Editing Cosima Wagner (section)

=== Munich and Tribschen ===
[[File:Koning ludwig II van beieren.jpg|thumb|upright|Ludwig II of Bavaria, Wagner's financial rescuer and sponsor for many years]]
In 1864 Wagner's financial position was transformed by his new patron, the 18-year-old [[Ludwig II of Bavaria|King Ludwig II of Bavaria]], who paid off the composer's debts and awarded him a generous annual stipend.{{sfn|Hilmes|p=71}} Ludwig also provided Wagner with a lakeside retreat at [[Lake Starnberg]], and a grand house in Munich.<ref name=M55>{{harvnb|Marek|pp=55–60}}</ref> At Wagner's instigation, von Bülow accepted a post as Ludwig's "royal pianist";{{sfn|Hilmes|p=72}} he and Cosima moved to Munich, and took a house conveniently close to Wagner's, ostensibly so that Cosima could work as the composer's secretary.<ref name=M55 /> From 29 June 1864 Cosima spent more than a week alone with Wagner at Lake Starnberg, before von Bülow joined them on 7 July. According to Wagner's housekeeper, Anna Mrazek, "it was easy to tell that something was going on between Frau Cosima and Richard Wagner". Mrazek said that later in the visit von Bülow found his wife in Wagner's bedroom, but nevertheless made no demands for an explanation, either from Wagner or from his wife.{{sfn|Hilmes|pp=73–74}} Nine months after this visit, on 10 April 1865, Cosima gave birth to a daughter, [[Isolde Beidler|Isolde]]. Such was von Bülow's devotion to Wagner that he accepted the child as his own, and registered her as "the legitimate daughter" of Hans and Cosima von Bülow.{{sfn|Hilmes|p=81}}{{refn|group=n|Wagner's biographer Robert W. Gutman suggests that von Bülow may genuinely have believed, or at least hoped, that the child was his, "until the passing of weeks saw the development of the unmistakeable domelike brow, aquiline nose, and protruding jaw".{{sfn|Gutman|p=336}}}} Wagner attended the Catholic baptism on 24 April. On 10 June 1865, at the [[Bavarian State Opera|Munich Hofoper]], von Bülow conducted the premiere of Wagner's ''[[Tristan und Isolde]]''.{{sfn|Osborne|p=131}}

Wagner's role at Ludwig's court became controversial; in particular, Ludwig's habit of referring Wagner's policy ideas to his ministers alarmed the court. When Wagner demanded the sacking both of Ludwig's cabinet secretary and of his prime minister, there was a public outcry, and in December 1865 Ludwig reluctantly told Wagner to leave Bavaria.{{sfn|Hilmes|pp=91–93}} The king did not, however, withdraw his patronage or financial support. After a few months' wandering, in March 1866 Wagner arrived in [[Geneva]], where Cosima joined him. They travelled together to [[Lucerne]] where they found a large lakeside house, the [[Villa Tribschen]]. Wagner made immediate arrangements to rent the house, at the king's expense, and by 15 April was installed in his new home.{{sfn|Marek|p=81}}
[[File:Luzern Haus Tribschen.JPG|thumb|left|The Villa Tribschen, Wagner's home in Switzerland between 1866 and 1872]]
Immediately upon signing the lease, Wagner invited the von Bülows and their children to stay with him.{{sfn|Marek|p=82}} They spent the summer there, returning briefly to Munich before von Bülow left for [[Basel]] while Cosima went back to Tribschen.{{sfn|Hilmes|pp=98–99}} By now von Bülow understood his wife's relationship with Wagner; he wrote to a friend that "since February 1865 I was in absolutely no doubt about the extremely peculiar nature of the situation". Wagner, anxious to avoid associating Cosima in a public scandal, deceived Ludwig into issuing a statement in June 1866 which declared the unbroken sanctity of the von Bülows' marriage, and promised retribution for those daring to suggest otherwise.{{sfn|Hilmes|p=97}} By this time Cosima was pregnant with her second child by Wagner; a daughter, [[Eva Chamberlain|Eva]], was born at Tribschen on 17 February 1867. Through all this, von Bülow retained his devotion to Wagner's music. He had been appointed music director of the Munich Hofoper, and threw himself into the preparations for the premiere of ''Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg''. This took place on 21 June 1868 under his baton, and was a great success.{{sfn|Osborne|p=153}} Shortly afterwards, Cosima rejoined Wagner at Tribschen; Wagner explained to the king that she could not bear the insults to which she was continually subjected in Munich, and wished to escape from the world.{{sfn|Marek|p=98}}
[[File:Fritz Luckhardt - Richard y Cosima Wagner (9 de mayo de 1872, Viena).jpg|thumb|upright|Richard and Cosima Wagner, photographed in 1872]]
In October 1868 Cosima asked her husband for a divorce, to which he would not initially agree. To sceptical enquirers he explained her absence from the [[Bülow family|von Bülow family]] home by a supposed visit to her half-sister in Versailles.{{sfn|Hilmes|p=102}}{{sfn|Marek|p=102}} In June 1869, immediately after the birth of her and Wagner's third and final child, [[Siegfried Wagner|Siegfried]], Cosima wrote to von Bülow in what she called a "final attempt at an understanding".{{sfn|Skelton (ed.)|p=27}} His reply was conciliatory; he wrote: "You have preferred to consecrate the treasures of your heart and mind to a higher being: far from censuring you for this step, I approve of it".{{sfn|Marek|p=111}} Legal processes extended the marriage until 18 July 1870, when the divorce was finally sanctioned by a Berlin court.{{sfn|Hilmes|p=118}} After the divorce von Bülow distanced himself from both Wagner and Cosima; he never again spoke to Wagner, and 11 years passed before his next meeting with Cosima.<ref name=M113 />

Wagner and Cosima were married at Lucerne, on 25 August 1870, in a Protestant church.<ref name=H119>{{harvnb|Hilmes|p=119}}</ref>{{refn|group=n|Wagner was by baptism a [[Lutheranism|Lutheran]]; at the time of the wedding Cosima was still nominally a Catholic. She did not formally convert to Protestantism until October 1872.{{sfn|Gutman|p=26}}<ref name=H123>{{harvnb|Hilmes|pp=123–124}}</ref>}} Cosima's journal for that day records: "May I be worthy of bearing R's name!"{{sfn|Skelton (ed.)|p=71}} Liszt was not informed in advance of the wedding, and learned of it first through the newspapers.{{sfn|Watson|p=146}} The year ended on a high note for the Wagners: on 25&nbsp;December, the day on which Cosima always celebrated her birthday although she had been born on the 24th, she awoke to the sounds of music. She commemorated the event in her journal: "... music was sounding, and what music! After it had died away, R ... put into my hands the score of his "Symphonic Birthday Greeting. ... R had set up his orchestra on the stairs, and thus consecrated our Tribschen forever!"{{sfn|Skelton (ed.)|p=84}} This was the first performance of the music that became known as the ''[[Siegfried Idyll]]''.<ref name=H119 />