Front page of the Dresden score of Wagner's 1845 opera Tannhäuser

Richard Wagner's works for the stage, representing more than 50 years of creative life, comprise his 13 completed operas and a similar number of failed or abandoned projects. His first effort, begun when he was 13, was a prose drama, Leubald, but thereafter all his works were conceived as some form of musical drama. It has been suggested that Wagner's wish to add incidental music to Leubald, in the manner of Beethoven's treatment of Goethe's drama Egmont, may have been the initial stimulus that directed him to musical composition.[1]

Wagner's musical education began in 1828, and a year later he was producing his earliest compositions, writing words and music, since lost, for his first opera attempt, Die Laune des Verliebten.[2] During the subsequent decade he began several more opera projects, none of which was successful although two were completed and one was staged professionally. His first commercial success came in 1842 with Rienzi,[3] by which time he had completed Der fliegende Holländer, in which for the first time he used the device of the leitmotiv, a characteristic that became a feature of all his later works.[4]

After accepting the post of Kapellmeister at the Dresden court of the King of Saxony in February 1843,[3] Wagner continued to compose operas and plan various large-scale projects.[5] His political activities forced him to flee the city in 1849, beginning a long period of exile. In Zürich, his first refuge, he wrote the essay Die Kunst und die Revolution ("Art and the Revolution"), in which he introduced the concept of Gesamtkunstwerk (total work of art), or "drama-through-music".[6] This idea was developed in the extended discourse Oper und Drama ("Opera and Drama"), 1850–51. A different form of verse-setting, which Wagner termed Versmelodie, was proposed,[6] in which the music would grow out of the verse, this unification overriding such traditional operatic considerations as display arias written as showcases for the talents of individual singers.[7] According to Wagner historian Robert Gutman: "The orchestra with its many tongues would take over the traditional operatic tasks of the chorus".[8] Beginning with Das Rheingold (1853–54), the principles of Gesamtkunstwerk became the basis of all Wagner's stage work, in which, quoting Wagner chronicler Charles Osborne, "the drama presented on a conscious level by the words [...] would be pursued on a deeper, unconscious level in the orchestra."[9]

Librettist

Richard Wagner in Paris, 1860

From his first attempt in the opera genre, Die Laune des Verliebten, Wagner became his own librettist and remained so throughout his creative career.[10] His practice was to create music and text simultaneously; in biographer Robert Gutman's words: "as the music proceeded it drew forth the words."[10] While working on Tannhäuser Wagner explained his technique in a letter, saying: "before starting to create a verse or even outline a scene, I must first feel intoxicated by the musical aroma of my subject."[11]

Cataloguing Wagner's works

Unlike the works of many composers, those of Richard Wagner were not identified by opus numbers, and no proper attempt to create a complete catalogue was made until the 1980s. In 1983 the Wagner scholar John Deathridge, in an article in The Musical Times, outlined the need for a reliable catalogue.[12] Two years later, in conjunction with Martin Gech and Egon Voss, he produced Wagner-Werk-Verzeichnis, described by fellow-scholar Michael Saffle as "perhaps the single finest and most useful of all Wagner reference works."[12] Each of Wagner's known works, whether finished or unfinished, is listed in a number sequence running from 1 to 113. The list includes all compositions and all prose drafts where the music is either lost or unwritten.[12]

