Wagner in 1871 (photo)

Wilhelm Richard Wagner (22 May 1813, Leipzig, Germany - 13 February 1883, Venice, Italy) was a German composer, conductor, music theorist and essayist, primarily known for his operas (or "music dramas", as they were later called). Events 334 BC - The Greek army of Alexander the Great defeats Darius III of Persia in the Battle of the Granicus. Year 1813 ( MDCCCXIII) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common This sort of fix restores section edit linkpoints to where they belong Events 1258 - Baghdad falls to the Mongols, and the Abbasid Caliphate is destroyed Year 1883 ( MDCCCLXXXIII) was a Common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common Venice ( Italian: Venezia, Venetian: Venesia or Venexia) is a city in Northern Italy, the capital of the Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany ( ˈbʊndəsʁepuˌbliːk ˈdɔʏtʃlant is a Country in Central Europe. A composer (literally meaning 'one who puts together' is a person who creates Music, usually in the medium of notation, for Interpretation and Performance Conducting is the act of directing a Musical performance by way of visible gestures Music theory is the field of study that deals with the Mechanics of music and how Music works This article is an abbreviated list of Essayists - individuals notable for writing essays on various topics Opera is an art form in which Singers and Musicians perform a Dramatic work (called an opera which combines a text (called a Libretto Unlike most other great opera composers, Wagner wrote the scenario and libretto for his works. A scenario (from Italian, that which is pinned to the scenery) is a synthetic description of an event or series of actions and events A libretto is the text used in an extended Musical work such as an Opera, Operetta, Masque, sacred or secular Oratorio and

Wagner's compositions, particularly those of his later period, are notable for contrapuntal texture, rich chromaticism, harmonies and orchestration, and elaborate use of leitmotifs: musical themes associated with particular characters, locales or plot elements. In Music, counterpoint is the relationship between two or more voices that are independent in contour and Rhythm, and interdependent in Harmony In Music, texture is the overall quality of sound of a piece, most often indicated by the number of voices in the music and by the relationship between In Music, chromaticism is a Compositional technique interspersing the primary Diatonic pitches and chords with other pitches of the Chromatic In Western music, harmony is the use of different pitches simultaneously and chords actual or implied in Music. Orchestration is the study or practice of writing Music for Orchestra (or more loosely for any Musical ensemble) or of adapting for orchestra music composed A leitmotif (ˌlaɪtmoʊˈtiːf (also leitmotiv; lit "leading motif" is a recurring Musical theme, associated with a particular person place Wagner pioneered advances in musical language, such as extreme chromaticism and quickly shifting tonal centres, which greatly influenced the development of European classical music. Classical music is a broad term that usually refers to mainstream music produced in or rooted in the traditions of Western liturgical and Secular music

He transformed musical thought through his idea of Gesamtkunstwerk ("total artwork"), the synthesis of all the poetic, visual, musical and dramatic arts, epitomized by his monumental four-opera cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen (1876). Gesamtkunstwerk ("total" "integrated" or "complete artwork" is a German term attributed to the German Opera composer Der Ring des Nibelungen ( The Ring of the Nibelung) is a cycle of four epic Music dramas by the German composer To try to stage these works as he imagined them, Wagner built his own opera house. Bayreuthfestjpg|thumb|350px|right|Bayreuth Festspielhaus as seen in 1882

Biography

Early life

Richard Wagner was born in Leipzig on 22 May 1813, the ninth child of Carl Friedrich Wagner, who was a clerk in the Leipzig police service. This sort of fix restores section edit linkpoints to where they belong ^[1] Wagner's father died of typhus six months after Richard's birth, following which Wagner's mother, Johanna Rosine Wagner, began living with the actor and playwright Ludwig Geyer, who had been a friend of Richard's father. Typhus is any of several similar diseases caused by Louse -borne bacteria Ludwig Geyer was a German actor playwright and painter He was the stepfather of composer Richard Wagner, whose biological father had died some six months after his In August 1814 Johanna Rosine married Geyer, and moved with her family to his residence in Dresden. Dresden (etymologically from Old Sorbian Drežďany, meaning people of the riverside forest, Drježdźany is the Capital city of the German For the first 14 years of his life, Wagner was known as Wilhelm Richard Geyer. Wagner may later have suspected that Geyer was in fact his biological father, and furthermore speculated incorrectly that Geyer was Jewish. ^[2]

Geyer's love of the theatre was shared by his stepson, and Wagner took part in performances. In his autobiography Wagner recalled once playing the part of an angel. The boy Wagner was also hugely impressed by the Gothic elements of Weber's Der Freischutz. Carl Maria Friedrich Ernst von Weber ( 18 December 1786 in Eutin, Holstein, Germany - 5 June 1826 in London Der Freischütz is an Opera in three acts by Carl Maria von Weber to a Libretto by Friedrich Kind. Late in 1820, Wagner was enrolled at Pastor Wetzel's school at Possendorf, near Dresden, where he received some piano instruction from his Latin teacher. He could not manage a proper scale but preferred playing theatre overtures by ear. Geyer died in 1821, when Richard was eight. Consequently, Wagner was sent to the Kreuz Grammar School in Dresden, paid for by Geyer's brother. The young Wagner entertained ambitions as a playwright, his first creative effort (listed as 'WWV 1') being a tragedy, Leubald^[3] begun at school in 1826, which was strongly influenced by Shakespeare and Goethe. The Wagner-Werke-Verzeichnis (Index to Wagner's works usually shortened to WWV is an index to the 113 vocal and musical compositions of Richard Wagner. William Shakespeare ( baptised ˈjoːhan ˈvɔlfgaŋ fɔn ˈgøːtə (in English generally ˈgɝːtə 28 August 1749 22 March 1832 was a German writer Wagner determined to set it to music; he persuaded his family to allow him music lessons.

By 1827, the family had moved back to Leipzig. Wagner's first lessons in composition were taken in 1828-31 with Christian Gottlieb Müller. In January of 1828 he first heard Beethoven's 7th Symphony and then, in March, Beethoven's 9th Symphony performed in the Leipzig Gewandhaus. Ludwig van Beethoven ( English ˈlʊdvɪg væn ˈbeɪtoʊvən, 16 December 1770 &ndash 26 March 1827 was a German Composer and Pianist. Ludwig van Beethoven began concentrated work on his Symphony No The Symphony No 9 in D minor Op 125 "Choral" is the last complete Symphony composed by Ludwig van Beethoven. The Gewandhausorchester Leipzig ( Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra) is a famous German Orchestra based in Leipzig, Germany. Beethoven became his inspiration, and Wagner wrote a piano transcription of the 9th Symphony, piano sonatas and orchestral overtures. Usage of sonata The Baroque applied the term sonata to a variety of works though most works in the Baroque Period were fugues and toccatas Overture ( French ouverture meaning opening in Music is the instrumental introduction to a Dramatic choral or occasionally

In 1829 he saw the dramatic soprano Wilhelmine Schröder-Devrient on stage, and she became his ideal of the fusion of drama and music in opera. Wilhelmine Schröder-Devrient ( December 6, 1804 &ndash January 26, 1860) was a German Operatic Soprano. In his autobiography, Wagner wrote, "If I look back on my life as a whole, I can find no event that produced so profound an impression upon me. " Wagner claimed to have seen Schröder-Devrient in the title role of Fidelio; however, it seems more likely that he saw her performance as Romeo in Bellini's I Capuleti e i Montecchi. Fidelio (Op 72 is an Opera in two acts by Ludwig van Beethoven. Vincenzo Salvatore Carmelo Francesco Bellini ( November 3, 1801 &ndash September 23, 1835) was a Sicilian Opera Composer I Capuleti e i Montecchi ( The Capulets and the Montagues) is an Italian Opera by Vincenzo Bellini. ^[4] He enrolled at the University of Leipzig in 1831. The University of Leipzig (Universität Leipzig located in Leipzig in the Free State of Saxony, Germany, is one of the oldest universities He also took composition lessons with the cantor of Saint Thomas church, Christian Theodor Weinlig. Christian Theodor Weinlig ( July 25, 1780 &ndash March 7, 1842) was a German music teacher Composer, and Choir Weinlig was so impressed with Wagner's musical ability that he refused any payment for his lessons, and arranged for one of Wagner's piano works to be published. A year later, Wagner composed his Symphony in C major, a Beethovenesque work which gave him his first opportunity as a conductor in 1832. He then began to work on an opera, Die Hochzeit (The Wedding), which he never completed.

In 1833, Wagner's older brother Karl Albert managed to obtain Richard a position as chorusmaster in Würzburg. Würzburg (ˈvʏɐ̯ʦbʊɐ̯k is a city in the region of Franconia which lies in the northern tip of Bavaria, Germany In the same year, at the age of 20, Wagner composed his first complete opera, Die Feen (The Fairies). Die Feen ( The Fairies) is an Opera in three acts by Richard Wagner. This opera, which clearly imitated the style of Carl Maria von Weber, would go unproduced until half a century later, when it was premiered in Munich shortly after the composer's death in 1883. Carl Maria Friedrich Ernst von Weber ( 18 December 1786 in Eutin, Holstein, Germany - 5 June 1826 in London Munich (München; Minga is the capital city of Bavaria, Germany.

