Authors

German · 1813–1883

Richard Wagner

Richard Wagner was a German composer and dramatist who transformed opera into the Gesamtkunstwerk (total work of art) — a synthesis of music, poetry, drama, and spectacle in which all elements were equal. Der Ring des Nibelungen (1876), Tristan und Isolde (1865), Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (1868), and Parsifal (1882) are his supreme achievements. He built his own festival theatre at Bayreuth — still operating — specifically for the Ring. His virulent anti-Semitism and the adoption of his music by the Nazis have complicated his legacy without diminishing his musical importance.