RICHARD WAGNER T-Shirt

Wilhelm Richard Wagner (22 May 1813 – 13 February 1883) was a German composer, conductor, theatre director, philosopher, music theorist, poet, essayist and writer primarily known for his operas (or "music dramas", as they were later called). Wagner's compositions, particularly those of his later period, are noteable for their complex texture, rich harmonies and orchestration, and the elaborate use of leitmotifs: musical themes associated with individual characters, places, ideas or plot elements. Unlike most other opera composers, Wagner wrote both the music and libretto for every one of his stage works. His accomplishment was an operatic genre that he called simply “drama“ (later known as music drama), synthesizing music, drama, verse, legend, and spectacle. Thus he provided in his own time to the newly emerged middle class with a medium to transfer its familial and political conflicts into a myth of supposedly common Germanic past.