22 作曲家ワーグナー♪

1813年5月22日 は、作曲家ワーグナーのうまれた日♪

ワーグナーと生家

ヴィルヘルム・リヒャルト・ワーグナーは、ザクセン王国ライプツィヒに生まれる。15歳でベートーヴェンに感動し音楽家を志す。18歳の時にライプツィヒ大学に入学。哲学や音楽を学んだが数年後に中退。1833年に市立歌劇場の合唱指揮者となったが、飽き足らず歌劇作曲家を目指すも芽が出ず、貧困と借金に苦しんだという。

1842年の「リエンツィ」初演が大成功し、ワーグナーはようやく注目されることとなった。この成功によってドレスデン国立歌劇場管弦楽団の指揮者に任命された♪　

1846年、ワーグナーは復活祭の特別演奏会にベートーベンの「第九」を選択。当時「第九」は忘れられた曲となっていたため猛反対の声が上がったが、この演奏は大成功。以後、「第九」は名曲としての評価を確立したという♪

自分は音楽史上まれに見る天才で、自分より優れた作曲家はベートーヴェンだけだ、と公言して憚らなかった（実際にはリストやウェーバーにも敬意を払っていたが)。このような態度は信奉者と同時に敵や反対者も出す結果となった（笑　

しかし、ワーグナーは動物好きで犬とオウムを飼っており、動物実験に反対する投書を寄稿したこともあったという♪

Wilhelm Richard Wagner  (22 May 1813 – 13 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, polemicist, and conductor who is primarily known for his operas (or, as some of his later works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most opera composers, Wagner wrote both the libretto and the music for each of his stage works. Initially establishing his reputation as a composer of works in the romantic vein of Weber and Meyerbeer, Wagner revolutionised opera through his concept of the Gesamtkunstwerk ("total work of art"), by which he sought to synthesise the poetic, visual, musical and dramatic arts, with music subsidiary to drama. He described this vision in a series of essays published between 1849 and 1852. Wagner realised these ideas most fully in the first half of the four-opera cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen (The Ring of the Nibelung).

His compositions, particularly those of his later period, are notable for their complex textures, rich harmonies and orchestration, and the elaborate use of leitmotifs—musical phrases associated with individual characters, places, ideas or plot elements. His advances in musical language, such as extreme chromaticism and quickly shifting tonal centres, greatly influenced the development of classical music. His Tristan und Isolde is sometimes described as marking the start of modern music.

Wagner had his own opera house built, the Bayreuth Festspielhaus, which embodied many novel design features. The Ring and Parsifal were premiered here and his most important stage works continue to be performed in an annual festival run by his descendants. His thoughts on the relative contributions of music and drama in opera were to change again, and he reintroduced some traditional forms into his last few stage works, including Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (The Mastersingers of Nuremberg).

Until his final years, Wagner's life was characterised by political exile, turbulent love affairs, poverty and repeated flight from his creditors. His controversial writings on music, drama and politics have attracted extensive comment since the late 20th century, especially where they express antisemitic sentiments. The effect of his ideas can be traced in many of the arts throughout the 20th century; his influence spread beyond composition into conducting, philosophy, literature, the visual arts and theatre.