On the day of the premiere of "Der Ring des Nibelungen, Richard Wagner penned a brief note that he posted on the schedule board for the actors in the cast of his monumental drama to read. He wrote: Last Request to my faithful artists !Distinctiveness! The big notes will take care of themselves; the little ones and their text are the chief thing. It is a simple matter to analogize "the big notes" of Wagner's words with individuals in Wagner's life: There are those famed and celebrated individuals who have paraded up and down and in and out of the Wagner scene, those figures whose deeds and words are considered most significant and therefore worthy of dutiful register in full. Likewise, the "little ones" of Wagner's memo are those figures who are championed in this volume, who are, as Wagner wrote, "the chief thing" because they round out the Wagner story, they smooth the sharp edges of those numerous biographies and other studies that have far too many biographical chinks intheir substance.