The Structure of the "Ring" and Its Evolution Author(s): Robert Bailey Source: 19th-Century Music, Vol. 1, No. 1 (Jul., 1977), pp. 48-61 Published by: University of California Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/746769 Accessed: 07-11-2017 23:11 UTC

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This content downloaded from 70.103.220.4 on Tue, 07 Nov 2017 23:11:58 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms The Structure of the Ring and its Evolution

ROBERT BAILEY

Although we possess more preliminary were mate- made in the act of turning into verse the rial for the music of 's works than dramatic for conception which he had written out those of any of the other great , in detailthe in a complete Prose Scenario. Thus the vast bulk of it takes the form of complete musical drafts structure of so vast a work as the Ring is for the -often two drafts for each to someone. extent the story of the evolution of its These do not answer the intriguing question four of poems. what Wagner had in mind when he finally sat It is well known that Wagner conceived down, after much preliminary thought, to those begin four poems in reverse order, that he began the actual composition of one of his operas. with In the last poem and gradually worked back- preparing his first complete draft of the wardmusic, toward the beginning. His first when his immediate concern was to set his based text, on material was Siegfrieds Tod, what was he using as a basis for the underlying later on to be known in its revised version as musical structure? Gotterdammerung. Wagner finished a poem in He must have made crucial determinations three acts late in November 1848, and the fol- about such things as the formal plan at this early lowing January he added a prologue before Act I. stage, but with his later operas, at least, there Withis this he achieved a dramatic structure for precious little documentary evidence showing the act that already suggests the development of how he planned them in musical terms. An im- musical plans. The essential details of that portant feature of Wagner's later works is the structure are presented in schematic form in preparation of their musical structure in the diagram 3 (page 61); it is fundamentally the structure of the poem itself; musical decisions same as that of Gotterdammerung, Act I.

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This content downloaded from 70.103.220.4 on Tue, 07 Nov 2017 23:11:58 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms from never materialized. In addition, ROBERT Dramatically, this act has three main parts, BAILEY which are separated by orchestral interludes he evidently felt it necessary to mull over the The Evolution with closed curtain. The poem of Siegfrieds Tod problems of this new style for a while longer of the Ring specifies that the first of these interludes is to before attempting to realize it on a large scale. include 's call heard from a dis- Instead he wrote that au- tance, and that the is then to take up tumn and early winter. And when he returned the horn call and develop it in a "powerful to the Nibelung materials the following spring, movement" after the curtain closes.' Each of he created an entirely new dramatic poem as a the three main parts of the act is in turn divided companion piece for Siegfrieds Tod -the com- into two scenes. Siegfried, the central character, edy Der junge Siegfried. has a structural function here, for his entrances The idea of pairing a comic drama with a serve to define the second half of each part. tragic one was not new, even for Wagner, as is To separate the two scenes in Parts I and III,well known. Immediately after he had com- the poem provides for an orchestral interlude pleted the music for Tannhduser, and before with open curtain, and Briinnhilde actually that opera was given its premiere in , sings during the interlude in Part III, after the Wagner conceived Die Meistersinger as a comic have left the stage. In the middle part, pendant to the tragedy. The two dramas would however, there is no interlude, and Siegfried's contrast two historical epochs and two artistic entrance by itself serves the purpose of struc- movements, the aristocratic Minnesinger of the tural articulation. fourteenth century and the bourgeois Meister- Meanwhile Wagner balanced vocal registers singer of the sixteenth. Instead of realizing this in such a way that the opening halves of Parts plan, I Wagner went on to write , con- and III involve female voices only: the three ceived soon after Die Meistersinger, and the in Part I and Briinnhilde and the female comedy was set aside for a good many years, by chorus of Valkyries in Part III (this was changed which time it became a considerably different to Briinnhilde and just one sister, Waltraute, in kind of opera from the mere comic addition to Gotterddmmerung). The second halves of these Tannhauser that he had initially envisioned. two parts are also symmetrical in that they be- In the case of the Nibelung dramas, Wagner long to Siegfried and Brfinnhilde alone. The designed the comedy to precede the tragedy, so middle part contrasts with the other two by in- that the pair of works would contrast two gen- troducing the new characters-, Gut- erations, focusing on the youth of the hero in rune, and -with Siegfried added at the the first and on his downfall in middle age in the midpoint. As already noted, there is no orches- second. Wagner did not change the titles of tral interlude here, and that feature provides athese two operas until 1856, after he had further element of contrast. finished the music for Die Walkfire. The change The musical sketches that Wagner made for in title from Der junge Siegfried to plain Sieg- Siegfrieds Tod during the summer of 1850 con- fried has incidentally had the unfortunate side- cern only two passages in this structure, a draft effect of obscuring for many viewers the lapse of for the opening scene of the Norns, which actu- a generation that occurs between this opera and ally continues about a quarter of the way into Gotterddmmerung. the scene for Brfinnhilde and Siegfried, plus In the latter part of the summer of 1851, music for the Valkyries in the first half of Part Wagner began sketches for the music of Der III.2 Wagner put aside his work on the music, junge Siegfried. He had just written the essay A since the commission that he had hoped to have Communication to My Friends, in which he explored still further the aesthetic problems he had been posing for himself. On September 2, 1851, he wrote to his friend : ', Gesammelte Schriften und Dichtungen, 4th edn. (, 1907), II, 173. 2These sketches are discussed in some detail in my essay I am now beginning the music, with which I really "Wagner's Musical Sketches for Siegfrieds Tod," in Studies propose to enjoy myself. You cannot even imagine in Music History: Essays for Oliver Strunk, ed. Harold Pow- what is happening quite of its own accord. I tell you, ers (Princeton, 1968), pp. 459-94. the musical phrases are making themselves for these

