Great
Classical Music
Composers

Richard WAGNER

22 May 1813 - 13 February 1883 (age 69)

Portrait by Paul Helm ©
click on image for more info

Richard Wagner was a 19th century German composer, conductor and theatre director. Best known for his operas. He wrote his own librettos and even built his own opera house.

Portrait by Paul Helm ©

Family

Born: Leipzig, Germany, 22 May 1913 (Gemini)
Father: Carl Friedrich Wilhelm Wagner, clerk in Leipzig police, died of typhus 6 months after RW born
biological father was probably Ludwig Geyer Johanne Pätz
Mother: Johanna Rosine Wagner in Aug 1814 married Ludwig Geyer, actor and playwright, moved to Dresden
First Wife: Minna Planer no children
Second Wife: Cosima von Bülow the daughter of Franz Liszt, two children with Hans von Bülow and three children with Richard Wagner
Children: Isolde, Eva, Siegfried
Died: 13 February 1883, Venice, Italy. Heart attack.
Grave: at family home. Bayreuth, Germany

Works

Operas:

Rienzi
Der Fliegende Hollander (The Flying Dutchman)
Tannhauser
Lohengrin
Tristan and Isolde
Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg (The Mastersingers of Nurnberg)
Parsifal

Der Ring des Nibelungen (The Ring Cycle):

Das Rheingold
Die Walkure
Siegfried
Gotterdammerung (The Twilight of the Gods)

Quotes

- “I believe in God, Mozart and Beethoven, and likewise their disciples and apostles;
I believe in the Holy Spirit and the truth of the one, indivisible Art;
I believe that this Art proceeds from God, and lives within the hearts of all illumined men;
I believe that he who once has bathed in the sublime delights of this high Art, is consecrated to Her for ever, and never can deny Her;
I believe that through Art all men are saved.”

- “Joy is not in things; it is in us”

- “Imagination creates reality.”

- “Never look at the trombones, it only encourages them.”

- “I write music with an exclamation point!"

- "“Richard Wagner: A composer whose music is better than it sounds” (Mark Twain)

“Wagner is a composer who has beautiful moments but awful quarter hours” Rossini

Verdi and Wagner
An interesting essay by Peter McKenzie-Brown comparing the similarities and differences in the lives of these two composers born within a few months of each other.

2012 Opera Calendar

Available now.

This calendar has 12 of my portraits, all of opera composers, including Richard.

Also Puccini, Mozart, Berlioz, Mascagni, Leoncavallo, Rossini, Offenbach, Bizet, Bellini, Donizetti and Verdi.

Available from Etsy

Wagner on eBay

You will find lots of Wagner related items on eBay, some new, some used, some common, some rare. Always good for a browse - you never know what you may find!

What's Opera Doc?

This brilliant cartoon features Bugs Bunny in a parody of Wagner's operas.
In 1992, it became the first cartoon short to be deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" by the United States Library of Congress, and thus was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry. Wikipedia