After you have read the text

1. Answer the following questions about the text.

1. What creative idea fired Richard Wagner in 1851?

2. What was the subject of his new opera?

3. How did Wagner work at this music-drama?

4. Why is it said that the poem of “The Nibelungs’ Ring” was written backwards?

5. What is the right order of this opera cycle?

6. Why did Wagner interrupt the work at “The Nibelungs’ Ring”?

7. Who suggested to him the idea of writing a music-drama on story of Tristan and Isolde?

8. When was the composition of “Tristan and Isolde ” finished?

9. What role did King Ludwing II of Bavaria play in Wagner’s life?

10. Why did Wagner want to engage Hans von Bülow to the Bavarian Count Opera?

11. Who was Bülow’s wife Cosima?

12. Why is it said in the text that Cosima was the most fateful woman to cross Wagner’s path?

13. Why did Wagner have to leave Munich?

14. Where did he take refuge this time?

15. When did Wagner resume the composition of “Siegfried”?

16. What did Wagner plan at the small town of Bayreuth in 1871?

17. What was Wagner’s idea about staging of “The Nibelungs’ Ring”?

18. Why is the date “May 22nd 1872” greatly remarkable in Wagner’s life?

19. When was the first cycle of “The Nibelungs’ Ring” performed for the first time?

20. How did the musical Europe estimate this mighty work by Richard Wagner?

2. Learn the following information.

– Leitmotiv means a leading motif. In Wagnerian and post-Wagnerian operas it is a short theme or musical idea consistently associated with a character, a place or an object of the plot. For instance, in “The Ring of the Nibelungs” there are motifs characterizing the Ring, the Contract, Valhalla, the Sword. These motifs are used in a very flexible manner. Their rhythmus, intervals etc., are frequently modified according to the dramatic requirement of the momentary situation.

– Wagner’s tetralogy “The Ring of the Nibelungs” consists of four parts: “ The Rhine Gold”, “The Valkyrie”, “Siegfried” and “The Dusk of the Gods”.

– Transformation of themes is the modification of a theme made in such a way as to “change its personality”. This device (also called metamorphosis) belongs to the 19th century music. The method was more fully employed in Liszt's symphonic poems and in Wagner’s operas.

– Libretto means the text of a musico-dramatic work for such as an opera and oratorio. Famous writers of librettos were Metastasio (Hasse, Handel, Mozart), William Gilbert (for Sullivan). Richard Wagner was the first composer who wrote his own librettos.

– Music-drama is a designation chosen by Wagner for the Wagnerian type of opera in order to distinguish his works from the conventional opera. The dramatic considerations are as important as musical ones.

3. Choose the correct word.

1. Schubert (earned, yearned, admired) for Theresa Grob, singer of a church choir. 2. The poet took (refuge, part, twenty days) in the USA. 3. The opera was staged under the (adviser, conductor, supervision) of the composer. 4. Wagner found an appropriate (refuge, site, score) for the constructon of the theatre. 5. After the illness the composer (responded, enchanted, resumed) the work at the music-drama. 6. Schumann created his song cycle (piecemeal, in outlines, highly). 7. Wagner needed money and asked Leopold II for a (debt, loan, cross). 8. On the next day the libretto was ready in (outlines, advance, order). 9. Gogol came to a (frequent, comparative, fateful) decision and threw the second book of “Dead Souls” into the fire. 10. The young man was (obliged, accused, dedicated) to serve in the army. 11. Schubert’s friends did their best to (admire, advertise, compose) his music. 12. One part of “The Nibelungs’ Ring” is called “The (Darkness, Gold, Dusk) of the Gods”. 13. His plan to establish a new theatre nearly (collapsed, fired, schemed). 14. Beethoven found only one libretto to be (fond, keen, fit) for an opera and wrote “Fidelio”. 15. Folk songs and dances (advised,fired, responded) the composer.

4. Select the correct meaning of the words.

1) a great deal a) найти убежище

2) at any rate b) слечь, заболеть

3) in outlines c) в общих чертах

4) to cross smb’s path d) во всяком случае

5) eventually e) советник

6) devoted f) поклонник, обожатель

7) genuine g) знаменитость

8) adviser h) подлинный, настоящий

9) admirer i) роковой

10) to take refuge j) в конечном счете

k) браться за что-либо

l) встать кому-либо поперек дороги

m) постепенно

n) много

o) увлеченный

5. Review text A orally.

6. Give a talk of any of Wagner’s operas.

7. Read and retell text B.