Great Composers Codexery

Richard Wagner

German composer who revolutionized opera through his concept of the Gesamtkunstwerk.

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Richard Wagner

via Wikipedia: Richard Wagner · see source

Wilhelm Richard Wagner was a German composer, theatre director, essayist, and conductor born on 22 May 1813 in Leipzig.[1][2] He is best known for his operas, which he often referred to as music dramas.[1] The composer Wilhelm Richard Wagner passed away on 13 February 1883.[1]

Life and work

After his father's death, his mother likely married the actor Ludwig Geyer, and until age fourteen Wagner was known as Wilhelm Richard Geyer.[3][4] Wagner's first creative effort was a tragedy called Leubald, begun in 1826 and influenced by Shakespeare and Goethe.[5] He enrolled at Leipzig University in 1831 and took composition lessons with Thomaskantor Theodor Weinlig, who was so impressed that he refused payment.[2] He married actress Christine Wilhelmine "Minna" Planer on 24 November 1836, a tempestuous marriage marked by her leaving him for another man in 1837.[6]

Wagner fled Riga in 1839 to escape creditors and settled in Paris, where he completed Rienzi and Der fliegende Holländer.[7][4] After the 1849 May Uprising in Dresden, in which he played a minor supporting role, Wagner fled to Zürich and spent twelve years in exile from Germany.[8][9][10] King Ludwig II of Bavaria brought Wagner to Munich in 1864, settled his debts, and proposed staging his operas.[11]

What the cited sources add

Wagner found the work on that march difficult and complained to his wife that he could not imagine anything for it except the money.[12] The same source states that the march was first performed on 10 May 1876 in Philadelphia.[12] For the brass in this march, Wagner required a bass trumpet, which he first used in the Ring cycle.[12] Warrants for the revolutionaries' arrest were issued, and Wagner fled Dresden; a 1911 collection of his family letters documents this flight.[9][13]

After fleeing, Wagner first found shelter in Zürich with a friend named Alexander Müller, as recorded in the same family letters collection.[9][13]

References

  1. Wikipedia, "Richard Wagner" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: ; (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  2. Wikipedia, "Richard Wagner" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Wagner 1992, p. 3; Newman 1976, p. I, p. 12 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  3. Wikipedia, "Richard Wagner" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Newman 1976, p. I, p. 12; Gutman 1990, p. 7 and n (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  4. Wikipedia, "Richard Wagner" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Newman 1976, p. I, p. 12 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  5. Wikipedia, "Richard Wagner" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Wagner 1992, p. 3 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  6. Wikipedia, "Richard Wagner" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Millington 2001a, p. 97; Gutman 1990, p. 7 and n; Millington 2002b; Newman 1976, p. I, p. 12; Newman 1976, p. I, p. 12; Newman 1976, p. I, p. 12 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  7. Wikipedia, "Richard Wagner" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Newman 1976, p. I, p. 12; Millington 2001a, p. 97; Newman 1976, p. I, p. 12; Millington 2001a, p. 97; Millington 2002b (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  8. Wikipedia, "Richard Wagner" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Gutman 1990, p. 7 and n; Millington 2001a, p. 97 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  9. Wikipedia, "Richard Wagner" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Wagner 1992, p. 3; Wagner, "Family Letters of Richard Wagner", Macmillan, 1911, p. 154 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  10. Wikipedia, "Richard Wagner" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: . Letter from Richard Wagner to Franz Liszt, 21 April 1850. See also (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  11. Wikipedia, "Richard Wagner" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Newman 1976, p. I, p. 12; Heinz Häfner (de): Ein König wird beseitigt. Ludwig II. von Bayern. C. H. Beck 2008, ISBN 978-3-406-56888-6. (2nd Ed. 2011, ISBN 978-3-406-61784-3); Gregor-Dellin 1983, p. 315–320; Gutman 1990, p. 7 and n; Gregor-Dellin 1983, p. 315–320; Gregor-Dellin 1983, p. 315–320; Wagner 1992, p. 3; Wagner 1992, p. 3 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  12. first performed on May the 10th 1876 in Philadelphia. facts only, no text reused. repertoire-explorer.musikmph.de
  13. Wagner, "Family Letters of Richard Wagner", Macmillan, 1911, p. 154. facts only, no text reused. archive.org

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Richard Wagner (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.

Related entries

Named in this entry

Carl Maria von WeberGiacomo MeyerbeerDer Ring des NibelungenHarmony (music)OrchestrationLeitmotifTonalityTristan und Isolde

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Test yourself

Three questions drawn from this entry’s sources. Pick an answer to check it.

1. In what year did Richard Wagner die?

Correct.

Not quite. The answer is 1883.

From the source: “This work, which imitated the style of Weber, went unproduced until half a century later, when it was premiered in Munich shortly after the composer's death in 1883.”

2. In which place was Richard Wagner born?

Correct.

Not quite. The answer is Leipzig.

From the source: “thumb|upright=0.8|Wagner's birthplace, at 3, the Brühl, Leipzig|alt=A building with four main storeys with an open shop to one side of an arched entrance and garret windows in the roof.”

3. In what year was Richard Wagner born?

Correct.

Not quite. The answer is 1813.

From the source: “Richard Wagner was born on 22 May 1813 to an ethnic German family in Leipzig, then part of the Confederation of the Rhine.”

Answers checked against the source article

Sources

Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.

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