Richard Wagner years of life. The life and creative path of Richard Wagner

Name: Richard Wagner

Age: 69 years old

Place of Birth: Leipzig, Germany

A place of death: Venice, Italy

Activity: composer, conductor

Family status: was married

Richard Wagner - biography

Wilhelm Richard Wagner is not a simple composer, he is an art theorist, one who influenced the entire European music culture and reformed opera.

Childhood, Wagner family

Richard's father was an official, but it turned out that the boy was raised by his stepfather, actor Ludwig Geyer. Nine children were born into the Wagner family, but two children died, and when the future composer was born, his father died. The head of the family was a fan of the Melpomene temple, and in his honor, four of the children connected their lives with the theater.

Immortal creativity of the composer

Wagner composed brilliant overtures and operas. The Royal Saxon court became a refuge for the composer for some time, where he worked as a bandmaster. Often Wagner's music reflected the feelings and emotions that filled the composer's world. More than any other composer, he called for turning to one’s nature, to the strong connection that exists between man and all of nature as a whole.

Wagner's ideas

Art is created by man and for man - the idea of ​​​​Wagner's entire work. The Opera Theater now began to be perceived as the highest form of reproduction of works of art, as a temple. And what happened on the stage in the temple of art bore a new name: musical drama. It embodied the combination of words and music. This became the meaning of the composer’s entire life. “The Flying Dutchman”, “Tannhäuser” and “Lohengrin”, “Tristan and Isolde”, “The Ring of the Nibelung” and “Parsifal” are whole line masterpieces created by the German maestro.

Orchestra at the opera

The composer’s entire biography is a life in music, in opera and in its improvement. Wagner brought the art of opera closer to life, denying excessive pomp and falsehood in classical opera. In addition, he paid special attention not to the vocal performance of the parts, but to the music, which was intended to reveal the feelings and experiences of the heroes of the work. The orchestra in his operas played a separate role; it gave a musical characterization to each hero, living creature, and symbolic object. The viewer does not have the opportunity to relax, he is constantly tense, since the musical denouement will only be at the end of the work.

Philosophy in Wagner's music

The fascination with the ideas of the philosopher Schopenhauer can be traced in the works of Wagner. The composer believes that the universe is imperfect, meaningless and dysfunctional. Music should help you find true pleasure. If humanity continues to chase power and gold, then a world catastrophe may soon occur. Richard makes only two themes the most basic in his work: love and death. He links them inextricably in his operas. The system of leitmotifs was inherited not only by Wagner’s followers, but also by his contemporaries.

Some Russian great musicians took opposite position in relation to the music of the great reformer. These included M.P. Mussorgsky and A.P. Borodin. Wagner, in turn, was so individual that he did not want to take into account the work of some composers who had Jewish roots ().

Richard Wagner - biography of personal life

In Magdeburg, Richard met the actress Minna Planer. Work in the theater did not go well for Wagner, the prima went to Berlin. This departure of his beloved woman forced the composer to confess his love and propose marriage. The marriage was hasty and unhappy. There was not enough money, the beloved was not an exalted person and did not live with dreams. She was four years older than her husband, had a very practical approach to life and did not understand her husband. The theater was closed, the composer lived in Riga for two years, taught French, dreamed of conquering France.

But this is a little later, while Richard was inflamed with feelings for Matilda Wesendonck, a married beauty and an exalted nature. This woman was always among the very first listeners of the musician’s works. But marital duty remained a true duty for Matilda; she did not leave her husband for Wagner. And Wesendonck forever remained a financial assistant and friend for the composer.

Richard Wagner (full name Wilhelm Richard Wagner, German Wilhelm Richard Wagner; May 22, 1813, Leipzig - February 13, 1883, Venice) - German composer, conductor and art theorist. A major reformer of opera, Wagner had a significant influence on European musical culture, especially German, and especially on the development of opera and symphonic genres.

Wagner's mysticism and ideologically charged anti-Semitism influenced German nationalism at the beginning of the 20th century, and later National Socialism, which surrounded his work with a cult, which in some countries (especially Israel) caused an “anti-Wagner” reaction after World War II.

Wagner was born into the family of an official, Karl Friedrich Wagner (1770-1813). Under the influence of his stepfather, actor Ludwig Geyer (German: Ludwig Geyer), Wagner, educated at the St. Thomas School in Leipzig, began studying harmony under the guidance of Christian Gottlieb Müller in 1828, then composition with the cantor of the Church of St. Thomas, Theodor Weinlig, in 1831 g. began his musical studies at the University of Leipzig. In 1833-1842 he led a hectic life, often in great need in Würzburg, where he worked as a theater choirmaster, Magdeburg, then in Königsberg and Riga, where he was a conductor of musical theaters, then in Norway, London and Paris, where he wrote the Faust overture and opera "The Flying Dutchman". In 1842, the triumphant premiere of the opera “Rienzi, Last of the Tribunes” in Dresden laid the foundation for his fame. A year later he became court bandmaster at the royal Saxon court. In 1843, his half-sister Cicilia had a son, Richard, the future philosopher Richard Avenarius. Wagner became his godfather. In 1849, Wagner took part in the Dresden May Uprising, during which he met M. A. Bakunin. After the defeat of the uprising, he fled to Zurich, where he wrote the libretto of the tetralogy “The Ring of the Nibelung”, the music of its first two parts (“Das Rheingold” and “Walkyrie”) and the opera “Tristan and Isolde”. In 1858 he visited Venice, Lucerne, Vienna, Paris and Berlin for a short time.

In 1864, having achieved the favor of the Bavarian king Ludwig II, who paid his debts and continued to support him, he moved to Munich, where he wrote the comic opera “Die Meistersinger of Nuremberg” and the last two parts of the Ring of the Nibelungs: “Siegfried” and “Twilight of the Gods”. In 1872, the foundation stone was laid in Bayreuth for the Festival House, which opened in 1876, where the premiere of the tetralogy “The Ring of the Nibelung” took place on August 13-17, 1876. In 1882, the mystery opera Parsifal was staged in Bayreuth. That same year, Wagner went to Venice for health reasons, where he died in 1883 of a heart attack. He was buried in Bayreuth.

