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)
Harmony is the language of the gods.
The conductor is the high priest of music.
My last words? 'My work is done.'
Women are the muses of great men.
The score is the blueprint of the soul.
Exile has taught me the value of freedom.
Music is the art of the invisible.
The leitmotif binds the drama together.
I am a revolutionary in art.
Life without passion is meaningless.
The symphony is dead; long live the music drama.
My debts are the price of genius.
Bayreuth is my Valhalla.
German art will save the world.
Melody is the air of the soul.
I compose as I live: with fire.
The critic is the enemy of creation.
Eternal feminine draws us upward.
My music is for the future.
In art, as in love, instinct is enough.
Contemporaries of Richard Wagner
Other Musics born within 50 years of Richard Wagner (1813–1883).