2. It has often been
claimed that the
most books ever
written are about
the controversial
figures of Jesus,
Napoleon, Hitler,
and Wagner. That
says something
about the very
charismatic
personalities of
these people.
3. Wagner was a man with very many bad character
flaws and probably the least of these was his anti-
Semitism. But it is the flaw he is most famous for.
So we will look at it now at some length.
There are many
misconceptions
about the Nazis
and Wagner and
we will set those
straight.
5. Wagner was
born in the
Jewish quarter
of Leipzig in
1813. He
suspected, based
on some letters
he found, that
his biological
father was a
lodger his
mother had
taken in and he
also suspected
that this man
was Jewish.
6. Later, when he became famous, he was dogged by rumors
that he was part-Jewish. This cartoon, from back then, shows
a rabbi with a shofar turning into Wagner with a conductor’s
baton. Wagner had a prominent nose and was an easy target
for his enemies.
Much later he was called by the press “the rabbi of
Bayreuth” because of his many Jewish friends and contacts
.
7. When Wagner was struggling to
have his own works produced
and accepted he became
enormously resentful of the
absolutely phenomenal success
of the Jewish opera composer
Meyerbeer.
Wagner also resented the
popularity of Mendelssohn,
who had Jewish ancestry.
8. .
Crowds flocked to see
the latest Meyerbeer
opera, which had lots of
spectacle on stage
Here is a Edward Degas painting
of the musicians performing
one of Meyerbeer’s most
popular operas.
9. Almost all of Wagner’s
anti-Semitism was
confined to the presence
of Jews in the field of
music. He thought that
they were a parasitic
group with no
worthwhile culture of
their own, who
degraded his ideal of a
pure nationalistic
German music. He
wrote about this in a
famous essay.
10. Wagner published his
anti-Semitic essay
“Jews in Music”
anonymously. Later,
when he was famous,
he republished it under
his own name. This
was first put out early
in his career and its
contents were well-
known to his many
Jewish supporters.
They ignored much to
be in the presence of
this extraordinary
genius.
11.
12. Wagner’s anti-Semitism was sort of like US southern racism
– a belief that a certain group is genetically, intellectually, and
culturally inferior. Yet there were some close relationships
between whites and blacks in the south and Wagner had some
very close lifelong Jewish friends.
13. Wagner was always
destitute until he was
51. But that did not
deter him from running
up enormous debts
wherever he went. He
felt that nothing was too
good for a man of his
genius.
When his creditors put
the squeeze on him he
did what any gentleman
would do.
15. Wagner was always
putting the squeeze on
his friends to “lend”
him money. He would
then berate them for not
being as generous as he
thought they should be.
16. Wagner was often
forced to rely on Jewish
money lenders, who he
would then stiff
whenever possible.
One of them later
wrote that there would
always be others who
would not pay him back
but that only one of
those would write
“Tristan and Isolde” and
because of that he
forgave Wagner.
17. Later in life he met his
dream patron – “Mad”
king Ludwig of Bavaria,
a very ardent fan of
Wagner’s operas.
Wagner milked this for
all he could and Ludwig
bankrupted Bavaria
supporting Wagner and
his own obsession with
Wagner’s operas.
18. Ludwig built his fairy tale castle Neuschwanstein in southern Bavaria
and filled it with paintings and objects illustrating Wagner’s operas.
Wagner was a frequent visitor. I have been there twice. Ludwig was
nuts. A lonely recluse who lived in a fantasy world created by Wagner’s
operas. He bankrolled the production of these operas.
19. The castle was not designed by an architect,
but by the set designer at the Munich opera
27. Herrenchiemsee palace – another of “Mad Ludwig’s”
expensive building follies. I was there once and it is
mostly empty inside because it was stopped early on.
29. Wagner eventually dumped his long-suffering first wife Minna, an
actress, whose income he had mooched off of for years. His many
affairs, while they were married, strained their relationship and the final
straw was his infatuation with Mathilde Wesendonck, an author and poet.
She was the wife of a silk merchant who greatly admired Wagner’s
music. She inspired Wagner’s highly erotic “Tristan and Isolde”
30. Wagner’s 2nd wife was Cosima, daughter of Franz Liszt (who heavily
promoted Wagner and his music). Cosima was a rabid anti-Semite and
already married when she and Wagner had an affair.