Music

To a much greater extent than all European composers of the 19th century, Wagner saw his art as a synthesis and as a way of expressing a certain philosophical concept. Its essence is expressed in the form of an aphorism in the following passage from Wagner’s article “The Work of Art of the Future”: “Just as a person will not be freed until he joyfully accepts the bonds connecting him with Nature, so art will not become free until the reasons to be ashamed of connection with life.” From this concept stem two fundamental ideas: art should be created by a community of people and belong to this community; The highest form of art is musical drama, understood as the organic unity of word and sound. The first idea was embodied in Bayreuth, where the opera house for the first time began to be treated as a temple of art, and not as an entertainment establishment; the embodiment of the second idea is the new operatic form “musical drama” created by Wagner. It was its creation that became the goal of Wagner’s creative life. Some of its elements were embodied in the composer’s early operas of the 1840s - “The Flying Dutchman”, “Tannhäuser” and “Lohengrin”. The theory of musical drama was most fully embodied in Wagner’s Swiss articles (“Opera and Drama”, “Art and Revolution”, “Music and Drama”, “Artwork of the Future”), and in practice - in his later operas: “Tristan and Isolde” ", the tetralogy "The Ring of the Nibelung" and the mystery "Parsifal".

According to Wagner, musical drama is a work in which the romantic idea of ​​a synthesis of arts (music and drama) is realized, an expression of programming in opera. To implement this plan, Wagner abandoned the traditions of the operatic forms that existed at that time - primarily Italian and French. He criticized the first for its excesses, the second for its pomp. He fiercely criticized the works of leading representatives of classical opera (Rossini, Meyerbeer, Verdi, Auber), calling their music “candied boredom.”

Trying to bring opera closer to life, he came up with the idea end-to-end dramatic development- from beginning to end, not only of one act, but of the entire work and even a cycle of works (all four operas of the “Ring of the Nibelung” cycle). In the classical opera of Verdi and Rossini, individual numbers (arias, duets, ensembles with choirs) divide a single musical movement into fragments. Wagner completely abandoned them in favor of large through vocal-symphonic scenes flowing into one another, and replaced arias and duets with dramatic monologues and dialogues. Wagner replaced overtures with preludes - short musical introductions to each act, inextricably linked with the action at a semantic level. Moreover, starting from the opera Lohengrin, these preludes were performed not before the curtain opened, but already with the stage open.

External action in Wagner's later operas (especially in Tristan and Isolde) is reduced to a minimum; it is transferred to the psychological side, to the area of ​​​​the characters' feelings. Wagner believed that the word is not capable of expressing the full depth and meaning of internal experiences, therefore, it is the orchestra, and not the vocal part, that plays the leading role in the musical drama. The latter is entirely subordinate to orchestration and is considered by Wagner as one of the instruments of the symphony orchestra. In the same time vocal part in musical drama represents the equivalent of theatrical dramatic speech. There is almost no songfulness or ariosity in it. Due to the specific nature of vocals in opera music Wagner (exceptional length, mandatory requirement of dramatic mastery, merciless exploitation of the extreme registers of voice tessitura) in solo performing practice, new stereotypes of singing voices were established - Wagnerian tenor, Wagnerian soprano, etc.

Wagner attached exceptional importance orchestration and more broadly - symphonism. Wagner's orchestra is compared to an ancient choir, which commented on what was happening and conveyed the “hidden” meaning. Reforming the orchestra, the composer used up to four Wagner tubas, introduced a bass trumpet, a contrabass trombone, expanded the string group, and used six harps. In the entire history of opera before Wagner, not a single composer used an orchestra of such a scale (for example, “The Ring of the Nibelung” is performed by a four-piece orchestra with eight horns).

Wagner's innovation in the field is generally recognized harmony. the tonality he inherited from Viennese classics and the early romantics, he expanded enormously by intensifying chromaticism and modal alterations. By weakening (straightforward among the classics) the unambiguous connections between the center (tonic) and the periphery, deliberately avoiding the direct resolution of dissonance into consonance, he imparted tension, dynamism and continuity to the modulation development. The hallmark of Wagnerian harmony is considered to be the “Tristan chord” (from the prelude to the opera “Tristan and Isolde”) and the leitmotif of fate from “The Ring of the Nibelungs”.

Wagner introduced developed system of leitmotifs. Each such leitmotif (short musical characteristic) is a designation of something: a specific character or living creature (for example, the leitmotif of the Rhine in Das Rheingold), objects that often act as character symbols (a ring, a sword and gold in the Ring, a love potion in Tristan and Isolde"), the scene (the leitmotifs of the Grail in Lohengrin and Valhalla in Das Rheingold) and even abstract ideas (numerous leitmotifs of fate and fate in the Ring of the Nibelung cycle, longing, a loving gaze in Tristan and Isolde). Wagner’s system of leitmotifs received the most complete development in “The Ring” - accumulating from opera to opera, intertwining with each other, each time receiving new development options, all the leitmotifs of this cycle as a result unite and interact in the complex musical texture of the final opera “Twilight of the Gods”.

Understanding music as the personification of continuous movement, the development of feelings led Wagner to the idea of ​​merging these leitmotifs into a single stream of symphonic development, in “ endless melody"(unendliche Melodie). The lack of tonic support (throughout the entire opera “Tristan and Isolde”), the incompleteness of each theme (in the entire cycle “The Ring of the Nibelung”, with the exception of the climactic funeral march in the opera “Twilight of the Gods”) contribute to a continuous increase in emotions that does not receive resolution, which allows keep the listener in constant suspense (as in the preludes to the operas “Tristan and Isolde” and “Lohengrin”).

Literary heritage

The literary heritage of Richard Wagner is enormous. Of greatest interest are his works on the theory and history of art, as well as music-critical articles. Wagner's extensive epistolary and his diaries, as well as the memoir work “My Life,” have been preserved.

Philosophy

As for the influences of the various philosophers that Wagner experienced, Feuerbach is traditionally named here. A.F. Losev, in the rough drafts of his article on Wagner, believes that the composer’s acquaintance with Feuerbach’s work was rather superficial. The key conclusion that Wagner made from Feuerbach’s thoughts was the need to abandon all philosophy, which, according to Losev, indicates a fundamental rejection of any philosophical borrowing in the process of free creativity. As for the influence of Schopenhauer, it was, apparently, stronger, and in The Ring of the Nibelung, as well as in Tristan and Isolde, one can find paraphrases of some of the provisions of the great philosopher. However, it can hardly be said that Schopenhauer became for Wagner the source of his philosophical ideas. Losev believes that Wagner interprets the philosopher’s ideas in such a unique way that it is only with great reserve that one can talk about following them.

