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Mythology and it's influence
Mythology and it's influence
Mythology and it's influence
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The Nibelungenlied
The original aim of this paper was to encompass the bulk of Mythology's impact on the arts. Before very long I realized that to cover such a vast area, I would be treading dangerously close to a book's length project. I then decided to limit the topic to Mythology and its impact on music, specifically classical. Again, this was an enormous field to limit to a short research paper. After considerable deliberation I decided to focus primarily on the music of Richard Wagner (1813 - 1883), principally his "Der Ring des Nibelungen", or, The Ring of the Nibelung.
The Nibelungenlied is a medieval German epic poem, written in Middle High German in the early thirteenth century. Its authorship is unknown. The poem is a mixture of Norse and Teutonic Mythology concerning the early history of the kingdom of Burgundy. There are several versions of basically the same story, details are shaded but the end results are the same. Wagner used material from The Nibelungenlied (Song of the Nibelung), and the Vollsunga Saga (Saga of the Volsungs) for the majority of his master work.
The Ring of the Nibelung, a cycle of four operas-- Das Rheingold, Die Walkure, Siegfried, and Gotterdammerung--was conceived in 1848 and completed about twenty-five years later. Wagner began with the intention of writing the libretto of a single opera drawn from several myths about the race of the Volsungs and the Nibelung's treasure; it was to be called Siegfried's Death, and its content primarilly corresponds to that of the present day Gotterdammerung (Twilight of the Gods).
Between 1848 and 1853, before composing a single note of music, Wagner wrote first, Young Siegfried (corresponding to the present day Siegfried) and then Die W...
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...s, brought the dawn of new era --- that of human love --- upon the earth.
Bibliography:
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Maud, Constance. Wagner's Heroines. London, England: Edward Arnold
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How we view characters largely depends on their motives for action; depending on what aspects of their motives are emphasized, similar characters can be viewed as treacherous fiends or selfless martyrs. A knight fighting to defend his honor can be seen as treacherous and murderous. Similarly, a lawyer can be seen as directive and wise ,but also as manipulative and deceiving. Hagen of Troneck from The Nibelungenlied and Njal Thorgeirsson from Njal’s Saga were both manipulative, held similar relationships, and accepted their deaths. However, their motives in striving towards death differed. Hagen was defined as a murderous knight. Njal was deemed a martyr and redeemer of Iceland. Hagen acted out of pride and jealousy, facilitating his inevitable death at the hands of Kriemhild. In contrast, Njal selflessly gave up his life to end a blood feud that could have consumed Iceland.
Almost every movie today is about the hero getting the girl. The concept has been overused and has now become a stereotypical ending for most films. It is creating a society that thinks true love will come and sweep everyone off of their feet “just like in the movies”. Looking into the past, examples of these types of movies are still present. The movie, The Princess Bride, conforms to the concept that the villain turns into a hero, and always gets the damsel in distress. “It’s a love story, a slap-stick comedy, and even a little action.” (Mac) As You Wish: Westley and Buttercup in The Princess Bride) It illustrates a basic love story with a similar ending, making it an unoriginal film.
TitleAuthor/ EditorPublisherDate James Galways’ Music in TimeWilliam MannMichael Beazley Publishers1982 The Concise Oxford History of MusicGerald AbrahamOxford University Press1979 Music in Western CivilizationPaul Henry LangW. W. Norton and Company1941 The Ultimate Encyclopaedia of Classical MusicRobert AinsleyCarlton Books Limited1995 The Cambridge Music GuideStanley SadieCambridge University Press1985 School text: Western European Orchestral MusicMary AllenHamilton Girls’ High School1999 History of MusicRoy BennettCambridge University Press1982 Classical Music for DummiesDavid PogueIDG Books Worldwide,Inc1997
An author of a book plays a crucial part in the novel’s creation. The book tells you a little a bit about the author, his or her creativity and lastly their intellectual capacity. The author of the book The Princess Bride is William Goldman. Goldman was born August 12, 1931 in Chicago, Illionis, U.S. Goldman is a novelist, playwright, and screenwriter. He got his BA degree at Oberlin College in 1952 and his MA degree at Columbia University in 1956. William Goldman had published five novels and had three plays produced on Broadway prior to writing his screenplays. Two of his notable works include his novel Marathon Man and comedy-fantasy novel The Princess Bride, both of which Goldman converted to film. William Goldman has been an influence to other authors such as: Stephanie Meyer, Dean Koontz, and Joesph Finder. People who were an influence to Goldman were: Irwin Shaw, Ingmar Bergman, and F. Scott Fitzgerald.