31. Wagner and Cosima had 3
children while she was still
married to Hans Von
Bulow, Wagner’s close
associate and conductor.
(It’s complicated). Von
Bulow did not object to
Wagner’s affair with his
wife. Notoriously tactless
(To a trombonist: "Your
tone sounds like roast-beef
gravy running through a
sewer”) he nonetheless
was devoted to Wagner.
Hans Von Bulow
32. Wagner later had an affair with the
half-Jewish Judith Gautier: poet,
novelist, and oriental scholar
Portrait by John Singer Sargent
33. In his later years Wagner
indulged his preference for
women’s underwear and spent
a lot of money on silk
garments and other cross-
dressing wardrobe. He was
embarrassed about this and
had deliveries made secretly.
He gave very explicit
directions about the colors
and fabric of various
garments that he ordered.
Judith Gautier helped him
with this.
34. Cross-dressing was just one of
Wagner’s surprising adult traits. He
often stood on his head, from sheer
exuberance. He liked to slide down
banisters and he climbed tall trees even
in his 50’s, just for fun.
36. Siegfried Wagner was a
very effeminate boy who
matured into a very
effeminate man. The
family thought it best to
“cure” him of his
tendencies by marrying
him off. It didn’t work and
he was a very active
homosexual. His wife was
British and on his death in
1930 she inherited
complete control of the
Bayreuth Festival and the
Wagner legacy.
37. Siegfried and Winifred Wagner
This was an arranged
marriage. Siegfried was
45 and she, Winifred, was
17. She was a British
orphan adopted by a
distant German relative.
Soon after their marriage
they had 4 children in
quick succession but it
did not slow down his
string of male lovers.
After his death in 1930 Winifred hotly pursued a romantic
interest who she was absolutely bonkers over. Someone she
had met in 1923 and instantly fell madly in love with.
38. Winifred was crazy in
love with Hitler and
kept trying to get him to
marry her. He liked her
extreme adulation and
often came to Bayreuth
to see her.
Right up to her death in 1980 she was a
blunt unrepentant Nazi and often expressed
her extreme political and racist views.
39. Hitler was almost alone among the top Nazis in liking Wagner’s music.
Most high ranking Nazi officers were simple thugs with no interest at all
in Wagner or classical music. During the Third Reich the popularity of
Wagner’s music with the German opera-going public actually declined
and Italian opera became much preferred.
40. “At the age of twelve, I saw ... the first opera of my life, Lohengrin.
In one instant I was addicted. My youthful enthusiasm for the Bayreuth
Master (Wagner) knew no bounds” from Hitler’s book “Mein Kampf”.
Hitler never ascribed any
of his views to Wagner,
not in Mein Kampf, his
speeches, articles, or
recorded private
conversations, not even in
his 1920 speech “Why Are
We Anti-Semites?”
Hitler may have never
read any of Wagner’s
thoroughly documented
ideas. It was the operas
that entranced him.
41. The few highly educated leading Nazis,
like Joseph Goebbels (PhD in 19th
century romantic drama. His main
teacher and his doctoral supervisor were
both Jews) would seem like a natural for
Wagner’s romantic musical drama. Yet
he was dismayed by Hitler’s fascination
with Wagner’s music. Goebbels virulent
and genocidal anti-Semitism far
exceeded Wagner’s – who never once
suggested that Jews be persecuted in any
way. Goebbels had a club foot, brown
eyes and was only 5 feet, 5 inches tall -
very far from the Aryan ideal – more like
one of Wagner’s opera villains.
42. Heinrich Himmler was a typical Nazi
thug and became the main architect of
the Holocaust. Hitler forced him and
other high level Nazi officials to attend
special Wagner performances. Hitler
was disappointed to then see them doze
off during the music. He eventually
gave up and cancelled the concerts.
The conclusion has to be that pretty
much except for Hitler himself, the top
Nazis and Wagner were not linked by
his music but, if at all, by his anti-
Semitism and his nationalistic ideas.
People like Hitler and Himmler and
some others were rabidly anti-Semitic
with no help from Wagner’s very bland
version.
43. Nazi rally, with Wagner’s music played (the overture to
”Die Meistersinger”) by Hitler’s command
44. But look! - 1st International Zionist convention, 1897, opened
with Wagner’s overture to “Tannhauser” - Theodor Herzl’s choice
46. Imagine a painter in the 1860’s immersed in the kind of art shown on the left and
in the middle here who was suddenly shown the Picasso on the right – a whole
new way of looking at women and of art itself. The shock he would feel is what
composers felt when they heard the first few measures of Wagner’s “Tristan and
Isolde”. Some, like Emmanuel Chabrier, broke down sobbing or even passed out.
