Narrative music as seen in Limenius and Wagner

Introduction

From the very beginning of Western musical history until now, music has been used to convey narrative. Various pitches are played in succession as well as in unison to construct melodies and harmonies that carry forwards a story, an idea, a feeling. In Greece, the great epic of the Odyssey was sung by a rhapsode before the audience. Hildegard Von Bingen’s Ordo Virtutum, the first ever morality play, was a sung performance of the battle between the virtues and the devil for a soul, the music aiding the words in creating a dramatic effect. Rennaissance compositions, such as Battalias, display a creative use of instruments to engineer an impression of a battle, conveying the whole event step by step without even the use and aid of words, but only the preconceived idea of battle in the mind of the listener. Richard Wagner, a 19^th century German composer revolutionizes the Western musical tradition with a distinct musical architecture that is aimed towards expressing meaning in the narrative.

By looking at one of the very earliest compositions in Western music, found in Greece, and one of the most influential works in the past 200 years, we will see how music has been used all throughout its own history to tell a story of some kind. An examination of the similarities and differences between the earliest narrative music, found in Greece, and the culmination and turning point of narrative musical compositions in the western tradition, found at its best in Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen, will reveal that Western music, in the entirety of its known history has always been used to convey narrative through different constructions and techniques, and that over the course of around 1800 years it has made many discoveries and improvements.

Ancient Greek Music

In ancient Greece, during the very heights of classical civilization, music was an integral part of society, part of their everyday life, much like the integrality of the Easter Vigil Mass in the Catholic Church with liturgical music. Except in Greece, music did not just touch upon one part of their lives, but the entirety of them.

Music, song, and dance were seen as being, together with the orderly sacrifices to the gods and athletic facilities for men, the most characteristic manifestations of a civilized community in peacetime[i]

At the same time, music was seen as something joyous and festal. It was there way of celebrating victories and achievements. M.L West states on this very point “…our thoughts turn towards champagne: the Greek’s turned towards singing and dancing.”[ii] Music was seen in many parts of Greek life. It was used as a part of the festivity of the sacrifice. It was used to provide entertainment after dinner in the evening. It was used to keep workers working at a specific pace, giving them a rhythm and morale. The Greeks going into battle would often do so accompanied by some form of music. The Greeks knew that music had a power to it that changed the dispositions of one, that it brought out certain emotions in one. “The Greeks were familiar with the idea that music can alter the disposition of those who hear it. They acknowledged its power to soothe, to console, to distract, to cheer, to excite, to inflame, to madden.”[iii] Even the great philosophers of Greece found music important enough that they addressed it in their writings.

Aristotle takes it as an evident fact that music can alter us; he refers to Olympus’ melodies, which are acknowledged to make us feel exalted. His explanation is essentially identical with Plato’s. Melodies and rhythms contain likenesses when we hear them.[iv]

The Greeks were not only aware of the power of music and its ability to bring out certain dispositions, moods, and emotions, but they were also aware of the different kinds of music that brought about certain effects. That certain constructions in terms of melody, rhythm, or harmony could bring about a kind of music that sounds like something concrete. They even employed music to influence certain circumstances. M.L. West shares a particular story related to this point in his book:

It is said that when Sparta was in a state of unrest in the first half of the seventh century BC, an oracle recommended sending for the ‘Lesbian singer’: Torpander was invited to come. And his singing restored the city to good order.[v]

One of the ways they knew of to influence the dispositions and emotions was the use of modes. In the book Ancient Greek Music, M.L. West writes a short section about the different uses of Greek modes. Modes are groups of notes arranged to make up a scale. They were invented by the musicians of ancient Greece and were later brought into the Western musical tradition, though in different forms, through Gregorian chant. The seven major modes are Ionian, Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixolydian, Aeolian, and Locrian, and each one has a distinctive feel and character.

