#WednesdayWagner Another Wednesday for Wagner! If the previous week we talked about the 'Ring' leitmotif, today let's explain the 'Curse of the Ring' leitmotif. It reflects the bad future for those who possess the Ring. You can see the leitmotif below
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#WednesdayWagner The core of the idea is the same as the 'Ring' leitmotif: a semi-disminished chord. Indeed, this is the same chord as the 'Ring' leitmotif, but now the melodic line goes up
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#WednesdayWagner Note that the leitmotif, apart from the octave downstep, continues adding 3rds to the chord, so that the end (apparently) of the idea is a C major chord. Wagner has linked two chords separate by 6 semitones, the maximum in the circle of 5ths
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#COVIDー19 #StayHome
#WednesdayWagner But this is not the end. This C major chord becomes the Neapolitan chord of the key, resolving in the Dominant with 7th and 9th through half steps in the lower voices and a chromatism.
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#COVIDー19 #StayHome
#WednesdayWagner This is really wonderful ... But the million dollar question is: Why do we hear this motif as an obscure one? The curse is perfectly reflected by these 4 ingredients:
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#COVIDー19 #StayHome
#WednesdayWagner 1) Breaking expectation with the first chord (C pitch), since we expect a minor chord (f# minor, with C#) but Wagner give as a disminished chord
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#COVIDー19 #StayHome
#WednesdayWagner 2) Breaking again the expectation with the next pitch (E), since we expect then a full disminished chord but we get a half-disminished one. Indeed, we do not even know which tonality we are in this very moment, with just 4 pitches by 3rds!
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#COVIDー19 #StayHome
#WednesdayWagner 3) Linking two longest-distance chords (F#and C) with no functional behaviour, one minor and one major, and keeping the pedal sound generating some 'dissonances'. Just the sound itself matters there!
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#COVIDー19 #StayHome
#WednesdayWagner 4) Breaking again the expectation at the end by resolving this major chord as a Neapolitan, with this charasteristic sound (for music freaks, we firstly heard these same two chords in Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata!). Amazing compositional treatment by yours truly!
#WednesdayWagner PS: The use of the same idea in 'Ring' and 'Curse of the Ring' leitmotifs tells us that the Ring itself carries the curse. Alberich or any other character would not be needed to launch the curse, for this is tightly coupled to the Ring
