And his orchestra is scarcely more
than the orchestra of Beethoven. He did not require the band of
independent instrumental families demanded by Berlioz and realized by
the modern men. He was content with the old, classical orchestra in
which certain groups are strengthened and to which the harp, the English
horn, the bass-tuba, the bass-clarinet have been added.
And his conception of an "unending melody," an unbroken flow of music
intended to give cohesion and homogeneity to his music-dramas, was a
direct consequence of the efforts of Mozart and Weber to give unity to
their operatic works. For although these composers retained the old
convention of an opera composed of separate numbers, they nevertheless
managed to unify their operas by creating a distinct style in each of
them, and by securing an emotional development in the various arias and
concerted numbers. The step from "Don Giovanni" and "Euryanthe" to
"Tannhaeuser" and "Lohengrin" does not seem quite as long a one to-day as
once it did. Indeed, there are moments when one wonders whether
"Lohengrin" is really a step beyond "Euryanthe," and whether the
increase of power and vividness and imagination has not been made at the
expense of style. Moreover, in much of what is actually progress in
Wagner the influence of Weber is clearly discernible.
Pages:
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25