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This content downloaded from 70.103.220.4 on Tue, 07 Nov 2017 23:11:58 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms 19TH stanzas and periods, without my even having which hasto takethree acts and a prologue. In the CENTURY pains with them. It's all growing out of Rheingoldthe ground score, as the opening scene and the if it were wild. I already have the beginning in mind, MUSIC three "acts" that follow are simply numbered as and also some plastic motives such as Fafner.3 four scenes. begins on a precon- The Fafner motive may have been in scious Wagner's level, with the opening scene evoking a mind for some time before he wrote state to of Uhlig, moral innocence; that scene thus stands since the poem for Der junge Siegfried, outside written the main action and time sequence of in June, actually mentions that the themotive Ring. Consciousis to action, and the central se- appear in the first-act monologue for quence Mime of eventsjust in the dramatic cycle, begin before the Wanderer enters4-a monologue with scene 2. In a fundamental sense, then, the later deleted from the drama. In addition, introductory scene in the functions as a sketches for the motives of the Forest Bird exist, prologue, while the structure of the main action contrasts the two scenes on the mountain and they may have been made at this time. A larger number of different musical fragments is height before with the intervening involved here than was the case when Wagner scene in Nibelheim. Once again, the dramatic was working on the music for Siegfrieds Tod, in plan is serving as an organizing device for the music to come. fact; but this time he never got as far as the stage The dramatic structure common to Das of making a continuous draft for a complete scene, as he had with the Norns' scene in 1850. Rheingold and G6tterddmmerung is in turn He never got even as far as the actual setting realized on a larger level as the form for the cycle of text. In short, he broke off work even sooner as a whole: a prologue and three operas, whose than he had with Siegfrieds Tod a year earlier. progression, incidentally, follows the classical By about the middle of October, Wagner was hierarchy of dramatic values-from pathos to able to inform Uhlig that he was "planning comedy and finally to tragedy. Soon after the premiere of the whole cycle in 1876, more great things for Siegfried: three dramas, plus a prologue in three acts."5 The last two Wagner himself referred to Gotterddmmerung operas-the Prologue, Das Rheingold, and a as "a recapitulation of the whole: a prologue and three pieces."' He was thinking at that time of "drama of pathos," Die Walkdire-were con- separating the Prologue from the first act in ceived together. Wagner actually wrote his ini- tial prose sketches for Das Rheingold first, so order to intensify the structural parallel, but he the order of conception of the four poems was wisely refrained from tampering with the three-part dramatic structure of that act as we not entirely backwards. Die Walkdire was the first to be realized in verse, however.6 In any have already described it-which had in fact case, the important thing here is that Das turned out to be one of his most perfect struc- tural achievements in music. Rheingold, as Prologue to the trilogy, was After he had finished the poems for Die definitely not an afterthought, and Wagner's Walktire and Das Rheingold, Wagner subjected conception of it "in three acts," plus an intro- ductory scene, works in such a way that its the poems of Der junge Siegfried and Siegfrieds Tod to a thorough revision, which represents structure duplicates that of GOtterdiimmerung, the final step in the evolution of the whole dramatic cycle. This was finished on December 3Richard Wagner's Briefe an Theodor Uhlig, Wilhelm 15, 1852. In the case of Siegfrieds Tod, the revi- Fischer, Ferdinand Heine [ed. ] (Leipzig, sion included a completely new text for the 1888), letter no. 30, p. 99. The date for this letter is supplied in Letters of Richard Wagner: The Burrell Collection, ed. Norns' scene and, as we have already men- John N. Burk (London, 1951), p. 620. tioned, the reduction of the chorus of Valkyries 4See the text of Der junge Siegfried in Richard Wagner: to just one of their number, Waltraute. The lat- Skizzen und Entwurfe zur Ring-Dichtung, Mit der Dichtung "Der junge Siegfried," ed. Otto Strobel (, 1930), p. 117. 5Cited in Otto Strobel, Richard Wagner, Leben und Schaf- 7From the entry in 's diary for September 9, fen: Eine Zeittafel (Bayreuth, 1952), p. 43. Strobel conjec- 1876. See Cosima Wagner: Die Tagebacher, ed. Martin tures that the letter was written about October 12. Gregor-Dellin & Dietrich Mack, vol. 1 (Munich, 1976), 6The exact dates are given in ibid., pp. 43-45. pp. 1001-02.

