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new section, Wagner and Anti-Semitism
To give order to this new concept of opera, Wagner invented the ''leitmotiv'', which is a relatively short melodic idea that represents a certain character, thing, or idea. A ''leitmotiv'' associated with a particular character often appears in the orchestra while being mentioned by another character, effectively acting as a stand-in. More complex ''leitmotivs'' include the "Tristan chord," a particularly memorable harmonic progression in ''Tristan und Isolde'' first heard in the prelude which comes to symbolize the love and death of the two title characters. While Wagner never used the word ''leitmotiv'' to describe his own operas, it is a clearly discernible technique in his music which has influenced many other composers. It has been recognizably used since then in film scores.
To give order to this new concept of opera, Wagner invented the ''leitmotiv'', which is a relatively short melodic idea that represents a certain character, thing, or idea. A ''leitmotiv'' associated with a particular character often appears in the orchestra while being mentioned by another character, effectively acting as a stand-in. More complex ''leitmotivs'' include the "Tristan chord," a particularly memorable harmonic progression in ''Tristan und Isolde'' first heard in the prelude which comes to symbolize the love and death of the two title characters. While Wagner never used the word ''leitmotiv'' to describe his own operas, it is a clearly discernible technique in his music which has influenced many other composers. It has been recognizably used since then in film scores.
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==Wagner and Anti-Semitism==
After fleeing to Zurich in 1849, Wagner wrote a series of essays, most of them about the "Artwork of the Future" (''Die Kunst der Zukunft'') and what form it would take. He also wrote an essay, published in 1950 under a pseudonym, which quickly became infamous. The essay in question was "Jewishness in Music" (''Das Judenthum in der Musik''), and in it he railed against Jews as having a repulsive influence on German culture, incapable of creating any real art. About Jewish religious music, he wrote "Who has not had feeings of repulsion, horror, and amusement on hearing that nonsensical gurgling, yodelling and cackling which no attempt at caricature can render more absurd than it is?" Specifically, his harshest condemnations were for the most prominent living Jewish composer, Giacomo Meyerbeer.
The article's vitriol shocked many, at a time when anti-semitism was prevalent. His friends were dismayed, including the composer [[Franz Liszt]], who apparently quipped, "If only Richard had written a novel instead!" While this is the strongest statement of Wagner's anti-semititic rage, it is also clear that much of the hatred expressed was personal in origin. Wagner still bore a grudge against Meyerbeer from his days of poverty in Paris. When the young unknown composer wanted to break into the Paris opera scene, he took every opportunity to flatter the older composer, often in the most humiliatingly obsequious terms, and received little help in return. His other anti-semitic rants specifically complained about Meyerbeer and what he believed to be a cabal of other Jews who controlled the opera world internationally, and worked to keep non-Jews at. In short, all evidence paints Wagner as a German nationalist and a conspiracy theorist, and as with many conspiracy theorists he still counted members of his hated group among his best friends. <ref>Paraphrased from (Magee 2001).</ref>
After [[World War II]], the backlash in Germany against anything Nazi created an atmosphere where Wagner's anti-semitism was re-evaluated in the context of the [[Holocaust]]. Since Hitler was a lover of Wagner's operas, anything associated with the composer became harder to stomach. There is however no historical evidence to support the often-heard notion that Wagner's writings influenced Hitler or the Nazis. While many modern attempts have been made to locate proto-Nazi symbolism in the operas themselves, this also cannot be corroborated, either in other Wagner writings about his operas, or in the propaganda of the Third Reich.
Performance of Wagner's music is still a sore point in [[Israel]], where it had been taboo since [[Kristallnacht]]. However, Daniel Barenboim, one of the world's leading conductors who had grown up in Israel, broke the taboo at a July 2001 concert.<ref>http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2002/sep/06/classicalmusicandopera.artsfeatures</ref> He has since been one of the leading Wagnerian advocates, who however doesn't soft-pedal this ugly side of the composer's life: "Wagner, the person, is absolutely appalling, despicable, and, in a way, very difficult to put together with the music he wrote, which so often has exactly the opposite kind of feelings ... noble, generous, etc.”.<ref>http://www.wsws.org/articles/2001/aug2001/wagn-a01.shtml</ref>
==Famous Works==
==Famous Works==