Chapter 41 - Wagner

CHAPTER 41
Total Art: Wagner and
German Romantic Opera
Copyright © 2020 W. W. Norton & Co., Inc.

NAME THAT MOVIE!!!
NAME THAT MOVIE!! Part 2
NAME THAT MOVIE!!! Part 3

German Opera: Characteristics
• German composers began to compose in
German: Mozart (The Magic Flute), von
Weber--Der Freischütz (The Freeshooter).
• Librettos involved magic, mysticism, the
supernatural, distant and exotic lands and
cultures, love, and heroes.
• Rejected the stories of court intrigues and
farces.

• Very different from Italian
• Language more guttural, music
heavier, less light-hearted
• Nordic gods instead of Greeks
• Carl Maria von Weber-Der Freischutz
• Based on German folklore
• Offers mysticism, rustic scenes, etc.
German Opera

Heavy Metal
• From A Headbanger's Journey (4:30)

• The most controversial composer who ever
lived--some love him; some hate him.
• Controversial figure--had very questionable
character to achieve goals; an anti-Semite
who may have influenced Hitler
• Operas are full of social and political ideas.
• Rienzi-1st success
• Born in Leipzig, son of police officer.
• Studied music of Beethoven.
• Held a series of positions as conductor.
• Career in Dresden
Richard Wagner (1813 - 1883)

Richard Wagner (1813 - 1883)
• Fled Germany in 1848; first to house of Liszt, then to
Switzerland; lived there for 10 years.
• Failed revolution in 1849
• Second wife: Cosima Liszt
• King Ludwig II of Bavaria supported him and his art.
• Built a large opera house in Bayreuth--called
Festspielhaus (“a festival drama house”).
• 1876-1st Bayreuth Festival, continues today
• Oversaw the building of the opera house and all the
performances there
• Died at age 70, buried at opera house

Richard Wagner- Other Operas
• The Flying Dutchman
• Tannhäuser
• Lohengrin (Wedding Precessional)
• Wedding March (6:18)
• Tristan und Isolde
• Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg
• Parsifal

Copyright © 2020, W. W. Norton & Company, Inc.
Wagner and German Musical Theater, Part 1
I. Wagner and German Musical Theater
A. Nineteenth-century Germany: no long-established opera
tradition
1. Singspiel: predecessor of German Romantic opera
a. light, comic drama with spoken dialogue
2. early 1800s melodrama: German musical theater
a. spoken dialogue, minimal singing
b. striking orchestral accompaniment
B. Richard Wagner (1813–1883)
1. composer, conductor; born in Leipzig, Germany
2. greatest figure in German opera

3. began serious composition at age twenty-three
4. wrote own librettos, unifying music and drama
5. 1849 failed revolution in Dresden, fled to Switzerland
6. Festival Theater at Bayreuth: built for performance of
Wagner’s works
a. support and admiration of Ludwig II of Bavaria
b. Ring completed 1874, worshipful audiences at
Bayreuth Festival premiere
7. married Franz Liszt’s daughter, Cosima
8. output: 13 operas (music dramas), orchestral and piano
music, vocal and choral music, writings about music

C. Wagner’s music
1. Gesamtkunstwerk: “total artwork”
a. music, poetry, drama, visual spectacle: fused to
make music drama
b. subjects from medieval German epics
c. “endless melody,” natural inflections of German
language
d. nature, supernatural, glorified German land and
people
2. leitmotif “leading motives”: concise recurring themes
a. orchestra is focal point
b. specific meanings: person, emotion, idea, object
c. continual transformation, trace course of drama

3. chromatic harmony, dissonance: unstable pitch
combinations
a. restless, intensely emotional quality
D. The Ring of the Nibelung
1. cycle of four music dramas: integration of theater and music
2. performed in four consecutive evenings
3. story adapted from Norse sagas and medieval German epic
poem, Nibelungenlied
4. cycle follows possession of the ring
a. betrayal of love, broken promises, magic spells,
corruption, lust for power
b. gold in Rhine River guarded by Rhine Maidens

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 Unification of drama & music
 Musical theme represents person,
place, idea
 As long as 5 hours-intermissions
long enough to go to dinner and
return
 Expensive and sometimes garish
 The idea: a total asthetic
experience in one
Wagner’s Music Dramas

Created “Grand Opera”, or
Music Drama
Wrote own libretto
Mythological topics, appealed
best to emotions
Philosophical overtones: good
vs. evil, contest between
physical & spiritual,
redemption through love
Characters pawns of
uncontrollable forces
Wagner

Grand Opera
Longer, more instruments, more
characters
Doubled winds, added percussion
Not accepted at time, more after
Wagner’s death
Full of emotion
Eliminated recitative, aria, chorus to
achieve unending melody
More chromatic harmony, no idea
for tonic
Orchestra more important, bigger
and louder
Wagner

