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Wilhelm Richard Wagner
Wilhelm Richard Wagner, creator of the music drama, was born in Leipzig, Germany on May 22, 1813. His father Karl Friedrich Wagner was a police court clerk who died during Wagner’s infancy. Interestingly, evidence gathered in recent years would indicate that Wagner's biological father was actually Ludwig Geyer, an actor. Geyer married Wagner's mother, Johanna, shortly after she was widowed.
In his youth, Wagner was very narcissistic. He kept journals in anticipation of writing an autobiography later in life and was never at a loss for self-confidence in his own artistic abilities. In 1822 he entered Dresden’s Kreuzschule. He was an avid student of Greek mythology, and history. He even translated 12 books of the Homer’s Odyssey. At the age of fourteen, he wrote a Shakespearean play in which forty-two characters died in the first four acts.
Wagner took various instrument lessons including violin and piano, then received education in theory in Leipzig. At the University of Leipzig, he even spent short periods drinking and gambling. His apathy of textbook study combined with a lack of work ethic would later breed his expulsion from the Thomasschule. However, attendance at performances of Weber's Der Freischütz and Beethoven's Fidelio and seventh symphony turned his
passion. With relatively no experience in composition, Wagner wrote several works, among them a string quartet, a piano sonata, and even orchestral overtures.
In 1831, he took lessons in composition with Theodor Weinlig, which only lasted six months; after this, he never had another teacher. Everything else he learned was from studying texts and the Beethoven symphonies, all of which he transcribed for piano. The result of his studies was an original Symphony in C major, which was received in Leipzig and Prague in 1833. 1832 marked Wagner’s first attempt at opera: Die Hochzeit. Although it was never completed, it included an original libretto.