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AR· ANALYSIS .OP SBLBCTBDP ASSAGES.
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A THESIS PRESENTEDT OWARDST HE. DEGREEO F .,MAS·TEOR F MUS:Ic··
BY
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COLIN. CLARKE
KING'S COLLEGE, LONDON, 19·87
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PAGE1
CHAPTER
IITRODUCTIOI
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CBAP'fERT WO PAGE5
SURVBOYF ATTEMPTTSO AIALYSBY AGIER
CHAPTTEURR D PAGE9
THRC OITBITO F THEP ASSAGEUSI DERS TUDY PAGE9
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BARS7 39-781 PAGE1 1
BARS7 81-800 PAGE1 5
BARS8 01-825 PAGE1 8
BARS 915-956 PAGE2 0
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BARS 956-983 PAGE2 3
COJCLUSIDI
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CB6PIBR
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IIIRCPUCIIOI
Parsifal,
Richard Wagner's last music-drama, was first performed
on 26 July 1882. Sketches date from April 1857 and the full score was
finished in January 1882. Wagner strove for a perfect balance between
music and drama throughout his mature works. Parsifal contai.ns a
refined and subtle use of lei tmoti vie and harmonic techniques . The
pliability and continual development of the motifs, the advanced
chromatic language and the balance of music and drama make this piece
especially rewarding for study.
Parsifal is subtitled "Biihnenweihfestspiel", translated by Kary
Whittall as a "Festival drama of dedication." <See Dahlhaus 1979, p.
150). The dedication aspect is reflected in the rituals of the outer
acts. Some of the actions of these rituals refer to rites of the
Christian religion, for example Kundry's "baptism• in Act III.
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Parsifal himself is an initially passive hero who comes to
understanding when Kundry tries to seduce him in Act II, the least
•religious• Act by far. It is with the passages preceeding the central
action of this seduction, the kiss, that the present study is concerned
and, more specifically, with Wagner's •art of transition."
The seamless flow of much of Wagner's mature music must be
attributed to the techniques involved in the so-cal 1e d "art of
transition". The procedures involved in this concept are the ideas of
ndles melody, perpetual development and the smooth joining of najor
subdivi ion of an Act. Thie tudy will attempt to demonstrat how
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harmonic factors interact with the drama and the leitmotif structure to
create this smooth flow.
In both the melodic and the harmonic spheres, adapted
Wagner
procedures to suit his own needs. These will now be briefly
existing
examined in turn.
s handling of leitmotifs is central to the concept of
Wagner•
perpetual variation . A leitmotif is a motif which may be associated
with a particular character, thing or situation during the course of a
music-drama. The labelling of motifs in the later music-dramas Tristan
und Isolde and Parsifal is particularly perilous, however. The motifs
take on an altogether more flexible role, often referring to emotions
and feelings rather than1 set objects.
The passages chosen for the present study exhibit this wel 1.
The seduction scene is the turning-point of the drama of Parsifal,
representing Parsifal's realisation of his situation. The scene
essentially puts forward an interior drama in contrast with the outer
acts' ritualistic action. In relation to Act II itself, the seduction
scene contrasts with the dramatically faster-moving outer sections in
which Klingsor appears.
Wagner's treatment of leitmotifs can best be likened to
Schoenberg's concept of ''developing variation". There is no definitive
form of a leitmotif. Rather it is in a continual state of flux, always
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ready to adapt to the needs of the text and the situation on stage.
Pierre Boulez has referred to Wagner's musical :materials as being in a
<Orieutatiana,
•perp tual state of 'becoming' " p. 254). As he points
out, •u ch material i • neutral without being in any way devoid of
oharact r; ,nd thi n utral quality nabl a th compo r to integrat it
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easily into the different contexts into which it fits and adapts
itself." <Ibid., pp 253-54). A leitmotivic analysis will have to
demonstrate these changes and account for them not only in terms of
dramatic suitability but also in terms of musical coherence. Only in
this way can one show the changeability of the leitmotifs and their
relation to the musical whole.
Harmonically, Wagner's late music-dramas pose many problems for
the analyst, as will be shown. On the foreground level, the "art of
transition" required an avoidance of perfect cadences to ensure
continuity. The frequent use of interrupted cadences means that it is
these which act as aural "markers" for the listener. In between these
markers the musical surface almost continually employs a highly
chromatic language, and it is up to the analyst to show how this
foreground functions and to show what directional forces are present.
The harmonic language employed can vary from straightforward
progressions and prolongations such as are found in the Herzeleide
Narrative
to passages of extended tonality and chromatic flux. As Arnold
Whittall has written,
"In ... passages of extended tonality a tonic chord may be
established and cadentially confirmed, but highly chromatic expansions
will occur between the principal points of emphasis on that tonic. In
the passages of chromatic flux, cadential progressions may also occur,
but they are unlikely to establish tonics for diatonic prolongation or
chromatic expansion." (Cambridge Opera Handbook, p. 64).