Meanwhile, Wagner held brief appointments as musical director at opera houses in Magdeburg and Königsberg, during which he wrote Das Liebesverbot (The Ban on Love), based on William Shakespeare's Measure for Measure. Magdeburg ( Low Saxon: Meideborg ˈmaˑɪdebɔɐx the Capital city of the Bundesland of Saxony-Anhalt, Germany Königsberg (Karaliaučius Low German: Königsbarg; Królewiec see also other names) was until 1946 the name of Kaliningrad. Das Liebesverbot ( The Ban on Love) is an early Opera in two acts by Richard Wagner, with the Libretto written by the composer after Shakespeare's William Shakespeare ( baptised Measure for Measure is a play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in 1603 or 1604 This second opera was staged at Magdeburg in 1836, but closed before the second performance, leaving the composer (not for the last time) in serious financial difficulties. Magdeburg ( Low Saxon: Meideborg ˈmaˑɪdebɔɐx the Capital city of the Bundesland of Saxony-Anhalt, Germany

On 24 November 1836, Wagner married actress Christine Wilhelmine "Minna" Planer. Events 380 - Theodosius I makes his adventus, or formal Year 1836 ( MDCCCXXXVI) was a Leap year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian Calendar (or a Leap In June 1837 they moved to the city of Riga, then in the Russian Empire, where Wagner became music director of the local opera. Riga (Rīga riːga) the Capital of Latvia, is situated on the Baltic Sea coast on the mouth of the river Daugava. The Russian Empire ( Pre-reform Russian: Pоссійская Имперія Modern Russian: Российская Империя translit: Rossiyskaya A few weeks afterwards, Minna ran off with an army officer who then abandoned her, penniless. Wagner took Minna back; however, this was but the first debâcle of a troubled marriage that would end in misery three decades later.

By 1839, the couple had amassed such large debts that they fled Riga to escape from creditors (debt would plague Wagner for most of his life). During their flight, they and their Newfoundland dog, Robber, took a stormy sea passage to London, from which Wagner claimed to draw the inspiration for Der Fliegende Holländer (The Flying Dutchman - it was actually based on a sketch by Heinrich Heine^[5]). The Newfoundland is a large usually black breed of Dog originally used as a Working dog in London ( ˈlʌndən is the capital and largest urban area in the United Kingdom. Der fliegende Holländer ( The Flying Dutchman) is an Opera, with Music and Libretto by Richard Wagner. Christian Johann Heinrich Heine ( December 13, 1797 – February 17, 1856) was a Journalist, Essayist and one of the The Wagners spent 1840 and 1841 in Paris, where Richard made a scant living writing articles and arranging operas by other composers, largely on behalf of the Schlesinger publishing house. Paris (ˈpærɨs in English; in French) is the Capital of France and the country's largest city Moritz Adolf Schlesinger (1798 in Berlin - 1871 in Baden-Baden) generally known during his French career as Maurice Schlesinger, was a German He also completed Rienzi and Der Fliegende Holländer during this time. Rienzi der Letzte der Tribunen (WWV 49 ( Rienzi the Last of the Tribunes) is an early Opera by Richard Wagner in five acts with the Libretto Der fliegende Holländer ( The Flying Dutchman) is an Opera, with Music and Libretto by Richard Wagner.

Dresden

Wagner completed writing his third opera, Rienzi, in 1840. Rienzi der Letzte der Tribunen (WWV 49 ( Rienzi the Last of the Tribunes) is an early Opera by Richard Wagner in five acts with the Libretto Largely through the agency of Meyerbeer, it was accepted for performance by the Dresden Court Theatre (Hofoper) in the German state of Saxony. Giacomo Meyerbeer ( September 5, 1791 &ndash May 2, 1864) was a noted German -born Opera Composer, and Dresden (etymologically from Old Sorbian Drežďany, meaning people of the riverside forest, Drježdźany is the Capital city of the German The Free State of Saxony (Freistaat Sachsen ˈzaksən Swobodny Stat Sakska is the easternmost federal state of Germany. Thus in 1842, the couple moved to Dresden, where Rienzi was staged to considerable acclaim. Wagner lived in Dresden for the next six years, eventually being appointed the Royal Saxon Court Conductor. During this period, he staged Der fliegende Holländer and Tannhäuser, the first two of his three middle-period operas. Der fliegende Holländer ( The Flying Dutchman) is an Opera, with Music and Libretto by Richard Wagner. Tannhäuser (full title Tannhäuser und der Sängerkrieg auf der Wartburg / Tannhäuser and the Singers' Contest at Wartburg) is an Opera

The Wagners' stay at Dresden was brought to an end by Richard's involvement in leftist politics. Politics Politics is the process by which groups of people make decisions A nationalist movement was gaining force in the independent German States, calling for constitutional freedoms and the unification of the weak princely states into a single nation. The term nationalism can refer to an Ideology, a sentiment, a form of Culture, or a Social movement that focuses on the Nation The German Confederation (Deutscher Bund was the association of Central European states created by the Congress of Vienna in 1815 to serve as the successor to Richard Wagner played an enthusiastic role in this movement, receiving guests at his house who included his colleague August Röckel, who was editing the radical left-wing paper Volksblätter, and the Russian anarchist Mikhail Bakunin. Russia (Россия Rossiya) or the Russian Federation ( Rossiyskaya Federatsiya) is a transcontinental Country extending Anarchism is a Political philosophy encompassing theories and attitudes which support the elimination of all compulsory Government, i Mikhail Alexandrovich Bakunin ( - July 1 1876) was a well-known Russian Revolutionary and theorist of Collectivist anarchism.

Widespread discontent against the Saxon government came to a head in April 1849, when King Frederick Augustus II of Saxony dissolved Parliament and rejected a new constitution pressed upon him by the people. Frederick Augustus II (full name Frederick Augustus Albert Maria Clemens Joseph Vincenz Aloys Nepomuk Johann Baptista Nikolaus Raphael Peter Xavier Franz de Paula Venantius Felix The May Uprising broke out, in which Wagner played a minor supporting role. The May Uprising took place in Dresden, Germany in 1849; it was one of the last of the series of events known as the Revolutions of 1848. The incipient revolution was quickly crushed by an allied force of Saxon and Prussian troops, and warrants were issued for the arrest of the revolutionaries. A revolution (from the Latin revolutio, "a turnaround" is a fundamental change in power or organizational structures that takes place in a relatively Prussia ( Latin: Borussia, Prutenia; Prūsija Prūsija Prusy Old Prussian: Prūsa) was most recently a historic state Wagner had to flee, first to Paris and then to Zürich. Zürich (, Zürich German: Züri, Zurich, Zurigo; in English generally Zurich) is the largest city in Switzerland and capital of the Röckel and Bakunin failed to escape and endured long terms of imprisonment.

Exile, Schopenhauer and Mathilde Wesendonck

Wagner spent the next twelve years in exile. He had completed Lohengrin before the Dresden uprising, and now wrote desperately to his friend Franz Liszt to have it staged in his absence. Lohengrin is a romantic Opera (or music drama in three acts composed and written by Richard Wagner. Liszt, who proved to be a friend in need, eventually conducted the premiere in Weimar in August 1850. Weimar (ˈvaɪmaʁ is a City in Germany. It is located in the Bundesland of Thuringia (Thüringen north of the Thüringer Wald,

Nevertheless, Wagner found himself in grim personal straits, isolated from the German musical world and without any income to speak of. Before leaving Dresden, he had drafted a scenario that would eventually become his mammoth cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen. Der Ring des Nibelungen ( The Ring of the Nibelung) is a cycle of four epic Music dramas by the German composer He wrote the libretto for a single opera, Siegfried's Tod (Siegfried's Death) in 1848. After arriving in Zurich he expanded the story to include an opera about the young Siegfried. He completed the cycle by writing Die Walküre and Das Rheingold and revising the later operas to agree with his new concept. Die Walküre ( The Valkyrie) is the second of the four Operas that comprise Der Ring des Nibelungen ( The Ring of the Nibelung Das Rheingold ("The Rhine Gold" is the first of the four operas that comprise Der Ring des Nibelungen ( The Ring of the Nibelung) by Richard Wagner His wife Minna, who had disliked the operas he had written after Rienzi, was falling into a deepening depression. Finally, he fell victim to erysipelas, which made it difficult for him to continue writing. Erysipelas ( Greek ερυσίπελας - red skin) is an acute Streptococcus Bacterial infection of the Dermis, resulting in inflammation

Wagner's primary published output during his first years in Zürich was a set of notable essays: The Art-Work of the Future (1849), in which he described a vision of opera as Gesamtkunstwerk, or "total artwork", in which the various arts such as music, song, dance, poetry, visual arts, and stagecraft were unified; Judaism in Music (1850), a tract directed against Jewish composers; and Opera and Drama (1851), which described ideas in aesthetics that he was putting to use on the Ring operas. Zürich (, Zürich German: Züri, Zurich, Zurigo; in English generally Zurich) is the largest city in Switzerland and capital of the Gesamtkunstwerk ("total" "integrated" or "complete artwork" is a German term attributed to the German Opera composer "Das Judenthum in der Musik" ( German, "Jewishness in Music" but normally translated Judaism in Music) (in German spelled after its first publication Aesthetics or esthetics ( also spelled æsthetics) is commonly known as the study of sensory or sensori-emotional values sometimes called

By 1852 Wagner had completed the libretto of the four Ring operas, and he began composing Das Rheingold in November 1853, following it immediately with Die Walküre in 1854. Das Rheingold ("The Rhine Gold" is the first of the four operas that comprise Der Ring des Nibelungen ( The Ring of the Nibelung) by Richard Wagner He then began work on the third opera, Siegfried in 1856, but finished only the first two acts before deciding to put the work aside to concentrate on a new idea: Tristan und Isolde. Siegfried is the third of the four Operas that comprise Der Ring des Nibelungen ( The Ring of the Nibelung) by Richard Wagner Tristan und Isolde ( Tristan and Isolde, or Tristan and Isolda) is an Opera, or Music drama, in three acts by Richard Wagner

Wagner had two independent sources of inspiration for Tristan und Isolde. The first came to him in 1854, when his poet friend Georg Herwegh introduced him to the works of the philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer. Georg Friedrich Rudolph Theodor Herwegh (1817 - 1875 son of an innkeeper was born in Stuttgart. Philosophy is the study of general problems concerning matters such as existence knowledge truth beauty justice validity mind and language Wagner would later call this the most important event of his life. His personal circumstances certainly made him an easy convert to what he understood to be Schopenhauer's philosophy, a deeply pessimistic view of the human condition. He would remain an adherent of Schopenhauer for the rest of his life, even after his fortunes improved.

