Composer; born May 22nd
1813 in
Leipzig; died February 13th
1883 in
Vienna
As a young composer, Wagner's ambitions overreached his
finances and he ended up in serious financial peril. He only survived this and was able to continue thanks to generous
patrons and encouragement from other musicians. In particular,
Franz Liszt was a big supporter.
A sympathizer of the
Democratic cause in France in the mid 19th cenutry, Wagner spent many years outside of his native country of
Germany travelling
Europe; his political associations made both his professional life and returning to Germany difficult.
He broke new ground by making use of the
leitmotif as an important part of his operas. He wrote his own
libretto and had great success, eventually becoming able to build his own theatre in
Bayreuth.
At least ten of his operas are masterpieces of the form and are still widely performed at the date of this writing. Examples of just a few of his most successful compositions are: