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L
A GUIDE TO
THE RING OF THE NIBELUNG
A GUIDE TO
The Ring of the Nibelung
THE TRILOGY OF
RICHARD WAGNER
ITS ORIGIN, STORTy JND MUSIC
BY
RICHARD ALDRICH
BOSTON
OLIVER DITSON COMPANY
NBW YORK CHICAGO PHILADBLPHIA
CHAS. H. DITSON & CO LYON & HEALY J. E. DITSON & CO.
u
HT/co
Copyright, MCMV, by
Oliver Dxtson Company
f • '
TO THE ChAtELAINE
A. A.
IN GRATEFUL REMEMBRANCE
Bar Harbor^ August^ igog
PREFACE
To endeavor to say much that is new or original
about "The Ring of the Nibelung" would be a
rash undertaking at this day. This little book is
not such an undertaking. Its presentation of the
origin, source, and musical structure of Wagner's
great trilogy is founded largely upon the labors
of others. The author acknowledges a deep in-
debtedness to Hans von Wolzogen's thematic
analysis, to Mr. Henderson's and Mr. Finck's
biographies of the master, to Miss Weston's dis-
cussion of the legends, to Mr. Krehbiel's "Studies,"
and to other works in less degree.
[vii]
CONTENTS
Page
Introductory xi
PART I
The Composition and Sources of the Trilogy i
The Composition of the Trilogy i
The Sources of the Trilogy ii
PART II
Wagner's Musical and Dramatic System 21
The Drama and its Meaning 30
PART III
The Music and the Story 36
^ I The Rhine Gold 36
II The Valkyrie 55
III Siegfried 70
IV The Dusk of the Gods 90
Bibliography 121
Index to Music Motives 123
[IX]
INTRODUCTORY
"The Ring of the Nibelung" is in many
respects, the most important and original of the
works of Wagner as a musical dramatist. It is
the greatest in its proportions; the prelude and
the three dramas composing it, "The Rhine
Gold,'' "The Valkyrie," "Siegfried," and "The
Dusk of the Gods," are formal on the model of
the trilogies of the great Greek dramatists. Like
them, Wagner's trilogy goes far beyond the more
obvious and diverting functions of the theater, to
embody in dramatic form a philosophy, a state-
ment of some of the great underlying forces, the
ethical principles of human life. And it marks
the first complete achievement by Wagner of his
own distinctive style as a l)nic dramatist; a style
involving a complete breaking with all the meth-
ods and traditions of operatic art as he found
them, and the establishment of new ideals, new
aesthetic principles, new methods of expression, a
new technique in all the artistic factors that co-
operate in the production of a lyric drama. These
ideals, principles, and methods have taken firm
hold of modem art; no composer can henceforth
wholly escape from their influence, and the whole
structure of modem music has felt in some degree,
the transforming power that Wagner first definitely
exercised in the music of "The Ring of the
Nibelung."
[xi]
Introductory
"Even during the composition of/ Lohengrin'
... the subjects of Siegfried and Friedrich Roth-
bart (Barbarossa) had usurped my fancy, '^ wrote
Wagner in his "Communication to my Friends."
He had finished "Lohengrin" in 1848. Through
his studies for this and for "Tannhauser," the
great world of the Teutonic legends had been
disclosed to him, and he had come to the percep-
tion of the inestimable value of these legends to
the musical dramatist. He had made his experi-
ment with the opera based on the historical sub-
ject in "Rienzi"; and he had dallied with ideas
of other such operas and dramas, only to become
convinced of the impossibility of treating histori-
cal details in musical drama. He had prepared
sketches and memoranda for a prose drama on
the subject of Frederick Barbarossa. His studies
carried him far into the whole matter of mytho-
logical as against historical subjects for operatic
treatment; the main outcome of it all was that he
found he could not give the hero, as he con-
ceived him, an historical background fittmg and
proper and accurate, without overloading the
whole with a mass of detail. A further and more
exhaustive study of the point involved was the
immediate result of this abortive attempt. It was
embodied in the essay entitled "Die Wibelungen
— Weltgeschichte aus der Saga" (The Wibelungs
— World History from the Saga), written in 1848,
published in 1850. In this he undertakes a dis-
cussion of the part tradition has played in the
history of the world, and attempts to show how
history and mythology agree in certain elementary
[xii]
Introductory
facts. In " The Flying Dutchman " he had first
come to feel how music should be evolved from
the situations and requirements of the action upon
the stage. With " Tannhauser " a broader con-
ception of the musical drama had taken shape in
his mind, a more appropriate fitting of the music
to the poetical and dramatic content; and in
*' Lohengrin " he had made a still further advance
in this direction. The conception of " The Ring
of the Nibelung " was the next step in his artistic
development, attained only after philosophic re-
flection and gradual elaboration of artistic and
theoretical premises. The revolutionary and
epoch-making ideas which so mightily stirred his
mind and found their embodiment in this work,
were formulated and liberated in a series of great
essays published in the course of the next few
years, for a considerable period interrupting his
purely musical work. They expounded the theo-
ries upon which he was proceeding, and they
express, as perhaps has been expressed by no
other creative artist, the great underlying prin-
ciples, the aesthetic foundations, upon which he
built. "Art and Revolution'' (1849), "The Art
Work of the Future," "Art and Climate" (1850),
"Opera and Drama" (1852), especially the last,
gave the most detailed and comprehensive utter-
ance to the new ideas that were seething in his
brain.
[xiii]
A GUIDE TO THE RING
OF THE NIBELUNG
PART I
THE COMPOSITION AND SOURCES OF THE TRILOGY
^ "I SHALL employ my time in setting to music
/ my latest German drama, * The Death of Siegfried/
/ Within half a year I shall send you the opera
j complete." These were the words in which Wag-
\ ner first notified to his friend Franz Liszt, in June,
\ 1849, the new project for an opera which he had
\ in mind. Twenty-five years were to pass, how-
\ever, and many vicissitudes were to befall the ( /
composer before the project was to reach its com- 9^
pletion-S^^nd the plan itself was to undergo a
striking' process of transformation and develop-
ment. The tenacity with which the composer
adhered to his own ideals, and the unfaltering
courage and conviction with which he kept to
his self-appointed path, are a part of one of the
most remarkable chapters of artistic biography.
The drama based on the Siegfried legends that
had occurred to Wagner while he was at work on
"Lohengrin" he intended to call "Siegfried's
Death." It was to embrace in a general way
that portion of the story now told in "The Dusk
of the Gods." He began the poem in 1848, and
finished it in the autumn of that year, having first
[I]
The Ring of the Nibelung
formulated its bearing in an essay entitled "The
Nibelung Myth as Sketch for a Drama." This
dramatic poem in its j&rst form, was never set to
music. He soon found that it was impossible to
condense into a single drama the story of the
hero's death and the causes that led to it; and his
decision resulted in many changes of the outlines
of his plan and revisions of its details. His first
intention was to precede "Siegfried's Death" with
a preliminary drama, "Young Siegfried" — so
he wrote to Liszt in 1851, sajdng that, "in it
everything that in * Siegfried's Death' was either
narrated or more or less taken for granted, was to
be shown in bold and vivid outline by means of
actual representation.^ But again he found that
he had not calculated sufficiently on the develop-
ment of his material. He writes in the same
letter to Liszt thus:
The "Young Siegfried" as a separate entity, cannot
produce its proper and sure impression until it occu-
pies its necessary place in a complete whole, a place to
which I now assign it, together with " Siegfried's Death,"
in my newly designed plan. . . . That plan extends to
three dramas: i. The "Valkyrie"; 2. "Young Siegfried";
3. "Siegfried's Death." In order to give everything com-
pletely, these three dramas must be preceded by a grand
introductory play, "The Rape of the Rhine Gold." The
object is the complete representation of everything in re-
gard to this rape: the origin of the Nibelung treasure, the
possession of that treasure by Wotan, and the curse of
Alberich, which in "Young Siegfried" occur in the form
of a narrative. By the distinctness of representation which
is thus made possible and which, at the same time, does
* " Correspondence of Wagner and Liszt," translated by Francis
Hue£Fer, vol. i, p. 170.
[2]
The Composition of the Trilogy
away with everything in the nature of a lengthy narrative,
or at least condenses it in a few pregnant movements, I gain
suflScient space to intensify the wealth of relations, while in
the previous semi-epical mode of treatment I was com-
pelled to cut down and enfeeble all this.
In the meantime, Wagner's personal fortunes
had undergone deplorable vicissitudes. The pe-
riod of the composition of "The Ring of the
Nibelung" coincides with the most stormy, dis-
tressful, and disheartening years of his kaleido-
scopic career. They were years of exciting
adventure, personal danger, actual need, and an
intellectual isolation that is brought only into
greater relief by the noble and beautiful sympathy
and support given him by a very few devoted
friends. He had already got so far as to j&nish the
poem of his first conceived Siegfried drama, when,
in 1849, while he was still Kapellmeister, or conduc-
tor, of the Royal Opera of Dresden, the revolution
came, in which he felt an active sympathy, and
in favor of which he wrote and spoke. There
was an outbreak, and the revolutionaries were put
to flight. Among those who fled was Wagner;
and his flight was soon followed by a decree of
banishment from German territory. He went to
Zurich, where he spent the next ensuing years.
