Wagner was a remarkable innovator in both the harmony and structure of his work, stressing his own concept of the Gesamtkunstwerk, the ‘total work of art’, in which all the arts were brought together into a single unity. He was prepared to sacrifice his family and friends in the cause of his own music, and his overt anti-Semitism has attracted unwelcome attention to ideas that are remote from his real work as a musician. In the later part of his career Wagner enjoyed the support of King Ludwig II of Bavaria and was finally able to establish his own theatre and festival at the Bavarian town of Bayreuth. He developed the use of the leitmotif (in German Leitmotiv – ‘leading motif’) as a principle of musical unity, his dramatic musical structure depending on the interweaving of melodies or fragments of melody associated with characters, incidents or ideas in the drama. His prelude to the love tragedy Tristan und Isolde led to a new world of harmony.

Operas and Music Dramas

Wagner won his first operatic success in Dresden with the opera Rienzi, based on a novel by Edward Bulwer-Lytton. This was followed a year later, in 1843, by Der fliegende Holländer (‘The Flying Dutchman’), derived from a legend recounted by Heine of the Dutchman fated to sail the seas until redeemed by true love. Tannhäuser, dealing with the medieval Minnesinger of that name, was staged in Dresden in 1845. Wagner’s involvement in the revolution of 1848 and subsequent escape from Dresden led to the staging of his next dramatic work, Lohengrin, in Weimar, under the supervision of Liszt. The tetralogy The Ring—its four operas Das Rheingold, Die Walküre (‘The Valkyrie’), Siegfried and Götterdämmerung (‘The Twilight of the Gods’)—is a monument of dramatic and musical achievement that occupied the composer for a number of years. Other music dramas by Wagner include Tristan und Isolde, Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (‘The Mastersingers of Nuremberg’), and his final work, Parsifal.

Orchestral Music

The best known of Wagner’s orchestral compositions is the Siegfried Idyll, an aubade written for the composer’s second wife, Cosima (illegitimate daughter of Liszt and former wife of Wagner’s friend and supporter Hans von Bülow). His early works also include a symphony.

Songs

At the root of Wagner’s drama of forbidden love, Tristan und Isolde, was his own affair with Mathilde Wesendonck, wife of a banker upon whose support he relied during years of exile in Switzerland. The five Wesendonck-Lieder are settings of verses by Mathilde Wesendonck.


