Richard Wagner bust (Leipzig)
The Richard Wagner bust erected in Leipzig in 1983 is dedicated to the composer Richard Wagner , who was born in the city . The design goes back to the Leipzig sculptor Max Klinger .
Location and shape
The Richard Wagner bust stands in the promenade ring grounds behind the opera house on the eastern slope of the swan pond with a view to the west. The location can almost be considered slightly hidden.
The larger than life bust made of dark patinated bronze is 96 centimeters high and rests on a simple sandstone plinth . This bears the inscription RICHARD WAGNER on the front and MAX KLINGER on the back. On the side, BRONZE NOACK LEIPZIG 1982 indicates the manufacturer. The portrait shows the mature Wagner in classically strict simplicity in a frontal view without any indication of clothing.
history
Neither the efforts of Max Klinger from 1903 until the First World War to create a representative monument to the composer in his native city in Leipzig, nor the grandiose plans during the time of National Socialism to build a monumental memorial at Richard-Wagner-Hain were unsuccessful.
When the 170th birthday and 100th anniversary of Wagner's death came up in 1983, the city decided at least to find a small solution as part of the “Richard Wagner Days of the GDR”. Max Klinger created a white marble Wagner bust for the Leipzig Music Room at the 1904 World Exhibition in St. Louis . The original plaster of paris came to the Museum of Fine Arts in Leipzig together with two casts from the Klinger estate . One of the plaster casts had already been prepared for bronze casting and was used in 1982 by the Leipzig bronze art foundry Noack for the present monument.
The Richard Wagner bust is the first completed public monument for the composer in his hometown. In the Wagner year 2013, another Wagner monument by Stephan Balkenhol was erected in connection with elements by Max Klinger.
literature
Markus Cottin, Gina Klank, Karl-Heinz Kretzschmar, Dieter Kürschner, Ilona Petzold: Leipziger Denkmale , Sax-Verlag 1998, ISBN 3-930076-71-3 , p. 79/80
Web links
Individual evidence
Coordinates: 51 ° 20 ′ 28 " N , 12 ° 22 ′ 56" E