An Outline of The History of Western Music Grout ... - The Reel Score

a) Principal music teachers were Michael Haydn (1739-1806) and Georg Joseph
Vogler (1749-1814), became director of the opera at Prague in 1813 & at Dresden
in 1816
b) His Der Freischütz exemplifies the characteristics of German Romantic opera
1: Plots are drawn from medieval history, legend, or fairy tale
2: involves supernatural beings and happens against a backdrop of wilderness &
mystery
3: scenes of humble village or country life are frequently introduced
4: supernatural incidents and the natural setting are not incidental/decorative, but
are intertwined with the fate of the human protagonists
5: mortal characters act not merely as individuals but as agents or representatives
of superhuman forces - whether good or evil
6: triumph of good is a form of salvation or redemption - a vaguely religious
concept of deliverance from sin and error through suffering, conversion, or
revelation
7: increasingly chromatic harmony, use of orchestral color for dramatic
expression, & an emphasis on the inner voices of the texture
c) with such importance to physical and spiritual backgrounds, German opera differs
sharply from contemporary French & Italian opera
1: musical styles and forms resemble those of other countries although the use of
simple folk like melodies introduces a distinctly German national element
2: with stress on inner voices of the texture it is in contrast with the Italian
emphasis on melody
d) his Euryanthe is characterized by recurring themes - a device resembling the
cyclic themes of Liszt
1: not a new device but used by 19th century composers
2: a radical departure though from the older convention in which the various
divisions of an opera or a symphony were thematically independent
3. Richard Wagner (1813&1883) and The Music Drama
a) a crucial figure in 19th century music - his significance is threefold
1: brought German opera to its consummation as Verdi did for Italian opera
2: created a new genre - the music drama
3: hastened the dissolution of tonality through the harmonic idiom of his late works
b) the Nazi movement in Germany appropriated Wagner's music as a symbol of the
best of German Aryan culture and Wagner wrote - in Judentum in der Musik -
appearing under a pseudonym in 1850 & under his name in 1869 - an anti-semitic
tract which added strength to an anti-semitic undercurrent in German culture
c) For Wagner, the function of music was to serve the ends of dramatic expression
and all of his important works are for the stage
1: he believed in the absolute oneness of drama & music - the two are organically
connected expressions of a single dramatic idea
2: Gesamtkunsterk - total art work of poetry, scenic design, staging, action, &
music working together
3: he considered the action of the drama to have an inner and outer aspect
i- orchestra conveys the inner aspect - with the vocal lines
ii- the words convey the outer aspects - events & situations that further the
action