Wagner's Lohengrin

An excerpt from Chapter V. Music and Story - Side by Side: THE prelude to Lohengrin built up from a single beautiful motive which is admirably worked out, and which symbolises the return of the Holy Grail, escorted by a band of celestial beings, to the mysterious castle of Montsalvat, the mountain where it is guarded by faithful knights, pure and devout. This impressive melody, radiant with its suggestions of the supernatural, gives us a glimpse, as it were,...
More Description

An excerpt from Chapter V. Music and Story - Side by Side:

THE prelude to Lohengrin built up from a single beautiful motive which is admirably worked out, and which symbolises the return of the Holy Grail, escorted by a band of celestial beings, to the mysterious castle of Montsalvat, the mountain where it is guarded by faithful knights, pure and devout.

This impressive melody, radiant with its suggestions of the supernatural, gives us a glimpse, as it were, of what Parsifal was to be. It reveals how Wagner built up, out of his wealth of ideas, his own particular method of expressing them. It is sufficient merely to hint at this making of a language, rather than to trace each analogy in separate works.

First given to the violins, in the highest register, and divided among sets of four instruments, this motive drifts into the wood-wind, and is then taken up by the violas and violoncellos, passes through the horns, and finally swells gloriously and triumphantly in the brass. Like the blaze of a summer sunset, it dies away gradually and mysteriously, and ends in a whisper of the muted strings.

Under a spreading oak, surrounded by the King's Ban, the Lords of Saxony and Thuringia, sits Heinrich the Fowler, the King of Germany. On the left, headed by Frederick of Telramund, are grouped the nobles and the people of Brabant. At the extreme corner stands Ortrud, daughter of the Frisian King, Frederick's wife and evil genius. In the background is the open country through which, by tortuous windings, the river Scheldt finds its way to the sea.

Escorted by four trumpeters sounding the King's call, the King's Herald advances, and demands the fealty of the assembly. The King then describes the situation to his subjects. He tells them of the bitter strife with Hungary, and how he has obtained a long truce for the purpose of making strong his boundaries and disciplining his forces.

The nine years have expired, and a final and conclusive blow will have to be struck at the invaders and disturbers of the peace. He then asks why internal quarrels in Brabant are menacing the unity of his empire, and why there is no prince to rule the country; and commands Frederick to give him a plain statement of affairs. This fine recitative on the part of the King is broken, in places, by the replies of the chorus.