Wagner, Richard. (1813–1883)
Der Ring des Nibelungen - Mary Burrell's extra-illustrated Copies with Original Early Performance Programs and Clippings
Mainz: B. Schott's Söhne. Collection of first edition (later issues) from the collection of noted early Wagner scholar Mary Burrell, who published "Richard Wagner his life and work" in the year of her death, 1898. Her celebrated collection was dispersed by Christies in New York in 1978 but the present scores were not offered in the catalogue. Her copies of Das Rheingold, Die Walküre, Siegfried and Götterdämmerung, each with interesting early posters and other material and some annotations. As follows:Das Rheingold von Richard Wagner; vollständiger Klavierauszug von Karl Klindworth. Mainz: B. Schott's Söhne. [ca. 1870]. Title (Der Ring...Ein Buhnenfestspiel), vb; Series index (Vorabend: Das Rheingold...Dritter Tag: Götterdämmerung); Title (Das Rheingold); Cast and List of Scenes; 1 - 216 pp. First Edition, later issue. Lithographic reprint of the first edition of 1861. [PN] 16152. Contemporary green textured cloth with decorative titling in gilt to upper board.
Laid down to the front and rear free endpages and blank verso of the title pages are the following, relating to the historic 1882 Ring Cycle performances in London and the Ring Cycle performances in Munich in 1884, conducted by Hermann Levi:
[Playbill] Her Majesty’s Theatre. Haymarket ... Season 1882. Richard Wagner‘s Der Ring des Nibelungen. A Festival Play for four Nights. Director, Mr. Angelo Neumann, who has been entrusted by Herr Richard Wagner with the sole right of its Performance, and under whose management the brilliant renderings of this unique work were lately given in Berlin and other German Cities with extraordinary success ... First Cycle: May 5, 6, 8, 9 ... [London:] Mallett, Printer ... [1882]. Playbill, 21 x 25.5 cm. "Mr. J. H. Mapleson has the Honor to announce the Production of Richard Wagner‘s »Der Ring des Nibelungen« ... a Festival-Play for four Nights at Her Majesty‘s Theatre, Haymarket under the Management of Mr. Angelo Neumann. Artistic-Director. In the Presence of the Poet-Composer Richard Wagner. By special Permission of the H. M. the King of Bavaria. The gorgeous Scenery, magnificent Costumes, Armours etc. which have been so much admired at the Bayreuth Festival-Plays will also be used at Her Majesty‘s Theatre. An original playbill for the first London cycle of Wagner‘s Ring, the complete work‘s first performance outside the German-speaking world
[Ticket] Blue large ticket, printed in red and black with portrait of Wagner and a vignette depicting characters from each part of the Ring. "I. Cyclus / Box Pit Tier No. 5." Leipzig: Giesecke & Devrient. A rare promotional flyer to hold tickets for the performance, produced in Germany for distribution in London. 18 x 14 cm.
[Broadsides] Small format program broadsides giving the full casts and dates of the London Ring performances, 12 x 24 cm; 12 x 20 cm; Two trimmed broadside programs for Das Rheingold in Munich, 24 January, 1884 & 19 August, 1884, listing the cast (including Heinrich Vogl and Lily and Marie Lehmann), 19 x 19 cm; 19 x 25 cm.
[Subscription Forms] Printed "Acknowledgment of Subscription" with handwritten insertions identifying it as Burrell's, completed by or on behalf of [Alfred Schulz-Curtius, 3 pp, opening to a lithographed plan of the seating, with Burrell's box circled in red; A handwritten subscription receipt for tickets written in German in an unknown hand for the Ring Cycle and Fidelio performances in Munich in 1884, conducted by Hermann Levi.
