Mein Leben (Wagner)

Mein Leben (German, My Life) is the title given by the composer Richard Wagner to his autobiography, covering the years from his birth in 1813 to 1864.

Wagner began dictating Mein Leben to his wife Cosima on 17 July 1865 in Munich. This was at the request of King Ludwig II of Bavaria, who had written to Wagner on 28 May 1865:

You would cause me inexpressible happiness if you were to give me an account of your intellectual and spiritual development and of the external events of your life as well.

Wagner was indebted to the King, who had rescued him from a life of exile and financial harassment in the previous year. At around the same time in 1864, Wagner had been given the news of the death of his hate-figure, the composer Giacomo Meyerbeer. The book therefore ends on a 'triumphant' note with the exaltation of Wagner at the death of his supposed 'enemy'.

The book is amongst the most readable of Wagner's prose writings, generally free of the complex syntax that is typical of his theoretical works. His complex and frequently tempestuous career, friendships and controversies make for a racy and often surprisingly frank account. However,

[t]he subjective quality [...] emerges most clearly [...] in the casual and sometimes condescending tone [Wagner] adopts towards contemporaries [...], and it is present in the attacks on other composers of the age, above all on Meyerbeer.

Nonetheless the book is a major source for Wagner's life and indeed for musical and cultural life of Europe in the period which it covers.

The final section of the book, covering 1861 to 1864, was not completed until 1880. However, Wagner and Cosima had already determined to print a few copies for private circulation. The first volume was printed in 1870 in an edition of fifteen. Volumes 2 and 3 were printed in 1872 and 1875, in editions of eighteen copies. Wagner recruited the young Friedrich Nietzsche to act as proof-reader and to see the book though a press in Basel. Volume 4 was printed in 1880 in Bayreuth.

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