Drama musical y epos musical, o dos fórmulas posibles para Verdi y Wagner

Abstract

 In the third book of the Republic, Plato states that poets proceed either by pure narration (diegesis), or by a discourse that is effected through imitation (mimesis), or both. Following this classical pattern of analysis of fictional discourses, on which the distinction between epic or diegetic and dramatic or mimetic poetry is based, this article attempts to prove that Wagner’s operas, rather than musical dramas, are accomplished examples of what we could call musical epos or diegetic-opera, given the narrative role played by the leitmotiv system in the orchestra. On the contrary, Verdi has reached the ideal of a genuine musical drama because in his operas the supremacy of voice as principal agent of action determines a purely mimetic discourse without any trace of diegetic or narrative devices.