Wagner: The Greatest Composer of All Time
Richard Wagner is one of the most important and influential composers of all time. Throughout his life he wrote some of the most iconic pieces of music that have gone down in classical music history and he is widely regarded as one of the greatest musical geniuses of all time. Wagner’s musical output was heavily profiled on a whole range of musical forms such as symphonic, choral and operatic, as well as taking a pioneering role in the development of the leitmotif and harmonic structures.
Wagner was born in Leipzig, Germany on May 22nd 1813 and started his formal musical education when he was just 7 years old. He attended the Thomas School and was sometimes known as Ritsch or Ritzi by friends and family. Wagner’s first job as a professional composer came in 1833 when he joined the theatre orchestra at Würzburg. Although Wagner made his living in the theatre, he was keen to push the boundaries of classical music and compose both symphonic and operatic works. Wagner spent much of his creative energy experimenting and creating innovative orchestral scores such as Tristan and Isolde, The Flying Dutchman and the iconic four-opera cycle The Ring of the Nibelungs.
Wagner’s most renowned and important works are, however, his operas. He composed some of the most powerful operatic works ever written and some of his best-known works include Tannhäuser, The Flying Dutchman, Lohengrin and The Mastersingers of Nuremberg. Wagner is noted for introducing orchestral colour, texture, motif and leitmotif into his operas to set the desired atmosphere or tell a particular story. His most famous leitmotif is associated with the Ring Cycle and is a series of five notes played by horns in the orchestra.
Although Wagner’s music has remained popular and innovative, his life was not without controversy and tragedy. Wagner fled from Germany after being accused of taking part in the attempted revolution and his wife, Cosima, was the daughter of famous composer and conductor Franz Liszt. Tragically, Wagner’s first wife was thrown from a balcony and died two weeks later, and his second wife left him shortly before his death in Venice in 1883.
Today, Wagner is still remembered as one of the greatest composers of all time and his works are performed around the world. His influence on classical music is obvious, and it is fair to say that few composers will ever match the sheer genius of Richard Wagner.
