Richard Wagner

Richard Wagner

Richard Wagner is considered one of the worlds most influential and controversial composers of all time. He was born in Germany and lived prior to the Nazi regime. However, he became famous for his anti-semitic writings that Adolf Hitler took a liking to. Hitler used Wagner’s compositions and writings in some concentration camps as a means to “re-educate” the prisoners.

Unlike most opera composers, Wagner wrote both the text and the music for each of his stage works. Wagner revolutionized opera through his concept of the Gesamtkunstwerk or “total work of art,” by which he sought to fuse the poetic, visual, musical and dramatic arts, with music and then add this creation to drama. He is most known for his several complex operas, including Tristan and Isolde and the four part, 18 hour, epic opera called Ring Cycle.

He was born on May 22, 1813 in Leipzig, Germany. He grew up in the Jewish quarter of the city. He was the ninth child of Carl Friedrich Wagner, who was a clerk in the Leipzig police service, and his wife, Johanna Rosine, the daughter of a baker. Wagner was very involved in left-wing politics and was even exiled from Germany for 12 years. Evidence of this is found in founds in several of Wagner’s compositions.

Gutman, R. W. (1974). Richard Wagner: The man, his mind, and his music. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.