May 19, 2014.Richard Wagner.The great German opera composer was born this week on May 22nd of 1813.We wrote about his early operas, and last year on his 200th birthday, about his whole life, in more detail.This time we’ll look into some of the operas of his mature period.In 1849 Wagner had to escape Germany after an uprising in Dresden in 1849 – Wagner was known as a supporter of socialists and anarchists and was at risk of being arrested.He went to Paris and then Switzerland, settling in Zurich.He maintained a close relationship with Franz Liszt, a friend and eventually his father-in-law, but otherwise felt quite isolated.In the early years of the exile he didn’t write much music, instead concentrating on articles and essays.Among them was the notorious “Judaism in Music,” his first openly anti-Semitic opus.In it Wagner attacked Jews in general (snobbishly, for not being able to speak proper European languages and also for their purported commercialism) and composers Mendelssohn and Meyerbeer in particular.At the time the essay was practically ignored, though the pianist and composer Ignaz Moscheles did object in a letter to the publishers.In the 1960s, though, in the aftermath of WWII and the Holocaust, it became the subject of a heated debate.It’s interesting to note that as so many anti-Semites, Wagner had quite a number of Jewish friends.
During that time Wagner also wrote an important essay titled “Opera and Drama,” in which he described and promoted his idea of musical drama.While laying out the theoretical basis of his future work (all his “musical dramas” were still yet to be written), he disavowed his earlier operas, even the very successful Rienzi,Tannhäuser and Lohengrin, as old-fashioned and “non-dramatic.”In “Opera and Drama” he talked about the importance of poetry as the engine of the overall dramatic experience, in theory even superseding the music (he changed his opinion later on, after reading a Schopenhauer description of music as supreme art), and, for the first time, described the role of musical motifs associated with specific persons, places or events.The use of these "leitmotifs" in his later operas became a trademark.
All along Wagner was working on the librettos for the operas Der Ring des Nibelungen (The Ring of the Nibelung).He had written an episode called Siegfried's Death while still in Dresden in 1848, and in Zurich continued writing and revising different episodes that would become a four-opera cycle: Das Rheingold (The Rhine Gold), Die Walküre (The Valkyrie), Siegfried, and Götterdämmerung (Twilight of the Gods).By 1852 he was done with the writing.Another year had passed till he started composing.Das Rheingold came first, in 1853 and ’54, then Die Walküre.He completed the first two operas by 1856.He started working on Siegfried, but set it aside.The reason was his developing infatuation with one Mathilde Wesendonck.Mathilde was the wife of Wagner’s patron, Otto Wesendonck, a rich local merchant.Wesendonck, a music lover and an admirer of Wagner, became his major patron, paying for his expenses and even giving him a cottage to live and work in.Musically, Wagner’s infatuation resulted first in the Wesendonck Lieder, five songs set to the poems by Mathilde (here’s "Im Treibhaus" ("In the greenhouse"), from Wesendonck Lieder, performed by the soprano Rebecca Wascoe with Jeffrey Peterson on the piano).The listener may recognize music from the prelude of Act III of Tristan und Isolde: Wagner just started working onTristan, a tragic love story set during the Arthurian times.It’s not clear if Mathilde ever responded to Wagner’s entreaties, but one of Richard’s love letters was intercepted by his wife, Minna.A scandal ensued, Minna left for Dresden, and Wagner went to Venice, alone.He continued working on Tristan and completed it in 1859.Extremely influential (dozens of major composer, from Debussy to Mahler, were affected by it), Tristan is considered the pinnacle of Wagner’s art.Here’s Wilhelm Furtwängler conducting the Philharmonia Orchestra in the Prelude from Act 3 of Tristan und Isolde.The recording was made in 1952.
Richard Wagner, 2014
May 19, 2014. Richard Wagner. The great German opera composer was born this week on May 22nd of 1813. We wrote about his early operas, and last year on his 200th birthday, about his whole life, in more detail. This time we’ll look into some of the operas of his mature period. In 1849 Wagner had to escape Germany after an uprising in
Dresden in 1849 – Wagner was known as a supporter of socialists and anarchists and was at risk of being arrested. He went to Paris and then Switzerland, settling in Zurich. He maintained a close relationship with Franz Liszt, a friend and eventually his father-in-law, but otherwise felt quite isolated. In the early years of the exile he didn’t write much music, instead concentrating on articles and essays. Among them was the notorious “Judaism in Music,” his first openly anti-Semitic opus. In it Wagner attacked Jews in general (snobbishly, for not being able to speak proper European languages and also for their purported commercialism) and composers Mendelssohn and Meyerbeer in particular. At the time the essay was practically ignored, though the pianist and composer Ignaz Moscheles did object in a letter to the publishers. In the 1960s, though, in the aftermath of WWII and the Holocaust, it became the subject of a heated debate. It’s interesting to note that as so many anti-Semites, Wagner had quite a number of Jewish friends.
During that time Wagner also wrote an important essay titled “Opera and Drama,” in which he described and promoted his idea of musical drama. While laying out the theoretical basis of his future work (all his “musical dramas” were still yet to be written), he disavowed his earlier operas, even the very successful Rienzi, Tannhäuser and Lohengrin, as old-fashioned and “non-dramatic.” In “Opera and Drama” he talked about the importance of poetry as the engine of the overall dramatic experience, in theory even superseding the music (he changed his opinion later on, after reading a Schopenhauer description of music as supreme art), and, for the first time, described the role of musical motifs associated with specific persons, places or events. The use of these "leitmotifs" in his later operas became a trademark.
All along Wagner was working on the librettos for the operas Der Ring des Nibelungen (The Ring of the Nibelung). He had written an episode called Siegfried's Death while still in Dresden in 1848, and in Zurich continued writing and revising different episodes that would become a four-opera cycle: Das Rheingold (The Rhine Gold), Die Walküre (The Valkyrie), Siegfried, and Götterdämmerung (Twilight of the Gods). By 1852 he was done with the writing. Another year had passed till he started composing. Das Rheingold came first, in 1853 and ’54, then Die Walküre. He completed the first two operas by 1856. He started working on Siegfried, but set it aside. The reason was his developing infatuation with one Mathilde Wesendonck. Mathilde was the wife of Wagner’s patron, Otto Wesendonck, a rich local merchant. Wesendonck, a music lover and an admirer of Wagner, became his major patron, paying for his expenses and even giving him a cottage to live and work in. Musically, Wagner’s infatuation resulted first in the Wesendonck Lieder, five songs set to the poems by Mathilde (here’s "Im Treibhaus" ("In the greenhouse"), from Wesendonck Lieder, performed by the soprano Rebecca Wascoe with Jeffrey Peterson on the piano). The listener may recognize music from the prelude of Act III of Tristan und Isolde: Wagner just started working on Tristan, a tragic love story set during the Arthurian times. It’s not clear if Mathilde ever responded to Wagner’s entreaties, but one of Richard’s love letters was intercepted by his wife, Minna. A scandal ensued, Minna left for Dresden, and Wagner went to Venice, alone. He continued working on Tristan and completed it in 1859. Extremely influential (dozens of major composer, from Debussy to Mahler, were affected by it), Tristan is considered the pinnacle of Wagner’s art. Here’s Wilhelm Furtwängler conducting the Philharmonia Orchestra in the Prelude from Act 3 of Tristan und Isolde. The recording was made in 1952.