The REAL Lord of the Rings! (for musicos) Quiz

Answer: True

Are you sitting comfortably (at the piano)? Then we'll begin.

The Tristan chord is F-B-D#-G#. Transpose the G# down an octave to put the chord into close position and you get F-G#-B-D#, making a chord consisting of two minor thirds and a major third. That's the interval pattern of the first chord of "Die Walkuere" Act II, which is that inversion of the Tristan chord based on F# (i.e. F#-A-C-E). In this case the tonal implications are much clearer; the bass trumpet line opens G-C (a melody with a clear harmonic implication of C major), but the chord underneath the second note, the one described above, is actually one of Wagner's standard "surprise" chords, which you'll find as the "interrupting" chord on just about every other cadence in "Tristan", and is obtained by the bass line moving down a semitone instead of down a fifth.

This same chord, you'll note, is nothing more than a dominant major ninth with the root missing, which was not that astonishing by 1860. And this is exactly what the first of the two "RHEINgold!" chords is, this time in C major, making the chord B-D-F-A. (The melody to which the word is sung goes A-G, with the first chord being the one described immediately above, and the chord under the second note being C major - in other words, a quite common vii dim 7 - I progression. This had been used in outline by Telemann and appears in full in Vivaldi's "Gloria"). In Wagner's case, the progression happens over a tonic (i.e. C) pedal.

Take the original Tristan chord and transpose the F up an octave. You then get the chord G#-B-D#-F which, with appropriate respellings, is a minor chord (in this case, A flat minor) with an added major sixth. And this is what the opening chord of Act III of "Tristan" is - in this case, a chord of B flat minor with the violins adding the major sixth, G, on their distinctive-sounding open bottom string, which then resolves the chord onto the tonic, F minor, making a iv 5#6 - i progression. Wagner uses the chord this way (as a minor chord with added major sixth) several times in the "Ring". The major sixth lends itself to a modulation from a minor key to its dominant minor, passing from chord iv (in the new key) to i (or for that matter to I), or as part of a i-V progression, with the melody following the scale steps 5-#6-#7.

It's noteworthy that the most diatonic form of the chord, the dominant ninth with the missing root, is also arpeggiated as the Curse theme (upwards) and the Ring motive itself (downwards), as well as by Hunding in his words "Heilig ist mein Herd" ("Die Walkuere" Act I scene 2; in this case it's heard as chord ii dim 7 in a minor key). The inversion of the chord obtained by dropping the D# an octave, resulting in a diminished chord with a major second under the lowest note (i.e. E flat-F-A flat-C flat) is outlined melodically by Tristan's "O sink hernieder, Nacht (der Liebe)", the very beginning of the love duet in Act II.

All of which shows a) that the same form of this chord can be infinitely expressive, and b) that the chord in its various inversions is one of the most protean chords in the tonal lexicon. It can be at once purely diatonic, as in the ninth chord, or a more chromatic chord, as in its manifestation at the beginning of "Tristan", in which form it contains two sharpened leading notes (to the tonic and the fifth of A minor) simultaneously - surely unique.

It's amazing just how much difference one semitone can make, which is all that seperates this chord from the bog-standard (well before Wagner's time) diminished seventh. The half-diminished seventh, not being symmetrical like the diminished seventh, has a hint of direction, but not enough to be able to figure out where.

At the end of the overture to "The Flying Dutchman", Wagner shows how the Tristan chord in the form of the minor chord with added major sixth could have arisen polyphonically: the key is D minor, and the subdominant chord (G minor) is held under a melody line going D-E natural; this last note adds the major sixth to the chord, which then resolves onto the tonic major, the melody line continuing upwards to F#. As a "coda" formula, this is simply an elaboration of a iv-i/I progression over a tonic pedal used at least as early as Bach.

There, I warned you you have to know your music!

Answer: clarinet

Why did Wagner not simply repeat the orchestration for the second phrase? Any suggestions? I dunno, but obviously it works! The clarinet is a smoother-sounding instrument than the sharper oboe. Perhaps it highlights the relaxing effect of the change from the dominant of a minor key (A minor) to that of its relative major; the relatively more "relaxed" feel is perhaps also heralded by the cellos' leap of a major, rather than minor, sixth.

Answer: col legno (play with the wood of the bow)

Yes, the strings do use pizzicato during this passage, but that's hardly an unusual device! As far as I'm aware, Wagner was one of the earlier composers to use col legno as a special feature, before its more frequent use in the twentieth century (remember the twentieth century? Of course you do.) The very first, as far as I'm aware, was Biber (1644-1704) in the first movement of his suite for string orchestra called "Battalia" (a battle piece - it contains several other unusual techniques, such as "Barok pizzicato"). Playing on the tailpiece is a bit too modern for Wagner - you'll find it in Penderecki's 1959 piece "Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima" for string orchestra.

