On 17 July 1865 in Munich, Wagner began dictating Mein Leben (My Life) to his then mistress Cosima von Bülow, whom he married in 1870. King Ludwig II of Bavaria asked him to write the memoir in a letter dated 28 May 1865: “You would cause me inexpressible happiness if you were to give me an account of your intellectual and spiritual development and of the external events of your life as well.” (Wikipedia)