Gesamtkunstwerk

It roughly translates to "total artwork", meant to represent total control

over a piece of art, in Wagner's case, the full production of his operas. This
means that basically everything from set design, costuming, lighting, text, and
especially music were all under his design. This somewhat grandiose philosophy on
art ties in to Schopenhauer's views on human nature. Something something humans are
motivated by primal urges and not reason, something something therefore music is
the underlying will and the text itself is the reason. Wagner used this way of
thinking to add additional 'primally humanistic' meanings to what he would have
considered reason. You'd best look up a wikipedia article or two for a more
concrete explanation.

Nationalism

Moving on, Wagner was very much a proponent of the german identity, creating
a platform for his nation to stand on during the development of the country itself.
We can see this in the fact that Wagner wrote in German, took inspiration from
Norse mythology, which is basically German if you squint a little. Epic poetry that
gave his works a unique dramatic quality. However, it is readily evident that his
nationalism may have gone a little bit too far. His antisemetic views can be
clearly seen in the political context and implications of his Ring Cycle with the
Nibelung being a stand-in for what Wagner perceived as a... Jewish economical
threat.

Leitmotif

Despite that, the influences on using a highly developed 'theme' in his works
gave rise to the famously lauded leitmotif. This was the 'leading motive' that
served as a vehicle for dramatic symbolism that would eventually be used to clue
the audience in to recurring ideas, objects, or themes and, at times, more
development of their nuances. The best way to get an idea of this is in the
lecture, highly recommended.

Russian Nationalism

Cosmopolitanism

This was a school of thought based on emphasizing Russia's connection to the

rest of Europe's music. Many musicians travelled to Russia, and taking on
influences from such figures as the Schumanns or Debussy. Conservatories were built
which championed music education as well as establishing a standard which followed
European guidelines. Both of which were founded by the brothers Rubinstein, so all
you pianists in here, represent, yo.

Russian Nationalism

This opposing idea can be seen as a sort of reaction to Cosmopolitanism, or

rather, a naturally arising opposition. In contrast to Tchaikovsky and
Rachmaninoff's musical globalism-lite, we can see early effects of this movement in
the works of Glinka. His work can be seen as aggressively Russian, with historical
subject matter, Russian language, and steps taken to make voice lines sound like
they are sung by a Russian person. For the linguists in the crowd, I recommend
looking at his opera Ruslan Y Ludmilla, which, by the way, is based on the writings
of Pushkin, a poet, playwright, and cornerstone of modern Russian culture. As such,
we can draw parallels between the Russian Nationalism of the 19th Century and
Wagner's brand of German Nationalism. Interestingly enough, Russia was also
antisemitic at the time. Fun fact, I know.

The Russian Five

Moving on, my final keyword for this lecture is The Russian Five/The Five/The
Mighty Handful. This was a group of mid 19th century composers, Baradin, Kyui,
Balakirev, Mussorgsky, and Rimsky-KORsakuv, as penned by music critic Vladimir
STAsuv. These composers employed specific musical values that gave their works a
specific identity. These include the syllabic setting of the Russian language that
sounds Russian, avoidance of the conventional conservatory training, as well as
techniques intended to sound strange and non-European. This is clear in the
different scales used such as the whole-tone scale (play it), the pentatonic scale
(play it) and this specific octatonic scale with alternating half and whole steps
(play it) and here it is, used harmonically in Mussorgsky's Bahris Gudunov (play
it). Check out the listenings, they'll help much more than this demonstration.

Stravinsky

Ballay Roose

The Ballet Russe, or Russian Ballet is a France-based dance company that

contrasted with the traditional styles seen in French Ballet. Pioneering with
similar exoticism we see in the works of The Five, they presented something a bit
stranger to the Parisians. This is where Stravinsky comes in, composing three
ballets for three seasons of production, each as distinct and perhaps, as well-
renowned, as the other, but all unified under a theme of Russian Nationalism.

Petrushka

One of these ballets was Petrushka, or Pierrot, composed in 1911, about a

doll who comes to life, inspired by the Russian puppet theatre and the Shrovetide
preparation before Lent. We get other instances of very Russian music, such as
Stravinsky's adaptation of The Song of the Volohobniki from his mentor, Rimsky-
KORsakuv's Collection of 100 Russian Folk Songs. Here's a quick excerpt that
appears in the ballet as festive music (play it). In the interest of time, I'll get
on to the Petrushka chord, which is a layered C major triad on top of an F# Major
triad, a tritone away, here's how it sounds (play it). This is an octatonic
technique, the one that starts on the half step specifically. Here, I'll let you
get a better look (grab webcam). And for further listening, here's a video.

The Rite of Spring

Now that that's over with, I'd like to talk about my personal favorite, Le
Sacre du Printemps... the Rite de los Spring. It is a ballet about pagan ritual
sacrifice in an oddly Russian prehistory which, as you can guess, does not sit well
against the Nutcracker or Swan Lake. The wild choreography, primitive-inspired
musical dissonance, and violent subject matter caused discontent to say the least.
What was presented to the audience at the time was such a departure from convention
and sensibility that the work elicited disorientation at best, and drew ire at
worst. I cannot give a better description than actually viewing the ballet itself,
but I can send this video to chat. I know we've got projects and all, but it's a
good watch.