Richard Wagner's Methods: I.
His Melody
Author(s): F. C.
Source: The Musical Times and Singing Class Circular, Vol. 37, No. 644 (Oct. 1, 1896), pp. 649-652
Published by: Musical Times Publications Ltd.
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THE MUSICAL TIMES.-OCTOBER I, 1896. 649
With this Number is presentedgratis an In Wagner's later works the most intensely
Extra Supplement,consistingof an Anthempassionate and expressive melodies willbe found,
close
by 5. Christopher Marks, 7un., entitled," The upon of theinspection, to be consciously built
up out representativephrases which form
Day is past and over,"and a Fac-simileletterof his material for the time being. So
S. S. Wesley. plastic
clearly is this the case that the student is
inclined to thinkit a veryeasy and mathematical
THE MUSICAL TIMES way of composing music ; but wait till he tries!
It was easy for Purcell to write Dido's lament
AND SINGING-CLASS CIRCULAR. on a ground bass, and easy for Bach to write
OCTOBER I, 1896. the most spontaneous sounding chorus as a
four-partcanon on a choral; but no one else
could do these things, simply for lack of that
RICHARD WAGNER'S METHODS. power which enables the possessor to rapidly
IT being now over half-a-centurysince the surveythousands ofpossible alternatives instead
firstperformanceof " Tannhdiuser" astonished of two or three, and to choose the best out of
all these. For the elements which go to make
opera-goers, and thirteen years since the death
of its composer, it is surely time that he was a composer are, firstly, memory, without
allowed to take his hard-won seat among the which nothing can be done; before we can
immortals without any more of the childish and employ material we must be able to bear
futileopposition which continues to be exhibited in mind what has already been done and
what we have got to go upon. Secondly,
by some even in the present day. Victory
was ever with him-his detractors have always intellect, which varies of course enormously
with differentindividuals. The composer who
imagined a vain thing; now let us have peace reasons out his
and let us acknowledge Richard Wagner as a procedure and deduces his
classic-an artist not only to be honoured, but proper course fromexperience is not necessarily
to be quoted as an authority and imitated as a a great composer, but his work is sure to have
model in all theoretical and practical points value. The third element is the aesthetic
which have to do with dramatic composition. Of faculty or feeling for a particular form of
course composers have regarded himin that light beauty, and this sense is seldom found in
for the last twenty years, but it is the formal company with the intellectual faculty. They
are the masculine and feminineelements of art,
recognition by schoolmen that I demand for and when we do find
him-the canonization which comes only when them combined we have a
artist indeed. Thus Cherubini had
party strifehas ceased. For it is my opinion- very great
and I have studied Wagner's works fortwenty- intellect, Chopin had feeling; Beethoven
five years-that no other composer affordssuch and Wagner were among the few who had
valuable material to the student,since in no other both in a very high degree.
can the development of a great musical mind be It has always seemed to me that Wagner's
so clearly followed. From " The Fairies" to intellectdeveloped early and his esthetic feeling
" Parsifal" what an immense distance! Yet ripened slowly; his early musical productions
each step can be fully traced in the works follow existing models with wonderful clever-
between these two. Let us glance-space will ness, but are deficient in feeling and charm-
not allow us to do more-at the development indicating that his power of choice in the
of Wagner's technique in the various branches selection of alternatives was slight at first. In
of his art--namely, in Melody, Harmony, none of his works until " Lohengrin " do we
find much natural ease in the melodic phrases.
Counterpoint, and Form-and since we know
what all his great predecessors accomplished The interestingthing about the firstfouroperas
in these directions we shall be enabled to put is to see how the composer rises to the occasion
the value of his work into such a form that it in the important places and how he deliberately
can be apprehended by the least technical makes padding in the unimportant ones, thus
reader. showing that he had mastered the secret of
I. His MELODY. dramatic effectfromthe beginning. His melody
of foundedon that of his immediate
Melody is the most important branch of was, course,and
all musical art, and the one about which predecessors contemporaries, Beethoven,
theorists tell us singularly little. Few com- Spohr, Weber, &c. Very curious it is to think
posers build up melody deliberately and that the composer of "Tristan" could ever
with a clear consciousness of the operation. have penned that Beethovenish aria in " The
There is a widespread, but quite erroneous Fairies" which begins-
notion that the process is automatic, and can Larghetto.
only be properly accomplished under emotional cantabile. l
stress. Yet it is just those two composers (Beet-
hoven and Wagner) who built up their melody
with the most deliberation and patient labour
IdO 1 RA
-dO-- -
(could any emotional stress last so long?) who
have risen to the greatest artistic heights.