Greatest musical achievement
Opera Cycle
An opera with outstanding
orchestration and blending of the
voices with the orchestra
Ring of the Nibelungs
Das Rhiengold
Die Walküre
Siegfried
Götterdammerung
“It ain’t over till the fat lady sings.”
Der Ring des Nibelungen

Leitmotif--a brief musical
phrase or idea that is
connected dramatically to
some person, event, or idea
in the drama
When the leitmotif is
heard, it causes the
audience to recognize the
person, event or idea.
Similar to the “shark
theme” in Jaws.
Richard Wagner - The Leitmotif

Wagner and Tolkien: The Ring and Lord of the Rings
Both contain 4 works; the first is a prelude to the rest of the
story; based on Nordic myths.
Both emphasize the power of the ring and the grief it brings
the owner who covets the power.
The plots center on people’s efforts to own and control the
ring.
Both start with a state of purity that is corrupted later and
then restored.
Both feature giants, dragons, dwarves, a riddling match, and a
shattered sword recast to be more powerful.

c. Alberich the Nibelung steals the treasure,
forges ring
d. Wotan tricks Alberich out of the ring
e. Alberich curses the ring: death and
misfortune to those who possess it
f. ring returned to Rhine Maidens
E. Die Walküre (The Valkyrie)
1. second work in Ring cycle
2. main characters:
a. Wotan: father of the gods
b. Siegmund and Sieglinde: twin brother and
sister, Wotan’s mortal offspring

c. Hunding: chieftain, married to Sieglinde
d. Valkyries: nine daughters of Wotan
i. circle battlefield on winged horses, carry
fallen heroes to Valhalla
e. Brünnhilde: a Valkyrie
f. Siegfried: unborn son of Sieglinde
3. plot summary:
a. revolves around Siegmund and Sieglinde:
incestuous, adulterous relationship
b. Hunding challenges Siegmund to battle

c. Wotan acknowledges Siegmund must die in combat
d. Brünnhilde disobeys Wotan, shields Siegmund
e. Wotan appears, Hunding kills Siegmund
f. Brünnhilde carries Sieglinde to Valhalla
g. Brünnhilde, punished by Wotan, becomes mortal
h. Brünnhilde put to sleep on a rock surrounded by
magic fire

Anna Russell
Ring Cycle Analysis

F. Listening Guide 30: Wagner: Die Walküre (The Valkyrie),
Act III, Opening and Finale (1856)
1. Act III, scene 1: Ride of the Valkyries
a. swirling strings and woodwinds
b. “Ride” leitmotif: lively, dotted rhythm; ascends,
repeats
c. huge orchestra, huge and varied brass section
d. dense orchestral texture
2. Act III, closing of scene 3: Wotan and Brünnhilde
a. three recurring leitmotifs; “endless” melody
b. rich, chromatic harmony

c. forceful trombone passage; Wotan invokes Loge (god
of Fire)
d. “magic fire,” full orchestra
e. “magic sleep,” descending chromatic woodwinds
f. “slumber” motive: woodwinds
g. Wotan sings to “Siegfried” motive (next in the cycle)
h. brass, fortissimo announcement of “Siegfried” motive
i. long orchestral closing

Die Walküre “Ride of the Valkyries”
Ride of the Valkyries

Richard Wagner The Valkyrie, Act III
Story: In The Valkyrie, the main characters are Wotan
(chief of the gods), his daughter Brünnhilde (a
warrior-like Valkyrie). Brünnhilde has intervened on
behalf of a human couple, and Wotan condemns her
to death. She pleads for a lesser sentence and is
stripped of her godlike powers, put into a deep sleep,
and surrounded with a ring of fire that can be crossed
only by someone who isn’t afraid of Wotan’s spear. In
this scene Wotan is saying goodbye to his beloved
daughter and summons Loge to create the circle of
fire.

Richard Wagner The Valkyrie, Act III
Texture--Wagner’s composition uses the voice very differently
than it is used in Verdi’s La Traviata. In Verdi’s opera, the
singer stands out above the orchestra. In Wagner’s opera, the
singer and the orchestra have more equal parts.
Wagner wanted the music and the drama to have equal
importance.
Vocal writing is more syllabic than in Italian opera with little
repetition of the text.
Melodies are fluid and avoid periodic phrase structure.

Act III (Finale) of
Die Walküre
Leitmotifs:
slumber
magic sleep
magic fire
Siegfried
Wagner: Die Walküre
(Listening Guide)

Die Walküre Act III Closing of Scene 3
Act III Closing

Credits
This concludes the Lecture PowerPoint presentation for “The Enjoyment of Music, 4th Edition, Chapter 41: Total Art: Wagner
and German Romantic Opera”
For more resources, please visit https://digital.wwnorton.com/enjmusic4ess

Chapter 41 - Wagner

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