Richard Wagner Characteristics

Romantic music inspired two smaller movements: nationalistic music and music about legends. Richard Wagner (1813-1883) is a German composer who wrote many pieces on the basis of a story or myth. He revolutionized opera through creativity, discontent with musical formulas and his focus on drama.

He developed the idea of Gesamtkunstwerk, or “total work of art”, which strived to bring music, poetry, visual and dramatic arts together. Wagner was a prolific writer as well as a composers. He made contribution to the practice of conducting as well.

The use of leitmotifs by Richard Wagner across the Star Wars movies plays a crucial role in the score. Wagner uses leitmotifs, a “recurring musical theme, associated within a particular piece of music with a particular person, place or idea” that is “characterized by a single harmonic or rhythmic trait”. They are used by film composers to serve as a recognizable reference for the audience to direct their attention to details as simple as the entrance of a character to complex issues and events the foreshadow character development. Although the heavy use of leitmotifs compromise a film score as a musical whole by restricting melodic and harmonic development, it gives the music as a film component a new and arguably more effective importance.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Ludwig van Beethoven are two of the greatest composers ever to write music. Both men lived in the early 18th and 19th century, but their music and influences are still felt today. The men faced similar experiences, yet they both lead very different lives. All together the pieces that these men composed amounts to over 300 published, and unpublished works of art. The people of their time period often had mixed feelings about these men, some “complained that Mozart’s music presented them with too many ideas and that his melodies moved from one to the next faster than audiences could follow, yet the ideas themselves seem effortless and natural, clear and

There are many great composers throughout the centuries. Each composer has a story to tell that is very interesting, when you dig deep for the information. Every composer has their own way of making, composing and producing music. Irving Berlin is no exception. Berlin is an extraordinary composer, and when examining his story amazing facts are found. Berlin is not just a musician and composer, he is a man of many hats. Berlin’s life is extremely compelling.

What's a SUPER, swell, SPECTACULAR, SPLENDID, SERENE, and Superior school? Wagner elementary. Wagner is a elementary school named after Charles Wagner, a German immigrant who in 1871 bought 100 acres of land shortly after he emmigrated to California. And for me, I am John Stamos. I've been to Wagner for a long time, and I can say it shines like gold, diamond, and any other precious mineral you can think of. Why is Wagner so Sensational? The teachers, activities, and academic strategies are some of the many things that make this school the way it just is.

Who is Richard Wagner? Who is John Williams? How did Richard Wagner influence John Williams? What is leitmotif and how did both of these men use the idea of leitmotif? In this paper I am going to talk about whom these men are and what advancements they brought to their era of composition.

Beethoven was most well known for his nine symphonies, while Wagner was best known for his operatic works. Beethoven was a heavy innovator of the symphony, most evident in the final movement of his ninth symphony with his incorporation of a full choir. Wagner was one of the first composers to completely drop the idea of tonality, which became very popular during the advent of twentieth century music. Wagner also created the Leitmotif, which is used heavily in the scoring of movies. Also, while both were German born composers, Wagner was heavily nationalistic to the point of denouncing the musical works of those without german heritage, and being anti-semetic.

     Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s style unlike anyone else. Mozart was a master of counterpoint, fugue, and the other traditional compositional points of his day. He is also considered the best melody writer the world has ever known. Wolfgang perfected the grand forms of symphony, opera string quartet, and concerto made the classical period. “Mozart’s music is characterized by lucid ease and distinction of style....”2 Wolfgang wrote over 600 works which consisted of 21 stage and opera works, 15 masses, over 50 symphonies, 25 piano concertos, 12 violin concertos,27 concert arias, 17 piano sonatas, 26 string quartets, and many more. His operas range from comic baubles to tragic pieces. In his Requiem it illustrates the supreme vocal sounds in any of his work.

This is the tragedy of Wagner’s life in my opinion, because to me and many others his music would have been highly esteemed without the underlying moral fallacies he carried to the

Although I enjoyed both pieces of music I really enjoyed the works of Gustav Mahler and his piece Lied von der Erde. This piece is rich in drama. I feel that the texture used is this song is imitative polyphony. I feel that there are various parts in this song that use the similar melodies. I feel that the harmony between the two vocalists were right on with each other and the orchestra. You can hear the brass instruments in the very beginning of the songs then the strings, wind instruments along with the piano and keyboards begin to make their entrance. They come together very strong but in a peaceful way at first. Towards the middle of the song the tempo and rhythm really picks up (it seems as if all of their emotions are bursting out) then it slowly begins to drop back to slower movements. You can really hear the strings during this time. But surprisingly enough just when you think the song is going to end boom your hit again. This song keeps you on the edge of your

Inspired by Sullivan, Holst composed Lansdow Castle, a Two act operetta. Even though you could tell it was a heavily influenced piece, His father deemed it worthy to borrow enough money to send him off to college. He became a Wagnerian during college after hearing music conducted by Mahler. Also, as he aged, neuritis

Wilhelm Richard Wagner was one of the greatest opera writers of all time. He helped to take opera to a whole new level from even Verdi and Puccini. Some say that Wagner was very egotistic, however; “his extreme egotism rested on conviction, Wagner had the ability to do great things” (Colles 207). He was extraordinary at composing music as well as formulating words. He was not a prodigy however his musical skills surpassed many other composers from his time period.

Jean-Philippe Rameau, George Frederic Handel, and Christoph Willibald Gluck were the most significant opera composers of the first two-thirds of the 18th century. However, their works were surpassed by the brilliant operas of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. In the early 19th century, Gioacchino Rossini and Gaetano Donizetti dominated Italian opera. In the later 19th century the greatest works were those of Giuseppe Verdi and Richard Wagner. Wagner, with his bold innovations, became the most influential operatic figure since Monteverdi. Richard Strauss and Giacomo Puccini wrote the most popular late 19th- and early 20th-century operas. Though the death of Puccini in 1924 is often cited as the end of grand opera, new and often experimental works—by composers such as Alban Berg, Benjamin Britten, Gian Carlo Menotti, John Adams, and Philip Glass—continued to be produced to critical acclaim. Opera entered the 21st century as a vibrant and global art form.

A work that many have, at least heard a piece, of is Carmina Burana. Carl Orff composed this piece of music in 1936. A German, he was one of few composers that continued work during the Anti-Semitic rule of the country. Orff based his work off of a collection of poems found at the monastery of Benedikbeuren that dates back to the Twelfth Century! Carmina Burana is a set of twenty-five pieces that concern many of things going in everyone’s life today. Drinking, gambling, love, sex, fate, and fortune are just a few of the topics Orff composed of.1 In this concert report I will go through the pieces that stood out the most to me. As mentioned, the most famous piece of this work