Parsifal

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

printer Thomas Todd Co. (American, 1864 - 1924)

subject B. J. Lang (Salem, 1837 - 1909, Boston)

Date6 January 1903

MediumPrinted ink on paper

Dimensions18.4 x 11.3 x 1.3 cm (7 1/4 x 4 7/16 x 1/2 in.)

ClassificationsBooks

Credit LineIsabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston

Accession numberv.1.a.1.28

eMuseum ID730241

EmbARK ObjectID25446

TMS Source ID9344

Last Updated8/9/24

Description1 vol., [2] 63 p. [1], 12°

Status

Not on view

Web 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 accompanying this 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, where Wagner hosted an annual music festival, 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

MarksNotesInscribed in ink (on flyleaf): Mrs. Gardner / Xmas 1902. / BJL. [B.J. Lang]

ProvenanceNotesGift from the American conductor Benjamin Johnson Lang (1837-1909) to Isabella Stewart Gardner by 1909.