Frank Walter Glass, Ph.D. 1981

Advisor: James W. Pruett

Dissertation Title: Der zeugende Samen: Wagner’s Concept of the Poetic Intent

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Dissertation Abstract:

This study deals with Richard Wagner’s concept of the dichterische Absicht, or the poetic intent, acting in opera as the seed that generates the musical response and brings forth in combination with that response what Wagner considered to be the perfect dramatic artwork. The concept is traced from its first statement in Oper und Drama through Wagner’s subsequent theoretical writings, and the relation of the concept to Wagner’s ideas on how words and music combine to produce drama is shown. The theoretical statement of the concept is then compared with musical examples from three of Wagner’s operas–Tristan und Isolde, Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, and Parsifal–to suggest ways in which the concept can be seen to work in practical terms. The concept is found to be a consistently valid aspect of Wagner’s theory and practice from Oper und Drama on, in spite of the seeming contradictions in the later essays and in spite of the different ways in which words music combine to produce drama in the later operas.