One of Schopenhauer's doctrines was that music held a supreme role amongst the arts, since it was the only one unconcerned with the material world. Wagner quickly embraced this claim, which must have resonated strongly despite its direct contradiction with his own arguments, in "Opera and Drama", that music in opera had to be subservient to the cause of drama. Wagner scholars have since argued that this Schopenhauerian influence caused Wagner to assign a more commanding role to music in his later operas, including the latter half of the Ring cycle, which he had yet to compose. Many aspects of Schopenhauerian doctrine undoubtedly found their way into Wagner's subsequent libretti. For example, the self-renouncing cobbler-poet Hans Sachs in Die Meistersinger, generally considered Wagner's most sympathetic character, is a quintessentially Schopenhauerian creation (despite being based on a real person). This article refers to the poet For other people of the same name see Hans Sachs (disambiguation. Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (The Mastersingers of Nuremberg) is an Opera in three acts written and composed by Richard Wagner

Wagner's second source of inspiration was the poet-writer Mathilde Wesendonck, the wife of the silk merchant Otto von Wesendonck. Mathilde Wesendonck ( 23 December 1828 - 31 August 1902) was a minor German poet who is best known as the friend and possibly mistress Wagner met the Wesendoncks in Zürich in 1852. Otto, a fan of Wagner's music, placed a cottage on his estate at Wagner's disposal. By 1857, Wagner had become infatuated with Mathilde.

Richard and Cosima Wagner.

Though Mathilde seems to have returned some of his affections, she had no intention of jeopardising her marriage, and kept her husband informed of her contacts with Wagner. Nevertheless, the affair inspired Wagner to put aside his work on the Ring cycle (which would not be resumed for the next twelve years) and begin work on Tristan und Isolde, based on the Arthurian love story. The Matter of Britain is a name given collectively to the Legends that concern the Celtic and legendary History of Great Britain, especially those The legend of Tristan and Iseult is an influential romance and tragedy retold in numerous sources with as many variations

The uneasy affair collapsed in 1858, when Minna intercepted a letter from Wagner to Mathilde. After the resulting confrontation, Wagner left Zürich alone, bound for Venice. Venice ( Italian: Venezia, Venetian: Venesia or Venexia) is a city in Northern Italy, the capital of the The following year, he once again moved to Paris to oversee production of a new revision of Tannhäuser, staged thanks to the efforts of Princess de Metternich. Tannhäuser ( Middle High German: Tanhûser; died after 1265 was a German Minnesänger and Poet. Princess Pauline Clémentine de Metternich-Winneburg zu Beilstein, Née Countess Pauline Clémentine Marie Walburga Sándor de Szlavnicza ( February 25 1836 The premiere of the Paris Tannhäuser in 1861 was an utter fiasco, due to disturbances caused by members of the Jockey Club. The Jockey Club de Paris is best remembered as a gathering of the elite of nineteenth-century French society Further performances were cancelled, and Wagner hurriedly left the city.

In 1861, the political ban against Wagner in Germany was lifted, and the composer settled in Biebrich, Prussia, where he began work on Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg. Biebrich is a borough of the city Wiesbaden, Hesse, Germany, located in the Rhine-Main-Area near Frankfurt, opposite of Mombach Prussia ( Latin: Borussia, Prutenia; Prūsija Prūsija Prusy Old Prussian: Prūsa) was most recently a historic state Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (The Mastersingers of Nuremberg) is an Opera in three acts written and composed by Richard Wagner Despite the failure of Tannhäuser in Paris, the possibility that Der Ring des Nibelungen would never be finished and Wagner's unhappy personal life, this opera is by far his sunniest work. Der Ring des Nibelungen ( The Ring of the Nibelung) is a cycle of four epic Music dramas by the German composer Wagner's second wife Cosima would later write, "when future generations seek refreshment in this unique work, may they spare a thought for the tears from which the smiles arose. " In 1862, Wagner finally parted with Minna, though he (or at least his creditors) continued to support her financially until her death in 1866.

Between 1861 and 1864 Wagner tried to have Tristan und Isolde produced in Vienna. Vienna ( in Wien; see also other names) is the Capital of Austria, and is also one of the nine States of Austria. Despite over 70 rehearsals the opera remained unperformed, and gained a reputation as being "unplayable", which further added to Wagner's financial woes.

Patronage of King Ludwig II

Wagner's fortunes took a dramatic upturn in 1864, when King Ludwig II assumed the throne of Bavaria at the age of 18. Ludwig Friedrich Wilhelm II King of Bavaria ( August 25, 1845 &ndash June 13, 1886) was king of Bavaria from 1864 until shortly Bavaria ( German:, with an area of 70553 Km² (27241 square miles and almost 12 The young king, an ardent admirer of Wagner's operas since childhood, had the composer brought to Munich. Munich (München; Minga is the capital city of Bavaria, Germany. He settled Wagner's considerable debts, and made plans to have his new operas produced. After grave difficulties in rehearsal, Tristan und Isolde premiered to enormous success at the National Theatre in Munich on 10 June 1865, the first Wagner premiere in almost 15 years. Nationaltheater München ( National Theatre Munich) on Max-Joseph-Platz is an Opera house and the home base of the Bayerische Staatsoper Events 1190 - Third Crusade: Frederick I Barbarossa drowns in the Sally River while leading an army to Jerusalem Year 1865 ( MDCCCLXV) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common year

In the meantime, Wagner became embroiled in another affair, this time with Cosima von Bülow, the wife of the conductor Hans von Bülow, one of Wagner's most ardent supporters and the conductor of the Tristan premiere. Cosima Francesca Gaetana Wagner ( née de Flavigny, since 1844 Liszt; December 24, 1837 April 1, 1930) was WikipediaWikiProject Classical music#Biographical_infoboxes --> Hans Guido Freiherr von Bülow (January 8 1830 &ndash February 12 1894 Cosima was the illegitimate daughter of Franz Liszt and the famous Countess Marie d'Agoult, and 24 years younger than Wagner. Marie Catherine Sophie de Flavigny, Vicomtesse de Flavigny ( December 31, 1805 - March 5, 1876) was a French author known also by her married Liszt disapproved of his daughter seeing Wagner, though the two men were friends. In April 1865, she gave birth to Wagner's illegitimate daughter, who was named Isolde. Their indiscreet affair scandalized Munich, and to make matters worse, Wagner fell into disfavor amongst members of the court, who were suspicious of his influence on the king. In December 1865, Ludwig was finally forced to ask the composer to leave Munich. He apparently also toyed with the idea of abdicating in order to follow his hero into exile, but Wagner quickly dissuaded him.

Ludwig installed Wagner at the villa Tribschen, beside Switzerland's Lake Lucerne. Tribschen is a suburb of Lucerne in the Canton of Lucerne in central Switzerland. Lake Lucerne ( German: Vierwaldstättersee, lit "Lake of the Four Forest Cantons " is a Lake in central Switzerland, the Die Meistersinger was completed at Tribschen in 1867, and premiered in Munich on 21 June the following year. Events 524 - Godomar, King of the Burgundians defeats the Franks at the Battle of Vézeronce. In October, Cosima finally convinced Hans von Bülow to grant her a divorce, but not before having two more children with Wagner. They had another daughter, named Eva, and a son named Siegfried. Siegfried Wagner (6 June 1869 - 4 August 1930 was a German composer and conductor the son of Richard Wagner. Richard and Cosima were married on 25 August 1870. Events 1248 - The Dutch city of Ommen receives city rights and fortification rights from Otto III the Year 1870 ( MDCCCLXX) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common On Christmas Day of that year, Wagner presented the Siegfried Idyll for Cosima's birthday. The Siegfried Idyll, one of Richard Wagner 's few non-operatic works is a Symphonic poem lasting approximately twenty minutes for Chamber orchestra The marriage to Cosima lasted to the end of Wagner's life.

Bayreuth

Richard Wagner at Bayreuth. Liszt, who was also his father-in-law, can be seen at the piano.

Wagner, settled into his newfound domesticity, turned his energies toward completing the Ring cycle. At Ludwig's insistence, "special previews" of the first two works of the cycle, Das Rheingold and Die Walküre, were performed at Munich, but Wagner wanted the complete cycle to be performed in a new, specially-designed opera house. Das Rheingold ("The Rhine Gold" is the first of the four operas that comprise Der Ring des Nibelungen ( The Ring of the Nibelung) by Richard Wagner Die Walküre ( The Valkyrie) is the second of the four Operas that comprise Der Ring des Nibelungen ( The Ring of the Nibelung An opera house is a theater building used for Opera performances that consists of a stage an orchestra pit audience seating and backstage facilities for costumes

In 1871, he decided on the small town of Bayreuth as the location of his new opera house. Bayreuth ( pronounced) is a City in northern Bavaria, Germany, on the Red Main river in a valley between the Frankish Alb The Wagners moved there the following year, and the foundation stone for the Bayreuth Festspielhaus ("Festival House") was laid. Bayreuthfestjpg|thumb|350px|right|Bayreuth Festspielhaus as seen in 1882 In order to raise funds for the construction, "Wagner societies" were formed in several cities, and Wagner himself began touring Germany conducting concerts. However, sufficient funds were only raised after King Ludwig stepped in with another large grant in 1874. Later that year, the Wagners moved into their permanent home at Bayreuth, a villa that Richard dubbed Wahnfried ("Peace/freedom from delusion/madness", in German). Wahnfried was the name given by Richard Wagner to his villa in Bayreuth. The German language (de ''Deutsch'') is a West Germanic language and one of the world's major languages.