Here he h'ved often in great embarrassment for
the needful things of life, and in profound depres-
sion of spirits. He received assistance and en-
couragement from Franz Liszt, great pianist and
great musician, then conductor of the Grand
Ducal court at Weimar, whose appreciation of
Wagner's great qualities and devoted friendship
[3]
The Ring of the Nibelung
to him form one of the most beautiful episodes in
the history of art. He was also later sympatheti-
cally received by Otto Wesendonck and his wife,
music lovers and admirers of his work, who pro-
vided him with a chalet overlooking the lake, where
he lived and labored.
He made a brief visit to Paris, to endeavor
once more to secure the performance of some of
his operas. FaiUng in this, he returned to Zurich,
where he found himself absolutely without means,
except for the benefactions of Liszt and a few
others to whom he was not backward in appeal-
ing. His ^ ' Lohengrin ' ' had not yet been produced,
and one of the few gleams of hope that came to
him was the news of its performance in Weimar,
in 1850, through the eflforts of the devoted Liszt.
He wished to begin work on his "Siegfried"
drama; the music, he wrote Liszt in August, 1850,
was "vibrating through all his nerves''; but a
year or more was to pass, in which he "cleared
his mind,'' as he expressed it, by the writing of
the vigorous theoretical essays that we have men-
tioned. In the spring of 1851, after waiting for
the bright, sunny weather that he needed to spur
him on, he began serious work on the "Young
Siegfried."
He wrought with burning enthusiasm and an
intense belief in what he was doing. In June, of
1851, he had completed the poem. "Lord, how
delighted I am with ^ Young Siegfried'!" he wrote
to Liszt in July; and the next month he intended
to "rush at the music." But he found much re-
vision necessary to settle the relations of the newly
•[4]
The Composition of the Trilogy
adjusted scheme. We find him still working on
it in November, 1852, as he writes to Uhlig,
ecstatically exclaiming that, when he has finished,
"the whole will be — I am impudent enough to
say it — the greatest poem ever written!'' The
chronological sequence of his work is a little con-
fused, and difficult to follow in his letters, owing
to the frequent revisions it underwent. In De-
cember, 1852, he reports to Ferdinand Heine that
he has just finished his great "Nibelung" poem.
Much work on the music of the two Siegfried
dramas had already been done; but much had to
be done over again. In November, 1853, he
began work on the music for "The Rhine Gold."
He finished the sketch in January of the next
year, and the instrumentation at the end of May.
"The Valkyrie" music he began in June, 1854:
"it deliciously pervades aU my limbs," he wrote.
His work on it was interrupted by the journey
he made in that year to London to conduct the
concerts of the Philharmonic Society. Not tiU
April, 1856, could he report to his faithful friends
the completion of it — and it turned out "re-
markably beautiful," as he confided to Wilhelm
Fischer; he had done "nothing like the first act,
or approaching it, before," he wrote to Liszt.
The whole was "the most tragic he had ever
conceived."
Illness and despondency delayed its completion.
Wagner suflFered continually from erysipelas, and
his letters of this period are full of the gloom that
his dejection and inability to carry on sustained
work caused him. At this time he received an
[s]
The Ring of the Nibelung
oflFer from New York to come to America to con-
duct a series of concerts, which would have brought
him $10,000; but he could not interrupt his work
to make money. It would be absurd to sacrifice
his best vital powers, he declared, even in his
helpless pecuniary position, to so miserable a pur-
pose. " Good heavens! such sums as I might earn
in America people ought to give me, without ask-
ing anything in return, beyond what I am actu-
ally doing, and which is the best I can do."
Nevertheless, it was a terrible temptation; and a
little later it would have been perhaps a worse
one.
The composer began the music for the new
"Siegfried" in January, 1857, and in May he
could write to Liszt that the first act was done,
written in the little villa that the Wesendoncks
had put at his disposal near their own country
house. Here was a great amelioration of his
physical surroundings; but his discouragement at
the prospects for the great work he was engaged
on had now reached the breaking point. Negotia-
tions with the firm of Breitkopf and Hartel for
publishing it had been unsuccessful, even with
the aid of Liszt's powerful influence. Wagner
wrote to this 'devoted friend in June, 1857, that
he had determined to abandon his "headstrong
design " of completing the * * Nibelungen . " "I have
led my ^ Young Siegfried ' to a beautiful forest soli-
tude, and there have left him under a linden tree,
and take leave of him with heartfelt tears." He
had resolved to complete "Tristan and Isolde"
"on a moderate scale" so as to make its per-
[6]
The Composition of the Trilogy
f ormance easier in the lesser German theaters —
Heaven save the mark ! — and also formed the
strange purpose of sending it to Rio Janeiro to
have it produced there in an Italian, translation.
The decision cost him many pangs, for he was at
the summit of his musical inspiration when he
put aside "Siegfried" in the middle of the second
act; but he was wearied of "piling up one silent
score upon another," and wished to see some
results.
The next following years were years of distress
and wandering. In i860, the edict of banishment
against Wagner was cancelled, and he was allowed
to return to Germany. In various German cities
and in Paris he occupied himself with fruitless en-
deavors to secure performances of his works —
his attempts in Paris resulting in the famous
j&asco of "Tannhauser," in 186 1. He also de-
voted himself to the completion of "The Master-
singers of Nuremberg," his only comic opera
which, it is worthy of note, was the fruit of the
darkest period of his life. He was harassed by
creditors, persecuted and ridiculed by the news-
paper critics, neglected by the managers, and un-
able to bring his work before any portion of the
public that could understand it. He became a
prey to despair. Finally, while he was working
on the immortal music of "The Mastersingers "
in a refuge at Zurich, provided for him by one of
his few loyal friends,' he heard that his Viennese
creditors were on his track, and took a hasty
flight. But it was the darkest hour before the
dawn.
[7]
The Ring of the Nibelung
Young Ludwig II had just ascended the throne
of Bavaria, a music-loving prince with high ideals
as to a prince's duty in forwarding art. He knew
Wagner's work and admired it. He sent a mes-
senger to j&nd him and to induce him to come to
Munich, there to work undisturbed under his own
royal protection and encouragement. He gave
him a villa, where he was to finish his long aban-
doned "Nibelung" Trilogy; and, best of all, he
oflFered him the splendid resources of the court
opera for the proper production of his works under
his own direction. In the spring of 1864, Wagner
entered into the enjoyment of these blessings.
"Tristan" was produced in 1865, and in 1868,
"The Mastersingers." The intervening years,
however, were troublous. A strong feeling was
fomented in Munich against Wagner and the
young king's outlay on his behalf, and he was
obliged to leave the capital, ultimately settling in
Bayreuth. But Ludwig's support was unswerv-
ing, and \ns desire to hear the yet unperformed
"Nibelung" dramas, intense. "The Rhine Gold"
was produced at the Royal Opera in 1869, and
"The Valkyrie" in 1870, but against Wagner's
wishes and without his cooperation; and as the
preparations were insufficient, the works were not
fairly represented, and the success was small.
Wagner's long cherished plans for a special festi-
val theater expressly for the performance of his
works — plans on which he had been constantly
harping in the old dark days — were in the way
of fulfillment. The famous festival playhouse at
Bayreuth was their outcome. It was begun in
[8]
The Composition of the Trilogy
1872. The project met with many financial diflGi-
culties, which it took years of disheartening toil
on the part of the composer and his friends to
overcome. His work on the rest of the "Nibe-
lung" dramas had been going on under the new
and favorable conditions in which Wagner found
himself. He had again taken up "Siegfried,"
directiy upon his arrival in Munich, in 1864, after
an interruption of seven years, and after another
interruption during which he finished "The Mas-
tersingers," he finished the second act in June,
1865, and the third in 1869. He began the music
of "The Dusk of the Gods'' in 1B70, while he
was sojourning at Lucerne, whither he had gone
after his retirement from Munich to relieve the
king of embarrassment. He completed it in Bay-
reuth in November, 1874. The next two years
were consumed in the anxious eflforts to raise
money for the new festival playhouse. Though
they were only partially successful, the whole Tri-
logy was put into rehearsal in 1875. The best
singers of Germany responded to the master's
appeal, and many of the finest orchestral players
from various opera hou-ses were gathered for
the orchestra. Hans Richter, one of the most
devoted of Wagner's followers, was the conductor,
but Wagner himself directed and inspired all the
rehearsals. The great day came on August 13,
1876, when the festival playhouse was opened
with the first production of "The Rhine Gold" as
the prelude to the Trilogy as a whole. A great
and distinguished assemblage of musicians, crit-
ics, and amateurs from almost all the countries
[9]
The Ring of the Nibelung
of the globe, was present, and the event was ob-
served and chronicled as of the epoch-making im-
portance that it truly was. "The Valkyrie" was
given on August 13, "Siegfried," on August 16,
"The Dusk of the Gods," on August 17. The
last two were heard for the first time, the first two
having been performed separately against Wag-
ner's wishes and intentions, as before mentioned,
in Munich. Thus were crowned the eflforts and
aspirations of more than a quarter of a century
in Wagner's Ufe, and thus was first made known
what is imdoubtedly his supreme achievement in
art.
The first performances in America of the
dramas constituting "The Ring of the Nibelung,"
were as follows:
"The Rhine Gold: " At the Metropolitan Opera
House, New York, January 4, 1889, under the
direction of Anton Seidl.
