Humperdinck and Wagner: Metric States, Symmetries, and Systems

Building upon recent geometric models of metric states by Richard Cohn and Scott Murphy, this article proposes a complementary model that expands the metric states that can be considered, relates states by symmetries, and creates systems of such states. Application of the model to Engelbert Humperdinck's Hänsel und Gretel and Richard Wagner's Parsifal reveals metric-dramatic strategies common to the two operas: certain metric symmetries parallel certain dramatic ones.