THE WIDOW OF WAGNER.

Shannon News, 20 November 1923, Page 4

THE WIDOW OF WAGNER.

STARVING IN BAYREUTH.

POVERTY FOLLOWS THE WAR.

When we remember that Ridhard own age should still survxye him But X *widow, the famous Cosima WagS, remSns, a melancholy witness of thP mutability of human fortune. SniS senius, tne.A.*e Lis*, and w IR7O. wnen Wagner was 57, sne

•becameWsecondwiffe, his stern, unbeS angel «f^-f Sictatoress,. worshipper ; «*-g*^ Now, bent with age, infirmity, ana I sbrrbw this woman, who has moved I' Son Terms of equality with kings and ; nneens is starving, and a concert was S*£ recently in London to pr^de her with the bare necessaries of life. h last daughter of Liszt, proud and unbowed; has bein' hungering in Tmansion in Bayreuth, the last pupil of Liszt, a world-famous opera singer starves in Vienna on a once ample pension, which the falling exchange has reduced to 5d a month. Cosima Wagner came into the life of her husband when his . troubles were,over. He had pinea for bread

and comfort as lie had pined for fame and" recognition; he had been an exile from his native Germany because hi* politics were too liberal for the time. He had beaten in vain at doors of renown, and had been turned away in anger and sorrow with his operas unheard, or heard with derision, or I at best with chilly tolerance. - But a mad king, Ludwig of Ba-varia, sane where appreciation of great music was concerned, called him to Bayreuth arid made his fortune secure. Then it was that Wagner married the woman, who has now outlived him just forty years. , Ludwig built a theatre for him at Bayreuth, and there the great operas were performed year after year. All

musical Europe .flocked to .the httte Bavarian city to render homage at the composer's shrine. .Wealth i^ one f' wealth in happiness, were Wagners land Cosima, when death took him from her, inherited it. v Year by year the Wagner. performances continued in Bayreuth. She kept the copyright of many of t his.,., works She sought; to have them performed nowhere in the world but in the Wagner theatre where they were produced. She appealed to the German Government, she fought actions in the Courts to prevent the world from hearing the masterpvoos which had become the heritage of mankind. ,'., The war came, and with it came disaster for Cosima Wagner. Her means vanished and on' her eightieth birthday she, was so poor that she could not, buy coal to light a fire in her house. ■-.<■•

Notices were published in the newspaper warning her friends that they must*not call on her as she could not provi 3e a fire—it was in the depth of Winter—to welcome them. Matters have not improved, with marks millions to the pound, and thus the proud woman finds herself in the grip of poverty, starving.'