Brendel considered Wagner’s operas to be the “summit of musical attainment.” The work that shows his part in musical history the most is the four-part Ring Cycle. Like much Romantic music, it was based on a poem (an Old Norse poem about Siegfriend the Dragon-Slayer). This opera expanded on the thematic transformation of Liszt with something called a leitmotif. There are many heard throughout the operas, including the death leitmotif, the rhine river leitmotif, and the sword leitmotif. There is a clear progression from Beethoven’s organicism to Berlioz’ idée fixe to Liszt’s thematic transformation to now the leitmotif. This is representative of what the New German School stood for: taking great German influences and adding to them over time to secure Germany’s place in the musical
Brendel considered Wagner’s operas to be the “summit of musical attainment.” The work that shows his part in musical history the most is the four-part Ring Cycle. Like much Romantic music, it was based on a poem (an Old Norse poem about Siegfriend the Dragon-Slayer). This opera expanded on the thematic transformation of Liszt with something called a leitmotif. There are many heard throughout the operas, including the death leitmotif, the rhine river leitmotif, and the sword leitmotif. There is a clear progression from Beethoven’s organicism to Berlioz’ idée fixe to Liszt’s thematic transformation to now the leitmotif. This is representative of what the New German School stood for: taking great German influences and adding to them over time to secure Germany’s place in the musical