High Cs and Wagner
Wagner wrote four high Cs for his heldentenor protagonists.
- Siegfried, in his first entrance in the opera Siegfried, runs in
tugging along a large bear on a leash to greet Mime. In
the course of his display of strength and courage, Siegfried sings
a cadenza, which includes a held fortissimo high C.
- In Götterdämmerung's
second act Siegfried, after the oath on the spear scene wherein
he contests Brünnhilde's story, in bidding goodbye to the
vassals, to Hagen, to Gunther and Gutrune, implies Brünnhilde
is a bit batty and sings a high C to give closure to this scene's
total theatrical aspect.
- In act three of Götterdämmerung
Siegfried greets Hagen and the vassals with another high C.
- In Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Stolzing is surprised at the appearance of
the Nightwatchman and screams out a high C (Wagner indicates Schrei
in the score), in stunned surprise.
François Nouvion
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