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Musical Courier 1895-12-25: Vol 31 Iss 825, 1895
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1The Harmonic Basis of Wagner's Operas and Music Dramas.
3EVERY musical person has undoubtedly noticed a certain majestic, pompous expression in the music of Richard Wagner which seems to constitute an important element of his individual style. This peculiar, masculine expression is so characteristic that one who has heard only the Tannhäuser or Lohengrin would be enabled to recognize any of the following operas or music dramas. The experience of others in this respect has doubtless been similar to that of the present writer.
5The peculiar style thus noted lies principally in Wagner's method of harmonization, for the composer seldom repeated himself in melodic phrases.
7The first manifestation of individuality in this respect seems to have been in the harmonizing of chord motives. The principle which naturally applies in such instances has been so generally employed by composers that I did not hesitate to give it as a useful theorem in my Analytical Harmony, thus:
9"Melodic skips of a third or fourth are to be harmonized with any chord which contains both notes of the skip." This is given in the elementary part of the book, but the principle is one which admits of wide application.
11Wagner's method is almost opposite in theory and in effect. He changed the harmony upon the second or third note of the skip, and thus imparted an individual color to an otherwise ordinary chord motive. A fragment from the Pilgrim chorus in Tannhäuser is selected as an illustration:
13The skip of a fourth is accompanied by the same chord, but in an inverted form, which gives it greater prominence. Then when B passes down to G sharp we hear the chord of C sharp minor, and this it is which gives such a different color to the melody. The effect is essentially Wagnerian.
15Before introducing another example attention is directed to the modus operandi of chord progression here employed. While the theme descends by skips of a fourth and a third, the bass ascends through a third and fourth, being almost as individual as in the upper melody. The composer thus avoids the unpleasant parallel movement which is liable to result whenever a skip is accompanied by more than one chord. It was, I believe, this very semi-phrase which a noted German critic objected to when the overture was first performed. He said: "If a pupil had harmonized such a melody in this manner it would have been the teacher's duty to burn it." The critic would doubtless have retained the tonic chord throughout. This serves to illustrate Wagner's method, and therefore I give the ordinary harmonization:
17How colorless this in comparison with the original! There are other peculiarities of this chorus to be noted:
19The A sharp at a adds considerable strength and vigor to the effect, and in the next measure the seventh in the bass is quite unexpected and preserves the serious character of the harmonic coloring. At c tonic and relative minor chords are interspersed, after the manner of Example 1.
21Throughout the first period of sixteen measures this peculiar style of harmonization is maintained, the cadence, with its melodic anticipation, being the nearest approach to conventionality.
23Before proceeding with the Pilgrim chorus let us turn to the Tournament of Song to observe a similar method of chord progression:
25Apparently the natural harmonization of this chord motive would consist of the B chord only; but this method did not suit the purpose of our composer. The second phrase is treated in the same manner:
27The individuality of the march which follows is owing to the continuity of the theme rather than to its harmonization.
29In the opera Lohengrin we meet a number of similar instances. A few of these are quoted for comparison:
31The Lohengrin motive a and its variants b and c are essentially Wagnerian. The phrase at d is from the Bridal Chorus and shows the same peculiar mode of harmonization. The most conservative theorist ought not to object to this, because the objection could not be sustained. There are, however, those who would fain prescribe the exact colors on the palette of a Rembrandt or a Millet, and catalogue the chords to be used by a Beethoven and a Wagner.
33Neither Rienzi nor the Flying Dutchman seems to contain any examples of this peculiar style of chord progression as applied to harmonic motives. The Prayer and War March from Rienzi and the popular Spinning Song from the Flying Dutchman might at the time they were composed have been attributed to Meyerbeer and Boieldieu without exciting suspicion. There is not even a premonition of Tristan and Isolde nor of Die Meistersinger. It is in Tannhäuser that we observe for the first time Wagner's method of individualizing each tone of a chord motive, and after that it may be traced through all the music dramas.
35Another singular harmonic feature of the Tannhäuser and Lohengrin music remains to be noted. It consists of a chromatic theme modulating to the harmony a major third below, thus:
37The effect at these places f is always unexpected and therefore acts as a surprise to the listener. Also the chromatic element adds seriousness to the otherwise bold progressions, and the total effect may be compared to the sensation one experiences in beholding for the first time some strange scene.