This musical character, so to speak, was used by the Greeks to determine which set of notes should be used for certain pieces. For instance, West notes how the Dorian mode was thought to be very “dignified and manly”[vi]. For this reason, “it was used for processionals, paeans, love songs, and in tragedy, especially for laments.”[vii] and was the first mode taught to young boys when learning to play the lyre. The Ionian mode was commonly used for tragedy as it had a heavier feel to it, being described as “Severe and tough”[viii] by Heraclides Ponticus, a Greek philosopher and Astronomer. Plato himself had certain opinions on how to use the modes in different scenarios to invoke a certain response:

Plato believed that playing music in a particular mode would incline one towards specific behavior associated with that mode, and suggested that soldiers should listen to music in Dorian or Phrygian modes to help make them stronger, but avoid music in Lydian, Mixed Lydian or Ionian modes, for fear of being softened.[ix]

The Limenius Paean

Here we will look at the Limenius Paean as an example of music that relates a specific narrative and uses specific aspects of its musical composition to aid the text. The Limenius Paean, also known as the Second Delphic Hymn to Apollo, which was written in the year 128 B.C. by Limenius, a Greek musician, is an ideal starting point for an examination of musical narrative in the Western tradition. This is one of the earliest surviving pieces of written music in the West. It is made up of two distinct parts, which are discernable by the rhythm used: The Paean and the processional. First we will see the basic contents of the narrative, and then we will examine how the music brings out certain aspects of the narrative and gives he words a deeper meaning.

Textual Narrative

The paean begins with the classical invocation for the Pierian Muses to come to twin-peaked Mt. Parnassos and sing of the Pythian god Phoebus Apollo. It goes on to describe him as the “far-shooter with the fine lyre”[x] who was born by Leto as she grabbed an olive branch during her labors. At this birth, the heavens rejoiced and the tempests, storms, and crashing waves became calm. Apollo leaves the island of Mt. Cynthus and goes to “Attica, on the jutting hill of Athena”[xi], Athens. There the Libyan pipe and the kithara make sweet music together as the god Echo joins their song among the rocks. Apollo is happy because he has learned the thoughts of Zeus, and for this he becomes known to the people of Attica and to the artists of Bacchus as Paieon. An invocation follows for Apollo, the one “That possessest the oracular tripod”[xii] to come to Parnassos with plaited hair and bow in hand. In the next section, Apollo kills several creatures including Python the serpent and Tityos the giant who desired his mother Leto. The paean ends with the fact that he guarded his oracular seat against a certain “barbarian fury”. The procession is made up of a prayer to Apollo for protection and prospering.

Musical Narrative

The narrative starts with a desire for Apollo to come to the mountain. When the word Dikoryphon, meaning twin-peaked, is used, there is a break in the melodic accentuation so as to emphasize the duality of Parnassos’ peaks.[xiii] The following section, as noted above, is about how the heavens and the ocean gloried in the birth of the god Apollo and how, afterwards, he went off and began doing great things.. Since these events are happy and glorious, naturally they should be accompanied musically by a sense of this happiness and glory.

Modes

The whole Paean is played in the ancient Greek Lydian mode, with a transition about halfway through into the Hypolydian mode. The Lydian mode in ancient Greek music, according to Aristotle, is “decorous and fun”, fit to be learned by young boys. Pindar uses it in odes of celebration for athletes.[xiv] Plato also had a view on the Lydian mode that it was, like the Ionian mode, ”soft and sympotic”[xv] It is thought to convey a cheerful feeling to the listener. It makes sense then, that this mode would be used for the paean, since it is about giving praise and honor to Apollo. This decorous” mode gives meaning to the piece in the way that it aids in decorating the spoken deeds of Apollo, his birth, his journey to Athens, his learning the thoughts of Zues, his victory over the serpent Python and so on. At the point when the heavens are praising Apollo, the mode changes to Hypolydian, though only for a short while before returning to Lydian. This, in short, means a change of focus from the musical note a to b. A slight change of the construction of the scale. Here the melody plunges down to a b on multiple occasions, soaring back up by large intervals. This creates an impression of reaching downwards and flying upwards. A perfect dynamic to match the narrative’s mention of the heavens and how they received the god.

Rhythms

The paean, which is by definition full of praise and triumph, uses a paeonic rhythm that is steady and structured, giving the feeling of a recitation of some kind. This is proper, as the narrative consists of recounting the deities’ deeds. Paeonic rhythm is a rhythm which been used from an early time in Greek music. It makes use of quintuple time, which is not something common in the Western musical tradition, but fairly common in the East.

