Richard Wagner

2011-12-19T17:21:57Z

80.189.62.233:

[[Image:Richard Wagner.jpg|Richard Wagner in 1871|thumb]]
'''Wilhelm Richard Wagner''' ([[22 May]] [[1813]] – [[13 February]] [[1883]]) was a German composer, conductor, theatre director and essayist, primarily known for his operas.

Tolkien seems to have been well acquinted with the works of Wagner. Together with his friends in the [[Kolbítar]] Club, Tolkien studied the works of Wagner during the late 1920s.<ref>[[Andrew Lazo]], "Gathered Round Northern Fires: The Imaginative Impact of the Kolbítar", in ''Chance 2004''</ref> Another member of the club, [[C.S. Lewis]], was an avid fan of Wagner, and collected recordings of Wagner, owned illustrations by [[wikipedia: Arthur Rackham|Arthur Rackham]] (a British illustrator, often depicting scenes from the works of Wagner), dreamt about turning the ''[[Der Ring des Nibelungen|Ring]]'' into prose, and took Tolkien to London to see a staging of the ''Ring''.<ref>[[Humphrey Carpenter]], ''[[The Inklings (book)|The Inklings: C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, Charles Williams and Their Friends]]''</ref><ref>[[Andrew Lazo]], "Gathered Round Northern Fires: The Imaginative Impact of the Kolbítar", p.197</ref><ref>Christine Chism, "Middle-Earth, the Middle Ages, and the Aryan Nation: Myth and History in World War II", in ''Chance 2003'', p.75f</ref> During the 1930s, Lewis and Tolkien apparently began working on a translation of ''[[Die Walküre]]''.<ref>Stefan Arvidsson, ''[[Draksjukan|Draksjukan. Mytiska fantasier hos Tolkien, Wagner och de Vries]]'', p.148</ref><ref>Alex Ross, "[http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2003/12/22/031222crat_atlarge?currentPage=1#ixzz0uWWEbKTn The Ring and the Rings: Wagner vs. Tolkien]", in ''The New Yorker'', December 22, 2003</ref>

In the scholarly study of [[J.R.R. Tolkien]], Wagner is mostly mentioned in the context of the apparent similarities between ''[[Der Ring des Nibelungen]]'', Wagner's tetralogy of epic operas based on the Norse sagas and the Nibelungenlied, and ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]''.

==External links==
*{{WP|Richard Wagner}}
*"[http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/the_tls/article6232731.ece Tolkien out-Wagners Wagner]" by [[Tom Shippey]]
{{references}}
[[CATEGORY:Composers|Wagner, Richard]]
[[CATEGORY:German people|Wagner, Richard]]
[[CATEGORY:People by name]]

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Richard Wagner