The Festspielhaus finally opened in August 1876 with the premiere of the Ring cycle and has continued to be the site of the Bayreuth Festival ever since. The Bayreuth Festival is a music festival held annually in Bayreuth, Germany, at which performances of Operas by the 19th century German composer

Final years

Memorial bust of Richard Wagner in Venice. Venice ( Italian: Venezia, Venetian: Venesia or Venexia) is a city in Northern Italy, the capital of the

Grave of Richard and Cosima Wagner in the garden of the Villa Wahnfried, Bayreuth

Following the first Bayreuth festival Wagner spent a great deal of time in Italy where he began work on Parsifal, his final opera. Bayreuth ( pronounced) is a City in northern Bavaria, Germany, on the Red Main river in a valley between the Frankish Alb Parsifal is an Opera, or Music drama, in three acts by Richard Wagner. The composition took four years, during which he also wrote a series of increasingly reactionary essays on religion and art.

Wagner completed Parsifal in January 1882, and a second Bayreuth Festival was held for the new opera. Wagner was by this time extremely ill, having suffered through a series of increasingly severe angina attacks. Angina pectoris, commonly known as angina, is severe Chest pain due to Ischemia (a lack of blood and hence Oxygen supply of the heart During the sixteenth and final performance of Parsifal on 29 August, he secretly entered the pit during Act III, took the baton from conductor Hermann Levi, and led the performance to its conclusion. Events 708 - Copper coins are minted in Japan for the first time (Traditional Japanese date: August 10, 708) WikipediaWikiProject Classical music#Biographical_infoboxes --> Hermann Levi ( November 7, 1839 &ndash May 13

After the Festival, the Wagner family journeyed to Venice for the winter. Venice ( Italian: Venezia, Venetian: Venesia or Venexia) is a city in Northern Italy, the capital of the On 13 February 1883, Richard Wagner died of a heart attack in the Palazzo Vendramin on the Grand Canal. Events 1258 - Baghdad falls to the Mongols, and the Abbasid Caliphate is destroyed Year 1883 ( MDCCCLXXXIII) was a Common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common The Grand Canal ( Italian: Canal Grande, Venetian: Canałasso) is the most important Canal in Venice Italy. His body was returned to Bayreuth and buried in the garden of the Villa Wahnfried.

Franz Liszt's memorable piece for pianoforte solo, La lugubre gondola, evokes the passing of a black-shrouded funerary gondola bearing Richard Wagner's remains over the Grand Canal. A Gondola is a traditional Venetian rowing Boat. Gondolas were for centuries the chief means of transportation within Venice and still have

Works

Opera

Wagner's music dramas are his primary artistic legacy. These can be divided chronologically into three periods.

Wagner's early stage began at age 19 with his first attempt at an opera, Die Hochzeit (The Wedding), which Wagner abandoned at an early stage of composition in 1832. Die Hochzeit (The Wedding is an unfinished Opera by Richard Wagner which predates all his completed works in the genre Wagner's three completed early-stage operas are Die Feen (The Fairies), Das Liebesverbot (The Ban on Love), and Rienzi. Die Feen ( The Fairies) is an Opera in three acts by Richard Wagner. Das Liebesverbot ( The Ban on Love) is an early Opera in two acts by Richard Wagner, with the Libretto written by the composer after Shakespeare's Rienzi der Letzte der Tribunen (WWV 49 ( Rienzi the Last of the Tribunes) is an early Opera by Richard Wagner in five acts with the Libretto Their compositional style was conventional, and did not exhibit the innovations that marked Wagner's place in musical history. Later in life, Wagner said that he did not consider these immature works to be part of his oeuvre; he was irritated by the ongoing popularity of Rienzi during his lifetime. These works are seldom performed, though the overture to Rienzi has become a concert piece.

Wagner's middle stage output is considered to be of remarkably higher quality, and begins to show the deepening of his powers as a dramatist and composer. This period began with Der fliegende Holländer (The Flying Dutchman), followed by Tannhäuser and Lohengrin. Der fliegende Holländer ( The Flying Dutchman) is an Opera, with Music and Libretto by Richard Wagner. Tannhäuser (full title Tannhäuser und der Sängerkrieg auf der Wartburg / Tannhäuser and the Singers' Contest at Wartburg) is an Opera Lohengrin is a romantic Opera (or music drama in three acts composed and written by Richard Wagner. These works are widely performed today.

Wagner's late stage operas are his masterpieces that advanced the art of opera. Some are of the opinion that Tristan und Isolde (Tristan and Iseult) is Wagner's greatest single opera. Tristan und Isolde ( Tristan and Isolde, or Tristan and Isolda) is an Opera, or Music drama, in three acts by Richard Wagner The legend of Tristan and Iseult is an influential romance and tragedy retold in numerous sources with as many variations Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (The Mastersingers of Nuremberg) is Wagner's only comedy still in the repertoire (his early Das Liebesverbot is forgotten) and one of the lengthiest operas still performed. Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (The Mastersingers of Nuremberg) is an Opera in three acts written and composed by Richard Wagner Comedy (from the Greek κωμωδίαkomodia has a popular meaning (any discourse generally intended to amuse especially in Television, Film, and Der Ring des Nibelungen, commonly referred to as the Ring cycle, is a set of four operas based loosely on figures and elements of Teutonic myth, particularly from later period Norse mythology. Der Ring des Nibelungen ( The Ring of the Nibelung) is a cycle of four epic Music dramas by the German composer Norse mythology comprises the indigenous pre-Christian religion, beliefs and Legends of the Scandinavian peoples including those who settled on Iceland Taking 26 years to complete, and requiring roughly 15 hours to perform, the Ring cycle has been called the most ambitious musical work ever composed. Wagner's final opera, Parsifal, which was written especially for the acoustics of Wagner's Festspielhaus in Bayreuth and which is described in the score as a "Bühnenweihfestspiel" (festival play for the consecration of the stage), is a contemplative work based on the Christian legend of the Holy Grail. Parsifal is an Opera, or Music drama, in three acts by Richard Wagner. Christianity ( Greek Χριστιανισμός from the word Xριστός ( Christ)is a monotheistic Religion centered on the life and teachings According to Christian mythology, the Holy Grail was the dish plate or cup used by Jesus at the Last Supper, said to possess miraculous powers

Wagner drew largely from Northern European mythology and legend, notably Icelandic sources such as the Poetic Edda, the Volsunga Saga and the German Nibelungenlied. The word mythology (from the Greek grc μυθολογία mythología, meaning "a story-telling a legendary lore" A legend ( Latin, legenda, "things to be read" is a Narrative of human actions that are perceived both by teller and listeners to The Poetic Edda is a collection of Old Norse poems primarily preserved in the Icelandic mediaeval Manuscript Codex Regius. The Völsunga saga is a Legendary saga, a late 13th century Icelandic prose rendition of the origin and decline of the Volsung clan The Nibelungenlied, translated as The Song of the Nibelungs, is an epic poem in Middle High German. Through his operas and theoretical essays, Wagner exerted a strong influence on the operatic medium. He was an advocate of a new form of opera which he called "music drama", in which all the musical and dramatic elements were fused together. Music is an Art form in which the medium is Sound organized in Time. Drama is the specific mode of Fiction represented in Performance. Unlike other opera composers, who generally left the task of writing the libretto (the text and lyrics) to others, Wagner wrote his own libretti, which he referred to as "poems". A libretto is the text used in an extended Musical work such as an Opera, Operetta, Masque, sacred or secular Oratorio and Further, Wagner developed a compositional style in which the orchestra's role is equal to that of the singers. The orchestra's dramatic role includes its performance of the leitmotifs, musical themes that announce specific characters, locales, and plot elements; their complex interleaving and evolution illuminates the progression of the drama. A leitmotif (ˌlaɪtmoʊˈtiːf (also leitmotiv; lit "leading motif" is a recurring Musical theme, associated with a particular person place

Wagner's musical style is often considered the epitome of classical music's Romantic period, due to its unprecedented exploration of emotional expression. Romantic Music is a Musicological term referring to a particular period theory compositional practice and canon in European music history from about 1815 to 1910 He introduced new ideas in harmony and musical form, including extreme chromaticism. In Western music, harmony is the use of different pitches simultaneously and chords actual or implied in Music. The term musical form refers to two related concepts the type of composition (for example a musical work can have the form of a Symphony, a In Music, chromaticism is a Compositional technique interspersing the primary Diatonic pitches and chords with other pitches of the Chromatic In Tristan und Isolde, he explored the limits of the traditional tonal system that gave keys and chords their identity, pointing the way to atonality in the 20th century. In Musical notation, a key signature is a series of sharp or flat symbols placed on the staff, designating notes that are to be consistently Atonality in its broadest sense describes Music that lacks a tonal center, or key. Some music historians date the beginning of modern classical music to the first notes of Tristan, the so-called Tristan chord. At the turn of the 20th century classical music was characteristically late Romantic in style while at the same time the Impressionist movement spearheaded by Claude Debussy The Tristan chord is a chord made up of the Notes F B D# and G#

