Redirected from: Wagner

Richard Wagner

Play Radio
Listen to Richard Wagner Radio, featuring artists like Richard Strauss, Gustav Mahler, Giuseppe Verdi, Giacomo Puccini and more…

3,424,796 plays (447,340 listeners)

Shop now at Amazon | Send Richard Wagner Ringtones to Cell
Buy
Add to my Library

Leipzig, Germany (1813 – 1883)

Wilhelm Richard Wagner (22nd May 1813 in Leipzig, Germany – 13th February 1883 in Venice, Italy) was an influential German composer, conductor, music theorist, and essayist, primarily known for his s (or “music dramas” as he later came to call them). His compositions, particularly those of his later period, are notable for their contrapuntal texture, rich harmonies and orchestration, and elaborate use of leitmotifs: themes associated with specific characters, locales, or plot elements. Wagner’s chromatic musical language prefigured later developments in European classical music (Anton Bruckner, Gustav Mahler, Richard Strauss et al), including extreme chromaticism and atonality (Alban Berg, Anton Webern, Arnold Schönberg et al). He transformed musical thought through his idea of Gesamtkunstwerk (“total art-work”), epitomized by his monumental four-opera cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen (1876). His concept of leitmotif and integrated musical expression was also a strong influence on many 20th century film scores.

Wagner was and remains a controversial figure, both for his musical and dramatic innovations, and for his anti-semitic and political opinions. Wagner was one of Adolf Hitler’s favorite composers; the composer’s influence on him has been a subject of heated debate ever since the end of World War II.
Read more… Edit bio

Popular tags: , , , ,  See more

Share this artist:

Top Albums

See more

Top Tracks

1
818
2
314
3
135
4
112
5
98
6
95
6  
95
8  
86
9
77
10  
57
11
52
12  
51
13  
44
14
40
15
32
Buy all tracks at Amazon MP3
See more

Shoutbox

Leave a comment. Log in to Last.fm or sign up (it’s free).

  • KasparovDeepBlu

    Apparently most listeners never dug deeper than the Ride of the Valkyries... [2] sigh.

    Sunday evening

  • MonarchKingdom

    Although Nietzsche also criticized Wagner's music, he had liked it before turning against him, and essentially he attacked Wagner because he found Parsifal to be diametrically opposed to his philosophy. Which it really was, preaching chastity, compassion, Christianity, etc.

    Friday evening

  • MonarchKingdom

    Apparently most listeners never dug deeper than the Ride of the Valkyries...

    Friday evening

  • soestdyik

    Nach dem sich viele meiner Zeitgenossen mit Wagner versöhnt haben . will ich es auch tun .Er ist ein grosser Componist trotz Bayreut und dem Missbrauch in der Nazizeit.

    9 days ago

  • Luhwah

    "In the Nuova Antologia there once appeared a report on a visit which someone made to Nietzsche's apartment and landlords in Turin. This person reported how Nietzsche, at the same time as he was writing The Case of Wagner, kept coming back to their daughter, a skilful pianist, and again and again demanded to hear only the Ring of the Nibelung." - O. Weininger. :)

    9 days ago

  • InspectorCunt

    ty v

    16 days ago

  • hjbardenhagen

    A very good example of a Bayreuth live performance is available on YouTube at the moment, "Die Walküre" from the "Jahrhundert-Ring" 1980 with Pierre Boulez and Patrice Chéreau, three complete acts.

    28 days ago

  • hjbardenhagen

    Not directly, but his son Siegfried (and wife Winifred) and grandsons Wieland and Wolfgang Wagner were directors of the Bayreuth Festival following his wife Cosima Wagner, and there are a lot of radio live recordings with Bayreuth performances of the complete Ring cycle and/or one of the four operas with famous conductors and singers. For example a recording from 1927 is part of the tag radio, too.

    last month
See all 605 shouts

Videos

See more

Events

See more Add event

Listening Now

Top Listeners

See more

More Information

Links
Labels