Although star singers continued to be the great draw, the importance of the composer increased throughout the 19th century. Richard Wagner and Giuseppi Verdi were both composers and national heroes.
Wagner in Germany, Verdi in Italy, Mussorgsky in Russia and later Janacek in Czechoslovakia all used opera and music as an expression of national identity
– a theme that had particular importance to many European countries at the end of the 19th century. In Russia for example the dominant culture
had always been French-based, and there was a growing interest in exploring and promoting a Russian cultural identity.
Introduction