Early stage

• (1832) Die Hochzeit (The Wedding) (abandoned before completion)
• (1833) Die Feen (The Fairies)
• (1836) Das Liebesverbot (The Ban on Love)
• (1837) Rienzi, der Letzte der Tribunen (Rienzi, the Last of the Tribunes)

Middle stage

• (1843) Der fliegende Holländer (The Flying Dutchman)
• (1845) Tannhäuser
• (1850) Lohengrin

Late stage

• (1865) Tristan und Isolde (Tristan and Isolde)
• (1867) Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (The Mastersingers of Nuremberg)
• Der Ring des Nibelungen (The Ring of the Nibelung), consisting of:
  • (1869) Das Rheingold (The Rhinegold)
  • (1870) Die Walküre (The Valkyrie)
  • (1871) Siegfried (previously entitled Jung-Siegfried or Young Siegfried, and Der junge Siegfried or The young Siegfried)
  • (1874) Götterdämmerung (Twilight of the Gods) (originally entitled Siegfrieds Tod or The Death of Siegfried)
• (1882) Parsifal

Non-operatic music

Apart from his operas, Wagner composed relatively few pieces of music. Die Hochzeit (The Wedding is an unfinished Opera by Richard Wagner which predates all his completed works in the genre Die Feen ( The Fairies) is an Opera in three acts by Richard Wagner. Das Liebesverbot ( The Ban on Love) is an early Opera in two acts by Richard Wagner, with the Libretto written by the composer after Shakespeare's Rienzi der Letzte der Tribunen (WWV 49 ( Rienzi the Last of the Tribunes) is an early Opera by Richard Wagner in five acts with the Libretto Der fliegende Holländer ( The Flying Dutchman) is an Opera, with Music and Libretto by Richard Wagner. Tannhäuser (full title Tannhäuser und der Sängerkrieg auf der Wartburg / Tannhäuser and the Singers' Contest at Wartburg) is an Opera Lohengrin is a romantic Opera (or music drama in three acts composed and written by Richard Wagner. Tristan und Isolde ( Tristan and Isolde, or Tristan and Isolda) is an Opera, or Music drama, in three acts by Richard Wagner Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (The Mastersingers of Nuremberg) is an Opera in three acts written and composed by Richard Wagner Der Ring des Nibelungen ( The Ring of the Nibelung) is a cycle of four epic Music dramas by the German composer Das Rheingold ("The Rhine Gold" is the first of the four operas that comprise Der Ring des Nibelungen ( The Ring of the Nibelung) by Richard Wagner Die Walküre ( The Valkyrie) is the second of the four Operas that comprise Der Ring des Nibelungen ( The Ring of the Nibelung Siegfried is the third of the four Operas that comprise Der Ring des Nibelungen ( The Ring of the Nibelung) by Richard Wagner ("Twilight of the Gods" – see Notes) is the last of the four Operas that comprise Der Ring des Nibelungen ( The Ring of the Nibelung Parsifal is an Opera, or Music drama, in three acts by Richard Wagner. These include a single symphony (written at the age of 19), a Faust symphony (of which he only finished the first movement, which became the Faust Overture), and some overtures, choral and piano pieces, and a re-orchestration of Gluck's Iphigénie en Tauride. A symphony is a Musical composition, often extended and usually for Orchestra. The Faust Overture is a Concert overture composed by German composer Richard Wagner. Of these, the most commonly performed work is the Siegfried Idyll, a piece for chamber orchestra written for the birthday of his second wife, Cosima. The Siegfried Idyll, one of Richard Wagner 's few non-operatic works is a Symphonic poem lasting approximately twenty minutes for Chamber orchestra Cosima Francesca Gaetana Wagner ( née de Flavigny, since 1844 Liszt; December 24, 1837 April 1, 1930) was The Idyll draws on several motifs from the Ring cycle, though it is not part of the Ring. The next most popular are the Wesendonck Lieder, properly known as Five Songs for a Female Voice, which were composed for Mathilde Wesendonck while Wagner was working on Tristan. The Wesendonck Lieder is a Song-cycle composed by Richard Wagner while he was working on Die Walküre. An oddity is the "American Centennial March" of 1876, commissioned by the city of Philadelphia for the opening of the Centennial Exposition, for which Wagner was paid $5,000. Philadelphia (ˌfɪləˈdɛlfiə The Centennial International Exhibition of 1876 the first official World's Fair in the United States, was held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

A vocal and instrumental piece which is not often performed and somewhat forgotten, Das Liebesmahl der Apostel (The Love-Meal of the Apostles) is a piece for male choruses and orchestra, composed in 1843. Das Liebesmahl der Apostel WWV 69 (in English The Feast of Pentecost, "The Love-Meal of the Apostles" is a vocal and instrumental piece written by Wagner had just successfully played Rienzi in Dresden. Rienzi der Letzte der Tribunen (WWV 49 ( Rienzi the Last of the Tribunes) is an early Opera by Richard Wagner in five acts with the Libretto However, Der fliegende Holländer witnessed a bitter failure. Wagner, who had been elected at the beginning of the year to the committee of a cultural association in the city of Dresden, received a commission to evoke the theme of Pentecost. The premiere took place at the Dresdner Frauenkirche on 6 July 1843, and was performed by around a hundred musicians and almost 1,200 singers. The Dresdner Frauenkirche ("Church of Our Lady" is a Lutheran church in Dresden, Germany. Events 1044 - The Battle of Ménfő takes place 1189 - Richard the Lionheart is crowned King of England Year 1843 ( MDCCCXLIII) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian Calendar (or a Common The concert was very well received.

After completing Parsifal, Wagner apparently intended to turn to the writing of symphonies. However, nothing substantial had been written by the time of his death. World Wagner week starts on the 19th May.

The overtures and orchestral passages from Wagner's middle and late-stage operas are commonly played as concert pieces. Overture ( French ouverture meaning opening in Music is the instrumental introduction to a Dramatic choral or occasionally For most of these, Wagner wrote short passages to conclude the excerpt so that it does not end abruptly. This is true, for example, of the Parsifal prelude and Siegfried's Funeral Music. A prelude is a short piece of Music, which its form will vary from piece to piece A curious fact is that the concert version of the Tristan prelude is unpopular and rarely heard; the original ending of the prelude is usually considered to be better, even for a concert performance.

One of the most popular wedding marches played as the bride's processional in English-speaking countries, popularly known as "Here Comes the Bride", takes its melody from the "Bridal Chorus" of Lohengrin. A wedding march is a piece of music played during a Wedding, usually during the entrance of the bride ( Processional or the departure of the married couple English is a West Germanic language originating in England and is the First language for most people in the United Kingdom, the United States The " Bridal Chorus " from the Opera Lohengrin, by German composer Richard Wagner, is the standard march played for the bride's In the opera, it is sung as the bride and groom leave the ceremony and go into the wedding chamber. The calamitous marriage of Lohengrin and Elsa, which reaches irretrievable breakdown twenty minutes after the chorus has been sung, has failed to discourage this widespread use of the piece.

Writings

Wagner was an extremely prolific writer, authoring hundreds of books, poems, and articles, as well as voluminous correspondence, throughout his life. His writings covered a wide range of topics, including politics, philosophy, and detailed analyses (often mutually contradictory) of his own operas. Politics Politics is the process by which groups of people make decisions Philosophy is the study of general problems concerning matters such as existence knowledge truth beauty justice validity mind and language Essays of note include "Oper und Drama" ("Opera and Drama", 1851), an essay on the theory of opera, and "Das Judenthum in der Musik" ("Judaism in Music", 1850), a polemic directed against Jewish composers in general, and Giacomo Meyerbeer in particular. "Das Judenthum in der Musik" ( German, "Jewishness in Music" but normally translated Judaism in Music) (in German spelled after its first publication PLEASE TAKE NOTE************ Giacomo Meyerbeer ( September 5, 1791 &ndash May 2, 1864) was a noted German -born Opera Composer, and He also wrote an autobiography, My Life (1880).

Theatre design and operation

Wagner was responsible for several theatrical innovations developed at the Bayreuth Festspielhaus, an opera house specially constructed for the performance of his operas (for the design of which he appropriated many of the ideas of his former colleague, Gottfried Semper, which he had solicited for a proposed new opera house at Munich). Theatre (or theater, see spelling differences) is the branch of the Performing arts defined by Bernard Beckerman as what "occurs when one Bayreuthfestjpg|thumb|350px|right|Bayreuth Festspielhaus as seen in 1882 An opera house is a theater building used for Opera performances that consists of a stage an orchestra pit audience seating and backstage facilities for costumes Gottfried Semper ( November 29 1803 - May 15 1879) was a German Architect, Art critic, and professor of These innovations include darkening the auditorium during performances, and placing the orchestra in a pit out of view of the audience. The Bayreuth Festspielhaus is the venue of the annual Richard Wagner Festival, which draws thousands of opera fans to Bayreuth each summer. Bayreuth ( pronounced) is a City in northern Bavaria, Germany, on the Red Main river in a valley between the Frankish Alb

The orchestra pit at Bayreuth is interesting for two reasons:

1. The first violins are positioned on the right-hand side of the conductor instead of their usual place on the left side. This is in all likeliness because of the way the sound is intended to be directed towards the stage rather than directly on the audience. This way the sound has a more direct line from the first violins to the back of the stage where it can be then reflected to the audience.
2. Double basses, cellos and harps (when more than one used, e. g. Ring) are split into groups and placed on either side of the pit.

Vegetarianism and animal rights

Wagner never espoused vegetarianism, unlike his friend Nietzsche, however he was in his later years a vociferous opponent of experimentation on animals. Vegetarianism is the practice of a diet that excludes Meat (including game and slaughter by-products Fish (including Shellfish and other sea Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (October 15 1844 August 25 1900 ( was a nineteenth-century German philosopher and classical philologist In 1879 he published an open letter, translated in the English version of his Collected Works as ' Against Vivisection ', in support of the animal rights activist Ernst von Weber.

