'You Ancient, Solemn Tune': Narrative levels of Wagners' Hirtenreigen
Date
2014
Authors
Dias, Michael
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Publisher
Musicological Explorations
Abstract
At the onset of the third act of Tristan und Isolde, Wagner follows fourty-three measures of the prelude with a fourty-two-measure unaccompanied English horn solo. Known variously as the “shepherd’s tune,” the alte Weise or, following Wagner, the Hirtenreigen, this enigmatic interlude has been the subject of some contention among Wagner’s contemporary critics because of its unusual instrumentation and considerable duration. It is suggested that Wagner designed the Hirtenreigen as a means to accomplish his immediate dramatic priority at this point in the narrative: elucidating Tristan’s memories of his complicity in his parents’ deaths and, consequently, his realization and eventual acceptance of a similar fate for himself and his beloved. This is attained not only through the design of the initial exposition of the Hirtenreigen, but through its subsequent treatment when it is recapitulated during Tristan’s “Muss ich dich so verstehen” monologue in Act III, scene 1. First, it is argued that the modal characteristic and Bar-form structure of the unaccompanied melody specifically evoke an “ancient” topos, which Wagner exploits to raise the issue of Tristan’s past. Second, by dressing the melodic material of the Hirtenreigen in various instrumental and harmonic guises throughout the “Muss ich dich so verstehen” monologue, Wagner is able to present the tune in three narrative levels: the diegetic level (sound occurring within the narrative world), the metadiegetic level (sound occurring in Tristan’s memory as he recounts his past), and the extradiegetic level (sound, like the leitmotif, that does not occur within the opera’s narrative world). These concepts of narrativity are borrowed from the structural narratology of Gérard Genette and the film music studies of Claudia Gorbman. The conclusion of the paper is that Wagner’s ability to enhance the transition between narrative levels of the dramatic text through his musical setting is a hallmark of his style.
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Citation
Dias, M. (2014). 'You ancient, solemn tune': Narrative levels of Wagners' Hirtenreigen. Musicological Explorations, 14, 75-113. https://journals.uvic.ca/index.php/me/article/view/16068