![]() He was occasionally to create other concert works, but it was with his operas that he was to build his reputation. Marriage did not stop him from having affairs and he could become totally absorbed, obsessed even, in his musical projects to the extent that it deeply affected his own life and relationships.Īs a young man Wagner composed some concert overtures and a symphony before turning his attention to opera. This shows true devotion, given Wagner's temperament. Wagner was also married at the time, but several years later the couple were able to marry, and Cosima devoted her life to supporting and promoting Wagner's work and survived him by many years until her death in 1930. ![]() This was to Cosima (daughter of Franz Liszt) who was at the time of their meeting already married to the respected conductor and student of Liszt, von Bulow. ![]() He also progressed through no less than three wives, the last relationship proving to be the most stable. He was frequently in debt, in part because of failed attempts to have his early operas performed, but also due to his excessive gambling habit. He fled Germany in exile for a while after he had vociferously supported political revolution there. While Wagner was to pursue that latter occupation of writing Opera with single-minded determination, his personal life took him in several directions. He was later to form a friendship with Nietzsche, with whom he shared certain ideas (some misguided certainly) including a desire to base writings on timeless allegorical myths. Wagner received very little formal musical education, yet with complete self-absorption threw himself into a musical career which involved conducting posts in opera houses while composing operas with his own libretti, frequently based on stories from German mythology. The young Richard was called Richard Geyer, but reverted to Richard Wagner a few years after the death of his stepfather, by which time he had discovered the world of music and Beethoven in particular. Geyer knew the composer Weber, but it was his literary interest that drew Wagner initially towards Classical and Shakespearean drama. ![]() Wilhelm Richard Wagner was born in Leipzig, and it is thought that his real father was not the man who gave him his surname (Karl Friedrich Wagner who died when Richard was 6 months old) but the actor Ludwig Geyer who was then to become Wagner's stepfather and influence his early development. While these character traits severely taint any biography of Wagner, let's put them to one side, describe the key events in his life and concentrate on his musical development and his place in musical history. There are many reports of his extreme anti-semitism, massive ego-mania, wanton gambling and womanising, and his ruthless exploitation of anyone in order to achieve his ambitions. Bayreuth Festival (in German and English) Official site of the Bayreuth Festival, a music festival held annually in Bayreuth, Germany, at which performances of operas by Richard Wagner are presented.Most descriptions of Wagner the man do not paint a pretty picture. ![]() Orchestral highlights from the Ring Cycle. Perhaps the two best-known extracts from his works are the Ride of the Valkyries from the opera Die Walküre, and the Wedding March (Bridal Chorus) from the opera Lohengrin. Unlike most other opera composers, Wagner wrote both the music and libretto for every one of his stage works. Wagner's compositions, particularly those of his later period, are notable for their complex texture, rich harmonies and orchestration, and the elaborate use of leitmotifs: musical themes associated with individual characters, places, ideas or plot elements. Wilhelm Richard Wagner (ˈvɑːɡnər/ German pronunciation: – 13 February 1883) was a German composer, conductor, theatre director and polemicist primarily known for his operas (or "music dramas", as they were later called). ![]()
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