Editor: Benjamin Beck

Translated from German:

The opera “Lohengrin” composed by Richard Wagner is the third of his ten great operas. The “romantic opera in three acts” was written between 1845 and 1848 and was premiered in Weimar in 1850 by its dedicatee Franz Liszt while Wagner was living in exile in Zurich. The libretto is inspired by medieval German literature. In particular, the legend of the Swan Knight, which was derived from the legend of the Holy Grail, shaped the work, which is set in tenth-century Antwerp. “Lohengrin” is an opera that is full of allusions to magic, religion and culture and called for German unity. It was an immediate and lasting success: King Ludwig II of Bavaria was so impressed that he named Neuschwanstein Castle after the Swan Knight Lohengrin. In addition, Proust referred to the opera several times in his novel cycle “In Search of Lost Time”. The wedding march from the third act is still traditionally played at weddings today.