Visiting Card
primary
B. J. Lang
(Salem, 1837 - 1909, Boston)
Date1903
Place MadeBoston, Massachusetts, United States, North America
MediumPrinted and handwritten ink on paper
ClassificationsArchival Material
Credit LineIsabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston
Accession numberARC.002466
eMuseum ID728060
EmbARK ObjectID29171
Other Numberv.1.a.1.28.x
TMS Source ID12760
Last Updated8/9/24
Status
Not on viewWeb Commentary
For Christmas in 1902, conductor B.J. Lang gave Isabella a libretto for Richard Wagner's opera Parsifal. He gave Isabella this libretto in anticipation of a private performance of Parsifal he was conducting at the recently-constructed Symphony Hall two weeks later. His note on this card accompanying the gift reads: “It seems as if you ought to have a better Parsifal than ordinary folk.”
Isabella admired Wagner’s work and went to great lengths to see his performances. She traveled many times to Bayreuth and attended his operas in the United States and Europe. Isabella’s libretto from Lang, along with a second libretto for Parsifal that she collected, are both housed in the Vatichino.
BibliographyNotesAna Barrett, "Belle of the Opera: Gardner and Wagner," Inside the Collection (blog), Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, 20 July 2021, https://www.gardnermuseum.org/blog/belle-opera-gardner-and-wagner
MarksNotesHandwriten in ink (on recto): Dear Mrs Gardner / It seems as if you / ought to have a / better bunch than / ordinary folk / Yours / BJL
ProvenanceNotesEntered Isabella Stewart Gardner's collection at an unknown date. Enclosed in Parsifal by Richard Wagner, 1903 (v.1.a.1.28).
B. J. Lang
late 19th century - early 20th century
Object/Enclosure
