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Richard Wagner

Lohengrin Prelude to Act III

b. May 22, 1813, Leipzig, Germany
d. February 13, 1883, Venice, Italy

Biography and Program Notes

The Composer

Richard Wagner, born in Leipzig, Germany, 22 May 1813 and died in Venice, Italy, 13 February 1883, is known as one of the most progressive composers in history. His name has been linked to almost all the significant historical events of the 19th and 20th centuries. As a boy, he was interested in literature and loved the plays of William Shakespeare. At age 15 he wrote a play and at 16 his first music compositions. Later in his teenage years, he attended Leipzig University to study and as a result he became more interested in music composition. At the age of 27 Richard Wagner began work on his monumental cycle of four musical dramas: Der Ring des Nibelungen (The Ring of the Nibelungs). It is made of four separate operas and about 18 hours of music that includes themes that have specific meanings. In his operas, he liked to create tension between Good and Evil. It took Wagner 22 years to complete The Ring! It remains one of the most remarkable opera compositions of all time. A special house was designed by Wagner and built in Bayreuth, Germany so that there would be a home for The Ring to be performed. Today, people from all parts of the world travel to Bayreuth to see and hear performances of that masterpiece.

The Opera

Like all of Wagner’s operas, Lohengrin (premiered in Weimar in 1850), is a large mix of myth, legend, philosophy, religion, history and the supernatural all wrapped into a story of redemption through love, conflict between conscience and desire, and the triumph of Good over Evil. Lohengrin, the medieval Swan Knight and one of the brothership devoted to the protection of the Holy Grail, is sent on a divine mission to Brabant (present-day Belgium) to champion the cause of Elsa, who has been falsely accused of fratricide.

The Prelude

The Prelude to Act III sets the mood for the wedding festivities. The opening and closing sections of the tripartite form are formed from two closely linked motives, both highly acrobatic in their melodic outline (thus totally unsingable), and both beginning with an upward leaping triplet. The first is the dazzling burst of sound that opens the Act, the second is heard in lower strings and brass. The contrasting central section features the woodwinds. Interestingly enough, none of this music is heard anywhere else in the opera.

The adrenalin rush that opens this prelude is followed by some of the most virtuosic playing ever demanded from an orchestra. Even the tuba gets into the act!

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