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Wagner (WILHELM RICHARD a German)

(WILHELM) RICHARD, a German operatic composer; born in Leipsic, May 22, 1813. In 1836 he was conductor at Magdeburg, and after spending some time in Königsberg, Dresden, and Riga successively, he went to Paris in 1841. Here he composed or completed his "Rienzi" and "Der fliegende Holländer" (Flying Dutchman). "Rienzi" obtained for him the post of assistant conductor (with Reissiger) at Dresden. His "Tannhäuser" appeared in 1845. He spent the season of 1855 in London as conductor of the Philharmonic Society's concerts. In all his operas the words of the libretto are of his own composition, and far superior, from the poetic standpoint, to the ma- RICHARD WAGNER jority of works intended for such use.

They are treated in a declamatory style, supported by most original harmonies and instrumentation in accordance with their dramatic significance. Wagner advanced the importance of the orchestra accompaniment till it is almost the prime factor in the performance of his works.

He was acknowledged supreme master of instrumental effects. It must be admitted, however, that, in his later works especially, his scoring is not unfrequently cruel to the human voice. Wagner was a musical revolutionist and reformer in many ways affecting the opera. Like other reformers and iconoclasts in other spheres and times, his methods and theories will doubtless be modified by the ranked as the greatest musician who has arisen since Beethoven, and his probable influence on future operatic compositions can scarcely be overestimated. The following is a list of dates of first performances of his remaining dramatic works: "Lohengrin" (1850); "Tristan and Isolde" (1865); "Meistersinger" (1868)); "Das Rheingold" (1869); "Die Walküre" (1870); "Siegfried" (1876); "Die Götterdämmerung" (The Dusk of the Gods) (1876); "Parsifal" (1882). of the above the "Walküre," "Siegfried" and "Götterdämmerung" constitute Wagner's greatest work, the so-called "Trilogie," three chapters rs of one story each for separate evenings. The "Rheingold" is the preface to these three, wherein the events occur whose farreaching consequences are developed in the subsequent evenings. The four works constitute the "Ring of the Nibelungen." Wagner's ambition was to produce a distinctively national (German) music drama. Therefore his choice and adaptation of scenes from the great, almost prehistoric, epic of Germany-the "Nibelungenlied," the German "Iliad." He died in Venice, Feb. 13, 1883.

WAGON