Throwing traditional methods aside, the future composer of Lohengrin and Tristan and Isolde went directly to the great masters' works and copied their music, note by note, until it became a part of him. More than anything else he wanted to write operas-his own stories set to music, sung and acted. As Opal Wheeler's light-hearted and lively biography reveals, Richard Wagner is an amazing example in music history-one of the few composers of stature who learned his art from the untutored study of the masterpieces of his day.

From the dust jacket