Richard Wagner: biography, interesting facts, creativity

Richard Wagner

The work of Richard Wagner became a symbol of a turning point in the musical traditions of 19th century Europe. He made bold discoveries, without fear of condemnation and relying only on his own impeccable musical intuition. Wagner was given a difficult fate, but perhaps it was the very painful tests that fell to his lot that triggered revolutionary changes not only for opera, but also for symphonic genres. The great reformer who had a significant influence became the only musician in the entire history who was honored to have his own theater, and the festival has his name to this day gathers only the best representatives of musical art.

A brief biography of Richard Wagner and many interesting facts about the composer can be found on our page.

short biography

Wilhelm Richard Wagner was born on October 22, 1813, becoming the youngest son in a large family of a police official, in the German city of Leipzig. The father of the family suddenly died of typhus, never seeing his six-month heir. A little later, Wagner's mother remarried, and Ludwig Geyer became the stepfather of little Richard. He was engaged in painting, played in the theater and in every way supported any creative endeavors of foster children, becoming, in fact, a real father. Less than a year later, Geyer was invited to serve in the royal theater, and the family moved to Dresden, where Richard began his education under the name of his stepfather. When the boy was 14 years old, Ludwig died suddenly. Mother was forced to return to her native Leipzig.

Inspired by the work of Beethoven, Richard begins to study music at the school at the church of St. Thomas, where he was once baptized. In a relatively short time, a young man shows real talent and begins to try his hand at composing art, and quite successfully: from 1828 to 1832 he creates sonatas, piano pieces, including the Faust overture, works for orchestra, and a symphony. Many of these works were soon performed at concerts, at that time Wagner was not yet 20 years old.

According to the biography of Wagner in 1833, he leaves his hometown, having gone at the invitation of his brother to Würzburg. Then for three years Richard lives in Magdeburg, visits Konigsberg, stops for two years in Riga. The first operas created at that time did not receive high marks, but Wagner does not stop at what has been accomplished, and the next opera, Rienzi, the Last Stand, becomes quite successful.

Composer activity did not bring a decent income, and soon Wagner was mired in debt, from which he decided to hide in Paris. There he secretly moved with his wife, actress Minna Glider. However, in this city Richard did not find recognition and financial well-being, despite the fact that he did not disdain even such low-paid and routine work as rewriting notes. But the talent and amazing performance soon yielded its fruits: Wagner brings the works of Rienzi and Faust to perfection. The first of them even has some success in the Dresden Theater in 1842. During this period, the vicissitudes of life force him to seriously reconsider his views on life and work. Just a year later, the Flying Dutchman premiered in the same room, in the production of which the author himself takes a lively part, and then the “Tannhäuser”. It seems that Wagner has finally found his place in Dresden: he writes a lot, devotes time to composition, many works in various genres come out from under his pen.

The flow of creative self-improvement was interrupted by the 1848 revolution in Germany. Wagner decided not to stay away from such a fateful event and warmly supported the revolutionaries. But when opponents occupied Dresden, the musician still left the city, giving him a real confession.

Conductor-reformer and his personal life

Wagner’s biography states that he lived in Switzerland for the next 10 years. At this time, Richard was in a state of some confusion, the search for new life and creative landmarks. Once again, financial difficulties made themselves felt, the gaps in the series of which were only single performances and conducting at symphony concerts. Neither the literary nor the musical achievements of Wagner did not find a response in the hearts of those on whom their further fate could depend, and were already habitually sent by the author "to the table."

But at that time there was another reason for such a long crisis in the composer’s life - Matilda Wesendonk. She was the wife of wealthy patron Otto Vezendonka, who, in turn, was an admirer of Wagner's talent and his friend. It was the close relationship with her husband Matilda became an obstacle to the reunification of two loving hearts: their feelings, apparently, were purely platonic, which stimulated the rapid flow of creative achievements of Wagner. Thanks to strong emotions and experiences, the world of music has been supplemented with the operas Rhine Gold, Valkyrie, Tristan and Isolde, as well as several Matilda's poems put on by Richard. By the way, the musician himself was officially married at that time.

