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Sep 16, 2020 16 tweets 14 min read Read on X
#WednesdayWagner Now that the summer is about to end (Sommerdämmerung), let's resume this weekly digest of my music. Today: DIE WALKÜRE'S STORM. AN EXAMPLE OF ECONOMY OF MEANS IN WAGNER.
#TwitterCultural #SummerReading #Wagner #GreatestComposerEver
#WednesdayWagner The beginning of 'Die Walküre' is an absolute slap on the face that immerses you in a different atmosphere of 'Das Rheingold'. Indeed, the world of Gods and Nibelungs is replaced by the world of humans.
#WednesdayWagner There are many elements that contribute to the tension of this beginning. Let's mention, firstly, the 'obstinato' strategy by repeating the same idea with some transformations, as this contraction at the very beginning #TwitterCultural #SummerReading
#WednesdayWagner Another important aspect is the rhythm: the burst of 16th notes gives the perception in the ear that the accent is on the 2nd pitch (b flat) instead on the 1st one (d). At least, I perceived that in the first listening of the piece #TwitterCultural #SummerReading
#WednesdayWagner But, do you feel that this motive sounds familiar? Sure! You will listen to a small variation of it at the ending of the opera ... is the 'Sleeping Brünnhilde' motive BUT here it appears in minor mode! #TwitterCultural #SummerReading
#WednesdayWagner How is the 'Sleeping Brünnhilde' leitmotif transformed into the 'Storm' leitmotif? As indicated in the figure below. For the sake of clarity, I have started in D Major instead E major (as it appears in Act 3) #TwitterCultural #SummerReading
#WednesdayWagner Of course, some pitches have been included to form Wotan's descending scale (see thread below), but the 6th interval at the beginning and the harmony is clearly the one in Brünnhilde's motivic world
#TwitterCultural 
#WednesdayWagner As an example, in Wotan's final monologue (Leb' wohl), when the sleeping motive appears everywhere, sometimes the harmonic basis is a minor chord and, MAGIC, the relationship between the storm motive is clear! You can see below
#TwitterCultural #SummerReading
#WednesdayWagner But the power of this motive is so high that Wagner uses it during the whole prelude of the opera. Play again the prelude (link above) from 1.08 to 1.20 ... In the basses, there is the quasi-inversion of the motive! Gorgeous
#TwitterCultural #SummerReading
#WednesdayWagner The rapid burst of pitches is now descending, and the scale moves upwards. I call it 'quasi-inversion' because the 1st big interval is not a 6th, but a 7th. But the inversion can be heard in a really clear way 
#TwitterCultural #SummerReading
#WednesdayWagner Question: Why would Wagner enlarge this 6th interval to make it a 7th? My answer, not the real Wagner but yours trully on Twitter 🙂: To allow generating a descending pattern, since the returning pitch is not the same now.
#TwitterCultural #SummerReading
#WednesdayWagner Indeed, look at the first pitch of each motive (marked in red): You can notice ALSO THERE the Wotan's descending scale, which is indeed the one used in the motive itself
#TwitterCultural #SummerReading
#WednesdayWagner Another excerpt: If you listen to 1.32, when the 'Donner' motive appears in the brasses, let's see the patterns done by the string instruments: Surprise! The storm motive in a perfect canon with 3 voices! Impressive
#TwitterCultural #SummerReading
#WednesdayWagner So the 'Storm' leitmotif is not only a variation (or a seed!) of Brünnhilde's sleeping motive, but it's also constructed to allow such a canon (not all musical ideas can be worked in this way). Nothing is left to chance here!
#TwitterCultural #SummerReading
#WednesdayWagner Thus, you can see that the whole Prelude of this opera is based almost exclusively on one single idea, the one that will serve as a conclusion of the opera more than 3 hours laters. Isn't it wonderful?#TwitterCultural #SummerReading #Wagner #Genius

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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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