Richard Wagner: Difference between revisions

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[[File:Wagner_as_SiegfriedWagner as Siegfried.jpg|frame]]

Besides serving as models for composers of dramatic music (such as [[Bernard Herrmann]], [[Alfred Newman]], [[Erich Wolfgang Korngold]], and [[Max Steiner]]) up to the present, these works have themselves been frequently adapted for use in dramatic productions -- asproductions—as, for example, the Bridal Chorus „''Treulich geführt''‟ from ''Lohengrin'', which has become a [[Standard Snippet]] synonymous with weddings, and his "[[Ride of the Valkyries (Music)|Ride of the Valkyries]]" from ''Walküre'', ubiquitous in contexts of war and flying. Though Wagner was by no means incapable of delicacy, his compositions have typically been used in contexts of ''Sturm und Drang''. Classic [[Looney Tunes]] cartoons seem particularly addicted to [[Public Domain Soundtrack|Wagner's music]] -- and—and two of the composer's greatest works were gloriously parodied in the famous short "[[What's Opera, Doc? (Film)|What's Opera Doc]]".

His extreme nationalism caused him to be adopted very soon as a symbol of [[Useful Notes/Germany|Germany]], particularly in its most [[Prussia|militaristic and]] [[Imperial Germany|imperialist modes]], and his virulent anti-Semitism and the fact that [[Adolf Hitler]] [[Hitler Ate Sugar|loved his music]] has made Wagner the ideal musical symbol of the [[Nazi Germany|Nazi Reich]]: depictions of the downfall of Nazi Germany are almost automatically accompanied by "Siegfried's Funeral March" from (naturally) ''Götterdämmerung''. (Wagner's anti-Semitism may have been a case of [[Boomerang Bigot|Boomerang Bigotry]]ry, as Ludwig Geyer, the man whom he suspected of being his biological father, was also (apparently incorrectly) reputed to be of Jewish ancestry.) Was once [[Heterosexual Life Partners]] with [[Friedrich Nietzsche]] before [[We Used to Be Friends|they had a huge falling out.]]

=== Works by Richard Wagner with their own trope pages include: ===

=== Other works by Richard Wagner provide examples of: ===

* [[Dreadful Musician]]: Wagner was a horrible pianist, but he said that he played it "a great deal better than Berlioz" -- who—who couldn't play the piano '''''at all'''''.

* [[Famous Last Words/Real Life|Famous Last Words]]: „Meine Uhr!‟ ("My watch!") — He had had a heart attack ,<ref> possibly brought on by a violent quarrel with his wife Cosima over a pretty young "Flower Maiden" in Parsifal</ref>, and was dying in his wife's arms when the watch fell from his pocket onto the floor.

* [[Fanfare]]: Several of Wagner's [[Leitmotif|Leitmotifs]]s (''e.g.'', Lohengrin's motif) have the character of fanfares; more conventional examples introduce the Overture to ''Rienzi'' and the Festival March from ''Tannhäuser''. At Bayreuth, certain motifs are [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQW8oYVMt1U played as fanfares] from the balcony of the ''Festspielhaus'' to announce the beginning of an act.

* [[German Language]]: While ''[[Leitmotif|Leitmotiv]]'' was actually coined rather by Hans von Wolzogen rather than by Wagner, we do owe to Richard that suitably impressive Teutonic term, ''Gesamtkunstwerk'' -- the—the "total art work" or combinations of all forms of art, music, theater, painting, dance, and so on, to make up one unified art-form.

* [[Love Potion]]: Shows up in ''Tristan und Isolde'' -- with—with [[Serious Business|portentous consequences]].

* [[Music of Note]]: Even more famous than the "[[Ride of the Valkyries (Music)|Ride of the Valkyries]]" is the [[Standard Snippet]] „''Treulich geführt''‟ (AKA "Here Comes the Bride") from ''Lohengrin'' -- but—but Wagner works are stuffed so full of [[Music of Note]] that it would be easier to list his "American Centennial March" right away.

* [[Opera]]: Uh...yeah. Wagner did compose a few other works, such as the ''Wesendonck-Lieder'' and the ''Siegfried-Idyll'' -- but—but the music-dramas constitute the composer's most extensive and important achievement.

* [[Serial Escalation]]: Where Wagner took opera -- Iopera—I mean, ''Bühnenfestspiel''.

* [[Tenor Boy]]: Erik, Lohengrin, Walther, Siegfried and Parsifal -- theParsifal—the more "boyish" Wagnerian rôles. Perhaps subverted in ''Tannhäuser,'' in which the more sensual Heinrich is a tenor, the more innocent Wolfram a baritone.

* [[Valkyries]]: It is Wagner's version that most people think of when imagining these mythological "Gatherers of the Slain" -- however—however, it is worth noting that unlike the popular conception, Wagner's original Valkyries did '''not''' wear horned helmets, but winged ones; did '''not''' ride winged horses, though they were aerial ones; and, though intended to be rather manly, ungentle women, were intended to be statuesque in the 19th century manner, rather than grossly obese.

* [[What the Hell, Hero?|What The Hell, Hero?]]: ''Parsifal'' actually introduces its eponymous hero this way, with him being reprimanded for senselessly killing a swan. Of course, he's [[The Fool]] and has a lot to learn -- helearn—he doesn't even know his name at this point.

=== Notable Works which cite Wagner or his works: ===

* On ''[[Kir Royal (TV)|Kir Royal]]'', the protagonists use the aliases [[Richard Wagner|"Siegfried" and "Wieland"]], the names of Richard's son and grandson (while posing as the nephews of a Jewish composer, of all things).

* In an episode of ''[[The Simpsons]]'', Mr. Burns gets to fight in a tank ("I've been waiting 25 years for this"), and he plays "[[The Ride of the Valkyries (Music)|The Ride of the Valkyries]]" as the [[Crowning Music of Awesome]]. He gets [[Rickroll|Rickrolled]]ed.