Paige Kibbler

MUS G-370
Score Analysis: Rienzi Overture by Richard Wagner

The part of the overture I will be conducting has a very thin musical texture, and seems to
give the effect of sounding very far away. It begins with a solo trumpet note, pianissimo, which
grows and then fades in strength. This is followed by the bass instruments playing a theme very
slowly and quietly in octaves. The solo note heard again and is this time followed by the high
woodwinds playing a quiet theme that is harmonically scored very simply and is played very
quietly. It is like a part of a Bach chorale. There is a short pause, and the solo note is played one
last time. This excerpt is in the key of Db, but the music seems to evade a specific key, as the
solo note is scale degree 6 and the simple woodwind harmonic passage moves from I to V and
seem to find its resolution on this dominant chord. The music, harmonically, cannot find its
true home. The dynamic shape is pianissimo throughout, excepting when the solo note swells to
forte. Since this solo note starts so quietly, it seems to come out of nowhere and from very far
away, as if it is resonating off the sides of a mountain pass. The style of this excerpt is very slow
and somber. The solo note, as the audience learns later in the opera, is the war call of one of the
noble families, and therefore carries a great deal of seriousness and power. As an overture
provides a small glimpse into the musical events to come, so this excerpt sets the scene for the
very serious and tragic events that happen in later acts. This passage is in 4/4, but the feeling of
it seems very freeform, with many fermatas to hold out notes and long pauses between sections.
I chose this piece so that I could work on seamlessly incorporating my left hand and
facial expressions into my right hand pattern beating. It is also a great exercise in showing
precision with delicate cues. The pattern-beating in the right hand is really only necessary in the

two three-measure moving passages, and even then it is possible to conduct these passages solely
through cues and melding. I plan to conduct very tenuto with the right hand, giving clear icti
only where necessary. The left hand will be a bit more active, as its responsibility will be to cut
off the solo note on beat 2, dictate the dynamic swells, and shape the phrasing of the moving
passages. One thing that will be challenging with this is to show the solos cutoff on the second
beat of the 2nd and 7th measure with the left hand just after the group has been cued on the first
beat with the right hand. In order to show the shape of the dynamics and the phrases, the left
hand and the face will have to work together to show growing intensity followed by a delicate
fade. Some emotional words I would accompany with this excerpt are somber, funereal,
ominous, with an interjection of joy and purity in the high woodwinds.