Richard Wagner (Leipzig, 1813 - 1883, Venice)
Parsifal: Libretto for Mr. B.J. Lang's private performance at Symphony Hall, Boston, 6 January 1903
Printed ink on paper, 18.4 x 11.3 x 1.3 cm (7 1/4 x 4 7/16 x 1/2 in.)
Vatichino
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.