Try to do as many of these tasks as

you can before the exam- all of the

answers can be found in your notes.
Contents
Section 1- Content
Task 1- page 3
Task 2- page 4
Task 3- page 5
Task 4- page 6
Task 5- page 6





















Task 1- correctly spell the words defined below

1. Total art work; an artistic creation, as the music dramas of
Richard Wagner, which synthesizes the elements
of music, drama, spectacle, dance, etc.

2. Alliteration: device used in German literature, and
extensively by Wagner in his operas (particularly the Ring)
to bring [his row of words] to the feeling's understanding in
an easier and more sensuous form. Reminiscent of the
guttural Nordic language.

3. The singing of a single syllable of text while moving
between several different notes in succession

4. Head Valkyrie sister in the Ring cycle.

5. A Trojan hero, the son of the prince Anchises and the
goddess Aphrodite. He is a character in Greek
mythology and is mentioned in Homer's Iliad, and receives
full treatment in Roman mythology as the legendary founder
of what would become Ancient Rome, most extensively
in Virgil's Aeneid.

6. Full name of the pioneer of the French overture, which uses
dotted rhythms.

7. Technique used by Verdi, which foreshadows the use of the
leitmotif in later works (from Wagner onwards).

8. A Mexican folk dance and music style, part of the style Son
Huasteco. Used as a tempo marking in West Side story.

9. A type of chromaticism found in Dido and Aeneas- e.g. 4-3,
9-8.






Task 2- Fill in the gaps on this text about Dido and Aeneas.
This set work comes from the _______ Era (c.1600-1750)
This period in history witnessed a new exploration of ideas
and innovations in the arts, literature and philosophy.
_____ was the cultural centre and led the way when it
came to exploring and establishing new ideas and fashions.
The word baroque comes from the Portuguese for pearl
and was used in reference to the ornate architecture and
elaborate gilded paintings, frescoes and designs that
adorned the walls of German and Italian ________ of the
time.
One feature that made its way into the music of the
Baroque was the emphasis on an _________ or decorative
melodic line and there are many examples of this in the
vocal melodies in Dido and Aeneas.
The great composers of the Baroque Period were J. S.
Bach (1685-1750), G. F. Handel (1685-1759), Antonio
Vivaldi (1678-1741) and Henry Purcell (1659-1695).
Dido and Aeneas (16__) is arguably the first ever English
opera. However, some scholars argue that the first English
work in this genre was The Siege of Rhodes (1656),
although the music has been lost. Psyche (1673) by
Thomas Shadwell and Matthew Locke mixes music and
spoken dialogue, but the first English Opera in which
everything was sung was _______________ by John
Blow. This was first performed a few years before Dido
and Aeneas. Indeed, Purcell took ___________s work as a
model for his own opera.
Purcell composed his opera to a libretto by ________
(from a play called The Enchanted Lovers of 1678). The
opera was written expressly for a girls school in Chelsea in
the spring of 1689. This school was run by a dancing
teacher called Josias Priest which probably goes some way
to explain why the opera contains several _____
movements. In those days, singing, dancing and acting were
important elements of the education of both boys and girls
in English schools. It is likely that the pupils took all the
roles except Aeneas and the alto, tenor and bass parts
were probably taken by lay clerks from Westminster
Abbey or from the theatre, where Josias Priest had
connections.
Task 3- West Side Story Crossword












Task 4- Solve the Wagner related anagrams and write definitions/
explanations for the words.
WDLUIAEKERU

