Transcript Richard Wagner - WLW Orchestra

Richard Wagner
1813-1883
Wagner’s Life
• Born in Leipzig, Germany on May 22nd, 1813
• Showed little aptitude for music, but wrote a play at 13 and then started
music lessons.
• Created the “leitmotif” which is a musical part used to represent a
character or theme in an opera. Hollywood uses this technique often.
• He is most well known for his epic operas and enormous orchestras. He
also wrote his own libretto’s (words), which was rare at the time.
• A special theater had to be created to accommodate his large works.
• His most well known opera “The Ring Cycle” took 26 years to complete.
• Wagner died of a heart attack in February 1883 while in Venice, Italy. It
is rumored it was because of an argument with his wife about his
interest in another woman.
Wagner’s Controversies
• He was a well known anti-Semite and was said to be Hitler’s favorite
composer. (Yikes!)
• He was exiled to Switzerland after being a part of an unsuccessful
uprising with the socialist German nationalists (which later became the
Nazi’s).
• He cheated on his wife, got divorced, remarried, and cheated even
more.
• His wife attempted to burn all copies of his autobiography so people
wouldn’t see his insulting remarks about his fellow composers.
• He was in debt most of his life until King Ludwig II wiped it all away
because he was such a fan.
Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen
(The Ring Cycle)
• Das Rheingold (Rhinegold)
• A dwarf named Alberich seizes the
gold of the Rhine (a river) and
denounces love to get the magic
ring which gives ultimate power.
(Sound familiar?)
• Wotan (the ruler of gods) must
give his wife’s sister Freia to the
giants who built Valhalla. He
doesn’t want to, so promises the
ring of power instead.
• Wotan finds Alberich and tricks
him into transforming into a toad.
• Alberich puts a curse on the ring;
whoever owns it will be killed and
have it stolen, and everyone else
will desire it.
• Die Walkure (The Valkyries)
• Siegmund (Wotan’s illegitimate
son) is fleeing from enemies. He
seeks shelter with Sieglinde, whom
he falls in love with. He then find
out that she is his twin sister!!
• Wotan’s Valkyrie daughter
Brunnhilde is ordered to make sure
Siegmund dies so as to please
Wotan’s wife Fricka. She disobeys,
but Wotan shows up and disables
Siegmund, and he dies.
• Sieglinde is pregnant with
Siegmund’s baby. Brunnhilde is
cursed by Wotan to sleep on a
mountain surrounded by flames.
Only the bravest of heroes will be
able to save her.
Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen
(The Ring Cycle)
• Siegfried
• Siegfried, the son of Siegmund and
Sieglinde, has been raised by
Alberich’s brother Mime. Mime
wishes for the ring, and forges the
sword Nothung which was used by
Siegmund.
• The dragon that holds the ring
(one of the giants transformed) is
killed by Siegfried. Siegfried takes
the ring.
• Siegfried defeats Wotan (in
disguise) at the mountaintop and
wakes Brunnhilde. Wotan escapes
and the two fall in love.
• Gotterdammerung (The Twilight of the
Gods)
• Siegfried gives Brunnhilde the ring before
going off on adventures.
• He is tricked into drinking a love potion by
the lord of the Gibichungs, Gunther, and
falls in love with Gutrune, his sister. He is
then ordered to find and kidnap Brunnhilde
to be Gunther’s wife.
• Hagen, Albreich’s son and advisor to
Gunther, convinces Gunther and the now
betrayed Brunnhilde to kill Siegfried.
• Siegfried is murdered, Hagen kills Gunther,
and Brunnhilde gives the ring back to the
Rhinemaidens.
• Valhalla is destroyed as the curse of the
ring claims Wotan and the other gods.
Wagner Videos
Ride of the Valkyries
Wedding March
Wagner Videos Cont.
Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg
(Overture)
Tristan und Isolde Prelude
Wagner in Pop Culture
• What’s Opera Doc?
• Bugs Bunny Opera