A European walk through Bordeaux 24
Wagner's Lovers.
Hôtel des 4 sœurs – 6, Cours du XXX juillet.
Wagner in
1850.Pencil drawing by Ernst Benedikt Kietz for Jessie Laussot. Paris, 1850.
Whether we choose to simplify
it or not, his history remains muddled. Richard Wagner, already famous for Rienzi and The Flying Dutchman, met Jessie Taylor in Dresden,
where she was filled with
admiration on seeing the performances of Tannhäuser. She possessed the musical score, which she had
asked to be dedicated through Karl Ritter. Very shyly, “the young woman expressed
her admiration in terms I had never heard.”
That was in 1848. She was nineteen
years old.
But in 1849, Wagner took part in the revolution in Dresden and, exiled, had to flee without
a passport and without
money to Switzerland, then
Paris. In 1850, he received an urgent invitation to come to Bordeaux – “a new
course in my existence” – from
Jessie, married by her mother to a young vintner, Eugene Laussot. Did he see
Jessie again in Paris, immediately
afterwards in February
1850? Based on a letter to
Franz Liszt dated 6 February,
English historians attempted,
without much success, to convince us that this was
the case. What is certain is that he
had his portrait done by the painter Ernst Kietz and that a
letter from Jessie Laussot exists in which she thanks
the artist.
Having left Paris post-haste, Wagner arrived
on Saturday 16 March in Bordeaux and settled at the Laussot residence. To his friends, Theodor
Uhlig in Dresden and
Wilhelm Baumgartner in Zurich, he gave the following address: “Miss Jessie Laussot, 26 Cours du XXX Juillet” (now
Cours du Maréchal Foch). He gave the same address to his wife, Minna, but for the attention of “Mr Eugene Laussot.” He was received with “courtesy and kindness.” He felt as though he was “in heaven:
everyone here knows my work
down to the last note,” he writes.
Invited for a short visit, he stayed there
three weeks.
Jessie was 21. Cultivated and a musician, she spoke German
without an accent. She played the Hammerklavier sonata and Wagner’s difficult Grand Sonata. He read her the librettos of his future operas, Siegfried and
Wieland the Smith, which she
particularly liked. Eighteen months later, Tannhäuser was a distant
memory, the first act of Die Walküre
was being sketched out and Tristan was already on the way. Wagner describes having “made closer acquaintance” with her. The widow
of an English lawyer, Mrs Taylor was
of course rich and asked him to “accept” an annuity proposal of 3,000 francs.
With this money, Wagner wanted to go to Malta, Greece and
the Middle East... with Jessie. When
Wagner returned to Paris, on 5 April, they separated “uncertain and unhappy.” In a letter dated 16 April, full of reproach, Wagner told his wife Minna he wanted to leave
her.
Jessie Laussot (1826-1905).
While Wagner was in Paris, Jessie confided her troubles, or her intentions,
to her mother, who in turn told
her son-in-law, who from then
on had just one goal: “to
put a bullet in the head”
of the composer. As for Minna, she had no intention of doing nothing. It was at this time that Wagner chose to write to his rival, suggesting that he come to sort the matter out, amicably, in person. Could he force a
woman who no longer loved him to stay?
In May, he returned in
haste to Bordeaux after arranging
a rendezvous in the hotel where they were
to talk.
He arrived at 9 a.m., on
18 May 1850, and took a room at the Hôtel des 4 Soeurs, located on the same Cours du XXX Juillet. He waited
in vain. The Laussot family
left the city. That night, he
received a summons from a police officer,
who had been informed of his illegal status and gave him two days
to leave the city. Time enough
for Wagner to write and deliver
a long letter to Jessie. In June,
she had a
letter sent to him saying she would
never see him again.
There was never
a Laussot lieder and Wagner never
composed Wieland the Smith. The Liebesaffäre
was … …
… …
… …
Jessie Laussot in Florence in years-70 |
Jessie Laussot in 1877, painting by Adolf von Hildebrand. |
Jessie Laussot in Florence around 1900. |
Vue cavalière du port de Bordeaux en 1850
by Antoine Héroult.
Cross Place de la Comédie and
head to the right,
to 1 Rue des Piliers
de Tutelle.
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protégé par la législation sur le droit d'auteur.
Toute
reproduction même partielle expose à des poursuites pénales pour le délit de
contrefaçon.
© Bertrand
Favreau 2011