Greetings! I am hoping to learn from the wisdom and knowledge of this group.
I have been a longtime fan of "Siegfried's Funeral March" from Wagner's Götterdämmerung, but I've only recently tried to dig in to identify the specific leitmotifs used in this amazing piece. The more I dig in, the more astonished I am by what Wagner did here.
AI has helped me learn much in this quest for understanding, but I find I can't get it to understand some of my questions. Or maybe the problem is that I haven't been able to articulate my questions precisely enough.
For example, after the "faltering heartbeat" of the timpani in the song's opening moments, in measures 3-8 there is this gem of melancholia, a rising and falling line played by the violins and violas. AI keeps telling me this is part of the death and fate motifs, but when I listen to those motifs in videos that feature each leitmotif in isolation on YouTube, I can't find anything that sounds like this haunting theme.
So right away, I'm stuck. LOL. Is it a version of death and fate? Is it something else I haven't found yet? Is it a brand-new leitmotif occurring nowhere previously in the Ring? Is it a mutation of another motif?
What I'd love is to dialogue with one or more of you who can help me understand what each motif is as it occurs in the "Trauermusik."
Thank you in advance for your kind replies.