They were blown away by the famous “Tristan chord” and the start of a new kind
of music. Wagner’s influence was immense, from Puccini to Debussy and
countless other composers, both of opera and music in general.
47. Here is the famous “Tristan chord” that
changed in one brief stroke the future of
Western music. We will hear just the
first few seconds of Wagner’s opera
“Tristan and Isolde”, where the chord
first appears. At this point composer
Emmanuel Chabrier, in the audience,
was already sobbing uncontrollably. He
could see the future.
We today cannot hear this with the
amazement in produced back then – 2
separate dissonances within one chord,
then transformed in the next measure into
another dissonant chord. We hear it now,
just the first few measures (next slide).
48.
49.
50. George Bernard Shaw wrote that “Tristan is an astonishingly intense and
faithful translation into music of the emotions which accompany the union of a
pair of lovers”, like in this Toulouse Lautrec painting. Richard Strauss wrote
that with Tristan “the yearning of the entire 19th century is gathered in one focal
point.” Nietzsche wrote that “I am still in search of a work which exercises
such a dangerous fascination, such a spine-tingling and blissful infinity as
Tristan — I have sought in vain, in every art."
51. Wagner’s “Tristan and Isolde” is widely regarded as the most erotic
music ever written. The American composer Virgil Thomson claimed
that Wagner depicted seven musical orgasms in the second act alone.
The lovers' passion finds expression in music that hovers in suspended
animation between arousal and climax. We now see a short example.
52.
53. Verdi, whose style was
very different from
Wagner’s , said that he
“stood in wonder and
terror” before Wagner’s
“Tristan and Isolde”. He
said that he could never
quite grasp the fact that
it had been created by a
mere human being.
Verdi’s “Otello” shows
very clear Wagner
influence.
54. Jules Massenet - composer
of “Manon” - said after his
first exposure to Wagner’s
Tristan and Isolde, that he
couldn’t wait to get back to
Paris to burn his score of his
own opera Werther which
he had been working on.
French composers all went
bonkers over Wagner.
Debussy had to fight
mightily against this and its
own early sway over him.
55. French Composer Emmanuel Chabrier was totally under the
sway of Wagner. After attending Wagner’s Tristan and Isolde
he immediately quit his government job and devoted his life
to music. A friend of Monet and Manet and widely admired
by other composers.
56. French Composer Claude Debussy
was profoundly influenced by Wagner
and had to struggle to assert his own
identity. In general the French
composers were crazy for Wagner’s
music.
Ernest Chausson’s opera “King Arthur”
essentially plagiarizes Wagner’s Tristan and
Isolde and sounds strikingly similar.
58. French composer Georges Bizet (Carmen and other operas)
said that Wagner was the greatest living composer, describing
him as an innovative genius who wrote music of indescribable
charm.
59. At work and in private
conversation he never tired of
pointing out that, as far as he
was concerned, Richard Wagner
was the only composer besides
Mozart who could be taken
seriously.
German opera composer
Richard Straus (Salome, Der
Rosenkavalier, etc.)
60. How did Jewish composers, conductors, and
opera singers react to Wagner, given his well-
known anti-Semitism? I’m glad you asked!
61. Jewish composer Gustav Mahler
Heavily influenced by
Wagner, he said:
“There is only Beethoven
and Wagner, and after them,
nobody”
also
"Emerging speechless from
the Festspielhaus after
hearing Parsifal in 1883, I
realized that I had undergone
the most soul-wrenching
experience in my life, and
that I would carry this
experience with me for the
rest of my days".
62. Hermann Levi
Jewish conductor, son
of a rabbi, was a close
working associate and
longtime friend of
Wagner. He conducted
the premier of Wagner’s
“Parsival”. Wagner
often strongly urged his
many Jewish friends to
convert. Many of them
were devoted to him and
felt privileged to know
such a towering genius.
They all knew of his
anti-Semitism.
63. Jewish opera composer Franz Schreker
Once the brightest star of
European composers in the first
part of the 20th century.
Schreker's fame and influence
were at their peak during the
early years of the Weimar
Republic when he was the most
performed living opera
composer after Richard Strauss.
