Sigma Alpha Iota

Winter 2019 12 PAN PIPES Following the Baton A S I N G U L A R T R E A S U R E F I N D S I T S W A Y H O M E By Hannah Jo Smith As fortune would have it, for twenty years I was the guardian of an engraved conductor's baton once belonging to Richard Wagner. Last summer the baton was returned to the Richard Wagner Museum in Bayreuth, Germany. As it made its way home, the little wooden stick enjoyed a season in the public eye, making a lasting impression on those who heard its remarkable story. Many music-lovers know the famous tale of Richard Wagner's birthday present to his beloved wife, Cosima – the performance of a new composition in the stairwell outside her bedroom on Christmas morning, 1870. ose scholars who have read Cosima's diary might also know that the baton Wagner used to conduct the ensemble was engraved by a local artisan to memorialize the event: the date of the performance inscribed along one face and the title of the work, Tribschener Idyll, along the opposite side. Modern listeners know this exquisitely intimate piece as the Siegfried Idyll, but, until recently, only a handful of people knew the fate of the treasured baton. Found by an American soldier in the rubble of the bombed-out Wagner home in Bayreuth in April of 1945, this legendary artifact came out of the shadows and into the spotlight in the summer of 2018. With the help of a professional development grant from Sigma Alpha Iota Philanthropies, I carried the baton to Leipzig, Germany (Wagner's hometown) to deliver a paper with my friend and colleague, University of Nebraska– Lincoln Music Librarian, Anita Breckbill; on the 26th of July, at the annual Congress of the International Association of Music Libraries (IAML), we presented "Follow the Baton: the Story of the Wagner Siegfried Idyll Baton." Congress attendees joined the exclusive 'baton circle' as they learned what happened to the unique wooden stick aer the war, why it turned up in Lincoln, Nebraska, and how it would make its way back to Bayreuth again. e original owners of the baton, Richard and Cosima Wagner, were a 19th –century power couple – the center of a universe of their own design. Surrounding himself with disciples affirming his genius, Wagner engendered devotion to the point of idolatry. While the extraordinary family legend includes multiple scandals, adultery, out-of-wedlock births, anti- Semitism, and money problems, the Wagners maintained control of their sphere with the support of the Prince, the Emperor, and later, the Führer. Hidden photographs, family arguments, and composer-worship emerge as illuminating details against the background of mythic texts and transcendent music. Francesca Gaetana Cosima Liszt, daughter of the Hungarian pianist and composer, Franz Liszt, married her father's prize student, Hans von Bülow. On their honeymoon, the newlyweds visited von Bülow's idol, Richard Wagner. Years later, Richard and Cosima began their love affair, and Cosima had three children with Wagner—Isolde, Eva, and Siegfried—all named for characters in Wagner's operas. A year aer Siegfried's birth, von Bülow granted Cosima a divorce; later that summer she and Richard were married in Lucerne, Switzerland, and made their home in nearby Tribschen. When Cosima's December birthday drew near, Richard was inspired to make a special gi; he composed a piece combining themes from his opera, Siegfried, a lullaby he wrote for his children, and musical memories of the birth of their son. e full title in the score is "Tribschener Idyll with Fidi-birdsong and orange sunrise as a symphonic birthday greeting to his Cosima, offered by her Richard, 1870." (Fidi is a nickname for Siegfried.) Wagner John Keller Hannah Jo Smith with the Wagner Baton. PAN PIPES Winter 2019 12 WAGNER'S BATON

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