RICHARD WAGNERS "THE RHEINGOLD”

Word Count: 1100 words

DAS RHEINGOLD AND THE ROMAN EMPIRE

Introduction:

Richard Wagner was a conductor, composer, director of theatre plays, and an essayist, and belonged to Germany. Wagner was famous for his musical operas', also called “Musical Dramas”. The compositions developed by Wagner, especially the ones that describe the old era, are distinguished for their compound texture, rich music and orchestration, and the intricate usage of melody themes that are related with different characters of the act, locations, concepts or essentials of his plot. Unlike most other composers of opera, he used to develop both the music and script for each of his play. (Deathridge, John and Dalhaus, 1999. Pp.50)He established his image as a musician by developing works e.g. The Flying Dutchman, which depicted the romantic customs of the Weber and Meyerbeer; he changed the concept of the opera through his idea of the Gesamtkunstwerk ("complete work of art"). It was initially developed as an opening to the tripartite Ring, but the sequence is usually regarded as consisting of four different operas. (Wagner 2009, Pp.05) The Rheingold epitomizes the Romantic era themes including loss and recovery, and magical power. It depicts the Roman era in a classic way. The report will discuss my thesis statement, and would describe the acts through which Richard Wagner has described the different aspects of the Roman Empire.

Discussion:

The first scene depicted the theme of “loss” during the Roman Era. The duration of the Roman Empire was full of happenings, where people had suffered losses in one way or the other. In the first scene, the play starts at the Rhine River, the three maidens of Rhine, i.e. Woglinde, Wellgunde, and Flosshilde, all playing with each other. The keepers of the golden treasure are laughing, while, they are playing with each other, barely noticing when Alberich comes out of a crack. Struck by the malice of Alberich, the Rhine, girls make fun of his steps, and Alberich gets angry because of this. The Rhine girls think that they have nothing to get scared of the little dwarf, and he cannot take away the ring from them, the girls tell the dwarf about the gold of Rhine, which they were guarding. These girls informed the dwarf that the magic of this ring will enable its wearer to rule over the whole world, however, that person will have to leave the love of this world. Alberich, curses love, captures the magical ring and runs back to his crack, leaving the girls crying out in dismay for the loss of the ring. (Wagner. 2009, Pp.45) Through the act, Richard Wagner has discussed the theme of loss during the Roman Empire. The theme of the girls losing the magical ring to the dwarf is the perfect example of loss at the hands of others. With characters of the girls and the Dwarf, Richard Wagner has discussed the theme of loss in the Roman Empire.

From the second scene onwards, Richard Wagner has discussed the theme of recovery and magical ...