Died of a stroke in 1934.
Heavily influenced by
Wagner.
64. Jewish composer Arnold Schoenberg
Fled Germany to US in 1934.
Revolutionized 20th century
music.
When told it would take a six-
fingered violinist to play his
violin concerto, Schoenberg
replied: "I can wait” He
claimed to have seen each of
Wagner’s operas 25 to 30 times
by the time he was 25 years old.
65. Jewish Composer Erich Korngold
A child prodigy and very successful in Europe as a
composer and performer. Came to Hollywood in the
1930s to write film music. A pioneer in developing film
music into an art form. He was very influenced by
Wagner and wrote music for a Hollywood movie –
“Magic Fire” about the life of Wagner. William Dieterle
( Jewish) directed.
66. Famous film director Fritz Lang – half Jewish (mother), raised a Catholic, made
“Metropolis”, “M” and other classics. He was drawn to the exact same story
line as Wagner and made a 5 hour silent film version of Wagner’s “Ring” saga.
67. The Jewish conductor Bruno
Walter heard his first Tristan
und Isolde in 1889 as a student:
"So there I sat in the topmost
gallery of the Berlin Opera
House, and from the first sound
of the cellos my heart contracted
spasmodically... Never before
has my soul been deluged with
such floods of sound and
passion, never had my heart
been consumed by such
yearning and sublime bliss... A
new epoch had begun: Wagner
was my god, and I wanted to
become his prophet."
68. Zionist Theodor Herzl and
prime mover of the Zionist
movement was a big fan of
Wagner’s music. Everyone
knew about Wagner’s anti-
Semitism, but that was the
man. The music was
something else entirely. He
took solace in Wagner’s
music during his Zionist
struggles. Herzl said he
doubted he ever would have
written “The Jewish State”
had he not heard
“Tannhauser” at the Paris
Opera and been inspired by it.
69. Famed Jewish conductor Erich Leinsdorf fled
Austria to avoid the Nazis and then went on to record
much of Wagner.
70. Famed Jewish conductor Otto Klemperer fled
Germany to avoid the Nazis and then went on to
record much of Wagner.
71. Famed Jewish conductor Fritz Reiner came to US
in 1922, then went on to record much of Wagner.
72. Once asked how he could love Wagner, Leonard Bernstein replied, “I
hate Wagner — on my knees.” (i.e., kneeling in homage to his genius)
Jewish conductor/composer
Leonard Bernstein
73. Jewish conductor
and pianist Daniel
Barenboim broke
the Israeli
Philharmonic
boycott of
Wagner’s music in
2001. This was a
very controversial
act and was only
done as an encore,
with people free to
leave before it.
74. Barenboim said that "Wagner,
the person, is absolutely
appalling, despicable, and, in a
way, very difficult to put
together with the music he
wrote, which so often has
exactly the opposite kind of
feelings ... noble, generous,
etc." He called Wagner's anti-
Semitism obviously
"monstrous," and feels it must
be faced, but argues that
"Wagner did not cause the
Holocaust."
75. Sir Georg Solti – famous Jewish
conductor – recorded the definitive
version of Wagner’s complete Ring
Cycle (four related operas). The
actual recording experience, from
1956 to 1965 was the subject of both
a book and a movie. A 2011 poll of
classical music critics voted it the
greatest music recording of all time.
The first one released, “Das
Rheingold”, was a surprise best seller
in 1958 due to large numbers of
owners of hi-fi equipment who
wanted to test out their gear on the
amazing “Ring” sound effects.
76. We will now see a few minutes of Solti’s amazing
conducting style – “Siegfried’s Death and Funeral March”
from “Gotterdammerung” at the end of the “Ring”. His
orgasmic total immersion in the music is something to behold.
77.
78.
79. We will now hear 2 very short
“Das Rheingold” Wagner
selections that 1950s and 60s hi-
fi fans would use to test out their
equipment. First is the entrance
of the giants from Act I. Then
there is the lightning and thunder
scene at the end of the last act of
“Das Rheingold”. These are
loud and also have a wide range
of sound frequency content that
would put a good stereo system
through its paces.
80.
81.
82. Following Donner’s lightning bolt and rolling thunder a rainbow
comes out and the gods cross a rainbow bride to Valhalla.
83. Zubin Mehta,
while not
Jewish, has
long had a
very close
association
with Israel.