Paeonic rhythm is a fairly light hearted rhythm and was mainly used, at least in the beginning, in comedy. Paeonic rhythm was associated with an energetic form of dance, and while we have sporadic examples in Alcman, Bacchylides, and tragedy, it was mainly used in Old Comedy.[xvi]

The Procession, the final part of the composition at the tail end of the whole piece, makes use of Aeolic rhythm. This rhythm is surrounded by discussion about interpretation of notation, but two views are generally accepted, that metrical asymmetry should be equalized or that it be left as asymmetry. Depending on the interpretation, the resulting feel of the music will be different. For instance, if one uses the Boeckhian metrical pattern, a metrical sequence that follows the long-short-long-short pattern, to interpret Greek poetry, then the versus that follow a long-short-short pattern will be considered as equal considering length of time. This interpretation can change the way the text comes across.

All Aeolic verses can be made to sound like gently babbling brooks if one adopts the Boeckhian method of assuming that and occupy equal time. If, on the other hand, one takes these metrical asymmetries to betoken rhythmic asymmetries, one is rewarded by the discovery of many snappy syncopations and lively, wrong-footing changes of bar-length, disconcerting to people brought up on English nursery rhymes and the Viennese or Liverpudlian classics, but in keeping with what we have found in several other ancient Greek rhythmical genres, and with the character of Balkan music as it exists today.[xvii]

The interpretation used in the performance recorded by “Ensemble De Organographia”[xviii]  gives the impression of a swaying round and round, like people dancing a waltz.

Richard Wagner

Richard Wagner, a composer born in Germany in 1813, was one of, if not the most, prolific composer of the 19^th century, who brought about a change in the world of music. “…whose operas and music had a revolutionary influence on the course of Western music, either by extension of his discoveries or reaction against them.”[xix] He had such an impact on the world of Western Music that there is an apparent difference in the style of musical compositions which come from before his time and those that come after. “The influence of his compositions has for the last twenty years been continuously exercised over most of his contemporaries and is clearly apparent”[xx].

Use of Leitmotifs

Wagner’s style of musical composition in his Der Ring des Nibelungen is heavily characterized by his use of the leitmotif, a particular musical idea that is used to characterize a person, place, feeling, situation, etc… used repeatedly throughout a work. Each character in Wagner’s Ring, for instance, has their own leitmotif, which is played whenever that character is a part of the drama. This is also used for various places and ideas such as fate, primal nature, Valhalla, love, and seduction, revealing Wagner’s very symbolic style of musical expression.

On the whole, Wagner’s so-called “thematic developments” are essentially passage of motivic variation. Musically he expressed the psychological unfolding of character by means of thematic metamorphosis…[xxi]

Whenever he expressed the idea which he had previously introduced, be it primal chaos, Seigfried, greed etc, he would take that construction again, sometimes in a varied or more developed form, and use it to represent that idea and replicate it, sometimes with changes to the theme. This renders it quite simple to identify which musical structures represent a specific person, place, or concept as well as what kind of developments have been made to that specific musical structure. This piece is an opera, with the afore-mentioned musical architecture being woven around the words to instill a deeper meaning, with only a few sections dedicated to purely instrumental narrative.

The Twilight of the God’s, or Gotterdammerung, a part of his greatest work, The Ring of the Nibelung, shows very well how he uses musical techniques, especially the leitmotif, to bring out certain ideas and emotions from the listener. This piece is a climactic presentation of Wagner’s use of leitmotif and musical reminiscence.

The Twighlight of the Gods is Wagnerian architecture at its most ambitious, Wagnerian technical dexterity at its most dazzling. From here one looks backward upon an extraordinary musical development, which his aesthetic theorizing reluctantly but inevitably followed, and forward toward his final work… [xxii]

Siegfried’s Rhine Journey

Here is examined, piece-by-piece, the second part of the prologue from the The Twighlight of the Gods called Seigfried’s Rhine Journey. This is a piece of solely instrumental music that lays bare the genius of Wagner’s writing. The music here is still able to relate narrative as there is simultaneous action occurring on the stage which it can saturate with deeper meaning.

