Editing Richard Wagner (section)

=== In exile: Venice and Paris (1858–1862) ===
Wagner's uneasy affair with Mathilde collapsed in 1858, when Minna intercepted a letter to Mathilde from him.{{sfn|Newman|1976|loc=II, pp. 540–542}} After the resulting confrontation with Minna, Wagner left Zürich alone, bound for [[Venice]], where he rented an apartment in the [[Palazzo Giustinian (Dorsoduro)|Palazzo Giustinian]], while Minna returned to Germany.{{sfn|Newman|1976|loc=II, pp. 559–567}} Wagner's attitude to Minna had changed; the editor of his correspondence with her, John Burk, has said that she was to him "an invalid, to be treated with kindness and consideration, but, except at a distance, [was] a menace to his peace of mind."{{sfn|Burk|1950|p=405}} Wagner continued his correspondence with Mathilde and his friendship with her husband Otto, who maintained his financial support of the composer. In an 1859 letter to Mathilde, Wagner wrote, half-satirically, of ''Tristan'': "Child! This Tristan is turning into something ''terrible''. This final act!!!—I fear the opera will be banned&nbsp;... only mediocre performances can save me! Perfectly good ones will be bound to drive people mad."<ref>Cited in {{harvnb|Daverio|2008|p=116}}. Letter from Richard Wagner to Mathilde Wesendonck, April 1859</ref>

[[File:Richard Wagner, Paris, 1861.jpg|thumb|left|upright=0.8|Wagner in Paris, 1861|alt=A photograph of the upper half of a man of about fifty viewed from his front right. He wears a cravat and frock coat. He has long sideburns and his dark hair is receding at the temples.]]
In November 1859, Wagner once again moved to Paris to oversee production of a new revision of ''Tannhäuser'', staged thanks to the efforts of Princess [[Pauline von Metternich]], whose husband, [[Richard von Metternich]], was the Austrian ambassador in Paris. The performances of the Paris ''Tannhäuser'' in 1861 were [[Tannhäuser (opera)#The Paris première|a notable fiasco]]. This was partly a consequence of the conservative tastes of the [[Jockey-Club de Paris|Jockey Club]], which organised demonstrations in the theatre to protest at the presentation of the ballet feature in Act&nbsp;1 (instead of its traditional location in the second act); but the opportunity was also exploited by those who wanted to use the occasion as a veiled political protest against the pro-Austrian policies of [[Napoleon III]].{{sfn|Deathridge|1984}} It was during this visit that Wagner met the French poet [[Charles Baudelaire]], who wrote an appreciative brochure, "{{Lang|fr|Richard Wagner et Tannhäuser à Paris}}".{{sfn|Newman|1976|loc=III, pp. 8–9}} The opera was withdrawn after the third performance and Wagner left Paris soon after.{{sfn|Gregor-Dellin|1983|pp=315–320}} He had sought a reconciliation with Minna during this Paris visit, and although she joined him there, the reunion was not successful and they again parted from each other when Wagner left.{{sfn|Burk|1950|pp=378–379}}