Opera heard in his earlier operas such as "Der fliegende Holländer", "Tannhäuser" and "Lohengrin"; and he was prepared to violate accepted musical conventions, such as tonality, in his quest for greater expressivity. In his mature music dramas, "Tristan und Isolde", "Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg", "Der Ring des Nibelungen" and "Parsifal", he abolished the distinction between aria and recitative in favour of a seamless flow of "endless melody". Wagner also brought a new philosophical dimension to opera in his works, which were usually based on stories from Germanic or Arthurian legend. Finally, Wagner built his own opera house at Bayreuth with part
Richard Wagner composed music to achieve popularity and, thereby, financial success, as opposed to creating genuine works of art. In "Opera and Drama" (1851), Wagner described the aesthetics of drama that he was using to create the "Ring" operas. Before leaving Dresden, Wagner had drafted a scenario that eventually became the four-opera cycle "Der Ring des Nibelungen". He initially for a single opera, "Siegfrieds Tod" ("Siegfried's Death"), in 1848. After arriving in Zürich, he expanded the story with the opera "Der junge Siegfried" ("Young Siegfried"), which explored the hero's background. He completed the text of the cycle by writing the libretti for