What is Wagner music drama?
music drama, type of serious musical theatre, first advanced by Richard Wagner in his book Oper und Drama (1850–51; “Opera and Drama”), that was originally referred to as simply “drama.” (Wagner himself never used the term music drama, which was later used by his successors and by critics and scholars.)
What was Wagner’s ambition for music and theatre?
He first aspired to be a poet. Then, finding that poetry was for him more effective as drama, his ambition veered to the theatre. Music became for him a further enhancement of poetry in drama.
What concepts does Wagner discuss in opera and drama?
The Wagner scholar Curt von Westernhagen identified three important problems discussed in the essay which were particularly relevant to Wagner’s own operatic development: the problem of unifying verse stress with melody; the problems caused by formal arias in dramatic structure, and the way in which opera music could …
What are the distinguishing characteristics of Wagner’s music drama?
Wagner’s mature music dramas all share the same characteristics: an expansion of the musical structures that are governed by the use of leitmotifs (leading motives). These leitmotifs are melodic ideas associated with characters, objects, themes or emotions.
What is Wagner famous for?
Richard Wagner is one of the most well known and highly regarded German composers of all time. Known for his revolutionary compositions and Wagnerian leitmotif, he was responsible for some of the most recognisable opera music ever written.
What was Wagner’s concept of Gesamtkunstwerk?
Wagner’s conception of Gesamtkunstwerk (“total art work”) encouraged artists to refine upon their emotional responses and to exteriorize their hidden dream states, often in a shadowy, incomplete form; hence the more tenuous nature of the work of Wagner’s French disciples.
Who did Richard Wagner marry?
Cosima Wagnerm. 1870–1883
Minna Planerm. 1836–1866
Richard Wagner/Spouse
Cosima Wagner, née Cosima Liszt, also called (1857–68) Cosima von Bülow, (born December 25, 1837, Bellagio, Lombardy, Austrian Empire [now in Italy]—died April 1, 1930, Bayreuth, Germany), wife of the composer Richard Wagner and director of the Bayreuth Festivals from his death in 1883 to 1908.