Wagner was born in Leipzig in 1813 into a musical and theatrical family and studied music at Leipzig University. His first musical composition was his
Symphony in C Majorwhich was performed in his graduation year, 1833. He then worked as a conductor and opera coach, but not with much success, and wrote his first operas
Die Feen(
The Fairies, 1833, from a tale by Carlo Gozzi),
Das Liebesverbot(
The Ban on Love,1836,
from
Measure for Measure). Living in Paris (1839-1842) he wrote music journalism and his opera
Rienzi(1840). All of these early operas are indebted to Italian and French “grand” opera, and
Rienzi(based on Bulwer's novel) is especially indebted to Meyerbeer, the German-Jewish composer of
Les Huguenots(1836), who was later criticised by Wagner in his essay “Jewishness…
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Citation: Tambling, Jeremy. "Richard Wagner". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 28 October 2001 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=4569, accessed 09 October 2024.]