Complete Letters 26

The Bayreuth Festival company’s financial situation is so precarious in 1874 that Wagner decides to discontinue. When at the last minute, the loan of 100,000 thalers from Ludwig II’s cabinet treasury secures the work progress, the stage technology for the festival theater and the decor for the Ring des Nibelungen are commissioned, though the 1875 performance date can no longer be kept.

Causing unrest is Wagner’s move into his longed-for, own residence, dubbed “Wahnfried.” He also spends the year composing the Götterdämmerung score, completing its last score page on 21 November 1874, thus finishing the Ring after more than 20 years.