''Leubald'' was an attempt by the youthful

Richard Wagner Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, essayist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most o ...

to write a tragic drama in the

Shakespearean William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

genre. It occupied him during the years 1827-28 while he was at school, first in

Dresden Dresden (; ; Upper Saxon German, Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; , ) is the capital city of the States of Germany, German state of Saxony and its second most populous city after Leipzig. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, 12th most p ...

and later in

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. The play combines elements of ''Hamlet'', ''King Lear'', ''

Macbeth ''The Tragedy of Macbeth'', often shortened to ''Macbeth'' (), is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, estimated to have been first performed in 1606. It dramatises the physically violent and damaging psychological effects of political ambiti ...

'' and ''Richard III'', with influences from

Goethe Johann Wolfgang (von) Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German polymath who is widely regarded as the most influential writer in the German language. His work has had a wide-ranging influence on Western literature, literary, Polit ...

and Heinrich von Kleist. The critic

Theodor Adorno Theodor is a masculine given name. It is a German form of Theodore. It is also a variant of Teodor. List of people with the given name Theodor * Theodor Adorno, (1903–1969), German philosopher * Theodor Aman, Romanian painter * Theodor Blue ...

has noted:

''Leubald'' nd Wagner's other early writingsare all of a piece with those plays of which high-school pupils are wont to write in their exercise books the title, the
Dramatis Personae Dramatis personae (Latin: 'persons of the drama') are the main characters in a dramatic work written in a list. Such lists are commonly employed in various forms of theatre, and also on screen. Typically, off-stage characters are not consider ...
, and the words 'Act I'.

It is unclear whether, or in what manner, Wagner intended to set this text to music, but the desire to do so may have been the factor which led him to begin the study of composition. No music for ''Leubald'' has survived, but the text of the play exists. It has been suggested that the character of Adriano in Wagner's later opera '' Rienzi'' is recognisably based on that of Leubald in the earlier drama.Gutman, p. 124

Notes and references

Sources

*Adorno, Theodor (2009), tr. Rodney Livingstone, ''In Search of Wagner'', Verso, London *Gutman, Robert W. (1971): ''Richard Wagner: The Man, His Mind and His Music'', Penguin Books, London *Millington, Barry (2001)
''(Wilhelm) Richard Wagner''
in Grove Music Online, ed. Laura Macy. Retrieved on 20 March 2009 (subscription required) {{Richard Wagner Libretti by Richard Wagner

See also

Notes and references

Sources