1. Richard Wagner and 19th-c. Music Drama
Music as Religion:
Richard Wagner and 19th-c. Music Drama

5. Richard Wagner:
Love Him or Hate him??

6. Ecstactic, Transendent Experience
sensual, mysterious, beyond words

8. I. Wagner’s Operas A. German Romantic Operas (=early)
The Flying Dutchman
Tannhaüser
Lohengrin
Musical Features/Differences from Italian Opera
Emphasis on Solo Singing (few duets, trios, ensembles)
Distinction between recitative and aria blurred
Continuous dramatic flow rather than recit/aria
alternation

9. I. Wagner’s Operas A. German Romantic Operas (=early)
The Flying Dutchman
Tannhaüser
Lohengrin
Musical Features/Differences from Italian Opera
B. Music Dramas (=Wagner’s mature operas)
The Ring of the Nibelung (“The Ring Cycle”)
Das Rheingold
Die Walküre
Tristan und Isolde
Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg
Siegfried
Götterdämerung (The Twilight of the Gods)
Parsifal
C. Wagnerian Topics (told through myth):
Greed vs. Compassion/Redeeming Power of Love/Heroism & Striving

10. II. Wagner’s Music Dramas: Buzzwords
A. Leitmotif
B. Infinite Melody
C. Gesamtkunstwerk
D. Wagnerian Harmony (e.g., “Tristan Chord”)
E. The Wagnerian Orchestra
F. Wagnerian Singers
G. Wagner the Poet and Stabreim
H. Wagnerian Characters

11. A. Leitmotifs Love-Death Transendent Bliss Ecstasy Desire
III. “Liebestod”=Final Scene, Tristan und Isolde
A. Leitmotifs
Love-Death
Transendent
Bliss
Ecstasy
Desire

13. Riddle:
What lasts 9 minutes?
Begins tenderly?
Contains a huge climax shortly before the end?
Involves both a couple and heavy breathing?
Ends in relaxed exhaustion?