The Opera Aethetics Theory And Artistic Practice Of Wagner

In the 1800 s in the West, with the art of “integrated” aesthetic thoughts, Richard Wagner not only pushed the German opera to the top, but brought the huge impact to the opera of the whole Europe, thus he became a symbol in European music history, flashing dazzling light.Before him, the development of the whole opera has deviated from the original normal trajectory of art, more and more tend to be commercialized. Opera has just become the way for publishers to profit. Under the life pressure, composers had to give up their own artistic ideal, catering to tastes of the public. Opera also gradually lost its content in their pen, and completely turned out to be the slave of the music. After seeing the phenomena, Gluck, Webber and some others also tried to change the situation through their own opera reform, but didn’t succeed. On the basis of their theory, Wagner inherited the comprehensive form of “trinity of poetry, music and dancing” in Greek tragic art, building up his own esthetics thought of “comprehensive art”. Wagner explained the main content of his theory in “Opera and Drama”, and discussed systematically the function and relationship between music and drama. In specific practice and creation, he enriched performance measures of music on the basis of Beethoven, Meyerbeer and some others, giving it all to the poets to dominate and command. Using orchestra, he showed a great deal of tension in music, displayed intense dramatics effect, bonding leading motive which shows plot of play and important performance measures such as semi-singing and semi-reading arioso. This has changed the state of separation of the parts in the original opera; it runs through the whole opera in the form of no-ending melody; it integrated dramatic intention and appealed to the audiences’ senses in a complete and clear way, making both an integral whole in the process of transportation. With dense national spirit, Wagner’s opera has developed from a familiar and simple environment to abundant personality. It displayed changing personality into generic characteristics in the opera, and this is an organic art creation which conformed to the inevitability of outward development from the internal need.This thesis deeply explored the forming background, main source and meaning of Wagner’s aesthetic thoughts in opera through the analysis of his theoretical works, especially the analysis of “Opera and Drama”. Combining Wagner’s specific opera works, this thesis also explored performance measures of “comprehensive art”, thus aiming to do systematic research on his aesthetic thoughts in opera.