"Utopia of Art"

Wagner never left his interest in social issues. A kind of Künstlerutopie (“utopia of art”) was described by the composer in the article “Art and Revolution,” published in 1849. Both before and after this, Wagner would more than once refer to the place of the artist in his contemporary society, but in this article the composer only once in a more or less systematized form, he will express his ideas about the ideal social order and the place of art in the future world harmony. Written after the defeat of the revolutions of 1848, in an atmosphere of considerable public pessimism regarding the possibility of radically changing the world in better side, Wagner’s article is full of enthusiasm and confidence in the imminent victory of the revolution. However, the revolution according to Wagner is very different from the one dreamed of by contemporary rulers of thought, both from the liberal and from the socialist camp. The revolution will be sanctified by art, which will give it and the man it created true beauty. In the tradition of classical German idealism, Wagner believed that aesthetics (the beautiful) was naturally followed by ethics.

It is curious that this very optimistic and seemingly even somewhat naive concept contains many of the prerequisites for Wagner’s future thoughts. We are talking, firstly, about the determinism inherent in all of Wagner’s constructions. Indeed, according to Wagner, revolution should not take place, but will be sanctified by the grace of art. Wagner sees this as the logical completion of the circle of history. The revolution destroyed the Greek city-states, in which the theater allowed free citizens to reach higher manifestations spirit, since the vast majority of the inhabitants were slaves who needed only one thing - freedom. Apollo was replaced by Christ, who proclaimed the equality of all people, but forced them to equally rebel against natural nature human for the sake of imaginary happiness in heaven. The last and real revolution, according to Wagner, should destroy Industry, that is, universal unification, which has become the dream and eden of the New Age. Thus, by combining two principles - universal freedom and beauty - world harmony will be achieved. In this last idea the second is visible characteristic philosophical creativity Wagner - a focus on overcoming time, in which everything that is transitory, insignificant and at the same time vulgar is concentrated. Finally, in the idea of ​​merging revolution and art, Wagnerian dualism is outlined, which, in all likelihood, has its roots in Plato’s concept of the separation of the original human being.

Wagner with family and friends in 1881

Mystical symbolism

A. F. Losev defines the philosophical and aesthetic basis of Wagner’s work as “mystical symbolism.” The key to understanding Wagner’s ontological concept is the tetralogy “The Ring of the Nibelung” and the opera “Tristan and Isolde”. Firstly, Wagner’s dream of musical universalism was fully realized in The Ring. “In The Ring, this theory was embodied through the use of leitmotifs, when every idea and every poetic image is immediately specifically organized with the help of a musical motif,” writes Losev. In addition, “The Ring” fully reflected his passion for Schopenhauer’s ideas. However, we must remember that we became acquainted with them when the text of the tetralogy was ready and work on the music began. Like Schopenhauer, Wagner senses the dysfunction and even meaninglessness of the basis of the universe. The only meaning of existence is thought to be to renounce this universal will and, plunging into the abyss of pure intellect and inaction, to find the true aesthetic enjoyment in music. However, Wagner, unlike Schopenhauer, believes that a world is possible and even predetermined in which people will no longer live in the name of the constant pursuit of gold, which in Wagner’s mythology symbolizes the world’s will. Nothing is known for sure about this world, but in its onset after global catastrophe there is no doubt. The theme of global catastrophe is very important for the ontology of “The Ring” and, apparently, is a new rethinking of the revolution, which is no longer understood as a change social order, but a cosmological action that changes the very essence of the universe.

As for “Tristan and Isolde,” the ideas contained in it were significantly influenced by a short-lived passion for Buddhism and at the same time a dramatic love story for Mathilde Wesendonck. Here takes place the fusion of the divided world that Wagner had been looking for for so long. human nature. This connection occurs with the departure of Tristan and Isolde into oblivion. Thought of as a completely Buddhist merging with the eternal and imperishable world, it resolves, in Losev’s opinion, the contradiction between the subject and the object on which it is based European culture. The most important is the theme of love and death, which for Wagner are inextricably linked. Love is inherent in man, completely subjugating him, just as death is the inevitable end of his life. It is in this sense that Wagner's love potion should be understood. “Freedom, bliss, pleasure, death and fatalistic predestination - this is what the love potion is, so brilliantly depicted by Wagner,” writes Losev.

Influence

Wagner's opera reform had a significant impact on European and Russian music, marking the highest stage musical romanticism while simultaneously laying the foundations for future modernist movements. Direct or indirect assimilation of Wagnerian operatic aesthetics (especially the innovative “cross-cutting” musical dramaturgy) marked a significant part of subsequent operatic works. Using a leitmotif systems in operas after Wagner it became trivial and universal. No less significant was the influence of Wagner’s innovative musical language, especially his harmony, in which the composer revised the “old” (previously considered unshakable) canons of tonality.

Among Russian musicians, Wagner’s friend A. N. Serov was an expert and promoter of Wagner. N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov, who publicly criticized Wagner, nevertheless experienced (especially in his late work) the influence of Wagner in harmony, orchestral writing, and musical dramaturgy. Valuable articles about Wagner were left by a prominent Russian musical critic G. A. Laroche. In general, the “Wagnerian” is more directly felt in the works of “pro-Western” composers of Russia in the 19th century (for example, A. G. Rubinstein) than in the works of representatives of the national school. Wagner's influence (musical and aesthetic) is noted in Russia and in the first decades of the 20th century, in the works of A. N. Scriabin.

In the West, the center of the Wagner cult became the so-called Weimar school (self-named New German School), which developed around F. Liszt in Weimar. Its representatives (P. Cornelius, G. von Bülow, I. Raff, etc.) supported Wagner, first of all, in his desire to expand the scope musical expressiveness(harmony, orchestral writing, operatic dramaturgy). Western composers influenced by Wagner include Anton Bruckner, Hugo Wolf, Claude Debussy, Gustav Mahler, Richard Strauss, Bela Bartok, Karol Szymanowski, Arnold Schoenberg (c. early work) and many others.

