MUS 353 Chapter Notes - Chapter 17: Gesamtkunstwerk, Absolute Music
Document Summary
Wagner"s breakthrough came with his realization that the drama being acted out on the stage could be treated as a visible and verbal manifestation of the drama being acted out by the instruments of the orchestra. He recognized that purely instrumental music was inherently dramatic but only in an abstract way. Inspired by such works as beethoven"s third and fifth symphonies, and particularly the. Wagner sought to transfer the power of instrumental music into the theater by establishing. Genuine drama on the basis of absolute music . In music drama, the music alone, separate from the text, should have its own dramatic coherence and trajectory. In a particularly memorable turn of phrase, wagner called the drama the events transpiring on the stage deeds of music made visible . What happens on the stage, in other words, is a tangible reflection of what is going on in the orchestra pit.
