(c) 2022 Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston

Libretto for Tristan and Isolde with Enclosures

primary Richard Wagner (Leipzig, 1813 - 1883, Venice)

contributor Isabella Stewart Gardner (New York, 1840 - 1924, Boston)

publisher Breitkopf & Härtel (founded Wiesbaden, Germany 1719 -)

author Hans Von Bülow (German, 1830 - 1894)

Date1886-1913

MediumInk on paper in leather binding with handwritten notes, autographs and ephemera

ClassificationsArchival Material

Credit LineIsabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston

Accession numberARC1986.2.1

eMuseum ID723709

TMS Source ID26628

Last Updated8/22/24

Status

Not on view

Web CommentaryIsabella Stewart Gardner had a passion for opera. She collected scores for her favorite operas to study the intricacies of music and plot. Gardner used this vocal score from Richard Wagner’s opera Tristan und Isolde for twenty-seven years, taking it with her to performances from Boston to Bayreuth, Germany. It contains mementos from many performances that she saw—autographs from performers, handwritten cast listings, and a note from renowned conductor Karl Muck, who was the musical director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra from 1906 to 1918.

MarksNotesInscribed in ink in German in the hand of Karl Muck (pg.223, center left): Diese ghrase hab Jean de Reske / gesungen und vorgetagen, wie iun es wie vorher und navlhier / wieder gehort habe. / Dr. Karl Muck

Signed in ink in Isabella Stewart Gardner's hand (paperback cover, top): Brookline / Isabella Stewart Gardner / June 1886

Stamped in ink (title page, bottom center): Boston Music Co. / Boston, MA / 2 Beacon St.

ProvenanceNotesGiven by Isabella Stewart Gardner to the musician, George Proctor. Donated to the Archives of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in 1986 by Mrs. John G. Weiss.