Eva Rieger, How a Women’s Network Kept Wagner’s Tradition Alive

November 2018, Volume 12, Number 3, 49–61.

When Wagner died, most of his followers despaired that his widow Cosima would ever be able to run his festival and direct his works without a comprehensive administrative apparatus to help her. But she surprised them. As one contemporary wrote: ‘Very few people suspected that this woman, with her powerful, almost manly spirit, would be the only person able to preserve these works in a manner worthy of the spirit of their creator.’ In other words, it seems she needed ‘a manly spirit’ to be able to run the Bayreuth Festival. She needed a lot of courage, too – but that was certainly something she possessed.