Toward a Definition of Opera

By looking at Aristotle the article looks to determine if Opera is music or dramatic poetry. I found the answers to the guided questions as follows.
The purpose of music in the realm of drama is to help express a situation or crisis by imitating feeling.
The classical theory of imitation argues that as the article says "3 forms of art based on 3 possible objects of imitation: nature, feeling, and action" exists. Dramatic poetry falls into both feeling and action.
Aristotle's Poetics state that the difference between comedy and tragedy is the nature of emotions aroused. Tragedy's emotions are pity and fear versus Comedy's laughter and charm.
The difference in music and poetry is the presentation of an aspect. In music the aspect is human feeling where poetry is the presentation of an aspect of action.
Drama when believable pulls the audience in and creates feelings. If it is not believable the audience no longer cares about the piece, emotion will not be aroused and the audience loses interest.
Catharsis is a purging of emotion. "Catharsis of aroused emotion" is when the audience senses meaning in a work of dramatic art.
At the end of the article it is decided that opera is a form of dramatic poetry that uses music to achieve catharsis.

Elfking Poems

I took a look at all three of the poems and I agree with most of the posts by other students. The first two poems both seem extremely similar and they focus on seduction, while the third one does not. The second poem, The Erlking’s Daughter, portrays Sir Oluf riding to his marriage but is preoccupied by the music of the elves. While the third poem, Goethe’s Erlking, portrays the death of a little boy that is attacked by a supernatural being. The father does not realize what is going on, and tries to rush home to save him but it is too late. This poem seems to raise a lot of questions that I do not fully understand. The characters are also different since they use a father and his son, instead of Sir Oluf. Plus, they are going to a farm, rather than a castle. I noticed in all three versions of the poem that the setting takes place in the woods and involves the main character being killed by some sort of power.

Elfking poems

When I was reading all three poems, the first two sounded exactly the same to me expect for the endings. In the first they groom and wife to be ended up dead along with the mother of the soon. I personally felt like that was a bit much considering the fact that he was the one who was cursed. The second version made a lot more sense, and the end he was the only one found dead.

The last version of the poem seemed completely different. I read it over a few times. The bride to be and the mother were not even included. It also seemed as if the man was a young boy who was trying to avoid the temptation of the daughters.

Overall if i had to choose which one i enjoyed more it would definitely be the second version.

-Cierra

Rammstein

The original story was, what looked like a children's poem that was speaking of fighting temptation. It seemed to be focused on a girl that was being watched by a boy and he used a red rose to tempt her and eventually rape her taking her innocence. In the Rammstein version it was focused on the girl seducing the boy to kill her parents and eventually having him killed. This version also seemed to have more involved in the story than just a boy and a rose. This showed how the girl used the rose, and many other red props in the video to be the eventual demise of the man by the end.

Compare and Contrast of Elfking poems

I enjoyed all three versions of this poem as well as Rammstein's version. Goethe's version of the poem differed from the first two in that it changed the characters from Sir Oluf to a father and his son. He also changed the circumstances in the poem by having the Elfking call out to the child and tell him that his daughters would take care of him instead of the Elfking's daughter attempting to seduce Sir Oluf the day before his wedding. Another difference I noticed is that the first two versions seem to be about seduction whereas Goethe's version is about the Elfking wanting to steal the boy away from his father. I do not believe the Elfking is trying to seduce the young boy.

In both poems, the main character, either the boy or Sir Oluf die at the hands of the Elfking or the Elfking's daughter. Also, in all three versions, the main character is traveling through the woods and resists being seduced or taken and is instead killed by force.

Rammstein's lyrics were very intriguing. I was very interested when reading them and found a lot of links to Goethe's interpretation of the poem. In both poems, a boy and his father are traveling to their home. The young boy in both stories is also the character that hears or feels the call of the Elfking or God. In the Goethe poem, the father doesn't believe him throughout the poem and finally does when he notices the agony of his son and hurries home. He could have killed him as he clutched him to his chest as he rode. In the Rammstein lyrics the son claims that the thunder and turbulance on the plane is God calling him to be with him. The father seems scared and wants to protect his child. He clutches the child to his chest but doesn't realize he is suffocating him and accidentally kills him. I find many similarities here and think that this is just a contemporary version of the poem with contemporary fears.
Past fear: riding in the woods and spirits
Contemporary fear: flying and God

Feel free to comment

Tiffany Pope

Heidenroslein

Since this thing wouldn't work for me... we will try this yet AGAIN.

I listened to both videos twice because the first time, I watched the male sing it and I got a completely different experience than when I simply listened to him. I felt that Ms. Bonney sang the words smoother than in the Schubert piece. I felt that her version felt more upbeat and playful whereas, the Schubert piece seemed as though the singer was stressed and rushed in his intent. I felt more stressed as he sang. I also feel that Ms. Bonney floated over the notes easier and conveyed a much lighter feeling in the lyrics. I feel that the Schubert piece had a lot of range in it even though Ms. Bonney's performance was in a high octave. He seemed to move on a greater scale. When I watched the Schubert piece,I felt that the piece was a very happy song because of the singer's facial expressions and body language. I am pretty sure that the lyrics are not meant to be happy or "smiley".

I thought that the songs would convey more feeling and drama through not only the singer's voice, but also through the accompaniment. Both songs seemed to have background musicthat was also lighthearted. I do not believe I would ever get the meaning or seriousness of the pem without a translation in my hand.

Tiffany Pope

Elf King

The most apparent things I noticed that the in the Danish version and Herder's there were two lines per stanza and in Goethe's version there were four lines per stanza. Also the character change in Goethe's version was another noticeable thing from the poems. The other two kept the same characters and setting whereas Goethe made the man a boy and his father and they were going to the farm instead of the castle. He also changed it by maing the Elf King himself trying to lure the boy in instead of the King's daughter. The King didn't try to bribe the son in with things either instead he told the boy how his daughters would take care of him and when the boy refused he tried to use force to steal him from his father and when the boy still refused he was killed more quickly than in the other poems.