Richard Wagner (1813-1883).
German Romantic opera began with the work of Carl Maria von Weber (1786-2826):
1. first performed in Berlin
2. unusual harmonies
3. importance given to nature, folklore, supernatural events
4. in Der Freischütz, choruses, marches, dances, airs and commingled with Italianstyle arias
5. Schubert’s works never reached the stage, but his songs influenced German
romantic opera.
I. Life and significance.
 preeminent composer of the Late German Romantic Period
 Wrote his own libretti
 Revolutionized music and opera through his music, conducting, and aesthetic and
theoretical writing.
 Wagner set forth his goals for German opera explicitly in several published
essays. He based his ideas on Beethoven’s ninth symphony, which he portrayed as
the “end” of absolute music.
 His highly chromatic style led to the many of the musical developments of the
20th century.
o “Gesamtkunstwerk” transformed compositional technique and opera.
o Leitmotif technique was a development of Beethoven’s idea of thematic
transformation and Weber’s reminiscence motif and was strongly
influential on film score composition. Guiding or leading motive
technique. Leitmotif becomes associated with a person, thing, emotion, or
symbol.
o controversial figure for his musical as well as anti-Semitic views which
inspired Hitler and the Nazi movement.
II. Wagner’s love life is a major topic of biographers for good reason—the themes of
Redemptive Love, Sensual Love and Asceticism are explored in his operas and some of
the women in his real life are either the inspirations for his characters or their prototypes.
Those women include:

Christine Wilhelmine (Minna) Planer
o Wagner’s first wife. Their marriage dates from his Magdeburg days. She
was an actress in the Magdeburg theatre troupe. According to John
Chancellor, “although she was dignified she was of fairly easygoing
morality, regarding it as her duty to bestow the occasional favor on
theatre managers and patrons. She did not love Wagner and discouraged
his passionate protestations.”
o They married in 1836 and Wagner did not marry Cosima until after her
death in 1866. Wagner may have fallen in love with this “unremarkable
woman” (Chancellor) for a combination of erotic and mothering appeal
(she was four years older than he). They were incompatible and Wagner
knew it, but he married her, anyway. The marriage was difficult and
ended with a long separation until her death.
o Minna can be seen as Fricka, the goddess of marriage and Wotan’s longsuffering wife. To Fricka, Wotan says:
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Wouldst thou, oh wife,
In the castle confine me,
As god this boon thou must grant me—
Though in the fortress fettered,
Yet to my rule the whole world I must win.
Nought learnedst thou
When I would teach thee…
Only custom canst thou understand.1
Mathilde Wesendonck
o wife of his patron Otto von Wesendonck. Minna and Richard Wagner
took up residence in a house on the Wesendonck Estate during 1856-58,
after which Wagner’s affections for Mathilde began. Their diaries reveal
“ardent protestations of love”, even though Wagner, in his autobiography,
which was dictated to Cosima, painted the relationship as a deep
friendship over which Minna is insanely jealous. Minna leaves the
Wesendonck Estate because of a heart ailment. Upon her return, she
makes the situation intolerable.
o Mathilde can be seen as Isolde and Wagner as Tristan. Thus, Otto
becomes King Marke, and Wagner himself becomes Tristan. Mathilde
was a cultured, literate woman. Wagner set her poems to music, and the
“Wesendonck Lieder” are among the few non-operatic works of Wagner
to remain in the repertoire.
(Stehe Still! Wesendonck Lieder, text by Wesendonck. English—translation Emily Zuest)
When one eye another drinks in bliss,
And one soul into another sinks,
One nature in another finds itself again,
And when each hope's fulfillment is finished,
When the lips are mute in astounded silence,
And no wish more does the heart invent,
Then man recognizes the sign of Eternity,
And solves your riddle, holy Nature!2

1
2
Cosima Liszt von Bülow
o Wagner’s second wife and mother of his three children. Cosima was the
(illegitimate) daughter of Franz Liszt with the Countess Marie D’Agoult.
Wagner As Man and the Artist, Ernest Newman, Vintage Books, 1924, p.97
The Lied and Art Song Text Page: http://www.recmusic.org/lieder/get_text.html?TextId=17386
Her place in the family was disrupted when her father left her mother for
the Countess Carolyne Sayn-Wittgenstein.
o Wagner first met Cosima when she was sixteen. It is fairly clear that von
Bülow married her out of a desire to give her legitimacy rather than love.
