Biography of Richard Wagner. Richard Wagner short biography

Richard Wagner ( full name Wilhelm Richard Wagner, German. Wilhelm Richard Wagner). Born May 22, 1813 in Leipzig - died February 13, 1883 in Venice. German composer and art theorist. The greatest reformer of opera, Wagner had a significant influence on European musical culture, especially German.

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, Wagner, being educated at the Leipzig school of St. Thomas, in 1828 began studying music with the cantor of the Church of St. Thomas, Theodor Weinlig, and in 1831 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 musical theaters, then in Norway, London and Paris, where he wrote the Faust overture and the 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 (where he met) and after the defeat 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 “Die Walküre”) and the opera "Tristan and Isolde". In 1858 - Wagner visited Venice, Lucerne, Vienna, Paris and Berlin for a short time.

To a much greater extent than all European composers XIX century, Wagner viewed 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 most complete embodiment of the theory musical drama received 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 play "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 the leading representatives of classical opera (Rossini, Meyerbeer, Verdi, Aubert), calling their music “candied boredom.”

Trying to bring opera closer to life, he came up with the idea of ​​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) share 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 psychological side, into the realm 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 symphony orchestra. At the same time, the vocal part in musical drama represents the equivalent of theatrical dramatic speech. There is almost no songfulness or ariosity in it. Due to the specificity of vocals in Wagner's operatic music (exceptional length, mandatory requirement of dramatic skill, merciless exploitation of the extreme registers of voice tessitura), new stereotypes of singing voices were established in solo performing practice - Wagnerian tenor, Wagnerian soprano, etc.

Wagner attached exceptional importance to orchestration and, more broadly, to 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 created a tuba quartet, introduced a bass tuba, 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).

Richard Wagner - Ride of the Valkyries

Richard Wagner - The Entry of the Gods into Valhalla

Wagner's innovation in the field of harmony is also generally recognized. 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. Business card 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 a developed system of leitmotifs. Each such leitmotif (short musical characteristic) is a designation of something: a specific character or living creature (for example, the Rhine leitmotif in “Das Rheingold”), objects that often act as symbolic characters (ring, sword and gold in “The Ring” , a love drink in "Tristan and Isolde", places of action (leitmotifs of the Grail in "Lohengrin" and Valhalla in "Das Rheingold") and even abstract ideas (numerous leitmotifs of fate and fate in the cycle "The Ring of the Nibelung", 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 and the development of feelings led Wagner to the idea of ​​merging these leitmotifs into a single stream of symphonic development, into an “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”).

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 are immediately specifically organized using musical motive"- 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 in the social system, but as 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.

Opera reform Wagner had a significant influence 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. The use of the leitmotif system in operas after Wagner became trivial and universal. No less significant was the influence of innovative musical language Wagner, 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 late creativity) Wagner's influence in harmony, orchestral writing, 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 Russia XIX century (for example, A. G. Rubinstein) than among representatives 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, Béla Bartok, Karol Szymanowski, Arnold Schoenberg (c. early work) and many others.

The reaction to the cult of Wagner was the “anti-Wagner” tendency, which opposed itself to him, the largest representatives of which were 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” (see Absolute music). In Russia, anti-Wagner sentiments are characteristic of the national wing of composers, primarily M. P. Mussorgsky and A. P. Borodin.

The attitude towards Wagner among non-musicians (who assessed not so much Wagner’s music as his controversial statements and his “aestheticizing” publications) is ambiguous. Thus, in the article “The Case of Wagner” he wrote: “Was Wagner even a musician? 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 XX-XXI centuries continue to live on the most prestigious opera scenes, not only Germany, but the whole world (with the exception of Israel).

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.

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 then editor of the magazine, Mr. F. Brendel, from the leadership of 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.

In 1864, having achieved the favor of the Bavarian king Ludwig II, who paid his debts and supported him further, he moved to Munich, where he wrote 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 for the Festival House was laid in Bayreuth, 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. Wagner is buried in Bayreuth.

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 devoted Special attention not the vocal performance of the parts, but 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 and art theorist. A major reformer of opera, Wagner had a significant influence on European musical culture, especially German.

Wagner’s mysticism and ideologically charged anti-Semitism influenced German nationalism at the beginning of the 20th century, and later on 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 Carl Friedrich Wagner (1770--1813). Under the influence of his stepfather, actor Ludwig Geyer, Wagner, being educated at the Leipzig school of St. Thomas, in 1828 began studying music with the cantor of the Church of St. Thomas, Theodor Weinlig, and in 1831 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 the 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 (where he met M.A. Bakunin) and after the defeat 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 “Ring of the Nibelung”). Valkyrie") and the opera "Tristan and Isolde". In 1858, Wagner visited Venice, Lucerne, Vienna, Paris and Berlin for short periods.

