D. LEWIN - Some Notes On Analysing Wagner

Some Notes on Analyzing Wagner: "The Ring" and "Parsifal"
Author(s): David Lewin

Source: 19th-Century Music, Vol. 16, No. 1 (Summer, 1992), pp. 49-58
Published by: University of California Press
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/746619
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Rehearings
Some Notes on Analyzing Wagner:

The Ring and Parsifal
DAVID LEWIN
Example la sketches the Tarnhelm motive stages in the networks. LT signifies Riemann's
from Das Rheingold as first heard; ex. lb Leittonwechsel transformation: the two notes
sketches the modulating middle section of the spanning the minor third of a triad are pre-
Valhalla theme, again as first heard. For many served, while the third note moves a semitone
years I had sensed some underlying relation be- to form a new triad of the opposite mode. The
tween the two passages, without being able to transformation SUBM makes a given triad the
put my finger on it. In my recent book, Gener- submediant in the key of the transformed triad.
alized Musical Intervals and Transformations, I was eager to assert SUBM between the
opening and final harmonies of figure la; this
I tried to work out a suitable relationship using
networks of Klang transformations. Figure 1 re- made me assert B major, but not B minor, to be
produces figure 8.2 from the book.' There is a functional at the end of ex. la. (Wagner uses
misprint: what is incorrectly written as "(G ,-)" both major and minor harmonizations in the
on the left of figure la should be written as course of the Ring and Tristan.)
"(G ,-)." In the book (p. 178), I say that exs. 2a and 2b
The bracketed harmonies on the figure are "make visually clear a strong functional rela-
understood as interpolated transformational tionship" between the two passages, "a rela-
tionship which it is difficult to express in
words." The relationship is difficult to express
19th-Century Music XVI/1 (Summer 1992). ? by The Re- because the analysis is bad. It is bad for at least
gents of the University of California. three methodological reasons that I can spot.
'David Lewin, Generalized Musical Intervals and Trans- Criticism (a): There is no point asserting "a
formations (New Haven, 1987), p. 179. strong relationship" without being able to
49
19TH
a. Tarnhelm motive, Das Rheingold, sc. 3, mm. 37ff.
CENTURY
MUSIC
(muted Hn.)
-low TVn
IP"Jig
b. Modulating section of Valhalla theme, Das Rheingold, sc. 2, mm. 5ff.
(Trpt., Tbn.) " "

WI
(Tuba) I _
Tb ? V -- resc.
--Die Burg i
-sichtlich ge
L AV AV-btM S 1 64
?Fd r:im.24 L4 . *
mnf ~~dim.pp
Example 1
specify just what the relationship is. All things SUBM to a Klang, the result will not be the
are "related" in the Great Chain of Being. Crit- same as if one applies first LT and then SUBD.
icism (b): Figure 1 does not lead us deeper into Figure 2c shows how this works when the
the music of ex. 1, or into other pertinent Klang in question is, for example, C major; ap-
music, or into dramatic ideas about the Ring. plying SUBM to C major yields a different re-
Criticism (c): Figure la, as it stands, is techni- sult than does applying first LT and then SUBD.
cally malformed by the criteria of GMIT. (The The chord of which C major is the submediant
criteria are developed only later in the book, is not the same as the chord of which the Leit-
tonwechsel of C major is the subdominant.
but that is beside the point in this connection.)
Because the equations of figures 2b and 2c
While I felt the dissatisfactions of criticisms
(a) and (b) most keenly, I was unable to make false, the functional equation of figure 2d is
are
progress until I became aware of (c) as well; thisfalse. And so the configuration of arrows and ar-
gave me a point of departure for improvement. row-labels on figure la is malformed by the cri-
Figure 2 will help us to explore the specific wayteria of GMIT (9.2.1 [D], p. 195). As soon as I no-
in which figure l a is malformed. ticed the malformation, it occurred to me that
It is true, as figure la asserts, that GO minor the SUBM arrows of figure 1 were problematic
is the submediant of B major, and that the in other ways as well. The SUBM arrow of
Leittonwechsel of G# minor is the subdomi- figure la, for instance, was forcing me to assert
nant of B major. Symbolically, the equation of B major and ignore B minor, where Wagner's
figure 2a is true: applying the transformation music suggests both B major and B minor
SUBM to the particular Klang G# minor has the equally. Bringing B minor into figure la along
same effect as applying, to that particular with B major forms a suggestive analogy to the
Klang, first the transformation LT and then the F major and F minor of figure lb. Then, too,
transformation SUBD. But the equation of why should I assert a SUBM relation in figure
figure 2b is not true. In general, if one applies lb between Gb major and the bracketed Bb
50
REHEARINGS
a) [(E, +)]
LT SUBD
tPAR
(G ,-) (E,-) (B, +)
SUBM
b) SUBM
[(Bb, -)] (F, -) (A, +)
SUB j PAR $PAR