Wagner's influence and legacy

Richard Wagner's bust by Arno Breker in "Festspielpark Bayreuth"

In his lifetime, and for some years after, Wagner inspired fanatical devotion, and was occasionally considered by fans to have a near god-like status. Arno Breker ( July 19, 1900 &ndash February 13, 1991) was a German sculptor best known for his public works in Nazi Germany, which His compositions, in particular Tristan und Isolde, broke important new musical ground. Tristan und Isolde ( Tristan and Isolde, or Tristan and Isolda) is an Opera, or Music drama, in three acts by Richard Wagner For years afterward, many composers felt compelled to align themselves with or against Wagner. Anton Bruckner and Hugo Wolf are indebted to him especially, as are César Franck, Henri Duparc, Ernest Chausson, Jules Massenet, Alexander von Zemlinsky, Hans Pfitzner and dozens of others. Anton Bruckner (4 September 1824 &ndash 11 October 1896 was an Austrian composer known primarily for his symphonies, masses, and Motets Hugo Wolf (March 13 1860 – February 22 1903 was an Austrian Composer of Slovene origin particularly noted for his art songs or Lieder. César Franck (December 10 1822 – November 8 1890 a Composer, Organist and music teacher of Belgian and German origin who lived in France Henri Duparc (Eugène Marie Henri Fouques Duparc (January 21 1848 &ndash February 12 1933 was a French composer of the late Romantic period. Amédée-Ernest Chausson ( January 20, 1855 &ndash June 10, 1899) was a French romantic Composer who died just Jules (Émile Frédéric Massenet ( May 12, 1842 – August 13, 1912) was a French composer best known for his Operas Alexander Zemlinsky or Alexander von Zemlinsky ( October 14, 1871 – March 15, 1942) was an Austrian Composer WikipediaWikiProject Composers#Lead section --> Hans Erich Pfitzner ( May 5, 1869 &ndash May 22, Gustav Mahler said, "There was only Beethoven and Wagner". The twentieth century harmonic revolutions of Claude Debussy and Arnold Schoenberg (tonal and atonal modernism, respectively) have often been traced back to Tristan. Achille-Claude Debussy (aʃil klod dəbysi (August 22 1862 &ndash March 25 1918 was a French Composer. Arnold Schoenberg ( pronounced ˈʃøːnbɛrk (13 September 1874 &ndash 13 July 1951 was an Austrian and later American Composer, associated with The Italian form of operatic realism known as verismo owes much to Wagnerian reconstruction of musical form. Italy (Italia officially the Italian Republic, (Repubblica Italiana is located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe, and on the two largest Realism was a general movement in the late nineteenth century that steered theatrical texts and performances toward greater fidelity to real life Verismo (meaning "realism" from Italian vero, meaning "truth" was an Italian literary movement born approximately between 1875 and 1895

Wagner made a major contribution to the principles and practice of conducting. Conducting is the act of directing a Musical performance by way of visible gestures His essay On conducting (1869) advanced the earlier work of Hector Berlioz and proposed that conducting was a means by which a musical work could be re-interpreted, rather than simply a mechanism for achieving orchestral unison. The central European conducting tradition which followed Wagner's ideas includes artists such as Hans von Bülow, Arthur Nikisch, Wilhelm Furtwängler and Herbert von Karajan. WikipediaWikiProject Classical music#Biographical_infoboxes --> Hans Guido Freiherr von Bülow (January 8 1830 &ndash February 12 1894 WikipediaWikiProject Classical music#Biographical_infoboxes --> Arthur Nikisch (Hungarian Nikisch Artúr) ( 12 October WikipediaWikiProject Classical music#Biographical_infoboxes --> Wilhelm Furtwängler (January 25 1886 &ndash November 30 1954 was a WikipediaWikiProject Classical music#Biographical_infoboxes --> Herbert von Karajan ( April 5

Wagner also made significant changes to the conditions under which operas were performed. It was Wagner who first demanded that the lights be dimmed during dramatic performances, and it was his theatre at Bayreuth which first made use of the sunken orchestra pit, which at Bayreuth entirely conceals the orchestra from the audience.

Wagner's influence on literature and philosophy is significant. Friedrich Nietzsche was part of Wagner's inner circle during the early 1870s, and his first published work The Birth of Tragedy proposed Wagner's music as the Dionysian rebirth of European culture in opposition to Apollonian rationalist decadence. Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (October 15 1844 August 25 1900 ( was a nineteenth-century German philosopher and classical philologist The Birth of Tragedy ( Die Geburt der Tragödie aus dem Geiste der Musik, 1872 is a 19th Century work of philosophy by Friedrich Nietzsche. Nietzsche broke with Wagner following the first Bayreuth Festival, believing that Wagner's final phase represented a pandering to Christian pieties and a surrender to the new demagogic German Reich. The Bayreuth Festival is a music festival held annually in Bayreuth, Germany, at which performances of Operas by the 19th century German composer In the twentieth century, W. H. Auden once called Wagner "perhaps the greatest genius that ever lived", while Thomas Mann and Marcel Proust were heavily influenced by him and discussed Wagner in their novels. Wystan Hugh Auden (21 February 1907 – 29 September 1973 ˈwɪstən ˈhjuː ˈɔːdən who signed his works W Paul Thomas Mann ( June Valentin Louis Georges Eugène Marcel Proust (maʁsɛl pʁust (10 July 1871 &ndash 18 November 1922 was a French Novelist Essayist and Critic He is discussed in some of the works of James Joyce. James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (2 February 1882 &ndash 13 January 1941 was an Irish expatriate writer widely considered to be one of the most influential writers of the Wagner is one of the main subjects of T. S. Eliot's The Waste Land, which contains lines from Tristan und Isolde and refers to The Ring and Parsifal. Thomas Stearns Eliot, OM (September 26 1888 – January 4 1965 was a poet Dramatist, and Literary critic. The Waste Land ( 1922) is a highly influential 434-line modernist poem by T Charles Baudelaire, Stéphane Mallarmé and Paul Verlaine worshipped Wagner. Stéphane Mallarmé (malaʁ'me ( March 18, 1842 – September 9, 1898) whose real name was Étienne Mallarmé, was a French Paul-Marie Verlaine (vɛʁˈlɛn March 30, 1844 &ndash January 8, 1896) was a French poet associated with the Symbolist Many of the ideas his music brought up, such as the association between love and death (or Eros and Thanatos) in Tristan, predated their investigation by Sigmund Freud. In Greek mythology, Thanatos (in Ancient Greek, θάνατος &ndash " Death " was the Daemon personification Sigmund Freud (ˈziːkmʊnt ˈfʁɔʏt born Sigismund Shlomo Freud (May 6 1856 &ndash September 23 1939 was an Austrian Psychiatrist who founded

Not all reaction to Wagner was positive. For a time, German musical life divided into two factions, Wagner's supporters and those of Johannes Brahms; the latter, with the support of the powerful critic Eduard Hanslick, championed traditional forms and led the conservative front against Wagnerian innovations. Johannes Brahms ( pronounced ˈbʁaːms (May 7 1833 &ndash April 3 1897 was a German Composer Eduard Hanslick ( September 11, 1825 – August 6, 1904) was a Bohemian Austrian writer on music They were supported by the conservative leanings of some German music schools, including the Conservatoire at Leipzig under Ignaz Moscheles and that at Köln under the direction of Ferdinand Hiller^[6]. This sort of fix restores section edit linkpoints to where they belong (Isaac Ignaz Moscheles ( May 23, 1794 &ndash March 10, 1870) was a Bohemian Composer and Piano Virtuoso WikipediaWikiProject Classical music#Biographical_infoboxes --> Ferdinand (von Hiller ( 24 October 1811 &ndash Even those who, like Debussy, opposed him ("that old poisoner"), could not deny Wagner's influence. Indeed, Debussy was one of many composers, including Tchaikovsky, who felt the need to break with Wagner precisely because his influence was so unmistakable and overwhelming. Others who resisted Wagner's influence included Gioachino Rossini ("Wagner has wonderful moments, and dreadful quarters of an hour").

Wagner in popular music and film

Wagner's concept of leitmotif and integrated musical expression has been a strong influence on many 20th and 21st century film scores, including such examples as John Williams's music for Star Wars and Howard Shore's soundtracks for Peter Jackson's three Lord of the Rings films. A film score is a broad term referring to the music in a film which is generally categorically separated from songs used within a film John Towner Williams (born February 8 1932) is an American Composer, conductor and Pianist. Star Wars is an epic Space opera franchise initially conceived by George Lucas during the 1970s and significantly expanded Peter Robert Jackson, CNZM (born 31 October 1961 is a three-time Academy Award -winning New Zealand director producer and writer best known for directing The Lord of the Rings is an epic The rock composer Jim Steinman created what he called Wagnerian Rock. James Richard "Jim" Steinman (born November 1 1947 in New York City New York is an American record producer Composer, and lyricist responsible for several hit songs Wagnerian rock is a Musical term which likely originated with Jim Steinman, who is quoted as using the phrase in the liner notes of the Meat Loaf album The rock subgenre of heavy metal music is also said by some to show influence of Wagner (as well as other classical composers}. In Germany Rammstein and Joachim Witt who has named three of his albums Bayreuth, claim inspiration from Wagner's music. Rammstein (ˈʀamʃtaɪ̯n is a German Industrial metal band founded in Berlin, and consisting of Till Lindemann ( lead vocals Joachim Witt (born February 22, 1949 in Hamburg, Germany) is a German Musician and Actor. Klaus Schulze (German electronic composer and Wagner admirer) dedicated his 1975 album Timewind to Wagner's death (two 30-min tracks, "Bayreuth Return" and "Wahnfried 1883"). Klaus Schulze (born August 4, 1947) is a German Electronic music Composer and musician. He also used the alias Richard Wahnfried for a part of his discography. Klaus Schulze (born August 4, 1947) is a German Electronic music Composer and musician.

