Winnie and Wolf

I enjoyed A.N. Wilson's 2007 novel Winnie and Wolf a great deal.  If you like this book you probably have two characteristics: (1) You're a fan of the music dramas of Richard Wagner and (2) You're interested in the history of Nazi Germany.  If you don't fall into one of those categories this might not be your novel.

"Winnie" is Winifred Wagner, the wife of Richard Wagner's son Siegfried.  "Wolf" is the affectionate nickname given to Adolf Hitler.  Hitler was an ardent fan of Wagner Operas.  During the 1920s he started going to the Wagner home at Bayreuth and became good friends with Siegfried and Winifred. In fact, the Wagner's supplied Hitler with the paper to write Mein Kampf while in prison for leading a failed coup d'etat against the government of the Weimar Republic. 

Winnie & Siegfried early in their marriage.

After Siegfried's death, rumors circulated that Hitler and Frau Wagner were about to marry.  There is no doubt that Winifred Wagner was one of Hitler's closest friends and the "Uncle Wolf" was very close to the Wagner children.  A.N. Wilson has taken these facts and extrapolates what might have happened if Winnie & Wolf's relationship had been sexual and had produced a child.

The real Winnie & Wolf

The novel is narrated by Herr N_____, whose name we never learn.  Herr N._____ served as the personal secretary to Siegfried and then to Winnie.  Although we never learn his name, Herr N_____ is a finely drawn character whom, by the end of the novel, we feel that we know intimately.  

Frau Wagner greets the Fuhrer

There is a lot of real history in this novel.  The fictional narrative is seamlessly interwoven with the real history of Germany.  Wilson also shows a deep knowledge of Richard Wagner and the Bayreuth Festival.  Wagnerians should love this book.  The novel is presented as a long letter to Herr N____'s adopted daughter who is really the love child of Winnie and Wolf.  The novel is well written and hold's the reader's interest well.

   A.N. Wilson

While this material may not be to everyone's taste, I absolutely loved it.  FIVE OUT OF FIVE viking helmets.

Cosima: The Lady of Bayreuth

Cosima Wagner: The Lady of Bayreuth, by Oliver Hilmes, Translated from the German by Stewart Spencer, Yale University Press, 2010.

I will admit it. I am an enthusiast. I get enthused about a certain subject and will pursue it with a passion until I get bored with it or get enthused about something else and then will come back and get enthused all over again later. Two Saturdays ago, I saw the high definition simulcast of Wagner’s Die Valkerie from the Metropolitan Opera in New York. Thus, I became enthused about Wagner operas all over again.

Richard Wagner is, without a doubt, the most controversial figure in the history of music. Wagner was controversial when he was alive and has become more controversial over time. Wagner was arrogant, egotistical, racist and sexist. He was also a genius.

Cosima Wagner

The book which I just finished reading is a biography of Wagner’s second wife, Cosima. Cosima Wagner was born in 1837 and died in 1930. Her life spanned most of the 19th century and lasted well into the 20th. The illegitimate daughter of the pianist and composer Franz Liszt, Cosmia and her sister and brother were raised first by their grandmother and then by a stern and uncompromising governess.

Richard & Cosima Wagner

As usual, fact is more interesting than fiction. Married to the conductor Hans Von Bulow, with whom she had two children, Cosima had an affair with Wagner right under her husband’s nose and, apparently, within his knowledge. Wagner’s affair with Cosima became so notorious that it forced Wagner to move to the shore of Lake Lucerne in Switzerland to avoid embarrassing Wagner’s patron, King Ludwig of Bavaria. Ultimately Cosima bore Wagner three children, Isolde, Eva and Siegfried. Finally divorced from Von Bulow in 1870, Cosima married Wagner.

Cosima's Children by both Wagner and Von Bulow with the conductor Hans Richter.

Hilmes details the establishment of the Festival Theatre at Bayreuth and the family’s installation in their Bayreuth estate, Wahnfried, which means “Free from Delusion.” After Wagner’s death in 1883, Cosima became the head of what can best be described as “the Wagner industry.” Hilmes details how Cosima watched rehearsals of Wagner’s operas at the Bayreuth Festspielhaus from a curtained booth where she could not be seen and sent out written criticisms and instructions to the singers and musicians.

The Bayreuth Festspielhaus

As well as jealously guarding her dead husband’s artistic vision, Cosima also ruled her children and their spouses with an iron hand. When her daughter Isolde refused to leave her husband whom Cosima felt had insulted her, Isolde was disinherited and abandoned. Led by Siegfried Wagner, the family cut off Isolde’s inheritance claiming that Isolde was not Wagner’s daughter. Isolde filed a lawsuit but lost due to the fact that under Bavarian law the man whom her mother was married to at the time of her birth, Hans Von Bulow, was presumed to be her father. Disowned by her family, Isolde died of tuberculosis and a broken heart in 1919.

Rabidly anti-semitic and a fanatic German nationalist, Cosima welcomed the First World War and wished for the overthrow of the Weimar Republic. The old lady's wishes were answered when she was introduced to her great admirer, Adolf Hitler.

The story of Cosima Wagner and her descendants reads like a giant National Enquirer article. If juicy gossip about dead people is your thing, then this book is definitely for you. The translation is very good and the book is a page turner. The Bad Catholic highly recommends this book for anyone interested in Wagner, opera, or European history.