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This content downloaded from 70.103.220.4 on Tue, 07 Nov 2017 23:11:58 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms ROBERT ter change serves as a reinforcement of the melodic construction. The repetition or recall BAILEY structural parallel between Parts I and III, since of a passage is transposed up to underscore Thein- Evolution the three Norns of Part I are now balanced by tensification, or shifted down to indicate relaxa- of the Ring two female voices in Part III. The placement of tion. These shifts are usually made by a the male and female choruses is arranged so that semitone or a whole tone. The three strophes of the Valkyries now appear in the opening scene Tannhiiuser's song to Venus in Act I present a of Die Walkdire, Act III, while the introduction straightforward example of this procedure; in- of the male chorus (the Gibichungs) remains in stead of all being in the same key, as customary the middle of Act II of Gdtterddmmerung. in strophic song composition, Wagner's first Barring minor changes in versification strophe is in Db, the second in D, and the third made during the composition of the music, the in Eb. This effectively heightens the anguish whole poem now corresponds to the final ver- implicit in Tannhdiuser's appeal to Venus, sion with which we are familiar, with the fol- though it does not make the third verse easier to lowing exceptions: sing. This device usually amounts to mere mechanical transposition in Wagner's earlier a) the final speech of Briinnhilde works, but it becomes a much more subtle as- b) the titles of the last two operass8 pect of his harmonic art in his later ones. c) the spelling of Wotan, which was origi- A far more important side of Wagner's han- nally Wodan and remained so in the autograph dling of tonality for the structure of the Ring, as full scores of both Das Rheingold and Die Wal- this was forming in his mind during the early kfire. All these items were changed to their final stages of his work with the poetic materials, is form in the late spring of 1856, soon after what might be called the "associative" use of Wagner had finished the full score of Die Wal- tonality. This works in two different but closely kfire. And finally, related ways. First of all, specific melodies or d) the text of the initial part of the motives can be associated with a particular Siegfried-Mime dialogue of Siegfried, Act I, pitch level; and secondly, a particular tonality Scene 3.9 can be associated with particular characters or, in the earlier operas, with underlying dramatic themes. The horn call in Der fliegende Hol- After completing the poem, Wagner waited lander is a good example of the first procedure, some ten and a half months before beginning since to it is definitely rooted in the triad of B compose the music for Das Rheingold, and minor, we though not exclusively confined to it. In shall take advantage of this hiatus to recall twothis respect Der fliegende Holldnder resembles special uses of tonality that he had developed Wagner's in model for that opera, Der Freischfitz, his earlier operas. Though this may be going where the particular diminished-seventh chord over familiar ground, these uses must be clearly associated throughout with Samiel has a fixed grasped if we are to understand how the dra-and unchanging pitch level and spacing, and al- matic and musical structure of the Ring wasways involves the same specific instrumenta- tion as well. The diminished-seventh chord evolving in the artist's mind. The first of these can be called the "express- cannot be defined as belonging to any one tonal- ive" use of tonality, an outgrowth of sequential ity, and Weber took advantage of that fact to introduce it into several different tonal con- texts. Similarly, the Dutchman's horn call is 80On these first two points, see Otto Strobel, "Zur Ent- heard at its primary B-minor pitch level not stehungsgeschichte der G6tterdammerung: Unbekannte only in B-minor sections, but also in others. Dokumente aus Wagners Dichterwerkstatt," in Die Musik Wagner might be said to have taken the next 25s (February 1933), 336 ff. 9It is not clear just when Wagner wrote the new text for this step after Weber by supplying the definite di- passage. In any case, he entered it in the special copy of the mension of a specific key to the horn call. At the 1853 imprint of the poem, which he used in setting the cycle same time, of course, he extended the musical to music, before he reached this scene in his Preliminary Draft for the music, sometime in December 1856-January element thus defined into a longer configura- 1857. tion of full melodic value.

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This content downloaded from 70.103.220.4 on Tue, 07 Nov 2017 23:11:58 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms 19TH This procedure is admittedly tentative case exclusively in on materials related to the title CENTURY Der fliegende Hollander, and it assumes character. a rather In addition, he increased his palette MUSIC different form in Tannhduser, in which of associate two tonalities as- to four. The main ones are sociative tonalities are juxtaposed: EFg major minor forfor Ortrud, the demonic figure, A the demonic realm of the Venusberg, major andfor Lohengrin, Eb the divine figure, and Ab major for the Pilgrims and the divine major realm for Elsa, of the central protagonist in whom which they are the earthly representatives. the main human The conflict between demonic and opera turns on this contrast, beginning divine takes with place. The semitone difference be- the Bacchanale in the Venusberg in E,tween and two end- of the associative tonalities is still ing with the chorus of the Pilgrims present,singing just of as in Tannhdauser, and is now used Tannhiuser's redemption in Eb. to In distinguish Act II, materials of the two main pro- Wolfram's song to sacred love is in tagonists. Eb; Tann- Wagner made brilliant use of this dif- hiduser's hymn to Venus, immediately ference follow- as an "expressive" progression in the ing, is in E. This particular juxtaposition middle works scene of Act I, from the first appear- also as an expressive heightening ancein the of Elsa im- on the stage (Ab) up to the arrival mediate context, as well as carrying of Lohengrinone step (A). Finally, C major is associ- further the "expressive" sequence of ated the with three the on the stage played by strophes of the same song in Act I. Venus'sthe four re-royal trumpeters of King Henry the turn in Act III is naturally also in Fowler.E, which is directly juxtaposed with the Eb of the Thisconclu- association of a particular tonality sion. The semitone difference between the two with instruments on the stage is probably not associative tonalities creates at the end of the the most crucial element for Lohengrin itself, opera the effect of a relaxation down to the but it is extraordinarily important for Wagner's tonic. later operas. In the Ring, for example, Siegfried's This construction posed real problems for horn call, when played from the stage, is always Wagner when he composed the overture, which associated with the tonality of F major. The alte he based on musical materials related to the Pil- Weise of the English horn on stage which grims and the Venusberg. Since the juxtaposi- haunts the first half of the third act of Tristan is tion of Eb and E presents in musical terms the similarly confined to F minor. These two central conflict of the opera, it would have been thematic elements modulate only when they logical to reflect the large-scale structure of the are transferred to the pit orchestra, and that music by retaining the two associated to- transfer usually coincides with a change in scor- nalities. But Wagner's musical language in 1845 ing. (There is in fact no English horn in the pit was not equipped to handle the problem of con- orchestra during the first half of the third act of structing an instrumental composition with Tristan.) The trumpets and on stage two tonalities a semitone apart. Things would at the end of the first act of Tristan are as- have been further complicated by the fact that if sociated with C, and they serve as a crucial the associated tonalities of the opera were stabilizing force for the establishment of C as adhered to in the overture, it would conclude in the final tonic; the tonic triad is actually left a tonality a semitone away from the key in resounding in these instruments from behind which the opera begins. The overture thus pre- the closed curtain at the end of the act. In the sents the anomalous spectacle in which the Pil- second act of Die Meistersinger, the Night grims' music appears in the "wrong" key of E Watchman's horn on the stage has only the major. single pitch, Fg, which controls modulations In Lohengrin, Wagner took steps to elimi- between F and B. In a similar fashion, the four nate the problem he had encountered with as- bells in heard from the stage are fixed in sociative tonality in Tannhduser. Probably the pitch (C, G, A, and E), but here Wagner reached most obvious feature is his change in the whole the last stage with this device and supplied two conception of the overture, where he made his independent harmonizations-C major in Act I, well-known substitution of a Vorspiel of sig- E minor in Act III. In various ways, then, stage nificantly smaller dimensions, based in this instruments function as controls of tonality, or