The reaction to the cult of Wagner was the “anti-Wagner” tendency that opposed itself to him, largest representatives which included the composer Johannes Brahms and the musical esthetician E. Hanslick, who defended the immanence and self-sufficiency of music, its disconnection from external, extra-musical “stimuli”. In Russia, anti-Wagner sentiments are characteristic of the national wing of composers, primarily M. P. Mussorgsky and A. P. Borodin.

Attitude to Wagner non-musicians(who assessed not so much Wagner’s music as his controversial statements and his “aestheticizing” publications) ambiguously. Thus, Friedrich Nietzsche wrote in his article “The Wagner Case”: “Was Wagner a musician at all? In any case, he was more than something else... His place is in some other area, and not in the history of music: he should not be confused with its great true representatives. Wagner and Beethoven are blasphemy...” According to Thomas Mann, Wagner “saw in art a sacred mystery, a panacea against all the ills of society...”.

Wagner's musical creations in the XX-XXI centuries continue to live on the most prestigious opera scenes, not only Germany, but the whole world (with the exception of Israel).

Meaning

Wagner wrote The Ring of the Nibelung with little hope that a theater would be found capable of staging the entire epic and conveying its ideas to the listener. However, contemporaries were able to appreciate its spiritual necessity, and the epic found its way to the viewer. The role of the “Ring” in the formation of the German national spirit cannot be overestimated. In the mid-19th century, when The Ring of the Nibelung was written, the nation remained divided; The Germans remembered the humiliations of Napoleonic campaigns and the Vienna treaties; recently a revolution thundered, shaking the thrones of the appanage kings - when Wagner left the world, Germany was already united, became an empire, the bearer and focus of all German culture. “The Ring of the Nibelung” and Wagner’s work as a whole, although not only it, was for the German people and for the German idea that mobilizing impulse that forced politicians, intellectuals, military men and the whole society to unite.

Swan Castle in honor of Richard Wagner

Neuschwanstein Castle is one of the most visited castles in Germany and one of the most popular tourist destinations in Europe. The castle is located in Bavaria, near the city of Fussen. It was built by King Ludwig II of Bavaria, also known as the “fairytale king”.

King Ludwig was a great admirer of culture and art and personally supported the world famous composer Richard Wagner, and Neuschwanstein Castle was built in part in his honor. The interior of many rooms of the castle is imbued with the atmosphere of Wagner's characters. The third tier of the castle most fully reflects Ludwig's enthusiasm for Wagner's operas. The singers' hall, which occupies the entire fourth floor, is also decorated with characters from Wagner's operas.

Neuschwanstein Castle.
Photograph of Josef Albert (1886 or 1887)

Literally speaking, Neuschwanstein means "New Swan Castle" in analogy with the Swan King, one of Wagner's characters. Neuschwanstein really gives the impression of a fairytale castle. It was built in late XIX century - at a time when castles had already lost their strategic and defensive functions.

In the castle courtyard there is a garden with an artificial cave. Neuschwanstein is beautiful inside too. Although only 14 rooms were completed before the sudden death of Ludwig II in 1886, these rooms were decorated with magical decorations. The fairy-tale appearance of Neuschwanstein inspired Walt Disney to create the Magic Kingdom, embodied in the famous cartoon "Sleeping Beauty".

Wagner's anti-Semitism

The Electronic Jewish Encyclopedia noted that Judeophobia was an integral part of Wagner's worldview, and Wagner himself was characterized as one of the forerunners of anti-Semitism in the 20th century.

Wagner's anti-Semitic speeches caused protests during his lifetime; Thus, back in 1850, the publication of his article “Jewishness in Music” by Wagner under the pseudonym “Freethinker” in the journal “Neue Zeitschrift für Musik” caused protests from professors at the Leipzig Conservatory; they demanded the removal of the magazine's then editor, Franz Brendel, from running the magazine. In 2012, Wagner’s article “Jewishness in Music” (based on the decision of the Velsky District Court of the Arkhangelsk Region dated March 28, 2012) was included in the Federal List of Extremist Materials (No. 1204) and, accordingly, its printing or distribution in Russian Federation prosecuted by law.

Wagner was categorically against having the Jew Hermann Levi conduct the premiere of Parsifal, and since it was the king's choice (Levi was considered one of the best conductors of his time and, along with Hans von Bülow, the best Wagnerian conductor), Wagner did not last moment demanded that Levi be baptized. Levi refused.

Memory

• Monument (sculptor Stefan Balkenhol) in Leipzig. Opened in May 2013 as part of the celebration of the 200th anniversary of the composer's birth.
• For the 50th anniversary of Wagner's death, the German medalist Friedrich-Wilhelm Hörnlein made a commemorative medal.

• A crater on Mercury is named after Wagner.
• Streets in German cities, Riga and Kaliningrad, are named after Wagner.
• Depicted on postage stamps of the GDR and the USSR in 1963.
• In 2013, a postal envelope was issued in his honor in Russia.
• In 2013, in honor of Wagner's 200th birthday, German conceptual artist Ottmar Hörl installed 500 colorful sculptures of Richard Wagner in Bayreuth, Germany.

Biography, life story of Richard Wagner

WAGNER Richard (full name Wilhelm Richard) (May 22, 1813, Leipzig - February 13, 1883, Venice), German composer.

Carier start
Born into the family of a police official, his father died a few months after the birth of the future composer. In August 1814, Wagner's mother married the artist, actor and poet L. Geyer (perhaps he was the real father of the future composer). Wagner attended school in Dresden, then in Leipzig. At the age of 15 he wrote his first theater play, and at 16 he began composing music. In 1831 he entered the University of Leipzig and at the same time began to study music theory under the guidance of K. T. Weinlig, cantor of the Church of St. Thomas. A year later, the symphony created by Wagner was successfully performed in the main concert hall Leipzig Gewandhause. In 1833, Wagner received a position as theater choirmaster in Würzburg and composed the opera “Fairies” (based on the play “The Snake Woman” by C. Gozzi), which was not performed during his lifetime. From now on until the end of his life, Wagner himself wrote the librettos of his operas [some experts do not rate the literary merits of his texts too highly, while others (including B. Shaw) rank them among the peaks of German poetry].

