The Classical Music Book

186

cycle, bringing an even greater

harmonic richness to the third act

of Siegfried and to the fourth opera,

Götterdämmerung (“The twilight

of the Gods”)—in which the Ring

is finally returned to the Rhine

Maidens, and Valhalla, home of the

gods, collapses. Wagner completed

his final installment in November

1874, 25 years after first starting

work on the project.

Festival theatre

Upon completion of The Ring,

Wagner decided that no existing

theatre would do to stage it and

set about raising funds for a new

Festspielhaus (festival theatre).

of The Ring: he stopped composing

Siegfried (the “second day” of the

cycle) after completing a draft score

of the second act in 1857. He did

not return to it for seven years.

During the interim, Wagner

completed two very different works,

both of which were deeply inspired

by Schopenhauer’s philosophy—

specifically, its idea that relative

fulfillment could be achieved only

through renunciation. The first of

these new works was Tristan und

Isolde (completed in 1859, though

not performed in its entirety until

1865), an overtly philosophical and

sensuous work in which Wagner

pushed traditional harmony to

its limits. The second work, Die

Meistersinger von Nürnberg (“The

master-singers of Nuremberg,” 1867),

was a comedy of unprecedented

dimensions—the final act alone is

more than two hours long when

staged—that dealt with profound

issues, such as the place of art

within society, art’s relationship

with national identity, and the

balance to be struck between rule-

based tradition and innovation.

When Wagner finally returned

to his composition of The Ring, he

immediately applied the musical

and philosophical lessons learned

from his interim projects to the

The English National Opera

performs “The Ride of the Valkyries”

at Glastonbury Festival in 2004. The

well-known piece comes at the start

of Act Three of Die Walküre.

The theatre that Wagner built in

the Franconian town of Bayreuth

to stage The Ring in 1876 is in

many ways as revolutionary as

the works it was built to stage.

It has a broad auditorium, with

long rows of seats laid out to

resemble an ancient amphitheatre.

The orchestra and conductor are

not visible to the audience, as

their pit is sunk beneath the stage.

In an unprecedented step for the

Leitmotif

The leitmotif (or “leading motif”)

technique is related to Berlioz’s

idée fixe, a fixed idea or theme

in a work, which he used in his

Symphonie fantastique. It is

also related to other earlier

forms of “reminiscence motif,” a

recurring set of notes signifying

a character or their memories.

Motifs were utilized to a greater

extent, and with unprecedented

sophistication, in Wagner’s The

Ring, however, where the whole

musical fabric—specifically in

the orchestra—of the work was

built from melodic fragments

that become associated with

different characters, ideas,

or states of mind. From the

very first performances of The

Ring, attempts were made to

“decode” these leitmotifs and

to interpret the orchestral

writing as a commentary on

the drama. The technique

went on to be widely adopted—

including, in the 20th century,

by film composers.

I laid my plans on so important

a scale, that it would be

impossible to produce this

opera ... at any lesser theatre.

Richard Wagner

COMPLETE ART WORK

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