[HN Gopher] The Leitmotifs of Wagner's Ring
___________________________________________________________________
The Leitmotifs of Wagner's Ring
Author : thombles
Score : 50 points
Date : 2021-04-14 21:57 UTC (2 days ago)
(HTM) web link (www.pjb.com.au)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.pjb.com.au)
| Freak_NL wrote:
| A potentially interesting segue into modern music is the 2006
| Ring inspired nerdcore 'remix' of the Ring-cycle: _Rhyme of the
| Nibelung_ by Baddd Spellah featuring MC Frontalot:
|
| https://soundcloud.com/badddspellah/rhyme-of-the-nibelung
|
| A tongue-in-cheek adaptation of course, but I can't read about
| Leitmotifs in Wagner's Ring cycle without thinking of this song.
| jedimastert wrote:
| Sideways, who does a ton of incredible work about music in films
| and TV, did a video about the Ring cycle
|
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6GA9Px6qkc
| alamortsubite wrote:
| This is an amazing resource for anyone wanting to appreciate
| Wagner. When I was in college, I had to learn many of these
| leitmotifs by going to our library's listening room and following
| my professor's notes while playing compact disc recordings of
| performances he prescribed. It seemed high-tech at the time!
| tomcam wrote:
| I paid something like $1100 per ticket to see a production at the
| last Seattle Opera cycle with no expectations (gift to the wife)
| and was blown away because the music is just plain incredibly
| well written and tuneful. It is straight up good 19th century pop
| music, albeit with a deeply weird plot replete with a heapin'
| helpin' of incest. Production itself was thankfully world class.
| busterarm wrote:
| Whether this is someone's thing or not, I strongly encourage
| everyone to see a complete Ring Cycle at least once.
|
| There'll be 3 opportunities to do so in Berlin between November
| & January.
| Freak_NL wrote:
| I'll personally give it a few years until 'getting together
| in large groups indoors seated next to strangers' feels more
| natural, is less at risk of being cancelled because of
| corona, and won't be sold out the minute sales open due to
| over a year of missing such things.
| busterarm wrote:
| > I'll personally give it a few years until 'getting
| together in large groups indoors seated next to strangers'
| feels more natural
|
| I think this largely depends on where you are in the world.
| There are already places you can go see a soccer match in a
| sold out stadium. Even in places that have been very locked
| down. I'm looking at you, AAMI Park.
| coolandsmartrr wrote:
| For those HNers wondering the significance of this page, a
| leitmotif is a "ringtone" for every character or event
| accompanied on a staged drama. Wagner's usage of leitmotifs in
| the Ring was very influential to the development of stage music,
| later film music.
|
| The influence is especially present in the Star Wars score. You
| know how Darth Vader's theme plays when he enters the scene? John
| Williams took hint from Wagner to assign tunes to each character.
| fredrikholm wrote:
| To expand on this, Wagner's ability to combine variations of
| different motifs in different modes enabled him to construct
| sentences, if not entire chapters of plot and story by music
| alone.
|
| It's in part one of the reasons why Wagner's music is sometimes
| seen as impenetrable, as it demands a lot from you as a
| listener. This line of thinking is exemplified in this
| (purported) quote by Stravinsky: To listen is
| an effort, and just to hear is no merit. A duck hears also.
|
| Where this ability to listen is something that is developed
| gradually either via osmosis or study, which is one of the
| reasons why listeners of classical/jazz tend to be musicians
| and/or elderly people.
| cafard wrote:
| Well, I now count as elderly (or anyway eligible for Social
| Security), but I first went to an opera at the age of about
| 12. It was Cosi Fan Tutte, and I wouldn't argue with those
| who consider that Mozart requires less effort than Wagner.
| Freak_NL wrote:
| > [...] which is one of the reasons why listeners of
| classical/jazz tend to be musicians and/or elderly people.
|
| That seems a stretch. Both classical music and jazz have a
| very wide appeal. Classical music sometimes carries the
| populistic stigma of being only for old folk or the elite,
| but that does not reflect its actual listenership. If
| anything, streaming music has made classical music more
| accessible -- at least at an entry level of the more popular
| pieces.
|
| Listeners of the Ring cycle may very well be a much more
| exclusive club (this goes for opera in general), but
| classical music is part of many people's lives (my two year
| old son digs Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf).
| fredrikholm wrote:
| I'm happy that you have a different experience (and that
| your son likes a classical piece), perhaps it's dependent
| on location and culture?
|
| I sang classical (opera, church choir) for just over ten
| years, and spent a lot of time with other musicians and
| attended many of their performances. When it came to
| classical, jazz or blues it was nearly always a vast
| majority of musicians and elderly in the crowd, with the
| occasional families with small children hanging around for
| a few minutes when the events were public/free/outdoor.
|
| For context, I am in my early thirties and live in Sweden
| (including Copenhagen here as well due to proximity).
| Freak_NL wrote:
| Oh for attending actual concerts in the flesh the
| demographics definitely skew towards elderly and people
| generally more into high-brow culture, you are right
| there. That is no different here in the Netherlands.
|
| But I don't think that reflects listenership very well.
| People listen to classical music for a variety of
| reasons; sometimes just to have some light chamber music
| to study or work with, or just to explore highlights
| perhaps heard in film or other popular media.
| larusso wrote:
| My other favorite example in Film is The Lord of the Rings.
| Especially in the first movie with the theme for the
| fellowship. It starts out as some single French horns and
| becomes this great theme when the complete fellowship walks the
| iconic scene over the mountains towards Moria. Then in Moria we
| hear it the last time played in full when it abruptly stopps.
| After Gandalf fell so does the theme. It's beautiful done.
| ArtWomb wrote:
| >>> You know how Darth Vader's theme plays when he enters the
| scene?
|
| Before Vader's theme, was Williams' Oscar-winning Jaws. Two
| notes. Unforgettable dread every time you venture into the
| ocean. Not to mention the birth of the Hollywood summer
| blockbuster phenomenon ;)
|
| https://csosoundsandstories.org/two-notes-that-changed-the-f...
| tannhauser23 wrote:
| I highly recommend Deryick Cooke's introduction which uses clips
| from the acclaimed Solti recordings to help you understand the
| leitmotifs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HI-
| ZYf8TO54&ab_channel=Rodde...
| 2bitencryption wrote:
| Wagner's Ring cycle was my go-to background music for studying
| for finals in college.
| user2994cb wrote:
| A nice run through of the recent Met production here:
| https://vimeo.com/39374902
| [deleted]
___________________________________________________________________
(page generated 2021-04-16 22:02 UTC)