Cosima was miserably unhappy in her marriage to von Bülow and even
contemplated suicide. Her affair with Wagner made him unpopular in
Munich, so that he eventually had to leave. In 1867, Ludwig appointed
von Bülow as Court Kapellmeister, but the situation was impossible.
o The Richard-Cosima relationship led to an estrangement from Liszt and a
cooling of other friendships. Cosima came to see herself as the ideal
Wagner helpmate and spouse. She can be seen as Brünnhilde—loving,
heroic, defiant of a father figure, and self-sacrificing.
o In his letter to Liszt to invite him to the 1876 opening at Bayreuth,
Wagner wrote:
My great and dear Friend—Cosima maintains that you would not come even if I
were to invite you…So you live in full beauty before me and in me, and we are one
beyond the grave itself. You were the first to ennoble me by (your) love; to a
second, higher life am I now wedded in her (Cosima), and can accomplish what I
should never have been able to accomplish alone…Blessings and love to you,
whatever decision you may come to!
Liszt answered affectionately and affirmatively and attended the opening.
Speaking of friends in general, Eduard Hanslick wrote of Wagner:
He exercised an incomprehensible magic in order to make friends and to retain
them; friends who sacrificed themselves for him, and three times offended, came
three times to him again…The hypnotic power that he everywhere exerted, not
merely by his music but by his personality, overbearing all opposition and
bending everyone to his will, is enough to stamp him as one of the most
remarkable of phenomena, a marvel of energy and endowment.3
3
Wagner As Man and Artist, Ernest Newman, Vintage Books, 1924, pp. 177-78
II. Prose Works. Wagner was a prolific writer. In addition to the libretti for his operas,
he wrote:
 prose versions of the opera stories
 numerous essays on political and musical/aesthetic topics
 an extensive self-justifying autobiography which he dictated to Cosima, his
second wife
 essays on:
o conducting Beethoven symphonies
o The Artwork of the Future
o Opera as Drama
o an infamous anti-Semitic essay titled Judaism in Music which was an
attack on Jewish composers such as Meyerbeer and Mendelssohn.
III. Musical Works. Thirteen operas, early symphonies, a few concert overtures and
some songs. He also wrote the libretti for his operas.
A. Early operas
1. Die Hochzeit (1832)—fragment
2. Die Feen (1833)—influenced by Weber
3. Das Liebesverbot (1836)
4. Rienzi (1837)—Grand opera in style of Halevy’s La Juive and
Meyerbeer. Rienzi, the Last of the Roman Tribunals, was the work
which inspired Hitler. Ironically, Rienzi’s plans for a vast Roman
Empire crumble and he is defeated, as was Hitler.
B. Romantic operas
1. Der Fliegende Hollander (1843)
a. Scenic opera based on North Sea legend he heard while on
the flight from Riga to Paris.
b. Story: the Flying Dutchman had cursed the Devil and is
condemned to wander for Eternity until redeemed by a
woman’s love. He and his crew come to shore every seven
years. Senta is the daughter of the sea-captain Daland.
Daland is tempted by the Dutchman’s offer of gold and
agrees that his daughter may marry the Dutchman, who
identity he only suspects. Senta rejects Erik and, when
learning the truth of the Dutchman’s plight, sacrifices
herself and redeems the Dutchman.
2. Tannhäuser (1845)
a. Based on a story in Des Knaben Wunderhorn combined
with other sources; a set-piece opera with choruses and
arias; ballet added for the Paris premiere; vocal style
derived from Weber.
b. Story: Tannhäuser has spent a year living in sensual
delight on the Venusberg. He competes for the hand of
Elizabeth in marriage. Wolfram sings of spiritual love, but
Tannhäuser answers with praise for the sensual love he
experienced on the Venusberg. The Court reacts in horror,
but Elizabeth protects him. Tannhäuser makes pilgrimage
to Rome but his repentance is rejected by the Pope. The
Pope erects Tannhäuser’s staff as a symbol of his
damnation. Tannhäuser observes Elizabeth’s funeral
procession and prays to her and dies. The staff blossoms,
revealing that Tannhäuser has been redeemed.
