Wilhelm Richard Wagner: A Look at the Composer's Life
German composer, Wilhelm Richard Wagner, was born May 22, 1813 in Leipzig,
Germany and lived until February 13, 1883. Beyond his composing, Wagner was also known for being a great conductor, music theorist, and essayist throughout his life. Wagner was primarily raised by his mother, Johanne, as his father, Friedrich died when he was just a baby. Wagner’s biological father could have been one of a few men at the time, casting a shadow on his true origins. He ended up taking his name from one
Friedrich Wagner (Macy 131). He was reared in a theatrical household, so drama was ingrained in his life from a very early age, which will explain lots of things about his later life and works. From the first, he threw himself into his interests of stage. Young Wagner was rather obsessed with the German Romantic spirit of Carl Maria von Weber, and enlisted his school friends to act out scenes from his operas in his mini-theatre (Macy
134). Due to the deaths of his father and then step-father, Wagner was shuffled around quite a bit, to be cared for by friends and family members. Despite all of this, the young
Wagner received a good classical education, and he was deeply interested in literature. He led a life of rowdiness in his teen years; drinking, carousing, gambling, until he woke up one morning with a horrible hangover, and decided that he’d better devote his life to art or he would be “dead within a year” (Wagner, cited by Macy 135). He dabbled in music in his youth and wrote an orchestral overture at seventeen that was performed for a live audience. It was literally laughed at. Apparently, the work was terrible in its attempt at the melodramatic, but he learned a lot from this experience. He then took lessons in music, devoted himself to the study of theory and technique, then tried again at nineteen with a symphony, which was much more successful than his first attempt
(Kennedy 935). He began to write operas that were
Germany and lived until February 13, 1883. Beyond his composing, Wagner was also known for being a great conductor, music theorist, and essayist throughout his life. Wagner was primarily raised by his mother, Johanne, as his father, Friedrich died when he was just a baby. Wagner’s biological father could have been one of a few men at the time, casting a shadow on his true origins. He ended up taking his name from one
Friedrich Wagner (Macy 131). He was reared in a theatrical household, so drama was ingrained in his life from a very early age, which will explain lots of things about his later life and works. From the first, he threw himself into his interests of stage. Young Wagner was rather obsessed with the German Romantic spirit of Carl Maria von Weber, and enlisted his school friends to act out scenes from his operas in his mini-theatre (Macy
134). Due to the deaths of his father and then step-father, Wagner was shuffled around quite a bit, to be cared for by friends and family members. Despite all of this, the young
Wagner received a good classical education, and he was deeply interested in literature. He led a life of rowdiness in his teen years; drinking, carousing, gambling, until he woke up one morning with a horrible hangover, and decided that he’d better devote his life to art or he would be “dead within a year” (Wagner, cited by Macy 135). He dabbled in music in his youth and wrote an orchestral overture at seventeen that was performed for a live audience. It was literally laughed at. Apparently, the work was terrible in its attempt at the melodramatic, but he learned a lot from this experience. He then took lessons in music, devoted himself to the study of theory and technique, then tried again at nineteen with a symphony, which was much more successful than his first attempt
(Kennedy 935). He began to write operas that were
Cited: Kavanaugh, P. The Spiritual Lives of Great Composers. Nashville: Sparrow Press,1992. Kennedy, M. The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Music. New York: Oxford University Press; 2nd Revised edition 1994. Macy, Sheryl. Two Romantic Trios: The Story of Six Passionate People Who Changed the World of Music. Allegro Publishing Company, 1991. Magee, Bryan. Aspects of Wagner. New York: Oxford Paperbacks, 1988. Scholes, P. A. The Oxford Junior Companion to Music. London: Chancellor Press, 1991