Wagner Das Rheingold

This of course is a hearty chunk of music to listen to, but as I listened to it today in Claude's class, I thought I might as well talk about it. I have been exposed to this opera in the pat, but never really listened to it or studied it. Now, I am. The whole idea of Wagner's music is "gesamstkunstwerke", or a total work. His music flows throughout the entire work with barely any stops for cadences or even scenes, it just flows from one to another. This is a very difficult concept to get used to. Also Wagner uses specific motives called "leitmotives" to symbolize certain characters, ideas, objects, and events. These change and develop throughout the opera and are very interesting to follow. There are no arias to speak of except maybe an 11 measure "aria" sung by Froh in the 4th scene. The music itself is also very different from most music of that time. It is at times bombabstic and in your face, and at other times it is very soft and melodic. His music portrays emotions and drama to the audience and sets the scene for everything going on in the opera. The story is taken from Norse lore along with some Wagnerian concepts. As I have been studying and listening to this, I have come to really really enjoy it and appreciate it...and you should too!!!