Wagner's themes : a study in musical expression /

Bibliographic Details
Main Author:	Kirby, F. E.
Format:	Book
Language:	English
Published:	Warren, Mich. : Harmonie Park Press, 2004.
Series:	Detroit monographs in musicology/Studies in music ; no. 41.
Subjects:	Wagner, Richard, > 1813-1883. > Operas. Operas > Analysis, appreciation. Wagner, Richard, > 1813-1883 > Themes, motives.

Table of Contents:

Introduction. Preliminaries ; Reminiscence themes and leitmotivs in opera ; What Wagner had to say about themes and expressivity ; Arguments con and pro ; History of reminiscence themes and leitmotivs in opera ; Principles of musical expression ; Typologies.
Reminiscence themes in Wagner's early operas. The first three operas ; Der fliegende Holländer ; Tannhäuser und der Sängerkrieg auf der Wartburg ; Lohengrin.
Leitmotivs in Der Ring des Nibelungen. Nature and the good ; Evil ; Strength and power ; Death and fate ; Magic and the supernatural: The Misterioso ; Emotions: joy, sorrow and suffering, fear, love and passion ; Abiding love: the Gods and Volsungs ; Abiding love: Brünnhilde and Siegfried ; World inheritance ; Passion.
Leitmotivs in Tristan und Isolde, Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, and Parsifal. Tristan und Isolde ; Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg ; Parsifal.
Varied recapitulation and conclusion. Conventional musical types: Emotion ; Other affective musical types ; Functional types ; Literary aesthetic, and moral types ; Types from traditional (folk) music.
Index of reminiscence themes and leitmotivs in Wagner's dramatic works.