German opera in 19th

Question 1

Der ferischutz (the marksman) , nwm 152 c

Answer 1

established German opera by carl maria von weber,
o Written and premiered while Beethoven was alive,
o Carl maria von weber,
o Libretto involved ordinary folk, caught up in supernatural events against a background of wilderness and mystery,
 By Johann Friedrich kind
o Spoken dialogue with background music,
o Very dramatic and feels like something unexpected is about to happen,
o This is thriller before thriller was a thing,

Question 1

GAERMAN opera

Answer 1

• Orchestral color for dramatic expression,
• Chromatic harmony,
• Emphasis on inner voices of the texture in contrast to the Italian stress on melody,

Question 3

Richard Wagner 1813-1883

Answer 3

• Music purpose was to serve the goals of dramatic expression,
• All-important compositions are for theater,
• Represented his ideas in a series of essays “the artwork of the future” and “opera and drama.”
• He was himself as the Beethoven of his time,
• Inspired by Weber’s operas and Beethoven’s symphonies,
• Believed in the oneness of music and drama, they are connected,
• Acts of music made visible rather than calling it music drama,

Question 4

Wagner and Italian drama,

Answer 4

• Italian – voices lead and the orchestra supports, punctuates, and comments,
• Wagner – the dramatic threads is in the music itself, led by the orchestra and the voices give it definition and precision through words,

Question 5

wagner and his predecessors

Answer 5

• Rienzi 1842 – a grand opera in Meyerbeer mold
• Der Fliegende Hollander 1843 – a romantic opera in the tradition of weber
• Tannhauser 1845 and Lohengrin 1850 – both adapted from German legends about sin and redemption,

Question 6

Der ring des Nibelungen

Answer 6

• Four-opera cycle that he wrote the librettos for,
• Plots woven out of series from medieval German epic poems and Norse legends featuring giants and dwarves, gods, and mortals,

Question 7

Wager motives or leitmotiv.

Answer 7

• The music of the four-cycle opera is organized around motives, each associated with a character, object, event, or emotion,
• Wanger referred to these motives as the works “principal themes” the same term one uses in describing symphony,
  o It also repeats.
• It may serve to recall an object, in situation when it is not present,
• Similar motives may suggest a connection between things, especially if one leitmotiv morphs into another,

Leitmotivs serve to unify a scene or opera just as recurrent themes unify a symphony.

Question 8

He believed that Jews could not be German no matter what,

Answer 8

wagner ,

Disliked Meyerbeer, because critics wrote how much Meyerbeer had influenced his own music Wagner, seeking to gain his own independence, Wagner attacked Meyerbeer arguing it was weak because he was Jewish and lacked national German roots

Question 9

Nawm 153a Wagner Tristan und Isolde, prelude

Answer 9

• Longing start, slow and dragging, rising 6th followed by chromatic descents,
• The Tristan chord – f-b-d#-g#
• Motive and extended passage of the prelude return in act 1 and acquire significance through associated words,
• B – faster, on the ship, dramatic, singing

Question 10

Gesamtkunstwerk

Answer 10

the idea that Wagner wanted to control everything,
Absolute oneness of drama and music, organically connected,
Orchestra conveys inner aspects,