ABSTRACT
Richard Wagner's actual share in the rising has been much exaggerated. He viewed it primarily from the standpoint of a theorist. He saw that the art of his day was the outcome of the reactionary civilisation in which his lot was cast, and he hoped to see an artistic and social revolution simultaneously accomplished. Removed from the whirlpool of active musical life, living for the most part quietly in Switzerland, Wagner had ample leisure for maturing the vast ideas which already peopled his imagination. Remote as seemed the chance of his winning the ear of Germany, he never faltered in his determination. In his book "Kunst und Revolution" his theories upon art are crystallised into literary form; in the mighty drama "Der Ring des Nibelungen," on which he was launched, they took practical shape. It was Wagner's aim to unite music, drama and painting in one art-form, in which each should contribute equally to the general effect.