(D,+) SUD ) (G, +) (Bb, +) (F, +)
SSUBD
DOM SUBD
meas. 1-6 7 9 11; 13 141/2-20
Figure 1
Reprinted from Generalized Musical Intervals and Transformations
by permission of Yale University Press.
a. true: (g#) SUBM = ([g#]LT) SUBD
B = ( E ) SUBD; correct.
b. false: (any Klang)SUBM = ([that Klang)LT) SUBD
c. false e.g.: (C)SUBM = ([C]LT) SUBD
e = ( e )SUBD ??; wrong.
d. false: SUBM = LT SUBD
Figure 2
minor? Why not assert a Leittonwechsel here, In these graphs the Leittonwechsel, subdom-
making another suggestive analogy between inant, and parallel transformations have been
figures la and lb? Rethinking my analysis abbreviated as L, S, and P respectively. The new
along these lines, I quickly arrived at the new analyses are much better than the old. They
network analyses of figure 3. specifically respond to each of the three earlier
51
19TH a. b.
CENTURY
MUSIC
S S
e b B F
LP LP
P P P P
g [E] B D) GK----[bb] f (A?
L L
Figure 3
criticisms. In response to criticism (c), the be described as "the same tune in different
graphs of figure 3 are well formed. I particularly modes."
emphasize this point because when a graph is Finally, this way of regarding the two pas-
well formed, one is apt simply to take that for sages leads suggestively deeper into the music,
granted. I want to stress once more that it was responding to criticism (b). One reason I had
just this criterion which enabled me to work felt a relationship between Tarnhelm and Val-
out the better analyses, with consequences we halla in the first place was that the two the-
shall shortly examine. matic ideas grow to interact more and more as
The new analyses also respond to criticism the Ring progresses. Example 2 shows the pas-
(a). A very specific relationship can now be as- sage in which one first becomes strongly aware
serted between the two passages: they admit of of the interaction, the climax to act II, sc. 2, in
isographic analyses under the interpretations Die Walkiire.
of figure 3. That is, the configurations of nodes There is not space here to discuss the Tristan
and arrows are the same, on figure 3b as on harmony which engulfs the opening A? minor,
figure 3a; furthermore there is a certain privi- or the Gold motive at the end, or the fantastic
leged way of relating transformations that rhythmic detail, or all aspects of the vocal line.
makes the transformations of figure 3b analo- That being said, one can hear clearly enough
gous to those of figure 3a as they label their re- that the opening Tristan harmony enlarges Ah
spective arrows. Here the privileged relation- minor, and one hears E minor at the end. The
ship is very strong-it is absolute identity. To large progression of Al minor to E minor evi-
the extent that transformations here play the dently elaborates the first two harmonies of the
role of extended formal "intervals," there is a Tarnhelm motive. Furthermore, the notes with
quite precise sense in which figures 3a and 3b stems up on the top staff of ex. 2 clearly consti-
demonstrate the same tune in different modes. tute a transformation of Valhalla - the opening,
That is, they run through the same configura- rather than the middle section of that theme.
tion of "moves," differing only in the placeExample 3 works the transformation out in
where they begin their journeys. One asserts a some detail.
specific and very strong relationship when one Example 3a puts the opening of the Valhalla
makes precise a sense in which the Tarnhelm theme in Al major and indicates the most ac-
and the modulating section of Valhalla can cented harmonic gesture of the two measures,
52
WOTAN (mit bittrem Grimm sich aufrichtend) REHEARINGS
So nimm meinen Se - gen, Nib - lun - gen Sohn!
3
3dim. ~- piup
Example 2: Die Walkiie, act II
neath ex. 3d; this

