Richard Wagner

Wilhelm Richard Wagner was a revolutionary German composer, theatre director, polemicist, and conductor, primarily known for his operas, called 'music dramas'. Wagner wrote both the libretto and the music for each stage work, establishing his legacy with the concept of the Gesamtkunstwerk, 'total work of art'. He endeavored to synthesize the arts through his stage works, notably the four-opera cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen. Wagner's life involved political exile, contentious love affairs, and financial struggle. His later works transformed classical music with complex textures and the use of leitmotifs.