Cancelled: Leeds Lieder Festival | The view from the Villa

In 1855 Wagner’s patron Otto Wesendonck and his wife Mathilde built a sumptuous villa overlooking Zürich. Two years later they bought the house next door, Asyl, and invited Wagner and his wife Minna to move in. The Wagners were at one another’s throats. Mathilde was young, beautiful and highly intelligent.

What could possibly go wrong? Mathilde was a prolific writer of plays, poetry and prose.
Music lovers are indebted to her for five poems that Wagner set, now known as the Wesendonck- Lieder, two of which are marked Sketches for Tristan and Isolde. The comings and goings between house and villa culminated in a public scandal. This music theatre piece explores the spaces between those songs. All the music is by Wagner. It was specially created for the 2018 St Endellion Summer Festival.