namely the inflection of is the analysis tonic
the of the by
Tarnhelm-infected
dominant.2 One gets from Valhalla Kopf
ex. at "So
3animmto ex
meinen Segen."
following the first descending P-arrow
Figure 4 shows
right of the example: how the 3b
ex. gradual corruption
puts of all of
into the parallel the pure Valhalla
minor. Totheme,get
logged byfrom
the progres- ex. 3
3c, one then sive transformational
follows the encrustations of exs. 3a,
descending L
ex. 3c transforms b,
the chords
c, d, is actually of
the systematic ex.
working 3b
out of int
respective a transformational scheme already
Leittonwechsels, implicit
starting fr
third chord on. Then ex. 3d transforms the within the middle section of the Valhalla
chords of ex. 3c into their parallels, startingtheme itself; that middle section, in its isog-
from the fourth chord on. The effect of the var-raphy with the Tarnhelm motive, already con-
ious vertical arrows is logged by the transfor- tains the potential for Valhalla's corruption.
mational analyses that build up beneath exs. Just so does the progressive deformation of
3b, 3c, and 3d. The various transformations in- Dorian Gray's portrait merely log the potential
volved here, namely S, P, and L, are exactly thefor corruption already implicit in the narcis-
transformations involved in the earlier net- sism of the beautiful youth himself.
works of figure 3, networks that established a Indeed, the "bitter rage" of Wotan in ex. 2 is
strongly isographic relationship between the aroused not so much by the frustration of his
Tarnhelm and the middle section of the Val- plan as by his dawning awareness of the corrup-
halla theme. tion necessarily inherent in the plan itself. The
Figure 4 emphasizes that aspect of the anal- very idea of Valhalla contains at its center the
ysis by juxtaposing two networks. Figure 4a re- source of its own corruption, and Wotan's be-
produces figure 3a, the Tarnhelm analysiscoming aware of the fact here moves him be-
which is isographic to the middle section of theyond political action, suffering, and anger to
Valhalla theme. Figure 4b puts into analogoustragic self-awareness.
form the transformational analysis from be- There is a significant technical feature of the
work so far that contributes to problems in this
sort of post-Riemann transformational anal-
ysis. In figure lb we saw Gb major analyzed as
2The dominant harmony that supports the penultimate the submediant of B? minor, whereas in figure
note of ex. 3a is omitted on the sketch. To include it, and 3b, an alternate analysis of the same passage,
to carry along its transformations through the later stages
of ex. 3, would be to complicate the analysis needlessly for Gb major was analyzed as the Leittonwechsel
present purposes. The omission is not to be construed as of B? minor. One can easily imagine other con-
an implicit assertion that less accented, smaller-scale har- texts in which one could assert yet other
monic features, such as those supporting melodic passing
tones, are "less important" in some unspecified aesthetic Riemann-type relationships between the two
sense. Kldnge. For example, Gk major is the parallel of
53
19TH a.
CENTURY
MUSIC
it" Valhalla in Abmajor.
F? Put it all in parallel minor.
IDENT
b.
Valhalla in g minor.
I.W Apply Leittonwechsel to all

chords from the third one on.
S1 I 1 [no. 3 on]
IDENT
C.
Next transformational stage.
EVE Apply parallel transformation to all chords from the fourth one on.
[no. 4 on]
LD
d.
W,1 :J - I, :; MFinal stage of example 2.

