Wagner
German operatic titan
Wagner is a German surname, most famously associated with composer Richard Wagner (1813–1883), whose operas like *The Ring of the Nibelung* defined German Romantic music and remain culturally significant—and controversial for his antisemitism.
The name appears in compounds like Wagnerian, describing something grandiose, dramatic, or operatic in scope: a Wagnerian production, Wagnerian ambitions.
Arthurian Grail quester
- TristanLegendary Celtic knight
- IsoldeIrish princess of legend
- SiegfriedGermanic epic hero
- librettoOpera's written words
leitmotif · Gesamtkunstwerk · Brünnhilde · soprano · aria · overture · prelude · act
Recurring thematic phrase
- brassCopper-zinc metal mixture
- stringsThin flexible lines
- woodwindsInstruments played by blowing
- percussionSound through impact
timpani · tubas · crescendo · fortissimo · chromatic · harmony · polyphony · counterpoint
Odin's death-selecting maiden
- SiegfriedGermanic epic hero
- BrünnhildeNorse shield-maiden of opera
- DonnerGerman surname meaning thunder
- NornsNorse controllers of destiny
curse · sword · dragon · ring · gold · dwarf · giants · hero
Pretentiously impressive in scale
- epicImpressively grand in scope
- sweepingExtensive and far-reaching
- theatricalExaggeratedly emotional for effect
- passionateIntensely emotional or enthusiastic
intense · tragic · heroic · monumental · sublime · pathos · redemption · doom
Major Saxon metropolis
- DresdenSaxon capital city
- MunichBavaria's largest city
- BavariaSoutheastern German state
- SaxonyGerman state around Dresden
Ludwig · Nietzsche · Liszt · exile · nationalism · Romanticism · nineteenth-century · Reich
Parsifal
Arthurian Grail quester
libretto · leitmotif · Gesamtkunstwerk · Brünnhilde · soprano · aria · overture · prelude · act · scene
leitmotif
Recurring thematic phrase
percussion · timpani · tubas · crescendo · fortissimo · chromatic · harmony · polyphony · counterpoint · score
Valkyrie
Odin's death-selecting maiden
- SiegfriedGermanic epic hero
- BrünnhildeNorse shield-maiden of opera
- DonnerGerman surname meaning thunder
Norns · curse · sword · dragon · ring · gold · dwarf · giants · hero · doom
grandiose
Pretentiously impressive in scale
- epicImpressively grand in scope
- sweepingExtensive and far-reaching
- theatricalExaggeratedly emotional for effect
passionate · intense · tragic · heroic · monumental · sublime · pathos · redemption · doom · fate
Leipzig
Major Saxon metropolis
Saxony · Ludwig · Nietzsche · Liszt · exile · nationalism · Romanticism · nineteenth-century · Reich · Schopenhauer
- ComposersBach, Beethoven, Mozart, Brahms, Haydn
- German ComposersBach, Beethoven, Brahms, Handel, Schumann
- operaopera, aria, arias, soprano, tenor
- German GreatsBeethoven, Bach, Goethe, Marx, Karl Marx
- German TheaterGoethe, Bertolt Brecht, Faust, The Threepenny Opera, epic theater
- GoetheFaust, Mephistopheles, Gretchen, Mephisto, Weimar
WagnerVerdi
Italian opera composer
Rossini · Bellini · Puccini · bel canto · Italian opera
Wagnerminimalism
Aesthetic of reduction
Philip Glass · John Cage · Debussy · Stravinsky · chamber music
WagnerMendelssohn
Nineteenth-century German composer
Mahler · cosmopolitanism · Leonard Bernstein · Verdi · klezmer
- Richard Wagner
- Wagner GroupRussian private military company