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85 items found

Title
BERLIN OPERA NIGHT
BERLIN OPERA NIGHT
Composers: Dvorak, Antonin -- Handel, George Frideric -- Lehar, Franz -- Leoncavallo, Ruggero -- Massenet, Jules -- Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus -- Puccini, Giacomo -- Saint-Saens, Camille -- Strauss II, Johann -- Strauss, Richard -- Wagner, Richard
Artists: Banse, Juliane -- Berlin Deutsche Opera Chorus -- Berlin Deutsche Opera Orchestra -- Bumbry, Grace -- Castronovo, Charles -- Crider, Michele -- Galouzine, Vladimir -- Kasarova, Vesselina -- Kirchschlager, Angelika -- Licitra, Salvatore -- Nagano, Kent -- Pape, Rene -- Pieczonka, Adrianne -- Schwanewilms, Anne
Label/Producer: EuroArts
BERLIN OPERA NIGHT 2006 (Foster)
BERLIN OPERA NIGHT 2006 (Foster)
Composers: Dvorak, Antonin -- Handel, George Frideric -- Puccini, Giacomo -- Rossini, Gioachino -- Smetana, Bedrich -- Strauss, Richard -- Tchaikovsky, Pyotr Il'yich -- Verdi, Giuseppe -- Wagner, Richard
Artists: Barcellona, Daniela -- Bayrakdarian, Isabel -- Berlin Deutsche Opera Chorus -- Berlin Deutsche Opera Orchestra -- Brenciu, Marius -- Candia, Roberto de -- Erdmann, Mojca -- Ernman, Malena -- Foster, Lawrence -- Isokoski, Soile -- Prudenskaja, Marina -- Quasthoff, Thomas -- Savastano, Marie Virginia -- Urmana, Violeta -- Vargas, Ramon -- Vogt, Klaus Florian
Label/Producer: C Major
BRAHMS, J.: Symphony No. 2 (Bamberg Symphony, Kempe)
BRAHMS, J.: Symphony No. 2 (Bamberg Symphony, Kempe)
Composers: Brahms, Johannes -- Wagner, Richard
Artists: Bamberg Symphony Orchestra -- Kempe, Rudolf -- Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
Label/Producer: ICA Classics
EUROPA-KONZERT 1998 - WAGNER, R. / TCHAIKOVSKY, P.I. / DEBUSSY, C. / VERDI, G. (Abbado)
EUROPA-KONZERT 1998 - WAGNER, R. / TCHAIKOVSKY, P.I. / DEBUSSY, C. / VERDI, G. (Abbado)
Composers: Debussy, Claude -- Tchaikovsky, Pyotr Il'yich -- Verdi, Giuseppe -- Wagner, Richard
Artists: Abbado, Claudio -- Alexis, Marie -- Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra -- Eric Ericson Chamber Choir -- Swedish Radio Choir
Label/Producer: EuroArts
EUROPA-KONZERT 2007 FROM BERLIN (Rattle)
EUROPA-KONZERT 2007 FROM BERLIN (Rattle)
Composers: Brahms, Johannes -- Wagner, Richard
Artists: Batiashvili, Lisa -- Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra -- Mork, Truls -- Rattle, Simon
Label/Producer: EuroArts
EUROPA-KONZERT 2010 FROM OXFORD (Weilerstein, Barenboim)
EUROPA-KONZERT 2010 FROM OXFORD (Weilerstein, Barenboim)
Composers: Brahms, Johannes -- Elgar, Edward -- Wagner, Richard
Artists: Barenboim, Daniel -- Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra -- Weilerstein, Alisa
Label/Producer: EuroArts
HOME MUSIC BERLIN CONCERTS Part II
HOME MUSIC BERLIN CONCERTS Part II
Composers: Bach, Johann Sebastian -- Beethoven, Ludwig van -- Berg, Alban -- Brahms, Johannes -- Couperin, Francois -- Granados, Enrique -- Mahler, Gustav -- Ravel, Maurice -- Schubert, Franz -- Wagner, Richard
Artists: Bar-Shai, Iddo -- Chochieva, Zlata -- Dreisig, Elsa -- Faust, Isabelle -- Kam, Sharon -- Melnikov, Alexander -- Piemontesi, Francesco -- Porat, Matan -- Rimmer, Nicholas -- Schwabe, Gabriel -- Trekel, Roman -- Wagner, Jacquelyn -- Ware, Jonathan
Label/Producer: PARS Media
IVES, C.: 3 Places in New England / SIBELIUS, J.: Symphony No. 4 (Tilson Thomas)
IVES, C.: 3 Places in New England / SIBELIUS, J.: Symphony No. 4 (Tilson Thomas)
Composers: Ives, Charles -- Sibelius, Jean -- Wagner, Richard
Artists: Boston Symphony Orchestra -- Tilson Thomas, Michael
Label/Producer: ICA Classics
MUSSORGSKY, M.P.: Pictures at an Exhibition (arr. L. Stokowski) / SEREBRIER, J.: Symphony No. 3, "Symphonie mystique"
MUSSORGSKY, M.P.: Pictures at an Exhibition (arr. L. Stokowski) / SEREBRIER, J.: Symphony No. 3, "Symphonie mystique"
Composers: Bizet, Georges -- Mussorgsky, Modest Petrovich -- Serebrier, Jose -- Wagner, Richard
Artists: Farley, Carole -- National Youth Orchestra of Spain -- Serebrier, Jose
Label/Producer: Naxos
NEW YEAR'S CONCERT 2007 (Bashmet, Bronfman, Gergiev)
NEW YEAR'S CONCERT 2007 (Bashmet, Bronfman, Gergiev)
Composers: Berlioz, Hector -- Borodin, Alexander Porfir'yevich -- Glinka, Mikhail Ivanovich -- Liszt, Franz -- Rachmaninov, Sergei -- Rimsky-Korsakov, Nikolay Andreyevich -- Strauss II, Johann -- Verdi, Giuseppe -- Wagner, Richard
