Music Through The Ages Friday, April 15th

Objectives Schubert and Chopin Quiz Wagner Review Continue Wagner Happy Friday!

Review What were the years of Wagner? Where was Wagner born? What was his primary instrument? Was he very good? Who was his first major influence? Major teacher? Which political figure did Wagner influence? Why didn’t Wagner write very many symphonies? Which piece did Wagner transcribe for piano?

Wagner’s early years continued In 1834, Wagner returns to Leipzig to take up the position of musical director at the opera house in Magdeburg. He writes his second opera here, Das Liebesverbot (The Ban of Love) which is based on Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure. The opera was produced but was closed before the second performance due to the financial collapse of the theatre company. Wagner falls into substantial financial problems and has to flee to Riga where he meets his wife Amalie in 1837 In 1839, Wagner’s debts catch up with him and again, has to flee from Riga They flee to London by boat

Wagner’s early years continued While en route to London, Wagner encounters a terrible storm at sea. This inspires him to write the opera Die Fliegende Höllander (The Flying Dutchman) Arrive in Paris in 1839 and stay until 1842 where Wagner writes critical music journal articles and reviews while also editing and publishing operas at a publisher in Paris During his time in Paris, Wagner completes his 3 rd and 4 th operas, Fliegende Höllander and Rienzi

Dresden In 1842, Wagner moves to Dresden and was appointed the Royal Saxon Court Conductor During this time he stages Der fliegende Höllander in 1843 and also completes his second of three romantic operas, Tannhäuser The third and final of his Romantic Operas was Lohengrin Romantic Operas of Wagner Der fliegende Höllander (1843) Tannhäuser (1845) Lohengrin (1850)

Exile in Switzerland Before his exile to Switzerland, Wagner was heavily involved in left-wing politics in Dresden which eventually led to a revolution and Wagner’s need to flee. (Wife leaves him) Wagner arrives in Switzerland and finishes Lohengrin and writes his friend *Franz Lizst to conduct the premiere of it in Weimar Elsa’s Dream Aria

Wagner and his writings… When he arrived in Zürich, Switzerland, Wagner began writing essay’s for publishing One of his major writings was “The Artwork of the Future” where he goes on to discuss Opera as a “total work of art” and it includes many facets of art including: music, song, dance, poetry, visual arts and stagecraft. Another article he wrote was called, “Judaism in Music.” This was one of his first anti-Semitic articles and expressed his dramatic views

The Ring Cycle In 1853, Wagner began work on the first of four operas in the Ring Cycle, Das Rheingold In 1854, he begins work on the second of the four operas, Die Walküre In 1856, he beings the third of the four operas, Siegfried