Richard Wagner was born in Leipzig, Germany. At twenty, he abandoned his academic studies at the University of Leipzig and over the next six years gained practical experience conducting in provincial theaters. He married the actress Minna Planer when he was twenty-three and produced his rst operas at this time. He wrote the librettos himself, as he did for all his later works. In this way, he was able to unify music and drama more than anyone had before.
Wagner’s early opera, Rienzi, won a huge success in Dresden. With his next three works, The Flying Dutchman, Tannhäuser, and Lohengrin, Wagner took an important step by shifting his focus from the drama of historical intrigue to the idealized folk legend. He chose subjects derived from medieval German epics, displayed a profound feeling for nature, employed the supernatural as an element of the drama, and glori ed the German land and people.
When a revolution broke out in Dresden in …show more content…
But he soon found support and admi- ration of the young monarch Ludwig II of Bavaria, who commissioned Wagner to complete the Ring, and Wagner picked up where he had left off a number of years earlier.
A theater was planned speci cally for the presentation of Wagner’s music dramas, which ultimately became the Festival Theater at Bayreuth (see illustration, p. 253). And he found a woman he considered his equal in will and courage—Cosima, the daughter of his old friend Liszt. She left her husband and children in order to join Wagner
The Wagnerian gospel spread across Europe as a new art-religion. The Ring cycle was com- pleted in 1874, and the four dramas were presented to worshipful audiences at the rst Bay- reuth Festival two years later. At age seventy, Wagner undertook Parsifal (1877–82), a drama based on the legend of the Holy Grail. Wagner died shortly thereafter and was buried at
Wagner’s early opera, Rienzi, won a huge success in Dresden. With his next three works, The Flying Dutchman, Tannhäuser, and Lohengrin, Wagner took an important step by shifting his focus from the drama of historical intrigue to the idealized folk legend. He chose subjects derived from medieval German epics, displayed a profound feeling for nature, employed the supernatural as an element of the drama, and glori ed the German land and people.
When a revolution broke out in Dresden in …show more content…
But he soon found support and admi- ration of the young monarch Ludwig II of Bavaria, who commissioned Wagner to complete the Ring, and Wagner picked up where he had left off a number of years earlier.
A theater was planned speci cally for the presentation of Wagner’s music dramas, which ultimately became the Festival Theater at Bayreuth (see illustration, p. 253). And he found a woman he considered his equal in will and courage—Cosima, the daughter of his old friend Liszt. She left her husband and children in order to join Wagner
The Wagnerian gospel spread across Europe as a new art-religion. The Ring cycle was com- pleted in 1874, and the four dramas were presented to worshipful audiences at the rst Bay- reuth Festival two years later. At age seventy, Wagner undertook Parsifal (1877–82), a drama based on the legend of the Holy Grail. Wagner died shortly thereafter and was buried at