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This content downloaded from 70.103.220.4 on Tue, 07 Nov 2017 23:11:58 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms even of two tonalities, as in the example from STAGE ROBERT BAILEY Parsifal. INSTRUMENT Siegfried's horn-F major The Evolution of the Ring GROUPS Valkyries-B minor OF CHARACTERS -Bb minor In the Ring Wagner's "associative" use of to- nality differs from his practice in the earlier MOTIVES Curse on the Ring-B minor operas. First of all, motives associated with in- -B minor dividual protagonists have no specific tonal as- Valhalla-Db major (later also E major) sociation, but instead are left free for transposi- Sword-C major tion so as to fit into the changing dramatic and (later also D major) musical context. Siegfried's horn call is a case in point, although it seems at first an exception to this principle. But its tonal association with F We can now return to the evolution of the major derives exclusively from its appearances formal plan of the Ring and examine the struc- as a stage instrument. In the second scene of the tural remnants from Wagner's early musical Gdtterdammerung prologue, for example, the sketches for Siegfrieds Tod and Der junge Sieg- motive of Siegfried's horn call is rhythmically fried. We have noted that when Wagner revised transformed and played by the orchestra in both the poem of Siegfrieds Tod, he wrote an entirely Eb and B, the two tonalities of that scene. In new text for the Norns' scene. He discarded his other words, it is not the motive of Siegfried's early musical setting along with the early text, horn call which has the tonal association, but but not the tonality of the passage (Eb). rather the stage instrument representing Sieg- Likewise, when the music conceived for the fried's horn. Valkyries in their scene with Briinnhilde was The motives which do have a specific tonal transferred to the beginning of the third act of association are connected with features of the Die Walkiire, where the Valkyries now actually poem other than individual characters-the appear, the tonality of B minor was left behind Curse on the Ring, the Tarnhelm, the Sword, in Siegfrieds Tod for Part III of Act I, where Wal- and Valhalla. Like the Dutchman's horn call, traute substitutes for the whole group. We shall these motives are oriented around a specific see that in the final musical setting, Wagner ex- pitch level, and we have seen that such an or- tends these two tonalities, Eb and B, so that they chestral motive can be introduced into different control the structure of the entire first act of harmonic contexts at its original pitch level. Gdtterdimmerung. But in the Ring, Wagner adds a new dimension The sketches for Der junge Siegfried present to this idea, whereby motives of this type de- a different problem. We have seen that Wagner termine the tonality of the larger structural claimed in 1851 that he had the beginning in units in which they appear as main themes. In mind. But his first draft for the music of the first some cases, a second tonal association can be act of the later Siegfried is curious in several added to the original one, which nonetheless ways. It lacks the customary date and title at the maintains its primary position. beginning, and in fact it shows that Wagner ac- Finally groups of characters, as opposed to tually began work not with the Vorspiel, as was individual protagonists--the Valkyries and the his usual practice, but with the setting of Nibelungs-have a specific tonal association Mime's opening text. The Prelude is present in which functions as the tonic in structural units two individual sketches on one side of a loose or scenes in which the particular characters are sheet whose reverse side was used as a page of the primary ones. In these cases, the tonal as- the draft itself. The first sketch is for the body of sociation operates independently of melodic or the Prelude, beginning with the Nibelung motivic materials which may also be associated rhythm in Bb minor. Below it appears the sec- with these groups. ond sketch, labelled Anfang, for the introduc- Thus the Ring has at least seven elements tion to the Prelude, built on the motive in de- with fixed tonal association, two of which take scending thirds for the . If we disregard on a secondary association in addition: this introduction, which was sketched later in