3. Lohengrin (1848)
a. Based on Wolfram von Eschenbach’s epic poem; the last
important German Romantic Opera; the music is more
continuous than in Tannhäuser and Leitmotif technique can
be observed.
b. Story: Elsa’s is accused of murdering her brother
Gottfried, who is a minor and heir to the throne. Elsa prays
for a champion, who arrives on a swan. The suitor triumphs
over Telerund, her accuser. He proposes marriage and Elsa
accepts, on the condition that she is not permitted to know
her suitor’s name. Ortrud, Telerund’s wife and a heathen,
schemes to induce Elsa to betray her suitor. Telerund
claims he has been defeated by a fraud. At the wedding,
Elsa weakens and asks her suitor’s name. Telerund attacks
him but is defeated and killed. The suitor reveals himself to
be Lohengrin, Knight of the Holy Grail and son of Parsifal.
Now that he has revealed his name, he must return. The
swan returns, dives into the river and emerges as Gottfried,
who had been imprisoned by Ortrud with a magic spell.
Lohengrin returns to the castle of the Holy Grail in his boat,
led by a dove which has descended from heaven.
C. Mature operas
1. Der Ring des Niebelungen (1854-1874)—based on numerous
sources, including German and Scandinavian myths, the Norse
Eddas, the Volsunga saga, Grimm Brothers’ fairy tales, and an old
German poem known as the Nibelungenlied; conceived as a trilogy
of three operas with a “prelude” evening, the entire 20-hour cycle
uses a unified set of evolving Leitmotifs. The four operas
(alternatively referred to as a tetralogy, or a trilogy with a prelude
evening), call for an enormous orchestra including Wagner tubas,
which he invented. The cycle was designed to emulate ancient
Greek drama, which included three tragedies and a comedy. The
vocal demands required that Wagner develop a new style of
singing. The technical and acoustical demands of the production
required a newly designed opera house, which Wagner had built in
Bayreuth, the cost of which was financed by Ludwig II. The
theater’s acoustics allow for ideal balance between the voice and
the orchestra. The project, from initial conception in around 1850,
until completion and premiere in 1876 at Bayreuth, occupied
Wagner for over 25 years.
2. Interpretations of Der Ring. Various commentators have seen Der
Ring as an allegory; e.g., George Bernard Shaw saw it as a
socialist critique of industrial society. Robert Donington saw it in
terms of a Jungian exploration of archetypes leading to
development of the Self.
 Das Rheingold (1854)—Wotan has hired the giants Fasolt
and Fafner to build Valhalla, a new home for the gods. He
has offered his sister-in-law Freia as payment, but reneges
of the bargain. Meanwhile, Alberich steals gold from the
Rheinmaidens by renouncing love and forges it into a Ring
which has the power to rule the world. Wotan and Loki
steal gold and the ring, along with a shape-transforming
Tarnhelm from Alberich to pay the giants. Alberich places
a curse on the gold; Fasolt kills Fafner and transforms
himself into a Dragon, and the gods move into Valhalla.
 Die Walküre (1856)—Wotan realizes that the gold is cursed
and that only a man of free will can reclaim it and save the
gods. He goes to Earth, disguises himself as a Välse, and
conceives twins with an earthly woman. The twins,
Siegmund and Sieglinde, are separated at birth and grow
up. Siegmund is hounded by enemies. Sieglinde is forced
into a marriage with Hundling. They are reunited and
become lovers. Siegmund claims Wotan’s sword from the
Ash tree to defend himself, but Wotan’s wife Fricka
(goddess of marriage) objects. Brünnhilde, sent to kill
Siegmund, refuses. Wotan kills Siegmund, Brünnhilde
rescues Sieglinde, who gives birth to Siegfried and dies.
Wotan punishes Brünnhilde by stripping her of her
immortal powers and leaving her on a Rock, surrounded by
magic fire and asleep, awaiting her rescuer.
 Siegfried (1871)—Siegfried is raised by the dwarf Mime.
Mime hopes to forge Wotan’s sword with help from
Siegfried. Siegfried turns on the treacherous Mime, forges
the sword himself and enters Forest. Siegfried finds and
slays Fafner the Dragon, claims the gold, and, tasting the
dragon’s blood, He learns of his true identity. Then he finds
Brünnhilde and claims her.
