Richard Wagner was, and still is today, arguably the most controversial figure in classical music. A self-appointed deity and hyperdriven genius, Wagner is often considered the ultimate megalomaniac.

Performances in N.Y.C. Advertisement Supported by Rian Johnson, Patti Smith, Alex Ross and others offer favorite highlights of a composer best known for his sprawling length. In the past we’ve chosen ...

Nearly a hundred fifty years after his death, German composer Richard Wagner remains an intimidating force in Western music. His operas are notoriously difficult to stage: he intended for them to ...

DSO Music Director and Grammy winner Fabio Luisi (shown) will lead the performances of Wagner’s epic “Ring” cycle, kicking off this May at the Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center. No one dominated ...

America at 250: The New Issue of NR Is Out Audio By Carbonatix The New Year’s resolution is a capricious thing, often arbitrarily made, haltingly followed, and quickly abandoned. Perhaps that will be ...

It’s one of the great epics of Western civilization, a four-part drama of family dysfunction and betrayal, of gods and mortals, giants and dwarfs, sacrifice and ultimate cleansing and renewal by fire ...

In Germany, every crop-haired infant Siegfried, every pig-tailed little Brünnhilde counts Richard Wagner one of Nazidom’s special heroes. Composer Wagner not only glorified pagan German gods and ...

Adolf Hitler loved music—especially Wagner. In Mein Kampf, he had written: “My youthful enthusiasm for the Bayreuth master knew no bounds.” The Third Reich, Hitler said, had its foundations in the ...

A survey at Oper Leipzig provides an opportunity to reassess the youthful efforts that have been excluded from the composer’s canon. By Joshua Barone LEIPZIG, Germany — How quickly Richard Wagner ...