Wagner in 1869, Bülow and Cosima were divorced (July 18, 1870) and she and Wagner were married (August 25, 1870).
The present document is a very rare survival from what would become one of the most famous series of relationships in musical history! (5401)
Ephemera Classical Music