The influence of German nationalism on the music of Richard Wagner and an examination of the opera 'Der Ring des Nibelungen'

The opera, which was born in Florence in the 16th century, rapidly spread to the rest of Europe. In the 19th century, Italy and France were seen the center of the opera. Due to the opening of opera houses, the opera, which was initially only for aristocrats and elites, was opened to the public and became an industry. The people who come to the theater want to see the virtuosity of the singer. Consequently, art has started to industrialize as a result of selling tickets. Therefore, the quality of the works put on stage has begun to decline. Composers of the period composed works in order to show the artist's skills. The importance of the dramatic flow was disregarded by composers. Richard Wagner, one of the most important representatives of German opera, opposed this popularization and produced some theories to prohibit this situation. He put down on paper these ideas and has written a number of articles. Wagner not only wrote articles in the field of music, but also wrote articles that conveyed his political ideas and his anti-Jewish views, always defending the German identity and the superiority of the German race. Wagner has also used many of his theories in his compositions. In particular, Der Ring des Nibelungen is a very important work in this sense. The purpose of this research is to analyze the opera Der Ring des Nibelungen which is seen as the most important composition of the maturity period of Richard Wagner, who made revolutionary innovations in the history of music, and to reveal how and to what extent the composer reflects his nationalist ideas and his revolutionary musical ideas which he brought to music, through the leading motifs to the opera of the Der Ring des Nibelungen. The research is in the general survey model. It is an understanding and explanation study for the determination of the basic research level. As a result of the analysis, the influence of Richard Wagner's perception of German Nationalism on the music and the concepts that he brought to the history of music are explained. In addition to these, some findings that have shown the intense use of leading motifs were obtained in the Der Ring des Nibelungen, which is the most important composition of the maturity period of the composer, and some important motifs were interpreted.