Harry Cho

Richard Wagner was a German composer, born in Leipzig, a city in Germany in the year 1813. He was a ninth child.

His main contribution to music was through writing operas.

Wagner pioneered advances in musical language, such as extreme chromaticism and quickly shifting tonal centres, which greatly influenced the development of European classical music.

1. What subjects did he choose for his operas? On legends, depending on where he was when he wrote them.

2. How involved was he in all aspects of the productions? What did he do? He wrote all his music and libretto for every one of his works, unlike many other opera composers.

3. Why was Wagner a controversial personality? Because his beliefs made him a controversial person of the 19th century.