1. A great figure in German opera, Richard Wagner was an influential composer and producer of many musical operas during the 19th century. Born in Leipzig, Wagner began working early as a conductor in provincial theaters, and at 23 he began to produce his own operas, in which he wrote his own librettos. Although he found much success with his first productions, he was forced to escape to Switzerland after a failed revolution in Dresden; it was in Switzerland where he experimented with completely integrating music and theater, which would be known as music drama. He eventually elicited the interest of monarch Ludwig II, who commissioned him to finish the Ring of the Nibelung, a cycle of four music dramas, and also helped him build a theater where his works could be presented. When The Ring was completed, Wagner received critical acclaim from all across Europe, and his gospel spread as a new art-religion.

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Wagner had been known to reference his works as being complete artworks (known as Gesamtkunstwerk in German). He referred to them as much because he felt he had created the most complete style of opera: characterized by an “endless” melody, which consisted of a much more melodious recitative but less structured aria, that would naturally inflect along with the German language. Wagner was convinced his “complete artwork” incorporated the arts of music, poetry, drama, and visual spectacle in a manner where he had complete artistic control under his creative genius.

3. Wagner’s music dramas were characterized by their continuous style, proving how different they were from the standard operas of previous years. However, there were some aspects that recurred and gave way for a unifying theme, an example of these aspects is the leitmotif. The leitmotif is defined as a recurring theme, a recurring idea that provides a sort of unifying feeling to the piece, these leitmotifs would often be used as a way to reference a certain person, place, or idea from the music