CONTINUED BELOW

New Opera
In 1839, Wagner and his wife, fleeing creditors, moved from Riga to London, and from there to Paris. Here Wagner became close to,. His source of income was daily work for publishing houses and theaters; At the same time, he composed the words and music of an opera based on the legend of the ghost ship (“Flying Dutchman”). Nevertheless, in 1842 his “Rienzi” is an example of “ grand opera"in the French spirit - was accepted for production in Dresden. Its premiere took place with great success. The plot of the opera (about a Roman patriot and the “last tribune” of the 14th century) reflected the political interests and ideals of Wagner himself, who was a member of the Young Germany group of anarchist intellectuals. The opera The Flying Dutchman, staged in 1843, was received more restrainedly. Meanwhile, it testifies to Wagner's significantly increased skill as a musician-playwright. Beginning with The Flying Dutchman, Wagner gradually moved away from the traditional opera of the 18th and 19th centuries. number structure. The theme of redemption by female love, central to the opera, becomes the cross-cutting plot of Wagner’s entire work, and to some extent, his entire life. This theme is developed with extraordinary force in Wagner’s next two works, the operas “Tannhäuser” (1845) and “Lohengrin” (1848), which are also based on ancient tales and break even more radically with the number structure. The role of the main carrier musical content takes over the orchestra; Relatively completed passages and entire scenes flow into each other smoothly, without clearly defined formal caesuras, and a flexible and free ariatic style predominates in the solo vocal parts.

Politics and music. "Ring of the Nibelung"
Seized by revolutionary fervor, Wagner took part in the Dresden anti-government rebellion and after its defeat (1849) fled first to Weimar (k), and then, through Paris, to Switzerland. Having been declared a state criminal, he did not cross the borders of Germany for 13 years. In 1850-51 he wrote the anti-Semitic pamphlet “Jewishness in Music,” directed partly against his former patron, and the work “Opera and Drama,” which summarized his ideas regarding musical theater. At the same time, he began working on the words and music of a cycle of operas based on ancient Scandinavian sagas and medieval Germanic epics. By 1853, the text of this cycle (the future tetralogy “The Ring of the Nibelung”) was printed and read to friends, including the philanthropist Otto Wesendonck and his wife, the multi-talented Matilda. Five of her poems served as the basis for Wagner's songs for voice and piano, and the dramatic story of Wagner's forbidden relationship with a friend's wife was reflected in the musical drama Tristan and Isolde, conceived in 1854 and completed five years later, when half of the tetralogy had already been written.

Return to Germany
In 1858, Wagner quarreled with Mathilde Wesendonck and left Switzerland, and in 1860 he reunited with his wife in Paris. In 1861, Tannhäuser was staged at the Paris Opera. Despite the fact that Wagner reworked the opera in accordance with the tastes of the French public (in particular, he added a large ballet bacchanalia scene at the beginning of the first act), the work was severely booed, and the scandal at the premiere had political overtones. In 1862, Wagner received a full amnesty and the right to unhindered entry into Germany, and at the same time he finally separated from his sick and childless wife (she died in 1866). In 1863, he successfully conducted in Vienna, Russia, and other European countries (Wagner’s conducting repertoire included orchestral excerpts from his own operas and Beethoven’s symphony), and the following year, at the invitation of the young King of Bavaria, Ludwig II, he settled near Munich. The king, who admired Wagner, provided him with generous financial assistance.

"Tristan and Isolde"
Due to court intrigues, Wagner's stay in Bavaria was short-lived. The atmosphere around Wagner became especially tense after it became known about his affair with Cosima von Bülow, Liszt’s daughter and the wife of his student, music director Royal Opera H. von Bülow, who, however, did not change his attitude towards Wagner and in 1865 held the premiere of Tristan and Isolde in Munich. The music of “Tristan” reproduces all shades of love passion with unprecedented expressive power. At the same time, the huge score (over four hours of music) was made with surprisingly economical means. The main melodic element is a four-note ascending chromatic motif (the introduction to the opera begins with it and ends with it last scene- “The Death of Isolde”), and in harmony the principle of ellipsis prevails, that is, a constantly deferred resolution of dissonance (the so-called “endless melody”). This recreates an atmosphere of irresistible and passionate longing. The concept of the opera is based on the idea of ​​the unity of love and death and reflects Wagner's commitment to the philosophy of A. Schopenhauer.

"Nuremberg Mastersingers"
In a completely different spirit dedicated to Ludwig II "The Mastersingers of Nuremberg" - the story of the victory of the new, free and sublime art over the narrow-minded pedantry of conservatives. Although the action of "The Meistersinger" takes place in Nuremberg in the mid-16th century, the central conflict of the opera has a clear autobiographical overtones. If in “Tristan” the element of intense chromaticism dominates, then in “The Meistersinger” it is full-blooded, powerful diatonic; Counterpoint plays a significant role. The characters in the opera are not mythological figures (as in the rest of Wagner's mature operas), but people of flesh and blood, representing different strata of society. The opera is replete with folk and everyday scenes and contains a number of relatively complete songs, choruses, dances, and ensembles. One of central characters, Hans Sachs (Sachs) - real historical figure, a craftsman, poet and musician (Meistersinger, that is, “master of singing”), is presented in the opera as a bearer of original German values. The final monologue of Sachs, which crowns the opera, is a real manifesto of German nationalism.