"The Valkyrie:" At the Academy of Music,
New York, April 2, 1877, under the direction of
Adolf Neuendorif .
"Siegfried:" At the Metropolitan Opera House,
New York, November 9, 1887, imder the direc-
tion of Anton Seidl.
"The Dusk of the Gods:" At the Metropolitan
Opera House, New York, Januaiy 25, 1888, imder
the direction of Anton Seidl.
[10]
The Sources of the Trilogy
THE SOURCES OF THE TRILOGY
The Siegfried legend is a primeval heritage of
the Teutonic races, brought by them from the
home of the Aryan people. It is impossible here
to go into an examination of what the philologers
and students of mythology have discovered about
it and theorized about it. It is enough to say that,
though it dealt originally with a mythical hero,
and in this form was well known and' popular by
the fifth century, at about that time it became in-
volved with a certain historical element and
thereby modified. The latte r part of th e Sieg-
fried story is connected^with the mvasion of^.the
Huns an d the death of Atti JaTTh this form the
story traveled north and became popular with
the Scandinavian peoples, undergoing, naturally
enough, further modifications in its travels and
taking on special features characteristic of North-
em influence. There are, thus, two forms in
which this legend or series of legends are pre-
served: the German and the Scandinavian. In
Germany the legends, after centuries of traditional
transmission by bards and minstrels, were em-
bodied finally in the "Nibelungenlied," a poem
dating from the latter half of the twelfth century,
that has its permanent place in literature as the
national epic of the German peoples. This poem
shows great transformations in the legends it re-
counts — a loss of the earlier mythical elements, a
development of the historical traits. The earlier
incidents of the hero's career are forgotten or
merely mentioned; the later are more circumstan-
The Ring of the Nibelung
tially told. The mythical features still survived
by oral tradition, in folk tales. They were chiefly
preserved, however, in the written records that
were made of the legends in the Scandinavian
countries — the several "Sagas": the Volsunga
Saga, the Thidrek Saga and others, and in the
Icelandic Eddas. These ancient writings, the
"Nibelungenlied,'^ the Sagas, and the two Eddas,
are the sources from which Wagner derived his
conception of the Nibelungen dramas. They tell
the story with many differences and divergences,
not only of incident and detail, but also of plan
and design, of characters involved, of motive and
shaping forces. The characters are innumerable,
the narratives lavish in incidents.
From these diverse sources Wagner appropri-
ated the material of his great Trilogy; but with
the prescience of a philosopher, the far-seeing
vision of a poet, the instinct of a dramatist. He
was concerned to make his work exhibit the work-
ings of fate through the medium and motives of
human attributes; to express a philosophical view
of Kfe in terms of the drama, as the Greeks did in
tragedy. In working and shaping that material
Wagner eliminated much, elaborated much,
charged his personages and their actions with a
new significance unknown to the old myth-makers
and recounters of legends. He has chosen but a
few of the people of the ancient tales to carry on
the burden of his action, and he has in many
cases altered the posture of circumstances, the
succession of incidents and the interrelation of
persons and events. A comparison of his work
[12]
I
The Sources of the Trilogy
with that of the huge mass of fable shows how it
has been transformed and transfigured by the
touch of a great master.
The Scandinavian bards, having derived many
or most of their ideas from Germany, presented
them saturated with the Norse spirit, and pro-
jected them against a background of Norse myth-
ology. The Vo lsunga Saga tells of Volsung, the
son of Rerir, wEowastheson of Sigi, who was the
son of Odin, the god. Volsung was a great king,
with ten sons and one daughter. He lived in a
palace built around an oak tree, called the Bran-
stock, whose branches pierced the roof. The
eldest son and daughter were twins, Sigmund and
Signy. King Siggeir, of Gothland, wedded Signy;
to the marriage feast came an old man, one eyed,
who thrust a sword into the Branstock that none
could draw forth, till Sigmund did it. At this
Siggeir was jealous, and having offered money for
the sword in vain, became angry. When he re-
turned to his own land with Signy, he invited
Volsung and his sons to visit him; and when they
came, fell upon them, slew Volsung and left his
sons in the woods to be devoured by wolves.
Sigmund escaped and dwelt there. Siggeir
thought all the Volsungs were dead, but Signy,
desiring to avenge their slaughter, and knowing of
Sigmund's escape, went, transformed by a witch's
power, to Sigmund's hut. She lay with him for
three nights, and bore a son whom she called
Sinfjotli. When he was grown, she sent him to
live with Sigmund. The two went to Siggeir's
hall and slew him, and then Signy, revealing the
[13]
The Ring of the Nibelung
fact that Sinf jotli was a full-blooded Volsung, died
with her husband.
Sigmund married Borghild, who poisoned Sinf-
jotli^ wherefore he put her away, and married
Hjordis, whom Lyngi, son of Hunding, had wooed
in vain. So L)mgi made war on them, and
Sigmund did great deeds, but his sword was
broken on the spear of an old, one-eyed man, and
he was killed. Dying, he gave the pieces of his
sword to Hjordis, to give to her unborn son, who
would be the noblest and greatest of the Volsungs.
That son, born at the court of the Danish king,
was called Sigurd. He grew up at court under
the tutelage of Regin, a wise and famous smith.
One day he sent Sigurd to the woods to choose
a horse, which he did under the direction of an
old man with one eye; the horse he chose was
Grani, of the strain of Odin's stables. Then
Regin told him of a dragon, Fafnir, who had
measureless stores of gold, which he bade him go
and win for himself. This was the story of this
gold : Hreidmar had three sons, Fafnir, Otter, and
Regin. Otter used to take the form of an otter,
and so catch fish. One day Odin, Honir, and
Loki passed by, and Loki threw a stone and
killed the otter. He skinned it and they went to
the house of Hreidmar, who recognized the skin,
and demanded a ransom that should consist of as
much gold as would fill the skin and cover it
standing upright. The dwarf, Andvari, dwelling
in the lake, had great stores of gold ; so Loki went
back and caught the dwarf as he was swimming
in the form of a pike, and would not release him
[14]
The Sources of the Trilogy
fill he had given him all his gold and the ring,
by whose power the gold was increased. Andvari,
in rage, cursed the gold and the ring, so that
they should bring death on everyone who pos-
sessed them. This gold Loki then took to Hreid-
mir, and with it they tried to cover the otter skin;
but he saw one hair qf the otter's muzzle, to cover *
which they must add the ring. Loki told of the
curse and bade them beware; and immediately it
was operative, for Fafnir slew his father for the
gold, and Regin, who was the other son, got
nothing of it. Fafnir took the shape of a great
dragon and guarded the treasure.
Having learned this, Sigurd bade Regin forge a
sword with which he would slay the dragon and
avenge him; but Regin could forge no sword that
Sigurd did not immediately break. Then Sigurd
went to his mother and got from her the frag-
ments of his father's sword, which Regin forg^
into the wonderful weapon called Gram, the best
of all swords. But before attacking the dragon,
Sigurd went forth to fight the sons of Hunding,
to avenge his father's death. Then Regin and
Sigurd went to slay Fafnir; but Regin was treach-
erous, and sought to kill Sigurd and win the
treasure for himself. The dragon slain, Sigurd
accidentally touched his blood, and when he laid
his finger to his mouth, he understood the birds
chattering of Regin's treachery, and of how he
should kill Regin, and of the ring of fire around
Hindfell, and of Br)aihild who slept within it.
Then he drew his sword and smote off Regin's
head, and heaping Fafnir's gold upon Grani, rode
[15]
\
4 J
The Ring of the Nibelung
forth to Hindfell, where he penetrated the fiery
barrier and found the maid sleeping. He waked
her and she knew him, and told him that she was
Odin's child, a Valk)nie; and because she had
disobeyed Odin and chosen for the victory one
whom he had willed to be slain, Odin had put
her into a magic slumber and fated her to become
a mortal woman, and to wed; but that she had
vowed to wed only one who had known no fear.
She taught him all her wisdom and they plighted
their faith, for which he gave her Andvari's ring.
When he went forth again he reached the realm
of Giuki, who ruled south of the Rhine, and who
had a wife, Grimhild, skilled in magic, and three
sons, Gunnar, Hogni, and Guttorm, and one
daughter, Gudrun. There he abode many days,
and Grimhild mixed a magic drink, which when
Sigurd tasted, he forgot Brynhild and his plighted
troth. He swore blood-brotherhood with Gunnar
and Hogni, and, in accordance with Grimhild's
purpose, wedded Gudrun, and dwelt in the hall
of the Niflungs. Then Grimhild urged her son
Gunnar to win Brynhild, and Gunnar, Hogni, and
Sigurd rode forth to Hindfell. Gunnar could not
enter the ring of fire, but he changed shapes with
Sigurd, as Grimhild had taught them how to do,
and Sigurd, in his semblance, rode through the
flames and won Brynhild for Gunnar's wife.
For she had sworn to wed him who could pierce
that circle of fire, though she deemed that none
but Sigurd could do this. He took from her
Andvari's ring and her girdle, and gave them to
Gudrun, and Br5mhild went to the land of the
[i6]
The Sources of the Trilogy
Niflungs as Gunnar's wife. And when the wed-
ding feast was over, Sigurd remembered all, but
said nothing. Later, when the two women fell
into a dispute as to whose husband was the
greater, Gudrun, in her anger, disclosed the
secret, how Sigurd had won Brynhild for Gunnar.
