{"product_id":"david-kanaga-wagner-s-melusina-sketch-of-1866-text-and-context","title":"David Kanaga, Wagner’s ‘Melusina’ Sketch of 1866: Text and Context","description":"\u003cp\u003eNovember 2026, Volume 20, Number 3, 4–27.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003eMelusina is the name of a water fairy who is known for a secret: every Saturday, while bathing, she transforms into a serpent from the waist down. When her name is mentioned alongside that of Richard Wagner, the two are usually mediated by a third – Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy. Mendelssohn’s op. 32 concert overture \u003cem\u003eDas Märchen von der schönen Melusine\u003c\/em\u003e of 1834 opens with a theme that strikingly anticipates the Rhine motif at the beginning of the Prelude to \u003cem\u003eDas Rheingold\u003c\/em\u003e. The closeness of this melodic resemblance stands in stark contrast to Wagner’s habitual anti-Semitic denigration of Mendelssohn and his music. This resemblance has been a source of intermittent curiosity for over a century and a half, and variously attributed to conscious theft, unconscious borrowing, or unintentional coincidence. The question remains unanswered to this day: is the very first musical motif of Wagner’s \u003cem\u003eRing\u003c\/em\u003e cycle actually indebted to Mendelssohn’s \u003cem\u003eMelusine\u003c\/em\u003e overture?\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"The Wagner Journal","offers":[{"title":"Individual","offer_id":56229610684758,"sku":null,"price":3.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"Institution","offer_id":56229610717526,"sku":null,"price":6.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"url":"https:\/\/thewagnerjournal.co.uk\/products\/david-kanaga-wagner-s-melusina-sketch-of-1866-text-and-context","provider":"The Wagner Journal","version":"1.0","type":"link"}