Wagner on Conducting

There is good evidence that Wagner preferred his music to be performed at quicker tempi than became common in the latter half of the twentieth century. Indeed the idea that because the music is "Germanic" it has to be played at phlegmatic dragging tempi to make it leaden is total nonsense. Wagner spent his life complaining about excessively dragging tempi. The marking "nicht schleppend" is commonly found in his scores. Sadly many conductors ignore it and continue to schlepp their way through his scores.

Here are some interesting excerpts from an essay written by Wagner entitled On Conducting:

Let me be permitted to mention a few facts which concern me personally. In my earlier operas I gave detailed directions as to the tempi, and indicated them (as I thought) accurately, by means of the Metronome. Subsequently, whenever I had occasion to protest against a particularly absurd tempo, in "Tannhäuser" for instance, I was assured that the Metronome had been consulted and carefully followed. In my later works I omitted the metronome and merely described the main tempi in general terms, paying, however, particular attention to the various modifications of tempo. It would appear that general directions also tend to vex and confuse Capellmeisters, especially when they are expressed in plain German words. Accustomed to the conventional Italian terms these gentlemen are apt to lose their wits when, for instance, I write "moderate." 

Not long ago a Capellmeister complained of that term (mässig) which I employed in the score of "Das Rheingold"; the music, (it was reported) lasted exactly two hours and a half at rehearsals under a conductor whom I had personally instructed; whereas, at the performances and under the beat of the official Capellmeister, it lasted fully three hours! (according to the report of the "Allgemeine Zeitung"). Wherefore, indeed, did I write "Mässig"? To match this I have been informed that the overture to "Tannhäuser," which, when I conducted it at Dresden, used to last twelve minutes, now lasts twenty.

Twelve minutes to get through the Tannhaüser Overture? That is very quick by modern standards. Nor did Wagner hesitate to complain bitterly to Liszt in a letter that a performance under his direction had taken way too long.

Wagner uses die Meistersinger Prelude as an example:

To convey some notion of faulty performances of the latter sort it will suffice to point to the way in which the overture to "Die Meistersinger" is usually given. The main tempo of this piece is indicated as "sehr massig bewegt" (with very moderate movement); according to the older method, it would have been marked Allegro maestoso. Now, when this kind of tempo continues through a long piece, particularly if the themes are treated episodically, it demands modification as much as, or even more than any other kind of tempo


Elsewhere Wagner complains that some conductors take 10 minutes or more to get through the Prelude.

As you can see, Wagner also felt strongly about the need to allow tempi to modulate. There are descriptions of Beethoven also performing his own music with unwritten tempo fluctuations, and it was argued that tempo was like the heartbeat in that it varied according to the emotions. Here is what Wagner says in the same essay:

I shall now turn to the question of the MODIFICATION OF TEMPO; a question of which our conductors know nothing, and for which they consequently profess contempt. .... We may consider it established that in classical music written in the later style MODIFICATION of Tempo is a sine qua non. ... It has repeatedly been pointed out that our conductors dislike attempts at modification of tempo, for the sake of perspicuity in the rendering of Beethoven and other classical music. I have shown that plausible objections can be urged against such modifications, so long as they are not accompanied by corresponding modifications of tone and expression; and I have further shown that such objections have no foundation other than the incompetence of conductors, who attempt to perform functions for which they are not fit. In fact, there is but one valid objection which can be urged against the mode of procedure I advocate, namely this: nothing can be more detrimental to a piece of music than ARBITRARY NUANCES of tempo, etc., such as are likely to be introduced by this or that self-willed and conceited time-beater, for the sake of what he may deem "effective."

It is, in any case, food for thought. 

The full text of the essay can be downloaded here.