R. Wagner – reformer of the opera genre
A special place in the musical creativity of romantics is occupied by an appeal to the historical past. It is not ancient mythology or history, as was the case with the classicists, that excites the imagination of romantics. Their gaze is focused on the gloomy and mysterious paintings of the Middle Ages. Composers study with particular interest ancient medieval legends, ballads and legends (heroic sagas of the Irish epic, “The Elder Edda” – the epic of the Scandinavian peoples, the French heroic epic “The Song of Roland”, “The Song of the Nibelungs” – the medieval German epic).
Idealizing the Middle Ages, the romantics were convinced that it was this distant era that was able to vividly and expressively convey the feelings and moods of the modern worldview. Never before has music been so closely associated with the fictional world of hoax and fantasy.
The prominent German composer Richard Wagner was the last major romanticist of Western European music in the 19th century. Among his famous works are the operas The Flying Dutchman (1841), Tannhäuser (1843), Lohengrin (1848), Tristan and Isolde (1859), Parsifal (1882). The main creation of the composer was the creation of the monumental operatic cycle The Ring of the Nibelungen, consisting of four musical dramas related to each other: The Gold of the Rhine (1854), The Valkyrie (1856), Siegfried (1871) and The Death of the Gods ( 1874). The work to which he devoted more than twenty years of his creative life became a reflection of the evolution of his philosophical, aesthetic and political views. In it, he turned to one of the most poetic and most complex legends of the German heroic epic – “The Song of the Nibelungs.”Freely and creatively, he recreated the ancient German epic, filled it with a deep philosophical meaning, consonant with the spirit of modern life.
For the embodiment of Wagner’s grandiose plan, the previously existing musical forms could not be arranged; he was cramped in the usual framework of traditional opera, which consisted of scattered solo, choral and ensemble numbers designed only to entertain the audience. In his search for new forms that allow for the continuous symphonic development of the action, he boldly breaks the established traditions. Dreaming of an organic fusion of music, poetic word and stage action, he prefers the declamatory principle. Wagner attaches great importance to the orchestra, which is not only the main carrier of musical action, but also the most important means of characterizing the characters, their passions and experiences.
Conceived as a glorification of heroism, courage and valor, confirming feat, the work ended with a grandiose picture of the death of the gods. The operatic cycle “Ring of the Nibelungen” is based on the idea of the destructive power of money. The golden treasure hidden at the bottom of the Rhine brings only misfortune to each of its owners. He is the cause of all atrocities, betrayals and murders committed. Only the brave and brave hero Siegfried can free the world from the curse that lies on this gold. It was he who, according to the composer’s intention, was assigned the responsible role “to teach humanity to understand injustice, to eradicate it and to build a just world to replace the world of evil.” More than once, Siegfried becomes a victim of the cunning of evil forces. To take possession of the untold treasures of the Nibelungs, a tribe of evil dwarfs, he will have to fight a giant,transformed into a terrible dragon. Having defeated him, the hero finds no peace and happiness. Only love for Brunhilde can save Siegfried, but even here he will have to go through a series of serious tests. Cunning, anger and revenge are stronger than the fearless Siegfried. He dies at the hands of traitors, and the golden ring returns to the waters of the Rhine.
The power of gold, which became the root cause of evil, leading to crimes and murders, ultimately leads to the death of the whole world. She turns out to be much stronger than people and gods – such was the hopeless and pessimistic conclusion of the creator of the opera cycle.
Wagner put all his talent, inspiration and skill into the music of operas. In it, he developed about a hundred expressive and vivid leitmotifs (fire, fate, sword), helping to reveal the symbolism of the action. He paid special attention to reproducing the dramatic experiences of the main characters. For the performance of the opera, he attracted a giant orchestra, a huge number of performers, the most complex stage technique.
The best works of Wagner still sound on the stages of the world’s largest theaters, striking with the richest palette of orchestral colors and harmony, sublime, noble images, deep human feelings. In 2003 the Mariinsky Theater in St. Petersburg under the direction of V. Gergiev staged the famous opera cycle The Ring of the Nibelungen.
