The E Flat Major Beginning

When Richard Wagner composed Das Reingold, he began his composition with a prelude that was four minutes of E flat major moreso than as a melody. For something that premiered in 1869, it may have come off to audiences as chaotic, the relentless playing off of the chord structure, seeming almost last-minute and improvisational. Eventually, the E flat opening moves into the Rheinmaidens singing up their own storm.

A page from Wagner's autograph score of Das Rheingold

I've heard that the E flat opening was meant to be chaotic, the universe before laws of nature had become firm. For cosmology, that is very poor judgment on Wagner's part. The fact that something exists and possesses identity means that laws of nature and order will also occur. However, the order-from-chaos description can apply to the creative process.

I thought of that E flat major beginning with regard to me doing a daily blog, something I never thought I would do. Taken as a whole so far, my entries lurch from topic to topic. Like the coronavirus, it's all over the place, this blog. It's as if finding the theme and the order does not seem to happen at the beginning itself but rather takes shape over time.

Think of something like the first appearances of Batman in comics, way back in 1939. Very few things we consider quintessentially Batman were not in the first five stories, such as Batman's origin (six or seven issues after his first appearance), his sidekick Robin (11 issues later), his butler Alfred (four years later), Gotham City as his base of locations (about two years later), villains such as the Joker and Catwoman (1940), the Batmobile (1941), etc. Many other items occurred decades later. These things took a while to coalesce into the shape of what we consider Batman today.

To some extent, beginning in that E flat major mode makes sense. It can be hard to give birth to an idea the way Zeus gave birth to Athena by his sheer will. A period of experimentation and trial and error may be in order for a product or invention that is serialized over time. 

Of course, you would want your work to get better, to improve over time. That means taking the attitude of cartoonist Joe Kubert:

I think, like most of us, [...] you're never really quite satisfied. You're always looking to push a little further, to do something that you've not done before, to create an impression or put across an idea that kind of nudges in the back of your head, but you're not quite sure what it is.

I'm pretty satisfied with the work once I've finished it. Five minutes later, I can see half a dozen places where I could have done it better. And so rather than tie myself up on one piece of work that  am going to  do forever, I figure what I learned on this one, I am going to apply to the next one. That's what I plan to do.

Well, if that practical attitude is good enough for Joe Kubert in his early years in a cartoonist, it can be my attitude in at least a few weeks of doing this blog. My hope is that more of a direction emerges while I am in the middle of E flat major.