Most of Trevor Jones's soundtrack to John Boorman's Arthurian film Excalibur is from Wagner's operas. Trevor Alfred Charles Jones (born March 23, 1949 in Cape Town, South Africa) is a South African Orchestral Film score John Boorman (born January 18, 1933) is an English filmmaker currently based in Ireland best known for his feature films such as Point The Matter of Britain is a name given collectively to the Legends that concern the Celtic and legendary History of Great Britain, especially those Excalibur is a 1981 Fantasy film which retells the legend of King Arthur.

An adapted version of Wagner's Ride of the Valkyries is used in the Francis Ford Coppola film Apocalypse Now. The Ride of the Valkyries (Walkürenritt is the popular term for the beginning of Act III of Die Walküre by Richard Wagner. Francis Ford "Frank" Coppola (born April 7, 1939) is a five-time Academy Award -winning American Film director,

An unusual manifestation of Wagner was in the 1957 Bugs Bunny cartoon film, What's Opera, Doc?, adapting music from various of his operas to fit in with the traditional topic of Elmer Fudd hunting Bugs. Clyde Rabbit (uncleMrs Bugs Bunny (wifePapa Bunny (fatherMama Bunny (motherRugs Bunny The bouncing ball animation (below consists of these 6 frames What's Opera Doc? is a 1957 Animated cartoon short in the Merrie Melodies series directed by Chuck Jones for Elmer J Fudd is a fictional Cartoon character and one of the most famous Looney Tunes characters

Movies about Wagner

The 1913 silent film Richard Wagner was directed by Carl Froelich and had Giuseppe Becce in the lead role who also wrote the musical score as Wagner's music was going to be too expensive. Carl Froelich ( 5 September 1875 in Berlin – 12 February 1953, also in Berlin) was a German film pioneer and Giuseppe Becce ( February 3 1877 in Lonigo / Vicenza, Italy – October 5 1973 in Berlin) was an Italian-born A documentary with the same title was made in 1925.

A film of the composer's life,Wagner, was made in 1983 for a TV mini-series by the director Tony Palmer. The cast included Richard Burton, John Gielgud, Laurence Olivier, Ralph Richardson and Vanessa Redgrave. Richard Burton, CBE (10 November 1925 &ndash 5 August 1984 was a Welsh multiple award-winning Actor. Sir Arthur John Gielgud, OM, CH ( 14 April, 1904 – 21 May 2000) known as Sir John Gielgud, was an Laurence Kerr Olivier Baron Sir Ralph David Richardson ( 19 December 1902 &ndash 10 October 1983) was an English Actor, one of a group of theatrical Vanessa Redgrave, CBE (born 30 January, 1937) is an English Academy Award, two-time Cannes Best Actress,

Wagner is also portrayed in Ken Russel's Lisztomania, and his music is featured frequently in the film. Henry Kenneth Alfred Russell, known as Ken Russell (born 3 July 1927 is an English Film director. Lisztomania is a 1975 film by Ken Russell, drawn from a biography of Franz Liszt.

Controversies

Main article: Wagner controversies

Wagner's operas, writings, his politics, beliefs and unorthodox lifestyle made him a controversial figure during his lifetime. The German composer Richard Wagner was a controversial figure during his lifetime and has continued to be so after his death In September 1876 Karl Marx complained in a letter to his daughter Jenny: "Wherever one goes these days one is pestered with the question: what do you think of Wagner?" Following Wagner's death, the debate about his ideas and their interpretation, particularly in Germany during the 20th century, continued to make him politically and socially controversial in a way that other great composers are not. Much heat is generated by Wagner's comments on Jews, which continue to influence the way that his works are regarded, and by the essays he wrote on the nature of race from 1850 onwards, and their putative influence on the anti-Semitism of Adolf Hitler. Hi and welcome to Wikipedia! Please understand that this article is frequently vandalized and vandalism is reverted immediately

Opinion on Jews and Judaism

Under a pseudonym in the Neue Zeitschrift für Musik, he published "Das Judenthum in der Musik" in 1850 (originally translated as "Judaism in Music," by which name it is still known, but better rendered as "Jewishness in Music. A pseudonym is a fictitious alternative to a person's legal name (see Alias) Die Neue Zeitschrift für Musik (English - New Journal of Music was a music magazine published in Leipzig, founded by Robert Schumann. "Das Judenthum in der Musik" ( German, "Jewishness in Music" but normally translated Judaism in Music) (in German spelled after its first publication ") The essay attacks Jewish contemporaries (and rivals) Felix Mendelssohn and Giacomo Meyerbeer, and accused Jews of being a harmful and alien element in German culture. Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, born and generally known as Felix Mendelssohn (February 3 1809 &ndash November 4 1847 was a German Composer Giacomo Meyerbeer ( September 5, 1791 &ndash May 2, 1864) was a noted German -born Opera Composer, and Wagner stated the German people were repelled by their alien appearance and behavior: "with all our speaking and writing in favour of the Jews' emancipation, we always felt instinctively repelled by any actual, operative contact with them. " He argued that because Jews had no connection to the German spirit, Jewish musicians were only capable of producing shallow and artificial music. They therefore composed music to achieve popularity and, thereby, financial success, as opposed to creating genuine works of art.

The initial publication of the article attracted little attention, but Wagner wrote a self-justifying letter about it to Liszt in 1851, claiming that his "long-suppressed resentment against this Jewish business" was "as necessary to me as gall is to the blood". ^[7] As a pamphlet under his own name in 1869, Wagner republished a greatly expanded version of Das Judenthum, leading to several public protests at performances of Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg. Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (The Mastersingers of Nuremberg) is an Opera in three acts written and composed by Richard Wagner Wagner repeated similar views in several later articles, such as "What is German?" (1878), and his subsequent memoirs often recorded his comments about Jews. Although many have argued he suggested only Jews should suppress their Jewishness, others have interpreted sections of his writing more aggressively, to mean wiping out or burying the Jewish people.

Some biographers^[8] have suggested that antisemitic stereotypes are also represented in Wagner's operas. Antisemitism (alternatively spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism; also rarely known as judeophobia) is the Prejudice against or hostility A stereotype (from Greek: stereo + týpos = "solid impression" is a generalized perception of first impressions behaviors presumed by a group The characters of Mime in the Ring, Sixtus Beckmesser in Die Meistersinger, and Klingsor in Parsifal are sometimes claimed as Jewish representations, though they are not explicitly identified as such in the libretto. Moreover, in all of Wagner's many writings about his works, there is no mention of an intention to caricature Jews in his operas; nor does any such notion appear in the diaries written by Cosima Wagner, which record his views on a daily basis over a period of 8 years. A caricature is either a Portrait that exaggerates or distorts the essence of a person or thing to create an easily identifiable visual likeness or in literature a description

Despite his very public views on Jews, throughout his life Wagner had Jewish friends, colleagues and supporters. ^[9]

Racism and Nazi appropriation

Some biographers have asserted that Wagner in his final years came to believe in the racialist philosophy of Arthur de Gobineau, and according to Robert Gutman, this is reflected in the opera Parsifal^[10], but the latter conclusion remains unproven, as has been argued by more recent Wagner biographers (Lucy Beckett etc). Racialism is an emphasis on race or racial considerations Racialism entails a belief in the existence and significance of racial categories but not necessarily in a Joseph Arthur Comte de Gobineau ( July 14, 1816 — October 13, 1882) was a French Aristocrat, novelist and man of Parsifal is an Opera, or Music drama, in three acts by Richard Wagner. Wagner showed no significant interest in Gobineau until 1880, when he read Gobineau's An Essay on the Inequality of the Human Races. An Essay on the Inequality of the Human Races (1853&ndash1855 by Joseph Arthur Comte de Gobineau is a voluminous work while originally intended as a work of ^[11] Wagner had completed the libretto for Parsifal by 1877, and the original drafts of the story date back to 1857. Parsifal is an Opera, or Music drama, in three acts by Richard Wagner. Wagner's writings of his last years indicate some interest in Gobineau's idea that Western society was doomed because of miscegenation between "superior" and "inferior" races. Miscegenation (Latin miscere "to mix" + genus "kind" is the mixing of different racial groups, that is marrying, cohabiting However, he does not seem to have subscribed to Gobineau's belief in the superiority of the supposed Germanic or "Nordic race". The Nordic race was one of the racial categories into which the Europeans were divided by anthropologists in the first half of the twentieth century ^[12]

Wagner's writings on race and his antisemitism reflected some trends of thought in Germany at the end of the 19th century. Houston Stewart Chamberlain, expanded on Gobineau's and Wagner's ideas his 1899 book The Foundations of the Nineteenth Century, a work proclaiming the superiority of Aryan races, which had a wide circulation and later became required reading for members of the Nazi party. Houston Stewart Chamberlain ( September 9, 1855 - January 9, 1927) was a British -born author of books on political philosophy natural Joseph Arthur Comte de Gobineau ( July 14, 1816 — October 13, 1882) was a French Aristocrat, novelist and man of The Foundations of the Nineteenth Century ( Die Grundlagen des neunzehnten Jahrhunderts 1899 was the most critically acclaimed work by Houston Stewart Chamberlain Aryan is an English word derived from the Sanskrit " Ārya " meaning "noble" or "honorable" Nazism, which was a short name for National Socialism (Nationalsozialismus refers primarily to the Ideology and practices of the National Socialist German Chamberlain greatly admired Wagner's work and married Wagner's daughter, Eva, becoming a central part of the Bayreuth Circle, and thus contributing to the association of Wagner's name and works with racism and anti-semitism. The Bayreuth Circle is a name originally applied by some writers to devotees of Wagner's music who attended and supported the annual Bayreuth Festival in the later 19th and early

