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Richard Wagner
May 22, 1813 - February 13, 1883
born in Leipzig, Germany, composed during the Romantic period
born in Leipzig, Germany, composed during the Romantic period
Richard Wagner was one of the most revolutionary figures in the history of music, a composer who made pivotal contributions to the development of harmony and musical drama that reverberate even today. Indeed, though Wagner occasionally produced successful music written on a relatively modest scale, opera -- the bigger, the better -- was clearly his milieu, and his aesthetic is perhaps the most grandiose that Western music has ever known. Early in his career, Wagner learned both the elements and the practical, political realities of his craft by writing a handful of operas which were unenthusiastically, even angrily, received. Beginning with Rienzi (1838-40) and The Flying Dutchman (1841), however, he enjoyed a string of successes that propelled him to immortality and changed the face of music. His monumental Ring cycle of four operas -- Das Rheingold (1853-54), Die Walküre (1854-56), Siegfried (1856-71) and Götterdämmerung (1869-74) -- remains the most ambitious and influential contribution by any composer to the opera literature. Tristan and Isolde (1857-59) is perhaps the most representative example of Wagner's musical style, which is characterized by a high degree of chromaticism, a restless, searching tonal instability, lush harmonies, and the association of specific musical elements (known as leitmotifs, the flexible manipulation of which is one of the glories of Wagner's music) with certain characters and plot points. Wagner wrote text as well as music for all his operas, which he preferred to call "music dramas."
Wagner's life matched his music for sheer drama. Born in Leipzig on May 22, 1813, he began in the early 1830s to write prolifically on music and the arts in general; over his whole career, his music would to some degree serve to demonstrate his aesthetic theories. He often worked as a conductor in his early years; a conducting engagement took him to Riga, Latvia, in 1837, but he fled the country in the middle of the night two years later to elude creditors. Wagner as a young man had some sympathy with the revolutionary movements of the middle nineteenth century (and even the Ring cycle contains a distinct anti-materialist and vaguely socialist drift); in the Dresden uprisings of 1849 he apparently took up arms, and he had to leave Germany when the police restored order. Settling in Zurich, Switzerland, he wrote little for some years but evolved the intellectual framework for his towering mature masterpieces. Wagner returned to Germany in 1864 under the protection and patronage of King Ludwig II of Bavaria; it was in Bayreuth, near Munich, that he undertook the construction of an opera house (completed in 1876) built to his personal specifications and suited to the massive fusion of music, staging, text, and scene design that his later operas entailed. Bayreuth became something of a shrine for the fanatical Wagnerites who carried the torch after his death; it remains the goal of many a pilgrimage today. His attitude toward Jews was deeply ambivalent (he believed, mistakenly, that his stepfather was Jewish), but some of his writings contain anti-Semitic elements that have aroused considerable controversy among opera lovers, especially in view of Adolf Hitler's apparent predilection for the composer's music. ~ All Music Guide, Rovi
Wagner's life matched his music for sheer drama. Born in Leipzig on May 22, 1813, he began in the early 1830s to write prolifically on music and the arts in general; over his whole career, his music would to some degree serve to demonstrate his aesthetic theories. He often worked as a conductor in his early years; a conducting engagement took him to Riga, Latvia, in 1837, but he fled the country in the middle of the night two years later to elude creditors. Wagner as a young man had some sympathy with the revolutionary movements of the middle nineteenth century (and even the Ring cycle contains a distinct anti-materialist and vaguely socialist drift); in the Dresden uprisings of 1849 he apparently took up arms, and he had to leave Germany when the police restored order. Settling in Zurich, Switzerland, he wrote little for some years but evolved the intellectual framework for his towering mature masterpieces. Wagner returned to Germany in 1864 under the protection and patronage of King Ludwig II of Bavaria; it was in Bayreuth, near Munich, that he undertook the construction of an opera house (completed in 1876) built to his personal specifications and suited to the massive fusion of music, staging, text, and scene design that his later operas entailed. Bayreuth became something of a shrine for the fanatical Wagnerites who carried the torch after his death; it remains the goal of many a pilgrimage today. His attitude toward Jews was deeply ambivalent (he believed, mistakenly, that his stepfather was Jewish), but some of his writings contain anti-Semitic elements that have aroused considerable controversy among opera lovers, especially in view of Adolf Hitler's apparent predilection for the composer's music. ~ All Music Guide, Rovi
