"Love Is the Essence of the Eternal Feminine": Richard Wagner's Concept of Femininity with Reference to Brunnhilde (2002)

The use of gender-specific metaphors in Richard Wagner's writings and his treatment of women's roles in his music are subjects that have yet to undergo examination. Since the question of gender is a constituent part of social relationships, and consequently of any cultural event, it also plays a part in establishing both real and symbolic concepts, thus betraying the hierarchies that exist in society. This is also the case with Wagner. During his life the results of the French Revolution and the upheaval of 1848-49 could still be felt, and the bourgeoisie was still fighting for its own cultural identity. The German bourgeoisie (Burgertum) grew to be the leading class in social and political issues in accordance with the growth of commerce and industry. In spite of its growing economic progress and success, the bourgeois class had to submit to the dominance of monarchy, nobility, and the clergy. This led to conflicts and to the revolutions of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. After the unsuccessful revolution of 1848-49, parlamentarian democracy was not established in Germany until 1918; in the intervening years, cultural issues were a useful tool for the interests of the bourgeois class. (1) Part of this fight for identity involved the roles allotted to each sex. Wagner's operas contain gender-specific structures that were significant for the establishment of bourgeois identity. In his works he created a store of images and sounds that became part of a collective memory, in which certain items were stored that may still linger on, for instance, in film music. Bearing this in mind, the roles played by the various sexes are of particular significance if we are to understand his operas. The creation of Wagner's music dramas was governed by many varying factors, including his personal development and the respective subjects he was dealing with. But his starting point was a firm, conceived notion about the sexes that in turn was influenced by the social and cultural thinking of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. To see this as a framework in which to work does not mean proving a foregone conclusion but rather testing a hypothesis with the aid of available source material. This material includes not only the music and libretto but also Wagner's performance instructions, correspondence, and more general writings, as well as the diaries of Cosima Wagner. Mein im Leben ungestilltes heftiges Liebesbedurfnis ergiesse ich in meine Kunst, und im glucklichen Falle muss ich erleben, dass man mich fur einen energischen-Opernreformator halt! (2) (I pour the unrequited, passionate need for love in my life into my art, and with my luck I may merely experience the satisfaction of being called an energetic reformer of opera!) These words were uttered during Wagner's most productive years. Between 1852 and 1858, when the relationship with Mathilde Wesendonck was the cause of both intense pain and pleasure, he either conceived or composed his most important works: the completion of the Walkure epic, the revision of the texts for Der junge Siegfried and Siegfrieds Tod, the composition of Rheingold and Walkure, the first act and a large part of the second act of Siegfried, the words and music for Tristan und Isolde, as well as a prose sketch for Die Sieger. In a letter to Liszt in 1854 Wagner wishes he possessed ein weibliches Gemuth, in das ich mich ganz untertauchen konnte, das mich ganz fasste--wie wenig wurde ich dann nothig haben von dieser Welt. (3) (the emotions of a beloved woman in which I could completely submerge myself, that would completely enfold me--how little I would then need from this world.) At the same time he was becoming ever more involved with Mathilde, whom he had first met in Zurich and who was an avid listener of his works. Out of affection grew love, which intensified to unfulfilled desire. As a wife and mother she refused, for moral reasons, to satisfy this desire. …