, who has been somewhat ironically called the musician
of the future, and whose music has been relegated to posterity by a
considerable number of his contemporaries, was born at Leipsic, May
22, 1813. After his preliminary studies in Dresden and Leipsic, he
took his first lessons in music from Cantor Weinlig. In 1836 he was
appointed musical director in the theatre at Magdeburg, and later
occupied the same position at Koenigsberg. Thence he went to Riga,
where he began his opera "Rienzi." He then went to Paris by sea, was
nearly shipwrecked on his way thither, and landed without money or
friends. After two years of hard struggling he returned to Germany.
His shipwreck and forlorn condition inspired the theme of "The Flying
Dutchman," and while on his way to Dresden he passed near the castle
of Wartburg, in the valley of Thuringia, whose legends inspired his
well-known opera of "Tannhaeuser." He next removed to Zurich, and about
this time appeared "Lohengrin," one of his most favorite operas.
"Tristan and Isolde" was produced in 1856, and his comic opera, "Die
Meistersinger von Nuernberg," three years later. In 1864 he received
the patronage of King Louis of Bavaria, which enabled him to complete
and perform his great work, "Der Ring der Nibelungen." He laid the
foundation of the new theatre at Baireuth in 1872, and in 1875 the
work was produced, and created a profound sensation all over the
musical world. "Parsifal," his last opera, was first performed in
1882. His works have aroused great opposition, especially among
conservative musicians, for the reason that he has set at defiance the
conventional operatic forms, and in carrying out his theory of making
the musical and dramatic elements of equal importance, and employing
the former as the language of the latter in natural ways, has made
musical declamation take the place of set melody, and swept away the
customary arias, duets, quartets, and concerted numbers of the Italian
school, to suit the dramatic exigencies of the situations. Besides his
musical compositions, he enjoys almost equal fame as a litterateur,
having written not only his own librettos, but four important
works,--"Art and the Revolution," "The Art Work of the Future," "Opera
and Drama," and "Judaism in Music." His music has made steady progress
through the efforts of such advocates as Liszt, Von Buelow, and Richter
in Germany, Pasdeloup in France, Hueffer in England, and Theodore
Thomas in the United S