Born: 24 December 1837, Italy
Died: 1 April 1930
Country most active: Germany
Also known as: Francesca Gaetana Cosima Liszt
From Famous Women: An Outline of Feminine Achievement Through the Ages With Life Stories of Five Hundred Noted Women. Written by Joseph Adelman, published 1926 by Ellis M Lonow Company:
Cosima Wagner, the second wife of Richard Wagner. She was the daughter of Franz Liszt and the Countess d’Agoult, and in 1858 became the wife of Hans von Bülow, the pianist.
She separated from him in 1969 and the following year was married to Wagner. She brought to the great composer a rare character and gifts, and he found true happiness in her constant sympathy and companionship.
She penetrated into and assimilated Wagner’s ideals, and after his death in 1883 she continued the festivals as the leading spirit of Beyreuth and the keeper of her husband’s precious heritage to mankind.
The following is excerpted from “400 Outstanding Women of the World and the Costumology of Their Time” by Minna Moscherosch Schmidt, published in 1933.
She was the daughter of Franz Liszt and the Countess d’Agoult, and, in 1857, became the wife of the famous pianist, Hans von Bulow.
She was separated from him after twelve years and was married to Richard Wagner. She brought to the great composer a rare and gifted character, and he found true happiness in her constant sympathy and companionship. After his death in 1883, keeper of her husband’s precious heritage to mankind, she became the leading spirit in the festivals at Bayreuth, because Wagner’s ideals had become her own. In recognition of her colossal energy in furthering her husband’s work, the University of Berlin at its one hundredth jubilee, presented to Gosima Wagner, the first German woman to receive it, an honorary Doctor’s Degree in 1910.
IW note: Wagner co-founded the Bayreuth Festival and was also a noted anti-Semite, contributing to the strong association between her husband’s music and Nazism.