Scholz:»Gott, wenn ich nur recht viel C

The great kitchen philosopher Anthelme Brillat-Savarin once said: "Tell me what you eat and I will tell you what you are." It is legitimate to ask about Richard Wagner's culinary preferences, especially as this question was hardly ever asked. Wagner was a creature of luxury and a great spender. For him, however, comfort was more than just a substitute for culinary satisfaction; it was a means of survival and a prerequisite for his art. For him, comfort was not just a lot of alcohol in the form of beer, wine and champagne, but also oysters, fish, cheese, venison, cigars and snuff. The finest custom-made textiles (pink was his favourite colour), luxurious travel, an artist's villa as his company headquarters and a wife who served as his secretary, muse and mistress. Above all, Wagner needed money, lots of money. He was without question a creative artist in life, but also a shameless, always ailing "pump genius" of a not necessarily likeable character. Scholz seems keen to follow this trail and to analyse all available sources, letters and the opinions of contemporaries, especially the diaries of his wife Cosima.