#WednesdayWagner Since 3 days ago we celebrated the 138th anniversary of Parsifal premiere, let's explore some connections between this Bühnenweihfestspiel and Der Ring des Nibelungen. Ladies and gentleman: PARSIFAL AND THE RING (part 1).
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#TwitterCultural #SummerReading
#WednesdayWagner In Parsifal Act 3, there is a really beautiful excerpt that ends with the orchestra playing a kind of ostinato: listen to the violins at 46:47 in this link:
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#TwitterCultural #SummerReading
#WednesdayWagner As @wagners_ring mentions in their incredible webpage (visit it right now, please), this motive is known as the "innocence" one. Read the explanation here: https://monsalvat.no/motif38.htm
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#WednesdayWagner Apart from the connection with other Parsifal themes (Faith, for example), this melody is connected with the Ring cycle world through several links. Let's see them
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#WednesdayWagner Maybe we can say that the two quarters pitches are quite similar to the Rheingold leitmotif (see the full explanation of this leitmotif below) #TwitterCultural #SummerReading https://twitter.com/Wagner2_0/status/1255525612208308226?s=20
#WednesdayWagner But the unquestionable link (at least, imho), appears in Götterdämmerung Act 3, in the so-called "Remembrance" leitmotif: Listen to 24:09 in the link below
#t=24m09
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#t=24m09
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#WednesdayWagner As you can notice, the group of 3 descending pitches has almost the same configuration, except for the rhythm. Indeed, the repetition of the gesture adds further similarities and personality to both excerpts
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#TwitterCultural #SummerReading
#WednesdayWagner Last but not least, this same figure can be heard in Mahler's Symphony no. 9 (masterpiece). Clearly, there was some extramusical meaning in this motive for him too
Listen to it below, at 18.31
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#t=18m31
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#WednesdayWagner But there's more: Mahler already used this motive in Symphonies no. 1 and no. 5 ... Are you able to identify these appearances? A real challenge for you, my friends. I hope everyone is enjoying summer as much as possible!!
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#TwitterCultural #SummerReading
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