Artists: Bashmet, Yuri -- Bronfman, Yefim -- Gergiev, Valery -- St. Petersburg Mariinsky Theatre Chorus -- St. Petersburg Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra
Label/Producer: Bel Air Classiques
NEW YEAR'S EVE CONCERT 1993 (Abbado)
NEW YEAR'S EVE CONCERT 1993 (Abbado)
Composer: Wagner, Richard
Artists: Abbado, Claudio -- Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra -- Jerusalem, Siegfried -- Meier, Waltraud -- Studer, Cheryl -- Terfel, Bryn
Label/Producer: C Major
Orchestral Excerpts - BARTOK, B. / BRAHMS, J. / BERLIOZ, H. / DVORAK, A. / WAGNER, R. (Masterclass with Hansjorg Schellenberger) (Mota)
Orchestral Excerpts - BARTOK, B. / BRAHMS, J. / BERLIOZ, H. / DVORAK, A. / WAGNER, R. (Masterclass with Hansjorg Schellenberger) (Mota)
Composers: Bartok, Bela -- Berlioz, Hector -- Brahms, Johannes -- Dvorak, Antonin -- Wagner, Richard
Artists: Mota, Telma -- Schellenberger, Hansjorg
Label/Producer: DakApp
Orchestral Music - ELGAR, E. / LIGETI, G. / STRAVINSKY, I. / WAGNER, R. (Gabetta, Berlin Philharmonic, Rattle)
Orchestral Music - ELGAR, E. / LIGETI, G. / STRAVINSKY, I. / WAGNER, R. (Gabetta, Berlin Philharmonic, Rattle)
Composers: Grieg, Edvard -- Ligeti, Gyorgy -- Stravinsky, Igor -- Wagner, Richard
Artists: Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra -- Gabetta, Sol -- Rattle, Simon
Label/Producer: EuroArts
Orchestral Music - WAGNER, R. / STRAUSS, R. / BEETHOVEN, L. van (Live in Tokyo, 1957) (Karajan)
Orchestral Music - WAGNER, R. / STRAUSS, R. / BEETHOVEN, L. van (Live in Tokyo, 1957) (Karajan)
Composers: Beethoven, Ludwig van -- Strauss, Richard -- Wagner, Richard
Artists: Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra -- Karajan, Herbert von
Label/Producer: Dynamic
PYONGYANG CONCERT: WAGNER, R. / DVORAK, A. / GERSHWIN, G. (New York Philharmonic, Maazel)
PYONGYANG CONCERT: WAGNER, R. / DVORAK, A. / GERSHWIN, G. (New York Philharmonic, Maazel)
Composers: Bernstein, Leonard -- Bizet, Georges -- Dvorak, Antonin -- Gershwin, George -- Traditional -- Wagner, Richard
Artists: Maazel, Lorin -- New York Philharmonic Orchestra
Label/Producer: EuroArts
REICHSORCHESTER (The) - The Berlin Philharmonic and the Third Reich
REICHSORCHESTER (The) - The Berlin Philharmonic and the Third Reich
Composer: Wagner, Richard
Artists: Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra -- Furtwangler, Wilhelm
Label/Producer: C Major
ROMANTICS (THE) (Norrington)
ROMANTICS (THE) (Norrington)
Composers: Berlioz, Hector -- Tchaikovsky, Pyotr Il'yich -- Wagner, Richard
Artists: Norrington, Roger -- Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra
Label/Producer: Hänssler Classic
SCHUBERT, F.: Symphony No. 9, "Great" / SCHUMANN, R.: Symphony No. 4 / WAGNER, R.: Parsifal: Good Friday Music (Leinsdorf)
SCHUBERT, F.: Symphony No. 9, "Great" / SCHUMANN, R.: Symphony No. 4 / WAGNER, R.: Parsifal: Good Friday Music (Leinsdorf)
Composers: Schubert, Franz -- Schumann, Robert -- Wagner, Richard
Artists: Boston Symphony Orchestra -- Leinsdorf, Erich
Label/Producer: ICA Classics
THREE STARS IN VIENNA
THREE STARS IN VIENNA
Composers: Arditi, Luigi -- Delibes, Leo -- Denver, John -- Kalman, Emmerich -- Lehar, Franz -- Massenet, Jules -- Moreno Torroba, Federico -- Penella, Manuel -- Ponchielli, Amilcare -- Rimsky-Korsakov, Nikolay Andreyevich -- Sieczynski, Rudolf -- Soutullo, Reveriano -- Strauss II, Johann -- Strauss, Richard -- Suppe, Franz von -- Tosti, Francesco Paolo -- Verdi, Giuseppe -- Vert, Juan -- Wagner, Richard
Artists: Billy, Bertrand de -- Domingo, Placido -- Netrebko, Anna -- Vienna Chamber Choir -- Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra -- Villazon, Rolando
Label/Producer: UNITEL
Vocal Recital: Kaufmann, Jonas - MOZART, W.A. / BEETHOVEN, L. van / WEBER, C.M. von / WAGNER, R. (Sehnsucht) (Kaufmann, Guettler)
Vocal Recital: Kaufmann, Jonas - MOZART, W.A. / BEETHOVEN, L. van / WEBER, C.M. von / WAGNER, R. (Sehnsucht) (Kaufmann, Guettler)
Composers: Beethoven, Ludwig van -- Lehar, Franz -- Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus -- Wagner, Richard -- Weber, Carl Maria von
Artists: Guettler, Michael -- Kaufmann, Jonas -- Munich Radio Orchestra
Label/Producer: C Major