/lit/ - Literature

>>20320840
The Siegfried drama. In it Wagner aimed to create a new vigorous style of poetry in modern German, rhythmic and archaic, and it's probably the largest influence on the language of Zarathustra. The story and themes are also as Nietzschean as possible, with Wotan's untergang inspiring Zarathustra's in the Vorrede.

>Erda! Erda! Ewiges Weib.
>Aus heimischer Tiefe tauche zur Höh’!
>Dein Wecklied sing’ ich, daß du erwachest;
>aus sinnendem Schlafe weck’ ich dich auf.
>Allwissende! Urweltweise!
>Erda! Erda! Ewiges Weib!
>Wache, erwache, du Wala! Erwache!

>>20269977
>Weia! Waga! Woge, du Welle, walle zur Wiege! Wagalaweia! Wallala weiala weia!

>In his open letter to Friedrich Nietzsche of 12 June 1872 Wagner explained that Woglinde’s opening gambit is based on OHG heilawâc ( = water drawn from a river or well at some divinely appointed hour), recast by analogy with the eia popeia ( = hushabye) of children’s nursery rhymes.
>In conversation with Cosima, Wagner described this passage as ‘the world’s lullaby’ (CT, 17 July 1869), a reading already suggested by Opera and Drama, where the composer imputes the birth of language to a melodic vocalization.

>>19781772
Easily Germany's greatest dramatist.

>>19756164
Adding more.

>When Brunnhilde argues with her master in Die Walküre II.ii, Wotan makes an angry attempt to silence her:

>Was bist du, als meines Willens
>blind wählende Kür?—

>As Wagner argued at length in Oper und Drama, the virtue of Stabreim is its ability to establish through phonology associations or antitheses between particular words and concepts. (Stabreim entails a use of language akin to music in so far as it allows the word to derive meaning from its place in a phonetic pattern rather as the musical note derives meaning from its place in a tonic pattern.) It is a verse form which, in Wagner's hands, demands that particular attention be paid not only to each word but also to each root-syllable. By means of the Stabreim, Wotan's words to his rebellious daughter here bring to a focal point certain crucial issues of the drama.
>The phrasing and rhetoric of Wotan's question echo Brunnhilde's earlier plea:

>wer—bin ich,
>wär'ich dein Wille nicht?

>>19607003
>Weia! Waga! Woge, du Welle, walle zur Wiege! Wagalaweia! Wallala weiala weia!

>In his open letter to Friedrich Nietzsche of 12 June 1872 Wagner explained that Woglinde’s opening gambit is based on OHG heilawâc ( = water drawn from a river or well at some divinely appointed hour), recast by analogy with the eia popeia ( = hushabye) of children’s nursery rhymes.
>In conversation with Cosima, Wagner described this passage as ‘the world’s lullaby’ (CT, 17 July 1869), a reading already suggested by Opera and Drama, where the composer imputes the birth of language to a melodic vocalization.

>>19525587
>Weia! Waga! Woge, du Welle, walle zur Wiege! Wagalaweia! Wallala weiala weia!

>In his open letter to Friedrich Nietzsche of 12 June 1872 Wagner explained that Woglinde’s opening gambit is based on OHG heilawâc ( = water drawn from a river or well at some divinely appointed hour), recast by analogy with the eia popeia ( = hushabye) of children’s nursery rhymes.
>In conversation with Cosima, Wagner described this passage as ‘the world’s lullaby’ (CT, 17 July 1869), a reading already suggested by Opera and Drama, where the composer imputes the birth of language to a melodic vocalization.

>>19358325
>Weia! Waga! Woge, du Welle, walle zur Wiege! Wagalaweia! Wallala weiala weia!

>In his open letter to Friedrich Nietzsche of 12 June 1872 Wagner explained that Woglinde’s opening gambit is based on OHG heilawâc ( = water drawn from a river or well at some divinely appointed hour), recast by analogy with the eia popeia ( = hushabye) of children’s nursery rhymes.
>In conversation with Cosima, Wagner described this passage as ‘the world’s lullaby’ (CT, 17 July 1869), a reading already suggested by Opera and Drama, where the composer imputes the birth of language to a melodic vocalization.

>>19323843
>Weia! Waga! Woge, du Welle, walle zur Wiege! Wagalaweia! Wallala weiala weia!

>In his open letter to Friedrich Nietzsche of 12 June 1872 Wagner explained that Woglinde’s opening gambit is based on OHG heilawâc ( = water drawn from a river or well at some divinely appointed hour), recast by analogy with the eia popeia ( = hushabye) of children’s nursery rhymes.
>In conversation with Cosima, Wagner described this passage as ‘the world’s lullaby’ (CT, 17 July 1869), a reading already suggested by Opera and Drama, where the composer imputes the birth of language to a melodic vocalization.

>>19308491
Read the libretti with the music. That's the second best thing to watching it live and understanding German.

>Also, is much lost in translation?
Yes, see pic related.

Since we're talking about Tolkien's writing, what do you guys think of Wagner's? Does it live up to the equality of word and music espoused in the Gesamtkunstwerk?

Pic related is from Nietzsche.