The Structural Function Of The Leitmotiv Tristan And Isolde

This paper selected the musical drama Tristan and Isolde,a representative work by Wagner,as the research object.Starting from the analysis of musical ontology,the study combined the forms taken by the leitmotiv elements throughout the musical drama and explored how Wagner put the structural function of this composition technique under the structure of the musical drama based on the principle of juxtaposition.It is composed of three chapters under the associated structure of“ opening-development-conclusion ”,where “ opening ” means to hold a learning attitude.The first chapter firstly illustrates the definitions of leitmotiv by three scholars Professor Yu Runyang,Doctor Qu Rui,and Professor Zhang Junqing,concerning the prelude to Act 1 of Tristan and Isolde,based on which the author then introduced the similarities and differences between his perception and each of the above versions and also puts forward his own innovative points.“Development” is to introduce based on the analysis of the first chapter.In the second chapter,the author expounds one of the innovative points.By classifying all leitmotivs in the musical drama Tristan and Isolde into two categories of trunk leitmotivs and derivative leitmotivs,this thesis,by means of image-text combination,first analyzed the origins of the nomenclatures for all the motives as well as the features of horizontal melodic rules,and then demystified the relationship between the motives so as to arrive at the sequence of motive evolution that will serve the structural functions of the third chapter.For the “ conclusion ” stage,in conjunction with the sequence of motive evolution illustrated in the second chapter,in the third chapter,the author elaborates the second innovative point.It first judged the leitmotivs of all the preludes and scenes in the three acts for the functional performance of their ontological structures,and then summarized the structural functions presented throughout the whole musical drama under the influence of the leitmotiv technique.