19th-Century German Opera—Richard Wagner

Overview

The revolutionary Richard Wagner rejected the traditions of Italian and French opera to create an all- inclusive music drama, characterized by continuous music and continuous drama, and a conception of the role of the orchestra as the “inner voice of truth,” revealing psychological insights through the use of leitmotif. Wagner’s hugely influential music drama, Tristan und Isolde of 1859, illustrates the application of his musical theories and reveals the essence of Romanticism in its aura of mystical and sensuous ecstasy.