# Wagner in Minnesota?



## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

In the _Composer's Datebook_ e-mailed daily by American Public Media:

"…for one million U.S. dollars, Wagner himself was prepared to…settle in America, offering in exchange the premiere and exclusive performance rights to his latest opera, 'Parsifal.' That was the offer Wagner outlined in a letter to his American dentist on today's date in 1880."

"Wagner's wife, Cosima, recorded in her diary that Wagner seemed obsessed with idea of settling in Minnesota…"

Has anybody else heard about this? Is there more to the story? I was just the tiniest bit surprised to read it…


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## MarkW (Feb 16, 2015)

Did Minnesota even exist in 1880?


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## Bulldog (Nov 21, 2013)

Minnesota became a state in 1858. Maybe Wagner was enchanted with lakes; Minnesota has over 10,000 of them.


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## MarkW (Feb 16, 2015)

Bulldog said:


> Minnesota became a state in 1858. Maybe Wagner was enchanted with lakes; Minnesota has over 10,000 of them.


Until they all relocated to Los Angeles.


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## mbhaub (Dec 2, 2016)

Indeed he did toy with the idea. Here's a good summary:
https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/a-walking-tour-of-wagners-new-york


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

The story reminded me of Sam Neill as Capt. Vasili Borodin: “I will live in Montana … And I will have a pickup truck.”


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## mbhaub (Dec 2, 2016)

Or Iphigenia in Brooklyn


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

mbhaub said:


> Indeed he did toy with the idea. Here's a good summary:
> https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/a-walking-tour-of-wagners-new-york


A great article. Thanks!


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## eugeneonagain (May 14, 2017)

KenOC said:


> A great article. Thanks!


Yes, I just read through it too. Fascinating. I wonder how many of the folks living on 'Lohengrin Place' and 'Valhalla Drive' know of their origins?


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## mathisdermaler (Mar 29, 2017)

OMG!!! As a Minnesotan this is the funniest thing I've seen all day. I wish Wagner had settled here, then maybe we would get more productions! The Minnesota Opera played Thais, Figaro, Rigoletto and Dead Man Walking (a new opera) this year, but no Wagner... I don't think they have in a while. Our orchestra never plays Wagner or Bruckner either. Quite sad. Mahler 2 was good tho. Well that was a tangent.


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## DaveM (Jun 29, 2015)

Don't forget: Prince lived in Minnesota.


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## Boston Charlie (Dec 6, 2017)

I guess it's reasonable to think that it could happened. Dvorak lived in Spillville, Iowa for two or three years before returning back to Europe. Rachmaninoff ended up in Beverly Hills, California.


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## EddieRUKiddingVarese (Jan 8, 2013)

Just as well is was not Montana- too much Dental Floss


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## Star (May 27, 2017)

No mad kings to sponge off in Minnesota.


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## EddieRUKiddingVarese (Jan 8, 2013)

Star said:


> No mad kings to sponge off in Minnesota.


Just mad rock stars


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## mbhaub (Dec 2, 2016)

Really, Dvorak only spent some time in the summers in Iowa. Spillville isn't much of anything anymore, but a nice nostalgic drive for music lovers.

Anyway - yes, Rachmaninoff lived in Beverly Hills, but he is buried in Kensico Cemetery in - believe it or not - VALHALLA, New York.


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## superhorn (Mar 23, 2010)

Fascinating story . Possibly if Wagner had lived some years longer . But we'll never know .


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

He'd never have gone to Minnesota. The Wagner societies were in the east, and the Hudson, with its grand estates built on the bluffs along the river, would have reminded him of the Rhine. No doubt some wealthy music lover would have installed him in a cottage, where he and his patron's wife would have passed pleasant hours while Cosima and Siegfried were busy running the Wagner Festival at Sleepy Hollow.


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## Triplets (Sep 4, 2014)

Boston Charlie said:


> I guess it's reasonable to think that it could happened. Dvorak lived in Spillville, Iowa for two or three years before returning back to Europe. Rachmaninoff ended up in Beverly Hills, California.


I think he summered in Iowa. The rest of the year he was in New York


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## Chromatose (Jan 18, 2016)

This is very fascinating, who'd of thunk it Wagner in St. Paul?


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## christomacin (Oct 21, 2017)

Would've been awkward for the Nazi propaganda during World War II, eh? I guess they would have had to settle for the less exploitable Bruckner and Richard Strauss instead.


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