I I
L
P
LP
Example 3: Transformations of Valhalla theme.
G' minor, which might progress along a chain shows aspects of the opening, which presents
of subdominants through D? minor, Ab minor, the Communion theme. The theme is written
and E& minor to Bb minor; in this context one under one slur; essentially following Lorenz, I
could assert Bb minor as "PSSSS" of Gl major. have articulated it into three sections, namely
To sum the matter up, there is no unique an incipit motive, the Schmerzensfigur, and the
Riemann-type relationship abstractly specified Spear motive.
by the notion of starting at Gb major and ar- Example 4b aligns beneath the Communion
riving at Bl minor; the system makes a number theme the first statement of the Grail motive in
of transformations conceptually available, each the opera. The alignment shows how the Grail
of which abstractly carries Gl major to Bl harmonies reference and summarize salient
minor. In mathematical language, one says that features from the overlying incipit and Spear
the pertinent group of transformations "is not motives. The Grail, as heard in ex. 4b, does not
simply transitive." reference the central Schmerzensfigur of ex. 4a
Wagner interweaves such multiple relation- at all.
ships with particular craft. To explore some of Below ex. 4b appears a harmonic analysis.
his art we shall now examine a number of inter- The final cadence, which involves character-
related passages from Parsifal. Example 4a istic scale activity not taken directly from the
54
a. b. REHEARINGS
S S
e -b e
LP LP
P P P P
g # [E] B g E [A]
L L
Figure 4
overlaid portion of ex. 4a, is analyzed using tra- relation here, other than the M-relation of ex.
ditional scale degrees, Roman ii, V, and I. Up 4b, would be specifically a Leittonwechsel rela-
until that final cadence, the M-arrows assert tion. The Leittonwechsel is the most character-
each harmony of ex. 4b as the mediant of the istic harmonic feature of the Schmerzensfigur
next. The chain of M-arrows coexists comfort- in ex. 4a; there the Leittonwechsel supports a
ably with the chain of falling diatonic thirds inclimactic downbeat when the high Ab moves
the trombones, and with the regular rhythm ofto high G. To hear f-Dr in ex. 4b as a Leitton-
the harmonic changes during this portion of ex.wechsel would then be to draw particular at-
4b.3 Abstractly one could assert the progressiontention to a Schmerzensfigur that is missing at
from Ab major to F minor as a "relative" rela- this point, rather than to glide surreptitiously
tion, and likewise the relation from Db majorover its absence.4
to Bb minor. Since the progression from F Example 4c, also aligned beneath ex. 4a,
minor to Dk major, however, cannot be ana- shows the special role reserved for the Leitton-
lyzed as a "relative" relation, such an analysiswechsel relation in the context of the Com-
would break the chain just discussed. The munion. Contour, dynamics, and floating-
break in the chain would feel particularly un- versus-beating metrics spotlight the climactic
comfortable, because a smooth and homoge- Leittonwechsel from A? major to C minor, and
neous transition from F minor to Db major, in the return to Ah by Leittonwechsel. As ex. 4c
the middle of ex. 4b, serves the very particular suggests, the progression inflects the theme as
purpose of gliding unnoticeably over the a whole, not simply the Schmerzensfigur and
missing Schmerzensfigur references. It seems its immediate continuation. The Schmerzens-
awkward to draw attention to the lacuna, figur is, to be sure, the special focus of the rela-
which would happen to the extent one hears
the f-Db progression in the middle of ex. 4b as
4If one plays over the incipit and Spear motives of ex. 4a
