12,399 views

, 11 tweets, 11 min read

#WednesdayWagner O nun waren wir Nachtgeweihte ... Welcome to another small but energetic Wagner's pill. Today: Night's invocation in 'Tristan und Isolde'. Let's go!
#TwitterCultural #COVIDー19 #StayHome

#WednesdayWagner This leitmotif can be listened in the 2nd Act, as the starting point of one of the most amazing love duets ever composed. If you want to listen the whole 26-min excerpt while reading, go to this link
#TwitterCultural #COVIDー19 #StayHome

#WednesdayWagner After a careful look into this melodic idea, you can surely notice these pitches are indeed the ones forming the 'Tristan Chord'. Not only they form the omnipresent 'half-diminished' chord: they are literally the same pitches
#TwitterCultural #COVIDー19 #StayHome

#WednesdayWagner On one side, coherence is achieved by using the same material as in the very beginning of the piece. The starting point is the genesis of everything along the piece
#TwitterCultural #COVIDー19 #StayHome

#WednesdayWagner On the other side, by using a different harmonization and not considering all the pitches here as a 'Tristan' chord, variety is achieved and we understand that the story has moved to another place ... #TwitterCultural #COVIDー19 #StayHome

#WednesdayWagner Indeed, note that now, every melodic pitch is a real one in the chord, although the mood is very chromatic because of using 'borrowed chords' from minor mode, augmented 5th... Very interesting modification of the initial idea
#TwitterCultural #COVIDー19 #StayHome

#WednesdayWagner But there's something else ... Do you feel that you have already listened to this melody before? ... Of course!! It's really closed to the 'CURSE OF THE RING' leitmotif. Look at the comparison below
#TwitterCultural #COVIDー19 #StayHome

#WednesdayWagner As you know, Wagner stopped the composition of 'Siegfried' to create 'Tristan' and 'Meistersinger'. And it seems not a coincidence this resemblance between 'Night's invocation' and 'Curse of the Ring' leitmotifs ...
#TwitterCultural #Covid_19 #StayHome

#WednesdayWagner It seems that Wagner is telling us, experts listeners of his gorgeous music, that this love scene at the start of Tristan Act 2 will end in a tragedy, that the love story has been cursed ... Wagner is preparing us for the end!
#TwitterCultural #Covid_19 #StayHome

#WednesdayWagner So in summary, it's amazing to see again that what at first sight seems a simple idea (i.e. half-diminished chord) can be worked to construct a coherent piece full of unity and variety, the two essencial ingredients of art
#TwitterCultural #Covid_19 #StayHome