New theater in Bayreuth
The premiere of "The Meistersinger" (under the direction of ) took place in Munich in 1868. By this time, Wagner had already been living in Triebschen near Lucerne for over two years. Cosima moved in with him in 1866. By the time the marriage was formalized (1870), they already had two children (the youngest daughter was born later). Meanwhile, in Munich, at the insistence of Ludwig II, the first two operas of the still unfinished “Ring of the Nibelung” - “Das Rheingold” and “Die Walküre” – were staged. Wagner realized that to stage the entire cycle he needed special theater, built according to a special project that takes into account the requirements of a “total work of art” (a musical drama that combines music, poetry, scenography, stage movement, etc.). In 1872, he solemnly laid the foundation stone for a new theater in Bayreuth (northeast of Nuremberg) and energetically set about raising funds for its construction. In 1874, when the enterprise was on the verge of failure, the king once again helped Wagner. That same year, Wagner completed the final opera of the cycle, The Decline of the Gods.
The Bayreuth Festival Theater opened in the summer of 1876 with a production of the entire “Ring of the Nibelung” under the direction of Hans Richter. The entire tetralogy lasts about 18 hours (the longest piece of music in history). Das Rheingold is not divided into acts and serves as an “opening evening”, while the other three operas - Die Walküre, Siegfried and Twilight of the Gods - contain three acts each (Twilight of the Gods also has a prologue , which likens the structure of this opera to the structure of the tetralogy as a whole). The huge structure is supported by highest degree a detailed system of short musical themes - the so-called leitmotifs - each of which carries a symbolic meaning, pointing to a specific character, denoting a particular concept, subject, etc. At the same time, leitmotifs are not just conventional signs, but also objects of active symphonic development; their combinations serve to clarify subtexts not expressed directly in the libretto (a similar system of techniques also operates in Tristan and The Meistersinger). The ancient myth embodied in the “Ring” is not reduced to the story of the struggle of gods, people and dwarfs for power over the world, personified by the golden ring of the Nibelung (dwarf) Alberich. Like any true myth, it contains profound insights on all sides. human existence. Some commentators consider the "Ring" to be a prototype modern sciences about man (psychoanalysis of S. Freud, analytical psychology of C. G. Jung, structural anthropology of C. Levi-Strauss), others - the ideological basis of socialism or fascism, others - the parable of industrial society etc., however, not a single particular interpretation exhausts the entire diversity of its content.

Last years
Wagner's artistic triumph at the first Bayreuth festival turned into a financial disaster. In 1877, hoping to recoup the losses he had suffered, Wagner conducted concerts in London. Later that year he began composing the opera ("solemn stage mystery") Parsifal, based on epic novel German medieval poet-knight W. von Eschenbach. Most Wagner spent 1880 in Italy. Soon “Parsifal” was completed, and at the last Bayreuth celebrations in Wagner’s life in 1882, its premiere took place under the baton of Hermann Levi. In Parsifal, Wagner again develops the theme of redemption, highlighting Christian motives communion and self-denial. At the end of 1882, Wagner went to Venice, where he soon died of a heart attack. He was buried in Bayreuth.

Wagner's enduring significance
The degree of Wagner's influence on his contemporaries and descendants cannot be overestimated. He enriched the harmonic and melodic language of music, opened new spheres of musical expressiveness and unheard of orchestral and vocal colors, and introduced new methods for the development of musical ideas. Wagner's personality and work evoked adoration or hatred (or both of these feelings together - as in the case of Friedrich Nietzsche); but even Wagner's most staunch opponents did not deny his greatness.
Wagner's son Siegfried (1869-1930) - composer (author of several fairy-tale operas), conductor, opera director. For his birth, Wagner composed his only work for chamber orchestra, the charming Siegfried Idyll, based on themes from the opera Siegfried. The few surviving recordings of Siegfried Wagner (from Bayreuth performances) testify to his high skill as a conductor. Siegfried's sons and Wagner's grandsons, Wieland (1917-1966) and Wolfgang (b. 1919), are prominent opera directors.

Wilhelm Richard Wagner (1813-1883) was a German composer who had a huge influence on the musical culture of Europe, especially on the symphonic and operatic genres. Art theorist, conductor, considered the greatest reformer of opera. This genius is called the most controversial among all composers who have lived to this day. Some admire his music, others are intimidated by it. And some even pronounce Wagner’s name with disgust, and only because Hitler was an ardent admirer of his work.

Birth and family

Richard was born on May 22, 1813 in the German city of Leipzig, in the family of an official. In total, the Wagners had nine children, but two of them died in infancy. In the year of Richard's birth, his father Karl Friedrich Wagner died suddenly; he was only 43 years old. The head of the family passionately loved theater and wanted his children to connect their future with this type of art. Almost all of them fulfilled their father’s will and chose a creative path in life.

The eldest girl, Rosalia, made her debut at the Leipzig theater at the age of sixteen and later became an actress. From the age of ten, her second daughter Louise, who also chose an artistic career, began performing on stage. The third girl, Clara, was already recognized as an excellent singer at the age of sixteen; this happened after successfully performing the role of Cinderella in Rossini’s opera. The eldest among the Wagner boys, Albert, was initially going to devote his life to medicine. But then his love for art overpowered him, and he became a theater director and singer.

Richard’s stepfather, Ludwig Geyer, was also directly related to art; he was an artist, actor and playwright. Geyer was friends with Karl Friedrich Wagner and after his death took over the care of the family of his deceased friend. Richard loved his stepfather very much and considered him his father; throughout his life he remembered Geyer with gratitude. On the composer Wagner's desk there was always a portrait of Ludwig Geyer, and on the wall hung a picture of his stepfather and mother Johanna Rosina.

Wagner loved his mother very much. Johanna Rosina was a woman of little education, but cheerful, simple and courageous. Having lost her husband and being left alone with seven children, she married Ludwig Geyer a second time, after which the family moved from Leipzig to Dresden.

Showing talent

All musical family Vagner tried to introduce little Richard to this art and teach him to play the piano. But the boy was not at all interested in music; he liked drawing and reading fairy tales more.

Everything changed on the day when little Wagner got to see the real opera “Freeshot” by Weber. The story of a hunter who made an alliance with the devil captured the child's imagination. He was scared to death when scary characters (ghosts and goblins) appeared on stage one after another, but he sat spellbound because the wonderful music sounded. Fairytale world beckoned him, and at the end of the opera, a small frail boy with tousled hair rushed out of auditorium behind the scenes. He carefully pulled back the curtain, walked inside and began to wander among the decorations. It seemed to little Wagner then that this was an enchanted country, and he was walking among its fantastic ruins.

Impressed, his imagination drew strange pictures, and, returning home, he grabbed a pencil. The boy couldn’t wait to depict on paper what was born in his head. The strange creatures he painted perplexed his mother and sisters.

But then he suddenly remembered the music sounding on stage and felt that it was not an ordinary combination of sounds, but the whole Universe, about which the boy still knew nothing. From that moment on, he was no longer interested in anything, only music, he wanted to compose it, intoxicating and enchanting, which would cause tears and laughter in listeners. This gift awoke in him suddenly, as if a secret door had opened somewhere in the depths of his soul.

