I understand how heavily music affects the genre of Romantic Opera (as well as life itself), but I guess my question is how [opera creators like Giuseppe and Verdi] figured out how to make such significant musical strides in their creations? Was it just a feeling they had? An instinct, if any?
Is it possible to have a music drama for an opera that’s not romantically themed? Can a modern and more realistic opera combine the same art that Wagner did and have it be a Gesamtkunstwerk? On a completely irrelevant side note, I think it’s really cool that Lord of the Rings is pretty much based on The Nibelung’s Ring. I view Tolkien as the father of modern fantasy, and therefore original, and it was weird to read that he too copied his source material from others.
I often find that as a result of my lack of musical knowledge, I am less able to recognize the extent of a performers talent than those who have been trained in the area. For this reason, is it not odd that Verdi, with his “commitment to the human voice”, would be more popular than Wagner who put a greater emphasis on emotional responses in his “music dramas”. I imagine that the general public would find it easier to me moved by Wagner’s emotional dramas than vocalists whose abilities were perhaps beyond their level of comprehension.
If the audience members watching an opera are not fluent or literate in the language it is performed in, which composer’s opera would be easier to follow and feel engaged with; Verdi or Wagner? I feel like Wagner would be more relatable not only the music, but the lyrics too, tell the story. There are no arias that would the action of an opera and possibly make it confusing whereas Wagner did not break up the action and incorporate music more to tell the story.
Are leitmovs necessary in an opera? Is it too suggestive? In an opera, what do you think is more important the word/lyrics or music? P. 270
The article contradicts itself on the subject of leitmotivs. They are initially described as “easily to ridicule” (270). Later, leitmotivs “could state or suggest ideas in emotional terms, over and above the intellectual terms provided by mere words…[and] were guaranteed to impress audiences of the nineteenth century” (272). Were leitmotivs considered art during Wagner’s time, or just nonsensical bits of music? If they were considered art, why could they be easily ridiculed?
“A leitmotiv- guiding, or leading, motive- is a musical motive associated with some person, thing, idea, or symbol in the drama.” What purpose does a leitmotiv serve concerning the human mind? Does it make it easier to foreshadow an event due to the musical association to characters or ideas? (270)
What caused the shift from serious opera to comic opera? Was there a turning point in history that fueled this shift in art form?
Is there a certain time when recitative is more appropriate than aria?
“A leitmotiv- guiding, or leading, motive- is a musical motive associated with some person, thing, idea, or symbol in the drama.” To put it in simpler terms, is a leitmotiv basically music acting as a symbol for some kind of emotion? Would the ominous music in a movie be a leitmotiv to warn us that something bad will happen? Later on in the reading, it says that even after Wagner, leitmotivs were “employed in most operas, in form or another; its dramatic power was acknowledged by both audiences and composers alike.” We mentioned in class that even though the Opera is in a different language, we can still understand the storyline. Do leitmotivs play a role in this?
