At the first higher educational establishment in the territory of today's Latvia, the Riga Polytechnic School, after its reorganization in 1896 – the Riga Polytechnic Institute – students have not studied music. In their spare time, students, graduates and tutors are also interested and involved in music. The German teacher, assistant professor at the Riga Polytechnic Institute Karl Friedrich Glasenapp (1847–1915) was interested in the life and activities of the German composer Richard Wagner (1813–1883). He visited the composer in Germany, he wrote several books about him and is one of the earliest and most famous biographers of Richard Wagner. The resident of Riga K. F. Glasenapp was the initiator to establish the Wagner Society in Riga in 1877. The society brought together professors from the Riga Polytechnic School/ Riga Polytechnic Institute Karl Adam Bischoff (1855–1908) and Maximilian Glasenapp (1845–1923), the associate professor Hermann von Westermann (1842–1918), among other tutors and students.