9 ms·

The Leitmotifs of Wagner's Ring

54 points by thombles 6y ago

Freak_NL 6y ago
A potentially interesting segue into modern music is the 2006 Ring inspired nerdcore 'remix' of the Ring-cycle: Rhyme of the Nibelung by Baddd Spellah featuring MC Frontalot: https://soundcloud.com/badddspellah/rhyme-of-the-nibelung https://soundcloud.com/badddspellah/rhyme-of-the-nibelung A tongue-in-cheek adaptation of course, but I can't read about Leitmotifs in Wagner's Ring cycle without thinking of this song.
tomcam 6y ago
I paid something like $1100 per ticket to see a production at the last Seattle Opera cycle with no expectations (gift to the wife) and was blown away because the music is just plain incredibly well written and tuneful. It is straight up good 19th century pop music, albeit with a deeply weird plot replete with a heapin’ helpin’ of incest. Production itself was thankfully world class.
- busterarm 6y ago
  Whether this is someone's thing or not, I strongly encourage everyone to see a complete Ring Cycle at least once. There'll be 3 opportunities to do so in Berlin between November & January.
  - Freak_NL 6y ago
    I'll personally give it a few years until 'getting together in large groups indoors seated next to strangers' feels more natural, is less at risk of being cancelled because of corona, and won't be sold out the minute sales open due to over a year of missing such things.
    - busterarm 6y ago
      > I'll personally give it a few years until 'getting together in large groups indoors seated next to strangers' feels more natural I think this largely depends on where you are in the world. There are already places you can go see a soccer match in a sold out stadium. Even in places that have been very locked down. I'm looking at you, AAMI Park.
user2994cb 6y ago
A nice run through of the recent Met production here: https://vimeo.com/39374902 https://vimeo.com/39374902
jedimastert 6y ago
Sideways, who does a ton of incredible work about music in films and TV, did a video about the Ring cycle https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6GA9Px6qkc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6GA9Px6qkc
coolandsmartrr 6y ago
For those HNers wondering the significance of this page, a leitmotif is a "ringtone" for every character or event accompanied on a staged drama. Wagner's usage of leitmotifs in the Ring was very influential to the development of stage music, later film music. The influence is especially present in the Star Wars score. You know how Darth Vader's theme plays when he enters the scene? John Williams took hint from Wagner to assign tunes to each character.
- larusso 6y ago
  My other favorite example in Film is The Lord of the Rings. Especially in the first movie with the theme for the fellowship. It starts out as some single French horns and becomes this great theme when the complete fellowship walks the iconic scene over the mountains towards Moria. Then in Moria we hear it the last time played in full when it abruptly stopps. After Gandalf fell so does the theme. It’s beautiful done.
  - r2222 6y ago
    Yeah it’s pretty much perfect. You hear it from the first seconds: Galadriel/Lothlorien theme as the the voiceover starts over black screen, turns into the ring theme as the title card appears, and changing into the lighter Shire theme when she talks about it, waving different themes into each other, after finally ending in Fellowship theme as the title ‘Fellowship of the Ring’ appears. Even after Boromir’s death you hear a sad and dark hint of the Fellowship theme as it fades away into the moment the fellowship truly breaks and Frodo decides to leave on his own. Imagine my disappointment when they used the Nazgul theme in the Hobbit, in the final warg/orc fight scene. Just threw it all away because it’s something that sounds ominous.
    - larusso 6y ago
      Yeah because they had to throw that scene in and they had no music for it. If I remember correctly it was 2 minutes of movie means 2 weeks of sound work. Or something like that. And the hobbit was plagued with issues from the very start. I still like the soundtrack from the hobbit but it didn’t follow the leitmotif as much. When listening to it while working I have no idea where in the story the music belongs to. That is different with Lord of the Rings.
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
alamortsubite 6y ago
This is an amazing resource for anyone wanting to appreciate Wagner. When I was in college, I had to learn many of these leitmotifs by going to our library's listening room and following my professor's notes while playing compact disc recordings of performances he prescribed. It seemed high-tech at the time!
2bitencryption 6y ago
Wagner's Ring cycle was my go-to background music for studying for finals in college.
tannhauser23 6y ago
I highly recommend Deryick Cooke's introduction which uses clips from the acclaimed Solti recordings to help you understand the leitmotifs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HI-ZYf8TO54&ab_channel=Rodders https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HI-ZYf8TO54&ab_channel=Rodde...

