Antisemitic Letter, Handwritten and Signed by Richard Wagner – Lucerne, 1869

Antisemitic Letter, Handwritten and Signed by Richard Wagner – Lucerne, 1869
Autograph letter signed by German composer Richard Wagner. Tribschen, Lucerne (Switzerland), March 9, 1869. German.
The letter was sent to French writer, philosopher and musicologist, Édouard Schuré, shortly after Wagner's famous antisemitic essay, "Judaism in music", was first published under his full name (the essay has been published previously under a pen name), and a month before Wagner's opera Rienzi premiered in Paris.
In his letter, Wagner relates to his essay "Judaism in music" (which he sent his addressee together with the letter), and expresses his antisemitic worldview: "You will learn much from it [from the essay]… in particular you will see that I… am not dealing with the French public, but rather with German Jews. If you would only ask who these gentlemen in Figaro [a leading French daily newspaper] are, you will see that they all have these certain Jewish German names such as Wolf, Hirsch, Bär".
Wagner also mentions the French poet and writer, Judith Mendès (daughter of the famous novelist Théophile Gautier), whose visit in his home several month later in summer 1869 (together with her husband, French-Jewish poet Catulle Mendès) commenced their longstanding relationship. He concludes his letter by asking Schuré to convey his greetings to Mr. and Mrs. Mendès, adding: "if my letter appears in La Liberté please send me four copies of it" (presumably in reference to the letter Wagner sent Judith Mendès in February 1869 about the Rienzi opera, for publication in La Liberté; the letter was published on March 10, a day after the present letter was written).
Wilhelm Richard Wagner (1813-1883), a leading German composer in the 19th century. His works, which were considered original and revolutionary in his times, furthered the musical language of opera, and of classical music in general.
Wagner was known for his antisemitic views, which were most sharply expressed in his essay Judaism in Music (Das Judentum in der Musik) – a venomous diatribe against European Jews and their culture, describing the negative impact of Jewish culture on German culture, the artistic failure of prominent Jewish composers (especially criticizing the compositions of Mendelssohn and Meyerbeer), and the only possible solution, in his mind, for Jews: "only one thing can redeem you [Jews] from the burden of your curse… total destruction" (this declaration, which concludes the essay, is seen by some historians as one of the precursors of German antisemitism in the 1930s and 1940s).
Wagner first published this essay in 1850, under the pen name K. Freigedank (K. Freethought), after he was exiled from Germany for his part in the 1848 revolutions. Only in 1869, after he returned to Germany and became a protégé of King Ludwig II, did Wagner republish the essay in an expanded version under his full name.
[1] leaf, folded in two (three written pages). 18.5 cm. Good condition. Folding marks and minor stains.