An exclusively instrumental passage may also function as a clear reminiscence if introduced concurrently with some specific event on stage (the awakening of the gold or Walhall first looming up through the mists), and a theme may appear in the orchestra so briefly before its dramatic counterpart materializes on stage that it seems to fall between presentiment and reminiscence.[xxiii]

Doctor Allen B. Dunning and Paul Heise have collaborated to create a thorough online database of all the motifs used throughout the tetralogy and what they each musically represent. This will be the main source from which the information about the musical structures and  leitmotifs will be drawn.

Textual Narrative

The narrative context of Siegfried’s Rhine journey is best taken from the previous opera, titled: Siegfried. This opera begins with Siegfried the son of Siegmund and Sieglinde, who are in turn son and daughter of Wotan, learning from Mime about his identity and his reforging of his father’s sword, which had been given to his father by Wotan.  He is shown by Mime the way to the cave of a dragon named Fafner, one of the two giants who had taken the ring of the Nibelung from Wotan and Loge. Fafner is defeated by Siegfried, but warns him of the ring’s curse before dying. This curse had been cast by Alberich, a dwarf who had once stolen the Ring from the maidens of the Rhine. Siegfried tastes a bit of Fafner’s blood and is given certain special abilities, such as being able to understand the language of the animals. A bird tells him that there is a woman asleep on a mountain surrounded by flames and Siegfried goes to find her. After an encounter with Wotan, Siegfried arrives at the top of the mountain of fire and comes upon Brunhilde, the daughter of Wotan. Bruennhilde is fast asleep, but Siegfried, after removing her armor and falling in love with her, wakes her with a kiss. Bruennhilde tries to resist Siegfried’s declarations of passion, but soon gives up and begins her life as a mortal in an act of love with Siegfried in a cave. This is the end of the third opera.

In the beginning of the fourth opera, the finale of the whole ring cycle, the Norns, or the fates, are weaving a web of the worlds destiny. They predict the fall of Valhalla right before the web breaks and they descend from their caves to the earth. The focus then shifts to the cave of Siegfried and Bruuenhilde, where both are now emerging. From here a small conversations occurs between the two lovers. Siegfried gives Bruennhilde the Ring of the Nibelung, which he had taken from Alberich, and departs on the horse of Bruennhilde. This is the beginning of Wagner’s masterful instrumental piece.

Musical Narrative

The following text in brackets is placed by Wagner following the dialogue between Bruennhilde and Siegfried indicating the action that accompanies the music.

[Siegfried leads the horse quickly to the edge of the sloping rock, Brünnhilde following him. Siegfried disappears with the horse down behind the projecting rock, so that he is no longer visible to the audience. Brünnhilde is thus suddenly left standing alone on the edge of the slope, and gazes down into the valley after Siegfried. Her gestures show that Siegfried has vanished from her sight. Siegfried’s horn is heard from below. Brünnhilde listens, and steps further out on the slope. She catches sight of Siegfried in the valley again, and waves to him joyfully. Her happy smiles seem to reflect the air of the merrily departing hero.][xxiv]

Siegfried has just given the ring to Bruennhilde and they are now headed towards the “sloping rock”, with this, we taste the first musical conveyance of an action. A series of motif’s are played to bring this out. First, the motif: Dunning #150 is played. This motif represents Siegfried’s lack of knowledge of the fact that Wotan used the ring to buy back his sister Freia from the giants Fasolt and Fafner, who had been promised possession of her if they built Valhalla for Wotan. It portrays “Siegfried as unwitting – and therefore poor – guardian of Wotan’s repressed hoard of runes, the involuntary keeper of Wotan’s unspoken secret, which Wotan confessed to Bruennhilde”[xxv]  The power of narrative here does not lay in the actual similarity between the construction of the melody and the event that is happening, as would have been the case for music with this purpose in the past, such as in ancient Greece, but in the reminiscence of this theme from the past and its meaning.

Since Bruennhilde, who is a formal Valkyrie of Wotan but now a mortal woman, is giving her horse to Siegfried, the horse which she used to ride as a Valkyrie to go off on his adventures, the theme concerning the ”The “Valkyries” as muses of inspiration and angels of death”[xxvi], theme #77, is played. Paul Heise notes here that Siegfried, having been inspired by Brunhilde, the muse who taught him fear and Siegfried’s source of inspiration, is going off as the ”inspired artist”. This is the reason that the Valkyrie theme is played here, and it enriches the meaning of the narrative by recalling an earlier moment, namely, the ride of the Valkyrie.