[Clippings] Portraits and clippings from Punch (May 6, 1882: "Herr Wagner, The Bi-Cycle-Ist of Her Majesty's and Drury Lane"); Allegemeine Musik Zeitung (No. 50, 1884); The Times (Saturday, May 6, 1882); "Ueber de Werth von Musterauffuhrungen, im Anschluss and die Musterauffuhrungen in München" (Felix Weingartner, München, den 25. August, 1884);
The Austrian impresario Angelo Neumann secured the performing rights for the Ring (and the original Bayreuth sets) from Wagner himself, and set out to perform an astonishing 36 cycles in nine months. Wagner‘s health prevented his attending either rehearsals or performance, but Neumann was nevertheless very successful with his first production of the Ring in London, which opening in May of 1882. "Even English royalty helped the Wagnerian cause, as recorded by Ernest Newman: 'Neumann was very successful with this first production of the Ring in London. Thanks to an introduction from the German Crown Prince he managed to get the Prince ow Wales (afterwards King Edward VII) to attend no fewer than eleven of the performances. The Prince had been so charmed by the swimming Rhine Maidens that one performance of the Rhinegold he went behind the scenes to see the apparatus work.'" (John Louis DiGaetani, "Richard Wagner and the Modern British Novel," p. 14-15) Neumann‘s company featured some of the greatest singers of the age, including Hedwig Reicher-Kindermann, Scaria, Schelper, the two Vogls, and Reichmann, with Anton Seidl as conductor.
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Die Walkure von Richard Wagner; vollständiger Klavierauszug von Karl Klindworth. Mainz: B. Schott's Söhne, [ca. 1870]. Title (Der Ring...Ein Buhnenfestspiel), vb; Title (Die Walkure), vb; Half title (Erster Tag: Die Walkure), vb; Cast and List of Scenes; 2 - 274 pp. [PN] 17995. Lithographic reprint of the first edition of 1865, identical in all respects except with the music beginning now on page 2. Contemporary green textured cloth with decorative titling in gilt to upper board.
Large signature of Johanna Jachmann-Wagner (1826 - 1894) on verso of half title and extensive performance markings in red and blue and graphite pencil to the part of Sieglinde, pages 9-70, with page 9 inscribed "Lesson from Frau Johanna. March 31st 1885," and the markings that follow for those approx. 60 pages are evidently based on that lesson with her. Niece of the composer, the important mezzo-soprano was the original performer, and in some respects the inspiration, of the character of Elisabeth in Tannhäuser, as well as the original intended performer of Brünnhilde in The Ring.
Laid down to the front and rear free endpages and blank verso of the title pages are the following:
[Seating diagram] Wagner'sche Bühnen-Festspielhaus. Amphitheater-Eintheilung. Single sheet printed seating diagram of the theater at Bayreuth. Printed by Ludw. Groh, Bayreuth. 22.5 x 28.5 cm. A few annotations in ink, showing an otherwise unmarked "entry" and "covered way" and some seat numbers.
[Clipping] The Times, May 8, 1882 ("Wagner's Ring of the Nibelung II")
[Broadsides] Two trimmed broadside programs for Die Walkure in Munich, 11 March, 1884 & 20 August, 1884, listing the cast (including Henrich Vogl and Lily and Marie Lehmann), 19 x 19 cm; 19 x 25 cm.
Burrell has written in red ink on the index page "my page 245 - 246" and then within the score marked that section of music again, apparently indicating a page of MS from her collection which is sadly no longer present here.
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Siegfried von Richard Wagner. Vollständiger Klavierauszug von Karl Klindworth. Mainz: B. Schott's Söhne. [ca. 1871]. Title,vb; Half title (Zweiter Tag: Siegfried), vb; Cast and List of Scenes; 2 - 299 pp. [PN] 20326. Lithographic reprint of the first edition [Deathridge, Geck and Voss note that this printing was most likely issued around the same time as the initial printing of 400 engraved copies). Contemporary green textured cloth with decorative titling in gilt to upper board.
Laid down to the front and rear free endpages and blank verso of the title pages are the following, relating to the historic 1882 Ring Cycle performances in London and the Ring Cycle performances in Munich in 1884, conducted by Hermann Levi:
[Portrait] Full-page lithographic portrait of the composer, verso blank, no printer's information given. 23 x 30.5 cm.
[Clipping] The Times, [1882] ("Wagner's Ring of the Nibelung III")
[Broadsides] Two trimmed broadside programs for Siegfried in Munich, 22 August, 1884 & 26 December, 1884, listing the cast (including Henrich and Therese Vogl and August Kindermann, among others), 19 x 19 cm; 19 x 33 cm.
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Götterdämmerung von Richard Wagner. Vollständiger Klavierauszug von Karl Klindworth. Mainz: B. Schott's Söhne. [ca. 1885]. Title,vb; Half title, vb; Cast and List of Scenes; 2 - 299 pp.[PN] 21500. Lithographic reprint of the first edition. Contemporary red textured cloth with decorative titling in gilt to upper boards. In very good condition. (9815)
Printed Music Opera