Richard Wagner's personal life was as dramatic as the epic romances of his operas. Ed Vulliamy on Wagner the Dutchman and his real-life Senta

[The Guardian, 17 February 2006]

'The pink panties are ready, I hope?" gasped Richard Wagner in a letter to one of his many sweethearts, Mathilde Maier, as he prepared to return to a residence she had arranged for him. "See to my study - and spray it with perfume!"