The first two components of the Ring cycle were Das Rheingold (The Rhinegold), which was completed in 1854, and Die Walküre(The Valkyrie), which was finished in 1856. In Das Rheingold, with its "relentlessly talky 'realism' [and] the absence of lyrical 'numbers'", Wagner came very close to the musical ideals of his 1849–51 essays. Die Walküre, which contains what is virtually a traditional aria (Siegmund's Winterstürme in the first act), and the quasi-choral appearance of the Valkyries themselves, shows more "operatic" traits, but has been assessed by Barry Millington as "the music drama that most satisfactorily embodies the theoretical principles of 'Oper und Drama'... A thoroughgoing synthesis of poetry and music is achieved without any notable sacrifice in musical expression."...OP+
Wilhelm Richard Wagner (/ˈvɑːɡnər/; German: [ˈʁiçaʁt ˈvaːɡnɐ]; 22 May 1813 – 13 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, polemicist, and conductor who is primarily known for his operas (or, as some of his later works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most opera composers, Wagner wrote both the libretto and the music for each of his stage works. Initially establishing his reputation as a composer of works in the romantic vein of Weber and Meyerbeer, Wagner revolutionised opera through his concept of the Gesamtkunstwerk ("total work of art"), by which he sought to synthesise the poetic, visual, musical and dramatic arts, with music subsidiary to drama, and which was announced in a series of essays between 1849 and 1852. Wagner realised these ideas most fully in the first half of the four-opera cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen (The Ring of the Nibelung).
His compositions, particularly those of his later period, are notable for their complex textures, rich harmonies and orchestration, and the elaborate use of leitmotifs—musical phrases associated with individual characters, places, ideas or plot elements. His advances in musical language, such as extreme chromaticism and quickly shifting tonal centres, greatly influenced the development of classical music. His Tristan und Isolde is sometimes described as marking the start of modern music.
Wagner had his own opera house built, the Bayreuth Festspielhaus, which embodied many novel design features. It was here that the Ring and Parsifal received their premieres and where his most important stage works continue to be performed in an annual festival run by his descendants. His thoughts on the relative contributions of music and drama in opera were to change again, and he reintroduced some traditional forms into his last few stage works, including Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (The Mastersingers of Nuremberg).
Until his final years, Wagner's life was characterised by political exile, turbulent love affairs, poverty and repeated flight from his creditors. His controversial writings on music, drama and politics have attracted extensive comment in recent decades, especially where they express antisemitic sentiments. The effect of his ideas can be traced in many of the arts throughout the 20th century; their influence spread beyond composition into conducting, philosophy, literature, the visual arts and theatre...OP+
Verena Wagner Lafferentz (born 2 December 1920) is the fourth child and youngest daughter of Winifred andSiegfried Wagner and the granddaughter of German composer Richard Wagner.
Verena Wagner grew up in the Villa Wahnfried in Bayreuth and attended the Obernkirchener rural school. Adolf Hitler was a great fan of Wagner's music and became very close to Verena's mother, Winifred Wagner (there were even rumours that they would marry). Hitler also befriended her children and treated them as his own.
Indeed, in 1940 Verena Wagner and Hitler were also rumoured to be romantically linked.
"Many people affirm that Hitler would gladly marry the granddaughter of Richard Wagner, twenty-year-old, vivacious Verena Wagner, who is a frequent visitor and vacation guest at his mountain snuggery, were he not opposed in principle to marriages between persons of such unequal ages. She has the reputation of being his most outspoken critic, telling him in unflattering words simple truths that no Cabinet member would dare utter."
In 1943 Verena Wagner married Bodo Lafferentz, a member of the Nazi Party from 1933 and a high-ranking officer (SS-Obersturmbannführer) of the SS from 1939. They had five children: Amélie (1944–), Manfred (1945–), Winifred (1947–), Wieland (1949–) and Verena (1952–).
In 2003 Verena Wagner Lafferentz attended the International Richard Wagner Congress held in Copenhagen, attending as guest of honour a performance of Die Walküre by the Royal Danish Opera with Queen Margrethe, Prince Henrik, the patron of the Wagner Congress, Wolfgang and Gudrun Wagner, and Birgit Nilsson.
In February 2007 she opened, as guest of honour, a grand concert of her grandfather's works at Sofia in Bulgaria.
Verena Wagner Lafferentz is an honorary member of various international Wagner societies and is the vice-chairman of the Richard Wagner Foundation and a foundation board member of the Richard Wagner Festival...OP+
Verena Wagner Lafferentz is an honorary member of various international Wagner societies and is the vice-chairman of the Richard Wagner Foundation and a foundation board member of the Richard Wagner Festival...OP+
