Nineteenth Century Opera in Germany.

The first third of the nineteenth century saw the highpoint of the Bel Canto style, but the mid to late period of this century is considered by some to be the golden age of opera which was led especially by Richard Wagner (1813-1883).

Following in the footsteps of Carl Maria von Weber (1786-1826) whose works greatly influenced the Romantic opera in Germany, Wagner went on to transform the concept of music through his idea of Gesamtkunstwerk: a synthesis of all the poetic, visual, musical and dramatic arts. Thus, his compositions were not conceived as mere entertainment; rather, they were to be something ennobling and spiritually uplifting, after the ancient Greek example. It is probably in his four-opera cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen (1876) where this concept of "total artwork" is best expressed. (Indeed, in order to stage this work as he imagined it, he built his own theatre at Bayreuth, Germany.) The Ring are based loosely on characters from the Norse sagas and the Nibelungenied, and both the libretto and musical score were written by Wagner over a period of some twenty-six years. They follow the process of awakening to enlightenment, from fall to redemption. These themes of lasting symbolic value recur in all of his mature works, except the comic Die Meistersinger (1868).

An important feature of Wagner's work is his use of leitmotivs, musical themes associated with particular characters, places or plot elements. Their use has been taken up by other composers including Richard Strauss, Claude Debussy and Sergei Prokofiev.

Sources:

Delgado Cabrera, A. El Siglo XIX. Iniciación a la Ópera. 2008-2009. Talleres y Cursos de Cultura. ULPGC.
Leitmotifs in Der Ring des Nibelungen. http://www.trell.org/wagner/motifs.html
Wagner: Island of Freedom. http://www.island-of-freedom.com/WAGNER.HTM
Wikipedia at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Wagner

Image: Yellow Red Blue by Wassily Kadinsky.