[Wagner, Richard. (1813–1883)] Wagner, Friedelind. (1918–1991). Archive of Letters. An extraordinary archive of 19 letters and cards from the grandaughter of Richard Wagner, daughter of Siegfried Wagner, known by the nickname "Mausi." Together with a signed and inscribed copy of her 1945 memoir "Heritage of Fire" (Harper & Brothers, New York, 1945. Hardcover. First American edition). The book and all of the letters in fine condition, all addressed to actress and writer Ruth Marton, née Muhsam (1912 - 1999).


ALS. 5 pp. 11.10.53. Written across the verso of 5 individual Wagner-themed postcards, signed "Maussi."


ALS. 2 pp. 9. 12. 55. In English.


TLS. 6 pp. 15.5.56. In German, untranslated. Signed "Friedelind"


TLS. 3 pp. 10.6.56. In German, untranslated. Signed "Friedelind."


TLS. 2 pp. 22.5.58. In German, untranslated. Signed "Mausi."


TLS. 1 p. 8.6.58. In German, untranslated. Signed "Mausi."


TLS. 3 pp. 15.7.58. In German, untranslated. Signed "Mausi."


TLS. 2 pp. 19.9.58. In German, untranslated. Signed "Mausi."


TLS. 2 pp. 19.10.61. In German, untranslated. Signed "Mausi." Together with clipping and programs.


TLS. 2 pp. 2.12.68. In German, untranslated. Signed "Mausi." Together with retained carbon copy of reply, dated 18.12.68 and a short note on the verso of a Bayreuth clipping.


Nine ANS, mostly written in various cards, generally Wagner or music-themed, all signed and inscribed with a few autograph sentences. Dated 1953, 1956, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1965 (with separate ALS laid in), 1966, two undated


Autograph Letter in an unknown hand, dated 12.XI.1915. 1 page, letterhead of the Richard Wagner Variete und Circus Argentur. Signed "Rich. Wagner."


Related newspaper clippings.





Along with other members of her family, from early in life Friedelind Wagner was involved with the Bayreuth Festspielhaus. In 1936, she began work as an assistant to Heinz Tietjen but her outspoken criticism of close family friend Adolf Hitler and the policies of the Third Reich led to her leaving Germany in 1939. She lived for a short time in Switzerland before emigrating first to England where she began writing anti-Nazi columns for the Daily Sketch newspaper. Wagner eventually returned to work at the Bayreuth Festival and in 1976 was part of the team that made the documentary film "Wagner:The Making of the Ring" which was filmed during the creation of the Pierre Boulez/Patrice Chéreau Ring.


Ruth Muehsam's first acting role was in Strasbourg, France, playing Phoebe in a German version of Shakespeare’s As You Like It (Wie Es Euch Gefaellt). After a short time spent in London Ruth Marton went to Vienna, where she took smaller parts and even worked as a clothing designer. It was in Vienna that she became a close friend of the writer and poet Alexander Lernet-Holenia, who created a part for her in a play at the Volkstheater, the short-lived Die Frau des Potiphar (Potiphar’s Wife), in spite of the objections of the theater’s superintendent, Rolf Jahn. She moved to the United States in 1937 and worked as an actress and writer. She was a close friend and associate of Erich Maria Remarque, John Huston and Max Reinhardt.


The papers of Ruth Muehsam are held at the Leo Baeck Institute Center for Jewish History in New York.