Richard Wagner was a German composer, theorist, and conductor born in 1813 who had a revolutionary influence on Western music. Some of his major operatic works include The Flying Dutchman, Tannhauser, Lohengrin, Tristan and Isolde, and the four operas that make up The Ring of the Nibelung cycle. Wagner sought to integrate music, poetry, dance, and visual components into a new form of "total work of art." Though controversial in his time, he changed the course of opera and inspired many other art forms with his innovative music dramas and theories.

2. You’ll probably all
recognize…
 Ride of the Valkries
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V92OBNsQgxU&lis
t=LP8n51vlXWW6I&index=1&feature=plcp

3. Richard Wagner
• Born 1813 Germany, died 1883
Italy
• German dramatic composer and
theorist, whose operas and music
had a revolutionary influence on the
course of Western music
• Major works include
•The Flying Dutchman (1843)
•Tannhauser (1845)
•Lohengrin(1850)
•Tristan and Isolde (1865)
• And his great tetralogyThe
Ring of the Nibelung (1869-76)
• Ride of the Valkries is in the
2nd of the 4 operas (Champfleury, 19)
(Encyclopedia Britannica)

4. “It lies in the nature of music
to be, not the aim, but the
means of expression.”
- Richard Wagner

5. Characterization of Wagner’s Music
 Absence of melodies
 Strange orchestrations
 Bizarre combinations of instruments with clashing timbres
 Remarkable melodies suddenly interrupted as if by a malicious
gnome
 Comparable to the religious feeling experienced while silently
crossing a dense forest
 Not imitative music like Hadyn’sFour Seasons that imitated the
passing of winter to spring. Wagner created orchestral
experiences that included characters and drama, all through
music and dance
Champfleury

6. More than just a musician…
 Wagner was a thinker and writer
 He announced himself a reformer of music, but he
really was a reformer of the opera because he
worked cross genre to create a compound art form
(Gryanowski)

7. Realism in the Arts
 In the line of successful 19th century German composers
(Felix Mendelssohn, Schumann, Johannes Brahms)
Richard Wagner created a revolutionary new form of
musical drama grounded in complicated psychological,
religious, and philosophical symbolism
 He worked to create a more unified presentation of poetry,
music, dance, and scenery in historical & mythical operas
 Along the lines of a unified presentation, Wagner’s
compositions are considered consistent with the period of
Realism because of his attempt to genuinely convey
events and life experiences by abstract emotion-rich form
rather than through strictly formal imitation
(Encyclopedia Britannica)

8. Among the great composers for the theater,
Richard Wagner was the only one who
created plot, characters, text, and symbolism
as well as the music. He raised the melodic
and harmonic style of German music to its
highest emotional intensity, changing the
course of Western music by either the
extension of his methods or the reaction
against them.
(Encyclopedia Britannica)

9. Some critics HATED Wagner
 Some musical and theatrical critics thought he was
too different compared to previous composers
 The word realism and label music of the future were
used as clubs to beat him down
 Audiences, however, loved the experience of
Wagner operas
(Champfleury)

10. More music
 Siegfried Funeral March from Gotterdammerung
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8wHteSOwW4
 You’ll notice minor keys, powerful emotions that are not
necessarily pleasant
 Tannhauser Overture
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SRmCEGHt-
Qk&feature=related

11. Politics
 Wagner was exiled from Germany for 12 years because of
political events
 He was a Socialist, banned from Germany until 1861
 While in Paris and Zurich, he wrote much music, and prose.
 King Ludwig II of Bavaria paid Wagner’s debts and essentially
rescued and popularized his work again after exile, funding his
latter work
 His involvement with left-wing politics, Socialism, and Anti-
Semitist overtones, cast him in a poor light civically due to
implications of Nazism
(Berry)

12. Legacy & Reputation
 Wagner described himself as the “embodiment of German
spirit”
 He fashioned himself as the German composer, establishing a
unique profile for himself even before his brand of national
opera was established
 Though heavily criticized, he inspired a new kind of opera that
stretched beyond Germany and Europe
 His influence trickled over to many disciplines including
literature, visual arts, theater, film, and philosophy
 English-American poet W.H. Auden calls Wagner, “Perhaps the
greatest genius that ever lived.”
(Vazsonyi)

13. Works Cited
 Berry, Mark. Richard Wagner and the Politics of Music-Drama The Historical Journal , Vol.
47, No. 3 (Sep., 2004), pp. 663-683
 Champfleury and Palomba Paves-Yashinsky. "Richard Wagner" and "After the Battle”
19th-Century Music , Vol. 13, No. 1 (Summer, 1989), pp. 18-27
 Gryzanowski, E. Richard Wagner's Theories of Music Oper und Drama by Richard Wagner
Review by: The North American Review , Vol. 124, No. 254 (Jan., 1877), pp. 53-81
 Millington, Barry (Ed.) (1992) The Wagner Compendium: A Guide to Wagner's Life and
Music. Thames and Hudson Ltd., London.
 "Richard Wagner." Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online.
Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2012. Web. 07 Oct. 2012.
<http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/633925/Richard-Wagner>.
 Vazsonyi, Nicholas. Marketing German Identity: Richard Wagner's "Enterprise”German
Studies Review , Vol. 28, No. 2 (May, 2005), pp. 327-346