Walter writes:

>The closest we have for that at present are Wagner's Leitmotiven which
>convey ideas although no words need be sung to them, and often convey the
>same idea or recollection, when they are sung to totally different texts.
>Wagner himself, apparently never made a list of his Leitmotiven, let alone
>assign names to them.  In some fundamental way, they constitute a simple
>"language" on their own.

The question to ask is how meaning is assigned to these motifs.  I think
you'll find that the libretto's words or the non-musical plot determines
these things.  In short, Wagner is building a "dictionary" applicable to
each opera or, in the case of the Ring, to a cycle of related operas.
However, the meaning Wagner gives to a sequence of notes ("Siegfrieds
Schwert," for example) doesn't apply outside the opera, unless a composer
refers specifically to that opera.  John Harbison and Alban Berg both refer
specifically to Tristan in The Great Gatsby and Lulu, respectively.

Steve Schwartz