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Richard Wagner: Prelude to «Lohengrin», Simon Rattle, and Our Piano Solo arrangement (sheet music).

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Our Piano Solo arrangement

“Lohengrin”

Many books and articles have been written on this subject. In general, the forbidden question is to be understood as a parable of unconditional love, as required by the church, for example. The original question would be tantamount to a demystification of the divine, and would thus lead to its loss of power.

Especially in Lohengrin, the interpretation goes one level deeper. For Wagner, Lohengrin represents the artist who “wants to be received and understood by his audience beyond the rationale without reservation”. Ultimately, the grail is the freedom of the artist.

In Lohengrin the leitmotif system had not yet reached nearly the full development that it was to reach in Wagner’s hands, but he had already used it in The Flying Dutchman, and now it was approaching its full meaning. The most important of all motifs in the “Lohengrin” score is that of the Holy Grail, which first catches the eye in the prelude. Here it is in its simplest form:

In „Lohengrin“ hatte das Leitmotivsystem noch nicht annähernd die volle Entfaltung erreicht, die es in Wagners Händen noch erreichen sollte, aber er hatte es bereits in „Der fliegende Holländer“ verwendet, und jetzt näherte es sich seiner vollen Bedeutung. Dass bedeutendste aller Motive der „Lohengrin“-Partitur ist das des Heiligen Grals, das im Präludium zuerst ins Ohr sticht. Hier ist es in seiner einfachsten Form:

This easily recognizable theme keeps popping up. Then we have the Lohengrin motif, which is first heard when the knight appears in his shining armor and is reintroduced at various points.

Dieses leicht erkennbare Thema taucht immer wieder auf. Dann haben wir das Lohengrin-Motiv, das zuerst gehört wird, wenn der Ritter in seiner glänzenden Rüstung erscheint, und an verschiedenen Stellen wieder eingeführt wird.