Richard Wagner Resources:

See Siegfried

Richard Wagner dedicated the manuscript of his Ring to Arthur Schopenhauer, his favorite philosopher (though note that the philosopher that had the most impact on the philosophical elements of the Ring was probably Feurebach since he did not become familiar with Schopenhauer until after most of the Ring was completed). Arthur Schopenhauer never said thank you. Until his dying day Wagner was upset about this. We have the manuscript and may be glad that Wagner never found out what Schopenhauer thought of his masterpiece. He covered the text with notes of how atrocious he thought Wagner's work was. He was horrified at the attempt Wagner made at trying to make the German "antiquated" to suit the supposed antiquity of the Niebellunglied. How could someone be so cruel? Not only did Schopenhauer have the capacity to depress himself to utmost despair, he had the ability to do that to other people as well!

Wagner's techniques, especially that of the leitmotiv has had a great impact on today's music -- especially see Williams.

On Intelligence Squared there is a great debate contrasting Verdi and Wagner which I recommend. There is also a BBC special on Wagner by Stephen Frye.