RICHARD WAGNER
(1813 - 1883)
Richard
Wagner, one of Germany's greatest composers, ranks with Beethoven and Brahms
in respect to his innovative musical techniques. He is unique, however,
for his brilliant artistic integration of drama and music. It is this single
attribute that established him as the Dean of German opera. His father died
six months before Richard's birth, so he never came to know a paternal presence.
However, a year later, his mother married the actor, Ludwig Geyer, a man
very much devoted to the stage, art and literature. Geyer exerted a profound
effect on the young Wagner and was probably responsible for his development
into the dramatic musician who created the combination of music and literature
that led to the Music Drama an its all-pervasive leitmotifs. The
operas Rienzi and The Flying Dutchman earned Wagner the post
of Kappelmeister of the Dresden Opera and established him as a successful
composer. He came to know the von Bülows and fell in love with Hans'
wife, Cosima, Liszt's daughter, whom he later married. This was the most
productive period of his life in which he completed the fabulous Ring cycle
of music dramas and clearly established him as the master of German Opera.
He died in Venice of a heart attack with Cosima by his side. Wagner composed
Tannhäuser in 1845, but it was revised for a performance in
Paris in 1859. Unfortunately the presentation was a failure due to political
protests and its triumphal reception came much later when it became firmly
established in the operatic repertoire. The music with which we are most
familiar, is the overture that we hear tonight and it is soul-stirring.
It concerns the medieval minnesinger, Tannhäuser, and his search for
purity. The overture opens with the stately pilgrim's chorus followed by
the Venusberg Music; both spectacular examples of Wagner's ability to arouse
our emotions and engulf us in a splendid array of artistic pleasure.Program Notes by J. Palmer Saunders©