First of all, I want to say that the time at the community center on Friday was very entertaining. Being led around the building with a blindfold on required a large amount of trust for the person leading you because they could obviously do things to (unintentionally) injure you or make you uncomfortable. That being said, the experience of being blindfolded and being led around was quite similar to one of those amusement park attractions with names such as "Haunted House" or something similar. I felt like I knew what was going on around me, yet there were other times when I was completely uncertain. Going down/up stairs was also completely frightening.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Richard Wagner, born in 1813 on May 22nd, was a German composer and conductor. He was known mostly for his Operas, which have been a large influence on many composers later on. It is said that his potential as a conductor was not shown until his middle period, when works such as Lohengrin were composed.
Lohengrin is an opera in 3 parts, which takes it's story from a famous German medieval epic poem called "Parzival," and it's sequel "Lohengrin." The opera seems to carry a theme of xenophobia, which is reflected on by Wagner's anti-Semitism.
The instrumentation of the opera was quite large for the time period. Taken from http://www.mhhe.com/socscience/music/kamien/student/olc/33.htm, the instrumentation includes: flutes (3), oboes (3), clarinets (3), bassoons (3), French horns (4), trumpets (3), trombones (3), bass tuba, timpani, triangle, cymbals, tambourine, strings
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7prUFflX0_E
The prelude seems to be predominantly in a major key, with a very powerful climax near the end. I will certainly be listening to more of Wagner's works in the near future.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment