Abstract
The thesis examines the extent to which considerations other than those
derived from "purely musical" concepts of harmonic architecture determine
the movement of tonalities in the Ring.' Reference is made to Wagner's.
own theoretical and biographical^ writings and to his correspondence, and
extensive reference is made to the original sketches of the Ring music
(now housed in the Richard-Wagner-Archiv, Bayreuth). Although reference is
made to other Wagner works, the thesis is concerned particularly with the
Ring; the structure of complex Motiv manipulation and the Stabreim-verse
construction being peculiar to that work. The examination is divided into
five sections.
In the first of these, the relationship between particular-musical Motive
and particular tonalities is exhaustively investigated. From this investigation it is evident that certain Motive do have a very close link with a
particular tonality, and that the use of these Motive (particularly in
response to mention of an object or character in the text) is instrumental
in the determination of the harmonic direction of the music. Other Motive
display relationships of varying consistency and type; and these are
classified accordingly.
The second section examines the Ring for similar relationships between
characters or emotions', and tonality. Less conclusive and more variable
relationships are here established.
The third section is concerned with the
way is which these various relationships are used to influence the harmonic structure of the Ring beyond the
simple device of direct object-Motiv association. Hare extensive reference
is made to the technique of "Foreboding and Remembrance" expounded by Wagner
in Oper und Drama (1851), by which musical Motive not explicit in the text
would be introduced to form a musical drama complementing and extending that
on the stage. This section also examines the use of dramatic recapitulation
of more extended sections of music in the same terms.
The fourth section examines the
ways in which variation of the relationships
established in the preceding sections may lead to further situations in which
the drama can be felt to be influencing the harmonic architecture. In
particular, the dramatic significances of diatonicism and chromaticism are
discussed. An examination of Wagner's technique of underlying the drama
by combination of two or more Motive into a single musical unit (as
suggested in his Ueber die Anwendung der Musik auf das Drama of 1879)
reveals little of significance in terms of the drama itself influencing
harmonic direction.
The final section is concerned with the influence of the verse of the
Ring poem itself upon the harmonic architecture. Wagner's adaptation of
the Old High German Stabreim verse is related to his concept of the
"poetic-musical-period" (introduced in Oper und Drama),. and sections of
the Ring are analysed to illustrate the extent to which this procedure,
in which musical modulation is determined by the movement of emotions
and changing of alliterative sounds in.the text, was applied. A comparison
is made with the major analysis of the Ring made by Alfred Lorens in the
1920's which, though concerned with the "poetic-musical period", approach
the analysis more from a musical' than a dramatic standpoint. The material
of the preceding four sections is here utilised to illustrate the way in
which predetermination of tonality, and even actual moments of modulation,
were already implicit in the verse of the Ring poem, independent of any
considerations of abstract, "purely-musical" harmonic architecture.
