Translation of Das braune Buch.

Includes bibliographical references (page 9) and index.

The Brown Book, so-called by Wagner for its calf binding, was a gift from Cosima, and used by him, when apart from her, to record his thoughts and feelings about her, for her later perusal. So, in the early pages, he pours out passionate declarations and reproaches. But after they had taken up residence together at Triebschen, its contents became more general--a prose sketch of Parsifal, many poems, drafts of two comedies, a moving memoir of the tenor Ludwig Schnorr, the first Tristan, whose death was a great blow to Wagner; and much else. At all times, however, his preoccupation is with his own aesthetic, and the book is often fascinatingly revelatory. This is the first complete publication of the original manuscript, and while something over half of it has been previously published, here and there and at different times, these previously published parts are now difficult of access or out of print. Furthermore, the present version contains new revelations, for Eva Wagner, to whom Cosima handed on the book, censored it by sticking together those pages of which she disapproved: revelations of Cosima's jealousy of Mathilde Maier, or Wagner's irritation over Ludwig's plan for a Munich Festival Theatre. All these pages have now been opened up. The book contains many absorbing sidelights--Wagner likening himself to "a tropical plant in a winter garden"; his description of Walchensee; and so on. And though it is largely made up of separate items, the book has its own unity in that Wagner had recourse to it when deeply moved inwardly, when affected by grief, irritation or even anger. Stewart Spencer, reviewing the German edition in the magazine of the Wagner Society, says that the book "must rank second in importance among Wagner's autobiographical writings, after Mein Leben (and for spontaneity of expression and unguarded utterance many will regard it as superior to the latter) ... We may [now] see the extent to which Wagner's life and art had become synonymous."

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