List of works for the stage

   Sketched work or incomplete work

WWV Title Genre and
acts 		Year of comp. Première
date		 Place and theatre Notes Refs
1 Leubald Trauerspiel[T 1]
5 Acts 		1827–28 9 August 1989 Bayreuth, Studiobühne Schützenhaus
[citation needed] 		Childhood attempt to write a grand tragedy based on Shakespearean themes. A version of the text exists, but no music survives. [13][14]
6 Die Laune des Verliebten (unfinished)
English: The infatuated lover's caprice		 Oper? 1829–30 Unperformed – Based on a play by Goethe. Neither text nor music survives. [2][15]
31 Die Hochzeit (unfinished)
English: The Wedding		 Oper 1832 13 February 1938
(fragments)		 Leipzig, Neues Theater Based on a story by J.G.G. Büsching [2][16]
[17][18]
[19]
32 Die Feen
English: The Fairies
Score[20]		 Große romantische Oper
3 Acts 		1833–34 29 June 1888 Munich, Hoftheater A reworking of La donna serpente by Carlo Gozzi [2][21]
38 Das Liebesverbot
English: The Ban on Love
Score[22]		 Große komische Oper
2 Acts 		1835–36 29 March 1836 Magdeburg, Stadttheater Loosely based on Shakespeare's Measure for Measure, and described (Osborne) as "a not very successful German imitation of Italian opera buffa." [23][24]
40 Die hohe Braut
English: The High-born Bride		 Große Oper
4 Acts 		1836–42 1848 (date not recorded) Prague Libretto sketched by Wagner in 1836–37, completed in 1842, and eventually set to music by Jan Bedrich Kittl under the title Bianca und Giuseppe. [25][26]
[27]
48 Männerlist größer als Frauenlist, oder Die glückliche Bärenfamilie (unfinished)
English: Men are more cunning than women or The Happy Bear family		 komische Oper 1839 13 October 2007
(fragments)[28]		 London, Linbury Studio, Royal Opera House Based on a tale from One Thousand and One Nights. The libretto was completed but only the first three numbers set to music. These were lost until 1994. [16][17]
[19][29]
49 Rienzi, der letzte der Tribunen
English: Rienzi, the Last of the Tribunes
Score[30]		 Große tragische Oper
5 Acts 		1839–40 20 October 1842 Dresden, Königliches Opernhaus Based on a novel by Edward Bulwer Lytton [25][31]
63 Der fliegende Holländer
English: The Flying Dutchman
Score[32]		 romantische Oper
3 Acts 		1841 2 January 1843 Dresden, Königliches Opernhaus The orchestration was revised by Wagner several times. The opera is sometimes performed in a single act, without intermissions [33][34]
66 Die Sarazenin
English: The Saracen Woman		 Oper
5 Acts 		1841–42 Unperformed – Libretto based on the character "Manfred" from Lord Byron's drama, not set to music [35][36]
68 Die Bergwerke zu Falun
English: The Mines of Falun		 Oper
3 Acts 		1842 Unperformed – Sketch of opera, based on a story by E. T. A. Hoffmann [17][27]
[35]
70 Tannhäuser und der Sängerkrieg auf Wartburg (aka Tannhäuser)
English: Tannhäuser and the Song Contest at Wartburg
Score (Dresden and Paris versions)[37]		 Große romantische Oper
3 Acts 		1843–45 19 October 1845;
Revised version:
18 March 1861		 Dresden, Königliches Opernhaus (1845);
Paris, Opéra (1861)		 Wagner did not produce a definitive edition of the score. The Paris premiere was disrupted by political and other demonstrations. [38][39]
75 Lohengrin