Answer: sul ponticello (play near the bridge)

Wagner uses sul ponticello to produce a thin, "far-away" effect, to take over from the horns receding into the distance without spoiling the effect. Ricochet bowing is very much a solo effect involving bouncing the bow lightly; as far as I'm aware, Wagner never used it. Sul tasto means to play over the fingerboard, producing a thick but weak sound. I'm not aware that Wagner used this, but again I stand to be corrected. Quadruple-stopping was common quite early on in the solo violin literature, and Wagner certainly wasn't sparing with it in his orchestral writing.

It doesn't actually involve playing on all four strings at once, but "breaking" rapidly across, usually from the bottom to the top.

Answer: Siegfried as hero

Bruckner was, of course, an ardent Wagnerian, for reasons best known to himself, because he did his career a lot of harm by publicly espousing his hero at the time of the virulent Wagner-Brahms squabble. His career was in academia, and I understand that the anti-Wagnerian Brahmsians were largely in control of that.

I believe this rhythmic reference to the Siegfried as hero theme was deliberate. It's been picked up since by commentators; Bruckner certainly knew his Wagner; and recall also that he described the Adagio of his previous symphony, the 7th, as an elegy to Wagner on the latter's death. Perhaps he was referring to Wagner musically in the first movement of the 8th.

Incidentally, notice also the broad similarity of rhythm and contour of the Siegfried as hero theme to the Curse motive. The latter sounds like a twisted, horrific version of the former, its evil twin as it were. I've had arguments with people over whether this similarity is intentional or just coincidental. To my mind, the similarity is no more coincidental than that between the Ring and Valhalla motifs - which Wagner takes great pains to point out to us during the transition between the first two scenes of "Das Rheingold". If he didn't do that, presumably there might be grounds for arguing that that similarity was coincidental.

Answer: The anvils in "Das Reingold"

The anvils were tuned to F, but Wagner requistioned them (doubtless after a trawl of all the blacksmiths in a 50-mile radius) rather than commissioning them.

The bass trumpet has an entertaining reference at http://www.trombone-society.org.uk/bass_trumpet.htm, while the Wagner tubas are well known.

Wagner wanted the holztrompete built for the joyful Shepherd's pipe tune when he sees the ship in Tristan Act III - he aimed to capture the rugged simplicity of the Swiss Alpenhorn. And among Wagner's invented instruments one mustn't, of course, forget the Steerhorns in "Die Walkuere" and "Goetterdaemmerung".

Answer: The diatonic theme known as love's redemption, introduced on the horns at the end of "Siegfried"

Wagner originally wrote this as the shepherd's joyful tune in "Tristan" Act III, when he sees Isolde's ship, but subsequently realised that it was for "Siegfried". The identity of character of the two tunes needs no comment; they were both playable on the Holztrompete of the preceding question.

Answer: 3/2 and 6/8

He uses the 3/2 time signature for the Valhalla motif played very slowly, in counterpoint with the semiquaver figuration of the Rhine and the Rhinemaidens opening music of "Das Rheingold" in 6/8. A few bars later, he uses 2/2 for the redemption motif (or whatever you call it; it's the one whose appearance here has puzzled commentators ever since) in the violins and 6/8 for the same semiquaver figuration from "Das Rheingold".

Answer: Anhemitonic pentatonic

"Anhemitonic pentatonic" means a five note scale without semitones. It's usually taken to refer to the scale vaguely thought of these days as "eastern" or "oriental", which you get when you play five consecutive ascending black notes on the piano starting with F#.

"Octotonic" denotes a scale consisting of alternating tones and semitones. As far as I'm aware, Wagner never used the whole tone scale except maybe by accident. He did, however, like the augmented triad, consisting of two conjunct major thirds (e.g. C-E-G# or A flat). One of his most thrilling uses of this is the song Siegfried sings in Act I of "Siegfried" as he forges the sword. It's in D minor, but in the refrain, instead of a tonic chord you get an augmented triad on D. That's one of those moments in Wagner where the hair on the back of your neck stands up. Happens about once every 90 seconds for me!

Answer: Chromatic sleep, first heard in Act III of "Die Walkuere"

Gesualdo's music and his life are equally fascinating - see the companion quiz to this one. Gesualdo's madrigal, like the chromatic sleep theme, harmonises a chromatically descending scale in the upper voice. Gesualdo does it by having the bass move in parallel thirds with the melody, while Wagner does it with a rising (i.e. contrary motion) bass sequence of minor thirds and semitones.

Answer: False

It sounds like D minor, but it's a chromatic chord in the key of F# minor, consisting of the natural sixth (D), raised seventh (E#) and third degrees of that scale. The score actually spells the "heard" F as E#.

Spelling aside, this is at first heard as a minor chord. So, bearing Question 1 in mind, you can add a major sixth to it to get the practically ubiquitous Tristan chord - which Wagner duly does, at the beginning of "Goetterdaemmerung" Act II scene 5, on Bruennhilde's word "liegt" in the first line, "Welches Unholds List liegt hier verhohlen?" To my mind the added sixth there gives the music a marvellously tired, world-weary sound. The Fate motif is of course totally apposite to the words: "What demon's cunning lies here hidden?" (Clumsy translation, but it's word for word.) It's fate, of course, that is driving things irresistably onward; the same fate of which she was an instrument at the beginning of "Die Walkuere" Act II scene 4 has now come back to tear her life apart.

