For many opera-goers, Richard Wagner’s operas are among the highlights of the repertoire. Wagner created a total of 15 stage works in his lifetime. But only the last ten (from the Flying Dutchman to Parsifal) may be performed at the famous Bayreuth Festival – Wagner himself stipulated that.
Wagner was known as a slow worker. That is why it is interesting to take a look at the following table of all Wagner operas and the periods in which they were written: Wagner worked on the “Götterdämmerung” (with numerous interruptions) for 26 years!
In addition, you will find the respective work numbers in the Wagner-Werk-Verzeichnis (WWV) as well as the dates of the world premieres.
| Title | Wagner-Werk-Verzeichnis (WWV) | Period of Creation | World Premiere |
|---|---|---|---|
| Die Hochzeit (unfinished) | 1832 | ||
| Die Feen | WWV 32 | 1833–1834 | 29 June 1888, Munich (posthumous) |
| Das Liebesverbot / Die Novize von Palermo | WWV 38 | 1834–1836 | 29 March 1836, Magdeburg |
| Männerlist größer als Frauenlist / Die glückliche Bärenfamilie (unfinished) | 1837 | 7 March 2013, Berlin ("Berlin Version", posthumous) / 27 June 2013, Nuremberg ("Nuremberg Version", posthumous) | |
| Rienzi, der Letzte der Tribunen | WWV 49 | 1837–1840 | 20 October 1842, Dresden |
| Der Fliegende Holländer | WWV 63 | 1840–1841 (revised 1852 and 1864) | 2 January 1843, Dresden |
| Tannhäuser und der Sängerkrieg auf Wartburg | WWV 70 | 1842–1845 (revised 1847, 1860, 1861 and 1875) | 19 October 1845, Dresden |
| Lohengrin | WWV 75 | 1845–1848 | 28 August 1850, Weimar |
| Das Rheingold | Pre-evening of Ring des Nibelungen, WWV 86 | 1851–1854 | 22 September 1869, Munich |
| Die Walküre | First day of Ring des Nibelungen, WWV 86 | 1851–1856 | 26 June 1870, Munich |
| Siegfried | Second day of Ring des Nibelungen, WWV 86 | 1851–1871 | 16 August 1876, Bayreuth |
| Götterdämmerung | Third day of Ring des Nibelungen, WWV 86 | 1848–1874 | 17 August 1876, Bayreuth |
| Tristan und Isolde | WWV 90 | 1856–1859 | 10 June 1865, Munich |
| Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg | WWV 96 | 1845–1867 | 21 June 1868, Munich |
| Parsifal ("Bühnenweihfestspiel") | WWV 111 | 1865–1882 | 26 July 1882, Bayreuth |
Jonathan Stark – Conductor
Hello! I'm Jonathan Stark. As a conductor, it is important to me that visits to concerts and operas leave a lasting impression on the audience. Background knowledge helps to achieve this. That's why I blog here about key works of classical music, about composers, about opera and much more that happens in the exciting world of music.
