Richard Wagner and Honore Daumier. Expresive Realism in Opera and Paintings

Abstract

This study focuses on the culmination of the reform of opera in Richard Wagner's musical drama with an emphasis on the symbiosis of realism and expressionism and the unity of the total artwork (Gesamkunstwerk) from the bel canto opera in the first third of the 19th century until the emergence of the Grand opera after 1830 and the analogous synthesis of realism and expressionism found in the final period of the work of Honoré Daumier; a representative of socially critical realism in 19th century painting.

Keywords

• Opera seria
• opera buffa
• comic opera
• bel canto opera
• musical drama
• grand opera
• romanticism
• realism
• expressive realism
• Gesamkunstwerk
• leitmotif
• socially critical realism