Politics and Music: Class Meetings

Professor Courtney Brown

Meeting #3: Wagner and the Politicization of Beethoven
LECTURE NOTES
SELECTIONS played in class:
(By Wagner, from The Ring)
Wotan's Rage
In the Hall of the Mountain King
Ride of the Valkyries
(Lyrics by Sting, music by Sergei Prokofiev)
Russians
POINTS: Note how music can have a profound political association. This association can be made explicit, as Sting does in Russians. But it can also use allegory and symbolism to promote political and social commentary, as Wagner does in The Ring.
QUESTIONS: How overtly political was Wagner? How did he attempt to create music that conveyed political ideas? Did Wagner use music in an associational or representational fashion to promote his viewpoints? How do we know that Wagner had explicit political views that can find parallelisms in his music? What evidence do we have of his political viewpoints?

EXTRA: See some of The Ring!