Cosima Wagner

London: Julia MacRae Books, 1983 Book. Fine. Hardcover. First English Edition. Large 8vo. Dust Jacket Condition: Fine. xii, 291 pp, foreword, I. Orphan with Living Parents; II. The Uneasy Bridegroom; III. Growing Intimacy; IV. "I am the King's Friend"; V. Love and Intrigue; VI. The Diary; VII. "J'en Ai Assez; VIII. Cosima Changes; IX. Toward Parsifal; X. "I Was Aaron to Moses"; XI. Silence and Sound; XII. The Chatelaine; XIII. The Escape of Parsifal; XIV. Cosima Moves Upstairs; XV. Mostly Memories; Appendix: Performances Under Cosima's Direction; bibliography, index with b&w illustrations. First English Edition, 1983. "Cosima, the ugly duckling illegitimate daughter of the composer Franz Listz, first married the great conductor Hans von Bulow, but twelve years later she left him to join Richard wagner, a man 24 years older (and several inches shorter) than she was. Thus began a tempestuous partnership, in which the unpredictable, infuriating genius of Wagner was protected and nutured by the scheming, devious, passionate Cosima, whose devotion to Watner reached monumental proportions and allowed no obstacle to stand in the way. The awfulness of Cosima's behaviour, concealed behind a stern Victorian facade, is at times almost funny. Her celebrated diaries stop with Wagner's death, and it is only since the release of her letters, to whic the author has had access, that the equally extraordinary story of her 47 years without Wagner can fully be told." from the jacket flap. Price clipped. Inked name on ffep, else, Pristine, no wear. Clean, tight and strong binding with no underlining, highlighting or marginalia. Dark-brown cloth with gilt lettering to spine..