MUS- M 402 1st EditionLecture 19Outline of Last LectureI. The Creation of Russianness during the Nineteenth CenturyII. Elements of Russian Nationalism in MusicOutline of Current LectureI. German Composers React to BeethovenII. Richard WagnerIII. Wagner’s Music: Interrelated Stylistic ConceptsCurrent LectureI. German Composers React to Beethovena. After Beethoven’s death, composers dealt with a fair amount of anxiety, asking themselves “What comes next in music?”b. Both Brahms and Wagner were well-known German composers who both claimed to know how to continue the generation of great German composers after Beethoven. i. Both Brahms and Wagner felt that they were the next great “Beethoven”, however, they composed in vastly different styles. II. Richard Wagnera. Richard Wagner lived from 1813- 1883. b. He was an opera director and conductor in the 1830s.c. He was a freelancer in Paris in 1839-1840.d. Following his time in Paris, Wagner worked as Kapellmeister in Dresden in 1843, where he gained an extensive reputation as a loudmouth radical between the years of 1842- 1849. i. When his radical political views got him into trouble in Germany, he was sent into exile, where he worked as a composer-theorist. 1. In exile, Wagner wrote three essays that discussed his new concepts of music as begins to re-think everything…a. Das Judentum in der Musik (1850)b. Das Kunstwerk der Zukunft (1850)c. Oper und Drama (1851)ii. Wagner’s Vindication involved amnesty, extensive patronage from LudwigII in 1864, the building of “Bayreuth” (Wagner’s dream/ideal opera house), and the development of various types of Wagnerian cults that develops amongst Wagner’s fans/followersIII. Wagner’s Music: Interrelated Stylistic Conceptsa. “Infinite melody”b. Erosion of hypermetric stabilityc. Constantly mobile, chromatic harmoniesd. Few detachable “numbers”, constant flow of musical discoursee. Role of orchestraf. Leitmotivic transformationg. Inner vs. Outer
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