These two terms can in fact interrelate in that a
passage which, if looked at only on the more foreground levels is
chromatic flux will on a larger deep middleground level
labelled as
be seen to be directional towards a more stable harmonic arrival
point. Ref er to chapter two for a general survey of previous
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, I attempts at the analysis of Wagner's music and a summary of the
analytical methods employed in this paper.
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CRAPTIRJRO
Survey of attempts to analyse Wagner
The techniques which Wagner employed in his music-dramas have
been outlined above. They have posed many probl.ems for theorists and
analysts. -the large-scale canvas on which. Wagner worked means that a
capacity for overview is essential if one is to come to terms with this
music. Allied to this must be an awareness of how the music relates to
the drama. This can sometimes help to clarify why certain are
stufen
being prolonged (eg a key area is frequently associated with a specific
character) as well as fuel a realisation of Wagner's "art of
transition•. This can be seen in late Wagner in the concept of large
scale harmonic downbeats, and their frequent non-coincidence with scene
changes.
For many people,Wagner's late music-dramas represent the
beginn..ings of modern music. Problems such as contextually-determined
Tristan chord
harmonies like the caused early theorists to try to pin
down Wagner's harmonic techniques too much. As will be shown, this chord
plays an important part in Parsifal. Following Lorenz, the present study
Mystic chord.
will refer to this chord as the
Ernst Kurth's main contribution to Wagnerian theory was
RomontischeH armoniku nd ihre Krise in Richard Wo.gnerTs ristanC1920).
He
is handicapped by a convoluted writing style in which he frequently
seems to contradict himself and is often ambiguous as to which
particular passage he is referring. Also, his terminology is sometimes
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difficult to come to terms with, being based on terms from both the
psychology of perception and physics <eg he describes music in terms of
potential and kinetic energy). While he realises to a certain extent the
pliability of the Tristan chord. he still shows a tendency to pin its
function down to a II chord of a particular key area.
In reducing the opening of Tristan by harmonic and rhythmic
means and not qualifying this with a recognition of the nature of the
Tristan chord, Lorenz robs this chord of its characteristics for the
purposes of clarity. This is of course one of the basic tenets of
Schenkerian analysis. However, in the present case it is important to
stress that while at the opening the Tristan chord can be seen as a
decorative chord. it achieves autonomy during the course of the music
drama. This flexibility is manifest to a similar degree in Parsifal.
classify everything in
In addition to this, his attempts to
terms of "Bogen" and "Bar" forms in his series of books Das Geheimnis
Form bei
der Richard Wagners sometimes lead to some very questionable
structural boundaries.
Hardly surprisingly it was a post-Wagnerian composer .who was
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able to make the mst valid points about Wagnerian harmony - Arnold
Schoenberg. The references in his wri tinge to Wagner are few and far
ffarppnielehre
between, but the section of his of 1911 where he
concentrates on the Tristan chord as an example of vagrant harmony
reveals in a few pages an understanding of the enharmonic
transformability of this chord far beyond that of any of his
contemporaries.
Xore recently, analysts have tried to apply various analytical
Perspectives of NewX usic
techniques to this music. Benjamin Boretz in
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1972 tried to reconcile set-theory with Schoenbergian Grund8estal t in
the Tristan prelude. On the other side of the analytic fence, William
Xitchell may be taken as representative of those analysts who choose to
apply a slightly adapted version of the techniques of Heinrich Schenker
to Wagner. See this analyst's interpretation of the Tristan Prelude in
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Kitchell 1986 <see bibliography>. Analysts such as John Peel and Felix
Salzer have also attempted this adaptation in one form or another. It is
here that there seems to be most hope for Wagnerian analysis. By using
voice-leading graphs, particularly of the early and deep middle-ground,
one can successfully show the directional forces of a section of music.
Thus one can easily see how a particular goal is arrived at.
The idea of the Schenkerian background, so fitting to the music
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of the Baroque, Classical and early-Romantic eras must here undergo a
reappraisal. It is exceptional to find in the music-dramas of
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Wagner because of their massive time-scales and the adaptability of the
harDDnic language to the text. On the large scale,his acts very rarely
end in the same key <Act II of Parsifal is exceptional in this respect,
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beginning and ending in B minor). The reader is referred to Salzer' s
analysis of the Transformtion ;Music from act I of Parsifal for an
analysis which goes against the Schenkerian pre-requisite for a
background, ie that it must begin and end in the same key. (See
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Structural Heor1n1,vol 2 pp 232-233.>.
Clearly the "art of transition" does not easily lend itself to
such background structures as Schenker believed in .In Free Composition
Schenker wrote that "Wagner's inability to achieve diminutions like
those of the masters made 1 t necessary for him to turn away fron ,.
diminution, and, in the service of drama, to mke expressiveness,indeed
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overexpressi veness, the guiding principle of the music" <K p 106). As
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prolong sonorities which lie in accordance with the coherence of the
whole, whether the whole in question be a section of a scene, an entire
.. ·- . scene or an enti_re opera. This thesis will concern 1 tself with voice-
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leading and the relationship of the consequences of these graphs to the
drama.
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