Score[40]		 romantische Oper
3 Acts 		1846–48 28 August 1850 Weimar, Hoftheater Loosely based on the German legend of Lohengrin, as presented in medieval verse including Wolfram von Eschenbach's Parzival [41][42]
76 Friedrich I Oper?
5 Acts 		1848–49 Unperformed – Project on Frederick I of Prussia, possibly intended as a music drama. No libretto or music written [5][43]
80 Jesus von Nazareth
English: Jesus of Nazareth		 Oper?
5 Acts 		1848–49 Unperformed – Prose draft only for libretto, no music written. Aspects of the sketch may have been used in the writing of Parsifal [5][17]
[44]
81 Achilleus
English: Achilles		 Oper? 1848–49 Unperformed – Prose sketch, no music written [5][45]
82 Wieland der Schmied
English: Wieland the Smith		 Heldenoper[T 2]
3 Acts 		1849–50 Unperformed – Prose sketch for a heroic opera, offered to and rejected by Liszt and Berlioz. Eventually adapted by O. Schlemm and set by Ján Levoslav Bella (premiere Slovak National Theatre, Bratislava, 28 April 1926)[46] [5][47]
86A Das Rheingold
English: The Rhine Gold
Score[48]		 Bühnenfestspiel Vorabend[T 3]
1 Act 		1853–54 22 September 1869 Munich, Hofoper First part of Der Ring des Nibelungen. First performance as part of complete Ring cycle: 13 August 1876, at Bayreuth Festspielhaus [49]
86B Die Walküre
English: The Valkyrie
Score[50]		 Bühnenfestspiel erster Tag[T 4]
3 Acts 		1854–56 26 June 1870 Munich, Hofoper Second part of Der Ring des Nibelungen. First performed as part of complete Ring cycle: 14 August 1876, at Bayreuth Festspielhaus [51]
89 Die Sieger
English: The Victors		 Oper? 1856 Unperformed – Prose outline and music sketches for an opera on a Buddhist subject; some music may have been used in later works. [17][52][clarification needed]
[53]
90 Tristan und Isolde
English: Tristan and Isolde
Score[54]		 Handlung[T 5]
3 Acts 		1857–59 10 June 1865 Munich, Hofoper Based in part on Gottfried von Strassburg's medieval epic, also believed to be an idealisation of Wagner's love for Mathilde Wesendonck [39][55]
[56]
96 Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg
English: The Mastersingers of Nuremberg
Score[57]		 Oper
3 Acts 		1861–67 21 June 1868 Munich, Hofoper Wagner's only mature attempt at a comic opera, based on a draft originally written in 1845 [58][59][clarification needed]
99 Luthers Hochzeit
English: Luther's Wedding		 Oper? 1868 Unperformed – A sketch play/libretto about Martin Luther and his decision to marry Katherina von Bora [35][60]
86C Siegfried
Score[61]		 Bühnenfestspiel zweiter Tag
[T 6]
3 Acts 		1856–71 16 August 1876 Bayreuth Festspielhaus Third part of Der Ring des Nibelungen. The composition was interrupted for 12 years between 1857 and 1869. [39][62]
86D Götterdämmerung
English: Twilight of the Gods
Score[63]		 Bühnenfestspiel dritter Tag[T 7]
3 Acts 		1871–74 17 August 1876 Bayreuth Festspielhaus Fourth part of Der Ring des Nibelungen. [64]
102 Eine Kapitulation
English: A Capitulation		 Lustspiel in antiker Manier[T 8] 1871 Unperformed – A farce based on the siege of Paris, 1870. Wagner unsuccessfully asked Hans Richter to set it to music [65][66][clarification needed]
111 Parsifal
Score[67]		 Bühnenweih­festspiel[T 9]
3 Acts 		1877–82 26 July 1882 Bayreuth Festspielhaus Under an agreement between Wagner and King Ludwig, Parsifal was only to be performed at Bayreuth, "never desecrated by contact with any profane stage". [68][69]

Translation:

  1. ^ "Tragic play"
  2. ^ "Heroic opera"
  3. ^ "Stage festival play, preliminary evening"
  4. ^ "Stage festival play,
    first day"
  5. ^ "Drama"
  6. ^ "Stage festival play, second day"
  7. ^ "Stage festival play, third day"
  8. ^ "Comedy in antique style"
  9. ^ "Consecrated stage festival play"

