Thread by @Wagner2_0

#WednesdayWagner Hoiho my friends! You wanted the best, you got the best ... another small talk on yours trully composition proccesses :) Today: The FATE throughout the Ring (and beyond)
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#WednesdayWagner One of the recurrent leitmotifs within the Tetralogy is the so-called 'Fate' motive: it firstly appears in 'Die Walküre', is depicted below and can be listened here: 
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#WednesdayWagner Melodically, this leitmotif is built upon the 'Rheingold' one, i.e. two consecutive pitches in a descending way (see thread of some weeks ago). We can even see this configuration both in the upper voice and also in the bass
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#WednesdayWagner Note also that upper voice pitches are the same (transposed, of course) to the Fafner leitmotiv and the 'Brünnhilde Awakening' one. All these motives are related, as you can see below
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#WednesdayWagner Additionally, a very interesting relationship is that the main pitches follow the same movement than the 'Tarnhelm' leitmotif ... just with a small modification in the last upper pitch. The core is almost identical!
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#WednesdayWagner What does it happen harmonically? We start listening a D minor chord, then a diminished 5th chord rooting on D, and last a C# Major (with 7th) chord. This is basically a VIm-V7 on F# minor (Subdominant-Dominant)
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#WednesdayWagner The unclear chord is the second one. Being a diminished chord, it can be a VII (dominant without root) of Eb, or a II (subdominant) of C minor. These would have been the "classical" resolutions ...
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#WednesdayWagner But Wagner, as always, is trying to generate other harmonic development. In fact, considering that it will resolve in Dominant of F#, we can see the 2nd chord as a VII of this same key (D without root)
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#WednesdayWagner So, although we perceive a big change in sonority between 2nd and 3rd chords, they are almost the same chord: Dominant without root + Dominant. The 9th (D) has been replaced by the root (C#)
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#WednesdayWagner But, Do we really listen a Dominant in this 2nd chord? This is a diminished 7th chord, which, as per Wilhelm Maler and Dietter de la Motter functional naming, can act as Subdominant or Dominant
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#WednesdayWagner In this case, although being the half-disminished on the VII grade (Dominant without root), we hear it a CLEAR Subdominant due to the inversion of the chord: Placing the 7th (D) in the bass changes completely the functional behaviour
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#WednesdayWagner Last but not least, what most amazes me in this leitmotif is that the last chord is perceived wtih full stability, although is a Dominant 7th chord. Wagner did this in 'Die Walküre' before the Tristan beginning, and in a very similar way! Look the resemblances...

#WednesdayWagner It is amazing how the same elements appear over and over, in different letimotifs and even in different pieces, creating a unique sound and a complex world of meanings. That's art, that's composing!
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#WednesdayWagner PS: This 'Fate' leitmotiv will also appear in the 'Annunciation of Death' leitmotif, with small changing in harmony but in a very recognizable way. But we will talk about that another day 😀
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