McGee, Timothy J. Medieval and Renaissance Music: A Performer’s Guide. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1985.
one cantata a week while he was music director at Leipzig. Due to the pace
Everyone knows the story of star-crossed lovers Romeo and Juliet, likely the inspiration for every story of star-crossed lovers that came after. The Princess Bride by William Goldman is a novel filled with adventure, friendship and love. The Princess Bride follows star-crossed lovers Westley and Buttercup as they fight through monsters, snow sand, death, torture and the evil ruler of Florin, Prince Humperdinck. They don't have to face all that without help though, Inigo, Fezzik, even the eccentric Miracle Max and his wife Valerie will risk it all to help Westley and Buttercup be together and live happily ever after. Goldman puts a twist on the archetypes of, the Star-Crossed Lovers,The Color Black and Evil Character with a Good Heart to render the story new.
The words honor and power in romance languages such as Spanish and French are el honor y el poder and le honneur et le pouvoir, respectively. Both Spanish and French categorize honor and power with masculine articles, which in many ways limits these qualities to only manlihood. Though English, a Germanic language, does not genderize nouns, many English speakers still associate honor and power with very masculine qualities. This is proven by the fact that American society often describes men as honorable and powerful—only until the recent decades did women, such as Oprah and Hilary Clinton, received such recognition. Unlike its English counterpart, German language classifies both honor and power with feminine articles, die ehre und die kaft. This begs the question why the German language places feminine articles on honor and power when others associate these words with masculinity.
It is likely for one to assume that a classic piece of literature set in a fantasy oriented stage will have no merits to the youths of today. The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien, however, with its crafty of usage symbolism, displays its relevance to issues that often trouble teens. As the story progresses from a children’s tale to an epic, the main character Bilbo undergoes a series of development, his experiences often overlapping with ordinary people. Reading the Hobbit will provide teens with opportunities of exploring the importance of several common but serious topics. People may encounter many of the themes presented in the book elsewhere repeatedly, but it’s possible that they never appreciated the applications it might have on themselves. When teens read the Hobbit, they perceive it as a simple fiction of adventure. Under proper guiding, they will be able to recognize and utilize the lessons of the Hobbit, and improve their attitudes and ideas about life.
Baroque music is characterized by its development of tonality, elaborate use of ornamentation, application of figured bass, and the expression of single affections. A considerable philosophical current that shaped baroque music is the interest in Renaissance ideas that spawn from ancient Greece and Rome. Ancient Greeks and Romans considered music to be an instrument of communication that could easily stimulate any emotion in its listeners. Therefore, musicians became progressively knowledgeable of the power one’s composition could have on its audiences’ emotions. Because of this, one of the primary goals of baroque art and music was to provoke emotion in the listener, which is closely connected to the “doctrine of affections”. This doctrine, derived from ancient theories of rhetoric and oratory, was the theory that a single piece of art or a single movement of music should express one single emotion. Intrinsically, instead of music reflecting the emotions, composers aspired to cause emotions in the listener. Ma...
...r. Mahler's chamber music composition was limited to his student days, and the closest he came to composing an opera was Rubezahl, for which he prepared a libretto in manuscript (in 1880 or 1881), sketched some music (1882), and then abandoned. He did, however, play a significant role assembling existing material and adding his own connecting material to create a performable version of Weber's Die Drei Pintos, at the request of Weber's family. Although Mahler had a thirty year long composing career, his complete works could be assembled on fifteen or sixteen CDs.
The book begins with Bilbo Baggins celebrating his one hundred and eleventh birthday. Many "Hobbits" show up at his party including his third cousin, Frodo, which is the main character of the novel and a powerful wizard named Gandalf. Biblo possed a powerful ring known as the "Ruling Ring" which gives "Supreme Power" to whoever has possession of it. At the end of the party, Bilbo uses his magical ring to turn invisible and stun his guests. Gandalf, the powerful wizard, then meets up with Biblo at his house and takes the ring from Bilbo, which is corrupting him. Gandalf examines it, realizing that the ring Bilbo has is the powerful "Ruling Ring". Knowing that the forces of evil are in search of the ring, Gandalf sends Frodo, a relative of Biblo, to destroy the ring in the only place it can be destroyed, "Mt. Doom". Overhearing the talk between Gandalf and Frodo, Sam, a "Hobbit", that is good friends with Frodo is forced on the quest to aid Frodo.
In 1681, Georg Philipp Telemann was born into a family connected to the Lutheran Church. He had exceptional musical abilities, mastering the keyboard, violin, zither, and flute by the age of ten. He composed an opera “Sigismundus” at the age of twelve as well. Telemann was determined to excel in music especially with the disapproval from his parents. After finishing grade school at Hildesheim Gymnasium, he began college at Leipzig University studying language and science. That eventually changed when he created the student Colle...
music and tragic myth...the Apolline is the realm of dreams and ideal forms."("The Birth of
Burkholder, Peter J., Donald Jay Grout, Claude V. Palisca. A History of Western Music. New York: W.W. Norton & Company Inc., 2010. Print.