Richard Wagner

Romanticism

With the harmonies of 'Tristan' he also pushed open the door to modernism.

💡 Did you know? Wagner revolutionised opera like no one else: his „music dramas“ fused music, poetry and stage into a vast total work of art.

Leipzig

Wagner was born in Leipzig in 1813: the same year as his great Italian counterpart Giuseppe Verdi.

💡 Did you know? Scholars still argue whether his stepfather, the actor Ludwig Geyer, was in fact his biological father: a question that tormented Wagner himself.

The Ring of the Nibelung

'Rhinegold', 'Valkyrie', 'Siegfried', 'Twilight of the Gods': some 15 hours of music, 26 years in the making.

💡 Did you know? Wagner worked about 26 years on „The Ring of the Nibelung“: four operas totalling some 15 hours, an unprecedented mammoth work.

Gesamtkunstwerk

He therefore called his works 'music dramas' and wrote all the librettos himself.

💡 Did you know? With the „total work of art“, Wagner sought to fuse all the arts (music, text, drama, stage design) into an inseparable whole.

leitmotifs

The technique shapes film music to this day: from 'Star Wars' to 'The Lord of the Rings'.

💡 Did you know? Wagner's „leitmotifs“ (recurring themes for people, objects and feelings) still shape film music from John Williams to Hans Zimmer.

Bayreuth

The Bayreuth Festival opened in 1876 with the first complete 'Ring' and still takes place every summer.

💡 Did you know? For his works Wagner had his own festival theatre built in Bayreuth, with a sunken, invisible orchestra pit: still a place of pilgrimage for Wagnerians.

Ludwig II

The 'Fairy Tale King' paid Wagner's debts and helped fund Bayreuth: Neuschwanstein Castle is decorated with scenes from Wagner's operas.

💡 Did you know? The young, starry-eyed King Ludwig II of Bavaria rescued the heavily indebted Wagner and financed his boldest projects.

Tristan and Isolde

The 'Tristan chord' of 1865 is often called the most famous single chord in music history.

💡 Did you know? „Tristan und Isolde“, with its famous, never fully resolved „Tristan chord“, is seen as a turning point towards modern music.

Lohengrin

Still one of the most popular wedding processionals: alongside Mendelssohn's Wedding March.

💡 Did you know? The bridal chorus „Treulich geführt“ from „Lohengrin“ has become, as „Here Comes the Bride“, the best-known wedding march in the world.

Franz Liszt

Cosima left her husband, the conductor Hans von Bülow, for Wagner. After his death she ran the festival.

💡 Did you know? Wagner's second wife Cosima was the daughter of Franz Liszt: so the composer Liszt became Wagner's father-in-law.

his part in the Dresden uprising

A warrant was issued for his arrest and he was barred from Germany for years.

💡 Did you know? Because of his part in the 1849 Dresden revolution, Wagner, wanted by warrant, had to flee into Swiss exile.

Venice

He is buried in the garden of his Bayreuth villa, Wahnfried.

💡 Did you know? Wagner's antisemitic writings burden his legacy to this day: the debate continues.

Richard Wagner

Richard Wagner was a German Romantic composer who revolutionised opera with his „music dramas“ like „The Ring of the Nibelung“.

💡 Did you know? For his works he had his own festival theatre built in Bayreuth: still a place of pilgrimage for Wagner devotees.

Ride of the Valkyries

The storming brass ‘ride’ from Wagner's ‘Valkyrie’: the epitome of dramatic, weighty operatic music.

💡 Did you know? The film ‘Apocalypse Now’ cemented the ride as a cinema cliché.

Bridal Chorus (Lohengrin)

‘Treulich geführt’: the bridal chorus from Wagner's ‘Lohengrin’, known worldwide as ‘Here Comes the Bride’.

💡 Did you know? Some churches refuse the piece because the opera's marriage promptly falls apart.