- Richard Wagner & Bernard Haitink Concertgebouworkest - Préludes

Between 1833 and 1882 Richard Wagner composed 13 works for the stage. His orchestral, instrumental, vocal or occasional pieces. As examples may be mentioned an early Symphony in C, two piano sonatas, several concert overtures, marches for orchestra, the choral work “Das Liebesmahl der Apostel” (The Love-Feast of the Apostles), some songs, and his most important occasional work, the “Siegfried Idyll.” Although Wagner cannot be called a symphonist, he composed effective overtures and preludes to his works for the stage, and these have a firm place in the concert repertory.

In the overtures to his early operas “Das Liebesverbot” (Love’s Denial) and “Rienzi” Wager mostly used a model the type of pot-pourri overture popular in France in the first half of the nineteenth century, in which the “catchiest” melodies from the opera in question are juxtaposed with striking effect, but in the overture to “Der fliegende Hollander” (The Flying Dutchman) Wagner followed the traditional of German Romantic opera. Weber’s overtures to “Der Freischütz” (The Marksman), “Euryanthe,” and “Oberon” are the models; these have overtures based on the most important episodes in the plot. The composer uses themes from the opera, treating them in the overture symphonically, so that the plot is presented in miniature. As regards their musical form these overtures usually follow sonata form, with exposition, development, and recapitulation, though treated very freely.
In the overture to “Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg” (The Mastersingers if Nuremberg) Wagner retains the traditional form of the Romantic opera overture: we hear the ceremonial procession of the Mastersingers and Guilds of Nuremberg (in a radiant C major). Later in the exposition follows a cantabile E major theme developed from Walther’s “Prize song” from Act III. It relates the love of the Junker Walther von Stolzing to the burgher’s daughter Eva. A staccato section in which the woodwind is predominant recalls the town-clerk Sixtus Beckmesser, who woos Eva in vain. In the reprise at the end of the overture the themes of the exposition are artfully combined contrapuntally, being presented by different groups of instruments. The end of the overture is as festive in mood as the opening – the people cheer the cobbler-poet Hans Sachs, as in the last scene of the opera.
In contrast to the overture to “Die Meistersinger” with its multifarious themes, the prelude to the music-drama “Tristan und Isolde” is dominated by a single Leitmotiv representing the inextinguishable passion of the lovers. Here there is no dualism between contrasting themes. Like the prelude to Act I of “Lohengrin” it is conceived in free symphonic form, like a tone poem. The musical form is derived from the dramatic content: the passionate and hapless love of Tristan for Isolde. Neither in the music-drama nor in the prelude is the action on the surface, but within the hearts and minds of the characters. The prelude begins pianissimo with the plaintive “longing” motive, treated symphonically with many transformations, rising in a mighty crescendo and finally sinking back to a resigned pianissimo. The best interpretation comes from Wagner himself: “Tristan and Isolde are in love. From the shyest plaint of unquenchable desire, from the tenderest trembling to the most fearsome outbreak in the confession of hopeless love proceeds the perception of all phases of the vain battle against the inner fire, until, sinking back into unconsciousness, it seems to be extinguished as in death.” Related to the prelude, Isolde’s “Liebestod” (love-Death) is heard at the end of Act III: in a vision rising to ecstasy the dying Isolde experiences union with her dead lover. Above the polyphony and chromaticism of Wagner’s orchestral language floats the transfigured song of Isolde. In the concert version sanctioned by Wagner, Isolde’s “Liebestod” is a moving painting of a soul.

In the prelude to Act I of “Lohengrin” the form is also wholly dictated by the dramatic idea. The music symbolizes the descent to earth of the Holy Grail, which to quote Wagner, “pours its blessing over those lost in the joys of love.” The Grail theme emerges soon after the opening, with its sweet flageolet tones from the violins. Then, in a grandiose crescendo the woodwind joins in, followed by horns, and finally trumpets and trombones. After a blazing tutti climax the prelude ends with strings alone, symbolizing the vanishing of the Grail into the heavens. Wagner took the thematic material from Lohengrin’s “Grail Narration” (In fernem Land) in Act III. This act is introduced by a short and festive prelude which stets the scene for Lohengrin’s wedding with Eva.

The most important thematic material from the three acts of “Parsifal” is presented in the prelude to Act I, to which Wagner attached the motto “Liebe- Glaube - Hoffen” (Love – Faith – Hope). In the opening bars the “Last Supper” motive is played first by the strings in A flat major, then by the trumpets and oboes accompanied by string arpeggios and woodwind chords; after this the whole episode is repeated in the minor mode. In the middle section of the prelude, the “Grail” motive, ceremoniously intoned by trumpets and trombones, is followed by the emphatic “faith” motive (horns and trumpets), and is then used in alternation with it. The “Last Supper” motive appears again in the final section, but this time it takes on accents which bring a presentiment of Amfortas’s suffering. The prelude then fades away in a passage for pianissimo strings.

Arthur Scherle