Incidentally, the Fate and Tarnhelm motifs are closely related. Both of them rely on the alternation of a minor chord and another minor chord a major third lower, although of course the second chord in the case of the Fate motif is implied by its dominant. The same idea is the basis of Klingsor's music at the beginning of Act II of "Parsifal", when it happens twice in succession: B minor-G minor-E flat minor.

Answer: 4

Wagner specified 8 double basses in the "Ring", but only four of them play the low E-flat; the other four double them up the octave.

Any double bass without a C extension has to tune the lowest (E) string down a semitone to play this note. In Wagner's day, that would have been all of them. Even today, I believe quite a few double basses don't have the C extension - double bass players, am I right?

Answer: 9/8

As well as using 5/4, he freely mixes 4/4 and 3/4, with some 2/4 as well. I think he was the first major composer to mix different time signatures virtually every bar in this way, to produce an irregular feel to the music. At this point, that obviously suggests Tristan's increasing agitation as Isolde approaches. Our Richard was nothing if not bold in his use of time signatures!

Answer: A tritone

The tritone is, of course, the interval specifically associated with the ex-giant Fafner, who dominates the first part of Act II of Siegfried. Wagner also uses timpani tuned to tritones for Hagen's calling of the vassals in Act II of "Goetterdaemmerung".

Answer: During the prologue to Siegfried Act III

The fate theme comes to a temporary "rest" at the end of "Die Walkuere" when, instead of being used to modulate, as it has been up to this point, it's used as a kind of concluding cadence in the home key, E major (flat vii - I, I guess you'd have to call it). In this case, of course, the minor third IS F natural, and the chord really IS D minor.

One of the reappearances of this motif in Siegfried III is to my mind one of the most beautiful passages in all of Wagner. After Siegfried breaks Wotan's spear, he plunges into the flames, and the music reaches a fantastic crescendo as he blows his horn and the fire surrounds him. But, as happens several times in the "Ring" (and this seems to be completely ignored by the "bleeding chunks" extracts, which are only interested in anything by Wagner over 80 decibels), the music diminuendos until only the violins are left, playing a single melodic line which winds slowly upwards from their open bottom string to the very top of their register. As they hold the top B natural, the fate motive is softly intoned by four trombones in close position. This shows how what is represented by the fate motive is intimately bound up with Bruennhilde and Siegfried. Furthermore, the Fate motif here leads to the dominant of the key that we last heard it in, E major, so it quite literally picks up where it last left off.

Incidentally, this passage also shows the importance of register and timbre in softening dissonance. Try that passage in close position on the piano and it sounds like a stupid mish-mash.

Answer: ...changes from a semitone to a whole tone

This is one of the creepiest examples I've heard in Wagner of an interrupted cadence. At the end of a passage unambiguously in A flat, the prolonged trill happens on the key's leading note, G. All expectations are that the tonic chord will follow, and Wagner makes us wait for the resolution.

But as the potion takes effect, the trill changes to a whole tone (i.e. G-A), destroying any feeling of A flat, but replacing it with...who knows? Uncertainty, is the answer, and that isn't resolved by the highly chromatic love potion motif on the horns entering under the altered trill.

Answer: Timpani roll on F#

Most of the appearances of this motif happen at the same pitch, beginning on F#, irrespective of what the preceding key happens to be. Wagner obviously intended an association between this motif and these notes.

Answer: "Tristan"

The song "Traeume" became the love duet in Act II, while "Im Treibhaus" uses material from the prelude to Act III. Wagner specifically labelled these two songs as studies for "Tristan".

Answer: False

It was his daddy-in-law Franz Liszt who thought of the idea. The first one to write a concert ending for the Prelude was Hans von Buelow, the conductor of the first "Tristan" in Munich in 1865, but Wagner took a dim view of his effort. Wagner himself wrote one which is still occasionally played; a jaw-dropping recording of it is by Richard Strauss with the Berlin Philharmonic in 1928 (jaw-dropping not least because of the phenomenally fast speed, but more because of the wonderfully flexible tempo, which you just don't find any more).

When Liszt made his piano transcription, he solved the problem of the ending by using the Liebestod, and Wagner approved.

Answer: False

A month or two later he returned to it and finished both drafts of Act II. During 1864 and 1865 he finished the fair copies of the act. On 1st March 1869 he resumed work on the "Ring" with the draft of Siegfried Act III.

The main reason that "Goetterdaemmerung" is my favourite "Ring" opera is its musical sophistication, won by Wagner with the writing of "Tristan" and "Die Meistersinger" during that 12 year break from continuous work on the "Ring". The very first notes of the prelude to Siegfried Act III throw me into a different world from the relative simplicity of what's come before. Purely a personal reaction, I know, but I'm always struck more by the stylistic advance from the beginning of the "Ring" to its ending than the stylistic unity of the whole. That's a function of the fact that it took some quarter of a century in the writing. It's also no criticism. The many complex character and plot interactions of the last "Ring" work are quite different from the other three, and this increased complexity is reflected in the music.