Meet a Composer: Richard Wagner

Meet a Composer: Richard Wagner

Years Lived: 1813-1883

Period of Composing: Romantic

Country: Germany

Richard Wagner was a romantic era composer probably best known for his operas, especially his "Ring Cycle," Ring of the Nibelung—four operas following German mythological gods and heroes over three generations. The Ring Cycle took Wagner over 25 years to complete and takes about 15 hours to perform!

Wagner had a special concert hall designed and built in Bayreuth, Germany where his operas would be performed. This special theater was necessary partly because the size of the orchestra needed for Wagner's operas was larger than would fit in other opera halls.  The Bayreuth Festival is still held every year but it can take five to ten years to get tickets since approximately 500,000 people want them but only 58,000 tickets are available each year!

Click here to to read more about Wagner at Classics for Kids.

Watch a performance of his famous Ride of the Valkyries and complete a free word search worksheet about Wagner on Making Music Fun's website. 

Did you know that Here Comes the Bride or the Wedding March is from Wagner's 1850 opera Lohengrin? Click here for a free printable easy piano music version from Making Music Fun. 

Click here to see pictures and read more about Bayreuth Festival Theatre in the Kiddle encyclopedia.

Watch Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd perform music from Wagner's Ring Cycle in this YouTube video from WBKids.