Richard Wagner |
(born: Leipzig, 22 May 1813; died: Venice, 13 Feb 1883).
German composer. In 1833 he became chorus master at the W??rzburg theatre and wrote the text and music of his first opera, Die Feen; this remained unheard, but his next, Das Liebesverbot, written in 1833, was staged in 1836.
In 1839 he traveled to London and then to Paris, where he was befriended by Meyerbeer and did hack-work for publishers and theatres. In 1842 Rienzi, a large-scale opera with a political theme set in imperial Rome, was accepted for Dresden and Wagner went there for its highly successful premi?¿re. Its theme reflects something of Wagner's own politics (he was involved in the semi-revolutionary, intellectual 'Young Germany' movement).
The theme of redemption through a woman's love recurs in Wagner's operas (and perhaps his life). In 1845 Tannh?ñuser was completed and performed and Lohengrin begun. In both, Wagner moves towards a more continuous texture with semi-melodic narrative and a supporting orchestral fabric helping convey its sense. In 1848 he was caught up in the revolutionary fervour and the next year fled to Weimar and then Switzerland; politically suspect, he was unable to enter Germany for 11 years. In Z??rich, he began sketching the text and music of a series of operas on the Nordic and Germanic sagas. By 1853 the text for this four-night cycle (to be The Nibelung's Ring) was written, printed and read to friends - who included a generous patron Otto Wesendonck, and his wife Mathilde, who inspired Tristan und Isolde - conceived in 1854 and completed five years later. Here Wagner, in depicting every shade of sexual love, developed a style richer and more chromatic than anyone had previously attempted, using dissonance and its urge for resolution in a continuing pattern to build up tension and a sense of profound yearning.
The first two Ring operas, Das Rheingold and Die Walk??re, were given in Munich in 1869 and 1870; Wagner however was anxious to have a special festival opera house for the complete cycle and spent much energy trying to raise money for it. Eventually, the house was built at Bayreuth, designed by Wagner as the home for his concept of the Gesamtkunstwerk ('total art work'- an alliance of music, poetry, the visual arts, dance etc). The first festival, an artistic triumph but a financial disaster - was held there in 1876, when the complete Ring was given. The Ring is about 18 hours of music, held together by an immensely detailed network of themes, or leitmotifs, each of which has some allusive meaning: a character, a concept, an object etc. They change and develop as the ideas within the opera develop. They are heard in the orchestra, not merely as 'labels' but carrying the action, sometimes informing the listener of connections of ideas or the thoughts of those on the stage. There are no 'numbers' in the Ring; the musical texture is made up of narrative and dialogue, in which the orchestra partakes. The work is not merelyFind Richard Wagner cds and Richard Wagner records on Ponto Records. |
