Richard Wagner

Richard Wagner was born in

Leipzig, Germany on May 23, 1813
and lived until February 13, 1883
when he died in Venice. He was son
to Karl and Johanna Wagner.
Wagner participated in an
uprising in 1849 fled to Weimar
then Switzerland where he wrote
many important essays on music,
art, and drama.
BIOGRAPHY
Life of Richard Wagner
Wagner designed a new brass instrument dubbed the Wagner tuba
which was adopted later by reputable composers. Wagner also
designed a theatre for his works which hosted the first Bayreuth
Festival was held. The four operas of his Der Ring des Nibelungen
were comprehensively performed, they are also considered some of
his best work. They were considered master works and were ahead
of their time.
Wagner's music is generally known for rich harmonies, complex and
intricate style and orchestration, and the creative use of leitmotifs:
ideas or themes that associate individual characters, places or plot
elements embedded in the music.
Composition History
• He dreamt of becoming a poet and a playwright but because
of Beethoven’s music, he decided to become a composer
• Wagner started off with simple compositions before later
turning to stage music in 1832. He also wrote several operas
during the 1930’s and in 1842 he performed rhis opera
Rienzi.
• Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde has often been mentioned in
discussions that it marked the start of what we consider
modern music today. Wagner’s composition was based on
medieval romance and his drams often depended upon
supernatural intervention which deals with human condition.
Composition History
• Some of his most notable works are extracts from the
Ride of the Valkyries which came from the opera Die
Walküre, and the Wedding March (Bridal Chorus) which
came from the opera Lohengrin.
• Wagner is considered a master of orchestration. In his time,
operas were played more than four hours and his
expressions unites the texture of melodic fragments and
chords later called leitmotifs or leading motives that occurs
throughout the work and represents particular character,
motion, idea, event or place.
Giuseppe Verdi (1813 – 1901)
Born near Busseto in Parma,
Northern Italy
Verdi was not a musical prodigy
and was rejected in the
Conservatory of Music in Milan due
to his poor piano-playing.
Despite the rejection, he continue
studying composition and later
returned to Busseto as town’s band
master and four years later, he
returned to Milan to earn his
livelihood as a composer.
Giacomo Puccini (1858 – 1924)
Born in Lucca, Italy and
came from a long line of
musicians, mostly
composers and church
organists.
He created some of the
best-loved operas like La
Boheme and Madama
Butterfly.
Giacomo Puccini (1858 – 1924)
Puccini’s excellent sense of theater has given his operas
a lasting charm. His musical characteristics uses short
melodies with memorable phrases and intense emotions.
He uses orchestra to emphasize the vocal melody that
suggests the mood.
Puccini wrote La Boheme in Paris on 1830. It is about the
love story of the poor poet Rodolfo and the equally
impoverished seamstress Mimi.
Giacomo Puccini died before finishing his last opera,
Turandot, which was completed by his colleague.
Franz Schubert (1797 – 1828)
Born in Himmelpfortgrund,
Austria, he was the fourth
sur viving son of Franz Theodor
and Elisabeth Vietz. He was a
composer who connected the
Classical and Romanti c periods.
He got the foundati on of music
educati on from his father and
brother Ignaz and conti nued
music theory and organ playing
under the instructi on of the
parish church organist.
Franz Schubert (1797 – 1828)
Schubert conti nued enhancing his musical gift s
and wrote his earliest work, Fantasia for Piano
Duet.
He made compositi on of diff erent genres,
songs, orchestral overtures, pieces of chamber
music and a three strings of quartets. Among his
works was an unfi nished operett a on a text by
August von Kotzebue, Der Spiegeltritt er.
He is noted for the melody and harmony in his
songs and chamber music.