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65o THE MUSICAL TIMES.-OCTOBER I, 1896.
which is almost paraphrased by melodies in
' Rienzi " and " Tannh~user," while this, from
the" Flying Dutchman," runs it closely--
or a popular ballad-tune like that which forms
the climax of the same work, and which might
have been by Sir Henry Bishop--
O heartwithan - guishwildly yearn - ing, O ..
Larghtetto. v i
--_ The love-duet in this latter work contains,
Harp. indeed, a string of bold melodies all on the
same pattern. In " Tannhiuser" the minstrels'
songs hardly ever depart from this rhythm,
while in " Lohengrin " there are at least twenty
of the best themes, many in succession, cast in
the same mould, including the love-duet-
thoughts by Love . inspiredin vain,
700t
_
The subjects of the Allegros in these works yet the composer makes it appear quite freshin
are rather superficial and quite on the lines of the exquisite farewell speech in the last scene.
Weber and Marschner. The overtures and That this was no mere mannerism arising
ballet-music to " The Fairies " and " Rienzi " from poverty of invention is proved by the
exemplifythis. comparative absence of this rhythmfrom the
The next point which strikes us is the later works, where a differentversificationwas
similar rhythmical outline of so many of the employed. The rhythm of the firstfournotes
melodies. This is the natural result of the only remained ever a favourite with Wagner-
as indeed it is with many composers. In the
composer's frequentemploymentof decasyllabic
verse in his librettos. Octosyllabic verse is later works, a more refined and continuous
susceptible of almost infinite variety in the style of music being aimed at, complete
melodies of eight or sixteen bars are rarer, and
setting, but given a pair of lines such as the weaving of half or quarter-melodies into a
Fiihlich zu dirso siiss meinHerz entbrennen
Athmeich Wonnen,die nurGottverleiht;
contrapuntal web predominates. But the way
in which Wagner can build up a melody of any
and they must almost of necessity be set in required length out of a short phrase, not by
their natural accent : mere repetition, but by making it throw out
branches to any extent-ah ! it is here that the
great musician is seen. Take your " Meister-
singer," young student, and observe how that
Prize Song of Walther's grows and grows from
a four-barphrase to a long unbroken movement
of the most intense power. Or look at the
accordingly we find melodies of this identical
pattern by the dozen in Wagner's early works. "NValkyrie" love-duet, where a still more
"The Fairies," Act I, starts thus- marvellous flood of melody gushes from the
two little phrases-
and confess that the art of thematic develop-
ment did not die with Beethoven. I need not
and multiply examples, but look at the infinite
resource shown in handling the Siegfried
and the principal air in the second act is- theme-
A ,I
I,! _
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THE MUSICALTIMES.-OCTOBERI, 1896. 651
or, more remarkable still, perhaps, the develop- by raising it to the dignityof an actual melodic
ment of the second bar in the " Meistersinger" phrase, thus-
overture-- "Tristan."--ISOLDE'S death.
Pas - sion
It formspart of the second subject- 8vaI...j
then in the Committee-meetingscene we have
this melody as a counterpoint to the principal
theme-
swell - ing.
and later this scherzando subject-
" Gtterdimmerung."-ActI., Scene2.
fartheron in Hans Sachs's remonstrancewe get
these-
The other mannerism, not so obvious, is a
tendency to use for those important phrases
fromwhich he evolves his musical material (it
would not matter elsewhere) so many similar
(b) _ progressions, notably one leaping down and
returningto the next note, thus-
" Lohengrin."-ORTRUD'S plot.
while in Act 2 (the scene between Sachs and
Beckmesser) appears a still more charming
theme, evolved fromthe same germ-
motive.
" GBtterdaimmerung."-Waltraute
Threetimes. Threetimes. &c. GUTRUNE motive.
"Meistersinger."-EVA,ActIII.
Far beyond our present space would it require
to trace the melodic account to which the little
phrase-- "Parsifal."-The SacredSpear.
