Richard Wagner short biography

A great German composer, conductor and theorist, Richard Wagner was an outstanding modernizer of harmony and the construction of the opera. Wagner created and developed the Gesamtkunstwerk, a dramatic stage work where various forms and genres of arts were brought together as a single unity. Wagner was the creator of the scenario, libretto and music for his works himself. Wagner's Prelude to Tristan und Isolde opened a new dimension to the music harmony. Wagner enjoyed the generous patronage of King Ludwig II of Bavaria who established a theater especially for Wagner in Bayreuth, a site of one the most important music festivals in Europe.