Wagner was born in Leipzig, Germany in 1813.Throughout his life he wrote essays and criticism in addition to music, and an important book OPERA UND DRAMA was published in 1850. The famous theatre at Bayreuth opened in 1876 to fulfill his ambition to give a complete performance of the Ring - Walkure, Siegfried, and Gotterdammerung, Rheingold.  His last opera Parsifal was staged there in 1882