Wagner Museum Acquires Original Tannhäuser Libretto Manuscript

The Richard Wagner Museum in Bayreuth has acquired the original draft manuscript of the libretto for Tannhäuser, penned by the composer himself. The autograph manuscript fills a significant gap in the holdings of the National Archive, bridging the developmental phase between Wagner’s prose sketch and the final version of the opera’s text.

Originally titled Der Venusberg, the manuscript comprises the original cover, a title page, and 17 pages across ten bifolios, signed “Richard Wagner” at the end. Thanks to precise dating, the libretto’s creation can now be definitively placed between 29 January and 22 March 1843. The document includes the original text with numerous corrections, deletions, and additions, and diverges in multiple respects from the clean copy already housed in the Wagner Archive – including differences in text, stage directions, scene structure, and other editorial details.

Autograph manuscripts of this scale by Wagner (1813–1883), especially as complete sets, are extremely rare. Believed lost until 1996, the manuscript resurfaced at Sotheby’s and was most recently auctioned by Christie’s in late 2024, having belonged to the late art collector Helmut Nanz.

The acquisition, costing around €140,000 including fees and tax, was jointly funded by the German Federal Cultural Foundation and the Upper Franconia Foundation. “Securing this unique manuscript ensures the preservation of a key document from a decisive period in Wagner’s artistic development—for researchers, the public, and the cultural memory of Germany,” said Frank Druffner, acting Secretary General of the Cultural Foundation.

The manuscript will be made accessible to the public and academic researchers. The National Archive of the Richard Wagner Foundation is responsible for the estate of the composer, his second wife Cosima, and their descendants. It remains the world’s most significant repository for Wagner-related materials, including autograph scores, letters, documents, photographs, and other artefacts.