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Wagner in Minnesota?

3K views 20 replies 15 participants last post by  christomacin 
#1 ·
In the Composer's Datebook e-mailed daily by American Public Media:

"…for one million U.S. dollars, Wagner himself was prepared to…settle in America, offering in exchange the premiere and exclusive performance rights to his latest opera, 'Parsifal.' That was the offer Wagner outlined in a letter to his American dentist on today's date in 1880."

"Wagner's wife, Cosima, recorded in her diary that Wagner seemed obsessed with idea of settling in Minnesota…"

Has anybody else heard about this? Is there more to the story? I was just the tiniest bit surprised to read it… :eek:
 
#10 · (Edited)
OMG!!! As a Minnesotan this is the funniest thing I've seen all day. I wish Wagner had settled here, then maybe we would get more productions! The Minnesota Opera played Thais, Figaro, Rigoletto and Dead Man Walking (a new opera) this year, but no Wagner... I don't think they have in a while. Our orchestra never plays Wagner or Bruckner either. Quite sad. Mahler 2 was good tho. Well that was a tangent.
 
#16 ·
Really, Dvorak only spent some time in the summers in Iowa. Spillville isn't much of anything anymore, but a nice nostalgic drive for music lovers.

Anyway - yes, Rachmaninoff lived in Beverly Hills, but he is buried in Kensico Cemetery in - believe it or not - VALHALLA, New York.
 
#18 · (Edited)
He'd never have gone to Minnesota. The Wagner societies were in the east, and the Hudson, with its grand estates built on the bluffs along the river, would have reminded him of the Rhine. No doubt some wealthy music lover would have installed him in a cottage, where he and his patron's wife would have passed pleasant hours while Cosima and Siegfried were busy running the Wagner Festival at Sleepy Hollow.
 
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