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This content downloaded from 70.103.220.4 on Tue, 07 Nov 2017 23:11:58 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms 19TH any case, there is certainly no stylistic for the framingreason scenes which take place before CENTURY why Wagner could not have conceived Valhalla,11 the mainsince a related, not a foreign key was MUSIC part of the Prelude in 1851, and I am required content here. toWotan and , the central believe that this Prelude, without its protagonists introduc- of these three scenes, are to some tion, is in fact the earliest music conceived extent analogues for of each other; Wagner reflects the Ring as we know it, along with that therelationship basic by his reference to them in the melodic material of the music for the Prelude to poem as Lichtalbe and Schwarzalbe respec- Act III of Die Walkdire. tively. The appearance of Db, then, at the begin- The tonal association of Bb minor with the ning and the end of the main action of Das Nibelungs thus begins with the early concep- Rheingold serves to define the dramatic struc- tion of this Prelude, and it affects not only the ture of the work, but at the same time Wagner opening of the later Siegfried, but also the short reinforced the structural parallel of this opera scene towards the end of Act II for Alberich and with GCtterdammerung by concluding that Mime, as well as the initial scene in Act II of opera in Db also.12 The parallel uses of Db are Gotterdammerung for Alberich and Hagen, and reinforced by the association of the Valhalla the central Nibelheim scene in Das Rheingold music with that tonality-music which is (actually called scene 3).10 This use of Bb minor scored for the special sound of the so-called in Das Rheingold undoubtedly suggested Db "Wagner " in both operas. The structural major as the most obvious contrasting tonality parallel is further intensified by the fact that Wagner uses the opening tonality of Siegfrieds Tod for the beginning scene of Das Rheingold. 10Lorenz (Das Geheimnis der Form bei Richard Wagner, An "expressive" shift in tonality a semitone vol. 1 [Berlin, 1924], pp. 49-50) claimed that "in the first upward act from the Db conclusion of Das Rhein- of Gotterddmmerung, whose hero is Hagen, we observe that his tonality, B minor, stands in the same relation to gold the is probably at least partly responsible for tonality of Siegfried's deed [the forging of the sword] asthe Al- opening of Die Walkaire in D minor. Die berich's tonality stands to the tonality of the Gods. We WalkfirethusD has a special kind of dramatic con- have a direct algebraic ratio, Siegfried:Hagen = Wotan:Al- struction which turns on its conflation of two berich, or D major:B minor = Db major:Bb minor." This is of course a typical example of the "symmetry" Lorenz relativelywas independent stories: that of Sieg- so eager to "discover" in Wagner's later works. While mund his and Sieglinde on the one hand, and that of contrivance seems clever at first glance, it is completely Briinnhilde and Wotan on the other. The first artificial and will not work. Wagner seems quite clearly to have abandoned his ear- tale opens the opera and is essentially con- lier practice of associating tonalities with individual charac- cluded by the end of Act II with the death of ters by the time of the Ring. The Db major/Bb minor rela- tionship is certainly a central one for the construction of the Siegmund. These two acts thus form a unit three main scenes of Das Rheingold, but it makes much which begins and ends in D minor,13 just as the more sense in that context to regard the association as be- three main scenes of Das Rheingold (scenes tween Valhalla and the Nibelheim-for Db is not specif- ically associated with Wotan throughout the cycle, and Bb 2-4) begin and end in Db major. The minor, as we have seen, relates to the Nibelungs in general Siegmund-Sieglinde story continues a genera- and evolved from the opening of Der junge Siegfried, where tion later with Siegfried, and the first act of that Alberich does not even appear. It also seems strange to call Hagen the "hero" of Act I of opera concludes with Siegfried's reforging of the Gotterdammerung when Siegfried is the pivotal character broken sword bequeathed to him by his parents. of that entire structure, to say nothing of his obvious role as This is set logically enough in D major. hero in the plain-language sense of the word. But more im- portant is the fact that Lorenz's identification of B minor with Hagen, in no sense maintained throughout the re- mainder of the opera, ignores the origin of that tonality in association with the Valkyries from Wagner's earliest sur- 12It is of course significant for the cyclic nature of the work viving sketches. that it ends in Db where, in effect, it began. This fact alone "In his Preliminary Draft for the music of Das Rheingold, at led Lorenz (op. cit., p. 47) to call Db the "tonic" (Haupt- the point corresponding to the twenty-fifth measure before tonart) of the Ring, but it is unthinkable that the nearly the beginning of scene 2, Wagner entered the rubric, Walh: three operas-worth of music in between are organized in Des-dur, showing that he had the tonality for that passage in relation to a tonic Db. On a much smaller scale, the Wolf's mind before he finished composing scene 1. This page was Glen scene in Der Freischuitz, for example, begins and ends published in facsimile by Otto Strobel, "Die Kom- in Fg minor, but what happens in between the two Fg-minor positionsskizzen zum 'Ring des Nibelungen'," in passages is clearly organized around a tonic C. Bayreuther Festspielffihrer 1930, facing p. 120. 13This was pointed out by Lorenz, op. cit., p. 32.

