Joseph Conrad in Brussels - March, 1894

from Letter from Joseph Conrad to Christopher Sandeman, 5 June 1917 , page 208:

'I know absolutely nothing of the legends Wagner a mis en musique [has put to music]. I don't even know them by way of the opera-books, as the only Wagnerian production I've ever seen is his Tristan -- 24 years ago in Brussels.'
cite as

Joseph Conrad, Letter from Joseph Conrad to Christopher Sandeman, 5 June 1917 . In Laurence Davies, Owen Knowles, Gene M. Moore and J. H. Stape (ed.), The Collected Letters of Joseph Conrad vol.9, volume 9 (Cambridge, 2007), p. 208. https://led.kmi.open.ac.uk/entity/lexp/1387050545464 accessed: 25 December, 2024

location of experience: Brussels

Listeners

Joseph Conrad
Master mariner and writer
1857-1924

Listening to

hide composers
Tristan und Isolde
written by Richard Wagner

Experience Information

Date/Time March, 1894
Medium live
Listening Environment in the company of others, indoors, in public

Notes

These performances at the Théâtre de la Monnaie in Brussels, were the first Belgian performances of this work. The source text suggests that Conrad may have heard this performance in the company of his Belgian relative by marriage, the writer, Marguerite Poradowska. The context of the letter is that Sandeman, a journalist and author had sent Conrad a copy of a book of which he was a co-author "Die Hohenzollern-dammerung: eine Welt-Tragodie", in which the (see footnote 1 of source text, 'the Hohenzollern Dynasty was equated with Wagner's doomed gods.'

Originally submitted by Helen Chambers on Fri, 20 Dec 2013 14:36:22 +0000