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Biography of: Wilhelm Richard Wagner

By: Marilynn Minor

Introduction:
Wilhelm Richard Wagner was a German composer and Theorist,
whose operas and music had a great influence on the course of western
music. He made many contributions to the development of musical
harmony and drama. His most famous works are; The Flying Dutchman
(1843), Tannhauser (1845), Lohengrin (1850), Tristan und Isolde
(1865), Parsifal (1882), and his greatest, The Ring of the Nibelung
(1869-1876).
Early life:
Richard lived a very full and eventful life. He was born in Leipzig,
Germany in May of 1813. It is said that his father, a police actuary,
Friedrich Wagner died shortly after he was born and his mother
married a man that Richard called his stepfather in August of 1814.
Several of Richards older sisters became opera singers or actresses,
which had a major influence on Richards background in his early years.
Richard began in the 1830s to write on music and the arts in general.
He was very self-willed. He went to many concerts frequently and
taught himself the piano and composition, and read the plays of
Shakespeare, Goethe, and Schiller. He spent a summer as an operatic

coach at Wurzburg, where he composed his first opera, Die Feen (The
Fairies). He failed to get the opera produced though and became a
conductor to a theatrical troupe from Magdeburg, where he fell in love
with one of the actresses named Minna Planer, whom he married in
1836. The two shortly after moved to Konigsberg, where Wagner took a
position as a musical director at the Magdeburg Theatre.
Adult life:
Richard spent 3 years in Paris starting in 1839. He had a hard time
making a living; he and his wife Minna had enormous debts. Despite it
all he still fought off starvation by means of musical journalism and
hackwork. The two along with their Newfoundland dog named Robber
fled to London. On their stormy passage, Wagner was inspired to create
The Flying Dutchman. In 1841 he composed this work, which was his
first opera, Der Fliegende Hollander (The Flying Dutchman). This work
was based on a ships captain that was condemned to sail forever. This
was one of Wagners most famous works. Wagner was given the
Prussian order of the Red Eagle and was appointed as the director of the
Dresden Opera. Wagner was unable to enter Germany for the next 11
years, because of his political stance (which he was very vocal about).
He wrote many works throughout this time. In 1862 he was finally able
to return to Germany. King Ludwig ll being a fan of Wagners invited
him to settle in Bavaria where the king supported him financially. In
1845 Wagner completed Tannhauser and began working on Lohengrin.
During his exile, Wagner completed Lohengrin; his friend Franz Liszt
staged it in his absence. It premiered in Weimar in August of 1850.
Also in the year of 1850, one of Wagners most vulgar pieces, The Jew in
Music, was created. This work viciously attacked the Jewish composers
and musicians in the German society.
Wagner was greatly infatuated with Mathilde Wesendonck, who
was the wife of the silk merchant Otto Wesendonck. This affair inspired
Wagner to work on the Ring Cycle and he also began to work on the love
story of Tristan and Isolde. Still infatuated with Mathilde, he also
composed the Wesendonck Leider. His interest in Wesendonck, coupled
with other events of his life, eventually led to his separation with his
wife, Minna. Wagner met a women Name Cosima who he began to have
an affair with in 1862. Once it was discovered that he was having an
affair with Cosima he left Bavaria. Cosima was the wife of the conductor

Hans Van Bulow. Wagner and Cosima had two children together before
they finally married in 1870. The first two operas of The Ring Cycle, Das
Rheingold and Die Walkure, were presented in Munich in 1869 and
1870. The ring Cycle was finally performed as a whole (all 18 hours) in
1876. Wagner completed his last opera, Parsifal, in January 1882.
Death:
Wagner died of a heart attack on February 13, 1883 at the age of
69, while vacationing in Venice, Italy for the winter.

Resources:

http://biography.com/richard-wagner
http://www.britannica.com/richard-wagner
http://www.youtube.com/wagnertheflyingdutchman

The Flying Dutchman: Richard Wagner

A Dutch seaman is condemned by the Devil to travel the seas for


eternity on a ghost ship. He is allowed to hit land once every seven years
to find a woman whose faithful love could set him free.
The Dutchman is a sea captain who once swore that he would sail
around the Cape of Good Hope in spite of winds, storms and Hell itself.
As punishment for his blasphemous vow he is doomed to sail the seas
until he can find a woman capable of total devotion unto death. As the
overture opens, stormy seas drive his ship off course to a Norwegian
fjord (called Sandvika) where he hears a girl, Senta, singing. The storm
dies down and we hear the gentle melody of Senta's Ballad from the
second act of the opera, in which she tells the Dutchman's story and
declares that she herself is the woman who can save him from his
unhappy fate. There is a jolly sailor's dance, but this is soon
overwhelmed by the storm. In her eagerness to save the Dutchman,
Senta leaps toward the ghost-ship from a cliff and dies. The music
softens as Senta's theme returns,
The story originated in the late 18th century, though Richard
Wagner did not finish his opera until 1843. Wagner acknowledged that
he had taken the story from Henrich Heine's satirical novel The
Memoirs of Mister von Schnabelewopski, which drew upon the earlier
legend.

The Flying Dutchman, Overture:


Listening Guide
0:00- Theme is played first by the French Horns, and there is a faint
echo of the low brass instruments. The strings with a low, Quick sound
set the setting of the raging sea in the storm.
0:20-0:40- The Dutchmans ghost crew is summoned to the deck by
repeated notes of the Trumpets. The rapid notes of the string are said to
be what is steering the Ship.
0:50- The melody slows and a soft tone of the drums are played along
with the slow, soft sound of the English Horns, which is said to
represent the Love and Redemption that belongs to Senta.
1:12- The tempo slows and the dynamic of the music gets almost silent
and all is heard is a few single taps on the Drum.
1:30-2:45 The Oboe and the Flutes echo a soft peaceful sound. The
English Horn continues to play the sweet sound that portrays Sentas
love for the Dutchman.
3:11- The peaceful mood is interrupted and the strings get louder and
tempo moves quicker. This is said to be Sentas thoughts drifting to the
storm and remembering the Dutchman.
3:58- 5:31 The Trumpets and Trombones play with vigor, quickening
up the tempo even more. The drums are included with fast short sounds
as well.
5:50- The music changes to a more folk-like motif giving off a slightly
different sound from the flutes. This is representing the sailors.
6:00-6:20- Two different types of music are played representing the
ghost world and the physical world. This is done with the English horns
and the brass instruments. This is said to be the conflict between the
two worlds.

7:26- Ascending and descending tones are heard by the string


instruments and the brass instruments. The conflict continues.
7:33- The tone returns the more peaceful melody and then quickly
increases for a few last conflicting notes.
9:00- The strings seem to be increasing and decreasing in their speed
and strength.
10:00-10:51 The tempo is powerful but begins to descend and slow.
The soft sound of the Flutes is played along with the soft melody of the
Harp. This is Sentas redemption theme.
11:00-11:10- The Overture comes to a close by one last increase in tone
and strength by the entire Orchestra for a very dramatic ending. This
brings the listener into the real world where the beginning of the opera
is set.

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