A giant figure in Western music, Richard Wagner (1813-1883) is best known for his operas. Driven by his aesthetic theories that opera should be a Gesamtkunstwerk (a synthesis of other art forms into an organic whole), his works are distinguished by a blurring of traditional boundaries between arias and recitative (musical snippets that advance the plot). His political alignment with King Ludwig the Mad resulted in his initial triumphs and subsequent mid-life exile, though his late-career resurgence led him to found the Bayreuth Festival to showcase his works, which still runs today. His virulent anti-Semitism and the subsequent advocacy of his music by Adolf Hitler has made his music a problematic taste, though few experts would dispute his importance in music history.