Der Ring Des Nibelungen chords by Richard Wagner
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Verse 1
Of all great (D major) musical compositions,
Der Ring des Nibelungen
is by far the largest.
A consecutive performance of
its four separate parts
would last for some 15 hours.
To confer unity on this vast scheme,
Wagner built his score
(F minor) out of a number of (D major) recurrent themes,
each one associated with some element in the drama,
and developed in conjunction with that element
throughout the work.
These themes,
or leading motives
as they have come to be called,
are (G major) not mere identifica (D major) tion tags,
nor is the score
a simple patchwork made
up
by introducing each motive
at the appropriate point in
the stage action.
Wagner's own description of his themes
was melodic moments of feeling,
and writing about his in (F minor) tentions beforehand,
(D major) he said, these melodic moments
will be made by the orchestra
into a kind of emotional (F minor) guide
throughout the (G major) labyrinthine
structure (D major) of the drama.
(F minor) Wagner's motives have, (D major)
in score is a continuous symphonic development of them,
reflecting the continuous
psychological development
of the stage action.
In consequence,
a comprehensive analysis of the ring
would be an enormous task.
It would involve clarifying the
psychological implications
of all the motives
and tracing their changing significance
(F minor) throughout the (D major) whole of their
long and complex development.
Nevertheless, understanding and enjoyment
of the work
can be greatly helped
by simply establishing the identity
of all the really important motives
and indicating
what immediate dramatic symbols
they stand for,
which is all that this introduction
is intended to do.
The motives are associated
with four different types of dra (F minor) matic symbol,
(D major) characters, objects,
events and emotions.
An example of a motive
representing a character
is the stern fanfare
which introduces Hunding
in Act I of Die Walküre. (F minor) (G major)
An (D major) example of a motive
representing an object
is the genial theme
associated with Freyja's golden apples.
This is introduced in scene 2 of Das
Rheingold.
It's sung by Fafner
as he explains the value
of the apples to Fasolt.
An example of a motive
represent (F minor) ing an (D major) event
is the brief agitated fig
(F minor) ure on the wood (D major) wind
which follows Algerich's
threat of violence
against the Rhinemaidens
in scene 1 of Rheingold. (D flat major) (Gdim)
(D major) An example of a motive
representing an emotion
is the furious repeated
figure on the orchestra
which portrays Siegfried's anger
dur (G major) ing Act 1 of Siegfried. (Gdim) (E flat major) (D major) These
examples are only four
of the almost innumerable motives
in the ring.
But at the heart of this diversity,
there's a symbol unity.
Practically all the motives
arise
from a few basic motives.
Each of these basic motives
represents one of the central
symbols of the drama,
and it generates a number
of oth (D major) er motives
by a process of transformation
to represent various aspects
of the central symbol concerned.
And so we can thread our way
through the jungle of motifs in the ring
by grouping them into their different
families.
We can start from each basic motif in turn
and trace the family of motifs
it generates throughout the ring
before continuing with the next basic motif.
Der Ring Des Nibelungen
Richard Wagner
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