| Popis: |
In almost all of Wagner's mature operas, situations arise in which a character screams. Given the nature of a scream, it follows that these situations are invariably highly dramatic. That Wagner continually explored the possibilities inherent in this very specialized theatrical device is evident through its consistent use.' This fact assumes more importance when we realize, first, that Wagner made reference to the scream in his theoretical writings on music, and second, that in the post-Wagnerian era the scream was to live on as a significant element in German expressionist literature, painting, and music, most overtly in the music dramas of Strauss, Berg, and Schoenberg. Wagner's prose writings do not always supply the most illuminating source material for a study of nineteenth-century musical aesthetics. Nevertheless, almost everything Wagner attempted in his compositions was defended in his essays. When he used material from the Norse myths in his librettos, he wrote copiously to the effect that mythology was the only appropriate subject for serious musical theater. When he employed Stabreim in these same works, he defended Stabreim as the ideal poetic medium for opera.2 Since he utilized the dramatic and psychological effects of the scream time and again in his music dramas, we should therefore not be 'Wagner is probably the first dramatist to seriously explore the use of the scream, although the obvious difficulty of proving this point in any absolute way makes me hesitate to place such a statement in the body of this article. |