somehow specially marked. The critical point without the Schmerzensfigur, connecting the end of the in-
is all the more cogent when one observes that cipit bracket directly to the beginning of the Spear bracket,
the most likely abstract candidate for an f-DM one can hear the f-D6 progression as a Leittonwechsel.
One can specifically hear the agogically accented D6 of the
Spear melody stepping up from the C within the incipit
material, rather than stepping down from the Eb of the
3The chain of falling thirds in the trombones is the source
missing Schmerzensfigur. The analysis is latently possible
of the "Helpful Kundry" motive. to that extent and worth exploring to that degree.
55
19TH a. Communion motive, act 1, m. 1.
CENTURY
MUSIC incipit Schmerzensfigur Spear
I I O I
p f p pi__p
b. Grail motive, act I, m
PLcresc.
C. [ii V ]
p fA
L
L
Example 4: Parsifal
tion; one wonders if Wagner was consciously relation, following the precedent of Ab -f at the
exploiting a pun on Leidton. beginning of ex. 4b; rather the c-Ab that opens
Example 5a shows the consequent, C-minor ex. 5b is analyzed as a Leittonwechsel. That is
variant of the Communion theme. Below this, because we associate the specific tonality-and-
ex. 5b aligns a succession of harmonies that can harmony of C minor, in relation to the tonality-
be inferred from the melodic activity - one and-harmony of Ab major, with the paradigm of
must remember that the tempo for the written the Schmerzensfigur in ex. 4c, and the large-
quarter note is "Sehr langsam." The harmonic scale Leittonwechsel relation that spreads out
analysis below ex. 5b shows how profoundly over ex. 4c therefrom. Unlike ex. 4a, the theme
the structure of the theme has changed, in the of ex. 5a is articulated by several different slurs;
pertinent transformational system.s At the the first of these slurs sets off the opening c-At
very beginning of ex. 5b, the progression from C progression just discussed.
minor to Ab major is not analyzed as a mediant The leading tone of C minor appears climac-
tically at the proper moment in ex. 5a. Because
of the augmented second in the melody, sup-
ported by the slurring of the theme here, how-
5One might go so far as to say that the analysis calls into ever, one does not hear C-minor return before
question the extent to which ex. 5a should be called a the sforzando on the high B. Instead the Ab re-
"variant" of ex. 4a, rather than a new idea. Exploring the
question, one notes that the two melodies, if analyzed as mains frozen in the melodic line, continuing to
series of diatonic places, coincide exactly in their intervals project Ab-major harmony, so that when the
up to the fourth note of the Spear motive. Both melodies sforzando B? occurs, the effect is to change AT
rise a third from their point of departure, then rise another
third, then rise a step and repeat the note, rise a step, rise major to the parallel Ab minor, as indicated by
a step, fall a step, and so forth. In the system of transfor- the P-arrow below ex. 5b. As the exact intervals
mations containing such gestures, the melodies have iso- of the Schmerzensfigur are subsequently reca-
graphic profiles. There is thus a profound divergence be-
tween the diatonic world of the music and its Riemann- pitulated, the earlier Ab of the melody in ex. 5a
continues frozen under the B? , so that the im-
functional world. The reader will find that idea developed
at greater length in my article, "Amfortas's Prayer to Ti-plied harmony moves on from Ab minor to E
turel and the Role of D in Parsifal: The Tonal Spaces of the
major,
Drama and the Enharmonic CG/B," this journal 7 (1984), via a new Leittonwechsel. The end of
336-49. the Schmerzensfigur finally restores the me-
56
a. Act I, m. 20. REHEARINGS
44- -1-- - I -t$- -5- ----

