Editing Leitmotif (section)

===Wagner===
[[File:Siegfried's Horn Call E flat version 02.png|thumb|350px|[[Siegfried (opera)|Siegfried]]'s heroism leitmotif, a variation of his horn call motif, from the prologue to act 1 of Wagner's opera ''[[Götterdämmerung]]'', the fourth of his ''Ring'' cycle The theme is broader and more richly orchestrated than its earlier appearances, suggesting the emergence of Siegfried's heroic character.[[File:Siegfried's Horn Call E flat version 01.wav|center]]]]

[[File:Leitmotif transformed in Hagen's Watch 02.png|thumb|350px|A more sinister version of the horn call motif, articulated as a [[half-diminished seventh]] [[arpeggio]], "music of dark strength and magnificence", occurs in "Hagen's Watch" towards the end of act 1 of ''Götterdämmerung''. Hagen, who eventually murders Siegfried, contemplates ways of using the benighted hero to further his own ends.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book|last=Donington|first=Robert|author-link=Robert Donington|title=Wagner's 'Ring' and its Symbols|publisher=Faber and Faber Limited|year=1976|isbn=978-0571048182|pages=226}}</ref>[[File:Leitmotif transformed in Hagen's Watch 01.wav|center]]]]

[[Richard Wagner]] is the earliest composer most specifically associated with the concept of leitmotif. His cycle of four operas, ''[[Der Ring des Nibelungen]]'' (the music for which was written between 1853 and 1869), uses hundreds of leitmotifs, often related to specific characters, things, or situations. While some of these leitmotifs occur in only one of the operas, many recur throughout the entire cycle.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Wagner Compendium: A Guide to Wagner's Life and Music|publisher=Thames & Hudson|year=2001|isbn=978-0500282748|editor-last=Millington|editor-first=Barry|pages=234–235|orig-year=1992}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last1=Grout|first1=Donald|author1-link=Donald Jay Grout|title=A Short History of Opera|last2=Williams|first2=Hermine|publisher=Columbia University Press|year=2003|isbn=0-231-11958-5|edition=4th|location=New York}}</ref> Wagner had raised the issue of how music could best unite disparate elements of the plot of a music drama in his essay ''[[Opera and Drama]]'' (1851); the leitmotif technique corresponds to this ideal.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Sutton|first=Richard|title=The Wagner Companion|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=1979|isbn=0-571-11450-4|editor-last=Burbidge|editor-first=Peter|location=London|pages=345–346}}</ref>

Some controversy surrounded the use of the word in Wagner's own circle: Wagner never authorised the use of the word {{lang|de|leitmotiv}}, using words such as {{lang|de|Grundthema}} (basic idea), or simply {{lang|de|Motiv}}. His preferred name for the technique was {{lang|de|Hauptmotiv}} (principal motif), which he first used in 1877;<ref name=":0" /> the only time he used the word {{lang|de|Leitmotiv}}, he referred to "so-called Leitmotivs".

The word gained currency with the overly literal interpretations of Wagner's music by [[Hans von Wolzogen]], who in 1876 published a ''Leitfaden'' (guide or manual) to the ''Ring''. In it he claimed to have isolated and named all of the recurring motifs in the cycle (the motif of "Servitude", the "Spear" or "Treaty" motif, etc.), often leading to absurdities or contradictions with Wagner's actual practice.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Richard Wagner and His World|publisher=Princeton University Press|year=2009|isbn=978-0-571-11450-4|editor-last=Grey|editor-first=Thomas|location=Princeton}}</ref> Some of the motifs he identified began to appear in the published [[Sheet music|musical score]]s of the operas, arousing Wagner's annoyance; his wife [[Cosima Wagner]] quoted him as saying "People will think all this nonsense is done at my request!".<ref>{{Cite book|last=Wagner|first=Cosima|author-link=Cosima Wagner|title=Cosima Wagner's Diaries|publisher=Harcourt Brace Jovanovich|year=1978|isbn=978-0151226368|editor-last=Gregor-Dellin|editor-first=Martin|editor-link=Martin Gregor-Dellin|volume=2|translator-last=Skelton|translator-first=Geoffrey|translator-link=Geoffrey Skelton|orig-year=1878–1883|editor-last2=Mack|editor-first2=Deitrich}}</ref> In fact Wagner himself never publicly named any of his leitmotifs, preferring to emphasize their flexibility of association, role in the musical form, and emotional effect. The practice of naming leitmotifs nevertheless continued, featuring in the work of prominent Wagnerian critics [[Ernest Newman]], [[Deryck Cooke]] and [[Robert Donington]].<ref name=":2" />

The resulting lists of leitmotifs also attracted the ridicule of anti-Wagnerian critics and composers (such as [[Eduard Hanslick]], [[Claude Debussy]], and [[Igor Stravinsky]]). They identified the motif with Wagner's own approach to composing, mocking the impression of a musical "address book" or list of "cloakroom numbers" it created.

However, later commentators have defended Wagner's use of the leitmotif. According to [[Pierre Boulez]], "Wagner's was the first music in which forms never return literally, are never repeated. As the music progresses, it carries all the thematic elements with it, linking them in new ways, placing them in different relations to each other, showing them in unfamiliar lights and giving them unexpected meanings." Boulez adds: "''Leitmotivs'' are in fact anything but the traffic signals to which they have been mistakenly compared, for they have a double virtue – both poetic and dramatic, as well as formal. They are essential to the structure of both music and drama as well as to the different characters and situations. Their evolution is a kind of 'time-weave', an integrating of past and present; and they also imply dramatic progression."<ref>{{Cite book|last=Boulez|first=Pierre|author-link=Pierre Boulez|title=Orientations: Collected Writings|publisher=Harvard University Press|year=1990|isbn=978-0674643765|editor-last=Nattiez|editor-first=Jean-Jacques|editor-link=Jean-Jacques Nattiez|pages=251|translator-last=Cooper|translator-first=Martin|translator-link=Martin Cooper (musicologist)}}</ref>