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This content downloaded from 70.103.220.4 on Tue, 07 Nov 2017 23:11:58 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms in Das Rheingold was determined by the tonal- ROBERT A direct link between Das Rheingold and BAILEY Die Walkdire is provided by the fanfare ity of certain later structural points where The Evolution figure commonly known as the Sword motive. 14 Wagner intended to use it, particularly those in of the Ring It first appears in the final scene of Das Rhein- Die Walkfire. The same principle applies to the gold in C major and with its characteristic scor- other three motives with specific tonal associa- ing for solo trumpet. This figure naturally de- tions. termines the use of C in the middle of Act I of As a summary of all these aspects of associa- Die Walkiire, and that use of C serves to throw tive use of tonality, diagram 2 (page 60) shows a the remainder of the act, in which Siegmund hypothetical reconstruction of the plan for the and Sieglinde come together, away from D Ring as Wagner had developed it before he began minor and into G. In addition, the use of the composing the music for Das Rheingold toward fanfare at the beginning of the prelude to Act II the end of 1853. He had probably worked out determines the choice of A minor as the tonality still more of it as well, but the surviving for the Briinnhilde-Wotan story which opens documentary evidence, coupled with logical that act. As the dominant of D minor and the conjectures from it, leads only this far. If relative major of C, A minor is the only tonality Wagner had not had such a plan in mind, it is clearly related to D minor upon which the Chard to see how he could have made his first major of the fanfare could be superimposed. drafts with such assurance.15 He would have The Sword motive acquires its secondary been in the position of an instrumental com- tonal association with D major when Siegfried poser who had not yet made up his mind what reforges the sword at the end of Siegfried, Act keyI. his symphony would be in, what the con- In Act III of GCtterdammerung, the motive trastingis keys would be, or how the main mod- heard for the last time in D at the moment when ulations would work. Siegfried's arm rises up to protect the ring from Hagen, and this musical event precipitates BrUnnhilde's entrance onto the stage. Mean- With this plan before us, we can now turn to a while, the C-major orientation of the motive single scene to see how Wagner shaped the mu- has determined the tonality of the funeral sical details on a local level in accordance with music for Siegfried, and its last appearance inthe large-scale structural and tonal elements the cycle occurs in C in Briinnhilde's Immola- devised in advance. The so-called Todesver- tion. kindigung (Annunciation of Death) is the cru- This is a particularly revealing instance of a cial scene in Act II of Die Walkdire where the motive whose tonality on its initial appearance two stories of the opera come together, each with a decisive effect on the outcome of the other. The Siegmund-Sieglinde story reaches its 14This trumpet motive shows clearly the pitfall contained crisis with Siegmund's fatal decision, and the in the familiar names for Wagner's motives, which are often future unfolding of the Briinnhilde-Wotan story in fact quite extended melodies, and the even grosser error of is determined by the change in Briinnhilde's assuming that the names themselves have any significance character that results from her confrontation whatever. This figure appears frequently when no sword is mentioned in the text, and it is often absent when the sword with Siegmund. is referred to. Its first appearance toward the end of Das Wagner chose the tonality of F# minor for Rheingold is a good example of the former situation-an appearance marking the crucial moment when Wotan ex- this scene, undoubtedly because it is equidis- periences a foreboding of his scheme for moral regeneration tant from the D minor framing the first two acts of the world. In Die Walkzire, that scheme is given momen- tary visual embodiment in the sword which Wotan leaves behind in Hunding's hut for Siegmund, eventually to be broken by Wotan himself during Siegmund's battle with Hunding, and finally reforged by Siegfried independently of15These first drafts are discussed by Curt von Westernhagen, Wotan's intervention. On the other hand, two of the last The Forging of the 'Ring': Richard Wagner's Composition three appearances of the motive in the final scene of Gotter- Sketches for , trans. Arnold and dammerung are not related to the sword at all. It would be Mary Whittall (Cambridge, 1976). Since the tonal scheme more appropriate to regard the sword as a visual symbol ofdiscussed here is fully embodied in these drafts, and at this the motive, rather than the motive as a musical tag for the stage no longer caused Wagner any problem, it does not sword. enter into Westernhagen's discussion.

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This content downloaded from 70.103.220.4 on Tue, 07 Nov 2017 23:11:58 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms 19TH of the opera and the Bb minor of the Wagner contrasting embodies the central tonal relationship CENTURY episode within the scene itself, in betweenwhich F#Sieg- and D in a motive which juxtaposes MUSIC mund addresses the sleeping Sieglinde. just two -the Bb D-minor triad, and a minor was already determined by thedominant-seventh Bb of the chord on Cg, which suggests secondary episode in the latter part Fg. His of first Act sketch I, for the beginning merely which includes the so-called Spring Song. states this motive twice (ex. 1):

Briinnhilde.

E P[au]ke b

a

Example 1

Wagner next decided to move upward in se- quence, simply using the melodic termination of the first statement (the note B) as the begin- ning of the second statement, as shown at the beginning of the second sketch (ex. 2):16

F= ' t !Ij1 F9 "

.lfI v tlli l" j.i .' ' FF ,F FFF Timp Example 2is

Wexample 2

He was now ready to add the melody which would function as the main theme of the scene, and the continuation of the sketch shows that 16These two sketches have twice been published in transcription-by Werner Breig, "Das Schicksalskunde- the memorable melody familiar to us was not Motiv im Ring des Nibelungen: Versuch einer harmoni- something that he had fully in mind before be- schen Analyse," in Das Drama Richard Wagners als ginning to compose this scene. The first two musikalisches Kunstwerk, ed. Carl Dahlhaus (Regensberg, 1970), p. 230; and by Curt von Westernhagen, op. cit., p. 94. measures are present, but Wagner only later hit Both sets of transcriptions contain mistakes. upon the idea of simply duplicating his initial

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This content downloaded from 70.103.220.4 on Tue, 07 Nov 2017 23:11:58 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms About midway through the first section, the ROBERT sequence an octave higher and reharmonizing it BAILEY (ex. 3): initial motive that generated the main melody The Evolution is stated twice in succession with different of the Ring harmonizations, an event later to play a decisive , f mil , Ii role at the conclusion of the opera (ex. 4): , _ i ~~hi i . i t .

is I TB I " |l oe-A. j j i 1 1 1Ex i; 1.4JX 1

906 Example ., Ti.1] 3

Example 4 The two sketches are both entered directly in Wagner's Preliminary Draft for the act. Made while B heminor is the crucialwas tonality through theactually composing the scene and setting first half hisof Act III and also throughtext, portions of they are not preliminary studies of the the final scene becauseusual of its association with sort, which Wagner customarily made the Valkyries.on By the midpoint separate of Act III, the work-sheets. We catch a glimpse Briinnhilde-Wotan storyof has two tonalities- a in the act of solving a compositional the A minor of Act II, and the B minor of the first problem of detail that was to have far-reaching half of Act III. In the final scene of the opera, consequences.17 In its which finalpresents the conclusion of that story,form, then, this melody controls not only Wagner shifts the tonality the from B minor to E, design of the scene as the identify- ing embodiment which is midway between B minor and A minor. of its tonic, F#, but also the proportions of the scene. After the interlude in In addition, after Brtinnhilde's last speech in the Bb, the opera, her appeal to Wotanmelody for the protective returns in diminution and finally fire, Wagner alternatesin sections in E withdouble sec- diminution, and the propor- tions of the three main tonic sections of the tions in D, thus recalling the central tonality of scene are accordingly 4:2:1 (diagram 1, page 58). the first two acts. Just before Wotan rises to In the course of the opening section, Briinnhilde summon Loge, there is a cadence to the pan- sings the crucial melody first, but when Sieg- tomime in which Briinnhilde is put to sleep (ex. mund takes it, it appears with the slightly mod- 5): ified conclusion shown under no. 2 of the dia- . Nos. 1 through 4 use the original rhythmic form of the main theme and consti- tute the first half of the scene, and that section is U .I r balanced by the remainder, which consists of the interlude in Bb (which Siegmund addresses not to Brtinnhilde, but to Sieglinde), plus the sections in diminution and double diminution.