Next is played Siegfrieds horn call. Previously, his horn call has been played in the higher stratus of the scale, sounding young and fresh. It has been full of energy, but it was lacking in the depth of knowledge and experience. Now, after Bruennhilde has taught him the meaning of fear and given him inspiration, his horn call takes on a deeper tone, played in a more solemn and powerful manner, giving the impression that he himself has also deepened and matured. These are categorized into two different motifs. The first, motif #103, was played in the previous opera when Siegfried is still unaware of the dark secrets of Wotan. The second, motif #148, is played here as a way of showing that Siegfried has changed and he is now a player in the scheme of Alberich’s curse on the ring, a foreshadowing of the fate it prophesies. Paul Heise also makes a note on this pertaining to Wagner’s purpose in portraying Sigfried as an artist in which case the horn call is “Representing Siegfried’s fully attained status as an unconsciously inspired artist, successful wooer of the muse of art, Bruennhilde [xxvii].

These themes have all been played in a playful and triumphant sequence, blending together a variety of meaning in a short space of time as the two walk together. One final theme is played at the end of this sequence which draws an earlier event. Siegfried had been raised by the dwarf “Mime”. He detested Mime, and wondered how he could be related to him. One day, after Wotan visits Mime in his cave while the dwarf tries to reforge the broken blade of Siegmund for Siegfried to kill the dragon Fafner, who guards the ring of the Rhine as a part of his treasure hoard, he reveals to Siegfried that he is not his father. This leads to the playing of a motif numbered 111, a theme which expresses Siegried’s song of freedom from Mime. This theme however is taken from another theme played even earlier. It is the “Starling song” of Mime, in which he sang about all the things that Siegfried owed him. This signifies that Siegfried may still be bound to Mime in some way, that he is not quite as free of him as he supposes. Perhaps here, Siegfried feels himself free of the responsibility of the ring, without realizing the swift retribution it shall bring to him.

During the previous three bars Siegfried disappears with his horse down behind the rocky promontory, so that the audience can no longer see him; Bruennhilde thus stands suddenly alone at the top of the slope, gazing after Siegfried as he descends.[xxviii]

The next motif that plays is numbered #149 and named “The muse Bruennhilde inspires Siegfried to undertake new adventures”[xxix] This motif seems to re-enforce what had already been communicated, that Siegfried has found his inspiration in Bruennhilde and is going out on adventure now. As Siegfried reaches the bottom of the hill, out of sight over the hills edge to Bruennhilde, he sounds his horn. However, his horn call has returned to motif #103, the youthful horn call which he had previously had. This could be seen as a result of  his giving the ring and all its dark power to Bruennhilde. He sounds his horn several times as she joyfully watches him ride into the distance.

The scene to this point has been fairly energetic and joyful; however, the music at this point brings to memory another musical idea which adds a hint of foreboding. The musical motif #40 called ““Love” under threat from Alberich’s curse on love”[xxx]. This motif remembers that the one who takes the ring must renounce love first and the curse which Alberich has cast upon the possessor of the ring and those they love. Once more, the music adds another meaning in the absence of words. Bruennhilde continues to watch Siegfried as the final motif is introduced. The final theme in this piece, #110, is concerning Siegried’s joyful feeling of emancipation from Mime. This conveys his feeling of freedom from the ring as well as the excitement at the new world that has opened up to him. He blows his horn a few last times and at this point the curtain closes and the piece comes to an end.

In just a short amount of time and with only a very limited number of events taking place on stage, with no words to accompany them, a great deal of meaning has been conveyed by means of the musical accompaniment. This shows the power of the motif. It is particularly potent in the way that it can bring to mind very large number of little details, associations, and meanings that words would take a much longer time to express, and perhaps with much less effect. This is perhaps one of the biggest innovations of Wagners musical composition, his beautiful musical architecture which allows him to tell stories without the use of words.

