Richard Wagner es una figura central en la historia de la ópera y uno de los compositores más influyentes de la tradición musical occidental. Autodidacta en un principio, más tarde estudió brevemente en la Universidad de Leipzig. Al inicio de su carrera trabajó como maestro de coro y director de orquesta en diversos teatros de ópera alemanes.
El núcleo de la obra de Wagner lo constituyen sus óperas, a las que él denominaba «dramas musicales» y para las que escribía tanto la música como los libretos. Entre sus innovaciones se encuentran el uso de leitmotifs (temas musicales recurrentes asociados a personajes o ideas), un lenguaje armónico ampliado y el concepto de Gesamtkunstwerk (obra de arte total), que pretendía unificar todos los elementos de la producción operística. Sus ideas y su música, plasmadas en obras tan famosas como el ciclo de cuatro óperas Der Ring des Nibelungen y Tristán e Isolda, han ejercido una influencia duradera en compositores posteriores y siguen siendo hoy en día objeto tanto de elogios como de polémica.
Richard Wagner (1813-1883)
Autograph manuscript signed (at end, ‘Richard Wagner‘), the first poetical draft of the libretto for Tannhäuser , here titled ‘Das Venusberg / Romantische Oper in 3 Acten’, Dresden, 29 January – 22 March 1843
Richard Wagner (1813-1883)
Autograph manuscript of the concert ending to Siegfried's 'Sword-Forging Song', near the end of Act One of Siegfried , [1862]
Richard Wagner (1813-1883) and Franz Liszt (1811-1886)
Wagner's copy of Beethoven's Symphony No.3 ('Eroica') signed ('Richard Wagner') and inscribed, St Gall, 23 November 1856
Richard Wagner (1813-1883)
Autograph music manuscript, compositional draft for the conclusion of the concert overture Polonia (WWV 39), [Berlin, c. May-July 1836]
Richard Wagner (1813-1883)
Autograph letter signed ('Richard Wagner') to August Röckel, Zurich, 12 September 1852
Richard Wagner (1813-1883)
Autograph letter signed (with initials, 'R.W.') to [Heinrich Szadrowsky], n.p., n.d. [?Zurich, mid-1850s]
Richard Wagner (1813-1883)
Autograph letter signed ('Richard Wagner') to [August Röckel], Zurich, 23 August 1856
Richard Wagner (1813-1883)
Autograph manuscript signed ('R. Wagner'), a revision for the programme for the first concert performances of Götterdämmerung , quoting 18 lines from the libretto of 'Hagen's Watch' from Act I, [c. April 1875]
Richard Wagner (1813-1883)
Autograph letter signed ('Richard Wagner') to [Eduard Liszt], Starnberg, 23 May 1864
Richard Wagner (1813-1883)
Autograph letter signed ('Richard Wagner') to [Ferdinand] Heine, Meudon, 14 October 1841
Richard Wagner (1813-1883)
Autograph letter signed ('Rich. Wagner') to an unidentified recipient, Munich, 25 May 1865
Richard Wagner (1813-1883)
Autograph letter signed ('Richard Wagner') to Dr [Theodor Kafka], Lucerne, 7 December 1871
Richard Wagner (1813-1883)
Autograph letter signed ('Richard Wagner') to [Maria Theresia Löw], Bayreuth, 26 May 1872
WAGNER, Richard (1813-1883)
Autograph letter signed ('Richard Wagner') to [Hans von Bronsart], Bayreuth, 6 September 1876.
Richard Wagner (1813-1883)
Autograph letter signed ('Richard Wagner') to [Ferdinand Allesina von Schweitzer, Baden ambassador to Paris], Paris, 9 January 1860
Richard Wagner (1813-1883)
Autograph letter signed (‘Richard Wagner’) to [the music critic Franz Brendel in Leipzig], Paris 2 October 1860
Richard Wagner (1813-1883)
Autograph letter signed (‘Richard Wagner’) to [Francesco Lucca], Lucerne 22 May 1871
Richard Wagner (1813-1883)
Autograph letter signed ('Richard Wagner') to [the wife of the critic Léon Kreutzer], 'Mardi matin' [5 February 1861]
Richard Wagner (1813-1883)
Autograph letter signed ('R. Wagner') to Franz [Mrazek, his servant], Lucerne, 7 March 1867
Richard Wagner (1813-1883)
Autograph letter signed ('Richard Wagner') to his brother-in-law [Oswald Marbach], Lucerne, 28 December 1868
Richard Wagner (1813-1883)
Autograph letter signed (‘Rich. Wagner’) to [Heinrich] Szadrowsky, Zurich, 18 November 1856
Richard Wagner (1813-1883)
Autograph letter signed ('Richard Wagner') to [Franz von Pfistermeister], Starnberg, 15 May [1864]
Richard Wagner (1813-1883)
Autograph letter signed ('Rich. Wagner') to an unidentified recipient, Bayreuth, 29 November 1878
[WAGNER, Richard (1813-1883)]
Ensemble de 43 cartes photographiques
Richard Wagner (1813-1883)
Autograph music manuscript, compositional draft for the conclusion of the concert overture Polonia (WWV 39), [Berlin, c. May-July 1836]
Richard Wagner (1813-1883)
Autograph letter signed (with initials, 'R.W.') to [Heinrich Szadrowsky], [Zurich, c. November 1856]
Richard Wagner (1813-1883)
Tannhäuser und der Sängerkrieg auf Wartburg [...] Partitur. Als Manuscript von der Handschrift des Componisten auf Stein gedruckt. Dresden: C.F. Meser (for the composer), 1845