The ‘First Wagner-Festival’: An Autobiography in Concert

In May 1853, Richard Wagner organized a highly successful festival of concerts and readings in his adoptive home of Zürich. Wagner explicitly linked the festival to his autobiographical essay, A Communication to my Friends, calling the programme of his concerts a ‘musical working-out’ of the essay. In this article, I unpick the ways in which Wagner altered and adapted both the facts of his life and the works through which he rehearsed it in order to present a coherent account to his audience.