Richter, Hans. (1843 - 1916)

Conductor's Baton

Wooden conductor's baton, apparently used by the legendary Austrian-Hungarian conductor who conducted the very first Bayreuth Festival and in 1877 shared the conductorship of the Wagner festival in London with the composer. Inscribed in black ink: "Hans Ricter's [sic] Tactstock [sic] in Bayreuth den 31 August, 1876."

The stick measuring 34.5 cm long and approx. 1 cm in diameter, white varnished paper over wood. From a collection in the United Kingdom, sadly no further history of how the baton was originally aquired. Other Wagner items from the collection were annotated in Greek, and the misspelling of Richter's name and of "taktstock" suggest the likelihood that this may have been obtained by a non-native German speaker. (5541)
Ephemera
Opera