In his opera Tannhäuser, Richard Wagner (1813–1883) combined two German legends, that of the German Minnesänger and poet Tannhäuser, and the story of the Wartburg Song Contest. Although the contest is the surface, the story is really about the battle

It took Richard Wagner the better part of 26 years to complete Götterdämmerung (Twilights of the Gods). This final opera in the Ring cycle was originally called “Siegfried’s Tod,” and the resources and stamina demanded by the work from both

Composer Richard Wagner was born in Leipzig in 1813. He became arguably the greatest opera composer of all time. Here are some tidbits about his life and career: Wagner’s reputation rests almost entirely on his operas. Wagner advocated for a

One of the milestones in the history of music, the three-act drama Tristan and Isolde with libretto and music by Richard Wagner premiered on 10 June 1865 at the Königliches Hof- und Nationaltheater in Munich with Hans von Bülow conducting.

The Royal Opera House’s new production of Wagner’s Rheingold, directed by the often provocative and occasionally controversial Australian Barrie Kosky, achieved what most opera houses can only dream about: it became the talk of the town. I heard from one

As soon as Richard Wagner had put the finishing touches on Lohengrin on 28 April 1848, he got embroiled in the revolutionary stirrings of the 1848 Revolutions. In Dresden, barricades were erected and the king presented with demands for democratic

Cosima Wagner wrote pointedly in her diary of 1873, “Die Walküre is the most emotional, the most tragic of Richard’s works.” Here as elsewhere, Cosima is responding to the classical theory of drama that Wagner had outlined during the initial