The Dionysian signs in Richard Wagner's Tannhäuser

The article discusses Dionysian signs in Richard Wagner's opera Tannhäuser und der Sängerkrieg auf Wartburg, focusing on Venus's arietta “Geliebter! Komm”. The method exemplifies musical topics' semiotic analysis. It is proposed that the arietta's pastoral style constitutes a lyric Dionysian sign.


Introduction
Richard Wagner's opera Tannhäuser und der Sängerkrieg auf Wartburg 1 reveals one aspect of the composer's romantic fantasy about the Dionysus cult.Bacchus's worship fuses with that of Venus in the opera.I shall examine signs therein that one can deem as Dionysian, focusing on lyrical points.The sign conception that I involve could be characterized as an outgrowth of that which Leonard G. Ratner developed and the analysis of musical topics (topoi) is central to it. 2agner's autobiography reveals that antique art and religion had inspired him already in his youth.Accordingly, it is perhaps not surprising that Tannhäuser puts forth 1 Tannhäuser's first version was premiered in Dresden on October 19, 1845.The focus of this article is the opera's Paris version, however, that received its premiere on March 13, 1861. 2 Ratner's notion of musical signs comprises a distinction between musical types and styles (see Ratner 1985, pp.9-30).ideas about old Roman religion.These have not been thoroughly explained, however.Ernest Newman discusses the techniques, by which Wagner created a Bacchanal for Tannhäuser's first Act, and his analysis provides the outset of my scrutiny of the Dionysian signs.In his account of this scene, Newman distinguishes altogether seven motives that first occur in the Ouverture and then outline the Venus Mountain's seductions and the Dionysian dancing there (Newman 1991 [1949], 68-69).
The Bacchanal is a pantomime scene that was choreographed by Marius Petipa, as Tannhäuser was first performed in Paris.Despite the wishes of the Paris Opera, this scene was never developed into a proper ballet.Wagner expanded Venus's part, however, that is more fully developed in the opera's Paris version than in the earlier one.
Classical literature influenced Wagner a great deal and the poetry of authors such as Ovid and Theocritus had fascinated him since his student days.His fantasies about pagan religion in Tannhäuser arose from his relentless study of the Classical Times.Besides, topics related to antiquity had often been explored in French-styled operas that had inspired him.Wagner's intimate knowledge of Gasparo Spontini's La Vestale that he had directed at the Dresden Court Opera, as he was completing Tannhäuser's first version, seems in particular to have encouraged his imaginings for the stage. 3he motives that one may entitle as the "Venus Mountain" or the Bacchic motives are characteristically short and apposite. 4The Bacchanal scene revolves around the dynamic development of these motives and this section presents brisk characters.Wagner outlined the motion involved in the parentheses, calling forth satyrs', fauns' as well as bacchants' wild, ecstatic revealing.But some of the Dionysian signs in Tannhäuser are more lyrical by nature and encode aspects about the pastorale tradition.I shall shed light on such signs besides their relation to musical gestures.
I regard musical gestures as a means for creating referential meanings in music, song and opera in particular.Vocal music represents gender, sex and also different aspects of sexuality thereby.In analysing those gestures, my stance is based on style analysis.I propose two categories for musical gestures by distinguishing socially performative and libidinal gestures. 5n operatic works, gestures related to the libido -that is, libidinal gestures -often suggest its positive manifestations but quite as often convey something about desire's suppression.In Tannhäuser, the libido's denial is very much at stake.Accordingly, I shall present examples of vocal gestures that express desire's rejection aside with discussing the Dionysian signs of lyrical kind.

The Exotic Venus
Wagner imagined the Venus Mountain as an idyllic rural landscape, which he described in the score in detail for instance by mentioning particular colours.Conventional pastorale topics -styles and figuration -lie behind the treatment in the arietta "Geliebter!Komm", which Venus presents in the first Act (Act I, Scene 2, Andante) following Tannhäuser's claim of freedom from her service.This arietta is based on the seventh of the Venus Mountain motives that Newman distinguishes (see Example 1).
The key is F major, the traditional key of pastorale compositions, and "Geliebter!Komm" also puts forth traits common in 17 th -and 18 th -century pastorale scenes, such as an opening by the tonic chord's prolongation as well as a translucent and ornamental accompaniment texture based on broken chords.These progress slowly as performed by the strings and the high woodwinds besides the horn.
Venus does her best in trying to seduce Tannhäuser.She describes the grotto's idyllic surroundings that invite one to love and erotic enjoyment.As she refers to the Venus Mountain's gods and their residence, the grotto, by the lines "Komm, sieh' dort die Grotte" and "[Entzücken] böt' selbst einem Gotte..." her broadly-arching phrases are coloured by an exotic flavour induced by the passing use of the whole-and-half-tone scale: with the exception of c, the dominant of F major, the melody moves along an octatonic scale at these two points (see Wagner 1961, pp.860-863).
This provides a tense timbre for the filling of the third a-flat -c-flat by a quick stepwise progression.Besides, the melody is full of tension right at the arietta's opening, something due to the use of a diminished fifth as the descending leap that completes the initial leap c -f upwards.Venus is portrayed as a deviant being by these details that also suggest her increasing anxiety or even hidden anger.The fact that her existence is based on the libido -on love and erotic yearning -is generally paralleled by melodic writing that is rich with chromatically descending motives plus unstable, quickly shifting tonal relations.This becomes apparent following Tannhäuser's bid "Göttin, laß mich zieh'n" -Goddess, set me free -in the Sehr bewegt section in Act I, Scene 2 and thereafter.
Tannhäuser's parts are throughout the opera characterized by bright, diatonic melodies and simple harmonic structures.But the harmonic and melodic progressions that Wagner composed for Venus render her as a being genuinely different from Tannhäuser and the other characters, who are all rooted to the Christian community.
To summarize: the pastorale style that this arietta presents constitutes one Dionysian sign, which is lyric.The basing of the melody's core on the unusual octatonic scale, often associated with Oriental issues in 19 th -century music, bestows the subtle pastorale character an exotic timbre.This choice aptly stresses Venus's strangeness for the Christians.

