COMPOSER

Richard Wagner

1813 - 1883

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Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( VAHG-nər; German: [ˈʁɪçaʁt ˈvaːɡnɐ] ; 22 May 1813 – 13 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, essayist, and conductor, best known for his operas—although his mature works are often referred to as music dramas. Unlike most composers, Wagner wrote both the libretti and the music for all of his stage works. He first achieved recognition with works in the Romantic tradition of Carl Maria von Weber and Giacomo Meyerbeer, but revolutionized the genre through his concept of the Gesamtkunstwerk ("total work of art"), which sought to unite poetic, musical, visual, and dramatic elements. In this approach, the drama unfolds as a continuously sung narrative, with the music evolving organically from the text rather than alternating between arias and recitatives. Read more on Wikipedia

His biography is available in different languages on Wikipedia. Richard Wagner is the 10th most popular composer (down from 7th in 2019), the 22nd most popular biography from Germany (down from 16th in 2019) and the 4th most popular German Composer.

Richard Wagner is most famous for his operas, which are considered to be some of the most influential in the history of music.

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Among COMPOSERS

Among composers, Richard Wagner ranks 10 out of 1,451Before him are Frédéric Chopin, Antonio Vivaldi, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Giuseppe Verdi, George Frideric Handel, and Joseph Haydn. After him are Franz Schubert, Igor Stravinsky, Gustav Mahler, Johannes Brahms, Giacomo Puccini, and Antonín Dvořák.

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1813, Richard Wagner ranks 2Before him is Giuseppe Verdi. After him are Søren Kierkegaard, David Livingstone, John Snow, Claude Bernard, Ivar Aasen, Petar II Petrović-Njegoš, Franz Miklosich, Georg Büchner, Baron Alexander von Bach, and Charles-Valentin Alkan. Among people deceased in 1883, Richard Wagner ranks 2Before him is Karl Marx. After him are Édouard Manet, Ivan Turgenev, Gustave Doré, Emir Abdelkader, Henri, Count of Chambord, Dayananda Saraswati, Frederick Francis II, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Midhat Pasha, Charles II, Duke of Parma, and Joseph Plateau.

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In Germany

Among people born in Germany, Richard Wagner ranks 22 out of 7,253Before him are George Frideric Handel (1685), Joseph Goebbels (1897), Otto von Bismarck (1815), Wilhelm II, German Emperor (1859), Peter Paul Rubens (1577), and Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770). After him are Karl Benz (1844), Henry Kissinger (1923), Max Weber (1864), Wilhelm Röntgen (1845), Frederick the Great (1712), and Johannes Brahms (1833).

Among COMPOSERS In Germany

Among composers born in Germany, Richard Wagner ranks 4Before him are Ludwig van Beethoven (1770), Johann Sebastian Bach (1685), and George Frideric Handel (1685). After him are Johannes Brahms (1833), Robert Schumann (1810), Felix Mendelssohn (1809), Jacques Offenbach (1819), Richard Strauss (1864), Christoph Willibald Gluck (1714), Georg Philipp Telemann (1681), and Carl Maria von Weber (1786).