Minna (Wilhelmina) Glider entered the life of Wagner in 1834. She is the prima donna of the Magdeburg Theater, three years older than Wagner. One and a half years after the first meeting, they got married, and their marriage lasted 30 years. However, the number of years spent together is not equal to their quality. Minna and Richard very soon revealed completely different life goals and aspirations: she wanted to be homely and quiet, he was always drawn to adventure. Wagner's novel with Matilda finally destroyed the marriage, and when the hopelessness of relations with a married lady became apparent, a new round in the musician's personal life began.

A new feeling of Wagner kindled to the daughter of Ferenc Liszt Kazim, who at that time was married and had two children. Soon she left the family for the main love of her life, and in 1870 she and Richard got married. This marriage gave Wagner three children, the youngest of whom was the son of Siegfried - the long-awaited and beloved heir. And Kazima became not only the economic wife, but also Wagner’s right hand in creative affairs, as well as his most devoted fan.

Bayreuth Theater

When Wagner only thought about restructuring the operatic genre to his own ambitions, he clearly understood that for a decent performance of the “Nibelung Ring” he would need an opera house that was significantly different from all existing at that time in the world. Since then, his main dream has become his own theater, where he could realize all his plans.

In 1871, Richard and his wife, Kazimoy, arrived in the Bavarian city of Bayreuth. After examining one of the largest theaters available there, he nevertheless comes to the conclusion that even here not everything meets the requirements for setting the main work of his life. And suddenly Wagner receives an unexpected and fateful proposal: the head of the city allocates land for a new theater, and the local banker agrees to partially finance the construction.

The Wagner Bayreuth Theater received its first audience in August 1876, when the premiere of his monumental opera The Ring of Nibelung was held. The interior of the theater is as different from conventional ideas as the new Wagner opera destroys the classical canons. There are no usual neoclassical decor elements in the form of portals, columns, ornate bas-reliefs, and even a traditional huge chandelier, so the auditorium looks rather ascetic. The main idea of ​​Wagner was to create a theater where nothing would distract the viewer from opera art.

In deciding whether to change the role of the orchestra in the new opera, Wagner also changed the location of the musicians. The orchestra pit in his theater is located almost under the stage, and a huge shell-shaped construction sends a sound wave. Thus, the music first comes to the actors on the stage, and then with the vocals goes to the hall.

After the death of Wagner, Casim took over the organization of the annual Bayreuth Music Festival, which to this day remains one of the most prestigious classical music in the world.

last years of life

Having received his own opera house, Wagner almost never left Bayreuth. He lived in a villa built especially for him, bathed in glory, enjoying the patronage of local noble rich people.

The last written work was the opera Parsifal, on which Wagner worked for five years. The premiere was a resounding success, and after a few months Richard went on holiday to Venice. There he underwent a course of supporting procedures for lung disease. Wagner died unexpectedly, February 13, 1883. The composer's body was transported to Bavaria and buried in the estate where he spent the last years of his life, with the knowledge that he had achieved everything he had once dreamed of.

Interesting Facts

• It is believed that Ludwig Geyer was the real father of Wagner. The artist was a close friend of the family for several years. One of the researchers of the biography of Wagner drew attention to the fact that Richard himself once saw the similarities between his son and stepfather. There are no official confirmations of this version, but it is known for certain that Wagner was strongly attached to Geyer and tried to imitate him in everything.

• In the church of St. Thomas, where Wagner was baptized and began his musical education, for a quarter of a century he served as cantor Johann Sebastian Bach.
• The first stone in the building of the future Wagner Theater was laid on the birthday of the musician, May 22, 1872.
• The cycle of 4 operas The Ring of Nibelung has a total duration of about 15 hours.
• The Bayreuth Theater works as intended for only 4 weeks a year - from July to August, during the Wagner Festival. The rest of the time you can see it on the tour, but you cannot enjoy the unique acoustics.
• Wagner was an ardent anti-Semite, as a result of which some of his articles are today recognized as extremist and banned for publication.
• When, before the premiere of Parsifal, Wagner learned that the king had chosen Hermann Levy, a former Jew, as conductor, the composer tried to violate the monarch’s plans with all his might, and even demanded that Herman be baptized, but he categorically refused.
• Throughout his life, Wagner was terribly afraid of the “devil's dozen” - number 13. He was born in the year 13, and the number of letters in his name written in Latin letters is also 13. He categorically forbade the appointment of his operas on the 13th. By a strange coincidence, the maestro died on February 13th.