In 1864, having achieved the favor of the Bavarian king Ludwig II, who paid his debts and supported him further, he moved to Munich, where he wrote the comic opera Die Meistersinger of Nuremberg and the last two parts of the Ring of the Nibelung: Siegfried and Twilight of the Gods. . In 1872, the foundation stone for the Festival House was laid in Bayreuth, 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. Wagner is buried in Bayreuth.

Wagner opera composer

Works of R. Wagner

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 the leading representatives of classical opera (Rossini, Meyerbeer, Verdi, Aubert), calling their music “candied boredom.”

Trying to bring opera closer to life, he came up with the idea of ​​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, at a semantic level inextricably linked with the action. 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. At the same time, the vocal part in musical drama represents the equivalent of theatrical dramatic speech. There is almost no songfulness or ariosity in it. Due to the specificity of vocals in Wagner's operatic music (exceptional length, mandatory requirement of dramatic skill, merciless exploitation of the extreme registers of voice tessitura), new stereotypes of singing voices were established in solo performing practice - Wagnerian tenor, Wagnerian soprano, etc.

Wagner attached exceptional importance to orchestration and, more broadly, to 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 created a tuba quartet, introduced a bass tuba, 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 of harmony is also generally recognized. He greatly expanded the tonality he inherited from the Viennese classics and early romantics 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 a developed system of leitmotifs. Each such leitmotif (short musical characteristic) is a designation of something: a specific character or living creature (for example, the Rhine leitmotif in “Das Rheingold”), objects that often act as symbolic characters (ring, sword and gold in “The Ring” , a love drink in "Tristan and Isolde", places of action (leitmotifs of the Grail in "Lohengrin" and Valhalla in "Das Rheingold") and even abstract ideas (numerous leitmotifs of fate and fate in the cycle "The Ring of the Nibelung", longing, a loving gaze in "Tristan and Isolde") The Wagnerian 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 most complex and extremely difficult to perceive musical texture of the final the opera “Death of the Gods” (where there are already more than a hundred of them).

Understanding music as the personification of continuous movement and the development of feelings led Wagner to the idea of ​​merging these leitmotifs into a single stream of symphonic development, into an “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”).

The literary heritage of Richard Wagner is enormous. Most Interest presents his works on the theory and history of art, as well as music-critical articles. Wagner's extensive epistolary and his diaries have been preserved. 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.

The philosophical and aesthetic basis of Wagner’s work by A.F. Losev defines it 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 true aesthetic pleasure 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 there is no doubt about its coming after a global catastrophe. 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 in the social system, but as 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 the fusion of divided human nature that Wagner had been searching for for so long takes place. This connection occurs with the departure of Tristan and Isolde into oblivion. Thought of as a completely Buddhist fusion with the eternal and imperishable world, it resolves, in Losev’s opinion, the contradiction between subject and object on which European culture is based. 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—that is what the love potion is, so brilliantly depicted by Wagner,” writes Losev.

Wagner's operatic reform had a significant impact on European and Russian music, marking the highest stage of musical romanticism and at the same time 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. The use of the leitmotif system in operas after Wagner 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. was an expert and promoter of Wagner. Serov. ON THE. 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 the prominent Russian music 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 and affairs 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 of musical expressiveness (harmony, orchestral writing, operatic dramaturgy). Among the Western composers who were influenced by Wagner are Anton Bruckner, Hugo Wolf, Claude Debussy, Gustavnovsky, Arnold Schoenberg (in his early work) and many others.

The reaction to the cult of Wagner was the “anti-Wagner” tendency that opposed itself to him, the largest representatives of which were 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.

Wagner Wilhelm Richard (1813-1883), German composer.

Born on May 22, 1813 in Leipzig into an artistic family, he was interested in literature and theater from childhood. His acquaintance with the work of L. van Beethoven had a huge influence on the formation of Wagner as a composer. Studying a lot on his own, he took lessons piano playing from organist G. Müller, music theory from T. Weiling.

In 1834-1839 Wagner had already worked professionally as a bandmaster in various opera houses. In 1839-1842. lived in Paris. Here he wrote his first significant work - the historical opera Rienzi. In Paris, Wagner failed to stage this opera; it was accepted for production in Dresden in 1842. And until 1849, the composer worked as conductor and conductor of the Dresden Court Opera. Here in 1843 he staged his own opera “The Flying Dutchman”, and in 1845 - “Tannhäuser and the Wartburg Singing Competition”. In Dresden, one of the most famous operas Wagner's "Lohengrin" (1848).

