Program Notes

Richard Wagner (1813-1883)

Siegfried’s Rhine Journey

Scored for three flutes and piccolo, pairs of oboes, clarinets and bassoons, four horns, three trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion and strings

 

It is not unusual that during his life a great composer should share equal time with works performed in the concert hall and his works for the stage such as opera and ballet and be equally successful at both. It is more unusual if the same holds true posthumously. More frequently there will be a divergence, and most often it will be the stage works that fade into the background. Sergei Prokofiev and Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky are two notable examples of prolific opera composers whose concert works have taken on greater prominence. Despite the separation that usually takes place, though, there are a few notable exceptions. The most obvious one is Richard Wagner. Perhaps we may consider it even more remarkable given the fact that the music of the German master that is presented on the two musical stages of the world is made up of the same material. Why, we may ask, does orchestral music pulled from a well-constructed, organically grown, elaborately conceived opera have such a great impact apart from its original intentions? But if we take a step back, the answer is simple, even if the music isn’t. It is the fact that the orchestra in Wagner’s operas is designed to tell the story every bit as much as what the performers sing.

Wagner’s greatest strength lay in his ability to create and sustain any mood for as long as it struck his fancy. He could manipulate the musical elements and leave an audience spellbound on any level. There is no doubt that a Wagner opera is a feast for the eyes, but that gift for bringing those visual elements to life through sound alone is what lovers of Wagner are so drawn to. Through leitmotiv, innovative effects, brilliant orchestration and an almost unearthly sense of the dramatic, he allows his listeners to get it, even if they can’t see it. So taken on their own, these excerpts become tone-poems, containing all the elements of the musical materials that make up the opera. This fact becomes even more potent when we consider Wagner’s mammoth undertaking The Ring of the Nibelung.

Wagner wrote both libretti and music for his magnum opus between 1848 and 1874. It was the most ambitious musical project ever mounted, let alone completed. The four operas take in excess of seventeen hours to perform and contain about as many fantastic and other-worldly characters as Star Trek on a healthy dose of Goethe. You can’t tell the gods apart without a scorecard. Numerous orchestral pieces from the cycle have been performed. The Ride of the Valkyries would have to be first on the list in order of popularity, but running pretty close is Siegfried’s Rhine Journey from the fourth opera Die Götterdämmerung.

The music takes place early in the opera. As the sun rises, Siegfried and Brünnhilde emerge from their cave. Before leaving in his search for new conquests, Siegfried swears his eternal love to his bride and, to seal it, gives her the Ring of the Nibelung. Brünnhilde gives Siegfried her horse, Grane and he sets off along the Rhine as Brünnhilde watches from the hill above. The music is full of vibrant majesty, great beauty and ominous foreboding. It is music that represents the great hero at his best, and briefly foreshadows his inevitable death.