We are working on this year's trip, check back often for updates
On our last afternoon in Lucerne, we paid a visit to Maestro Wagner's house. It's bus ride and quite a hike through property that might have once been part of his estate (formerly that of a wealthy Lucerne family) to get there. Tribschen is a trove of Wagneriana--photos, original manuscripts, family trees, etc. He and Cosima spent about six years there before moving to Bayreuth. Enjoying the lake and Alpine views, they welcomed Franz Liszt (Cosima's father), Wagner's patron King Ludwig II of Bavaria (who, in turn, invited Wagner many times to his fairy tale Neuschwanstein Castle), and Friedrich Nietzsche, among others.
Their son, Siegfried, was born at Tribschen in 1869. Wagner composed 'The Siegfried Idyll' there and performed it on the staircase as a birthday present to Cosima in December, 1870. Interestingly, Arturo Toscanini performed the Idyll in the same place in 1938 to open the first Lucerne Music Festival, the same summer fest we attended opening night 83 years later.
We heard a bit about Kanye West this summer, especially his bizarre concert in Chicago. Maybe interestingly, a piece in American Media, a Jesuit publication of all things, just had a glowing piece about K, comparing him to Wagner--similar outsized talent, amount of work, ego. Wild. https://www.americamagazine.org/arts-culture/2021/09/02/donda-kanye-west-review-241331