Rachel's reactions to Wagner

I missed Richard Wagner's birthday on May 22, partially because I was so busy, and partially because I didn't feel inspired at the time. I don't really listen to his music much, and never have been much into opera.

But just a few days ago, as I was driving to the store with my 2-year-old, Rachel, I turned on the radio to listen to some music. Jim Svejda of classical KUSC was introducing a piece by Wagner. It was a 1940's recording of the Prelude from his opera, Tristan and Isolde, arranged for violin, piano, and orchestra, for a movie. Svedja's words were something like "this overblown, emotional rendition was calculated to leave not a dry eye in the audience". I half-listened as we drove and half-day-dreamed about I can't remember what (my eyes were dry, though).

When we arrived at the market, I turned off the music and the car and opened up the door to get Rachel out. She looked very forlorn, and was quietly saying "it's OK... it's OK... it's OK" (note: Rachel has begun at a very young age to practice "self-talk" when she's distressed). I couldn't figure out what had upset her, unsuccessful at getting her to tell me what the matter was. Then it dawned on me.

Me: "Rachel, did the music make you sad?"
Rachel: "Yeah." (tears start flowing and she starts wailing and crying)
Me: "It's OK, baby. Music makes daddy cry sometimes, too."
Rachel: (still wailing and crying)

Then I got her out of the car and she settled down pretty quickly, softly saying "it's OK... it's OK" to herself every few minutes, and every couple hours for the rest of the day.

Well, here is the famous prelude from Tristan and Isolde. It's actually quite an amazing piece. It is a very important composition, in which Wagner began to push the limits of tonality and harmony, influencing others after him (such as Mahler, Richard Strauss, and Schoenberg), eventually leading to the atonality of the 20th century. It is also very, very emotional, and can really tear you up inside if you're in a certain mood.

Rachel listens to another piece by Wagner quite regularly. The Ride of the Valkyries is probably Wagner's most famous work (besides the Bridal Chorus from Lohengrin), part of his opera, Die Walkure, from his famous Ring Cycle. I have grown up hearing this piece in all sorts of settings, from cartoons, to computer games, to... hearing it every morning at 7am blasted in the halls of my college dorm during finals week (a very odd tradition at my very fine undergraduate institution). I also heard it in its original context, while watching part of the opera in a class during college. It's quite a fine, moving, piece of music.

Rachel likes "The Ride" much better than she likes the Prelude to Tristan and Isolde. My wife got a birthday card last year that plays The Ride when you open it up. She gave it to Rachel to play with, and now Rachel totes it around the house, opening it up, giggling when she hears the music, and saying "It's Vogno! (Wagner)"... but she did cry the first time she heard it as well. This time, though, it was clearly out of fear, and not sadness. She was only about 14 months old at the time, and was rather startled when she opened the card up and this intense music started to play.

Well, there you have it. My daughter is extremely sensitive to music. Not unlike her daddy. I still remember when she was 6 months old and I played my wooden recorder for her. I played a very haunting melody that Dickon plays from the movie The Secret Garden (1987 version), and she started to curl her lip under, got tears in her eyes and cried. This happened every time I played that piece, until she finally grew to cry every time I played the recorder. Then I had to stop playing the recorder altogether for about a year. She isn't afraid of it anymore. Music does powerful things to her emotions, even from such a young age!