 Götterdämmerung (1874)—All of Wotan’s scheming
comes to a tragic ending. Three Norns (the Fates) retell the
story of the Ring up to this point. Then the curtain rises on
the Gebichungs, relatives of Alberich, who plot against
Siegfried and Brünnhilde. They plan to drug Siegfried into
marrying Gutrune (a Gebichung) and gain Brünnhilde for
Gunther, Gutrune’s brother. Siegfried is tricked by the
Gebichungs. Brünnhilde, believing that Siegfried has
abandoned her, participates in the undoing of Siegfried and
he is slain. Brünnhilde learns the truth, reclaims the gold
and returns it to the Rheinmaidens and rides her horse into
Siegfried’s funeral pyre. Valhalla burns to the ground and
the era of the gods, with its greed and corruption comes to
an end. The world is redeemed through Brünnhilde’s love.
3. Tristan und Isolde (1859)
 harmonically, this opera is one of the most important and
revolutionary of Wagner’s operas. Leitmotif technique is
not as fully realized as it is in the Ring. Wagner broke off
writing the Siegfried in the middle of Act II to write Tristan
und Isolde, in part because of his affair with Mathilde
Wesendonck and in part because he needed to more fully
develop his compositional technique.
 Story: Tristan, a knight for the Cornish King Marke, is
wounded in battle and nursed back to health by Isolde.
Tristan was wounded in battle against Morold, Isolde’s
betrothed, who he killed. Later, King Marke’s forces defeat
Isolde’s father, the Irish King, and her father offers Isolde
to Mark as war booty. Tristan is sent to claim her. Isolde is
furious and plans to poison Tristan and then kill herself, but
Brigaene (her maid) switches a love potion for the poison.
Tristan and Isolde become lovers after Isolde’s marriage to
King Marke. Tristan is challenged to a duel by Merlot for
betraying the King. Tristan is wounded and flees. The truth
is revealed, Marke forgives the lovers, and Isolde rushes to
Tristan’s side, but it is too late—the Knight dies as Isolde
arrives. Isolde cradles the body of Tristan and dies a lovedeath.
4. Die Meistersinger von Nürmberg (1867)
 the plot occupied Wagner from as early as 1845. It is based
loosely on historical figures Walther von Stolzing and Hans
Sachs, who were Mastersingers. The character of
Beckmesser is a caricature of Eduard Hanslick, a Viennese
critic, who was Jewish.
 Story: Elisabeth is the daughter of the head of the
Mastersinger’s Guild. The winner of the song contest will
win her hand in marriage. Walther and Beckmesser
compete. Sachs loves Elisabeth, too, but knows that he is
too old to court her. Sachs recognizes that Walther’s music
is the music of the future and, although it breaks some of
the Mastersinger rules, is the superior music. He tricks
Beckmesser and helps Walther craft his song so that, in the
end, Beckmesser and his pedantic ways are defeated by
Walther.
5. Parsifal (1882)
 Wagner’s last completed work, subtitled “A Festival Play
for the Consecration of the Stage.” It is based on the legend
of the Holy Grail and is as much a series of tableaux as it is
an opera. Its premiere was conducted, at Ludwig’s
insistence and over Wagner’s objections, by Hermann Levi,
the great German-Jewish conductor. Parsifal counts among
its admirers such diverse people as Nietzsche, Debussy,
Mahler, and T.S. Eliot.
 Story:
i. Act I: Amfortas is the King of the Knights of the
Holy Grail. He has received a grievous wound
while in Klingsor’s Realm. He is nursed by Kundry.
Parsifal, a Pure Fool, arrives. He has blundered into
the Knights’ realm and has shot a swan. The
Knights accept Communion as Parsifal watches.
ii. Act II—Klingsor’s Realm. Klingsor is a Magician
and Kundry is in his service. Klingsor plots the
downfall of the Grail Knights. Parsifal journeys to
Klingsor’s Realm. Parsifal is attracted by the
Flower-Maidens and later approached by Kundry.
Parsifal mourns his mother’s death. Kundry says
she can help Parsifal understand his mother’s love
by kissing him, but Parsifal recognizes the kiss as
anything but maternal and reject her, realizing that
it was her kiss that wounded Amfortas. Feeling
compassion for Amfortas, he rejects Kundry.
Kundry tells Parsifal that he must also forgive her.
She identifies herself as having been present at the
Crucifixion, having laughed at Christ, and therefore
having been condemned to wander through eternity.
