Mathilde Wesendonck


Mathilde Wesendonck was a German poet and author. The words of five of her verses were the basis of her friend Richard Wagner's Wesendonck Lieder. He may have been her paramour.

Biography

Agnes Mathilde Luckemeyer was born in Elberfeld in the Rhineland of Germany in 1828. In 1848 she married the silk merchant Otto Wesendonck. Otto was a great admirer of Wagner's music, and after he and Mathilde met the composer in Zurich in 1852, he placed a cottage on his estate at Wagner's disposal. By 1857, Wagner had become infatuated with Mathilde. It is not known whether she returned his affections to the same degree, or if the affair - if there was one - was ever consummated. Nevertheless, the episode inspired Wagner to put aside his work on Der Ring des Nibelungen and begin work on Tristan und Isolde.
In 1858, Wagner's wife Minna intercepted a romantic letter from Wagner to Mathilde. After the resulting confrontation, Wagner left Zürich alone, for Venice. Minna went to Dresden to stay with her family. She wrote to Mathilde before departing for Dresden:
"I must tell you with a bleeding heart that you have succeeded in separating my husband from me after nearly twenty-two years of marriage. May this noble deed contribute to your peace of mind, to your happiness."
In her autobiographical reminiscences Mathilde later wrote about Wagner's stay in Zürich, but made no mention of troubles with Minna.
In 1866 Mathilde met with Johannes Brahms in Zürich and enabled him to study some of Wagner's manuscripts.
Mathilde Wesendonck died in Altmünster in 1902, and she is buried at the Alter Friedhof with the Wesendonck family in Bonn, Germany.

Selected works

Mathilde Wesendonck was portrayed by Valentina Cortese in the 1955 film Magic Fire, and by Marthe Keller in the 1983 film Wagner.
Her legacy as assumed lover of Richard Wagner lives on with reference to her in Rhett Miller's song Our Love from the album The Instigator.