Richard Wagner
Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, polemicist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most op ...
's works for the stage, representing more than 50 years of creative life, comprise his 13 completed operas and a similar number of failed or abandoned projects. His first effort, begun when he was 13, was a prose drama, ''
Leubald
''Leubald'' was an attempt by the youthful Richard Wagner to write a tragic drama in the Shakespearean genre. It occupied him during the years 1827-28 while he was at school, first in Dresden and later in Leipzig. The play combines elements of ' ...
'', but thereafter all his works were conceived as some form of musical drama. It has been suggested that Wagner's wish to add incidental music to ''Leubald'', in the manner of
Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classic ...
's treatment of
Goethe
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German poet, playwright, novelist, scientist, statesman, theatre director, and critic. His works include plays, poetry, literature, and aesthetic criticism, as well as treat ...
's drama ''
Egmont'', may have been the initial stimulus that directed him to musical composition.
Wagner's musical education began in 1828, and a year later he was producing his earliest compositions, writing words and music, since lost, for his first opera attempt, ''
Die Laune des Verliebten''.
During the subsequent decade he began several more opera projects, none of which was successful although two were completed and one was staged professionally. His first commercial success came in 1842 with ''
Rienzi
' (''Rienzi, the last of the tribunes''; WWV 49) is an early opera by Richard Wagner in five acts, with the libretto written by the composer after Edward Bulwer-Lytton's novel of the same name (1835). The title is commonly shortened to ''Rie ...
'',
[Millington, Barry (2001)]
''(Wilhelm) Richard Wagner'', p. 4
in Grove Music Online, ed. Laura Macy. Retrieved on 20 March 2009 by which time he had completed ''
Der fliegende Holländer
' (''The Flying Dutchman''), WWV 63, is a German-language opera, with libretto and music by Richard Wagner. The central theme is redemption through love. Wagner conducted the premiere at the Königliches Hoftheater Dresden in 1843.
Wagner cla ...
'', in which for the first time he used the device of the ''
leitmotiv
A leitmotif or leitmotiv () is a "short, recurring musical phrase" associated with a particular person, place, or idea. It is closely related to the musical concepts of ''idée fixe'' or ''motto-theme''. The spelling ''leitmotif'' is an anglic ...
'', a characteristic that became a feature of all his later works.
After accepting the post of
Kapellmeister at the
Dresden
Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label=Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth larg ...
court of the
King of Saxony
This article lists dukes, electors, and kings ruling over different territories named Saxony from the beginning of the Saxon Duchy in the 6th century to the end of the German monarchies in 1918.
The electors of Saxony from John the Steadfast on ...
in February 1843,
Wagner continued to compose operas and plan various large-scale projects.
His political activities forced him to flee the city in 1849, beginning a long period of exile. In
Zurich, his first refuge, he wrote the essay ''Die Kunst und die Revolution'' ("Art and the Revolution"), in which he introduced the concept of ''
Gesamtkunstwerk
A ''Gesamtkunstwerk'' (, literally 'total artwork', translated as 'total work of art', 'ideal work of art', 'universal artwork', 'synthesis of the arts', 'comprehensive artwork', or 'all-embracing art form') is a work of art that makes use of al ...
'' (total work of art), or "drama-through-music".
[Millington, Barry (2001)]
''(Wilhelm) Richard Wagner'', pp. 7–8
in Grove Music Online, ed. Laura Macy. Retrieved on 20 March 2009 This idea was developed in the extended discourse ''
Oper und Drama'' ("Opera and Drama"), 1850–51. A different form of verse-setting, which Wagner termed ''Versmelodie'', was proposed,
in which the music would grow out of the verse, this unification overriding such traditional operatic considerations as display arias written as showcases for the talents of individual singers. According to Wagner historian Robert Gutman: "The orchestra with its many tongues would take over the traditional operatic tasks of the chorus". Beginning with ''
Das Rheingold
''Das Rheingold'' (; ''The Rhinegold''), WWV 86A, is the first of the four music dramas that constitute Richard Wagner's '' Der Ring des Nibelungen'' (English: ''The Ring of the Nibelung''). It was performed, as a single opera, at the National ...
'' (1853–54), the principles of ''Gesamtkunstwerk'' became the basis of all Wagner's stage work, in which, quoting Wagner chronicler Charles Osborne, "the drama presented on a conscious level by the words
..would be pursued on a deeper, unconscious level in the orchestra."
Librettist
![Richard Wagner, Paris, 1861](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/83/Richard_Wagner%2C_Paris%2C_1861.jpg)
From his first attempt in the opera genre, ''Die Laune des Verliebten'', Wagner became his own librettist and remained so throughout his creative career.
[Gutman, pp. 48–49] His practice was to create music and text simultaneously; in biographer Robert Gutman's words: "as the music proceeded it drew forth the words."
While working on ''Tannhäuser'' Wagner explained his technique in a letter, saying: "before starting to create a verse or even outline a scene, I must first feel intoxicated by the musical aroma of my subject."
[Quoted in Gutman, ]
Cataloguing Wagner's works
Unlike the works of many composers, those of Richard Wagner were not identified by
opus number
In musicology, the opus number is the "work number" that is assigned to a musical composition, or to a set of compositions, to indicate the chronological order of the composer's production. Opus numbers are used to distinguish among compositio ...
s, and no proper attempt to create a complete catalogue was made until the 1980s. In 1983 the Wagner scholar John Deathbridge, in an article in ''The Musical Times'', outlined the need for a reliable catalogue.