He has
frequently
performed
Wagner around
the world.
84. Friedrich Schorr, Jewish
Hungarian singer. Son of a
cantor. Regarded as the
greatest Wagnerian bass-
baritone of his generation.
Sang at the Met and also at
the Wagner Bayreuth
Festival (1925-1933). Came
to USA in 1931.
85. Ernestine Schumann-Heink
Half-Jewish (mother). Was a
famous Wagner singer in the
early 1900’s and often performed
at Bayreuth and later at the Met
in NYC. At one point in her
career hailed as “the world’s
greatest contralto,” Made her
Met debut weeks after having her
7th child.
89. Same song but different people, instead of Jonas Kaufmann.
90. Today’s leading conductor and interpreter of Wagner is the
Met’s James Levine, who is Jewish. We will now see him
doing 1 minute of the beginning of Act III of “Siegfried”
91.
92. This long roster of famous Jewish
composers, conductors, and singers show
that they put aside Wagner the man in order
to embrace Wagner’s music. That is a
choice everyone must make. Of course it is
a lot easier if you don’t like his music. But
some (especially Wagner himself) think
Wagner was the greatest artist genius of all
time, in any field. I do too.
94. The tenor role of Siegfried
is the most physically and
vocally demanding role in
all of opera. It is the
Ironman event that has very
few entrants. Very few
tenors can sing it at all, even
badly, and a good one comes
along maybe once in a
generation. It ruins voices
and ends careers early if
tried too soon. We will
watch a promising young
new Siegfried, who we hope
will not burn out too soon.
95. At the end of Wagner’s “Siegfried”, he has been singing
almost continuously for several hours in a very demanding
role, requiring enormous power and stamina. Then he has to
end the opera with a thrilling and ecstatic climax, instead of
dropping in his tracks from fatigue. We will now watch this.
Jay Hunter Morris
96.
97. Wagner’s innovations
His innovations and influence spread beyond composition into
conducting, philosophy, literature, the visual arts and theatre and this
doesn’t include his major innovations in the music itself. He invented
stage scenery that moved sideways; founded the modern school of
conducting; began a revolution in stage lighting; greatly developed the
concept of ‘leitmotiv’; inspiring many writers and poets including
Joyce, Shaw, D.H. Lawrence, T.S Elliot, and Thomas Mann, invented
the modern form of opera; wrote his own libretto, put singing in the
service of drama, and basically revolutionized the whole field of opera.
In addition he transformed the future of music itself with his “Tristan
Chord” and other harmonic and chromatic effects.
98. Wagner’s ideas and music strongly influenced the symbolist movement
painters, like Odilon Redon and Gustav Klimt (left and right above), as
well as the French symbolist poets – Baudelaire, Verlaine, Mallarme –
who worshipped Wagner. Edvard Munch and other painters, writers, and
artists also were very influenced by Wagner. The poet W.H. Auden said
that Wagner was probably the greatest genius who had ever lived.
99. So much of Wagner’s musical
innovations have been adopted
that now they seem like the norm.
We can’t imagine how they
seemed back then when first
encountered. Wagner developed
Freudian ideas decades before
Freud and expressed them in his
music.
His opera music reflects and
expresses inner thoughts and
feelings of characters, which they
are themselves are sometimes
unaware of. But we the audience
learn of it even if they are
unaware. He was above all a
creator of psychological depth in
his music.
Wagner’s orchestra often knows more than
the characters on stage, just as the author
of a book can know more than the
characters in it, and tell that to the reader.
100. Before Freud was even born
Wagner analyzed the
Oedipus myths and said that
incestuous desires were
completely natural. There is
a lot of incest in his operas.
102. The poet Baudelaire said he would try to
make music with language, of “emulating
Wagner with language alone”.
A famous conductor once said, after
conducting a performance of “Tristan and
Isolde”, “This is no longer music”. By which
he meant that it was so much more than
music. It expresses in a way scarcely
imaginable the deepest sense of longing and
passion. Especially longing. Back in
Wagner’s day someone once said “This is
dangerous music” Stirring up intense feelings
of longing can and did lead to people (like
Hitler) embarking on world changing actions.
The German writer Thomas Mann was
obsessed with Wagner’s music his whole life
and called it a “troubling passion”
Nobel Prize author
Thomas Mann
103. Mark Twain did not like opera, let alone
Wagner. He went to Bayreuth to see
“Tristan and Isolde” and wrote “I know of
some and have heard of many who could not
sleep after it, but cried the night away. I feel
strongly out of place here. Sometimes I feel
like the sane person in a community of the
mad”.
