Richard Wagner with his family and family friends Heinrich von Stein (left) and Paul von Joukowsky (right) in front of Villa Wahnfried in Bayreuth. Daniela von Bülow is in the center, standing. Photograph dated August 23, 1881
Baroness Daniela von Bülow (12 October 1860 – 28 July 1940), nicknamed Loulou or Lusch , was a German
pianist and
costume designer.[1]
Biography
Born as Daniela Senta von Bülow Liszt on 12 October 1860 in
Berlin, Germany, Daniela von Bülow was the first daughter of the conductor and pianist
Hans von Bülow, and
Cosima Liszt. She was named after Cosima's brother, Daniel Liszt, who “had tragically died of consumption in 1859”.[2] She was the step-daughter of
Richard Wagner , German composer, and the granddaughter of
Franz Liszt, Hungarian composer, pianist and teacher. [3]
She was a “fine pianist” in her own right, who had been trained primarily by her mother but also coached by Wagner.[4]
After her parents' divorce in 1870, she stayed with her mother Cosima, who married Wagner in the same year.[5][1] Since then she lived first in
Tribschen, then in
Bayreuth.
In the 1880s she accompanied Wagner to Italy, where she met
Henry Thode, an art historian, poet and translator who was the director of
Stadelsches Institut,
Frankfurt.[6] She married Henry Thode on 3 July 1886 and lived with him until her return to Bayreuth in 1914 after their divorce.[7]
She worked as a costume designer at the
Bayreuth Festival, an annual musical event.[8]
She published the letters of Hans Von Bülow, among others. She was an early supporter of National Socialism and joined the
National Socialist Party.