[Saffle, ] Two years later, in conjunction with Martin Gech and
Egon Voss
Egon Voss (born 7 November 1938) is a German musicologist, who is particularly known for his contributions to Richard Wagner research.
Life and career
Born in Magdeburg, Voss studied musicology and German studies at the Universities in Detmold, ...
, he produced ''
Wagner-Werk-Verzeichnis The ''Wagner-Werk-Verzeichnis'' (''Catalogue of Wagner's Works''), abbreviated WWV, is an index and musicological guide to the 113 musical compositions and works for the stage by Richard Wagner. It includes guidance on editions of the published wor ...
'', described by fellow-scholar Michael Saffle as "perhaps the single finest and most useful of all Wagner reference works."
Each of Wagner's known works, whether finished or unfinished, is listed in a number sequence running from 1 to 113. The list includes all compositions and all prose drafts where the music is either lost or unwritten.
List of works for the stage
Sketched work or incomplete work
Translation:
See also
*
Bayreuth canon
The Bayreuth canon consists of those operas by the German composer Richard Wagner (1813–1883) that have been performed at the Bayreuth Festival. The festival, which is dedicated to the staging of these works, was founded by Wagner in 1876 in the ...
*
List of compositions by Richard Wagner
This is a sortable list of compositions by Richard Wagner.
__TOC__
See also
* List of works for the stage by Richard Wagner
Notes
Sources
*Deathridge J., Geck M. and Voss E. (1986). ''Wagner Werk-Verzeichnis (WWV): Verzeichnis der musikali ...
Notes and references
List of sources
General
*Bassett, Peter (2004)
The Nibelung's Ring Wakefield Press, Adelaide. Retrieved on 25 March 2009
*Borchmeyer, Dieter (2003)
Drama and the World of Richard Wagnered. Daphne Ellis. Princeton University Press, Princeton N.J. Retrieved on 25 March 2009
*Elschek, Oskár (ed.) (2003): ''A History of Slovak Music'', Veda, Bratislava.
*Gutman, Robert W. (1971): ''Richard Wagner: The Man, His Mind and His Music'', Penguin Books, London
*Kennedy, Michael and Joyce Bourne (2007): ''The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Music'', OUP, Oxford,
*Millington, Barry (2001)
''(Wilhelm) Richard Wagner''in Grove Music Online, ed. Laura Macy. Retrieved on 20 March 2009
*Millington, Barry (Spring 2005)
''University of Toronto Quarterly'', University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada. Retrieved on 31 March 2009
*
Osborne, Charles (1992): ''The Complete Operas of Wagner'', Victor Gollancz, London,
*Pritchard, Jim (2007)
Seen and Heard Opera Review: Wagner Rarities MusicWeb International. Retrieved on 26 March 2009
(1996) in ''Harvard Biographical Dictionary of Music.'' Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts Retrieved on 24 March 2009
*Saffle, Michael (2002)
Richard Wagner: A Guide to Research Taylor and Francis, London. Retrieved on 25 March 2009
(2007), MusicalCriticism.com. Retrieved 25 March 2009
Published scores
Die Feen: Piano and vocal scoreK Ferd. Heckel, Mannheim 1888. Retrieved on 5 April 2009
Das Liebesverbot: Piano and vocal scoreed. Otto Singer. Breitkopf & Hartel, Leipzig 1922. Retrieved on 5 April 2009
Rienzi: Piano and vocal scoreed. Gustav Kogel. Adolph Fürstner, Berlin 1910. Retrieved on 6 April 2009
Die fliegende Holländer: Piano and vocal scoreeds John Troutbeck and Theodore Baker. G. Schirmer, New York 1897. Retrieved on 6 April 2009
Tannhauser: Piano and vocal score (Dresden version)arr. Karl Klindworth. G. Schirmer, New York, 1895. Retrieved on 6 April 2009
G. Schirmer, New York 1897. Retrieved on 6 April 2007
Das Rheingold: Piano and vocal scorearr. Karl Klindworth. B. Schott's Söhne, Mainz 1908. Retrieved on 6 April 2009
arr. Karl Klindworth. G Schirmer, New York (no date). Retrieved on 6 April 2009
Tristan und Isolde: Full orchestral and vocal scoreed. Felix Mottl. C.F. Peters, Leipzig 1912. Retrieved on 6 April 2009
arr. Karl Klindworth. G. Schirmer, New York 1904. Retrieved on 6 April 2009
Siegfried: Piano and vocal scorearr. Karl Klindworth. G. Schirmer, New York 1900. Retrieved on 6 April 2009
arr. Karl Klindworth, G. Schirmer, New York 1900. Retrieved on 6 April 2009
arr. Karl Klindworth, G. Schirmer, New York 1904. Retrieved on 6 April 2009
Further reading
*Deathridge J., Geck M. and Voss E. (1986). ''Wagner Werk-Verzeichnis (WWV): Verzeichnis der musikalischen Werke Richard Wagners und ihrer Quellen'' ("Catalogue of Wagner's Works: Catalogue of Musical Compositions by Richard Wagner and Their Sources"). Schott Musik International, Mainz, London, & New York.
External links
*"Men are More Cunning than Women, or The Happy Bear Family"
Review of October 2007 performanceArts Archive, 2007
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wagner, Richard
Lists of operas by composer
Lists of compositions by composer