Leubald was an attempt by the youthful Richard Wagner

Richard Wagner

Wilhelm Richard Wagner was a German composer, conductor, theatre director, philosopher, music theorist, poet, essayist and writer primarily known for his operas...

 to write a tragic drama in the Shakespearean

William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...

 genre. It occupied him during the years 1827-28 while he was at school, first in Dresden

Dresden

Dresden is the capital city of the Free State of Saxony in Germany. It is situated in a valley on the River Elbe, near the Czech border. The Dresden conurbation is part of the Saxon Triangle metropolitan area....

 and later in Leipzig

Leipzig

Leipzig Leipzig has always been a trade city, situated during the time of the Holy Roman Empire at the intersection of the Via Regia and Via Imperii, two important trade routes. At one time, Leipzig was one of the major European centres of learning and culture in fields such as music and publishing...

. The play combines elements of Hamlet, King Lear, Macbeth and Richard III, with influences from Goethe

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was a German writer, pictorial artist, biologist, theoretical physicist, and polymath. He is considered the supreme genius of modern German literature. His works span the fields of poetry, drama, prose, philosophy, and science. His Faust has been called the greatest long...

 and Heinrich von Kleist

Heinrich von Kleist

Bernd Heinrich Wilhelm von Kleist was a poet, dramatist, novelist and short story writer. The Kleist Prize, a prestigious prize for German literature, is named after him.- Life :...

. The critic Theodor Adorno has noted:

Leubald [and Wagner's other early writings] are all of a piece with those plays of which high-school pupils are wont to write in their exercise books the title, the Dramatis Personae

Dramatis Personae

Dramatis Personae is a poetry collection by Robert Browning. It was published in 1864.- Background :Browning wrote the collection in London, where he had returned with his son after his wife's death. It was his first publication after a nine-year hiatus...

, and the words 'Act I'.

It is unclear whether, or in what manner, Wagner intended to set this text to music, but the desire to do so may have been the factor which led him to begin the study of composition. No music for Leubald has survived, but the text of the play exists. It has been surmised that the character of Adriano in Wagner's later opera Rienzi

Rienzi

Rienzi, der Letzte der Tribunen is an early opera by Richard Wagner in five acts, with the libretto written by the composer after Bulwer-Lytton's novel of the same name . The title is commonly shortened to Rienzi...

is recognisably based on that of Leubald in the earlier drama.

Sources

• Adorno, Theodor (2009), tr. Rodney Livingstone, In Search of Wagner, Verso, London ISBN 9781844673445
• Gutman, Robert W. (1971): Richard Wagner: The Man, His Mind and His Music, Penguin Books, London ISBN 0-14-021168-3
• Millington, Barry (2001): (Wilhelm) Richard Wagner in Grove Music Online, ed. Laura Macy. Retrieved on 20 March 2009 (subscription required)