Richard Wagner

Born in Leipzig in 1813, Richard Wagner became one of the most influential composers of the Romantic era. He was not only a composer but also a librettist and theorist, writing his own texts and developing bold ideas about what opera could be.

Across works such as The Flying Dutchman, Tannhäuser, Lohengrin, Tristan und Isolde, Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, and the vast four-part Der Ring des Nibelungen, he pushed music drama in a new direction. His writing is known for its emotional intensity, rich orchestration, and use of recurring musical ideas linked to characters and themes.

Wagner’s life was as dramatic as his art, marked by political exile, fierce public debate, and eventually the creation of the Bayreuth Festival in Germany, where his operas could be staged as he imagined them. He died in 1883, but his music and ideas remain central to the history of opera.