Br5mhild in wrath conspired with Gunnar and
Hogni to kill Sigurd; but they were restrained by
their oath of blood-brotherhood, so Guttorm, who
had not taken that oath, did the deed, and killed
Sigurd as he lay asleep in his bed. Brynhild bade
Gunnar build a funeral pyre and laid herself on
it beside Sigurd's body, and, she having killed
herself with a sword, they were burned together.
The rest of the Saga tells how Gudrun wedded
Atli, Attila, the Hun, of history — and went with
him to his own land; and how Atli schemed to
get possession of the treasure, but Gunnar and
Hogni threw the gold into the Rhine, ior which
they were slain by the avaricious king. And the
end was the vengeance of Gudrun, through her
brother, Hogni's son, Nifiung, and her miracu-
lous transportation to the land of Jonakr, whom
she wedded and to whom she bore three sons.
The Thidrek Saga tells a similar story, and is
evidently derived from the same source as the
Volsunga Saga; yet there are many variations in
important particulars, the most significant of
which relates to Sigurd's birth and bringing up,
and to the origin and disposition of the treasure.
The Nibelungenlied is less primitive in its char- •
acter than either of these Sagas, and has much in
relation to Attila and the Burgundian kings, and
[17]
The Ring of the Nibelung
little m relation to the mythological features that
appear in the Scandinavian stories of Siegfried.
In this, Siegfried, son of King Sigmund and Sieg-
hnde who reigned in the Rhenish Netherlands,
sets out to win for his wife the beautiful Kriemhild,
dwelling at Worms. Her brother Gunther re-
fused to grant him her hand, but offered him hos-
pitality. None knew him but Hagen, one of the
vassals, who had heard how Siegfried had won
the Nibelung Hoard from the brothers Schilbung
and Nibelung. They had asked Siegfried to
divide it for them, and offered him the good
sword Balmung in payment. But, being dissat-
isfied with his award, they fell upon him; so
Siegfried slew them, and having also overthrown
Alberich and won from 'him the Tarnhelm, he
took the hoard for himself and left it in the care
of Alberich, who had sworn fidelity to him. Now
Gunther wished for his wife, the beautiful Brun-
hild, queen of Island, and Siegfried promised to
help him if Gunther would give him Kriem-
hild to wife; and they swore tlus. Brunhild was
the strongest of women, and would be won only
in trials of strength. Siegfried, posing as his
friend's vassal, won her by the aid of the Tarn-
helm, in the guise of Gunther, who thereupon
married her, and Siegfried must overcome Brun-
hild on her wedding night, in behalf of Gunther
(as he does in the Thidrek Saga). Brunhild
deemed it unworthy that her husband should wed
his sister to a vassal, and spoke scornful words to
Kriemhild. Thereupon the latter retorted that
Siegfried was no vassal, and furthermore that
[i8]
The Sources of the Trilogy
he, and not Gunther, had been her first husband,
showing as proof the ring he had taken from her.
So Brunhild, finding she had been deceived, de-
manded vengeance on Siegfried, and Hagen swore
to gain it for her. Having learned from Kriem-
hild the one vulnerable spot on Siegfried's body,
Hagen killed him with a spear as they were stoop-
ing to drink from a spring on a hunting party.
The rest is a long and bloody story of Kriem-
hild's revenge and her attempts to get the Nibe-
lung gold from Hagen, who had locked it up in
the treasure chamber and kept the keys.
There are other relations of the Siegfried stories
in various forms and fragments, as in the Ice-
landic Eddas, certain other Sagas, and the Ger-
man "Heldenbuch" or "Book of Heroes." It
was from the Volsunga Saga, however, and from
some stories in the Eddas that Wagner derived
the most of his material. He ilso employed
many of the features and characters of the Norse
mythology that are not specifically included in
the stories, though they are furnished by the
Eddas as a whole. He exercised even here, the
right of the poet, and gave the gods, dwarfs, and
giants, certain qualities and relations to various
incidents in the legends that they do not have in
the ancient myths. The gods in this cosmogony
are not omnipotent nor omniscient, but submitted
to the power of fate, dominant over all the world.
Inevitable destruction loomed before them, which
they could postpone but could not finally avert.
In the Scandinavian myths the gods were in no
wise connected with the Nibelung hoard. Not
[19]
The Ring of the Nibelung
from it came their inevitable day of reckoning,
but from other forces; and it is one of Wagner's
master strokes that made their downfall a result
of their trafficking with the ill-fated treasure — a
stroke that at once put a new moral force into
the story.
Wotan rules by conquest and by treaties, the
records of which are carved upon the haft of his
spear, cut from the trunk of the World Ash. One
of his eyes he has lost, pa)dng it as a toll for a
draught from the spring of knowledge beneath
that tree. He has begotten of an earthly mother,
all-wise Erda, a sisterhood of wish-maidens, Val-
kyries, who summon to Valhalla the spirits of
heroes slain in battle. There they dwell in feast-
ing, waiting to aid him in the final conflict with
the enemies of the gods. His spouse is Fricka,
upholder of the marriage law, a very Juno in
principles and temper. Freia is the goddess of
love and of endless youth, the golden apples from
whose garden give immortality to the gods. Loge
is the spirit of evil and of trickery, of wonder-
ful cunning and restless activity, whose outward
form was fire and the flickering of flame. The
Noms are daughters of Erda, who spin the strands
of fate.
Upon the earth's surface dwelt the giants, tra-
ditional enemies of the gods, strong but dull-
witted, whom Wotan has hired to build Valhalla.
In the earth's dark recesses dwell the dwarfs,
smiths, and makers of weapons. Wotan shares
the propensities of Olympian Jove to wander upon
the earth; and it is in one of these wanderings
[20]
Wagner's Musical and Dramatic System
that as Walse he begot the twin brother and sister,
who in turn begot the Volsung hero, Siegfried.
PART II
WAGNER'S MUSICAL AND DRAMATIC SYSTEM
According to Wagner's theories, the musical
drama is the fitting expression of larger ethical
ideas, and of the national spirit in art; he finds in
the Teutonic myths and immemorial legends the
most appropriate material for the embodiment of
these ideals and this spirit; and in the legendary
personages peopling these legends he discovers
figures typical of humanity and human charac-
ters and t)^es, passions, impulses, and aspirations,
to represent in the broadest and most general way
the eternal verities. Such a musical drama should
be based on a complete reversal of the conception
of opera hitherto prevailing. It should involve a
perfect cooperation between all the factors that
enter into stage representation, and a mutual sur-
render of some of the exclusive rights of each, to
the attainment of a complete and harmonious
blending into one larger whole. In the older con-
ception of opera, the drama, such as it was,
existed chiefly for the sake of the music. Action
on the stage was an excuse for music, a peg upon
which it could be hung at the pleasure of com-
posers and for the benefit of the singers of airs,
duets, ensemble pieces, and choruses. According
to Wagner, the error in this form of opera lay in
the fact that one of the means of expression, the
music, was made the object; and that the object
[21]
The Ring of the Nibelung
of the expression, the drama, was made the
means. He demanded that the dramatic idea
should be made the chief thing, and that music
should be but one of the means of expressing and
enforcing it. This and the others, — poetic dic-
tion, action, gesture, declamation, scenic art, and
all the accessories that go to make up the stage
picture, — should be welded together into one
homogeneous whole.
Herein was involved a different conception of the
function of music from that which composers had
hitherto held for dramatic purposes. This
had been based on the forms and patterns that
had been developed in instrumental music and in
songs — definitely recurring phrases and periods,
cadences, and closes, regular and balanced in
structure, as in a complete tune or air. Operas
of the older sort are composed of such airs, of
duets, and other concerted pieces, and of choruses,
all formed on the same model with a more or less
subordinated instrumental accompaniment. These
are connected by declamatory passages called reci-
tatives, with usually the baldest kind of harmonic
support from the instruments. Wagner devised
a wholly different musical system. The characters
of the drama declaim their lines in a sort of semi-
melodious speech, heightened and intensified in
its significance by its musical quality, the so-
called "endless melody," whose contour is con-
stantly dependent upon the words and the emo-
tions and the mood to be expressed. The poem
is written not in rhymed or metrical verse, but in
a kind of free, measured, rhythm. It is, however,
[22]
Wagner's Musical and Dramatic System
alliterative verse, fashioned after old Teutonic and
Scandinavian models, its chief characteristic being
the recurrence of initial sounds in certain words
of each line, and a sort of irregular but power-
fully leaping rhythm.
Beneath and aroimd the vocal declamation flows
an increasing stream of the many-voiced orchestra,
to which is entrusted the chief burden of the
musical expression. It follows the development
of the dramatic action and interprets all that goes
on upon the stage with a marvelous potency and
unending variety of resource. It is here, in fact,
that Wagner's originality achieved some of its
greatest results.
