Friedlinde Wagner
Encyclopedia
Friedelind Wagner was the daughter of German
opera
composer
Siegfried Wagner
and his Welsh
wife, Winifred Williams
and the granddaughter of the famous composer Richard Wagner
. Born in Bayreuth, she was known by the nickname "Maus" or "Mausi". Along with other members of her family, from early in life Friedelind Wagner was involved with the Bayreuth Festspielhaus
. In 1936, she began work as an assistant to Heinz Tietjen
but her outspoken criticism of close family friend Adolf Hitler
and the policies of the Third Reich led to her leaving Germany in 1939. She lived for a short time in Switzerland
before emigrating first to England
where she began writing anti-Nazi columns for the Daily Sketch
newspaper.
With the help of Arturo Toscanini
, in 1941 Wagner moved to the United States
where she became involved with radio
broadcasts of anti-Nazi propaganda. She also helped Professor Henry A. Murray, Director of the Harvard
Psychological Clinic plus psychoanalyst Walter C. Langer
and other experts to create a 1943 report for the OSS
designated as the Analysis of the Personality of Adolph Hitler
. With writer Page Cooper, in 1945 Friedelind Wagner wrote her memoirs "Heritage of Fire." Published in English in New York City by Harper & brothers
, it was released in London in 1948 as "The Royal Family of Bayreuth."
Wagner eventually returned to work at the Bayreuth Festival
and in 1976 was part of the team that made the documentary film
"Wagner:The Making of the Ring" which was filmed during the creation of the Pierre Boulez
/Patrice Chéreau
Ring
. The Times
wrote: "This (Boulez/Chéreau) Ring is the most important single event in the democratization of opera and will put opera back at the center of all the arts, where it belongs."
As a student of Friedelind Wagner, American conductor
Michael Tilson Thomas
was a Musical Assistant and Assistant Conductor at the Bayreuth Festival
.
In her latter years Friedelind Wagner made her home in Lucerne
, Switzerland
. Never married, she died in a hospital in Herdecke, Germany
, in 1991.
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
opera
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
Siegfried Wagner
Siegfried Wagner
Siegfried Wagner was a German composer and conductor, the son of Richard Wagner. He was an opera composer and the artistic director of the Bayreuth Festival from 1908 to 1930.-Life:...
and his Welsh
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
wife, Winifred Williams
Winifred Wagner
Winifred Wagner was an English woman married to Siegfried Wagner, Richard Wagner's son. She was the effective head of the Wagner family from 1930 to 1945, and a close friend of German dictator Adolf Hitler....
and the granddaughter of the famous composer Richard Wagner
Richard Wagner
Wilhelm Richard Wagner was a German composer, conductor, theatre director, philosopher, music theorist, poet, essayist and writer primarily known for his operas...
. Born in Bayreuth, she was known by the nickname "Maus" or "Mausi". Along with other members of her family, from early in life Friedelind Wagner was involved with the Bayreuth Festspielhaus
Bayreuth Festspielhaus
The or Bayreuth Festival Theatre is an opera house north of Bayreuth, Germany, dedicated solely to the performance of operas by the 19th-century German composer Richard Wagner...
. In 1936, she began work as an assistant to Heinz Tietjen
Heinz Tietjen
Heinz Tietjen was a German conductor and music producer born in Tangier, Morocco.- Biography :At age twenty-three, he held the position of producer at the Opera House in Trier and was appointed its director in 1907, holding the dual roles until 1922...
but her outspoken criticism of close family friend Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
and the policies of the Third Reich led to her leaving Germany in 1939. She lived for a short time in Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
before emigrating first to England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
where she began writing anti-Nazi columns for the Daily Sketch
Daily Sketch
The Daily Sketch was a British national tabloid newspaper, founded in Manchester in 1909 by Sir Edward Hulton.It was bought in 1920 by Lord Rothermere's Daily Mirror Newspapers but in 1925 Rothermere offloaded it to William and Gomer Berry The Daily Sketch was a British national tabloid newspaper,...
newspaper.
With the help of Arturo Toscanini
Arturo Toscanini
Arturo Toscanini was an Italian conductor. One of the most acclaimed musicians of the late 19th and 20th century, he was renowned for his intensity, his perfectionism, his ear for orchestral detail and sonority, and his photographic memory...
