Richard Wagner
By 1864 Wagner was in debt once more. He fled to Stuttgart to avoid being put into prison (Germany at that time was still made up of many small countries, each with their own laws). Then he had a big stroke of luck. The new king of Bavaria, Ludwig II, who was only 18 years old, adored the music of Wagner. He had read the poem about the Ring of the Nibelungs (Wagner had written the words, but had not finished the music). King Ludwig invited Wagner to finish the Ring cycle for performances in Munich. He gave him somewhere to live, and his new operas were performed in Munich: Tristan und Isolde in 1865, Die Meistersinger von Nűrnberg in 1868, Das Rheingold in 1869 and Die Walkűre in 1870. There were plans for a new opera house in Munich, but it was never built because people were angry with Wagner for being in debt in spite of having lots of money from the king. Another thing people did not like was that he fell in love with the wife of the man who had conducted his operas, Hans von Bülow. Her name was Cosima. Her father was the composer Franz Liszt who had not been married to Cosima's mother. Wagner had already left Munich in 1865, but the king still supported him, making it possible for him to live in a large house called Triebschen on Lake Lucerne. Cosima divorced von Bülow in 1870 and married Wagner in the same year.