Wilhelm Richard Wagner was born on May 22, 1813, in Leipzig's Jewish quarter.¹⁾

As a child, Wagner shown no ability or interest for music, and he was the only one of his brothers who did not get piano lessons. But, at the age of 13, he wrote a play called 'Leubald,' which he insisted be set to music, which is when he began taking music lessons.²⁾

He and his partner Minna Planer reportedly owned a huge Newfoundland named Robber - it's uncertain if this is the one photographed with Minna.³⁾

Wagner's first complete opera was never performed in his lifetime. 'Die Feen' ('The Fairies') never really caught on in the world of German opera and didn't receive its premiere until 1888.⁴⁾

Wagner produced numerous significant works while in exile (because to the sticky problem of his rising revolutionary activism in Dresden), notably his opera Lohengrin. However, because he was unable to present the work personally, he wrote to his friend Franz Liszt with the hope that it would be realized. Liszt not only had the work staged, but he himself conducted the premiere in Weimar. ⁵⁾

The Leitmotif was one of Wagner's most significant contributions to music. Simply described, it's a musical signature intended to reflect a character or topic in an opera, and he employs it throughout his works. ⁶⁾

The Flight of the Valkyries from Die Walküre is undoubtedly one of Wagner's most famous works. But, aside from the opera, where do we get this information? That's correct, it's the scary helicopter sequence from Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now.⁷⁾