Example 5 17The two sketches occur at the end of a sheet in the Draft (at the bottom of the second side), and the final version begins at the top of a new sheet. Wagner may well have made an additional sketch on a separate work-sheet. The begin- The first statement of the motive now jux- ning of the new sheet was published in facsimile by Otto taposes the triads of D minor and E, whereas the Strobel, "Richard-Wagner-Forschungsstitte und Archiv des second statement is the original form of the mo- Hauses ," in Bayreuth: Die Stadt Richard Wag- ners, ed. Otto Strobel and Ludwig Deubner (Munich, 1943), tive from the beginning of the Todesverkan- p. 45. digung discussed above. Wagner now moves

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This content downloaded from 70.103.220.4 on Tue, 07 Nov 2017 23:11:58 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms 19TH 1. Briinnhilde informs Siegmund CENTURY that he is doomed to die. MUSIC fS-*F# (written Gb)

2. Siegmund must follow Briinnhilde to Valhalla. S. I f#--*C# (written Db) , . J ,t 4_- i 4 3. Since Sieglinde cannot accompany him, Siegmund will not follow Briinnhilde. f#--* G#

4. Briinnhilde warns Siegmund that death is inevitable since Wotan has removed the spell on the sword. fS- modulating- C (SWORD)--

INTERLUDE Siegmund addresses the sleeping Sieglinde; he reaffirms his decision not to go to Walhall. bb (=a#)

5. Siegmund scorns Brtinnhilde.

(diminution) 2 6. Siegmund will kill both Sieglinde and himself rather than be separated from her. a C (SWORD)--

7. Briinnhilde relents; she promises to defend Siegmund in the 1 forthcoming combat. (double diminution) f#--*A

and at the conclusion: 3 A-ii oL-F

Diagram 1

from the triad on D minor to the dominant- tion of the triads of D minor and E and the inter- seventh of F# minor in order to return to D, on val of a falling seventh in the (ex. 6). the principle that any harmonic progression can be reversed and made to proceed in the opposite direction. Aside from the first of the four chords, this succession of two statements is exactly the same as that introduced in the middle of the first section of the Todesverkfindigung, as shown in example 4. With the coming of the , the tonality of D returns to that of E for the last time. The real cadence of the opera is then formed with two statements of the first form of the motive, with the simple juxtaposi- Example 6

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This content downloaded from 70.103.220.4 on Tue, 07 Nov 2017 23:11:58 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms into the Hall of the Gibichungs. Meanwhile ROBERT We shall conclude where Wagner began, with an BAILEY examination of the structure of the first act of Siegfried's horn, with its associative F, had been The Evolution Gdtterddmmerung, which is outlined in dia- introduced into the Rhine Journey, the inter- of the Ring gram 3. Wagner took the two tonalities built lude with closed curtain between Parts I and II. into this act in the early musical sketches for In the first half of Part II, just before the cadence Siegfrieds Tod and extended them to serve as in B, it appears again, and the tonality of F serves the two polar tonalities for the entire structure. to weaken Eb by deflecting it to Bb, which is A favorite device of his was to provide some equidistant between Eb and F. This appearance kind of signal for large-scale central relation- of Bb at the end of the first half of Part II prepares ships of this kind, and he has made that provi- the tonal situation of the second half, in which sion here by simply juxtaposing the triads of Eb Bb nearly replaces Eb altogether as the element and B (spelled Cb) as the first two harmonies of of tonal contrast to B. In this way the weakening the opera.18 The relative importance of the two of Eb is carried still further. is roughly indicated by the fact that the initial Eb is established again at the beginning of Eb-minor triad occupies a single measure, Hagen's Watch, the extended cadential section whereas the B triad occupies seven. at the conclusion of Part II. Wagner begins Ha- The three main parts of the act are arranged gen's Watch with the motive of the Tarnhelm, so that on the largest level, the first part is en- whose tonal association with B was prepared in tirely in Eb, the middle one goes from B to a the Nibelheim scene of Das Rheingold and rein- weakened Eb, and the third is entirely in B. The troduced in the first half of Part II of this act. two interludes with closed curtain linking these Thus a motive associated with B is now heard in three parts make the necessary modulatory the tonal context of Eb. By retaining the original transitions from Eb to B, but while their purely associative pitch level of the motive itself and tonal function is the same, Wagner deliberately supplying a new continuation, Wagner brings contrasted a loud climax for Part I with a "quiet together the central polarity of Eb and B govern- climax" of even greater tension for Part II. ing this entire structure (ex. 7): Part I is constructed so that the Norns' scene moves from Eb to B, thus foreshadowing the ultimate progression of the act as a whole. The motive of the Curse functions as the ca- Exaple 7 I dence just before the orchestral interlude. In the second half of Part I, the Siegfried-Briinnhilde scene, B serves as the contrasting tonality to Eb, with the appearance of B defining the midpoint of this section.

