THE TEXTURE OF TENSELESS TIME
The obvious place to make contact with the mature Wagnerian magic is the Prologue to the first act of Götterdämmerung, which opens with the somber scene of the Norns and continues with the ecstatic morning-after duet of Siegfried and Brünnhilde. These, of course, are the very scenes with which Wagner had begun his abortive attempt to compose Siegfrieds Tod in 1850. He finished them around two decades later, in 1870, after having provided the past in music he had lacked the first time around. Because of these circumstances, and because the scene of the Norns at their weaving remained the most extended and “universal” narrative in the Ring cycle, this Prologue contains perhaps the most densely woven tissue of leitmotives Wagner ever produced. The Norns’ colloquy, moreover, does not introduce a single new leitmotif; it is a ceaseless warp and woof of well-worn tunes.
- Citation (MLA):
- Richard Taruskin. "Chapter 10 Deeds of Music Made Visible (Class of 1813, I)." The Oxford History of Western Music. Oxford University Press. New York, USA. n.d. Web. 21 Jan. 2025. <https://www.oxfordwesternmusic.com/view/Volume3/actrade-9780195384833-div1-010006.xml>.
- Citation (APA):
- Taruskin, R. (n.d.). Chapter 10 Deeds of Music Made Visible (Class of 1813, I). In Oxford University Press, Music in the Nineteenth Century. New York, USA. Retrieved 21 Jan. 2025, from https://www.oxfordwesternmusic.com/view/Volume3/actrade-9780195384833-div1-010006.xml
- Citation (Chicago):
- Richard Taruskin. "Chapter 10 Deeds of Music Made Visible (Class of 1813, I)." In Music in the Nineteenth Century, Oxford University Press. (New York, USA, n.d.). Retrieved 21 Jan. 2025, from https://www.oxfordwesternmusic.com/view/Volume3/actrade-9780195384833-div1-010006.xml
