Wagner and Friends

by Barbara Brady

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No, that is not an oxymoron!  Richard Wagner had numerous friends who recognized his genius and admired and supported him - and many of them were steadfast throughout his lifetime, regardless of his habit of seducing their wallets and wives. Those friends who fell by the wayside were the ones who declined on grounds that Wagner could never understand, to pledge yet further funds. Not all of Wagner's penury in his early career was his own fault. Performance copyright law was rudimentary in Germany before 1870 so opera composers were paid only for the first performance of a run whereas the singers were paid for each performance. The lack of copyright protection also meant that music could be pirated, bringing profit to the publisher but none to the composer. This made it difficult for emerging composers to make a living unless they had other means of support. In Wagner's case those means were massive loans, sometimes set against rights to future operas.