Klingsor appears and throws a Spear at Parsifal,
who catches it mid-air. Klingsor’s Castle
disappears.
iii. Act III, Parsifal returns to Montsalvat after many
years of wandering. It is Good Friday. He feels guilt
at his delay, but is informed that it was a curse
which prevented him from finding the way. He is
carrying Klingsor’s Spear. Kundry washes
Parsifal’s feet. Amfortas in brought forth. He has
refused to reveal the Grail for many years. Parsifal
touches the Spear to Amfortas’s wound and
forgives him. The wound is healed. Parsifal forgives
Kundry, who is released from her curse and falls
lifeless to the ground. Parsifal reveals the Grail.
 Although Parsifal is overtly “Christian”, it a Wagner’s
idiosyncratic version of Christianity; for example:
i. Wagner believed that Jesus was Greek, not Jewish,
and that the God of Israel was not the same God as
the Father of Jesus.
ii. Communion and transubstantiation as depicted in
the opera are closer to a pagan ritual than a
Christian one.
iii. Wagner was interested in Buddhism and
contemplated an opera based on the life of Buddha
(Die Sieger). Elements of Die Sieger were
absorbed into Parsifal.
iv. Parsifal has been seen as a “pure-blooded Aryan”
who defeats the Magician Klingsor, who has been
seen as a Jewish stereotype. This is reinforced by
Kundry’s narrative to Parsifal in Act II.
Wagner Chronology
1813
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1814
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1822
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1831
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1834
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1836
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1837
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1839
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1840
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1841
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1842
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1843
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1844
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1845
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1848
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1849
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Wagner born in Leipzig; Friedrich Wagner dies
Wagner’s mother marries Geyer, family moves to Dresden; Sep—Geyer dies.
Enrolls in Kreuzschule
Hears Schröder-Devrient sing
Meets Schumann in Leipzig; Perf. of Overture in B Major
Symphony in C; Die Hochzeit
Die Feen completed
Meets Minna Planer (future wife); Becomes Music Manager in Magdeburg
Marries Minna Planer
Becomes Music Manager in Riga
Flight from creditors in Riga; Arrives in Paris for 1 yr. stay
Faust Overture; Rienzi
Meets Liszt in Paris; Writes articles for Dresden paper
First version of Flying Dutchman; Rienzi accepted in Dresden
Reads Tannhäuser and Lohengrin legends; Premiere of Rienzi
Premiere of Flying Dutchman
Weber’s remains arrive in Dresden—Wagner organizes ceremony
Prose sketch of Die Meistersinger; Premiere of Tannhäuser
Death of Wagner’s mother; Meets Bakunin (anarchist)
Prose sketch of Der Ring des Nibelungen; Reads ‘Siegfrieds Tod’ to friends
Dresden uprising; warrant for Wagner’s arrest; Wagners flee Germany for Switzerland
Starts close friendship with Liszt
1850
 Publication of “Jewishness in Music”
1852
 Meets Wesendoncks
1853
 Private edition of Der Ring; Meets 16-year-old Cosima in Paris
1854
 Friendship with Mathilde Wesendonck develops; Reads Schopenhauer
 first thoughts of writing Tristan und Isolde
1856-57
 Wagners move in to Asyl on the grounds of the Wesendonck estate;
 Cosima and von Bülow honeymoon, Bülow more interested in Wagner than his wife
 Cosima contemplates suicide
 Breaks off composing Siegfried; Write Tristan poem; affair w/Mathilde reaches climax;
Minna protests; Otto takes wife to Italy
1858-61
 Premiere of Tannhauser
 Poem of Die Meistersinger
1862-65
 Flees Vienna and creditors; Meets Ludwig in Munich; Ludwig proposes support
 Beginning of relationship with Cosima
 Resumes Siegfried; Birth of Isolde von Bülow, first child of Cosima and Wagner
 Premiere of Tristan und Isolde; Flees Munich
1866-70
 Moves to Tribschen; Death of Minna
 Birth of Eva, second child of Cosima and Wagner
 Premiere of Meistersinger; Meets Nietzsche
 Birth of Siegfried, third child of Cosima and Wagner
 Premiere of Die Walküre
 Marriage of Wagner and Cosima (1870)
1871-76
 Completion of Siegfried in Bayreuth
 Foundation laid for Festspielhaus
 Move into Wahnfried (at Bayreuth)
 Completion of Ring; Opening of first Festival (Aug, 1876)
1877-83
 Last meeting with Ludwig (1880)
 Completion of Parsifal (1882)
 Premiere of Parsifal (1882)
 Death in Venice (1883)