The Ring of the Nibelung Opera

Music200- Homework 2
The Ring of the Nibelung (The Ring of the cycle) is a cycle of four epic operas by the German composer Wagner. Wagner wrote the libretto, which is the text used in an extended musical work such as opera, and the music in 26 years, from 1848 to 1874. The Ring of the cycle has 4 different operas in it, which are The Rhine Gold, The Valkyrie, Siegfried and The Twilight of the Gods. Wagner intended to create an allegory criticizing the moral, political, social and economic values of 19th century. The Ring of cycle differs in many perspectives when we compare it with operas of the previous period.
The first component that differs is musical style. Wagner used a new technique that uniting “the glorious fusion of the power of the words with the emotional power of music” which is stated in Exploring Wagner’s The Ring of the Nibelung. His intend was to reflect the subject not only with the music, but with a combination of music and words. There was a cluster between music and drama. The new form that he used was called “music drama”, although he never used this term himself. As a new kind of opera, he did not use the known operatic components such as self contained numbers, solos, duets or choruses. Also the scenario was a continuously drama, whose lines were unrhythmical, formless, rhymeless and irregular in length. His extensive usage of narration was also different from the standard opera structure. Narration was an important structure of the drama, which was explaining and depicting the plot. Another musical concept that was fundamental for Wagner’s opera was the leitmotifs. Leitmotifs are short, simple musical symbols that depict certain ideas. They help the listener to associate the elements of the story and bring a psychological insight about the drama. They do not only foreshadow the future but also evoking the past memories. Although Wagner did not find the concept of leitmotifs himself, by the extensive usage of it in his opera, he developed it. Counterpoint was also a technique that Wagner used in his opera. Counterpoint is one more independent melodies or a combination of independent melodies that are combined or connected into a simple harmonic texture. Both counterpoints and leitmotifs create powerful emotions and provide the dramatic and psychological action that the drama needs.
The story of the drama was written primarily for criticizing the abusive powers in the world, lust and greed. In the opera The Gods, Giants, and Dwarfs were decadent and corrupt and symbolizing the classes in 19th century. The opera was about the struggle between these classes to own the magic ring, which grants domination over the entire world. Giants were the symbol for bloated Bourgeoisie. The Gods were the politicians in contemporary world, which were also morally corrupt. Compared to operas of the previous period, this was a new approach because this opera’s main intend was to criticize and show the defects of the society. Wagner also created his music drama as a national art-form which was inspired by the Greek tragedy. He adapted the myths with his own conceptions about society. The Ring became an idealistic prophesy of a possible future that society created with their greed and aggressive power-lust.
The changes in the society caused Wagner to write this satirical opera. After the enlightenment, society was hoping to have an egalitarian perspective and that the industrialization would decrease the disparity between wealth and poverty. However, the things did not progress like they hoped. Corruption, abusive political power and materialism increased after that period. This brought a wide pessimistic view to the society and contributed to the movement of Romanticism. Now Rousseau’s idealistic projection of the world, freedom and civilization was seen as a delusion. The Ring was the reflection of Wagner’s view of the society. It was an allegorical dramatization of immorality, injustice and the evil side of the human. Also Wagner was affected by the ideas of Schopenhauer, who stated that the problems in the society were mostly caused by the society’s self-imposed desires and their will. So Wagner concluded that “Ring’s political power conflicts represented elements in the world’s evaluation, but the cause of the evil was specifically humanity’s blind will.”