William Richard Wagner, the formal projector of the great changes whose details are yet to be sketched, was born at Leipsic in 1813.  As a child he displayed no very marked artistic tastes, though his ear and memory for music were quite remarkable.  When admitted to the Kreuzschule of Dresden, the young student, however, distinguished himself by his very great talent for literary composition and the classical languages.  To this early culture, perhaps, we are indebted for the great poetic power which has enabled him to compose the remarkable libretti which have furnished the basis of his music.  His first creative attempt was a blood-thirsty drama, where forty-two characters are killed, and the few survivors are haunted by the ghosts.  Young Wagner soon devoted himself to the study of music, and, in 1833, became a pupil of Theodor Weinlig, a distinguished teacher of harmony and counterpoint.  His four years of study at this time were also years of activity in creative experiment, as he composed four operas.

His first opera of note was “Rienzi,” with which he went to Paris in 1837.  In spite of Meyerbeer’s efforts in its favor, this work was rejected, and laid aside for some years.  Wagner supported himself by musical criticism and other literary work, and soon was in a position to offer another opera, “Der fliegende Hollander,” to the authorities of the Grand Opera-House.  Again the directors refused the work, but were so charmed with the beauty of the libretto that they bought it to be reset to music.  Until the year 1842, life was a trying struggle for the indomitable young musician.  “Rienzi” was then produced at Dresden, so much to the delight of the King of Saxony that the composer was made royal Kapellmeister and leader of the orchestra.  The production of “Der fliegende Hollander” quickly followed; next came “Tanhaeuser” and “Lohengrin,” to be swiftly succeeded by the “Meistersinger von Nuernberg.”  This period of our maestro’s musical activity also commenced to witness the development of his theories on the philosophy of his art, and some of his most remarkable critical writings were then given to the world.

Political troubles obliged Wagner to spend seven years of exile in Zurich; thence he went to London, where he remained till 1861 as conductor of the London Philharmonic Society.  In 1861 the exile returned to his native country, and spent several years in Germany and Russia—­there having arisen quite a furore for his music in the latter country.  The enthusiasm awakened in the breast of King Louis of Bavaria by “Der fliegende Hollaender” resulted in a summons to Wagner to settle at Munich, and with the glories of the Royal Opera-House in that city his name has since been principally connected.  The culminating art-splendor of his life, however, was the production of his stupendous tetralogy, the “Ring der Nibelungen,” at the great opera-house at Baireuth, in the summer of the year 1876.