Romanticism · Germany and Austria
1813 – 1883
Leipzig - Venice
Review
He wrote his own books and transformed the opera into «musical drama», with continuous music woven from recurring motifs (leitmotiv). His participation in the 1849 Dresden revolution forced him to exile for years in Switzerland.
The support of King Louis II of Bavaria allowed him to build the Festspielhaus of Bayreuth, opened in 1876 with the ring of the complete nibelungo. His harmony, especially in Tristan and Isolda, opened the way to the music of the 20th century. His anti-Semitic writings today tarnish his figure.
Main works
- The wandering Dutch (1843)
- Tannhäuser (1845)
- Lohengrin (1850)
- Tristan and Isolda (1865)
- The singers of Núremberg (1868)
- Sigufrido's Idiol (1870)
- The ring of the nibelungo, tetralogy (1876)
- Parsifal (1882)
