Born in 1813 in Leipzig, Germany, Richard (Wilhelm) Wagner was destine to work in the arts. His father died while Wagner was still an infant and his mother, an actress, remarried Ludwig Geyer, an actor, singer, author, portrait painter, and an old friend of her late husband (Henderson, 1923, 3). Wagner would go on to become one of the key figures in the development of the opera. Through his reform, Wagner was largely responsible for altering the course of the opera in the Nineteenth Century. But it was not only his operas that Wagner was known for. He was also an active figure in the changing 19th century German society.

Growing up in an artistic family, it seemed only right for Wagner to take up an instrument. And that is just what he did. Through his early years Wagner was schooled in the piano. Wagner was...