This orchestral part is largely built up out of
a great number of characteristic themes, repre-
sentative or "leading" motives as they have been
called, the use of which is one of the most strik-
ing features of his music. It is one which is
really his own, however dimly it may have been
suggested or foreshadowed by some of his prede-
cessors. None of them ever had the faintest con-
ception of the symphonic emplo)Tiient of such
themes as almost the sole musical material of a
whole opera, or of developing from them the
living, palpitating organism that Wagner devel-
oped. These themes are short musical passages
or phrases, whose chief significance may be in
their melodic outline, or quite as much in their
harmonic substance and sequences; pregnant, pic-
turesque, suggestive in both aspects; always strik-
ing and individual, not always beautiful, but al-
ways intensely characteristic and expressive, and
[23]
The Ring of the Nibelung
of a haunting power, so that, once impressed on
the listener's mind, they are ineradicable. They
are what musicians call "plastic" — they lend
themselves remarkably to all the combinations,
developments, changes, and elaborations by means
of which the composer spins his wonderful orches-
tral web of infinite and ever-changing pattern,
retaining homogeneity and logical cogency through
all the play of imagination to which they are
subjected.
Each of these themes is associated with some
specific meaning and charged with a certain emo-
tional color. Some are significant of personages
in the drama; sometimes there are several to sug-
gest different aspects of the same personages, as
of Siegfried and Brunnhilde and Wotan; or their
different relations and activities; some relate to
natural powers and elements, as fire and water;
some to the agencies and the interacting play of
ethical forces; some to the passions, the loves and
hates, the wickedness and the beneficent influence
of men and women, gods and dwarfs; some to
things, as the ring and the sword and the tarn-
helm. But there is nothing mechanical in their
use by Wagner; they do not automatically appear
and disappear in the score, merely with the appear-
ance and disappearance of men and things upon
the stage. There is always some suggestive ref-
erence, some implication of their inner relation
with the scheme of things. Many of them, as
will be seen, are closely interrelated, not only in
meaning, but also, as a logical consequence, in
form. Some are developed, one from another,
[24]
Wagner's Musical and Dramatic System
by enlargement or diminution, or by harmonic
change, enrichment or simplification ; or by rhyth-
mical transformation ; and frequently two or more
are joined together with a specialized meaning.
But in all circumstances and at all points they are
made subservient to the dramatic expression.
Here Wagner's inventiveness and inexhaustible
fecundity of melodic ideas reach their highest
power. The student must constantly marvel at
the never-failing appositeness of the musical
embodiment of the dramatic situation, the power
of the music to denote character, motives, the
passions, sentiments, feelings, and impulses of the
personages upon the stage; to set before us maj-
esty and meanness, dignity, terror, anger; to cre-
ate an atmosphere, to transport the imagination
to glimmering depths of water, stormy mountain
peaks, sun-flecked forest glades, the gloom of
night, the mellowing radiance of afternoon. In
all its bearings the situation is illustrated by music
heightening and completing, through the ear, the
effects presented to the eye. The mood is fixed,
the senses of the listener, and through them his
whole intellectual and emotional state, are en-
chained and held captive to the idea that the
dramatist is setting forth. As Mr. Ernest New-
man says: *
Wagner saw human life and character, the outward
world, the interplay of force with force, of element with
element, all in terms of music. Those who are acquainted
with his scores stand astonished at the rare felicity of
some of his conceptions, his power to sketch character in a
* " A Study of Wagner," p. 237.
[25]
The Ring of the Nibelung
musical phrase, to write descriptive music — such as the
forest scene in "Siegfried" or the fire music in "The
Valk)Tie" — that can only be described as marvellous in
its pictorial quality.
Of the greatest importance in Wagner's scores
are the new harmonic combinations, the new emo-
tional and poetic power he gained through them;
and the subtle, rich, and highly developed orches-
tral coloring that he employs. Both of these are
developments of the art that he carried far beyond
the point that any of his predecessors had reached,
however much he may have benefited as to orches-
tration from the work of Berlioz and Liszt. Into
neither is it possible to enter more fully here; but
quoting again from Mr. Newman, we may see,
with him, "the unerring color sense that gives
the 'inevitable' quality to his orchestration —
gives us the feeUng that ear and eye are inter-
changing their functions, that the music of the
orchestra is only another aspect of the person or
the scene upon the stage."
H This musical fabric is entirely intelligible in
] and of itself, as a part of the drama. It was Wag-
ner's intention that it should be so, and that his
audiences should not need a special knowledge of
music to gain the right impression from his musi-
cal dramas. But the enjoyment and understand-
ing of any highly organized form of music are
enhanced by a knowledge of its structure. The
motives that Wagner devised for "The Ring of
the Nibelung" will speak for themselves; but to
those who will pursue the subject further to gain
a more minute insight into Wagner's methods
[26]
Wagner's Musical and Dramatic System
and purposes, the following chapter is addressed.
But before entering upon it, we cannot do better
than to consider the warning words of Mr. Hen-
derson : *
If the guiding motives fail to create the proper emotional
investiture . . . then they are valueless, even at Wagner's
own rating, for he says that we must feel before we cap
understand a drama. And we ourselves can readily see
how useless it is to tell us of the specified meanings of
sweet musical phrases if they do not, when heard, help to
warm into a vitalizing glow the significance of the text
and action. If they fail to do this, the organic union so
ardently sought by Wagner does not exist. If they succeed,
it matters not at all whether we know their names.
To which may be added these further words : ^
Learn the text. By the text the music must be meas-
ured. By the text the music must be understood. By the
music the text is illuminated and made vital. But every
measure of Wagner's music is explained by the poetry.
Space will not serve to point out all the diver-
gences that Wagner has made in his dramas from
the legends as they are outlined. They are almost
always in the direction of securing greater dramatic
effectiveness and directness, or of enhancing the
poetical suggestiveness. To begin with, the gold
in the legends does not come from the Rhine; the
Rhine is only its ultimate disposition, though in
the Volsunga Saga it comes from Andvari, a
dweller in the waters. Wagner has made the
Nibelungs the dwarfs; in the legends they are the
possessors of the treasure, the name seeming to
^ " Richard Wagner," p. 191. ' P. 219.
[27]
The Ring of the Nibelung
be transferred with the thing. He has made the
giants the builders of Valhalla, though in the
Norse mythology the gods built it themselves.
Thereby a valuable motive is at once introduced
into the drama. A highly original and poetic
idea is that which makes the renunciation of
love the first requisite for him who would fashion
the ring from the stolen gold and win dominion
by its power. The method of pa)H[ng the gold to
the giants by piling it up so as to hide Freia is
Wagner's more beautiful version of the filling and
covering of the otter skin — and how much more
beautiful is the filling in of the ring to hide the
gleam of Freia's eye, than to hide the hair of the
otter's muzzle! The prophecy of Erda in "The
Rhine Gold" bears directly upon Wotan's sin,
though it has no such bearing in the Eddaic
legend; and this is but an instance of how the
poet has gathered all the strands of the legend to
serve the higher purpose he had in view.
"The Valkyrie" is largely Wagner's own poetic
conception; he has taken some of the personages
of the legends, but they stand in widely different
relationships. Volsung is Wotan himself, not his
descendant. Siegmund and Sieglinde are his own
twin children; but the motive is changed from the
vengeance, that rules in the Saga, to a process of
fate. There is nothing in the legends to resemble
Briinnhilde in much more than name. She is
there Wotan's daughter; but Wagner gave her her
momentous connection with Siegfried's parents,
and endowed her with her glorious personality as
goddess and mortal woman. Her scene with
[28]
Wagner's Musical and Dramatic System
Waltraute, pregnant with significance in the
drama, is Wagner's; and the episode in which
Siegfried is plied with Gutrune's magic draught in
"The Dusk of the Gods," and of his return to
Briinnhilde in Gunther's shape to gain her for
his bride, is raised to a tragic power and intensity
that have no parallel in the Saga or the German
epic. The scenes and surroundings of * ' Siegfried ' '
are only in a general way suggested in the legends.
Wagner has conceived them in a picturesque and
poetic vein all his own, and has threaded them
upon the motive of irrevocable destiny so that
they proceed swiftly and logically to the denoue-
ment. Here he has abandoned the Volsunga
Saga, and has been guided by the Thidrek Saga,
for the sake of the dramatic advantage it afforded
him. In "The Dusk of the Gods " he has changed
and compressed much from the Saga and the
Nibelungenlied. The woman who appears in
them as Gudrun and Kriemhild, and who is there
far more important than Briinnhilde, is reduced
to a pale and insignificant personage, a mere
accessory of the plot. Gunther, too, is much re-
duced in dignity; and Hagen plays a different and
more sinister r61e in the drama than in the legend,
where he acts solely out of loyalty to his sovereign's
wife and his sovereign's honor, and has no rela-
tion with Alberich. But greater than the sum of
these and all the other details of legend, is the
majestic sweep with which it carries out the
ethical idea, and the seizing power with which it
has all been transmuted into drama through
music.
[29]
The Ring of the Nibelung
THE DRAMA AND ITS MEANING
In "The Ring of the Nibelung'* is set forth the
irresistible working of Fate to avenge the viola-
tion of the moral law ; and, again, the victorious
process of atonement and of redemption through
love, whereby a new order is established. Wotan's
lust for power, his endeavor to ward off the inevi-
table end, starts him upon a course of wrong that
brings a trail of evil consequences. Self-preserva-
tion is the motive of his sin. The castle of Val-
halla was for a bulwark to the gods against their
enemies; for its building he had promised a price
which he dared not pay — the goddess of youth
whose loss would mean decay and death to the
gods. In possessing himself of the gold stolen by
Alberich he had again entered upon devious paths
that should lead to his downfall. In wresting the
gold from its rightful place in the Rhine's bed,
Alberich let loose upon the world the curse that
he himself pronounced upon it when it was wrested
from him in turn. The possessor of the ring made
of it would become the ruler of the world; but he
would come equally under its fatal curse, he and
all to whom the ring thereafter should pass. The
curse, as Wagner said, could be annulled "only
by the restoration of the gold robbed from nature
and misused."
