Richard Wagner first love was to a Jewish girl named Leah David, the daughter of a wealthy Hebrew family, and a friend of Wagner's sister Louise. Throughout his life, and notably in a number of far echoing pamphlets, Wagner vented his animosity against the Jews, notwithstanding that his orchestra leader at Bayreuth and a number of his friends were in fact Jews. Nevertheless Wagner's first love was Jewish. When Leah David made a round of calls, she often left her dog, a handsome Dane, at her friend's house. Throughout his life, Wagner was extremely fond of dogs. He soon became strongly attached to the handsome animal that served the young girl as companion and protector. But it was not long before he had formed a far warmer attachment for the young Polish Jewess herself, a dazzling and arde