See also

Notes and references

  1. ^ Gutman. pp. 46–47
  2. ^ a b c d Millington 2001, p. 2[clarification needed]
  3. ^ a b Millington 2001, p. 4[clarification needed]
  4. ^ Osborne, p. 74
  5. ^ a b c d e Millington 2001, p. 6[clarification needed]
  6. ^ a b Millington 2001, pp. 7–8[clarification needed]
  7. ^ Kennedy, pp. 774–75
  8. ^ Gutman, p. 206
  9. ^ Osborne, p. 133
  10. ^ a b Gutman, pp. 48–49
  11. ^ Quoted in Gutman, p. 42
  12. ^ a b c Saffle, pp. 41–42
  13. ^ Gutman, pp. 41–44
  14. ^ Saffle, p. 221
  15. ^ Borchmeyer 2003, p. 1.
  16. ^ a b Wagner Rarities (2007), MusicalCriticism.com. Retrieved 25 March 2009
  17. ^ a b c d e Saffle, pp. 220–221
  18. ^ Osborne, pp. 11–14
  19. ^ a b Pritchard, Jim (2007):Seen and Heard Opera Review: Wagner Rarities, MusicWeb International. Retrieved on 26 March 2009
  20. ^ Die Feen: Piano and vocal score K Ferd. Heckel, Mannheim 1888. Retrieved 5 April 2009
  21. ^ Osborne, p. 9
  22. ^ Das Liebesverbot: Piano and vocal score ed. Otto Singer. Breitkopf & Hartel, Leipzig 1922. Retrieved on 5 April 2009
  23. ^ Millington 2001, pp. 2–3[clarification needed]
  24. ^ Osborne. pp. 25, 40
  25. ^ a b Millington 2001, p. 3[clarification needed]
  26. ^ Borchmeyer 2003, pp. 30–37.
  27. ^ a b Gutman, p. 133
  28. ^ Advertised as the "British premiere", there is no record of a public performance anywhere before this British adaptation.
  29. ^ Borchmeyer 2003, pp. 45–46.
  30. ^ Rienzi: Piano and vocal score ed. Gustav Kogel. Adolph Fürstner, Berlin 1910. Retrieved on 6 April 2009
  31. ^ Osborne, p. 41
  32. ^ Die fliegende Holländer: Piano and vocal score eds John Troutbeck and Theodore Baker. G. Schirmer, New York 1897. Retrieved on 6 April 2009
  33. ^ Osborne, pp. 65, 74–82
  34. ^ Gutman, p. 137
  35. ^ a b c Richard Wagner (1996) in Harvard Biographical Dictionary of Music. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts Retrieved on 24 March 2009
  36. ^ Gutman, pp. 131–132
  37. ^ Tannhauser: Piano and vocal score arr. Karl Klindworth. G. Schirmer, New York, 1895. Retrieved on 6 April 2009
  38. ^ Osborne, pp. 83, 88
  39. ^ a b c Millington 2001, p. 10[clarification needed]
  40. ^ Lohengrin: Piano and vocal score G. Schirmer, New York 1897. Retrieved on 6 April 2007
  41. ^ Osborne, pp. 105, 106–113
  42. ^ Gutman, p. 158
  43. ^ Millington 2005.
  44. ^ Gutman, pp. 177–178, 268
  45. ^ Gutman, p. 193
  46. ^ Elschek (2003), p. 265
  47. ^ Gutman, pp. 193–203
  48. ^ Das Rheingold: Piano and vocal score arr. Karl Klindworth. B. Schott's Söhne, Mainz 1908. Retrieved on 6 April 2009
  49. ^ Osborne, p. 179–180
  50. ^ Die Walküre: Piano and vocal score arr. Karl Klindworth. G Schirmer, New York (no date). Retrieved on 6 April 2009
  51. ^ Osborne, pp. 180, 201
  52. ^ Millington 2001, p. 9.
  53. ^ Bassett 2004, p. 118.
  54. ^ Tristan und Isolde: Full orchestral and vocal score ed. Felix Mottl. C.F. Peters, Leipzig 1912. Retrieved on 6 April 2009
  55. ^ Osborne, p. 131
  56. ^ Gutman, p. 238
  57. ^ Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg: Piano and vocal score arr. Karl Klindworth. G. Schirmer, New York 1904. Retrieved on 6 April 2009
  58. ^ Osborne, pp. 153–156, 161
  59. ^ Millington 2001, p. 5.
  60. ^ Gutman, p. 402
  61. ^ Siegfried: Piano and vocal score arr. Karl Klindworth. G. Schirmer, New York 1900. Retrieved on 6 April 2009
  62. ^ Osborne, pp. 180, 219
  63. ^ Götterdämmerung: Piano and vocal score arr. Karl Klindworth, G. Schirmer, New York 1900. Retrieved on 6 April 2009
  64. ^ Osborne, pp. 180, 243
  65. ^ Gutman, p. 439
  66. ^ Millington 2001, p. 12.
  67. ^ Parsifal: Piano and vocal score arr. Karl Klindworth, G. Schirmer, New York 1904. Retrieved on 6 April 2009
  68. ^ Osborne, p. 263–65
  69. ^ Parsifal was not staged anywhere but in Bayreuth until 1903 at the New York Metropolitan Opera. Concert performances had been given in London (1884) and New York (1886). Gutman, p. 573

List of sources

General

Further reading

External links

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