The genesis and tone of 'Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg'.

摘要

In Meistersinger the terms Ton and Weise describe the elements within a work that make it unique. Both the opera itself and Wagner's writings show that for Wagner the nature of an artwork was bound up with its creation. The dissertation examines the opera, sketch materials, and Wagner's writings to determine what constitutes the Ton and Weise, i.e. the "tone", of Meistersinger and how it came into being.;In Book One, "Historical Background", essential manuscripts are described, based on archival research, to develop a sense of Wagner's approach to the composition of the opera. Work on Meistersinger between 1845 and 1851 is then examined, with emphasis on the relationship to Tannhauser and Wagner's own critique of the first prose draft. A chronological overview of the opera's composition suggests, among other things, that fragments in a green pocket notebook may represent an attempt to encapsulate the musical tone of the opera before setting the libretto.;Book Two, "Compositional Issues", examines sketch materials and passages of the completed opera in detail. Wagner's melodic fabric is constructed from motivic cells out of which themes and motives are built. Motivic transformation produces a metaphor for the way that what Wagner called "inner natural necessity" motivates the dramatic action. The portrayal of artisty and pedantry on the one hand and old and new music on the other are factors around which Wagner developed the tone of the opera. Wagner felt that artists are flexible by nature, whereas pedants gravitate toward rigid guidelines and closed forms. This flexibility also effected Wagner's decisions about key settings and tonal motion. In the Green Notebook Wagner built primary themes from motivic cells which eventually permeated the opera. These themes include both closed and open musical material, often in the same keys as in the finished opera. When drafted this constituted the tone of the opera and a starting point for the development of the tone of the completed work.