Selected Discography
x
Track List: Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg
Disc 1
Title: Die Meistersinger Von Nürnberg, Opera, Wwv 96
Disc 2
Disc 3
Disc 4
x
Track List: Die Walkure
Title: Die Walküre (The Valkyrie), Opera, Wwv 86b
Title: Siegfried, Opera, Wwv 86c
Title: Die Götterdämmerung (Twilight Of The Gods), Opera, Wwv 86d
Title: Der Fliegende Holländer (The Flying Dutchman), Opera, Wwv 63
Title: Die Meistersinger Von Nürnberg, Opera, Wwv 96
Title: Descendons Gaiment La Courtille, For Chorus, Wwv 65
x
Track List: Julia Varady ~ Wagner - Wesendonck-Lieder, Tristan und Isolde, Götterdämmerung
Title: Wesendonk Lieder, Songs (5) For Voice & Piano (or Orchestra), WWV 91
Title: Tristan Und Isolde, Opera, Wwv 90
Title: Die Götterdämmerung (Twilight Of The Gods), Opera, Wwv 86d
x
Track List: Tristan Und Isolde
Disc 1
Title: Tristan Und Isolde, Opera, Wwv 90
Disc 2
Disc 3
x
Track List: Twilight Of The Gods: The Ultimate Wagner Ring Collection
Disc 1
Title: Das Rheingold (The Rhine Gold), Opera, Wwv 86a
Title: Die Walküre (The Valkyrie), Opera, Wwv 86b
Disc 2
Title: Siegfried, Opera, Wwv 86c
Title: Die Götterdämmerung (Twilight Of The Gods), Opera, Wwv 86d
x
Track List: Wagner: Der Fliegende Hollander
Disc 1
Title: Der Fliegende Holländer (The Flying Dutchman), Opera, Wwv 63
Disc 2
x
Track List: Wagner: Der Ring Des Nibelungen (1982 Orchestral Excerpts)
Title: Die Walküre (The Valkyrie), Opera, Wwv 86b
Title: Das Rheingold (The Rhine Gold), Opera, Wwv 86a
Title: Die Walküre (The Valkyrie), Opera, Wwv 86b
Title: Siegfried, Opera, Wwv 86c
Title: Die Götterdämmerung (Twilight Of The Gods), Opera, Wwv 86d
x
Track List: Wagner: Die fliegende Holländer
Disc 1
Title: Der Fliegende Holländer (The Flying Dutchman), Opera, Wwv 63
Disc 2
x
Track List: Wagner: Lohengrin / Solti
Disc 1
Title: Lohengrin, Opera, Wwv 75
Disc 2
Disc 3
Disc 4
x
Track List: Wagner: Orchestral Music
Disc 1
Title: Die Walküre (The Valkyrie), Opera, Wwv 86b
Title: Die Götterdämmerung (Twilight Of The Gods), Opera, Wwv 86d
Title: Das Rheingold (The Rhine Gold), Opera, Wwv 86a
Title: Siegfried, Opera, Wwv 86c
Title: Die Walküre (The Valkyrie), Opera, Wwv 86b
Disc 2
Title: Tannhäuser, Opera, Wwv 70
Title: Rienzi, Der Letzte Der Tribunen, Opera, WWV 49
Title: Lohengrin, Opera, Wwv 75
Title: Die Meistersinger Von Nürnberg, Opera, Wwv 96
x
Track List: Wagner: Orchestral Music
Title: Tannhäuser, Opera, Wwv 70
Title: Parsifal, Opera, WWV 111
Title: Tristan Und Isolde, Opera, Wwv 90
x
Track List: Wagner: Overture & Preludes
Disc 1
Title: Rienzi, Der Letzte Der Tribunen, Opera, WWV 49
Title: Der Fliegende Holländer (The Flying Dutchman), Opera, Wwv 63
Title: Tannhäuser, Opera, Wwv 70
Title: Lohengrin, Opera, Wwv 75
Title: Die Meistersinger Von Nürnberg, Opera, Wwv 96
Title: Die Walküre (The Valkyrie), Opera, Wwv 86b
Disc 2
Title: Tristan Und Isolde, Opera, Wwv 90
Title: Siegfried Idyll, For Small Orchestra In E Major, WWV 103
Title: Die Götterdämmerung (Twilight Of The Gods), Opera, Wwv 86d
Title: Parsifal, Opera, WWV 111
x
Track List: Wagner: Scenes from Tristan und Isolde and Götterdammerung
Title: Tristan Und Isolde, Opera, Wwv 90
Title: Die Götterdämmerung (Twilight Of The Gods), Opera, Wwv 86d
x
Track List: Wagner: The Ring (Orchestral Highlights)
Title: Das Rheingold (The Rhine Gold), Opera, Wwv 86a
Title: Die Walküre (The Valkyrie), Opera, Wwv 86b
Title: Siegfried, Opera, Wwv 86c
Title: Die Götterdämmerung (Twilight Of The Gods), Opera, Wwv 86d
x
Track List: Wagner: Wesendonck-Lieder; Arias
Title: Wesendonk Lieder, Songs (5) For Voice & Piano (or Orchestra), WWV 91
Title: Tannhäuser, Opera, Wwv 70
Title: Siegfried, Opera, Wwv 86c
Title: Die Götterdämmerung (Twilight Of The Gods), Opera, Wwv 86d
Title: Tristan Und Isolde, Opera, Wwv 90
Comments
Yes, Germany was torn apart by the reparations they were forced to pay as a result of the Armistice. There is strong evidence that history might have been different had the reparations AND the Great Depression not flattened the world's economy. However, blaming the Jews is flat out ridiculous.
In Wagners time the Jews had a stranglehold on Germ in much the same way they do today; economy, media, politics, etc... Like it or not Jews invented and control the world's internationa l banking, they own 98% of Americas major media, and manage to keep all our politicians slaves to Irael. Need me to go on?
Serenity now.
Insanity later....
Besides that, the musikz rock und roll.
El Guapo
Mzorro
But no one's perfect; his music is still infinitely gorgeous.
Thanks,
G Nikolopoulos