The Royal Opera House’s new production of Wagner’s Rheingold, directed by the often provocative and occasionally controversial Australian Barrie Kosky, achieved what most opera houses can only dream about: it became the talk of the town. I heard from one

As soon as Richard Wagner had put the finishing touches on Lohengrin on 28 April 1848, he got embroiled in the revolutionary stirrings of the 1848 Revolutions. In Dresden, barricades were erected and the king presented with demands for democratic

Cosima Wagner wrote pointedly in her diary of 1873, “Die Walküre is the most emotional, the most tragic of Richard’s works.” Here as elsewhere, Cosima is responding to the classical theory of drama that Wagner had outlined during the initial

Richard Wagner (1813–1883) was a revolutionary in German music and in opera. For opera-goers, the advent of Wagner onto their stages was cause for comment, particularly in the caricature sections. In images, the cartoonists could take aim at all they

Creations Inspired by Characters in Wagner’s Siegfied, Tristan und Isolde and Ring Cycle For the artists and followers of Decadence in late–19th century London, Richard Wagner (1813-1883) was their composer of choice. The artist Aubrey Beardsley (1872-1898) was a devoted

As we all know, Richard Wagner (1813-1883) was a man of numerous contradictions. And that is certainly true of his eating habits as well. According to his second wife Cosima, Richard Wagner was “in principle” a vegetarian, but “in practice

Prior to his transformation of operatic thought via the notion of the “Gesamtkunstwerk,” a concept that attempted to achieve a synthesis of poetic, visual, musical, and dramatic arts, Richard Wagner was predominantly known as an opera composer in the romantic

Ludwig II ascended to the throne of Bavaria in 1864 at the age of eighteen. By that time, he was already demonstrating signs of mental illness, and he frequently heard voices. Eventually, Ludwig would be deposed based on a report