In Part II, the first half moves from B to Eb, Example 7 the mirror image of the tonal relationship in the Norns' scene. The Curse functions once again as a cadential refrain at the end of this first half, which is not only the midpoint of Part II but also Because of the tonal association of this motive, of the whole act. Here, instead of an orchestral this represents another dilution of the tonic interlude, there is a strong cadential affirmation strength of Eb. At the end of Hagen's Watch, Eb of B which coincides with Siegfried's entrance is asserted clearly but with Bb in the bass, so that the passage exploits the ambiguity of func- tion between Eb and Bb (Bb as V of Eb vs. Eb as IV of Bb). The creation of this ambiguity serves to "8The opening of Tristan, for example, has two short phrases which conclude with the dominant-seventh chords of A and undermine the potential tonic strength of Eb C, the two main tonalities of the first act. Die Meistersinger even further. begins with two balanced 13-measure phrases in C and F, Part III opens with Eb once again as the con- the two primary tonalities of the first act in that opera. Par- sifal begins with two nearly symmetrical units in Ab and C, trasting key against the tonic B, but the B is the central polarity of the act to follow. transferred to its dominant, F#, by Waltraute in

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This content downloaded from 70.103.220.4 on Tue, 07 Nov 2017 23:11:58 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms 19TH DAS RHEINGOLD DIE WALKUORE SIEGFRIED GOTTERDAMMERUNG CENTURY (Prologue) (Pathos) (Comedy) (Tragedy) MUSIC Scene Scene Scene Scene 1 2 3 4 o" B A

Bottom Mountain Mountai 1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3 ofRhine the height before , height e before Walhall C' Walhall

b j.... b .... I _ej b D6Db X/ 1' D6D DEI d d P F F-

Tarhelm INTERLUDE: INTERLUDE: INTERLUDE: INTERLUDE: Sword Sword Siegfried Siegfried's Sieqfried Siegfried's in C in D ascends the HornRhine call mountain reascends Journey the Funeralmoun- Music Horn call tain in F

Diagram 2

her monologue. The central moment the ofTarnhelm, that stripped now of its continuation monologue prepares melodic material in Eb,for and the it appears at the beginning of the final beginning of Briinnhilde's Immolation scene whereat the it serves to establish B. It functions end of the opera and, even more importantly, within the scene as a recurrent refrain, and it the final subdominant cadence of the finally opera functions (the as the determining element of first ten of the opera's last twenty measures). the last cadence. This procedure with B and F# is analogous to that already applied to Eb and Bb in Part II. For the third time, the Curse functions asMore a refrain than nineteen years separate the composi- toward the end of the first half of Part tionIII, butof this it act from Wagner's sketches for Sieg- now serves merely to initiate the cadential frieds Tod,por- and his approach to tonality had tion of the scene of which it is not really undergone a part, drastic and fundamental changes and it is transposed to F# minor. The during cadential that interval. The new approach permit- section itself, together with the ensuing ted him inter- to control larger structural units than lude in which Briinnhilde, alone on stage, ever before. actu- The underlying tonal plan for the ally sings, plays on the ambiguity of Ring,function based on the principle of associative tonal- between Fg and B. The Curse thus retainsity, remained its intact throughout, however, and function as a melodic refrain, but loses Wagner its ca- was able in 1869-70 to exploit it far den tial function of tonal delineation. moreAn impor- thoroughly than he could have envisioned tant feature of the Curse is that it does not actu- initially. The evolution of the Ring's structure ally include the tonic triad. Something stronger thus parallels an evolution in Wagner's musical is required for the final establishment of B as the language which he himself could not have fore- ultimate tonic. That something is, of course, seen.

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This content downloaded from 70.103.220.4 on Tue, 07 Nov 2017 23:11:58 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms ROBERT PART I PART II PART III BAILEY The Evolution BRUNNHILDE'S ROCK HALL OF THE GIBICHUNGS BRNNHILDE S RRUNNHILDES ROCK of the Ring

3 Female Voices &-(Br SiegfriedSieafried 6nnhil 2 Female Vo'icesde SiegfriedI & (3 Norns) Brinnhilde M & Brunnhilde - -I Waltraute)

-nhel a nhelm I (Tarnhelm ' a- n_ nB+E? I Lin B

z z

Sb bb b i I bin b Ib Xn F

Orchestral No interlude Interlude with interlude Brunnhilde -curtain -b- E~- -- open---- -b

passages determined by Horn Call

Diagram 3

In a recent commentary on the Tristan Pre- tails and relates them to a much larger context. lude, Roland Jackson has remarked that Wagner's procedure in fact seems analogous to "Wagner's process of composition might be that of an instrumental composer who devises called inductive, in that it seems to proceed his main melodic and motivic details with a from details to the whole, rather than, as is view to how they will fit into his formal design. sometimes assumed, from a preconceived plan Wagner's position was surely similar to that of of the entire work."'9 The examples we have Charles Dickens who in the postscript to Our just examined indicate that while Jackson's re- Mutual Friend, his most masterfully con- mark may well have some truth with regard to structed novel and the last one he actually the working out of the compositional details finished, expressed his concern for "the rela- within an individual scene or structural unit, a tions of its finer threads to the whole pattern "preconceived plan of the entire work" is pre- which is always before the eyes of the , cisely what guides the formation of those de- story weaver at his loom." -w.

19"Leitmotive and Form in the Tristan Prelude," Music Re- view 36 (1975), 42.

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This content downloaded from 70.103.220.4 on Tue, 07 Nov 2017 23:11:58 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms