Monday 7 May 2012

Richard Wagner

It's been said that with the exception of Napoleon and Jesus, there have been more books written about Richard Wagner than anybody else. A hugely controversial figure, he was undoubtedly a pioneer and a visionary who did much to advance music and theatre. He remains one of the most influential artists of all time.

Wagner and Verdi were both born in 1813 and, between them, dominate 19th century opera. But where, on one hand, Verdi wrote operas with tuneful music and dramatic characters to engage his audience, Wagner often chose more static stories, debate and complex sounds to create a more spiritually connected audience; where Verdi wrote to and expanded forms dictated by the opera houses and censors (eg 5 acts with ballet for Paris, the aria and cabaletta structure), often with stories based on popular plays, Wagner created new forms, a new kind of music and often adapted myths and legends rather than play texts; Verdi largely worked with known quantities and can be seen pushing the boundaries of what was expected of him. Wagner worked to no expectations: he was his own man, a unique genius.

Before we look at what makes Wagner so special, a brief bit of biography. He was born in Leipzig, and completed his first opera, Die Feen, The fairies when he was 20, although it was never performed until after his death. Three years later, his second opera, Das Liebesverbot, The ban on love, based on Shakespeare's Measure for Measure, closed after the second performance. This was followed by Rienzi in 1840. These three early works are usually regarded as being rather poor, falling outside the regularly cannon and are rarely performed. They reveal the influence of Weber, an earlier German composer, and are not felt to be truly "Wagnerian" or unique.

The next three works are where Wagner's true voice begins to become clear, even though they remain "early" works: Der fliegende Hollander, The flying Dutchman (1843), Tannhauser (1845) and Lohengrin (1850). Wagner was at this time the Royal Court Conductor in Dresden, but was forced to flee to Paris for his involvement in the Dresden Uprising, part of a pro-democracy movement to create a united Germany which was, at that time, still broken into a number of kingdoms (eg Saxony, Bavaria). In fact, despite his revolutionary zeal, a king of Bavaria would later play a hugely important part in Wagner's life (and finances).

All three works deal with myths and common to all three is also the redemptive love of a good woman, that could lift curses and wash away evil and sin (often showing her love by her death). While in Paris, Wagner re-assessed his approach to opera, expounding his theories in several important (and difficult to read) volumes. The most important ideas are:

  • the importance of Greek drama in creating a festival setting. The subjects were myths and the same stories were often given by different playwrights during the Festival of Dionysus. The use of a Chorus in Greek drama, the familiar stories and the open air circular arena where the plays were performed put extra emphasis on the audience, and the dramas became an inclusive act involving the people (or Volk in German) as much as the performers.
  • the monologues found in Greek drama as one character narrates to another or the Chorus. The structure is often of long speeches rather than conversational dialogue (which would be more common in comedy). Many of Wagner's operas follow this structure (which is why many people find them "boring", "difficult" or "static"): there is often little interaction, few choruses and few duets/trios etc.
  • the Gesamtkuntswerk or Total work of art: that an opera could embrace music, theatre, drama and philosophy to create a powerfully moving and communal experience, not just a fantasy story with some bravura singing.
  • that the orchestra, rather than simply accompanying the singers, is a character in itself. Here is the idea of the leitmotif or leading motive where characters, places, actions, ideas, thoughts all have a musical idea to represent them. This idea came most to the fore in The Ring and while not completely original, Wagner took this technique far beyond what anybody else had achieved until that point. 
Also at this time, he wrote the notorious essay Jewishness in music, his anti-semitism fuelled by the political landscape and society of the time (in trying to create a German nation); his personal and artistic animosity to the Jewish composer Meyerbeer (who had failed to give Wagner employment) and the increasing number of successful Jewish composers. (Bryan Magee in his book, Aspects of Wagner, while condemning Wagner for his anti-semitism, points out that very few people apart from Wagner had commented on the sudden rise of Jewish composers. He explains Wagner's point by saying that the emptying of Jewish ghettoes had led to an assimilation of cultures and it was therefore inevitable that Jewish composers would begin to write in more popular and common ways.)