The Revengeful Goddess
Venus aspires to keep Tannhäuser as her worshipper by every possible mean.Her subtle persuasions are paralleled by her caressing gestures.She grants him the freedom to leave, but as it becomes clear that their disagreement cannot be settled, her anger bursts out in a demonic manner.
Venus thus intimidates Tannhäuser upon his departure from the Venus Mountain by claiming that he will only encounter coldness, as he returns to the world of human beings.She believes that he will come back to the Venus Mountain, longing for his past bliss and begging for a reentry to her realm.Her lines, which start by the words "Oh! Could you but find her who once smiled to you!" ("O! fändest du sie wieder, die einst dir gelächelt!") in Act I, Scene 2, build on vocal gestures (see Example 2).
The progression, which starts at this point, is characterized by the subtle fluctuation of tempi.The two phrases that Example 2 presents stand out as vocal gestures.The melodic leap from f downwards onto the a-flat at the outset of the second phrase, which is a restatement of the first one, together with the piano pianissimo by which the phrase opens create a capricious and sudden accent.This is due to the fact that both the leap downwards and the quick switch to the soft tone volume follow a crescendo that ends the first phrase.
A similarly capricious effect occurs at the end of the second phrase as the violins switch from pp to ff upon starting the thirty-two-note quintuplet that finishes the phrase.The style germinating in this passage points to the later Schönbergian speech song (Sprechgesang), putting forth traits akin to those that prevail in many expressionistic vocal compositions that were created at the outset of the 20 th century.
The first Venus on the stage, Wilhelmine Schröder-Devrient, apparently inspired much of Tannhäuser at its earliest stages, as Laurence Dreyfus has suggested (Dreyfus  2010, 77).One indeed senses repercussions of her melodramatic vocal performance style in Tannhäuser, something that Wagner also described in his autobiography. 6enus's increasing anxiety motivates those particularly expressive phrases.These vocal gestures are in much based on the composer's working on descending motives, which are permeated by dense chromaticism.Tannhäuser rejects her love that no longer has a meaning for him.This means that the libido will be denied.As the libido is the ground of Venus's existence, she is enraged.But Venus's pride overcomes her possessive affection: she will not deprive Tannhäuser of his freedom, although his desire to leave invokes a truly revengeful mood in her.She thus curses the whole mankind in a raging manner, retorting her offence.Her part at that point is characterized by plain melodic figuration.The forceful restatement of particular pitches, such as d-flat and e, is central to it.Although there is no direct quotation, her fierce manner owes much to that of Queen of the Night in W. A. Mozart's Magic Flute.Both the cursing Venus and the dagger-bearing Queen are featured so as to resemble the bacchantes-turned-into-furies of antique tragedies.
The curse is slightly more concise in the Paris version as compared with the Dresden one.It addresses the curse to the humankind ("Menschengeschlecht"), whereas the Paris version to the entire world.As Venus declares, "...If you do not return to me, / then let the whole world lie under a curse / and for ever be a desert / from which the goddess fled!"7But the curse is essentially the same in the opera's both versions: Venus suggests in each that if Tannhäuser will not return to her, she will leave the world and turn it void.
Venus reveals her ability to destruct by this turn.The rejection of her love triggers negative emotions in her, revealing something about the dark side of her libido.The curse that she presents stands out as a forceful Dionysian sign.It could be understood as an allusion to the voices of Classical tragedies' heroines.

On the Vocalizing of the Libido's Rejection
Next to nuanced tones of voice achieved by a careful, detailed notation, libidinal gestures in Tannhäuser present major dynamic shifts that take place rapidly.Those proceedings reveal that Wagner composed an intensive emotional loading into these moments.
S .I I T T I • T H E D I O N Y S I A N S I G N S I N R I C H A R D WAG N E R ' S . . .
Example 1: Leitmotif "Geliebter!Komm" Cited in Richard Wagner, Tannhäuser, edited by Felix Mottl, Edition Peters Nr. 8217 (Frankfurt, London, New York: C. F Peters, 1974), p. 48.S .I I T T I • T H E D I O N Y S I A N S I G N S I N R I C H A R D WAG N E R ' S . . .

Example 2 :
The "demonic" Venus: Act I, Scene 2 (un poco ritenuto) Cited in Richard Wagner, Tannhäuser und der Sängerkrieg auf Wartburg, ed.Max Hochkofler (Switzerland: Edition Eulenburg, 1961), pp.912-913.S .I I T T I • T H E D I O N Y S I A N S I G N S I N R I C H A R D WAG N E R ' S . . .
Prevod naslova, izvlečka in povzetka Aleš Nagode S .I I T T I • T H E D I O N Y S I A N S I G N S I N R I C H A R D WAG N E R ' S . . .