The emotional and physical stress of
singing the role of Tristan led to the death of
its first tenor in 1865, after just four
performances. Two conductors of “Tristan
and Isolde” died at the podium, one in 1911
and one in 1968 and both collapsed during
the second act. It is a wrenching experience
to conduct, sing in, or listen to this very
emotionally draining opera.
104. Tristan – after 77 rehearsals in Munich the premier of the opera was cancelled. The
musicians couldn’t deal with the music – it was like noise to them, and very strange.
The singers were woefully inadequate and not up to the extreme demands the opera
placed on their voices. And when they finally were able to get the opera produced,
the audiences found it to be an extremely wrenching emotional experience. Two
conductors died at the podium while conducting it. When composing it Wagner said
to his wife that he feared that the 3rd act would drive people mad.
Just one of the many aspects of this opera, Tristan und Isolde, that made it a very
intense experience for the audience is the unresolved tension in the music – a
tension that lasts for 4 ½ hours before it is resolved. From the very first few
measures of the prelude there is a sequence of notes that sets up a tension where
we are wired to want that sequence to end in a certain way. But it doesn’t – it just
keeps finding new ways to set up that same unresolved tension. In act II at the end
of a passionate love duet the music looks like we are finally going to get the
resolution of that tension. But just at the very moment the lovers are surprised by
enemies and we are denied fulfillment. It is not until the very end of the opera that
the harmonic sequence that our ears and brain have been waiting for is finally
delivered.
105. We will now hear the last few minutes of the “Tristan
and Isolde” love duet at the end of the 2nd act.
106.
107. Later in Wagner’s life Franz
Liszt became his father-in-
law. Liszt wrote short piano
transcripts of the themes
from many of Wagner’s
operas. Many people became
familiar with Wagner’s music
by means of these piano
pieces long before his operas
were widely performed.
Amateur pianists could play
them at home. Some of these
piano transcripts, like the
Tristan one, are quite
moving.
108. Ernest Newman
1868-1959
Celebrated British music critic
Ernest Newman detested Wagner the
man and wrote several books about
him and his music (which he greatly
admired). Wagner had long-term and
intense research into philosophy,
politics, history, literature, myth,
language, poetry, drama, and music.
In Newman’s words – “Such a
combination had never existed in a
single individual before; it has never
happened since, and in all probability
it will never happen again.”
Conductor Sir Georg Solti called
the “Ring” a masterpiece unique in
human history.
109. Wagner was a compulsive
talker, always and only about
himself, and also wrote
extensively. His published works
run to 16 volumes on a wide
range of subjects and do not
include countless letters to
friends. His autobiography “My
Life” is 750 pages, and is filled
with lies.
110. Wagner invented a new musical
instrument, the Wagner tuba. He
invented many ideas that we take for
granted today, such as –
Turning down the auditorium lights
when a performance starts, all seats face
forward, orchestra out of sight, movie
music (villain has “evil music”, etc.) ,
continuous melody line, leitmotifs, and
other innovations. His famous “Tristan
chord” changed the future of music. He
wanted opera to be a “total art work”,
where the music, singing, staging,
costumes, acting, and drama, all come
together to make a unified whole.
111. Wagner’s main musical innovations, which revolutionized
opera, cannot begin to be covered here.
112. In movies like “Jaws”, “Star Wars”, the James Bond films, etc. a
character is identified with a distinctive short musical phrase, or
leitmotif. When we hear that leitmotif we know that that character is
being referred to, even if they are not visible, or even present. Wagner
invented this and it is very important in his “Ring” cycle operas.
113. In “Das Rheingold” there is a leitmotif associated with Wotan, the chief
god (he gave up one eye in exchange for wisdom). In the next Ring opera,
“Die Walkure”, Sieglinde is telling her brother about a mysterious stranger
who came to visit once. Unknown to her, it was Wotan, her father. She
does not know this but the orchestra does and it tells us, the audience, by
playing the Wotan leitmotif, which we already know from “Das Rheingold”.
114. Movie music is basically all a result of Wagner’s ideas. A villain
has “evil” music. A chase scene has fast music, etc. Wagner
pioneered the idea of having music reflect character or action. We
are so used to this by now that we are barely even aware of it.
