Reading: Wagner and Music Drama

Question 1

Who was the most famous nineteenth century composer?

Answer 1

Beethoven.

Question 2

Who was, after Beethoven, the most famous nineteenth century composer?

Answer 2

Wagner.

Question 3

Leitmotiv

Answer 3

Guiding, or leading, motive in Wagner’s operas.

Question 4

Gesamtkunstwerk

Answer 4

“Total work of art” – Wagner’s term for his music dramas.

Question 5

How did Wagner change the opera?

Answer 5

He did away with all conventions of the earlier opera, complaining that it had lost its seriousness. He particularly condemned arias which he deemed artificial, and felt that they stopped the dramatic action for undramatic singing.

Question 6

Music Drama

Answer 6

Wagner’s name for his distinctive type of opera.

Question 7

When did the singers stop (and the orchestra start) carrying the opera?

Answer 7

With Wagner’s operas (music dramas).

Question 8

True or false? Transcendence is a common theme in Romanticism.

Answer 8

True.