Wolfgang Wagner (1919-2010)

To mark the death of Wolfgang Wagner,  grandson of Richard Wagner, here are two pictures and a quote from Twilight of the Wagners, by Gottfried Wagner, son of Wolfgang.

Picture 1: Wolfgang at age 20.

Picture 2: Wolfgang and his brother Wieland flank the man they called "Uncle Wolf".

And this remembrance of Wolfgang Wagner by his son Gottfried - from page 41 of Twilight of the Wagners:

And Hitler, again and again!  After the National Socialist' seizure of power a "Fuhrer annex" had been specially built onto the Siegfried Wagner House, and inside the annex was built the "Fuhrer fireplace."  After a performance of Gotterdammerung in the Festspielhaus, my uncle and Father accepted Hitler's invitation to a lengthy nighttime discussion at the "Fuhrer fireplace" on the future of German art in the spirit of Richard Wagner, as an expression of the renewal of the world through National Socialism.  I had some difficulty in understanding my father's torrent of words, but didn't interrupt for fear of provoking him to break off, and he continued his story.  "We were sitting around the fireplace, and Hitler sketched out for us his cultural visions of the future. 'Once we have rid the world of the Bolshevik-Jewish conspirators, then you, Wieland, will run the theater of the West and you, Wolfgang, the theater of the East.' "

Wolfgang Wagner Tags: Wolfgang Wagner. . . Richard Wagner. . . Gottfried Wagner. . . Adolf Hitler