Richard Wagner Manuscripts
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Abstract
Richard Wagner (1813-1883) was a German composer. Rena Charnin Mueller is an associate professor of music at New York University. The Richard Wagner Manuscripts include two items handwritten by Wagner. One item is a song written by Wagner, dedicated to Louis [Kn]ass. The other item is a poem invitation to celebrate the completion of Die Götterdämmerung, with a list on its verso of potential singers for the first complete production of Der Ring des Nibelungen at Bayreuth, Germany, written by Anton Seidl with notations by Wagner.
Biographical Note
Richard Wagner (1813-1883) was a German composer. One of his most well-known works is Der Ring des Nibelungen (The Ring of the Nibelung).
Rena Charnin Mueller is an associate professor of music at New York University. She edits the Journal of the American Liszt Society.
Arrangement
This collection has not been arranged by an archivist. The materials are arranged in the order in which they were received from the donor.
Scope and Contents
This collection consists of two items in the hand of Richard Wagner that were part of the NYU Department of Music until August 2016. They were given to the Fales Library and Special Collections by Rena Mueller, a long-time faculty member upon her retirement.
Item 1: Autograph manuscript., 1 page, signed "Richard Wagner." Pen and ink. Music and lyrics for a song dedicated to Louis [Kn]ass. Leipzig, 22 April 1871.
Item 2. Autograph manuscript, 2 pages. Richard Wagner and Anton Seidl. Pencil and ink. Side one is a poem invitation to celebrate the completion of Die Götterdämmerung in Wagner's hand. Side two contains a list of potential singers for the first complete production of the Ring at Bayreuth, August 1876 in Seidl's hand with ink emendations by Wagner. Seidl was in Wagner's intimate circle at Bayreuth. He would late become director of the New York Philharmonic. Rena Mueller wrote up the history of this document in an issue of the Liszt Society Journal.
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Conditions Governing Access
Materials are open without restrictions.
Conditions Governing Use
Materials in this collection, which were created in 1871-1876, are in the public domain. Permission to publish or reproduce is not required.
Preferred Citation
Identification of item, date; Richard Wagner Manuscripts; MSS 519; box number; folder number; Fales Library & Special Collections, New York University.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Donated by Rena Charnin Mueller, 2016.
Custodial History
The Louis Knass song was given by Lauritz Melchior to the New York University Music Department in approximately 1950; Charles Frost gave it to Rena Charnin Mueller on an unspecified date. The Richard Wagner and Anton Seidl manuscript was found in 1972 in a copy of Ernest Newman's Wagner Nights by Martin Bernstein and Ruth Hilton. More information about this manuscript's custodial history may be found in an article written by Mueller and published in the Journal of the American Liszt Society.
About this Guide
Processing Information
At the time of accessioning, materials were rehoused in a new acid-free folder, stored in a shared oversize box, and described on the collection-level.
Repository
Container
This finding aid does not include an online listing of contents.
To learn about viewing this collection in person, please contact special.collections@nyu.edu.
