From 1866 to 1872, Colonel Walter Ludwig am Rhyn-Schumacher rented out his country residence, located on a headland on Lake Lucerne southeast of Lucerne, to the composer Richard Wagner. When Wagner subsequently moved his residence to Bayreuth, the Tribschen domicile stood empty for a long time and was only rented out as holiday accommodation during the summer months. In 1931, the city of Lucerne acquired the building and the 30,000 m² park in order to make both accessible to the public. The museum was founded two years later; since then there has been a Richard Wagner exhibition on the ground floor supplemented by an exhibition of historical musical instruments on the first floor. After the city of Lucerne had acquired part of Heinrich Schumacher's collection of musical instruments, it was necessary to find suitable premises for these objects. In 2010, the collection was transferred to the musical instrument collection in Willisau, so that the vacated rooms can now be used for special exhibitions on Richard Wagner.