The first person to guess about the life path that Richard would have to take was his stepfather Geyer. Unfortunately, he also passed away early. Young Wagner was only eight years old when his dying stepfather asked him to play the chorus from the opera Free Shooter on the piano. Listening to him play, Geyer told his wife: “The boy has a talent for music.”

Education

Richard decided to devote himself to music and stubbornly followed this path. On his own, using a book, without the help of teachers, he studied the theory of composition. His ideal in musical world considered Beethoven. From morning to evening, Wagner carefully rewrote his scores, trying to unravel the extraordinary secret of harmony that lay in the music of this great composer.

After the death of their stepfather, the Wagner family returned to Leipzig. Here Richard received his education at one of the oldest humanitarian and musical educational institutions in Germany - the School of St. Thomas. In the Lutheran Church of St. Thomas, liturgical music was then led by cantor Theodor Weinlig, and in 1828, fifteen-year-old Wagner began to learn the basics of music from him. At this age he wrote his first significant work- the tragedy “Leibald and Adelaide”.

By the age of eighteen, Wagner had composed several symphonies, pieces for piano and orchestra, and sonatas. In 1831, Richard became a volunteer at the University of Leipzig as a music student.

Wandering period

In 1833, he left his native Leipzig and went to seek his fortune in Würzburg. Here Wagner worked as a theater choir director (choirmaster). But he did not stay in one place; a long period of wandering began.

The composer moved to Magdeburg, where he got a job at a small opera house as a choirmaster. He spent the whole time here theater season 1834-1835. The new young conductor was loved by both the public and the artists. But the theater's business was going badly, and revenues were falling. Despite Wagner's attempts to replenish the troupe and update the repertoire, many artists began to look for other places. Soon the theater director declared bankruptcy, but Richard still wanted to stage his new play “The Ban of Love.” However, the premiere failed, and he left Magdeburg in despair.

From 1837 to 1839 he conducted musical theaters in Riga and Königsberg, then lived and worked for some time in Norway, London, and Paris. All this time, Richard was madly homesick and lived in terrible poverty. But he believed in his strength and great calling; dreamed that Paris would submit to him; there will be money, fame, success. At the same time, he either sold everything valuable or pawned it in a pawnshop, ran around the city all day long, begging creditors to delay the payment of debts, sometimes there was not even a piece of bread in his house.

The composer's triumph

In 1842, the composer returned to Germany. In the autumn of the same year, his opera “Rienzi, the Last of the Tribunes” was staged in Dresden. The success was triumphant, noisy and luxurious, which came as a complete surprise to Wagner. At the premiere, he could barely cope with his emotions - Richard felt hot and cold, he cried and laughed at the same time. The composer, who a few months ago was unknown and half-starved in Paris, became fashionable and in demand in his homeland. German newspapers published Wagner's biography with a portrait, and most importantly, he received a position as a conductor at the Dresden Theater. Thus the foundation for the fame of the great composer was laid.

In 1843 he received an appointment as bandmaster at the royal Saxon court. But he still devoted a lot of time and effort to creativity. After Rienzi, his operas were staged one after another:

• "The Flying Dutchman" (sad opera about a ghost ship);
• "Tannhäuser" ( sad story about a Catholic minstrel who was the lover of Venus);
• "Lohengrin" (opera about the divine knight).

Wagner had good money, but he was absolutely unable to save and save; he spent a lot at once and wastedly. He dined in expensive restaurants, bought gifts for women, and refined and luxurious outfits for himself - satin trousers, lace shirts, silk robes.

A good, comfortable life continued until 1848, when the revolution began in Germany. Wagner became her supporter, but after the defeat he was forced to flee to Switzerland, where he lived for nine years. I worked a lot literary activity, wrote articles on art history and theory, musical criticism. Here he composed two parts of his most famous work - the opera tetralogy “The Ring of the Nibelung” (“Das Rheingold” and “Die Walküre”).

In the autumn of 1857, Wagner finished work on the text of his most radical opera, Tristan and Isolde, and in the summer of 1859 the score was ready. But the premiere of this work took place only six years later in Munich at the National Theater. Famous Vienna Opera refused this new and unusual production, considering it unperformable. The reason for this decision was the soloist who was supposed to sing the part of Tristan - after 77 rehearsals, he lost his voice and went crazy.

In 1864, Richard was again able to return to his homeland, having received the favor of the Bavarian king Ludwig II, who turned out to be passionate fan composer. The king paid off all of Wagner's debts, assigned him a substantial allowance, and built Neuschwanstein Castle in his honor (now one of the most popular tourist destinations in Europe). But most importantly, Richard now had the opportunity to invite the best artists and musicians and stage his operas at the Munich theater.

At home, the composer completed “The Ring of the Nibelung”, writing two more parts, “Siegfried” and “Death of the Gods.” He also composed a comic opera about the singing competition “The Mastersingers of Nuremberg.”

In 1876, Wagner was finally completely happy, as the opening of the opera festival theater in Bayreuth took place. Louis II allocated money for construction, and Richard himself supervised everything. The theater opened with the premiere of the tetralogy “The Ring of the Nibelung”.

Personal life

In 1834, while working at the theater in Magdeburg, Richard met charming singer Wilhelmina (Minna) Glider. When she left for Berlin, Wagner almost went crazy and wrote her endless letters in which he begged her to become his wife. He said that if she refused, he would start drinking, give up all activities and quickly go to hell.

They were completely different people. Minna is a charming beauty and at the same time a down-to-earth, practical woman; next to her, Richard felt inexperienced and clumsy. Despite the fact that she worked as a singer, Planer was indifferent to art, while Wagner was obsessed with music. She always strived for a luxurious life, and the young and poor composer could not offer her this. Therefore, even for Richard it was surprising when in 1836 Minna Planer agreed to marry him.

Soon both realized what they had done unforgivable mistake. This marriage became a burden for them and did not bring happiness. They had to wander all over Europe, sometimes lived in squalid corners and had no idea whether there would be food tomorrow. Wagner composed music, at these moments he forgot himself and was incredibly happy. But not a single theater wanted to stage his operas.

Wagner began to have endless love affairs and use the services of courtesans, while his wife began to develop heart disease. They eventually broke up.