NOATW

ELBUDRNHNI

GKETMSUSANSERW

TBIESAMR

FLIMOETTI

TASK 5- Answer the questions on the academic texts below.
1. Barry Millington, The Music: Operas in The Wagner Compendium: A Guide to
Wagners Life and Music (London: Thames and Hudson, 1992), p 292.
Musical Style
Whereas in Rhinegold, the rigour with which Wagner applied his theoretical principles resulted in
occasionally undistinguished melodic lines, in Walkre he achieved equality of status for music and
words without any such sacrifices. In Act I, especially, Wagners musico-poetic synthesis is
demonstrated at its finest: the text is set with natural word stresses and to a melodic line that registers
every nuance while remaining musically interesting in its own right. Acts II and III are no less
masterly, though there are already perceptible signs in these acts of Wagners subsequent shift away
from absolute equality of poetry and music. The encounter, at his very time, with the philosophy of
Schopenhauer- who elevated music above all other forms of art- may well have been largely
responsible for the shift.
In Act II scene 2 occurs one of Wagners great narrations: that for Wotan beginning with the lines
Als junger Liebe Lust mir verblich (When the delights of young love had waned in me). It is
often said that by conceiving his cycle in reverse order Wagner subsequently rendered his back
narrations redundant. But that is to reckon without the significance attached to the narrative mode by
Wagner- Greek drama was, after all, one of the antecedents of the music drama. In any case, to
criticise such narrations for holding up the action, or for repeating what we, the audience, already
know, is to miss the point. Strictly speaking, no story told, or opera heard, more than once offers any
real surprise in terms of plot. What a narration can offer is the chance to reflect on past events, to see
them through the eyes of another character. And it is a device that lends itself perfectly to Wagners
technique of leitmotif, because not only can the interaction of characters, objects and ideas all be
represented by the juxtaposition of the relevant musical motifs, but the transformation of those motifs
can express subtle nuances and psychological depths more powerfully than any words.
In the case of Wotans narration, the god is persuaded to lay bare his soul to his favourite daughter
and her empathy encourages him to articulate and come to terms with his dilemma. Wotan begins the
exchange by confessing how he attempted to fill the vacuum of lovelessness in his life by acquiring
power. His hushed reliving of the story (Als junger Liebe) is the closest thing in the whole piece to
pure recitative, but it is by no means oblivious to the Oper und Drama principles of word setting and
in any case it acquires a special aura of suspense from the accompaniment- double basses alone,
pianissimo. The characteristic motifs appear as Wotan recalls the theft of the gold, the building of
Valhalla, the ring. Other motifs come to the fore, notably those of the curse and the sword, which
drive the narration to a tremendous climax: Wotan looks for only one thing- das Ende (the end).
Summary:
Die Walkre is very successful in achieving a balance between words and music. Millington
suggests it is the nearest Wagner gets to a Gesamtkunstwerk, while creating music which
sounds appealing and flows well, especially in Act I. Perhaps the fact that Acts II and III
place more emphasis on music than poetry is connected to the fact that while composing the
Ring cycle, Wagner began to side with the views of the philosopher Schopenhauer, who
believed music should be at the top of the hierarchy.
One technique Wagner uses in Die Walkre is the use of narrations (like monologues in
drama). While these may be seen as slowing the furthering of the action, they may be useful
in offering a new point of view on a situation, for example.
Millington suggests the reason Wagner used these narrations may have been because he was
inspired by the dramas of the Ancient Greeks, which often used similar techniques.
Wotans narration in Act II sc ii is a good example. This is in a recitative style, but the
accompaniment is still important as it creates suspense using soft double basses alone, so it is
not quite like recitative passages in Don Carlos or other Italian and French Grand Operas.
Millington mentions Oper und Drama which is a book written by Wagner while he was in
exile in Switzerland after being involved in some left wing political uprisings in Germany in
1848-9. The book mainly discusses what a Gesamtkunstwerk is and the importance of unity,
both between the elements that combine to make a music-drama and in society.
Leitmotifs are used throughout these narrations in particular to highlight and comment on
important aspects of what the character is saying. In Wotans solo, many are used in close
proximity, including Valhalla, the Sword and the Ring.

Questions
1. Which act is closest to the ideal Gesamtkunstwerk? Why might acts II and III move away
from this?

2. How are narrative passages used?


3. How does Wagners use of recitative style differ from that of Verdis?

4. Why are motifs used?


2. Carl Dahlhaus, Wagners Place in the History of Music, in eds. Muller and
Wapnewski, Wagner Handbook (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1992), 99-117.
The most important musical influences of Wagners youth were the symphonies of Beethoven. Later
on, in the 1850s, he conceived of music drama as symphonic opera... In fact, when Wagner was born,
music history had reached a stage that, in the minds of contemporaries, was characterised by the
mutually exclusive contrast between German instrumental music and Italian and French opera...
p100.
A Wagnerian music drama, like a Beethoven symphony, is a work of art, an inviolable text to be
taken at its word and conveyed to the understanding of an audience capable of aesthetic contemplation
by means of a staged interpretation that serves the work. By contrast, an Italian opera, for example by
Rossini or even the early and middle Verdi, was nothing more than a blueprint for an evening in the
theatre, and the production succeeded or failed on those grounds alone. p101.
The Ring is very symphonic and influenced by Beethoven in its orchestration.
Wagner was pioneering a new genre of patriotic German opera (though Mozart and Handel
composed opera this was often in other languages so didnt fit the bill as far as this
musicologists concerned).
Wagner and Verdi had different target audiences: Wagner was more aiming at an academic
audience with experience dealing with philosophical principles whereas Verdi was more
interested in creating enjoyable crowd pleasers.

1. Who influenced Wagner and how do we know this?

2. What made Wagners music different from Verdis? (Give an extended
answer).