Wotan is, in truth, if not the hero, at all events,
the central figure of the Trilogy. Its story is the
story of his efforts on behalf of himself and Val-
halla, of his vain undertaking against Fate, and
of its punishment. Alberich, possessing the gold,
The Drama and its Meaning
and having forsworn love, could rule the world
and work destruction to Valhalla. To gain the
gold, then, was the first thought of the god, mali-
ciously persuaded thereto by Loge, but with the
gold went its curse, to which his slow intelligence
was not awake. In "The Rhine Gold" we see
him jauntily attempting to put off the giants
without their rightful due, counselling with the
crafty Loge to gain Alberich's tainted gold, and
recalled to the sense of impending retribution only
by Erda's warning. We see him at the very end
entering upon possession of his castle with mis-
giving, and with the first foreshadowing of a hero
and his sword who shall fight for him. In "The
Valkyrie" we see him with his plan worked out to
protect himself and his companions by rearing a
hero, a free agent, who shall perform the expia-
tion that he cannot perform — the restoration of
the ring to its rightful owners. He has bartered
the ring to the giants and cannot regain it; and
Fafner, too stupid to use its power, lies sleeping
and guarding it. The hero, of his own free will,
thinks the god, shall gain the ring and fulfil the
demands of law and remove at once the curse and
the danger to the gods. He sacrifices his hero
Siegmund at the demand of Fricka, and takes
from his sword the irresistible power he promised
in time of need; and though he thus saves himself
one additional burden of guilt, he assumes an-
other. He sees his plan wrecked and demolished
and we watch in "The Valkyrie" the hopes and
desires of this god ground between the upper and
the nether millstone, his spirit anguished by their
[31]
The Ring of the Nibelung
demolition, standing at bay. "After his parting
from Briinnhilde, Wotan truly is nothing but a
departed spirit," wrote Wagner; "his highest aun
can only be to let things take their course, go their
own gait, no longer definitely to interfere." In
"Sie^ried" he has given up his vain hope of per-
petuating his power. He spends his days roam-
ing over the earth as the Wanderer, waiting for
the hero's coming that he knows he cannot resist,
though it bring an end of the old order. "To
look I came, not to do," he says to Alberich when
he encounters him at Fafner's cave. And he tries
in vain to bar the way to Siegfried, eager for
Briinnhilde and the flaming circle about her. The
sword that in Siegmund's hands was broken
against his spear shaft, now shatters it as Sieg-
fried swings it. "Fare on! I cannot restrain
thee!" says the god, as he disappears forever from
the scene.
The full meaning of the curse is not learned by
Wotan till he has reached the end of his tragic
course. Wagner writes: "Only when the ring
must ruin even Siegfried does he realize that this
restoration of the stolen gold to the Rhine can
wipe away the ill." In "The Valkyrie" he is an
imposing figure, grimly opposing the forces against
him, turning against the relentless pursuit of Fate.
In "Siegfried" he is a pathetic one, rising to the
tragic height of willing his own undoing. The
tragedy of his position he himself poignantly ex-
presses in "The Valkyrie," as he finds himself
thwarted at every turn by the curse, in his desire
to serve alike gods and the new race he is creating.
[32]
The Drama and its Meaning
"From the curse I fled, but even now the curse is
with me. What I loved I must forsake, destroy
what is dear to me, betray him who trusts me."
The gods, helpless under the burden of their
own transgression, are relieved from that burden
by the free man, for whose appearance Wotan
had made preparation. And by the same token
they are doomed to their end. Siegmund, the
hero whom he had begotten, who had himself
won the sword as the sign of his fitness, was no
free agent, but a puppet, moved by Wotan's will.
The god's plan is shattered upon a new offence
against the moral law — adultery joined to incest
— for which both Siegmund and SiegUnde go
down to destruction.
But the race of the Volsungs is continued in
Siegfried, with whose advent the workings of fate
enter a new phase. He is the free agent, the
unfettered youth, the natural man rejoicing in his
own strength — "the fair young form of Man in
all the freshness of his force," as Wagner de-
scribed him; "the real, naked man, in whom I
might spy each throbbing of his pulses, each stir
within his mighty muscles, in uncramped, freest
motion; the type of the free human being." As
such he stands for untrammelled impulse and
action, as Wotan stands for the restraint of law
and a foresight of the outcome. In "The Dusk
of the Gods" he has learned wisdom, but he must
go unflinchingly forward to offer the expiation for
the curse. He is at all times the type of the hero,
the doer of deeds, the resolute and daring.
Briinnhilde is without doubt the most splendid
[33]
The Ring of the Nibelung
of all Wagner's creations among his many great
and winsome womanly characters. She is truly his
creation, for she has beyond her name, no recog-
nizable prototype in the Sagas. In her character
of Wotan's wish maiden she has devotion, tender-
ness, a heart of flaming fire; she is a woman,
through all the aerial splendor of her divinity.
There is a superb joy of freedom in her first
appearance on the mountain peak with her Val-
kyrie cry; as she appears to Siegmund to announce
his doom, she comes as the proud representative
of the will of Wotan. Now the majesty of her
godlike attributes is foremost. Soon it is turned
to burning sympathy finding outlet in impetuous
action — a sympathy born of her deep love of her
father, and of her impulse to carry out what she
knows is his real will, the preservation of the
hapless fugitive lovers, rather than of the purpose
imposed upon him by Fricka. Through that
comes her disobedience and its punishment, which
is the penalty of her love. Wakening, in "Sieg-
fried," emerging into her new state of mortal
womanhood, she is at first fearful, dreading the
growing passion of the ardent youth who has
roused her; the fierce pride of the goddess now
and again takes possession of her. But mortal
woman she is, and as a mortal woman she gives
herself to Siegfried, as the power of love enfolds
her, too, the ''mad, furious maid," in a splendid
self-surrender. Let the Norns rend their strands
of fate, let the gods succumb in darkness; they
two have found each other, and they, laughing,
will go down to death. In "The Dusk of the
[34]
The Drama and its Meaning
Gods" she is very humanly a woman, and she
goes through the heart-breaking sorrows of that
experience with certain womanly weaknesses as
well as womanly strength. But in the last scene,
when all is revealed to her, and all things she
knows, she rises to the supreme height of the
grandeur of self-sacrifice. She tranquiUy imputes
their everlasting disgrace to the gods, who con-
demned Siegfried to the doom that should expiate
their sins. He, truest of all, should betray her,
that "wise a woman might grow." Her eloquence
is the eloquence of a prophetess proclaiming a new
day; and with solemn joy she joins her Siegfried
on the funeral pyre to fulfill the last necessity that
shall bring that day. Her sacrifice accomplishes
the final retribution and atonement, and her last
act accomplishes the affirmation of her last words,
that love is the one eternal and enduring good.
[35]
PART III
THE MUSIC AND THE STORY
/. THE RHINE GOLD
The prelude to " The Rhine Gold " is purely
descriptive music, and is without significance apart
from the scene to which it introduces us. In
heightening the effect of that scene, however, and
in preparing the listener's mood, it is wonderfully
effective. The scene is the lowest depths of the
Rhine; a greenish light penetrates but dimly from
above. There is the motion of the waters; but
before it is seen, at the parting of the curtain, it
is felt and heard in the music. There is a long,
sustained E flat, upon which is superposed a
B flat; then begins an upward arpeggio figure of
the tones of the tonic chord of E flat, in f rhythm,
gradually increasing in complexity. It soon takes
the following form, the motive of the Primeval
Element, water:
la. THE PRIMEVAL ELEMENT
The waving arpeggiate figure breaks into a more
rapid movement represented by sixteenth notes,
and the harmony becomes fuller, the volume of
tone greater.
[36]
The Rhine Gold
lb.
As the curtain parts, we see the three Rhine
Maidens joyously swimming, and as they swim,
singing: the motive of the Rhine Maidens (p. 5,
syst. 3) : '
ii. THE RHINE MAIDENS
wocuirM
It is carried on with graceful melodic develop-
ments, till Alberich, the dwarf, climbs out of a
dark chasm, watches them, and finally calls to
them. The clear fluency of the music is at once
disturbed ; minor harmonies, short, crabbed phrases ;
sharp, sudden discords; trouble its flow, as he
calls to them and tries to catch them (pp. 8-19).
