Editing Richard Wagner (section)

=== Early years ===
[[File:Wagnerbruhl.jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|Wagner's birthplace, at 3, [[Brühl (Leipzig)|the Brühl]], Leipzig|alt=A building with four main storeys with an open shop to one side of an arched entrance and garret windows in the roof. A sculpted figure of an animal is above the arch.]]
Richard Wagner was born on 22 May 1813 to an [[Wagner family tree|ethnic German family]] in [[Leipzig]], then part of the [[Confederation of the Rhine]]. His family lived at No 3, the [[Brühl (Leipzig)|Brühl]] (''The House of the Red and White Lions'') in Leipzig's [[Jewish quarter (diaspora)|Jewish quarter]].{{refn|On the Brühl as a centre of the Jewish quarter, see e.g. the [https://dbs.bh.org.il/place/leipzig Leipzig page of the Museum of the Jewish People website], and the [https://www.lbi.org/exhibitions/our-midst-facets-jewish-life-leipzig-modern-era/ Leo Baeck Institute page] on the Jewish history of Leipzig, also the [http://germansynagogues.com/ "Destroyed German Synagogues"] site page on Leipzig, (all accessed 19 April 2020.)|group=n}} He was baptised at [[St. Thomas Church, Leipzig|St. Thomas Church]]. He was the ninth child of Carl Friedrich Wagner, a clerk in the Leipzig police service, and his wife, {{ill|Johanna Rosine (née Pätz)|de|Johanna Rosine Wagner}}, the daughter of a baker.{{sfn|Wagner|1992|p=3}}{{sfn|Newman|1976|loc=I, p. 12}}{{refn|Of their children, two (Carl Gustave and Maria Theresia) died as infants. The others were Wagner's brothers Albert and Carl Julius, and his sisters {{ill|Rosalie Wagner|de}}, {{ill|Luise Brockhaus|de}}, Clara and Ottilie. Except for Carl Julius becoming a goldsmith, all his siblings developed careers connected with the stage. Wagner also had a younger half-sister, Caecilie, born in 1815 to his mother and her second husband Geyer.{{sfn|Millington|2001a|p=97}} See also [[Wagner family tree]].|group=n}} Wagner's father Carl died of [[typhoid fever]] six months after Richard's birth. Afterwards, his mother Johanna lived with Carl's friend, the actor and playwright [[Ludwig Geyer]].{{sfn|Newman|1976|loc=I, p. 6}} In August 1814 Johanna and Geyer probably married, although no documentation of this has been found in the Leipzig church registers.{{sfn|Gutman|1990|pp=7 and n}} She and her family moved to Geyer's residence in [[Dresden]]. Until he was fourteen, Wagner was known as Wilhelm Richard Geyer. He almost certainly thought that Geyer was his biological father.{{sfn|Newman|1976|loc=I, p. 9}}

Geyer's love of the theatre came to be shared by his stepson, and Wagner took part in his performances. In his autobiography [[Mein Leben (Wagner)|''Mein Leben'']] Wagner recalled once playing the part of an angel.{{sfn|Wagner|1992|p=5}} In late 1820, Wagner was enrolled at Pastor Wetzel's school at Possendorf, near Dresden, where he received some piano instruction from his Latin teacher.{{sfn|Newman|1976|loc=I, pp. 32–33}} He struggled to play a proper [[Scale (music)|scale]] at the keyboard and preferred playing theatre overtures [[Learning music by ear|by ear]]. Following Geyer's death in 1821, Richard was sent to the [[Kreuzschule]], the boarding school of the [[Dresdner Kreuzchor]], at the expense of Geyer's brother.{{sfn|Newman|1976|loc=I, pp. 45–55}} At the age of nine he was hugely impressed by the [[Gothic fiction|Gothic]] elements of [[Carl Maria von Weber]]'s opera ''[[Der Freischütz]],'' which he saw Weber conduct.{{sfn|Gutman|1990|p=78}} At this period Wagner entertained ambitions as a playwright. His first creative effort, listed in the ''[[Wagner-Werk-Verzeichnis]]'' (the standard listing of Wagner's works) as WWV 1, was a tragedy called ''[[Leubald]]''. Begun when he was in school in 1826, the play was strongly influenced by [[William Shakespeare|Shakespeare]] and [[Johann Wolfgang von Goethe|Goethe]]. Wagner was determined to set it to music and persuaded his family to allow him music lessons.{{sfn|Wagner|1992|pp=25–27}}{{refn|This sketch is referred to alternatively as ''Leubald und Adelaide''.|group=n}}

By 1827, the family had returned to Leipzig. Wagner's first lessons in [[harmony]] were taken during 1828–1831 with {{ill|Christian Gottlieb Müller|de}}.{{sfn|Newman|1976|loc=I, pp. 63, 71}} In January 1828 he first heard [[Ludwig van Beethoven|Beethoven]]'s [[Symphony No. 7 (Beethoven)|7th Symphony]] and then, in March, the same composer's [[Symphony No. 9 (Beethoven)|9th Symphony]], both at the [[Gewandhaus]]. Beethoven became a major inspiration, and Wagner wrote a piano transcription of the 9th Symphony.{{sfn|Wagner|1992|pp=35–36}} He was also greatly impressed by a performance of [[Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart|Mozart]]'s ''[[Requiem (Mozart)|Requiem]].''{{sfn|Newman|1976|loc=I, p. 62}} Wagner's early [[piano sonata]]s and his first attempts at orchestral [[overture]]s date from this period.{{sfn|Newman|1976|loc=I, pp. 76–77}}

In 1829 he saw a performance by [[dramatic soprano]] [[Wilhelmine Schröder-Devrient]], who became his ideal of the fusion of drama and music in opera. In ''Mein Leben'' Wagner wrote, "When I look back across my entire life I find no event to place beside this in the impression it produced on me," and claimed that the "profoundly human and ecstatic performance of this incomparable artist" kindled in him an "almost demonic fire".{{sfn|Wagner|1992|p=37}}{{refn|Wagner claimed to have seen Schröder-Devrient in the title role of ''[[Fidelio]]'', but it seems more likely that he saw her performance as Romeo in [[Vincenzo Bellini|Bellini]]'s ''[[I Capuleti e i Montecchi]]''.{{sfn|Millington|2001a|p=133}}|group=n}}

In 1831, Wagner enrolled at the [[Leipzig University]], where he became a member of the Saxon [[Studentenverbindung|student fraternity]].{{sfn|Wagner|1992|p=44}} He took composition lessons with the [[Thomaskantor]] [[Christian Theodor Weinlig|Theodor Weinlig]].{{sfn|Newman|1976|loc=I, pp. 85–86}} Weinlig was so impressed with Wagner's musical ability that he refused any payment for his lessons. He arranged for his pupil's Piano Sonata in B-flat major (which was consequently dedicated to him) to be published as Wagner's Op. 1. A year later, Wagner composed his [[Symphony in C major (Wagner)|Symphony in C major]], a Beethovenesque work performed in Prague in 1832{{sfn|Millington|2001a|p=309}} and at the Leipzig Gewandhaus in 1833.{{sfn|Newman|1976|loc=I, p. 95}} He then began to work on an opera, ''[[Die Hochzeit]]'' (''The Wedding''), which he never completed.{{sfn|Millington|2001a|p=321}}