WI: Interrupted Wagner

While Wagner is best known for his music, he also had a very large personal involvement in contemporary politics, including taking part in the May uprising in 1849 which OTL would lead to his exile from the Kingdom of Saxony.

However, what if he'd been killed in the fighting? As of this point we have Rienzi, The Flying Dutchman, Tannhauser and Lohrengrin, but not any of the Ring or his later works.

How would this effect the development of both classical music and, later, film music?
 
While Wagner is best known for his music, he also had a very large personal involvement in contemporary politics, including taking part in the May uprising in 1849 which OTL would lead to his exile from the Kingdom of Saxony.

However, what if he'd been killed in the fighting? As of this point we have Rienzi, The Flying Dutchman, Tannhauser and Lohrengrin, but not any of the Ring or his later works.

How would this effect the development of both classical music and, later, film music?

Interesting POD. Had Wagner already become anti-Semitic at this point? If not, he might be regarded more positively as a person--though I think appreciation for his music would be unchanged from OTL. Without the Ring cycle, though, maybe Germanic mythology is less well-known in pop culture. And as for Germany itself, it would have a popular martyr to rally around and mourn over what might have been.
 
Interesting POD. Had Wagner already become anti-Semitic at this point? If not, he might be regarded more positively as a person--though I think appreciation for his music would be unchanged from OTL. Without the Ring cycle, though, maybe Germanic mythology is less well-known in pop culture. And as for Germany itself, it would have a popular martyr to rally around and mourn over what might have been.

I'm pretty sure it had along with the rest of his personal politics, though details are hard to get of course.

I think you're underestimating the impact of the Ring Cycle though. This was, after all, the first time a composer had gone to such lengths to get the staging right as well, and the impact on film was really quite immense.
 
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