Lento.
is turned in this work. I recommend this as an Sir George Grove has well observed that the
interestinginvestigation forthe student. principal feature of Beethoven's melody is the
Two points of the nature of mannerisms in conjunct flow. Wagner's special feature, on
Wagner's melody I desire to speak of. One is the contrary,is the bold skip, a featurewhich
his well-known tendency to over-employ the can never fail to arrest attention; but if used
turn or grupetto. You findit in the firstbar of frequentlyin so similar a manner as the above
his first known composition-a number of an quotations show, it is apt to convey to the
opera on " Measure for Measure "-you find it superficial listener the idea that the composer
in nearly every broad melody from Rienzi's is deficient in inventive resource. Although I
prayer to the appeal of Amfortas; but in the have expressed the opinion that he was so
later works it must be said that he draws a originally, one has only to read through the
wealth of beauty from this stale old ornament first act of " Siegfried" or to call to mind the
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652 THE MUSICAL TIMES.-OCTOBER I, 1896.
exhaustless variety of his recitative phrases to It is a constant wonder to me how singers,
be convinced that this is not the case. trained upon diatonic scales, can sing this, and
To conclude this part of my subject, let us many still stranger passages, with anything
ask ourselves in what way Wagner may be approaching bearable intonation.
said to have advanced the art of melody? On another occasion I hope to deal with
The answer is, firstly, in the manner-to Wagner's attainments in the matters of Har-
which I have drawn attention-in which he mony and formalconstruction.
builds up melody of any desired character and F. C.
expressiveness out of a given phrase. This,
which Schumann did once or twice (in the
Carneval and Pianoforte Concerto) as a kind of
tour de force,and which Liszt strove incessantly BACH'S MUSIC IN ENGLAND.
and vainly to accomplish, is, for Wagner, the frompage 587.)
(Continued
easiest feat imaginable. His other innovation, LAST month I omitted to mention that in
which is not even yet acceptable to all ears, is 18o6 Kollmann issued an English edition of
to employ the chromatic scale of twelve equal Bach's " Chromatic Fantasia," a work which
semitones as a basis for melody instead of the Dr. Hubert Parry calls " one of the greatest
diatonic scale. The whole of the music to movements ever written for a keyed instru-
" Tristan " would be impossible under the old ment." The title-page reads:
laws. I need only quote one example, and by
John Sebastian Bach's celebratedFantasia Chromatica
no means an extreme one, of a passage im- for the Piano Forte, with some additionsby A. F. C.
possible to sing or listen to in anything but Kollmann, organist of His Majesty's German Chapel,
strictlyequal temperament-- St. James's. London: Preston.
ISOLDE.
Pi--
--A Unlike many modern editors, Kollmann was
conscientious enough to indicate his" additions"
Bliss - ful beams are bind - ing; a -
by small notes. It is interesting to find that
. oureyes Kollmann (as early as 18o6) was probably the
TRISTAN.
firstto write out the arpeggios in the manner
indicated by Mendelssohn in later years (see
Bliss - ful beams.. our eyes are his letterto Fanny Hensel, November 14, 1840),
Lentomoderato.
and subsequently carried out to a still greater
extent by Biilow.
Samuel Wesley (1766-1837) was the great
Bach disciple in England. The propagation
of Bach's music was the absorbing aspiration
_ I of Wesley's life. Although he had reached
middle age when he began his crusade, he was
firedwith all the enthusiasm of a youthfulhero-
L- -- -
. worshipper. Wesley also had the pen of a
ready writer. His trenchantstyle and amusing
- bashed is earth . with ra -
phraseology were happily combined in extolling
diance his " Demi-God." Here are some specimens
in the way of titles, taken from Wesley's
bind - ing; a - bashed
lectures and letters: " Sebastian Bach . . .
is earth
whose brain was a Cyclopaedia of Harmony-
The Musical Leviathan--The Jupiter of Har-
monists-our Apollo-Orpheus-Grand Hero
A _ -Demi-God--Sacred Musician-great Musical
High Priest-Marvellous Man." And then,
casting aside all " weak epithets," as he is
pleased to call them, Wesley, as it were,
shouts--" THE MAN." Wesley's enthusiasm
was seasoned with humour. After a certain
supper party, at which he had met some con-
blind - ing.
genial spirits, a cab was called in the early
hours of the morning to convey " old Sam"
home. Before he could be persuaded to enter
. with ra diance blind - ing.
the vehicle, Wesley persisted in going up to
.
the driver and saying: "1Coachman, do you
know John Sebastian Bach?" "No, sir, I
don't," replied the Jehu, " but jump in, it'll be
all right."
? Wesley, Horn, and Jacob formedthe Bach
=:rjjr======rjjr Triumvirate. At a later date Vincent Novello
joined the " Sebastian Squad," to use Wesley's
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