# Wagner’s leitmotifs



## annaw (May 4, 2019)

I have a question regarding Wagner’s leitmotifs - there are a lot of online resources about the leitmotifs that occur in The Ring cycle, but are there any about those in Wagner’s other operas? I found some playlists from Youtube, but there wasn’t anything about Lohengrin’s leitmotifs for example. As I just started listening to Lohengrin, I would really love to understand ‘the secrets’ Wagner hid in the music using the leitmotifs.


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## The Conte (May 31, 2015)

Ernest Newman's book "The Wagner Operas" explains the main leitmotifs in all the mature operas, although there aren't that many in Lohengrin. Wagner developed the concept of leitmotif that existed before him, but it is in the Ring operas that it really comes into its own and not only are there more motifs than in earlier works, they are used in a more complex way than in any other of his operas. That's probably why you can't find much material online about the leitmotifs in the other operas.

N.


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## annaw (May 4, 2019)

The Conte said:


> Ernest Newman's book "The Wagner Operas" explains the main leitmotifs in all the mature operas, although there aren't that many in Lohengrin. Wagner developed the concept of leitmotif that existed before him, but it is in the Ring operas that it really comes into its own and not only are there more motifs than in earlier works, they are used in a more complex way than in any other of his operas. That's probably why you can't find much material online about the leitmotifs in the other operas.
> 
> N.


Thank you for your help! I'm more tempted than ever to buy Newman's book. I know that there are much less leitmotifs in the operas that Wagner wrote before the Ring, but I still really enjoy them!


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