39There are depths below or heights beyond which we had never imagined, and this realization produces a feeling of awe or wonder. The mere passage to the harmony a major third below has long been known among the parallel relations; but the use to which this has been turned by Wagner and his manner of uniting these into a chain of chromatic harmonization, which returns to the original tonality, afford a rare proof of his unique and daring genius.
41The Romance from Tannhäuser is somewhat similar in harmonic design, but in Lohengrin the scheme is carried still further. Elsa's dream, the king's initial solo, and the following ensemble in Act I., contain fine examples of this harmonic idiom. An excerpt from the unaccompanied quartet is here cited:
43This follows the miraculous appearance in Brabant of Elsa's champion knight and immediately precedes the momentous combat between Lohengrin and Frederick. These sentiments the music very faithfully expresses, particularly the confidence of the two principals in their individual courage and prowess. A similar modal transition occurs in Elsa's dream.
45The peculiar order of chord succession in these instances is reversed in the King's Prayer, the third relation being above, instead of below, thus:
47This harmonization is not so bold nor so incisive as in Example 8. But the sentiment to be expressed in this prayer is,
49"Oh, help us now in our distress."
51With regard to the aesthetic character of these unusual idiomatic harmonizations, which frequently seem to the cursory observer rather theatrical and stilted, they must be considered in their chronological sequence as a further development of the mystic tone language. We must not forget that Wagner (as he appears in his later operas and music dramas) came after a long line of illustrious masters, including Berlioz and Chopin, and that he had to deal with the hylozoical affairs of supernatural beings. Superstition and legend here become truth and philosophy. We must renounce prosaic reality and live in the esoteric realms of the imagination. It is also well to remember that modern composers have familiarized us with inharmonic transition and that the Boehm system on woodwind and the valves on brass instruments have left the harmonist a free rein in the management of tonal relations.
53Whether Wagner drove his fiery chariot too far in quest of novel tone expression cannot be considered until we have proceeded further in our analysis of his works.
55A. J. Goodrich.
57(To be continued.)
59Can a Person Unable to Sing Educate Another's Voice?
61CAN a person who cannot speak a language teach another to speak it, even though he have all the books printed in that language before him? Can a tailor or a dressmaker make an outfit from the raw materials before they have been converted into cloth?
63All will agree that it would be absurd to undertake either the one or the other, yet it would be no more absurd than for the hundreds of musicians and non-musicians, acknowledging they cannot sing, who pretend to take the raw material and convert it into a voice useful for singing, or, in other words, to teach others to do what they themselves are utterly incapable of doing. It never occurs to a pupil, when having his voice examined, to listen to the quality of tone produced by the future teacher, and thereby judge of the quality he will require of the pupil in return. If the teacher refuses to give an example, saying that he does not sing, that alone should suffice, for if he has any knowledge of tone production he should be conscientious enough to first apply it to his own voice, and if he finds it practicable and beneficial he should teach only when he has proven his theory by perfecting his own voice.
65He has no right to accept another's time and money without knowing what the result will be. The profession of teaching is—or would be without this element—an honorable one as well as remunerative, and it is well worth the while of those who wish to enter it to prepare themselves from the beginning, just as a physician or a lawyer is obliged to do. This is not done, because it requires time, money and conscientious, hard work, and the majority are in too much of a hurry. The organist—who has never taken a singing lesson in his life—begins by teaching the members of his choir in order to eke out his slender salary, or he advertises to give instruction in exchange for choir service, and thus puts the entire appropriation allowed by the church for the payment of the choir into his own pocket. Students after a limited number of lessons often begin to teach to help pay for their own lessons, without considering the fact that it requires more and different study to become a teacher than to become an operatic singer, for when he has perfected his own voice, conquered all its difficulties and corrected all its defects, then if he intends to teach he should begin a serious study of the defects of other voices and the way to correct these defects.
67If he has a throaty quality to correct he should know what produces that quality, and be able from the beginning to overcome it. Should the voice have that hollow sound that reminds one of a diminutive calliope, a breathy or a hoarse sound in certain tones of the voice; should there be a break (more often found in contralto voices) between the chest and the medium registers, or, which is more unusual, a break between the medium and third registers (a break never occurs when the three registers and the passage from one to the other are understood), these difficulties and the individual differences in voice should be thoroughly understood and their eradication begun from the first lesson.
69There is a gross lack of knowledge when a pupil is obliged to continue with one tone or phrase for weeks or
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