The Saxony composer Richard Wagner (1813-1883) is one of the
most influential high Romantic composers. He is still remembered
around the world as a genius who created monumental music
dramas. Wagner was born in Leipzig and began his music studies
there in 1831. It's fascinating to explore the city in his
footsteps although much of his youth was spent in Dresden. In
1843 he became kapellmeister at the court opera in Dresden and
premiered several operas of his own. There are Wagner museums
and memorials in Graupa near Dresden, where he stayed in the
summer of 1846. Richard Wagner had to flee Dresden after the May
uprising of 1849 and he did not return until 1860. Four years
later he met his most important patron, the 'fairytale' king,
Ludwig II of Bavaria, in Munich, where four of his operas were
premiered between 1865 and 1870. A monument and a memorial
plaque commemorate Wagner's Munich years. In 1872 Wagner had his
own festival theatre built in Bayreuth, halfway between Munich
and Dresden. His last operas Si