115. Deep bass notes from tubas are used very effectively by Wagner to
create an ominous mood, as in the first few measures of “Siegfried”,
where they are used to suggest the lurking presence of the dragon Fafnir.
We hear now a short example of that. It would be perfect in a movie.
116.
117. Renoir showed typical
upper class opera goers.
The man is not looking
at the opera but rather at
other operagoers. Some
opera houses had some
seats with no view of the
stage. Wagner hated
this. Opera should not
be to see who was
wearing what and who
was with who but to pay
close attention to a work
of musical drama.
118. He designed his own opera house in Bayreuth for
producing his works. It has superb acoustics.
119. Wagner’s opera house has no side
wall seats so everyone looks
forward, not at each other. My
German client, Carl Zeiss optics,
once gave me and my wife two
tickets to a Bayreuth performance.
The normal wait for tickets is 8 to
10 years. Our tickets had a printed
face price of $50. The black
market price, which Zeiss paid for
them, was $1,700 each!
120. I have also been to his
house/museum in Bayreuth,
Germany, where his grave is
and to his house/museum
on the shores of Lake
Lucerne in Switzerland
Cosima, Wagner, and Liszt at Bayreuth
121. Wagner has been mocked for assaulting our ears with loud
and dissonant music. Most of Wagner is not like that.
122. Here next is a recording of the prelude to Act 3 of Wagner’s
“Lohengrin”, which features a lot of brass and a very energetic style.
This exuberance leads directly into the famous “Wedding March”,
played at most weddings – a slow and serene soft piece. Wagner wrote
many orchestral interludes, like this one, that precede the singing. Most
people probably do not realize that this famous quiet wedding music is
from Wagner. His reputation for loud music is only partly deserved.
123.
124.
125. The British comedienne Anna Russell has made a long career out of
satirizing Wagner, especially the “Ring”. We will see 2 minutes of her act.
126.
127. Wagner always knew exactly the dramatic musical effect he
wanted to create and gave very explicit instructions in his operas.
In “Das Rheingold” Wotan and Loge descend down under the
earth to Nibelheim. As the orchestra fades, it gives way to a choir
of 18 tuned anvils (indicated in the score with specific size,
quantity and pitch) beating out the dotted rhythm of the Nibelung
theme to give a stark depiction of the toiling of the enslaved
dwarves beating out gold on the anvils. We will hear that now.
128.
129. Wagner always gives very explicit
stage directions and he very
carefully thought out how to give
the best dramatic effect to his
operas. These directions are
usually ignored by current stage
directors and horrible liberties are
often taken resulting in thoroughly
grotesque ”Eurotrash” productions.
I saw a “Siegfried” once where at
the climax of the ecstatic love duet
that ends the opera a character with
a Darth Vader mask wandered
around on the stage near them,
peering into their faces as they
sang. Completely wrecked the
mood.
I would love to get my hands on
these guys.
130. At the end of Act I of “Die Walkure” Siegmund and his twin sister Sieglinde,
separated at birth, have fallen in love and suddenly recognize who each other is.
At the end of a passionate duet the curtain falls as they make love on stage.
The last measures of music clearly mimic intercourse and climax. Most
conductors shy away from this and tone down the music and few stage directors
give a realistic end of Act I. We will see it staged almost the way it should be
done but the music still wimps out of the explicit sex. Georg Solti in his
classic “Ring” recording does the music right. In a recent Met production the
two lovers barely get together and then basically as kind of an afterthought as
the curtain comes down at the end of Act I. No passion shown. Crazy and
awful! A musical crime that cannot be excused.
131.
132. In “Parsival” Wagner gave very
explicit instructions about what he
wanted in a key scene where Parsival
is in a beautiful meadow filled with
flowers and flower maidens are
trying to seduce him. These two
paintings give the general idea.
The Met recently put on a
horrendous travesty of “Parsival”.
In that key scene there is no meadow
on the stark stage, there are no
flowers, there are no flowers even on
the costumes of the flower maidens,
those same flower maidens all look
like identical young zombies, and
they are standing in a pool of fake
blood. It would be hard to get
further from Wagner’s intentions.
133. Shaw wrote a book of critical essays about Wagner’s “Ring” and it is
called “The Perfect Wagnerite”. My definition of such a person is one
who is able to separate the man from the music and appreciate Wagner’s
genius. I am one of those.