* The references are to page and system in the new edition of
the Piano Scores, by Karl Klindworth, published in this country by
G. Schirmer.
[37]
The Ring of the Nibelung
Flosshilde sings him a mocking love song,
(p. 19), and finally pelds herself to his embrace,
till suddenly she breaks from it and joins her
sisters with scornful laughter (p. 24). Alberich,
lamenting, breaks out in a bitter rage and the
motive of the Menial is heard (p. 24, syst. i):
ill. THE MOTIVE OF THE MENIAL
n,i r ^n"g ^fe
The music depicts his wild chase of the three
fair swimmers, his stumbling and falling over the
rocks. As he finally pauses breathless, and shakes
his fist at them, a chord succession is heard for-
tissimo, in the insistent rh)1;hm that a little later
will be completely identified with the race of the
Nibelungs to which he belongs (p. 30, syst. 3) :
The Rhine Gold in the rock suddenly begins to
glow with an increasing brightness, sending out a
magical golden light through the water. As they
see it, the maidens circle around the rock, hymn-
ing a gracious melody to the rippling accompani-
ment of the orchestra ; and the motive of the Rhine
Gold is intoned by the horns, thus, a sort of fanfare
(p. 31, syst. i):
IV. MOTIVE OF THE RHINE GOLD
[38]
The Rhine Gold
The Rhine Daughters break into joyous song
in praise of the Rhine Gold (p. 33, syst. 2) :
V. PRAISE OF THE RHINE GOLD
but Alberich has no more eyes for them. His
gaze is fixed on the gleaming gold. He asks them
what it is; they deride his ignorance and Well-
gunde tells him of its wonders. The world's
wealth would be won by him who would fashion
a ring of it. The orchestra for the first time pro-
claims the Ring Motive (p. 41, syst. 3), that plays
a part of great importance through all the rest of
the score, under manifold transformations and
developments ;
VI. THE RING MOTIVE
[39]
The Ring of the Nibelung
4
i
But this power would belong only to him, who
would renounce love; and Woglinde goes on to
disclose this fateful proviso, in the motive of
Renunciation (p. 43, syst. i) gloomy and ominous:
VII. MOTIVE OF RENUNCIATION
rfi»'- J Ji J'l 'r p r ^ jiiiJ ' J J' j'l V' p r^^
** Kurwwdw lli*.MkMlit mt - net. nor wardar Lw-beljnt tmt . jae
-ngt, nor wardar Lia-beLnt Tar • jagt,
n : ^ '- — ^^
3aE
ip^ | *Nf ^^
p MmrikkMtati
The light-hearted sisters go on with their bab-
bling: but Alberich, still gazing at the gold, forms
his resolve. The Ring Motive and the motive of
Renunciation are heard in succession (p. 47, syst.
3, — p. 48, syst. i). He clambers up the rock from
which the gold is gleaming, and at last seizes it,
wrenches it from its place and makes way with it.
Sudden darkness falls ; the maidens' merri-
ment turns to lamentation. Alberich's mocking
laughter is heard from the depths, and in the
darkness the scene changes, as the orchestra plays
a passage composed of motives previously em-
ployed. The liiusic becomes subdued and more
measured as the motive of Renunciation (p. 53,
syst. 4), and the Ring (syst. 6) are heard. These
are interrupted by a harp passage delicately sug-
gesting the motive of Freia (xvii) that will later
appear in more characteristic form. The stage
gradually brightens, and the castle of Valhalla is
disclosed, standing upon a cliff overlooking the
[40]
The Rhine Gold
Rhine. Wotan and Fricka lie asleep in the fore-
ground. Day is dawning. The motive of Val-
halla is softly intoned by the brass instruments
(P- SSy syst. i):
VIII. MOTIVE OF VALHALU
i m^f f i e i/fff i
del e ia H mo
mi itI'j'UIW
^
(i
Its closing cadences come later (p. 55, syst. 4):
then (p. 57, syst. 4).
OTTTO
The motive is one of the most grandiose and
imposing of all, and wonderfully expressive of the
power and dignity of the gods. It is generally
played by the brass choir of the orchestra, which
Wagner reinforced by the so-called "Bayreuth
tubas," an instrument devised by him for his
* ' Nibelung ' ' instrumentation . The relationship of
this motive with that of the Ring (vi) will appear
[41]
The Ring of the Nibelung
on examination; but its form is more massive, its
harmonies simplified and its intervals made dia-
tonic instead of chromatic. This inter-relation
of themes of allied significance will be met with
through the whole Trilogy. It is one of the most
subtle and. potent devices employed by Wagner
to enhance their suggestiveness, and to secure co-
herency and unity in his system.
The god and the goddess rejoice in the sight of
the "eternal work," but the troubling thoughts of
the price to be paid comes speedily. With it we
hear in the orchestra the motive of the Compact,
by which that price, the person of Freia, goddess
of Love and Youth, was agreed upon with the
giants (p. 58, syst. 3):
IX. MOTIVE OF THE COMPACT
^^^^^^P
Another suggestion of the forces of Fate that
work for destruction through the drama. Those
who like may see in the steady downward course
of the melody a suggestion of the fall of the gods
of which this fatal compact was the starting point.
Fricka upraids her spouse for his recklessness in
entering into it — what had led her to consent
was the hope of keeping him with her in these
stately halls and thereby curtailing his wanderings;
and this she expresses in a motive characteristic
of the enchaining power of woman's love in mar-
riage (p. 61, syst. i):
[42]
The Rhine Gold
X. THE ENCHAINMENT OF LOVE
B»rr-li-dw Wohaaqftwoa-al • gw BKa-mtli,MlV«ikdkk
Disjected chords in the orchestra foreshadow
the approach of Freia, fleeing from the giants who
are trying to seize her as .their promised reward.
The Flight Motive is sounded in the orchestra,
combined with the first clause of the motive rep-
resentative of herself, later appearing in its full
and complete form (p. 64, syst. i).
XI. FLIGHT MOTIVE
Fasolt was the giant who had threatened her;
and at the mention of his name a suggestion of
the Giants' Motive comes from the orchestra (p.
64, syst. 3), but not its complete form — only one
giant is mentioned ! Wotan bids her not to fear
— did she see Loge? for upon Loge he relies to
free him from his predicament ; and his name, too,
calls forth a suggestion of his flickering theme
(p. 64, syst. 4), but not yet in well recognizable
shape.
Come the giants, stamping in clumsily and
quite unmistakably, as follows: (p. 68, syst. i).
[43]
The Ring of the Nibelung
XII. THE GIANTS
/
They point to the newly completed burg and ask
their pay; Wotan jauntily inquires what tihey want.
The Compact Motive is sounded (p. 69, syst. 3),
as they say that of course it is the fair Freia, as
agreed ; and her motive, not even yet in its definite
form, is heard: (p. 69, syst. 3). The giants are
speechless with rage at this treachery. The mo-
tive of the Compact accompanies their references
to the broken agreement (p. 70, syst. 2 and 4, etc.),
as do fragments of the Freia Motive (p. 72, syst.
4? P- 73> syst. 4). Fafner, in replying to Wotan's
scornful query as to what such dullards want of
her, recalls the Golden Apples that ripen in her
garden; and their motive is a musical expression
of the everlasting youth and joy they bring (p. 74,
syst. 2):
XIII. THE GOLDEN APPLES
f f f f
The commentators request us to notice the re-
lationship of this with the motives of the Ring, of
Renunciatioa and of Valhalla. The situation is
becoming critical, when a respite is gained through
the arrival of the long-expected Loge, the fire god,
[44]
The Rhine Gold
the intriguer, the shifty and adroit. The motive
that accompanies him and his doings has been
described as the most characteristic one in the
whole Trilogy — a sparkling, scintillating passage
in chromatics, ending with trills in sixths (p. 77,
syst. 4):
XIV. LOGE'S MOTIVE
Its descriptive quality is unmistakable. Closely
associated with it is the motive of his Magic Fire
(p. 78, syst. 4):
XV. THE MAGIC FIRE
"^^m
He has much to say of his efforts to think of
some way to help Wotan, which rouses the anger
of the gods Froh and Donner; but Wotan calms
them with assurances of the worth of Loge's coun-
sel. We heai" the motive of Reflection (p. 84,
sys. 2) that later, in "Siegfried," is to be the audi-
ble symbol of much thought :
[45]
The Ring of the^ Nibelung
XVI. MOTIVE OF REFLECTION
ni|.i'B l f~^ I J ^^ =
Loge recites his long search for a ransom for
Freia — something that man will take as a substi-
tute for woman's love, "her worth and delights/'
Now for the first time we hear Freia's Motive, the
motive of eternal youth, at its full value (p. 85,
syst. 4):
XVII. FREIA'S MOTIVE
Several motives reappear in the course of this
recital; the Rhine Gold (p. 87, syst. 2), Praise of
the Rhine Gold (syst. 3), the Rhine Maidens (syst.
4), the Ring (p. 88, syst. i), Loge (p. 89, syst. 3),
Renunciation (upon which he seems to harp with
special pleasure, p. 85, syst. 4, p. 86, syst. 3, p. 87,
syst. 2, etc.). He rouses everybody's cupidity, the
Giants, Wotan's, Fricka's; and in explaining the
work of the dwarfs in thrall to Alberich, he brings
up the Smithy Motive, but in a reversed rhythm
(p. 92, syst. 3), later to appear in its proper form.
Wotan having spumed the giants' offer to take
the gold instead of Freia, they make oflf with her.
