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RICHARD
WAGNER: Born Leipzig
22 May 1813 Died
Venice 13 February 1883 |
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his life spanned the greater part of the 19th century, the contoversy
surrounding his persona persisted well into the 20th century. He created
discord as much by his music as by his personal life. A towering
artistic genius he saw the cultural elite of his day polarized into
Wagnerites and anti-Wagnerites. He was beloved by Lizst but belittled
by Berlioz; and while Baudelaire and Nietzsche found him enthralling,
Wilde thought him boring. To his detractors, he was an arrogant profligate,
anarchist, racist, megalomaniac, adulterer, anti-Semite... arguably
a frightfully despicable man. But there was also a spiritual
quality to the man who was drawn to philosophy - indeed for almost
the entirety of his life, he pondered the ultimate questions of existence
and constantly sought redemption - which he found perhaps partially,
if not totally, in his music. To this day, more than a century after his death, Richard Wagner still provokes debate and argument. More books have been written about him than perhaps any other composer, yet modern day purveyors of controversy are compelled to delve ever deeper into his life and art, partly because of a sustained fascination with the man and partly because of his posthumous link with Nazism (he was Hitler's artist-hero and Bayreuth - Wagner's musical shrine to his art - Hitler's haven at the height of the war), but unarguably because of the beauty and power of his music. The fact remains that Wagner is a giant among composers. He alone was composer / dramatist / librettist / set designer of every one of his works. His sweeping music has not ceased to win the hearts and minds of many, and of his thirteen principal operatic works, ten remain staples of the contemporary repertory. His titanic efforts culminated in the great tetralogy "Der Ring des Nibelungen". Employing elements of Nordic and Germanic mythology, it is a powerful allegory of life, its conflicts, triumphs and tragedies. It took twenty-five years to complete. It is a great work of art indeed, unparalleled in history, and as close to approaching the ideal of "Gesamtkunstwerk" as any artist even today can ever get. - © GCajipe / FanFaire (To learn more about Richard Wagner, click Suggested Reading below.) <<BACK GO TO: FanFaire's NEW WAGNERmania aSTORE for books, CDs, DVDs by and about Wagner. |
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A WAGNER DISCOGRAPHY SUGGESTED READING CREDITS RING AT THE MET BRÜNNHILDE OF OUR TIME LORD OF THE RING
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