The Leitmotifs of Wagner's Ring
pjb.com.au
pjb.com.au
The influence is especially present in the Star Wars score. You know how Darth Vader's theme plays when he enters the scene? John Williams took hint from Wagner to assign tunes to each character.
Even after Boromir’s death you hear a sad and dark hint of the Fellowship theme as it fades away into the moment the fellowship truly breaks and Frodo decides to leave on his own.
Imagine my disappointment when they used the Nazgul theme in the Hobbit, in the final warg/orc fight scene. Just threw it all away because it’s something that sounds ominous.
It's in part one of the reasons why Wagner's music is sometimes seen as impenetrable, as it demands a lot from you as a listener. This line of thinking is exemplified in this (purported) quote by Stravinsky:
To listen is an effort, and just to hear is no merit. A duck hears also.
That seems a stretch. Both classical music and jazz have a very wide appeal. Classical music sometimes carries the populistic stigma of being only for old folk or the elite, but that does not reflect its actual listenership. If anything, streaming music has made classical music more accessible — at least at an entry level of the more popular pieces.
Listeners of the Ring cycle may very well be a much more exclusive club (this goes for opera in general), but classical music is part of many people's lives (my two year old son digs Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf).
I sang classical (opera, church choir) for just over ten years, and spent a lot of time with other musicians and attended many of their performances. When it came to classical, jazz or blues it was nearly always a vast majority of musicians and elderly in the crowd, with the occasional families with small children hanging around for a few minutes when the events were public/free/outdoor.
For context, I am in my early thirties and live in Sweden (including Copenhagen here as well due to proximity).
But I don't think that reflects listenership very well. People listen to classical music for a variety of reasons; sometimes just to have some light chamber music to study or work with, or just to explore highlights perhaps heard in film or other popular media.
Thank you :)
Before Vader's theme, was Williams' Oscar-winning Jaws. Two notes. Unforgettable dread every time you venture into the ocean. Not to mention the birth of the Hollywood summer blockbuster phenomenon ;)
https://csosoundsandstories.org/two-notes-that-changed-the-f...
https://soundcloud.com/badddspellah/rhyme-of-the-nibelung
A tongue-in-cheek adaptation of course, but I can't read about Leitmotifs in Wagner's Ring cycle without thinking of this song.
There'll be 3 opportunities to do so in Berlin between November & January.
I think this largely depends on where you are in the world. There are already places you can go see a soccer match in a sold out stadium. Even in places that have been very locked down. I'm looking at you, AAMI Park.