February is a month of strong association with the life and music of Richard Wagner. Not only this year, but every year since he was born. We look at it from both the personal perspective and the professional one in this latest Wagner Tuba News item.
February for Richard Wagner – Personal Life
February 12-14 1874
In 1874 Cosima Wagner was still keeping a diary of her life with Richard Wagner. She had started in 1869 and continued until Wagner’s death in 1883. Her diary entries were on a regular, often daily, basis and they focused primarily on the progress of Wagner’s musical work, particularly the Ring. Occasionally, however, Cosima gave clues as to Wagner’s mood. February 1874 is a good example.
There is an entry for February 12-14 which gives an idea of the stress that both Cosima and Richard were feeling at that time. Cosima writes in her own words but also includes a quote by Richard. The entry is of course in German but here is an English translation of the relevant extract:
“Didn’t write in my diary this week, my eyes are hurting. R. is in great distress …. R. can’t get hold of his score, which upsets him greatly. “My job would be to always produce, now to work on Parsifal, but I am being held up by things that others should be doing. Without a school, without a stage, without anyone to assist me, I am here and have to keep working on what I have created for years in order to complete it properly.” ….”
February 13 1883: Death of Richard Wagner
Cosima’s diary keeping ends abruptly in February 1883. Her final diary entry is dated February 12, 1883, shortly before Wagner suffered what proved to be a fatal heart attack. According to Cosima, they had just been finishing a meal when Wagner could be heard singing the opening line of the finale from Mozart’s Don Giovanni …. “Don Giovanni, a cenar teco m’invitasti” (Don Giovanni, you invited me to dine with you).
Note: There is an interesting historic relevance of Wagner’s death to the Wagner tuba. When Anton Bruckner heard of the death of his friend and mentor, he was working on the score of the Adagio (second movement) of his Seventh Symphony. Bruckner added four Wagner tubas to the movement and specifically noted that it was funeral music for “the Master”.
Bruckner went on to include the Wagner tuba in his Symphony No. 8 and Symphony No. 9. Particularly prominent is the role of the Wagner tuba in the Adagio of the 9th.
Richard Wagner’s Music in the month of February
February has some notable connections to performances of Wagner’s music.
Concerts featuring the music of Richard Wagner on Friday, February 13, 2026
Not surprisingly, on Friday February 13 2026 there are several notable performances of Wagner’s music. These include:
- Florence, Italy at the Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino – A concert performance of Der Ring ohne Worte (The Ring without Words), featuring the musicAeterna orchestra conducted by Teodor Currentzis.
- Aberystwyth, Wales at Holy Trinity Church – AberOpera performing the Pilgrims’ Chorus from Tannhäuser.
- London, England at the Royal Academy of Music – Wagner excerpts featured in the Royal Academy Opera Scenes performance.
Das Rheingold Rehearsals February 2026
In 1967 the Salzburg Easter Festival, the creation of conductor Herbert von Karajan, was born. This year the festival features Richard Wagner’s Das Rheingold.
A side note of interest: it was whilst working on the composition of Das Rheingold in 1853 that Wagner first had the idea for the Wagner tuba as an instrument in its own right – read more here.
Rehearsals for this Easter’s performance in Salzburg are already under way.
On 11 February the Festival announced that rehearsals for its forthcoming staging of Das Rheingold had officially begun in Salzburg. Nikolaus Bachler (Artistic Director) gave a warm greeting to everyone involved in the production (including conductor Kirill Petrenko) and welcomed the return of the Berliner Philharmoniker for the forthcoming premiere on 27 March 2026.
The full account of this first rehearsal meeting and who was involved is on the official Instagram post here.
Notable February Performances Featuring The Wagner Tuba
- On 12 February 2026 the Royal College of Music Symphony Orchestra peformed Bruckner’s Symphony No. 7 with four Wagner tubas featured in the Adagio. Details here
- On 24 February 2019 hornist and Wagner tubist Tren Cheshier performed The Edel Rhapsody with the Cleveland Heights Orchestra. The link provides details about this special performance and includes an interview with the soloist, who describes how he discovered his love for the Wagner tuba.
