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Wagner. Ride the storm
Sezione 1
Sezione 2
The peace of madness
BAYREUTH, Haus Wahnfried. 1883
PLAY ME
Under the sovereign's protection,
the performance of The Master Singers of Nuremberg
and Tristan finally took place. As a result of the antipathy of the Munich people and the courtiers themselves, I was forced to leave Munich. However, King Ludwig continued to finance my lavish lifestyle with a substantial income,
and also supported the Bayreuth Festival, which opened with the first performance of The Ring of Nibelugno in 1876. I settled permanently in that city, enjoying, albeit at a late age, the success and fame of my new art.The villa in which I settled was built with the king's financing and designed according to my wishes.
The name I gave it was Wahnfried, made up of the words wahn (madness) and fried (peace). I was convinced that I would finally find the peace of mind I had been seeking for so long there, but my health soon deteriorated.... In February 1883, while I was in the Venetian lagoon, writing the essay On the Feminine Element in
the Human Species, I suffered a heart attack. My body was brought back to Villa Wahnfried and buried in the garden.... You know, this house had a symbolic value for me: its very name evokes the sunset of a life lived under the banner of illusion, delirium and madness. All indissoluble ingredients of a visionary genius like me.
Sezione 3
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