Guests at the Lohengrinhaus - now and then.

Hot high summer here. My plans to trace the walks that Wagner did from this house have been temporarily shelved while we wait for the promised cool breezes to blow in this evening.  A few intrepid Wagnerians have made the 40 minute journey from downtown Dresden to visit the 2 rooms in this house where Wagner and first wife Minna lodged, and to walk the few yards across the country road to the elegant hunting lodge cum castle with its beautiful views across the high-summer countryside where the fine Wagner museum is housed.

Should you care to visit, the journey is quite simple: take the number 4 tram direction Laubegast, change at Schillerplatz and take the 63 bus to Graupa - Tchaikowski-Platz. The museum entrance is across the street and a few yards back down the road. Sometimes the 63 bus terminates at Pillnitz but never fear, another bus will come along in a matter of minutes and take you all the way. Should you decide to visit anytime in the next week, let me know and I will be happy to make you a cup of tea. The museum is open Tue-Fri 10-1700 hrs and on weekends and holidays from 10-1800.

The bus ride from Schillerplatz to Graupa is lovely, passing  vineyards, briefly following the Elbe and stopping at a number of villages with quaint half-timbered houses and opulent gardens.

Wagner, for all his bad press, was a highly gregarious man and often complained that, while he needed solitude for his work, as soon as work was over for the day, he needed company. He received quite a few visitors here at the Lohengrinhaus including his great friend, Röckel,  the active socialist, with whom he'd later participate in the 1848 uprisings. But the visitor with whom his own fate was to be intertwined was a mere boy of 16 when he came to visit Wagner. His name was Hans von Bülow and he would become a conductor and the greatest champion of Wagner's work. He would also marry Cosima only to have Wagner father two daughters with her while  they were still married. Cosima would eventually leave him after much soul-searching and make what was, apparently, a very happy marriage with the very difficult Wagner.

Imagine all that potential intrigue under the roof of what was then a humble farmhouse.