| Richard Wagner |
| Musical style
As one of the key figures in the history of opera, Richard Wagner was largely responsible for altering its orientation in the Nineteenth Century. His program of artistic reform, though not executed to the last detail, accelerated the trend towards organically conceived, through-composed structures, as well as influencing the development of the orchestra, of a new breed of singer, and of various aspects of theatrical practice. As the most influential composer during the second half of the Nineteenth Century, Richard Wagner's conception of music remains very much with us even a century after his death. His style of orchestration, his intensely chromatic harmonic pallet, and even his use of the leitmotiv can be heard in many movie scores, neo-tonal symphonies, and modern program music of our time. Wagner thought his Music Dramas were to be the models for Twentieth Century opera, but he could not foresee the path of total abandonment of tonality that was to revolutionize music in the early Twentieth Century. But in more recent days, with the widespread renaissance of tonality in serious music, many familiar sounds of Wagnerian origins are evident in new compositions heard at symphony concerts and on Hollywood sound tracks. It was not Wagner's style of vocal composition in his Music Dramas that has remained so influential, but his orchestral language of chromatic tension and release, his brilliant use of instrumental tone color, and his flair for dramatic effects balanced with his long, sensually serene harmonic progressions that have become a mainstay in the arsenal of modern composers. (Source) List of major works Operas Die Feen Das Liebesverbot Rienzi Der fliegende Holl�nder(Flying Dutchman) Tannh�user Lohengrin Der Ring des Nibelungen Das Rheingold Die Walk�re Siegfried G�tterd�mmerung (Twilight of the Gods) Tristan und Isolde Die Meistersinger von N�rnberg Parsifal (Source) |
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| 1813-1883 |
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