Richard Wagner
Revolutionary opera composer, Gesamtkunstwerk
Most quoted
"The error in the art-genre of Opera consists herein: that a Means of expression (Music) has been made the end, while the End of expression (the Drama) has been made a means."
— from Opera and Drama, 1851
"The destiny of us musicians is to be the first artists to disappear from this earth; for after all, what have we got to do with a world from which beauty is vanishing?"
— from Letter
"Where the world is nothing but a dream, there is no need for a world to be. But where the world is a dream, there is a need for a world to be dreamed."
— from Letters
All quotes by Richard Wagner (411)
The Jew, who is something of a nomad, has never yet created a cultural form of his own.
Music must serve drama.
I am not made for calm and quiet happiness.
The discovery of the leitmotif was my greatest invention.
Art is the will to power.
Without poetry, music becomes dull.
The orchestra is the true protagonist of the drama.
I shall never write a note that is not born of my entire being.
Revolution is the true nature of art.
Love is the source of all great music.
The future of music is in the theater.
I am cursed with a restless spirit.
True art is revolutionary.
The voice is the soul of music.
Suffering ennobles the artist.
My operas are not for the masses, but for the elect.
The Germans are the only true musicians.
Inspiration comes from the depths of the soul.
The ring of the Nibelung is the ring of power.
I live only for art.
Contemporaries of Richard Wagner
Other Musics born within 50 years of Richard Wagner (1813–1883).