Conclusion

In ancient Greece, where the Western musical tradition began, they acknowledged the power of music in society. Thus, from the beginning of Western musical history, we have understood that there is something about music that goes deeper than the ears. Music has a profound affect on the human person, even music that sounds very distant from what we are used to. Different musical elements including mode, rhythm, and instrument aided in changing the mood and the effect of the music on those who listened. Music was used for different occasions to invoke certain emotions and sentiments proper to the occasion. This has not ended. Today people use certain music for parties of different levels, for enhancing moments in films and theatrical events, for awakening a sense of profundity, glory, or joy in those who participate in the Catholic liturgies and so on. Certain kinds of music, as would be agreed by the Greek philosophers, are meant to be played at certain times, for certain people, in specific places. The wrong music at the wrong time sends the wrong message to or brings out the wrong response from the listener. The main question to consider here could be: “what is the narrative of the occasion?” and the follow up should be: “What is the music doing to aid in conveying, deepening, or aiding the narrative?” This consideration is valuable in discerning the suitability of certain kinds of music for specific occasions, such as in the liturgical celebration of the Mass.

As music progressed throughout history, it became more and more sophisticated. Different techniques were discovered and employed, such as the use of complex harmonies, new instruments, vocal imitation of different sounds, different scales that bring out different moods, elaborate combinations of instruments and manipulation of them to create particular sounds, etc… This has enhanced and increased the ways that stories can be told and given meaning through the use of music.

Richard Wagner brought motifs into play more extensively than any of his contemporaries, especially in his “Der Ring des Nibelungen”. In it is seen how easily music can express complex ideas in a short amount of time without even the use of words. Wagner influenced Western music, and all that come after him either build upon him or react against him. Many movie scores today use motifs to enhance the story, such as in Star Wars where Darth Vader’s theme always accompanies his presence, or in the Hobbit where the Shire theme continually reminds the sojourners of their home left far behind them.

Music tells stories in a wide variety of ways and it always has, though not all music is meant to tell a story. Within the music that has been composed and created since the dawn of ancient greece till now we find the story of Western Civilization. Listening to the music of each time we find an audible reflection of the values and even perhaps the mood of that time. By really listening to the stories told in music, we listen to the heartbeat of society.

[i] M.L. West, Ancient Greek Music, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1992, 13

[ii] Ibid, 14

[iii] Ibid, 31

[iv] Ibid, 249

[v] Ibid, 31

[vi] Ibid, 179

[vii] Ibid., 179

[viii] Ibid, 183

[ix] New World Encyclopedia Contributors, “Musical mode,” New World Encyclopedia, https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/p/index.phptitle=Musical_mode&oldid=984218  (accessed April 10, 2024).

[x] LIMENIUS, Second Delphic Hymn, 128 B.C., Translation by M.L. West, verse 4

[xi] Ibid, verse 12

[xii] Ibid, verse 21

[xiii] M.L. West, Ancient Greek Music, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1992, 293

[xiv] Ibid, 181

[xv] Ibid, 181

[xvi] Ibid, 140

[xvii] Ibid, 150

[xviii]Ensemble De Organographia, Limenius-Paean and Processional, 1995-1998, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LSV8m3eF-Qg

[xix] DERYCK V. COOKE, “Richard Wagner” in Encyclopædia Britannica Online

Academic Edition, Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2012.

[xx] Wagner’s Work and Influence. (1883). The Musical Times and Singing Class Circular, 24(482), 181–182. https://doi.org/10.2307/3356462

[xxi] ROBERT W. GUTMAN, Richard Wagner: The Man, His Mind, and His Music, Time Incorporated, New York, 1968, 407

[xxii] ROBERT W. GUTMAN, Richard Wagner: The Man, His Mind, and His Music, Time Incorporated, New York, 1968, 397

[xxiii] Ibid, 400

[xxiv]Wagner, Richard . 1924. Siegfried and Twilight of the Gods. Translated by Margaret Armour. New York: Doubleday Pace & Co.

[xxv] Paul Heise, in Wagnerheim, https://www.wagnerheim.com/page/58, 2012

[xxvi] Ibid, https://www.wagnerheim.com/page/38

[xxvii] Ibid, https://www.wagnerheim.com/page/58

[xxviii] Ibid, https://www.wagnerheim.com/page/766

[xxix] Ibid, https://www.wagnerheim.com/page/58

[xxx] Ibid, https://www.wagnerheim.com/page/28