Unlike many composers, Wagner wrote his own librettos. They are often highly stylised. He began to work on his next project while composing Lohengrin. This was Siegfrieds Tod, The Death of Siegfried. Over twenty five years, it would grow to be what is often regarded as the single greatest work of art in the Western world: Der Ring des Nibelungen, The Nibelung's Ring. The Ring created the image of Wagner's fat ladies, horned helmets and enormous length: The Ring is a tetralogy made up of four operas, Das Rheingold, Die Walkure, Siegfried and Gotterdammerung which were planned to take place over "three nights and a preliminary evening", totalling on average fifteen hours of music. For The Ring, Wagner created new instruments, placed new demands on singers and voices, and demanded new and spectacular theatrical effects.

While writing The Ring, Wagner took a break to compose Tristan und Isolde (1865) and Die Meistersinger von Nurnburg, The Mastersingers of Nuremberg (1868), the latter a four and a half hour comedy. At the end of Meistersinger there is a large pageant and a hymn to Holy German Art which became notorious for its use as symbolism for the Nazi party. The prissy and unattractive character Beckmesser is often thought to be a cruel parody of Eduard Hanslick, the Jewish music critic who wrote against Wagner's music. Tristan contains some of the most erotic music ever written and opens with the famous Tristan chord, one of the most discussed and influential pieces of Western music. Here Wagner uses chromaticism and dissonance, notes which clash when played together, to create tension, excitement and tingle the spine. The Tristan chord never resolves: it left hanging until the end of the opera five hours later. (Take a simple tune, Happy birthday to you. The first line is pleasant enough; the second line follows it nicely and feels 'right'. But sing the first three lines only and something isn't right: the tune is hanging. It feels incomplete; the last note doesn't work or seem to fit. In other words, it is unresolved and we need the final line to take us back to the starting note, to resolve the tune.)

The Ring tells the story of the struggle for a ring of power between god, dwarves, giants and men. Das Rheingold begins at the bottom of the river Rhine, goes deep underground and concludes in the clouds. To satisfy his ambitions, Wagner knew he would have to produce the work himself but couldn't find a theatre that could stage the work. His answer? Build his own, of course. 


King Ludwig II
He chose the small town of Bayreuth (pronounce By-royt) not too far from Nurmeberg in Bavaria for his theatre and was fortunate to attract as patron King Ludwig II. Ludwig was a huge admirer of Wagner. It's often said that Ludwig suffered from mental illness, was a fantasist and a secret homosexual. He was certainly passionate about Wagner's music and the rooms in his fantasy castle, Neuschwanstein, are decorated with images from Wagner's operas. He generously bankrolled much of the building of the Festspielhaus in Bayreuth, and Wagner was certainly not going to turn down the King's generosity.




The first Bayreuth Festival took place in 1876 with The Ring. Unlike most Italian theatres, all the seats have a perfect view of the stage (remembering the design of the Greek amphitheatre). The emphasis was very much on what was taking place on stage rather than in the audience (as happened elsewhere). There were no boxes and uniquely, the auditorium was darkened for the performance. We may think of this as standard now, but it was an innovation at the time. Even more original is the orchestra pit which is covered by a hood, creating a unique acoustic and hiding the orchestra and conductor from the audience. Wagner's final opera, Parsifal, described by him as a Bühnenweihfestspiel, festival play for the consecration of the stage, was composed with the specific acoustic at Bayreuth in mind.


View from the pit showing the orchestra hood
A trip to the Festival Theatre on the Green Hill in the summer is the ultimate for all Wagnerians. Only Wagner operas are performed there, and only those from The flying Dutchman onwards. The festival has always been run by a descendant of the composer and is currently run by his great-grandaughters. To see The Ring in the theatre which was built specifically for that opera is, for many, the supreme operatic experience. Alas, the only time I have been to Bayreuth was in the middle of February and my main experience was that of cold and snow.

Wagner died of a heart attack in 1883, aged 69.

Wagner's grave at his Bayreuth home, Wahnfried

You can watch Stephen Fry's Wagner documentary here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_idNBdrM9k The Great Composers documentary is here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Q5_LV7xOL4 Tony Palmer's eight hour film, with Richard Burton, begins here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5f65v5BbWw

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