Wagner - Prelude to Tristan und IsoldeSet Works 2013/14 - The Grange School & Sports College

Wagner: Q 1 & 2 -

Tristan und Isolde is a Gesamtkunst - werk (a work that aims to being all the arts together). Wagner himself was responsible for almost every element of the opera: words, music, produc9on, set etc.

The outline of the story involves Tristan (Medieval Knight) who travels from Cornwall to Ireland in order to bring back Isolde in order to marry King Mark. The pair fall in love & betray the trust of the King which has disastrous consequences.

Revision Q3 - The Prelude is scored for a large orchestra, including the following

transposing instruments (i.e. not concert pitch):

Cor Anglais (sounding a perfect 5th lower than printed)

Clarinet & Bass Clarinet in A (sounding a minor 3rd lower than printed)

Two horns in F (sounding a perfect 5th lower than printed)

Two horns in E (sounding a minor 6th lower than printed)

Two trumpets in F (sounding a perfect 4th above the printed pitch)

Double Bass (sounding an octave lower than wriKen)

Grief - cellos Bar 1 and 2. Used to form part of the Tristan Chord as it overlaps:

Rising minor 6th (8 semi tones) represent yearning

Revision Q4 -

Glance

Desire

Love Potion

Revision Q5 -

Wagner creates deliberate tonal ambiguity through use of sustained, lingering & oJen unresolved dissonances. The rst chord, which is closely linked to the rest of the opera, is known as the Tristan chord. During the mid 19th century this chord was revoluLonary & uses the Grief and Desire leitmoLf which are a key symbol of the tragic themes which underpin the opera:

F - B - D# - G#(half diminished 7th chord - diminished triad (F -G# - B) & minor 7th (D#)

ChromaSc accent which resolves by rising to the B

DesireGrief

Revision Q6 -

Signicantly the V7 in A minor which follows the Tristan chord in Bar 3 does not resolve (i.e. to the tonic as you would normally expect). Instead the chord is followed by silence.

Revision Q7 -

Wagner - Structure: rhythm, tonality & texture The prelude makes no use of convenLonal structure

The determining features of the structure and shape of the music are repeLLon, melodic sequence and diminuLon.

Analyse your given secSon of the Prelude & use your worksheet to make notes

SecLon Notes:

Bars 0-24 Fred and LizBars 246 - 65

Fred and Liz

Bars 66 - 83Anna& Ben

Bars 84 - 111Anna& Ben

Can you nd examples of the following?

Monophony

Single line in octaves

Broken Chords

Wagner: Texture

The underlying texture is oJen melody - dominated homophony (harmonic progress that moves in step with a prevailing melody)

The end of one phrase oJen overlaps with the start of another however the shape of the texture can oJen be inuenced by the principal melody (e.g. bars 48 - 51)

Monophony - Bar 1 Single line in octaves (bars 14 - 15) 4 - Part wriSng with undoubled lines (bar 36) RomanSc orchestraSons (e.g. broken chords in strings - bar 67) Doubling of parts at 2 or 3 octaves (e.g. bar 53)

Wagner: Texture

Perfect cadences (which would normally conrm or reinforce our sense of key) are rarely heard in the Prelude which creates tonal ambiguity.

The use of chromaLcism allows Wagner to create a sense of conSnuous suspense by sliding from dominant to dominant.

Can you idenSfy the key suggested by cadences at the following points?

Bar 24

Bar 35 - 36

Bar 62 - 63

Wagner: Tonality

Bar 16 - 17 (interrupted cadence in A minor)

Bar 63 - Dominant pedal

Bar 35 - 36 - Perfect Cadence in D Minor

Bar 62 - 63 - Imperfect Cadence in A Major

The opening is based around A Minor (imperfect cadence in Bar 3) then moving to C Major (Bar 7)and E Major (Bar 11).

Wagner: Tonality

The score is marked with great detail in a mixture of Italian and German. Describe the instrumental techniques (e.g. tremolo) found in:

Bar 16

Bar 36

Bar 22 - 23

Bar 83

Wagner: Instrument techniques

Bar 16: Pizzicato (accent & thicken texture) Arco (Bar 17)

Bar 36: Divided parts (German - geteilt get.)

Bar 22 - 23: Sul G play on the G string. ParScular use of tonal colour

Bar 83: Tremelo (Double Basses)

Wagner: Instrument techniques

Wagner takes a very exible approach to rhythm, accent and phrase-structure

The prelude is in slow compound 6/8 Lme

Ties over the bar, pauses and silences mean that the pulse is not always easy to discern

As the music moves towards the main climax note lengths become shorter (e.g.triplet demi semi quavers that reinforce surgin gures in 63 - 73).

Dobed rhythms frequently occur

Wagner: Rhythm & Metre

Still to come: Harmony, Performing forces

Chord ii7b (an inversion of a half diminished chord - minor 3rd, diminished 5th and minor 7th)

The Neapolitan sixth chord - (bII) rst inversion of the major triad built on the abened 2nd degree of the scale

The Tristan Chord

Diminished 7th chord e.g. bar 29

Bars 16 - 22 explore a wide variety of chords (see next slide)

Wagner: Harmony

Wagner: Harmony

Add the harmonic devices above to your set work score

The compound Lme signature allows a wide variety of internal (subdivided) rhythms to be place between the principal beats

The short long appoggiatura rhythm of bar 3 reoccurs, as does the rhythm rst hear in bar 17 (3 quaver group with a doeed rhythm on the second and third quavers)

A melody note beginning on a weak quaver is oJen Sed across the main beats which suggests a hint of syncopaSon (e.g. Bar 3 - oboe B held across quavers 2, 3 and 4).

Adjacent notes are typically at dierent lengths, parScularly in the melody

The bass line at bars 33 - 34 and again at 58 - 62 moves steadily by half - bars to increase tension

Wagner: Rhythm & Metre

The Lmbres of the oboe and cor anglais are used carefully for specic orchestral colouring (e.g. the solo parts between 100 - 105).

Double woodwinds feature throughout and Wagner is very specic with his indicaSons. OJen the bass clarinets and bassoons are scored with the doubles basses

This adds colour and strengthens the bass line

The full brass secSon is used with subtlety and restraint (the poor trombones and tuba only play for 18 bars!)

This subtlety creates climaLc climax (E.g. trumpets bar 81 - 83)

Like the brass tuned percussion is used only to reinforce the climax or to ll silences with a sinister undertone

Wagner: Performing Forces

Homework - DUE Thursday 24th

Finishing adding the notes about structure, harmony, rhythm & performing forces to your notes & score (I will add these to the blog)

Listen to each set work that we have studied (Debussy, Webern, YellowBird, Duke Ellington, Taverner, Wagner & Sweenlick) with your score & revise or add to your notes

Revise all of the set works above ahead of a test on the 24th October