The Classical Music Book

184

population. Wagner sought to

create an artistic experience with

religious, social, and ethical aspects.

Such an artwork would gain

yet further resonance with its

audience, he argued, by being

based on subjects rooted deep in

their unconscious, ideally myth.

In his new “music dramas,” as his

works became known, he would be

able to harness the power of music

to explore the inner workings of

his characters. Unlike with the

predominant forms of opera, in

which musical concerns and, in the

worst cases, the vanity of singers,

were primary considerations, here

it would be the drama that would

define the form of the music.

Composing the world

The work that came closest to this

aim was a cycle of operas, Der Ring

des Nibelungen (“The ring of the

Nibelung”), based on a mixture of

Norse and Germanic mythology.

It was not initially conceived as a

tetralogy (a cycle of four works), but

Wagner’s inability to progress with

the subject as a single opera,

originally called Siegfrieds Tod

(“Siegfried’s death”), led to him

expanding it backward, adding

more and more prehistory in each

additional work.

This process also necessitated

the development of “leitmotif”—a

technique latent in his works of the

1840s but raised in The Ring to a

level of extraordinary complexity

and sophistication. This method

allowed Wagner to weave together

continuous acts over large spans

but also meant that the orchestra

could begin to offer “commentary”

on the action, much as the chorus

had done in ancient Greek drama.

Wagner finally completed his

text for the cycle by 1852, and he

began composing the music shortly

afterward, without any realistic

prospect of the works ever being

performed. Das Rheingold, which

Wagner called a “preliminary

evening” to the main drama, came

first and was the nearest Wagner

came to realizing the theoretical

ideal laid out in his essays.

The opera’s cast of Norse gods,

dwarves, and giants communicate

with conversation-like directness

(using punchy alliterative verse

called Stabreim), while the

orchestra provides commentary.

For the “first day” of the cycle,

Die Walküre (“The Valkyrie,” 1856),

Wagner created music of far greater

sensuality and warmth, in part

because this installment added

humans into the tale, specifically

the long-lost twins Siegmund and

Sieglinde, who fall in love during

the course of the first act. (The

I shall never write an

Opera more. As I have no

wish to invent an arbitrary

title for my works, I will

call them Dramas.

Richard Wagner

Timeline for the production of The Ring

Munich

Bayreuth

COMPLETE ART WORK

1845 1850 1855186018651870187518801885

Das Rheingold

Tristan und Isolde

Die Meistersinger

Text written

Music composed

First performance

Die Walküre

Siegfried

Götterdämmerung

The Ring was made up of four operas, Key

which Wagner worked on in two distinct

phases during his lifetime, beginning

and ending with Götterdämmerung.

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