1. Richard Wagner (1813-1883) Wagner’s political involvement with music is best traced back to the year 1848. 1848-9 were years of great revolution in Europe. There were upheavals in Paris, Vienna, Prague, Munich, Dresden, and Berlin, to name a few cities seriously affected by the tumult.

2. Marx and Engels published their Communist Manifesto in 1848. Wagner was highly political with his activities in that year. Wagner was a member of a political organization (Vaterlandsverein, located in Dresden) that supported republican political goals. He gave speeches that sought to organize support for revolution.

3. In 1848, Wagner was beginning to work on prose sketches for The Ring. Around 1848-9, Wagner also wrote prose that raised revolutionary ideas. Some of his prose from this time are: The Revolution, Art and Revolution, and The Art - work of the Future. Many of the points made in The Revolution can find parallels in the allegory and symbolism in The Ring.

4. Wagner had probably read the works of Proudhon (the anarchist), Feuerbach, Max Stirner, Mikhael Bakunin (a Russian anarchist), and Karl Marx. In the years 1848-9, Wagner was also active politically. He took part in the Dresden uprising in May of 1849. During this uprising, Bakunin was staying with August Rockel, Wagner’s assistant conductor.

5. During the Dresden uprising in 1849, Wagner participated in political meetings in his garden. Discussions involved how to arm the populace. It has been reported that he took part in producing hand-grenades, distributed propaganda leaflets, and even stood watch during mass interactions with Prussian troops. Wagner sent a crucial letter to Rockel that was intercepted by the police.

6. Wagner then had to escape from Dresden, barely missing arrest. A warrant for the arrest of Wagner stayed in full effect until 1860, and was only fully lifted in 1862. Wagner lived in Switzerland during most of his years in exile. Thus, it was not until 1862 that Wagner’s political activities of 1848-9 were finally resolved.

7. The Second Reich The Napoleonic Wars in the early part of the 1800’s were the events that formally ended the Holy Roman Empire and forced the many ethnically German principalities to form a general but loose union. In 1860, the Congress of Vienna helped solidify this by creating the Deutsher Bund, which included 38 states led by Austria.

8. Otto von Bismarck began his “serious” involvement in German politics in the 1860’s. He wanted a stronger and more united German empire. Two ethnically German states, Schleswig and Holstein, were under the control of Denmark, which planned to annex them formally. Prussian and Austria invade. Prussia takes Schleswig while Austria takes Holstein.

9. In 1866, Prussia wins a seven week war with Austria, annexing the country. Napoleon III is encouraging the war between Prussian and Austria so as to weaken both countries and allow for French expansion to the east. With the encouragement of Bismarck, Prince Leopold (a relative of the Prussian leader Wilhelm I) tries to become King of Spain. France does not want this and demands that Germany not try this again.

10. Wilhelm I politely declines to promise not to help Prince Leopold again. The French ambassador to Germany sends a telegram (known as the “Elm Telegram”) to Napoleon III. The telegram is intercepted by Bismarck, who edits it before it gets to France. The editing basically suggests to Napoleon III that Wilhelm says he can go jump in a lake. The telegram trick works, and France declares war on Prussia with France seen as the aggressor.

11. The Second Reich Begins France loses the war and Paris is captured in 1871. Wilhelm I becomes the Emperor of Germany in 1871, and the Second Reich begins. Bismarck is appointed Chancellor of Germany. Germany grows over the next 20 years to become a major industrial and military power.

12. The Second Reich Ends In 1888, Wilhelm I dies, Frederick III succeeds him and dies three months later. After that Wilhelm II becomes Emperor and forces Bismark to resign. World War I begins in 1914.

13. Wagner and Beethoven Wagner’s political life was defined by the events of the time period of the Second Reich. In his own writings and speeches, he explicitly tried to define Beethoven in political terms. It was Wagner who most notably politicized Beethoven after Beethoven’s death.

14. Others sought to politicize Beethoven besides Wagner during the Second Reich. But Wagner was the most visible signpost during this period. In a sense, Wagner used his interpretation of Beethoven to give support to his own political views, and to his attempts to politicize these views in his music. Wagner was a revolutionary. He saw Beethoven in revolutionary terms.

15. The Nibelung’s Ring The best representative example of Wagner’s revolutionary politics as expressed in music can be found in The Ring. This is a collection of four operas that can take as many as 20 hours to fully perform. In class I outline the political interpretation of The Ring.