That Richard Wagner Letter
The insights of the written word when given to its reader are limitless. Recently I have been reading Gena Branscombe’s letters to her publisher, Arthur P. Schmidt of Boston. Her letters begin in early January 1911 and continue through December 1951. The correspondence is abundant covering what works will be published, royalties, what concerts she was performing and the singers who were performing her songs. She included personal matters of what her children were doing, their shenanigans and the advice her husband gave her. Then one particular letter caught my attention with Miss Branscombe’s philosophical and heartfelt admiration of a composer. Her writing style is in the moment of what goes through her mind. She uses dashes as a way of pausing to think of what she will express next. In her letter to Schmidt dated June 26, 1915, she writes, “The work of Wagner is to me so transcendental - that I personally feel ...