In 1849, for his participation in revolutionary unrest in Dresden, the composer was declared state criminal and was forced to flee to Switzerland. The main ones were created there literary works, such as “Art and Revolution” (1849), “Artwork of the Future” (1850), “Opera and Drama” (1851). In them, Wagner acted as a reformer - primarily of the art of opera. His main ideas can be summarized as follows: in opera, drama should dominate music, and not vice versa; at the same time, the orchestra is not subordinate to the singers, but is an equal “actor”.
Musical drama aims to be universal a work of art capable of morally influencing the audience. And such an impact can only be achieved using philosophical and aesthetic concepts generalized in a mythological plot.

The composer always wrote the libretto for his operas himself. In addition, in Wagner, each character, even some objects important for the development of the plot (for example, a ring), have their own musical characteristics(leitmotifs). The musical outline of the opera is a system of leitmotifs. Wagner embodied his innovative ideas in a grandiose project - “The Ring of the Nibelung”. This is a cycle of four operas: Das Rheingold (1854), Die Walküre (1856), Siegfried (1871) and Twilight of the Gods (1874).

In parallel with his work on the tetralogy, Wagner wrote another opera, Tristan and Isolde (1859). Thanks to the patronage of the Bavarian king Ludwig II, who favored the composer since 1864, a theater was built in Bayreuth to promote Wagner's work. At its opening in 1876, the tetralogy “The Ring of the Nibelung” was staged in its entirety for the first time, and in 1882 it was released the last opera Wagner's "Parsifal", called by the author a solemn stage mystery.

The work of Richard Wagner has become a symbol of a turning point in musical traditions Europe XIX century. He made bold discoveries, without fear of condemnation and relying only on his own impeccable musical intuition. Wagner had a difficult fate, but perhaps it was precisely those painful trials that befell him that served as the impetus for revolutionary changes not only in opera, but also in symphonic genres. The great reformer, who had a significant influence, became the only musician in history who was awarded the honor of having his own theater, and the festival named after him to this day brings together only the best representatives of the musical art.

short biography

Wilhelm Richard Wagner was born on October 22, 1813, becoming youngest son in a large family of a police official in the German city of Leipzig. The father of the family unexpectedly died of typhus without seeing his six-month-old heir. A little later, Wagner’s mother remarried, and Ludwig Geyer became little Richard’s stepfather. He was engaged in painting, played in the theater and in every possible way supported any creative endeavors of his adopted children, becoming, in fact, a real father to them. Less than a year later, Geyer was invited to serve in royal theater, and the family moved to Dresden, where Richard began his education under the name of his stepfather. When the boy was 14 years old, Ludwig died suddenly. The mother was forced to return to her native Leipzig.

Inspired by creativity Beethoven, Richard begins to study music at the school at the Church of St. Thomas, where he was once baptized. For quite short term young man showing real talent and begins to try his hand at composing, and quite successfully: in the period from 1828 to 1832 he creates sonatas, piano pieces, including the Faust overture, works for orchestra, and a symphony. Many of these works were soon performed at concerts; at that time, Wagner was not yet 20 years old.

According to Wagner's biography, in 1833 he left his hometown, going to Würzburg at the invitation of his brother. Then Richard lives in Magdeburg for three years, visits Königsberg, and stays in Riga for two years. The first operas created at this time did not receive high ratings, but Wagner did not stop there, and the next opera, Rienzi, the Last Tribune, became quite successful.

His work as a composer did not bring in a decent income, and Wagner soon became mired in debt, from which he decided to escape in Paris. He secretly moved there with his wife, actress Minna Planer. However, even in this city Richard did not find recognition and financial well-being, despite the fact that he did not disdain even such low-paid and routine work as copying notes. But his talent and amazing ability to work soon bore fruit: Wagner brought the works “Rienzi” and “Faust” to perfection. The first of them even had some success at the Dresden Theater in 1842. During this period, life's ups and downs force him to seriously reconsider his views on life and creativity. Just a year later, in the same hall, the premiere of “The Flying Dutchman” takes place, in the production of which the author himself takes an active part, and then “Tannhäuser”. It seems that Wagner has finally found his refuge in Dresden: he writes a lot, devotes time to composition, and many works in various genres come from his pen.

The flow of creative self-improvement was interrupted by the revolution in Germany in 1848. Wagner decided not to stand aside from such fateful events and ardently supported the revolutionaries. But when opponents occupied Dresden, the musician nevertheless left the city that gave him real recognition.

