The Ring and 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-
This work was a complete and well constructed plot for the entire Ring. The plot was already what the Ring became, " a socio-critical picture of the age with a mythological structure" (Hans Mayer), and no one who has read Die Wibelungen would dispute that assertion. If Wagner would have ended with just this opera he would have had something probably very similar to Tristan und Isolde, but that he had already done. In 1869 he returned to Siegfried and Gotterdammerung. A good reason for this maybe that Wagner started here, and actually had a complete opera in itself with just thi!s composition, but to him it was not enough, the composer needed to establish a history for his characters, as well as an impetus for them to be where they were. Tristan und Isolde (Tristan and Isolde) is the tale of the hero Tristan and the beautiful Queen Isolde, united by a magic potion in a passion that defies all legal and moral sanctions. Siegfried receives this power as a result of killing the Dragon Fafnir. ? Like many artists, Wagner was greatly influenced by Mythology. The only purpose for Siegfried to pursue Brunhilde is to win the hand of Gutrune from her brother Gunther, King of the Gibichungs. This proves to be a monumental scene as it is the source of Brunhilde's banishment, as well as the climax of the second act. The opera is different from the poem.
Common topics in this essay:
Das Rheingold,
Twilight Gods,
Oliver Ditson,
Rhine Nymphs,
Queens Gutrune,
Die Wibelungen,
Essentially Wagner,
Dragon Fafnir,
,
Frock Goddess,
das rheingold,
richard wagner,
ring des,
die walkure,
der ring des,
entire ring,
opera wagner,
der ring,
und isolde,
wagner wrote,
tristan und,
tristan und isolde,
england edward arnold,
edward arnold publishers,
london england edward,
|
Acceptance Essays
