Introduction In this essay I am going to be looking at Richard Wagner’s most Influential Opera’s “ Der Ring Des Nibelungen” also known as ‘The ring Cycle.' This cycle is made up of four operas.It begins with the beginning of the world and ends with the fall of the world. This piece begins as a mythic story and ends with modern humanity. This work in total is sixteen hours in length.I will be looking at the story behind the first opera or introduction entitled ‘Das Rheingold,' as well as his use of
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
Wagner's Ring Cycle The Ring Cycle, also known as “ Der Ring des Nibelungen” was written by a German composer named Richard Wagner. This cycle contains four epic operas. It took Wagner about 26 years to write this opera. He started in 1848 and finished in 1874. The entire opera is based loosely on Germanic mythology and also influenced on Wagner's concepts of ancient Greek drama. The first part of the opera is called “Das Rheingold.” Although this is the first in the sequence of the opera, it was
Wagner’s anti-Semitism perhaps first became apparent in his essay “Das Judenthum in der Musik”. Throughout the essay, Wagner makes clear assumptions concerning the superiority of the Aryan race and even calls his fellow Germans to follow him in admitting to their “natural” hatred of the Jews. The essay also espouses the view that Jews
Recently as an avid operagoer I decided to attend one of Lyric Opera’s productions, which happened to be Die Walküre. I had my reservations about this opera as it was written by one of my contemporaries who I no longer feel worthy of calling a colleague but now rather address him as a fraud. The man that I speak of is Richard Wagner. Now I tried to attend this opera with little bias as possible, as I once was a dear friend of Wagner, but I must say after 5 hours at the opera I had a distaste in my
Njal’s Saga is a long and epic tale of jealousy, treachery, and manipulation. The previous book that we read, The Nibelungenlied, also featured these similar plot elements. Njal’s Saga contains several characters that have close similarities to those in The Nibelungenlied. In The Nibelungenlied, there is a mighty fighter named Siegfried. As a proven warrior, Siegfried possesses great strength and an ego that is equally as great. Halfway through the story, Siegfried is betrayed by an ally and left
Nibelungenlied and Parzival Although both the Nibelungenlied and Parzival were composed around the same time (c. 1200), they are vastly different in certain respects—namely concerning the matters of diplomacy, redemption, revenge, and deceit. Some striking similarities do exist among the two texts—concepts of honor (êre), loyalty (triuwe), moderation (mâze) and knightly deeds (âventiure) are valued highly by both societies. However, each notion is accomplished through different measures in
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
The only similarity between Beowulf and Siegfried is the letter e—that is until you actually start reading the stories. Within the early moments of Beowulf and the Nibelungenlied significant amounts of correlations steadfastly intertwined a web of parallelism between the two heroic characters. Both glory-seeking and nigh invincible warriors from noble origins, the two warriors blasted through adversities in pursuit of their ultimate goals. While both eventually fulfilled their desires, Siegfried’s
Richard Wagner and Opera One of the key figures in the history of opera, Wagner was largely responsible for altering its orientation in the nineteenth century. His program of artistic reform accelerated the trend towards organically conceived, through-composed structures, as well as influencing the development of the orchestra, of a new breed of singer, and of various aspects of theatrical practice. As the most influential composer during the second half of the nineteenth century, Richard Wagner's
Often a film's worth goes beyond what it explicitly discusses, as a films' narrative's nuances and subtleties can communicate more value to the audience than what his clearly stated. This is especially pertinent in historically inaccurate films. Quentin Tarantino's latest two films, Inglourious Basterds (2009) and Django Unchained (2012), are set in a historical time period, but despite this background these are not history films. Both films are brimming with anachronisms and historical inaccuracies
My claim that we have evil in this world because of our libertarian freedom does not fully answer the notion of “the problem of evil”. Saying we have evil in this world is just like saying we have bad decisions in this world. Bad decisions just like evil do not have a form. Every decision that God makes is a good decision therefore God cannot do evil. Human beings initiated evil. In fact, the first human beings (Adam and Eve) gave ongoing birth to evil because everyone ultimately came from them.
Imagine you are in a darkened theater and on stage are the actors. Behind the actors you can see the scenery. Down in front of the stage, in what is called the pit, is an orchestra and a conductor. As the orchestra plays, the actors on stage do not speak their lines they sing them! Opera is the combination of drama and music. Like drama, opera embraces the entire spectrum of theatrical elements: dialogue, acting, costumes, scenery and action, but it is the sum of all these elements, combined with
“To say the word romanticism is to say modern art - that is, intimacy, spirituality, color, aspiration towards the infinite, expressed by every means available to the arts.” Charles Baudelaire. The Romantic era in classical music symbolized an epochal time that circumnavigated the whole of Western culture. Feelings of deep emotion were beginning to be expressed in ways that would have seemed once inappropriate. Individualism began to grip you people by its reins and celebrate their unique personalities
The term Romantic is “Term applied to music of the 19th century. Romantic music had looser and more extended forms, greater experimentation with harmony and texture, richly expressive and memorable melodies, improved musical instruments, an interest in musical nationalism, and a view of music as a moral force, in which there was a link between the artist’ inner lives and the world around them” (Burkholder, p. A16). With Romanticism, composers looked for ways to express intense emotions through their