• In the Church of St. Thomas, where he was baptized and began his musical education Wagner, served as cantor for a quarter of a century Johann Sebastian Bach.
• The first stone for the building of the future Wagner Theater was laid on the musician’s birthday, May 22, 1872.
• The cycle of 4 operas “The Ring of the Nibelung” has a total performance time of about 15 hours.
• The Bayreuth Theater operates as intended for only 4 weeks a year - from July to August, during the Wagner Festival. The rest of the time it can be viewed on excursions, but you cannot enjoy the unique acoustics.
• Wagner was an ardent anti-Semite, as a result of which some of his articles are today recognized as extremist and prohibited from publication.
• When, before the premiere of Parsifal, Wagner learned that the king had chosen Hermann Levi as conductor, former Jew, the composer tried with all his might to disrupt the monarch’s plans, and even demanded that Herman be baptized, but he categorically refused.
• All his life Wagner was terrified of " damn dozen" - the number 13. He was born in the year 13, and the number of letters in his name written with Latin letters, also equals 13. He categorically forbade scheduling the premieres of his operas on the 13th. By a strange coincidence, the maestro died on February 13th.

• From Wagner's biography we learn that while living in Paris, the composer was so poor that he decided to take the humiliating position of a chorister. However, during the audition, it turned out that the musician had absolutely no voice, and his singing abilities were not enough even for a choir.
• During Wagner's performances in Britain, many art lovers were annoyed that he conducted Beethoven's works from memory. This was considered a disdain for the great composer and reprimanded Richard. At the next performance, the conductor had the score in front of him, and afterward they began to praise him and point out that the orchestra sounded much better. In fact, Wagner placed a completely different score on the music stand, and upside down, too, and conducted as usual - from memory.
• Wagner always created librettos for his operas himself, and never agreed to proposals from other authors to use their texts. Wagner refused the next poet, saying that his work would take a place in his library from the previously proposed librettos under number 2985.

• Wagner's talent for a long time remained unrecognized in his native Germany. Once in Vienna, one of the spectators dared to ask the composer a question whether his music seemed too loud to him. “This is all so that I can be heard in Germany!” - Wagner said loudly, folding his hands like a mouthpiece.
• For the premiere of the opera "Die Walküre" in Vienna, black horses were required to appear on stage. All trained animals capable of such a performance turned out to be gray. Wagner was indignant and threatened to cancel the premiere. Then one of the diplomats proposed a non-standard solution - to paint the horses black. The performance was a success, and Wagner warmly thanked the resourceful diplomat.

New Opera

One of Wagner's main achievements in the world classical music considered his reformation of the genre operas, the creation of the so-called musical drama. Wagner's early works are still thoroughly imbued with imitation of the geniuses of romanticism, but he soon begins to think that current forms and methods of expression are unable to fully reveal everything that he would like to convey in his most monumental work - the tetralogy " Ring of the Nibelung" And Wagner takes on an unprecedented job - he almost completely rebuilds the form and structure of operatic works.

Under Wagner’s hand, the previously clearly demarcated arias, ensembles and choruses turned into long, chanting monologues and dialogues of the characters, closer to colloquial speech, which do not have a specific “start” and “end” point. They seemed to intertwine with each other, building a completely new narrative thread, continuously supported by the orchestra. The orchestra also received a new function in Wagnerian opera: it did not simply accompany the vocal parts of the characters, but represented an additional way of expressing emotions, indicating storylines and heroes. Wagner assigned his own leitmotif to each new action, character or phenomenon. As a result, as the performance progressed, the leitmotifs became recognizable, mixed and combined with each other, but invariably helped the viewer more accurately understand the meaning of what was happening on stage.

The significance of Wagner in the history of world music

Wagner's innovations in the opera genre were supported by such a famous contemporary as Franz Liszt, who also became Richard's father-in-law. The Weimar school of music, created by Liszt, is to this day the main stronghold of the Wagner cult. Many young talents who studied there adopted the desire to enhance the methods of expression available to the musician. Many names of famous composers are on the list of those who imitated Wagner and were inspired by his work.

However, like any great achievement, Wagner’s reform, in addition to supporters, also found ardent opponents, whose common name is “anti-Wagnerites.” Such representatives of this movement as Brahms and Hanslick argued that music is a completely self-sufficient art and does not need additional means of expression. Nevertheless, Wagner's works are recognized as the highest stage in the development of romanticism in Europe and at the same time - the basis for subsequent modernist movements in music. The innovations applied by Wagner have become familiar elements of opera today.

Wagner's music in films