• From the biography of Wagner, we learn that during his residence in Paris, the composer was so poor that he decided to take the post of choir humiliating for him. However, during the audition it turned out that the musician has absolutely no voice, and his singing abilities are not enough even for the choir.
• During the performances of Wagner in Britain, many art lovers were annoyed that he was conducting Beethoven’s works by heart. This was considered a disregard for the great composer and made a remark to Richard. At the next performance a musical score stood before the conductor, and after it they began to praise and point out that the orchestra sounded much better. In fact, Wagner set up on a music table a completely different score, and also upside down, and he conducted, as he used to, from memory.
• Wagner always created a libretto for his operas on his own, and never agreed to the suggestions of other authors to use their texts. Wagner refused the next poet, saying that his work will take place in his library from the previously proposed libretto number 2985.

• Wagner's talent for a long time remained unrecognized in his native Germany. Once in Vienna, one of the spectators dared to ask the composer a question if his music seemed too loud to him. "This is all to be heard in Germany!" - folding his hands with his mouthpiece, loudly declared Wagner.
• For the premiere of the opera "Valkyrie" in Vienna, black horses were needed without fail, which were to appear on the stage. All trained animals capable of such a performance were gray. Wagner was indignant and threatened to cancel the premiere. Then one of the diplomats offered a non-standard solution - to paint the horses black. The show was a success, and Wagner sincerely thanked the resourceful diplomat.

New Opera

One of the main achievements of Wagner in the world of classical music is his reformation of the opera genre, the creation of the so-called musical drama. Wagner’s early creations are imbued with imitation of the geniuses of romanticism, but soon he thinks that the current forms and methods of expression are unable to fully disclose everything that he would like to convey in his most monumental work, the tetralogy of the Nibelung Ring. And Wagner takes on the unheard of work - he almost completely rebuilds the form and structure of opera works.

The previously clearly defined arias, ensembles and choruses under Wagner’s hand turned into long, singing monologues and dialogues of heroes, more close to colloquial speech, not having certain points of “beginning” and “end”. They seemed to be intertwined with each other, building a completely new narrative thread, continuously supported by the orchestra. The orchestra also received a new function in Wagner's opera: it not only accompanied the vocal parts of the characters, but was an additional way of expressing emotions, designating storylines and heroes. For each new action, character or phenomenon, Wagner assigned his own leitmotif. As a result, in the course of the presentation, the leitmotifs became recognizable, intermingled and combined with each other, but invariably helped the viewer more accurately penetrate the meaning of what is happening on the stage.

The importance of Wagner in the history of world music

Wagner's innovations in the genre of opera were supported by such a famous contemporary of him as Franz Liszt, who also became Richard's father-in-law. The Weimar School of Music, created by Liszt, to this day is the main stronghold of the Wagner cult. Many young talents who studied there adopted a desire to strengthen the means of expressiveness available to the musician. Many names of famous composers are on the list of those who imitated Wagner and were inspired by his work.

However, like any great accomplishment, the reform of Wagner, in addition to supporters, has also found ardent opponents, whose common name is “anti-wagner”. Representatives of this movement, such as Brahms and Hanslik, argued that music is an art that is completely self-sufficient and does not need additional means of expression. Nevertheless, the creations of Wagner are recognized as the highest stage in the development of romanticism in Europe and at the same time as the basis for subsequent modernist movements in music. Innovations applied by Wagner, today have become familiar elements of the opera.

Wagner's Music in Movies

The personality of Richard Wagner causes very ambiguous reactions to anyone who is at least a little familiar with his biography and convictions. He did not differ in decency, making romance with the wives of respected nobles, and Kazim was completely taken away from his close friend. The project of the theater Wagner "borrowed" from a Munich architect, and did not consider it necessary to even ask his consent to the embodiment. Wagner had extremely scandalous political views, was an ardent anti-Semite, and also tried to influence the public affairs of the King of Bavaria. However, what Wagner did for the world classical music, it is impossible not to notice and leave "overboard".