Adolf Hitler was an admirer of Wagner's music, lifestyle and anti-Jewish sentiments and saw in Wagner's operas an embodiment of his own heroic mythology of the German nation. Hi and welcome to Wikipedia! Please understand that this article is frequently vandalized and vandalism is reverted immediately There continues to be debate about the extent to which Wagner's views might have influenced Nazi thinking. As with the works of Nietzsche, the Nazis used those parts of Wagner's thought that were useful for propaganda and ignored or suppressed the rest. Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (October 15 1844 August 25 1900 ( was a nineteenth-century German philosopher and classical philologist Propaganda is a concerted set of messages aimed at influencing the opinions or behaviors of large numbers of people For example Joseph Goebbels banned Parsifal in 1939, shortly before the outbreak of the Second World War, due to the perceived pacifistic overtones of the opera. Paul Joseph Goebbels (German pronunciation ˈɡœbəls English generally ˈɡɝbəlz (29 October 1897 1 May 1945 was a German politician and Reich Minister of Public World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including ^[13] Although Hitler himself was obsessed by "the Master" many in the Nazi hierarchy were not, and, according to the historian Richard Carr, deeply resented the prospect of attending these lengthy epics at Hitler's insistence. ^[14]

As a consequence of this appropriation by Nazi propaganda, Wagner's operas have never been staged in the modern state of Israel. For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Israel topics. Although his works are broadcast on Israeli government-owned radio and television stations, attempts to stage public performances in Israel have been halted by protests, including protests from Holocaust survivors. The Holocaust (from the Greek el ''ὁλόκαυστον'' (el-Latn holókauston holos, "completely" and kaustos, "burnt" also known as ^[15]

Media

See also

• List of compositions by Richard Wagner
• Gesamtkunstwerk
• Wagner tuba, a musical instrument commissioned by Wagner specially for Der Ring des Nibelungen. Here is a list of compositions by Richard Wagner They are listed as WWV (Wagner-Werke-Verzeichnis WWV 1 Leubald WWV 2 Sonata Gesamtkunstwerk ("total" "integrated" or "complete artwork" is a German term attributed to the German Opera composer The Wagner tuba is a comparatively rare Brass instrument that combines elements of both the horn and the Tuba. Der Ring des Nibelungen ( The Ring of the Nibelung) is a cycle of four epic Music dramas by the German composer

Notes

Further reading

• Borchmeyer, Dieter 2003, "Drama and the World of Richard Wagner", Princeton University Press. The Guardian (until 1959 The Manchester Guardian) is a British Newspaper owned by the Guardian Media Group. Events 324 - Battle of Adrianople Constantine I defeats Licinius, who flees to Byzantium. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Daniel Barenboim (born November 15, 1942) is a pianist and conductor. Jerusalem (יְרוּשָׁלַיִם, he-Latn Yerushaláyim; Arabic: ar القُدس, ar-Latn al-Quds) is the Events 939 - The Major Occultation or Ghaybat el-Kubra of Muhammad al-Mahdi 1099 - First Crusade: 15000 Year 2001 ( MMI) was a Common year starting on Monday according to the Gregorian calendar. ISBN 978-0691114972
• Burbidge, Peter and Sutton, Richard(eds. ) 1979, "The Wagner Companion", Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0521296571
• Dahlhaus, C. (Mary Whitall trans. ) 1979, Richard Wagner's Music Dramas, Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0521223973
• Dallas, Ian 1990, The New Wagnerian, Freiburg Books. ISBN 978-8440474759
• Gutman, Robert W. 1990, Wagner - The Man, His Mind and His Music, Harvest Books. ISBN 978-0156776158
• Lee, M. Owen 1998, Wagner: The Terrible Man and His Truthful Art, University of Toronto Press. ISBN 978-0802047212
• Magee, Bryan 2001, The Tristan Chord: Wagner and Philosophy, Metropolitan Books. Bryan Edgar Magee (born 12 April 1930) is a noted British broadcasting personality Politician, and Author, best known as a popularizer of ISBN 978-0805071894
• Magee, Bryan 1988, Aspects of Wagner, Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0192840127
• May, Thomas 2004, Decoding Wagner, Amadeus Press. ISBN 978-1574670974
• Millington, Barry (Ed. ) (1992). The Wagner Compendium: A Guide to Wagner's Life and Music. Thames and Hudson Ltd. , London. ISBN 0-02-871359-1
• Newman, Ernest 1933, The Life of Richard Wagner, 4 vols. Ernest Newman ( Everton Liverpool, November 30, 1868 – Tadworth, Surrey, July 7, 1959) was an English , - the classic biography, superseded by newer research but still full of many valuable insights. ISBN 978-0685148242
• Nicholson, Christopher 2007, "Richard and Adolf: Did Richard Wagner incite Adolf Hitler to commit the Holocaust?", Gefen Publishing House. The Holocaust (from the Greek el ''ὁλόκαυστον'' (el-Latn holókauston holos, "completely" and kaustos, "burnt" also known as ISBN 978-9652293602
• Runciman, J. F. 1913, Wagner, Project Gutenberg edition. Project Gutenberg, abbreviated as PG, is a volunteer effort to Digitize, archive and distribute Cultural works here.
• Salmi, Hannu 2005, Wagner and Wagnerism in Nineteenth-Century Sweden, Finland, and the Baltic Provinces: Reception, Enthusiasm, Cult, Eastman Studies in Music. University of Rochester Press. ISBN 978-1580462075
• Salmi, Hannu 2000, Imagined Germany. Richard Wagner's National Utopia, Peter Lang Publishing. ISBN 978-0820444161
• Scruton, Roger 2003, Death-Devoted Heart: Sex and the Sacred in Wagner's 'Tristan and Isolde', Oxford University Press. Roger Vernon Scruton (born 27 February 1944) is an English Conservative Philosopher. ISBN 978-0195166910
• Shaw, George Bernard 1898, The Perfect Wagnerite
• Spencer, Stewart, Wagner Remembered,Faber and Faber, 2000. George Bernard Shaw ( (26 July 1856 &ndash 2 November 1950 was an Irish Playwright. ISBN 978-0571196531
• Stone, M. 1997, The Ring Disc: An Interactive Guide to Wagner's Ring Cycle, Media Cafe. ISBN 978-0965735704
• Tanner, M. 1995, Wagner, Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0691102900
• Wagner, Cosima (Geoffrey Skelton trans. ), Diaries, 2 vols. ISBN 978-0151226351
• Wagner, Richard (ed. and trans. Stewart Spencer and Barry Millington ), Selected Letters of Richard Wagner, Dent, 1987. ISBN 0460046438; W. W. Norton and Company, 1987. ISBN 978-0393025002
• Wagner, Richard (Andrew Gray trans. ) 1992, My Life, Da Capo Press. ISBN 978-0306804816 - Wagner's often unreliable autobiography, covering his life to 1864, written between 1865 and 1880 and first published privately in German in a small edition between 1870 and 1880. The first (edited) public edition appeared in 1911. Gray's translation is the most comprehensive available.

External links

Operas

• Wagner Operas - site featuring photographs, video, MIDI files, scores, libretti, and commentary.
• RWagner.net. Contains libretti of Wagner's operas, with English translations.
• Richard Wagner Web Site. An assortment of articles on Wagner and his operas.
• Photo of Wagner's manuscript for the Bridal Chorus.

Writings

• The Wagner Library. English translations of Wagner's prose works, including some of Wagner's more notable essays.
• Works by Richard Wagner at Project Gutenberg

The complete English text in an earlier translation can be found online at Project Gutenberg

• My Life at Project Gutenberg^[1]

Pictures

• The Richard Wagner Postcard-Gallery. Project Gutenberg, abbreviated as PG, is a volunteer effort to Digitize, archive and distribute Cultural works Project Gutenberg, abbreviated as PG, is a volunteer effort to Digitize, archive and distribute Cultural works A gallery of historic postcards with motives from Richard Wagner's operas.
• 1869 Caricature of Richard Wagner by André Gill
• gallica.bnf.fr Pictures of Richard Wagner and his family.

Scores

• Richard Wagner free scores in the Choral Public Domain Library (ChoralWiki)
• www.kreusch-sheet-music.net - Free Scores by Wagner
• Wagner was listed in the International Music Score Library Project
• Free scores by Richard Wagner in the Werner Icking Music Archive (WIMA)

Other

• The BBC Wagner profile
• Bayreuth Festival
• Richard Wagner: Zenith of German Romanticism
• The National Archive of the Richard Wagner Foundation
• 'A Vulture is almost An Eagle' - the Jewishness of Richard Wagner
• The humanities.music.composers.wagner FAQ. The Choral Public Domain Library (CPDL is a Sheet music archive which focuses on choral and vocal Music in the Public domain. The International Music Score Library Project ( IMSLP) is a project for the creation of a virtual library of Public domain music scores, based on the The Werner Icking Music Archive, often abbreviated WIMA, is a web archive of Public domain Sheet music.
• Richard Wagner Museum in the country manor Triebschen beside Lucerne, Switzerland where he and Cosima lived and worked from 1866 to 1872.
• Better to know by Edward Said, Le Monde diplomatique
• The Wagner Tuba