Composer Richard Wagner (1813 in Leipzig – 1883 in Venice) is said to have drafted his first melodies and sketches for “Lohengrin” at this desk. The piece of furniture is currently being restored in Andreas Scheuch’s workshop. Restauro was able to accompany the individual work steps on the Lohengrin desk. The Lohengrin desk originally stood in the Lohengrin House in Graupa, which is now part of the […]
Composer Richard Wagner (1813 in Leipzig – 1883 in Venice) is said to have drafted his first melodies and sketches for “Lohengrin” at this desk. The piece of furniture is currently being restored in Andreas Scheuch’s workshop. Restauro was able to accompany the individual work steps on the Lohengrin desk.
The Lohengrin desk originally stood in the Lohengrin House in Graupa, which is now part of the Richard Wagner Memorial. It was here that Wagner spent his vacation with his wife Minna from 1846 and drafted the composition sketches for the opera “Lohengrin”. In 1928, the desk was purchased by the former Wagner Memorial and moved to Bayreuth to the Wahnfried House, Wagner’s former home. It was run as the Richard Wagner Museum from 1976 until it was closed in 2010 for extensive renovation work. In August 2015, the work will be completed and Haus Wahnfried, adapted to modern standards, will be opened to visitors together with a new museum building and the burial place of Richard and Cosima Wagner on the site – as a new museum complex with the National Archive of the Richard Wagner Foundation.
Object sponsorships made it possible to restore a number of collection objects that had been in Haus Wahnfried for decades. The objects are assigned to different restorers, who carry out the conservation and restoration work and document it in detail. The restoration of “Wagner’s death sofa”, for example, has already been completed and the before and after states can be seen in pictures on the website. There will not be such a stark contrast with the Lohengrin desk, which is being worked on in Andreas Scheuch’s restoration workshop: “Above all, we are carrying out conservation work, leaving traces of use and ageing.”
Previous condition of the desk
The Biedermeier furniture is listed in the inventory as a mahogany desk. The supporting wood of the two-part piece of furniture (desk with top) is made of softwood, the drawers are made of maple with the exception of the fronts. The insides of the doors are veneered with stained and polished maple. The mahogany veneer has the veining typical of the Biedermeier period (“pyramid mahogany”). The small profile strips and half-round strips are largely made of solid mahogany. The writing desk has drawers that can be locked on both the left and right sides – ten in total – whose locks, keys and key bushes are of a high standard of craftsmanship and could therefore be locked securely. “An indication that the desk was made as a piece of storage furniture for important documents,” says Scheuch. The keys and some of the sockets are missing. The surfaces of the light-protected insides still give an indication of the original coloration and the degree of gloss of the hand-polished surfaces. The green writing surface on the original pull-out writing board shows heavy traces of use, ink, ink and presumably sealing wax.
Restoration steps
After documenting the previous condition and determining the restoration objectives, the furniture is cleaned dry and damp. Loosened solid wood parts and veneers are consolidated with glutinous hot glue, conspicuous flaws that distort the overall appearance are replaced with wood of the same type following the outbreak. The high-quality locks are cleaned and repaired by the metal restorer, and missing key bushes and fittings are reproduced. Fitting the missing and broken key bushes requires delicate craftsmanship. The existing surface is cleaned and any imperfections are carefully matched with a neutral retouch. Finally, the gloss level on the heavily thinned areas is adjusted with diluted shellac and the polishing pad. The aim here is to achieve a cohesive overall appearance while retaining the signs of wear and time. Originally, there were small balusters or moldings on the top of the top and on the sides of the writing tablet, which are now missing. Traces of the mounting are still present and have been left as such.
Path of the object
The inventory entry for the Lohengrin desk describes its journey to Bayreuth as follows: “Lohengrin desk Bi 1249, previous owner: Mrs. Ritter Gift from Heinrich Balles Kw. [purchase value] 16.6.1928”. “Würzburg” is noted on the back of the piece of furniture, but it is not clear where it definitely came from. What is certain is where the desk will go after its careful restoration: it will be returned to Bayreuth together with its historical traces and thus to the collection of the Richard Wagner Museum and National Archive and will be available for special exhibitions.
