Hello Benjamino~
It sounds as though you have a very interesting--and
challenging--essay ahead of you! :)
Aesthetics, in a very basic way, just means the study of theories
applying to art. We tend to associate it with beauty, but really,
aesthetics has as much to do with the basic "rules" that form good
literature, paintings...and in this case, opera. For more information
about aesthetics in general, see Encyclopedia.com:
http://www.encyclopedia.com/html/a1/aestheti.asp
And Encyclopedia Britannica:
http://www.britannica.com/eb/article?eu=108463&tocid=0&query=aesthetics&ct=
Therefore, aesthetics apply mostly to those who *create* the work.
As you can imagine, there are no set rules for the aesthetics of any
art (even a generally agreed to set of rules has those that disagree
with them), and certainly Wagner’s aesthetics were different from many
of his time. Truly, a whole volume could be written about Wagner’s
fairly complex ideas about aethetics, but here are some ideas about
how Wagner felt about the subject:
“Richard Wagner, by way of confirmation of its eternal truth, affixed
his seal, when he asserted in his Beethoven that music must be
evaluated according to aesthetic principles quite different from those
which apply to all plastic arts, and not, in general, according to the
category of beauty: although an erroneous aesthetics, inspired by a
mistaken and degenerate art, has, by virtue of the concept of beauty
obtaining in the plastic domain, accustomed itself to demand of music
an effect similar to that produced by works of plastic art, namely,
the arousing of delight in beautiful forms.” (“Aesthetic Lectures,”
Dr. Terry Diffey, viewable for a limited amount of time in this Google
cache: ://www.google.com/search?q=cache:9btfChun_u0J:www.sussex.ac.uk/Units/philosophy/Courseres/aestlec4.html+Wagner+aesthetics&hl=en&ie=UTF-8
)
“Massenet won't resist at the wagnerian influence. It is especially
significant and obvious in his opera "Esclarmonde" ( but
also"Werther") due to the use of leitmotives and what could be called
the "sound dramaturgy", meaning that such orchestral colour introduces
a precise event in the course of the drama, process so much in phase
with Wagner's aesthetics.” (“Wagner,”
http://www.jules-massenet.com/a_wagner.htm )
“Throughout his theoretical writings, he would invoke the authority of
Schopenhauer's understanding of music as the manifestation of "being"
in its true essence or essential truth; no other aesthetics of music
had, to Wagner's mind, any claim to validity-or was better suited to
further Wagner's own cause.” (“Arthur Schopenhauer reads Richard
Wagner,” http://www.hacom.nl/~detempel/Arthur.htm )
“Wagner's style can be called formless, because his theory of
collective art work was built on emotional aesthetics, in the style of
the nineteenth century. Wagner's aesthetics emphasises lived
experience as the central component of art: art creates a powerful
experience of contradictory emotions. A collective art work sets the
contradictory emotions and identities into a state of confusion,
creating an anticipation of the disappearance of the contradictions
and their dissolution into a harmonic whole (a joint tune, narrative,
community). The collectivity of the Gesamtkunstwerk melts everything
solid into a fluid, flexible, malleable state where no clear borders
exist between different arts, musical instruments, characters, or
motives. According to Heidegger, Wagner understands the pure state of
feeling as an agitation, a tumult and delirium of the senses, a
distress which swoons in enjoyment, where the individual is absorbed
into a sea of harmony and feelings. At its most perfect, art is
absolute need.
However, the absoluteness is experienced as sheer indeterminacy, a
dissolution into sheer feeling, a hovering towards emptiness and
nothingness. As the "endless melody" of the overture of Lohengrin
glides and swirls at the edge of emptiness, a hypnotic state is
created which puts the listeners - women listeners in particular,
according to Nietzsche - into a kind of somnambulistic trance.
Wagner's genius seduces us into a musical melting pot, a kind of
emptying exercise of identity, a shady company in the middle of a
swirling whirlpool of swelling masses. It was not without reason that
Leif Segerstam called Wagner "a major churner boy".” (“A Game of Hide
and Seek…” by Teemu Ikonen, http://www.kaapeli.fi/flf/ikone1.htm )
You will probably also want to read “Wagner: New Grove,” which is
considered a classic work discussing Wagner’s aesthetics. You should
be able to find it at any good bookstore, but here is the Amazon.com
listing:
1984 Norton, New York. 226p
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0393315908/qid=1057940790/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/103-0054514-5119856?v=glance&s=books
You’ll definitely want to read Wagern’s own “Beethoven,” if you
haven’t already, in which he begin to establish his own aesthetic.
This book is no longer in print, but if you go to ABE Books
(http://dogbert.abebooks.com/abe/BookSearch ) and type "Wagner" into
the “Author” section, and "Beethoven" into the “Title” section, many
copies in German and English will appear.
Finally, check out “Wagner Sources,” which offers a great list of
books, videos, etc. about Wagner, his style, and his operas:
home.no.net/wagner/sources.html
Good luck!
Kriswrite
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