Wilhelm Richard Wagner 1813-1883
Wilhelm
Richard
Wagner
1813-1883
BIOGRAPHY
Born May 22, 1813 in Leipzig Germany
Birth Parents: Carl Friedrich Wagner &
Johanna Rosine
Step father and thought to be his true biological father Ludwig Geyer
Richard was known as Wilhelm Richard
Geyer until he was 14
8 Siblings
Inspiration
Wagner’s first major inspiration was
Shakespeare
His inspiration led him to write
Leubald at age 16
He decided to learn music composition as well
Growing Up
At age 7 Wagner attends Pastor
Wetzel’s school
A year later his step father dies
Richard begins attending Dresden
Kreuz Grammar
School to be a playwrite
Inspiration II
Beethoven becomes new inspiration
Wagner begins writing Sonatas and
Overtures
Wagner begins working with composition teacher
Christian Gottlieb
Müller from 1828-
1831
Middle Ages
1831 Wagner attended the
University of Leipzig
Wagner met
Theodor Weinlig who helped him publish some piano works
Inspiration III
“If I look back on my life as a whole, I can find no event that produced so profound an impression upon me.”
-Wagner on
Wilhelmine Schröder-
Devrient performing
First Opera
At twenty he completed his first
Opera Die Feen
(The Fairies).
1834-1836 he was the music director at Magdeburg where he staged
Das Liebesverbot
(The Ban on Love) also known as
“grosse komische
Oper”
Wagner suffers financial strain throughout his career
Married Life
November 24th
1836 he married
Christine
Wilhelmine "Minna"
Planer
Became director at
Riga between
1837-1839
His wife has an affair
Wagner takes her back
1839 The couple flee to avoid debt collectors and arrive in London by sea
Most Memorable Years
1850-1865
Der junge Siegfried
(Young Siegfried)
Götterdämmerung
Tristan and Isolde
Walküre (his claim to fame)
Bride March
Moving Around
Rienzi, der Letzte der Tribunen was influenced by his stay in France but performed in
Dresden
1845 Tannhäuser was performed
Begins work on Die
Götterdämmerung
1849 flee to
Switzerland for 15 years
Focus on the famed Ring
Bitter Sweet Ending
Wagner has an affair
Separates from wife 1863
1862 Granted
Amnesty and allowed back in
Germany
Wagner falls in love with Cosima Liszt
Has three children
Marries Cosima in
1870
Death
Parsifa his final opera completed in 1882
This opera premiered at the Bayreuth
Festival on May 26th.
Wagner dies of a heart attack at age
69 on February 13th
1883.
Siegfried’s Death and Funeral
March
A piece of
Götterdämmerung
Final cycle of the four part opera Der
Ring des Nibelungen
The full playing of the
Ring takes four nights at the opera at approximately 15 hours of play time
The Ride of the Valkyries
Der Ring des
Nibelungen or the
Ring
Act III Die Walküre the second of four operas
First performed on
June 26th 1870 at the National Theater
Munich
Important Verse
Die Walküre
0:23 The recognizable
Dun Dudda Dun Dah begins announcing the arrival of battle and what is to come with powerful horns rising in pitch and rhythm getting faster while the strings still play in a steady underlying rhythm in the background
This section is probably one of the most recognizable by all including being made popular in modern times in the movie
Apocalypse Now
Important Verse
Siegfried’s Death and Funeral March
5:26 The horns punch out notes again while drums, cymbals, and strings all join together in harmony each almost overshadowing the next. All at one playing the same repetitive notes for a few second durations each at the same time
This is such a dramatic movement and the entire piece is known for enticing emotions
Bibliography
Bibliography
My Life. Wagner, 1911
One New Wagernite at a Time. Steindler,
2011. www.theparisreview.org
Wagner, Wilhelm Richard. Classical Music,
2011. www.classicalm.com
Wagner’s Bio. Vargas,2011. www.wagneroperas.com