Richard's last, but truest love was his daughter famous composer Liszt – Cosima Bülow. At the time they met, the young woman was married to conductor Hans von Bülow, with whom Wagner had friendly relations. This did not stop Richard from falling in love with Kozina, who was 24 years younger than him. She was unhappy in her marriage, so she quickly and sincerely responded to Wagner's advances.

The immoral behavior of the lovers caused public outrage, and they had to leave Germany. In a secluded Swiss villa, the composer was surrounded by the care and attention of his beloved woman. Moreover, in his declining years he experienced the joy of true paternal feelings, as his wife gave him three children - two girls and a son. The boy was named Siegfried, as he was born on the day the composer finished work on opera of the same name. Only in 1870 did Richard and Kozina manage to get married.

In this marriage, Wagner was incredibly happy, but not for very long. On February 13, 1883, he died suddenly of a broken heart; death overtook him at work. The composer was buried with truly royal honors. The wife survived Richard by almost half a century and all this time continued her husband’s work at the Bayreuth Theater.

There are many significant names in the history of opera, but one of them serves as a milestone or, better said, a watershed. Richard Wagner divided the entire history of world opera - before and after him. The work of this German composer brought revolutionary changes to the art of opera. The opera genre after Wagner will never be the same as it was before him.

“Not many musicians have received such contradictory, polar assessments as Richard Wagner,” stated writer and musicologist Édouard Schuré, who knew the composer. “He suffered the fate of all major reformers. Opponents and enemies who recognized the indomitable fighter mainly by those blows which they received from him portrayed him as a man of extremes, exorbitant pride and boundless egoism, taking into account people and objects only to the extent that he needed them, and indifferent to everything else.”

“What Nietzsche wrote about Wagner cannot give us a correct assessment of Wagner as a poet and thinker; what Nordau said about him in his “Degeneration”, we consider vulgar and frivolous. “Who,” as the newest historian of German literature says Kuno-Franke, - German literature owes the first energetic proclamation artistic ideals of the future, the ideals of collectivist pantheism,” is worthy in our Rus' of a more objective and more correct assessment,” S. Soloviev emphasized in December 1904 in the preface to the Russian translation of Henri Lishtanberger’s book “Richard Wagner as a Poet and Thinker.” Perhaps it was the poet Sergei Mikhailovich Solovyov, nephew of the philosopher and poet Vladimir Solovyov, second cousin of Alexander Blok. He complained about how few books about Wagner there are in Russia.

And now, on the eve of Wagner’s anniversary, a Russian biography of the composer was published, which will fill many gaps in Wagner’s life. Its author, Marina Zalesskaya, writes: “The controversy around Wagner’s work still continues, which causes fanatical delight among some, and persistent rejection among others. Needless to say, the personality of the composer himself is equally contradictory and ambiguous? On the one hand, this a radiant knight in shining armor praising beauty eternal love. On the other hand, there is a person who tramples on the sacred bonds of friendship and is deprived of an elementary feeling of gratitude. Wagner - genius composer, reformer, philosopher, “poet and thinker,” according to the apt expression of a deep researcher of his work, Henri Lishtanberger. And he is a petty miser, greedy for money and always fleeing from his creditors."

Born on May 22, 1813, the youngest child in the Wagner family was baptized in the Leipzig Church of St. Thomas, where the great Johann Sebastian Bach served as cantor for more than a quarter of a century. Wilhelm Richard Wagner's father died of typhus exactly six months after the birth of his fourth son. In August 1814, his mother remarried an old family friend, actor and painter Ludwig Heinrich Christian Geyer, who actually replaced Wagner's father. The following year, the actor received an invitation to the Dresden royal theater and the family left Leipzig. The boy was sent to school under his stepfather's name. “Thus,” Wagner wrote in his autobiography, “my Dresden childhood comrades knew me until the age of fourteen under the name of Richard Geyer.” And only six years after the death of his stepfather, returning to his hometown, Richard from “Korshun” (surname Geyer homophone of the word "kite" - Geier) again turned into a “carriage maker” (Wagner).

The famous German literary critic, almost official biography composer, suggested that Geyer was not a stepfather, but Richard’s own father. The founder and director of the Wagner Society in Riga, Karl Friedrich Glasenapp, made his conclusion based on one episode from the composer’s life, when Richard, looking at the portrait of Geyer hanging in his office, suddenly caught a similarity between his son Siegfried and the probable “grandfather”. The composer really had a spiritual closeness with his stepfather and Richard subconsciously strived to be like Geyer.

Another person who had a huge impact on the future musical genius was Pastor Wetzel, who mentored Richard (then Geyer) for a year. As for creativity, the young composer was influenced, first of all, by Beethoven, K. M. Weber, Mozart, and then G. A. Marshner. And, of course, we must not forget how close the writer and musician Ernst Theodor Amadeus Hoffmann turned out to be for the young Wagner. If we use Goethe’s expression, “Ah, two souls live in my sick breast,” then in Richard’s healthy breast lived passions that were not alien to each other. To music and literary creativity. As a 15-year-old teenager, classically trained Wagner wrote great tragedy Leubald und Adelaide. In it, researchers see the influence of Shakespeare and Goethe, especially his “Goetz von Berlichingen”. The heroine's name is borrowed from Beethoven's "Adelaide".

Richard's family did not like his play, and he decided to write music for it. But he did not yet have the necessary knowledge, and his mother did not allow him to take systematic music lessons. My first piano sonata d-moll(D minor) Wagner wrote in 1829, followed by a string quartet D major(D major), not yet having a clear understanding of the laws of composition. The failure of the next overture forced him to put an end to amateurism in music. Richard began taking music theory lessons from Theodor Weinlich, the cantor of the Church of St. Thomas, in which he was baptized. Having mastered music, Richard began writing librettos for his own operas. This first happened when the music critic, librettist, and later friend of the composer, Heinrich Rudolf Constanz Laube, offered Wagner his finished opera text - the heroic opera Kosciuszko. But the composer, as he admitted, “immediately felt that Laube was mistaken about the nature of the reproduction historical events". After several squabbles with Laube, Richard decided that from now on he would write all the librettos for his operas himself. At that time, Wagner replaced the patriotic gentlemen with the plot of Carlo Gozzi's fairy tale "The Snake Woman". He will call his opera "Fairies" ( Die Feen).