Wagner : The Story of the Boy Who Wrote Little Plays — Key Ideas to Explore

Who were the great musicians when he was a boy? Well, here are some of them. Can you tell one fact about each of the men whose pictures come next?

Wagner's father died when he was only six months old, and the boy was brought up by his mother and his step-father, who was very kind to him. In one way Wagner was unlike most of the other great composers. He did not show any talent for music until he was almost a man. All that he thought of was writing plays. When he did study, he was so bright and worked so hard that he learned in less than a year more than many learn in a lifetime. Here is a picture of Wagner's mother, who cared for him so tenderly.

When we read the stories of Charles Dickens we make many friends. And they are among the very best we ever have. There are Little Nell, Paul Dombey, Sam Weller, Oliver Twist, and a host of others.

Writers like Dickens bring all sorts of people before us. _But few composers can do such a thing._

Yet there are some who do this, and one of the greatest is Richard Wagner. In his operas a host of people live,--people as real and as interesting as those in the stories of Charles Dickens.

There is Walter, who sings the Prize Song in Die Meistersinger, and Eva, whom he loves. And in the same opera there is Beckmesser, the fussy old schoolmaster kind of a man. And Hans Sachs, the cobbler.

SCENE FROM DIE MEISTERSINGER

There is a lovely scene in the third act of this opera. We see a meadow light and bright in the sunshine. A glistening river flows quietly through it. Everywhere on the water there are boats. Scattered over the meadow there are tents. Everybody is out for a holiday time. All is lively and full of color and bright and cheery. Now there pass before us the tradesmen singing in chorus. There are cobblers and carpenters led by the town pipers. And every trade sings its own songs.

Then comes the scene in which Walter and Beckmesser sing in contest. Beckmesser begins. He stutters and stammers and struggles through his song. And finally, like a school-boy who does not know his lesson, he breaks down.

Then Walter comes to sing the lovely _Prize Song_; a melody that just sings itself into the heart of everyone.

Do you wonder that with such lovely music Walter wins the contest and the hand of Eva whom he loves? Jolly old Hans Sachs is so happy over it all that he sings a rollicking song and everybody joins in with him as the curtain goes down.

Nor was Wagner satisfied with making characters who were merely people just like ourselves. (For Walter and Eva are people of our kind). But there are in the operas by Richard Wagner, gods and goddesses, giants and Rhine maidens, and Nibelungs.

Many of them have strange names. These names are easy to remember because they are strange: Wotan and Donner are gods. Freia and Erda are goddesses. Fafner is a giant. Flosshilde is a Rhine daughter. Mime and Alberich are Nibelungs.

Oh, they are wonderful company these gods and goddesses, and others of the company who tell their story and adventure in the operas of the Nibelungen Ring. Here is Siegfried forging his Magic Sword Nothung.

Now, as we have said, when we learn of so great a man we always wonder what sort of a boy he was. Well, when this boy was nine years old he went to a classical school. One of his teachers at least must have been very fond of him, and he must have been fond of his teacher, for when Richard Wagner was only thirteen years old he translated from Greek into German twelve books of the Odyssey for this teacher.

"I intend to become a poet," he used to say. He read _Romeo and Juliet_ in English. Then he wrote a play in which were _Hamlet_ and _King Lear_. And there were forty-two other characters. All of these died or were killed in the fourth act and were brought back as ghosts in the fifth! He played the piano, too, and seems to have been quite as busy a boy as he was a man.

Of one composer's music he was very fond. This composer lived nearby and passed the Wagner house almost every day. Richard always ran to the window to watch him coming. This musician was the composer of _Der Freischuetz_ and of _Oberon_. Can you guess his name?

This composer's father was also a musician as well as a military man.