180
CHAPTERfi45 Total Art: Wagner and German
Romantic Opera
e. nature, super natural, glorified German land
and people
f. orchestra is focal point
2. leitmotifs, “leading motives”: concise recurring
themes
a. specific meanings: person, emotion, idea, object
b. 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 eve nings
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
c. Alberich the Nibelung steals the trea sure,
forges ring
d. Wotan tricks Alberich out of the ring
e. Alberich curses the ring: death and misfor–
tune 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 offspring by a mortal
c. Hunding: chieftain, married to Sieglinde
OUTLINE
I. Wagner and German Musical Theater
A. Nineteenth century Germany: no long– established
opera tradition
1. Singspiel: pre de ces sor of German Romantic
opera (e.g., Die Zauberöte, Mozart)
a. light, comic drama with spoken dialogue
2. early 1800s melodrama: German musical theater
a. spoken dialogue, minimal singing
b. striking orchestral accompaniment intensified
dramatic effect
B. Richard Wagner (1813–1883)
1. composer, conductor; born in Leipzig, Germany
2. greatest figure in German opera
3. age 23 began serious composition
4. wrote own librettos unifying music and drama
5. 1849 failed revolution in Dresden, fled to
Switzerland
6. Festival Theater at Bayreuth: built for per for–
mance of Wagner’s works
a. support and admiration of Ludwig II of Bavaria
b. Ring premiered 1874, worshipful audience
7. married Franz Liszt’s daughter, Cosima
8. output: 13 operas ( music dramas), orchestral
music, piano music, writings about music
C. Wagner’s music
1. Gesamtkunstwerk: “total artwork”
a. music, poetry, drama, visual: fused to make
music drama
b. subjects from medieval German epics
c. “endless melody,” natu ral inflections of Ger–
man language
d. no separate arias, duets, ensembles, choruses,
or ballets
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1. To understand Wagner’s music dramas in the context of
earlier German opera traditions
2. To understand the impor tant role of leitmotifs in the
musical language of Wagner’s music dramas
3. To recognize Wagner’s Valkyrie from the Ring cycle as
a representative example of the composer’s revolution-
ary style of music drama
LECTURE SUGGESTIONS
1. Play excerpts from Mozart’s Die Zauberöte (The Magic
Flute) and Weber’s Der Freischütz (The Marksman) for
students to illustrate the earlier German musical tradi-
tions of the Singspiel and the melodrama, respectively.
(The famous “Wolf’s Glen” scene from the second act
of Der Freischütz is a notable example of melodrama.)
Ask students to identify the role that music and text play
in each of these traditions and styles.
2. Share with your class Wagner’s own ideas about endless
melody and the dissolution of standard operatic forms.
One example comes from his essay “A Communication
to My Friends,” written in 1851, just as he was starting
work on the Ring cycle:
“As I drafted my scenes, I was not in the least con-
strained, by the nature of the material thus conceived,
to have a care for any par tic u lar musical form in advance,
for the scenes themselves dictated the musical working
out as intrinsic and necessary to them.”
(From Piero Weiss and Richard Taruskin, Music in the
Western World [Belmont, CA: Thomson- Schirmer,
2008], p.320)
Start a dialogue with the class about Wagner’s opposi-
tion to conventional operatic forms (arias, recitatives,
duets, ensembles, etc.). How does one explain, in Wag–
ner’s view, the incompatibility of the scenes themselves
with traditional operatic forms? Do traditional formal
structures such as recitative and aria limit the dramatic
impact of opera and other forms of musical theater? Play
an excerpt from another of Wagner’s operas ( after 1851)
to contextualize the discussion.
3. Chances are your class is already familiar with the tech–
nique of leitmotif through film and video game scores
and soundtracks. Show your class a few scenes from Star
Wars that incorporate leitmotifs (Vader’s “Imperial
March,” Anakin and Padme’s “Love Theme” from Attack
of the Clones, etc.). Ask the class to define the meaning and
associations of the motives. Repeat this activity with the
d. Valkyries: nine daughters of Wotan
i. circle battlefield on winged horses, carry
fallen heroes to Valhalla
e. Brünnhilde: a Valkyrie
f. Siegfried: yet un- born 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
battle
d. Brünnhilde disobeys Wotan, shields Siegmund
e. Wotan appears, shatters Siegmund’s sword,
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
F. LG 37: 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. battle cries from soloists: “Hojoho! Heiaha!”
d. huge dynamic contrasts
e. huge orchestra, huge and varied brass section
f. 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
wood winds
f. “slumber” motive: woodwinds
g. Wotan sings to “Siegfried” motive (next in the
cycle)
h. brass, ff announcement of “Siegfried” motive
i. long orchestral closing
OVERVIEW
This chapter discusses the German Romantic opera tradition,
focusing on the music dramas of Richard Wagner. Die
Walküre (The Valkyrie) from his Ring cycle illustrates Wag–
ner’s visionary type of music drama.
182 | Chapterfi45
2004. Intended for a general audience, this book explores the
Ring cycle and the philosophical questions and issues it raises. It
also features a succinct synopsis of the Ring and background on
Wagner’s philosophical outlook.
Wagner, Richard. Opera and Drama (1851). Trans. W. Ashton Ellis.
Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1995. In this famous
essay, Wagner elaborates on the genesis and undertaking of his
groundbreaking approach to music drama.
YOUR TURN TO EXPLORE
Consider an instance of epic- scale multimedia— the Star
MODEL RESPONSE
In the Star Wars movie cycles, composer John Williams
employs a number of leitmotifs in the score associated with
characters, objects, and ideas. One memorable leitmotif is the
Force motive, a melody heard in the movie when the idea of
“the Force” is discussed or evoked in the scene. The motive
is largely associated with Luke Skywalker, as in the begin-
to announce the victory of the Rebels— and Luke’s use of the
Force—in destroying the Death Star planet. What was intro–
duced as a lonely solo horn motive is transformed through-
aural cues. Williams continues with this compositional
approach in later installments of the series, as in the next
Act III finale of Wagner’s Valkyrie (“magic fire,” “magic
sleep,” “slumber,” “Siegfried,” etc.).
ASSIGNMENT SUGGESTIONS
1. Compare the approaches of Verdi and Wagner to com-
posing opera. How would you describe the musical and
dramatic styles of these two composers? How does each
composer reflect the spirit of Romanticism?
2. Considering the social and po liti cal impact of opera on
nineteenth- century audiences (covered in Chapter44),
Gesamtkunstwerk— the fusion of music, poetry, drama,
and staging/scenery into one total artwork—is the only
way to create true drama. After reading this quote again
(“In His Own Words,” p.274), how well do you think
The Valkyrie reflects Wagner’s aesthetic ideal? Do you
think it succeeds over previous operas we’ve studied as
delivering the most dramatic impact? Why or why not?
TEACHING CHALLENGES
SUPPLEMENTAL REPERTORY
SUPPLEMENTAL BIBLIOGRAPHY