Beethoven

By all accounts one of the most narcissistic men ever to put pen to paper, Richard Wagner was a revolutionizing force in the world of nineteenth-century music. In the Ring des Nibelungen opera cycle and elsewhere, Wagner's expanded tonal vocabulary and use of leitmotifs - both of which would resonate through the succeeding decades - were juxtaposed with an inflated philosophy that would have a profound impact on the young philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche.