I looked in the "downstairs" dictionaries. Nope.
I toiled upstairs to what I laughingly call the "study" but is in fact a "tip."
That's where the BIG DICTIONARIES are.
Still no luck .. the BIG DICTIONARIES didn't know what it was either.
I'm used to this sort of thing with Welsh. They're mad.
You can hardly read 'owt in Welsh without finding a undictionaryable word in the first bloody sentence.
But German ..well, you expect better.
Slang books .... no luck there either.
So .... ( hangs head in shame) I looked on the internet. That's an admission of failure that is.
And I found out what it was... what the whole "Wesendonck" thing was.
Have a think. What could it be ? The answer, for what it's worth, comes after THIS jolly video ......
But the story is a bit scandalous ... this sort of thing doesn't happen round our way.....
The circumstances under which Richard Wagner composed his Wesendonck Lieder are nearly legendary. In May of 1849 the fall of the provisional government that led the Dresden rebellion put an end to Wagner’s revolutionary activities. He was forced to flee, first to Weimar, then, with the help of Liszt, to Zurich, Switzerland, where he sought the support of friends.
While in exile in Zurich Wagner continued to work on his theoretical works and the opera Das Rheingold; he also participated in the local musical life. One thing that did not change for him during his exile was the precariousness of his pecuniary position. That is to say that, as usual, he was broke.
Enter Otto Wesendonck, a wealthy silk merchant who, in 1852 made Wagner a generous loan. But what is more important to our narrative is the introduction of Mrs. Wesendonck, the young, pretty, and artistic wife of the merchant, who quickly fell under Wagner’s spell. Wagner, however, had equally succumbed to Mathilde’s charms, resulting in her becoming both his lover and muse.
Crumbs ! Oooooo-er !
So ... Rule 1 for looking words up in your German dictionary...
[1] Is it a proper name ?