s.' Wagner decided that he wanted to be a composer. It is clear form his first compositions that Wagner was hugely inspired by Beethoven. Wagner wrote keyboard and orchestral works in the style of Beethoven as well as transcribing Beethoven's 9th Symphony for the piano.
             With the help of his brother Albert, Wagner was employed as the chorus master of a theater in Würzburg. It was here that Wagner was first introduced to the repertory works of 'Marschner, Weber, Paer, Cherubini, Rossini and Auber.' Wagner accepted the post as musical director of Heinrich Bethmann's travelling theater company in Magdelburg. It was here that he fell madly in love with the actress Christine Wilhelmine Planer also known as Minna. In November of 1836 Wagner married Minna Planer. He not only gained a wife during his time with the theater company, he also gained essential conducting skills. Wagner had debts to be paid off during his term in Magdeburg. He relied on the success of his opera Das Liebesverbot to pay off his debts. However this opera was a failure therefore Wagner and Minna fled to Königsberg. Wagner developed similar problems. Wagner became the musical director for a string of places like Magdelburg. He completed six opera's during this period in his life.
             Wagner's radical ideas were not only confined to musical drama on stage. In 1848 he was working as the musical director in the Royal Court in Dresden when he became involved in the political revolutions. He fought on the side of the left wing nationalists who wanted to replace the princely German states with a unified Nation. Wagner found himself a wante
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