Richard Wagner's Music

The music of Richard Wagner (the first name is pronounced in the German way, as Ric-hard, or sometimes Ree-shard). Known a little better today than a few decades ago, because of the use of The Ride of the Valkyries in Apocalypse Now, Wagner's music still deserves to be more familiar. (Unfortunately, it is reported that Hitler loved the music of Wagner, and this created a great deal of ill-will towards the composer, which persists to this date.) Wagner wrote principally opera, which are essentially large-scale musical dramas. Up until Wagner began innovating with this genre, operas were written in very sectional form, as are certain types of Broadway musicals, with songs, dances, dialogue between songs, duets, etc. Wagner very deliberately began to move in the direction of an unbroken, continuous musical line which did not naturally and comfortably split into musical 'numbers', as they are called. With the understanding that these chunks were not intended to be 'free-standing', here are a few, to get you started enjoying Wagner.

1. The first I can think of is the Pilgrim's Chorus from Tannhauser. It is actually a chorus for men, but there is an orchestral version in the Overture, and this is what I'm thinking of. The chorus, in slow triple time, starts out softly played by horns and trombones, representing pilgrims approaching from a distance. It swells, into a churning, agitated middle section, mostly in the string section, and then fades away, as the pilgrims depart, once again with the trombones.
2. One of the most ethereal pieces of music is the prelude to Wagner's opera Lohengrin. Lohengrin was a mythical knight loosely associated with the Arthurian legend, and the opera relates the tragic love story in which the knight Lohengrin comes to the succor of Elsa of Brabant (who has been accused of kidnapping her own brother). Most of Wagner's Overtures have a symbolic structure that depicts some abstract aspect of the struggle in the story. But this one represents simply Lohengrin's pure love for Elsa. It is such a beautiful piece of writing that it seems almost too hard to return to the real world after it is over. I doubt that a mere YouTube clip can do justice to the music, which starts out very, very soft, with just violins (playing 8 parts, instead of the usual two), and gradually swells in power to a climax punctuated by a firm clash of the cymbals, after which it dies back to a whisper once again. Ok, I've got a sound clip ready; now to upload it...
3. Wagner's music is very grand. Even in austere works, such as Parsifal, about a painfully innocent knight who simply cannot understand the complexities of love and sex, and his encounter with a woman of loose morals, set against a backdrop of monastic renunciation, the music is sumptuous. It might not be the richness of brocade and velvet, but it's still quietly perfect, the best hair shirt money can buy. The overture to Parsifal has this strange austerity. In this video, one of the most heartbreaking moments comes in at around 1:20. Understandably it is not very exciting; it has a contemplative character.
4. You have already heard about Die Meistersinger, Wagner's last, and most lighthearted opera. There is a lovely section where Hans Sachs teaches the young knight Walther how to compose a standard Mastersinger song. I will try and get this uploaded for you.  For the moment, here is the young knight Walther singing his prize song in the competition, and the ravished response of his love, young Eva.  The bass voice --Hans himself-- is calling for quiet for the young singer.
5. Wagner's beautiful Siegfried Idyll was composed as a Christmas gift for his lady (Cosima von Bulow), whose birthday was at Christmastime, and who happened to have just delivered their son, Siegfried, which happened also to the be name of the hero in the Ring Trilogy Wagner was just completing. The Idyll combines several musical themes from the Trilogy, as well as a well-known lullaby.
6. [In progress]

Arch, uploading furiously.