Wagner
Wagner names 2 different subjects across the 6 encyclopedias on this shelf. Each is set out below.
Wagner (WILHELM) RICHARD
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
(WILHELM) RICHARD, a German operatic composer; born in he was Leipsic, May 22, 1813. In 1836 conductor at Magdeburg, and after Königsberg, Dresspending some time in den, 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 the Philharin London as conductor of In all his monic Society's concerts. operas the words of the libretto are of his own composition, and far superior, the mafrom the poetic standpoint, to RICHARD WAGNER jority of works intended for such use. They are treated in a declamatory style, supported by most original harmonies with and instrumentation in accordance their dramatic significance. Wagner advanced the importance of the orchestra accompaniment till it is almost the prime factor in the performance of his works. supreme master He was acknowledged adof instrumental effects. It must be mitted, 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 reaching conseevents occur whose farquences 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.
Wagner COSIMA, the widow of Richard Wagner
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
COSIMA, the widow of Richard Wagner. She was born in 1841, the daughter of Liszt, the composer. She first married Hans von Bülow, a musician, and one of Richard Wagner's most intimate friends, but was divorced from Von Bülow in 1870 and married Wagner, whom she assisted greatly in his musical writing. Following his death she organized a small staff and maintained the Bayreuth Theater, where festival performances were conducted at future. Meantime he may safely be regular intervals. She died in 1918.
What Has Changed in the Last Century
Collier's told its 1921 readers that Cosima Wagner "died in 1918" — she had not. She outlived the volume by nine years, dying at Bayreuth on 1 April 1930 at the age of 92, four months before her son Siegfried. The Bayreuth Festival she built up stayed in family hands, and under her daughter-in-law Winifred it became closely tied to Adolf Hitler, a personal friend and frequent guest — an association that still colours Wagner's reputation, and which underlies the long informal reluctance to perform his music in Israel. Collier's guess that Wagner would rank "the greatest musician who has arisen since Beethoven" has largely held: the Ring and Tristan remain repertory staples worldwide, and the festival still runs each summer in the theatre he designed.
Written for this edition, 2026.