54 points by thombles 6y ago

A potentially interesting segue into modern music is the 2006 Ring inspired nerdcore 'remix' of the Ring-cycle: Rhyme of the Nibelung by Baddd Spellah featuring MC Frontalot: https://soundcloud.com/badddspellah/rhyme-of-the-nibelung https://soundcloud.com/badddspellah/rhyme-of-the-nibelung A tongue-in-cheek adaptation of course, but I can't read about Leitmotifs in Wagner's Ring cycle without thinking of this song.

tomcam 6y ago

I paid something like $1100 per ticket to see a production at the last Seattle Opera cycle with no expectations (gift to the wife) and was blown away because the music is just plain incredibly well written and tuneful. It is straight up good 19th century pop music, albeit with a deeply weird plot replete with a heapin’ helpin’ of incest. Production itself was thankfully world class.

busterarm 6y ago
Whether this is someone's thing or not, I strongly encourage everyone to see a complete Ring Cycle at least once. There'll be 3 opportunities to do so in Berlin between November & January.
- Freak_NL 6y ago
  I'll personally give it a few years until 'getting together in large groups indoors seated next to strangers' feels more natural, is less at risk of being cancelled because of corona, and won't be sold out the minute sales open due to over a year of missing such things.
  - busterarm 6y ago
    > I'll personally give it a few years until 'getting together in large groups indoors seated next to strangers' feels more natural I think this largely depends on where you are in the world. There are already places you can go see a soccer match in a sold out stadium. Even in places that have been very locked down. I'm looking at you, AAMI Park.

user2994cb 6y ago

A nice run through of the recent Met production here: https://vimeo.com/39374902 https://vimeo.com/39374902

jedimastert 6y ago

Sideways, who does a ton of incredible work about music in films and TV, did a video about the Ring cycle https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6GA9Px6qkc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6GA9Px6qkc

coolandsmartrr 6y ago

For those HNers wondering the significance of this page, a leitmotif is a "ringtone" for every character or event accompanied on a staged drama. Wagner's usage of leitmotifs in the Ring was very influential to the development of stage music, later film music. The influence is especially present in the Star Wars score. You know how Darth Vader's theme plays when he enters the scene? John Williams took hint from Wagner to assign tunes to each character.

larusso 6y ago
My other favorite example in Film is The Lord of the Rings. Especially in the first movie with the theme for the fellowship. It starts out as some single French horns and becomes this great theme when the complete fellowship walks the iconic scene over the mountains towards Moria. Then in Moria we hear it the last time played in full when it abruptly stopps. After Gandalf fell so does the theme. It’s beautiful done.
- r2222 6y ago
  Yeah it’s pretty much perfect. You hear it from the first seconds: Galadriel/Lothlorien theme as the the voiceover starts over black screen, turns into the ring theme as the title card appears, and changing into the lighter Shire theme when she talks about it, waving different themes into each other, after finally ending in Fellowship theme as the title ‘Fellowship of the Ring’ appears. Even after Boromir’s death you hear a sad and dark hint of the Fellowship theme as it fades away into the moment the fellowship truly breaks and Frodo decides to leave on his own. Imagine my disappointment when they used the Nazgul theme in the Hobbit, in the final warg/orc fight scene. Just threw it all away because it’s something that sounds ominous.
  - larusso 6y ago
    Yeah because they had to throw that scene in and they had no music for it. If I remember correctly it was 2 minutes of movie means 2 weeks of sound work. Or something like that. And the hobbit was plagued with issues from the very start. I still like the soundtrack from the hobbit but it didn’t follow the leitmotif as much. When listening to it while working I have no idea where in the story the music belongs to. That is different with Lord of the Rings.

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]

alamortsubite 6y ago

This is an amazing resource for anyone wanting to appreciate Wagner. When I was in college, I had to learn many of these leitmotifs by going to our library's listening room and following my professor's notes while playing compact disc recordings of performances he prescribed. It seemed high-tech at the time!

2bitencryption 6y ago

Wagner's Ring cycle was my go-to background music for studying for finals in college.

tannhauser23 6y ago

I highly recommend Deryick Cooke's introduction which uses clips from the acclaimed Solti recordings to help you understand the leitmotifs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HI-ZYf8TO54&ab_channel=Rodders https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HI-ZYf8TO54&ab_channel=Rodde...