I love what Wagner accomplished harmonically in these portions of the opera, especially the second half of “Den einer nur freie die braut”. The key and modality change almost every few seconds create the impression of colors shifting rapidly (red, then green now blue or purple). He takes the same descending melodic figure (five notes: scale degrees 6,5,3,2,1) and modulates it through different the keys, modalities and rhythmic variations.
I find it amusing that Wagner’s orchestration is so huge he has to include 6 harps in order for them to be heard. And even with that many, the sound barely cuts through at times. The music from the finale (magic fire music) is extremely difficult for harpists because of how frequently it modulates and the ridiculous number of pedal changes.
I’m very torn about Wagner. I love his music, and “Der einer nur freie die Braut” is one of my favorite arias of all time – I love how the epic and tumultuous music drops out to reveal this touching and tragic song from a father to his daughter. On the other hand, there are Wagner’s views on ethnicity and culture which I have a hard time stomaching being an Asianish American. I have the same problem with Orson Scott Card. Ultimately, I still love the works of both these artists. I think the music I could listen to and the books I could read would be severely limited if I had to agree with every view the artist had about everything.
3 thoughts on “Assignment – Tuesday, Nov. 5”