Erster Aufzug- Wagner Opening (10 bars)

This piece comes from an opera by Wagner called Tristan and Isolde, from which we get the so-called 'Tristan' chord. In the opera there are a few leitmotifs that come throughout (in every piece), representing different forms of love and doubt. These motifs are only a few bars long each, however there are many occasions on which they are repeated a few times at once.
The piece is not in a specified key signature, because most of the parts have no key signature, however the clarinets in A, the bass clarinet in A, and the Cor Anglaise all have different ones (to begin with, and the parts' key signatures all change at different points throughout the piece). There are also many accidentals throughout the piece, further blurring the key signature. It was becoming popular in the Romantic period not to stick to one key. However the time signature is 6/8 throughout. There is a lot of use of ritardandos and then a tempo's, meaning that the piece is not at a strict tempo. This aspect is typical of the Romantic period, when strict tempo was becoming uncommon, to create arguably more emotional music (hence the period's name).
The piece opens with the cellos playing the "Grief" motif, followed a bar later with the oboes playing the second motif ("Desire"), consisting of many semitones against each other, which creates a strongly dissonant chord, causing instant tension in the piece. Perhaps this represents the real-life tension between feelings of desire and grief. The cellos then repeat the "Grief" motif after a bar, whilst the clarinets in A imitate the "Desire" motif half way through it, again causing tension. All this tension is further enhanced by the long periods of rests in this opening section. The parts where notes are being played here have relatively thick textures, with 4 or 5 instruments playing at once, creating a louder dynamic and thus even more drama. Of course there are also dynamics used here- diminuendos from the first note, meaning that the first note is almost accented, and in the cello part, the use of crescendos and then diminuendos builds, and then releases tension. In the third time that instruments play in the piece (bar 11), all the instruments have sforzandos, again creating tension. This however comes after the cellos have had a short melody- the "Grief" motif, which has been transposed up a third since the first time it played. The fact that there is this melody means that we are lulled into a false sense of security before the big, dissonant (and thus highly tense) chord.


I used this recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRoOzJNr1sc