, in 1941 Wagner moved to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
where she became involved with radio
Radio
Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
broadcasts of anti-Nazi propaganda. She also helped Professor Henry A. Murray, Director of the Harvard
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
Psychological Clinic plus psychoanalyst Walter C. Langer
Walter C. Langer
Walter Charles Langer was a Cambridge, Massachusetts psychoanalyst best known for his role in preparing a World War II psychological analysis of Adolf Hitler in 1943 for the Office of Strategic Services, that predicted his suicide as the "most plausible outcome" among several possibilities...
and other experts to create a 1943 report for the OSS
Office of Strategic Services
The Office of Strategic Services was a United States intelligence agency formed during World War II. It was the wartime intelligence agency, and it was a predecessor of the Central Intelligence Agency...
designated as the Analysis of the Personality of Adolph Hitler
Analysis of the Personality of Adolph Hitler
Analysis of the Personality of Hitler: With Predictions of His Future Behavior and Suggestions for Dealing with Him Now and After Germany's Surrender was a report prepared by Henry A. Murray for the United States Office of Strategic Services during World War II...
. With writer Page Cooper, in 1945 Friedelind Wagner wrote her memoirs "Heritage of Fire." Published in English in New York City by Harper & brothers
HarperCollins
HarperCollins is a publishing company owned by News Corporation. It is the combination of the publishers William Collins, Sons and Co Ltd, a British company, and Harper & Row, an American company, itself the result of an earlier merger of Harper & Brothers and Row, Peterson & Company. The worldwide...
, it was released in London in 1948 as "The Royal Family of Bayreuth."
Wagner eventually returned to work at the Bayreuth Festival
Bayreuth Festival
The Bayreuth Festival is a music festival held annually in Bayreuth, Germany, at which performances of operas by the 19th century German composer Richard Wagner are presented...
and in 1976 was part of the team that made the documentary film
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
"Wagner:The Making of the Ring" which was filmed during the creation of the Pierre Boulez
Pierre Boulez
Pierre Boulez is a French composer of contemporary classical music, a pianist, and a conductor.-Early years:Boulez was born in Montbrison, Loire, France. As a child he began piano lessons and demonstrated aptitude in both music and mathematics...
/Patrice Chéreau
Patrice Chéreau
Patrice Chéreau is a French opera and theatre director, filmmaker, actor, and producer.-Biography:Patrice Chéreau was born in Lézigné, Maine-et-Loire, and went to school in Paris. At a young age he became well-known to Parisian critics as director, actor, and stage manager of his high-school theatre...
Ring
Der Ring des Nibelungen
Der Ring des Nibelungen is a cycle of four epic operas by the German composer Richard Wagner . The works are based loosely on characters from the Norse sagas and the Nibelungenlied...
. The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
wrote: "This (Boulez/Chéreau) Ring is the most important single event in the democratization of opera and will put opera back at the center of all the arts, where it belongs."
As a student of Friedelind Wagner, American conductor
Conducting
Conducting is the art of directing a musical performance by way of visible gestures. The primary duties of the conductor are to unify performers, set the tempo, execute clear preparations and beats, and to listen critically and shape the sound of the ensemble...
Michael Tilson Thomas
Michael Tilson Thomas
Michael Tilson Thomas is an American conductor, pianist and composer. He is currently music director of the San Francisco Symphony, and artistic director of the New World Symphony Orchestra.-Early years:...
was a Musical Assistant and Assistant Conductor at the Bayreuth Festival
Bayreuth Festival
The Bayreuth Festival is a music festival held annually in Bayreuth, Germany, at which performances of operas by the 19th century German composer Richard Wagner are presented...
.
In her latter years Friedelind Wagner made her home in Lucerne
Lucerne
Lucerne is a city in north-central Switzerland, in the German-speaking portion of that country. Lucerne is the capital of the Canton of Lucerne and the capital of the district of the same name. With a population of about 76,200 people, Lucerne is the most populous city in Central Switzerland, and...
, Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
. Never married, she died in a hospital in Herdecke, Germany
Herdecke
Herdecke is a town in the district of Ennepe-Ruhr-Kreis, North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany. Its located south of Dortmund in the Ruhr Area and is known as Die Stadt zwischen den Ruhrseen ....
, in 1991.
See also
- Wagner family treeWagner family treeThe family of the composer Richard WagnerCarl Friedrich Wilhelm Wagner, * 1770 † 1813, police actuary, ∞ 1798 Johanna Rosine Pätz * 1778 † 1848, daughter of a baker .# Albert Wagner, * 1799 † 1874, opera singer and...