b.
L
L P L P L P [V i]
c. Act III, m. 1098.
p P L [ii V 1]
Example 5: Parsifa
lodic G, but by now

The foregoing the
discussion has clarified, Ihar
so that the melodic move from A6 to G sounds think, what an error it would be to assume that
in a local context of E harmony: the effect isthe first arrow beneath ex. 5b should bear the
from E major to E minor, as indicated by thesame transformational label as does the first
second P-arrow beneath ex. 5b. The Spear mo-arrow beneath ex. 4b, simply because ex. 5a be-
tive returns us to the local tonic, now C minor,gins as a diatonic transposition of 4a. Example
as did the Spear motive before, in Ab. In ex. 5a 4b shows a chain of diatonic mediant relations
the C-minor version of the motive is changedsupporting the first and last sections of the
so as to put extra emphasis on the early return theme; the chain of mediants is immersed in
of E6 in the melody; the change is supported by the larger-scale diatonic Leittonwechsel of
the end of the second slur in the theme. The ex. 4c, which bursts into the foreground to in-
overall harmonic effect, from E minor at the terrupt the chain of mediants during the
end of the Schmerzensfigur, is through C major Schmerzensfigur. Example 5b shows a thor-
and back to C minor via yet another L transfor- oughly chromatic chain of alternating L and P
mation and yet another P transformation. transforms, owing its closure to a mathemat-
Overall, then, the transformations below the ical symmetry rather than a diatonic context.
left side of ex. 5b go through a complete cycle Example
of 5b may be regarded as a trope on the
alternating Ls and Ps, starting and ending at Schmerzensfigur,
C which provides both the L
minor. Once C minor has returned, it is con-
idea, and the idea of moving to C minor as a
firmed by a scale-degree, dominant-tonic pro-
setting for ex. 5, whence the whole system of
gression as indicated, supported by the third
alternating Ls and Ps arises via the A -B rela-
tion as discussed.6
slur of ex. 5a. The melody within that slur cre-
scendos to another sforzando on the low B ofJust as ex. 4b is the version of the Grail mo-
that dominant, restoring the leading-tone func-
tive that goes with ex. 4a, so ex. 5c is the ver-
tion of the B in C minor. By association of dy-
namics, and by octave equivalence of extreme
6The reader is again referred to my article, "Amfortas's
registers in the melodic ambitus, the gesture re-
Prayer," a propos the diatonic-and-Riemannian worlds of
calls the earlier frustration of C-minor leading-
the drama. Important work on the form-building potential
tone function in the upper register at the
of L-and-P chains, and of such transformational algebra in
general, has been carried through by Brian Hyer in a recent
climax, where we heard local A -major and
study, Tonal Intuitions in Tristan und Isolde (Ph.D. diss.,
local Ah-minor harmony. Yale University, 1989).
57
19TH
CENTURY
sion of the Grail that goes with ex. 5a. become
One equally
seesassociated with suffering,
MUSIC how ex. 5c fits ex. 5a precisely because minor, of the
and chromaticism; however, they lead
analysis that underlies ex. 5b. Example through5c oc- to salvation, durch Mitleid
suffering
curs almost at the end of the entire opera, wissend. The musical difference, I think, is
eight
measures before the final chorus, at thatthe
the Lstage
and P relations of Parsifal chain
direction "Allmihliche sanfte Erleuchtung together anddeseventually build complete cycles
'Grales"' (gradual soft illumination of the that return to their points of departure, as
Grail). in exs. 5b and 5c. In the Ring, the open-ended
In the Ring, the L and P relations of the application of LP rather disrupts and de-
Tarnhelm are involved in the corruption of stroys, as in the relation of
Valhalla. In Parsifal the same transformations exs. 3d to 3a.
58

D. LEWIN - Some Notes On Analysing Wagner

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Some Notes on Analyzing Wagner: "The Ring" and "Parsifal"

Author(s): David Lewin

Some Notes on Analyzing Wagner:

(Trpt., Tbn.) " "

(G ,-) (E,-) (B, +)

[(Bb, -)] (F, -) (A, +)

SUB j PAR $PAR

meas. 1-6 7 9 11; 13 141/2-20

a. true: (g#) SUBM = ([g#]LT) SUBD

b. false: (any Klang)SUBM = ([that Klang)LT) SUBD

c. false e.g.: (C)SUBM = ([C]LT) SUBD

e = ( e )SUBD ??; wrong.

d. false: SUBM = LT SUBD

g [E] B D) GK----[bb] f (A?

Example 2: Die Walkiie, act II

neath ex. 3d; this

I.W Apply Leittonwechsel to all

Next transformational stage.

W,1 :J - I, :; MFinal stage of example 2.

Example 3: Transformations of Valhalla theme.

44- -1-- - I -t$- -5- ----

lodic G, but by now

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