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Apr 15, 2020 9 tweets 10 min read Read on X
#WednesdayWagner Another immersion into Wagner's compositional procedures! After reviewing 'Rhein', 'Ring', 'Curse', 'Valhalla' and 'Tarnhelm' leitmotifs, let's talk about the 'OBLIGATION' leitmotif, which can is depicted below
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#WednesdayWagner This leitmotif appears in "Die Walküre" when Hunding receives Siegmund and offers hospitality in a "grumpy and forced" mode. Later, it would become the "vote of atonement" between Hagen and Siegfried, but this is another story
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#WednesdayWagner For sure you have noticed that, again, the first 4 pitches ("Question") are the same as the upper voice in 'Ring' leitmotif and the same as in 'Curse' leitmotif, forming a half-disminished chord. See the comparison below:
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#WednesdayWagner After that, the descending scale is the "answer", and it's linked to the "Renunciation" motive (we will come to this another day). Again, the harmony is the key to fully understand the leitmotif
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#WednesdayWagner "Question" is based on IV-II7 chords (Subdominant both of them), while "Answer" is based on V-I chords (Dominant and Tonic)
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#WednesdayWagner The key for Wagner, as in all leitmotifs with half-dism. chord, is the great expectation generated, since it can be Subdominant, Dominant or even Tonic! After this pause (D pitch), we don't know what is going to happen
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#WednesdayWagner Since this leitmotif reflects the "obligation" of Hunding, the harmony feels "obligated" to resolve in an scholastic way: considering half-disminished chord as II7 (minor mode) thus leading to V-I in this mode
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#WednesdayWagner Finally, since it is related to Ring and Curse leitmotifs, Wagner tells us that the own Ring carries the Curse and also the obligation to do certain things. Everything is connected, but treated in different compositional ways!
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More from @Wagner2_0

Dec 7, 2022
#WednesdayWagner For all of you loving to discover new connections between Wagner materials and dramas, just mentioning that the TARNHELM leitmotiv also appears in PARSIFAL. Yes, you are reading correctly! Short thread with examples ⬇️

#Wagner #DasRheingold #Parsifal #Leitmotif
Here, the 'Tarnhelm' leitmotiv, as appears in 'Das Rheingold'. You can listen to it through this link:
Now, get ready to listen to this excerpt of 'Parsifal' Act 1, at 0.06 ... What happens next will surprise you!
Read 7 tweets
Aug 31, 2022
De camino a casa tras el "Anillo del Nibelungo" en Bayreuth, y todavía procesando lo visto estos días, mi primer comentario es que la producción no es ni de lejos lo mala que se intuye tras leer algunas críticas (sobre todo, la crítica demoledora de @Scherzo_es). Sigue hilo ⬇️
El concepto general que propone este anillo me parece muy interesante: Wotan y Alberich son gemelos (algo que, por cierto, se sustenta con el comportamiento mezquino de Wotan durante gran parte del libreto) y la historia habla de una familia acomodada con todo tipo de perfiles
También me gusta (opinión personal) que el anillo no sea un objeto sino un concepto: la niñez y la inocencia. También creo que esto se sustenta en el alto simbolismo del libreto escrito por el propio Wagner.
Read 19 tweets
Feb 10, 2021
#WednesdayWagner Hoihoooo! Another Wednesday to dive into Wagner 🙂Since we are now in the "Siegfried" week, prior to its premiere at @Teatro_Real under Maestro @herascasado, let's focus today in a quick and wonderful resemblance: SIEGFRIED vs. DEBUSSY!
#TwitterCultural
#WednesdayWagner The always wonderful Debussy looked very much at Wagner when creating his personal style. Indeed, Debussy's harmonic suspension was previously written in "Tristan und Isolde"
#TwitterCultural
#WednesdayWagner But there is a wonderful excerpt in Siegfried that was beautifully taken by Debussy in a very famous work. Don't you believe me? Let's discover it. 
PS-Disclaimer: Maybe it was unintentional, but the resemblance is there
#TwitterCultural
Read 8 tweets
Feb 3, 2021
#WednesdayWagner Hoiho! Missing your weekly thread on Wagner's leitmotifs and composing strategies? Here I am! This week, we start talking on a leitmotif that appears in every Wagner's opera:
ONE LEITMOTIF TO RULE THEM ALL (part 1 out of 3)
#TwitterCultural
#WednesdayWagner Although each Wagner's creation has its own "sound world", and although leitmotif technique was not exactly exploited since the 1st one, there is a short gesture/motive that appears in ALL Wagner's operas. Don't you believe me? Keep reading ⬇️
#TwitterCultural
#WednesdayWagner This is the recurrent leitmotif: the 4-pitch gesture that can be listened to right at the beginning of Lohengrin 
#TwitterCultural
Read 20 tweets
Dec 23, 2020
Merry Christmas everyone with a new #WednesdayWagner instalment. Today: TRISTAN CHORD IN 'DIE WALKÜRE'! What happens next will surprise you
#Christmas #Wagner #Tristan #Walkure #TwitterCultural
Yesterday (all my troubles seemed...). No, seriously. Yesterday, I made a discovery that blew my mind and I am so happy to share it with you. Let's start by listening to Act 2, Scene 5 of 'Die Walküre' in a superb performance by Böhm in 1949
The scene begins with the 'Fate' leitmotif, which was already presented in the thread below ⬇️Note that harmony goes from a minor chord to a dominant chord just 1 semitone below
Read 14 tweets
Oct 28, 2020
For this #WednesdayWagner ... Some statistics regarding the TOP-10 Wagner Dramas survey you answers in my previous post. Thanks all of you! Let's digest the data
Population of the survey: 64 answers with a list of 10 Wagner Musical drarmas, ordered by preference. This is not exhaustive nor representative, but anyway really interesting (at least, for me)
Average positions are (1=1st pos, 10=10th pos):
- Tristan: 3.0
- Parsifal: 3.0
- Die Walküre: 3.6
- Götterdämmerung: 4.0
- Siegfried: 5.5
- Meistersinger: 6.0
- Rheingold: 6.0
- Lohengrin: 6.7
- Tannhäuser: 6.8
- Die Feen: 8.5
- Holländer: 8.6
- Rienzi: 9.3
- Das Lieverbot: 9.5
Read 17 tweets

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