A gloom comes upon the scene and the gods begin
to look old and wan, as the goddess of youth is
[46]
The Rhine Gold
tcmi from them, and her motive is heard in chro-
matic distortion (p. 103, syst. i, etc.). With
Loge, Wotan starts oflf for Nibelheim to gain the
gold which the giants may be induced to accept
as a substitute for Freia. The scene changes
behind a black cloud, and we hear in the orches-
tra Loge's flickering motive (p. no, syst. 2), the
motive of Renunciation (p. in, syst. 3), which
suggests the fateful outcome of Wotan's plan; the
motive of the Menial (p. in, syst. 5), leading into
the Flight Motive in dotted triple rh)^hm (syst. 6)
and into the Ring Motive, also in triple rhythm
(p. 112, syst. 4) — a rhythmic elaboration that
has prepared us for the Smithy Motive which now
resounds, first in the orchestra (p. 112, syst. 5), in
its proper form accompanied by the Rhine Gold
fanfare, then hammered furiously upon unseen
anvils behind the scene (p. 113, syst. i):
XVIII. SMITHY MOTIVE
With it the Flight Motive is combined, in the
bass (p. 113, syst. i). The hammering on the an-
vils gradually dies away ; the motive of the
Menial becomes prominent (p. 114, syst. i); the
whole merges into the Ring Motive (syst. 4) and
the third scene, in Nibelheim, is shown with Alber-
ich belaboring the unfortunate Mime, above the
insistent repetition of the Menial's Motive. As
Alberich seizes the miraculous Tamhelm, bestow-
ing invisibility, we hear the Tamhelm Motive (p.
117, syst. 2):
[47]
The Ring of the Nibelung
XIX. THE TARNHELM MOTIVE
Note its vague, mysterious character, with its
ending on the open fifth.
We hear Loge's flickering chromatics (p. 122,
syst. i), and know that the adventurers from the
upper world are approaching. They find Mime
moaning from his brother's blows, and ask him
what his trouble is ; and his reflections on the sub-
ject are accompanied by the motive thereto appro-
priate (xvi; p. 123, syst. 2). Alberich enters,
full of his triumph, and now certain of his mas-
tery over the race of dwarfs, expressed through
the motive of Alberich's Cry of Triumph (p. 133,
syst. 3).
XX. ALBERICH'S CRY OF TRIUMPH
developed out of the motive of the Menial (iii).
The ensuing converse with Loge and Wotan is
accompanied largely by Loge's chromatic motive.
As Alberich boasts of his waxing store of gold
wrought by the Nibelungs, there is heard the
motive of the Rising Hoard (p. 139, syst. i), a
little further on appearing in a somewhat more
developed form (p. 143, syst. i):
[48]
The Rhine Gold
XXI. MOTIVE OF THE RISING HOARD
He mocks the life of the gods, "who laugh and
love, lapped in gently wafting breezes," and
Freia's Motive is heard (p. 140, syst. i), and those
of Renunciation (syst. 4), Valhalla (p. 142, syst.
i); the Rising Hoard (p. 143, syst. i), and the
motive of the Rhine Gold (syst. 4). Tempted by
Loge to show his power, he puts on the Tamhelm
(the motive comes forth) (p. 150, syst. i), and
turns himself into a dragon. Then is heard the
Dragon Motive (p. 150, syst. 3).
XXII. DRAGON MOTIVE
The description is wonderfully vivid. Hav-
ing trapped him into becoming a toad, the two
visitors seize him and his tamhelm and drag him
up to the earth's surface. The scene changes and
the orchestral interlude brings up the Valhalla
Motive and Loge's flicker (p. 154, syst. 4), the
Ring (p. 155, syst. 2), Renunciation (syst. 3)
the Smithy (syst. 5), Flight (p. 156, syst. 2), the
Giants and Valhalla (syst. 4), and so on. The
mountain heights of the second scene are dis-
closed as Alberich is dragged forth, abusing his
captors. They demand his hoard as a ransom,
[49]
The Ring of the Nibelung
and as he summons the Nibelungs to bring it, the
motive of the Rising Hoard is soimded (p. 164,
syst. 4). Even the ring is forced from him, to his
complete despair — for with that left him, he
could regain all the rest. The motive of Compact
(p. 173, syst. 2) is heard, and as the ring is seized,
tiie Rhine Gold Motive is launched with a blast
(p. 173, syst. 4), and then that of Renunciation
(S3rst. 4). Alberich is set free. He turns to his
captors in deadly rage and bitterness, and the
motive of the Nibelung's Work of Destruction (p.
174, syst. 4), is heard, its chief characteristic being
its syncopated beat:
XXiil. THE NIBELUNG'S WORK OF DESTRUCTION
and Alberich curses the gold and its possessors
forevermore (p. 177, syst. 2):
XXIV. ALBERICH'S CURSE
-=r— u
It is the only power he has left to him; but, as
Wolzogen sajrs, it is the power that won him the
gold and the ring, the power that can destroy the
world and the gods. The sky brightens; the giants
are bringing back Freia. The rhythm of their
[so]
The Rhine Gold
motive is heard in the bass (p. 178, syst. 5), and
the Freia Motive above it (p. 179, syst. 3). The
exchange of Freia for the gold is about to be made,
and the Compact Motive soimds (p. 182, syst. 2),
but Fasolt demands that the treasure be piled so
high (motive of the Rising Hoard, p. 182, syst.
4), that it shall hide the fair maid, from his sight
— and the motive of Renunciation comes (p. 183,
syst. 2), with the Freia Motive and the Smithy
Motive, welded together with a wonderful art. To
stop the final crevices the Tamhelm (p. 188, syst.
i), and the Ring must be added (Praise of the
Rhinegold, p. 190, syst. i; Rhine Gold fanfare
syst. 3; Ring, p. 191, syst. i), much against Wotan's
will. He is persuaded to it by the warning of
Erda, the wise, all-knowing mother, who emerges
from the bowels of the earth, her dwelling-place,
and whose emergence is accompanied by a mo-
tive associated with the fate-dealing Noms, her
daughters (p. 192, syst. 3):
XXV. NORN MOTIVE
Its connection with the motive of the Primeval
Element (I) is evident. She tells of the dire
danger that has summoned her, and the malig-
nant S3nicopations of the Nibelung's Work of
Destruction all emphasis to her telling (p. 193,
syst. 5). A darksome day dawns for the gods, is
[si]
The Ring of the Nibelung
her warning; and it is accompanied by the motive
of the Dusk of the Gods (p. 194, syst. 2):
XXVi. THE DUSK OF THE QOOS
"Give up the Ring!" she counsels (Ring, p.
194, syst. 2), and Wotan yields, with the Compact
Motive sounding loud (p. 196, syst. 2), and that of
Renunciation (syst. 3): and the Flight Motive
marking the release of Freia (p. 196, syst. 5).
The curse of the Ring is instantly operative; for,
in a quarrel over its possession, Fafner slays his
brother Fasolt. The Curse Motive is heard (p.
200, syst. 3) and the Nibelungs baleful S3nicopa-
tions (p. 201, syst. i). Fricka coaxes Wotan to
the newly-built and dearly-bought castle (Motives
of Enchantment of Love, p. 202, syst. 2, and Val-
halla, syst. 4). Donner summons a thunder
storm to clear the air and the gloom that hangs
over all. With the gathering clouds is heard Don-
ner's Storm Magic (p. 204, syst. i):
XXVII. DONNER'S STORM MAGIC
[Sa]
r
The Rhine Gold
The storm clears ; a bright rainbow is seen span-
ping the abyss between the cliff and the heights of
VaUialla. The Rainbow is prefigured by an irides-
cent play of instrumental tone color in the or-
chestra (p. 208, syst. 3).
The gods gaze on the glorious sight, as the
music increases in richness and intensity; Wotan
apostrophizes the castle as the shelter of the gods
from approaching night. Then he is as though
seized by a great thought — and that thought
is expressed by the brilliant and energetic intona-
tion by the orchestra of the following (p. 213,
syst. i), which is:
XXVIII. THE SWORD MOTIVE
The thought is of the hero that he will beget to
save the race of the gods, represented thus by his
all-conquering sword. The score contains no
stage directions at this point; the present day tra-
dition at Bayreuth directs that Wotan shall stoop,
pick up and brandish a sword that has been pre-
sumably left over from the Nibelung's hoard, thus
[53]
The Ring of the Nibelung
grossly materializing a poetic idea much better
left to be suggested by the music.
The Valhalla Motive resounds (p. 213, syst. 4),
and the gods start to walk over the rainbow arch
to the castle. Loge, left behind, is ashamed to
share in their dealings. "They are hastening on
to their end," he says, yet he joins the celestial
procession. As they cross the river, below them
are heard the Rhine daughters lamenting the loss
of their gold (Praise of the Rhine Gold, p. 216,
syst. 28; Rhine Gold fanfare, p. 217, syst. i). The
gods smile, but pass on in majestic company,
while the full power of the orchestra intones the
Valhalla Motive and the Rainbow Motive; and so
the Prelude to the Trilogy is closed.
[54]
11. THE VALKYRIE
In "The Valkyrie" we enter into a diflferent
atmosphere, one of storm and stress and the pas-
sions and destinies of human beings upon the
earth's surface blindly following celestial plans.
The prelude itself puts us into the midst of the
tempest with which the drama is opened. A
stormy figure plays through the orchestra rising
to fury, as the hammer strokes of Donner's Storm
Magic are heard (p. 3, syst. 2, etc.). As the cur-
tain is lifted upon Hunding's hut, we hear:
XXIX. MOTIVE OF THE WEARIED SIEGMUND
(p. 5, syst. 4). Sieglinde enters, and as she leans
over the exhausted stranger, wondering at his con-
dition, there is joined to the theme which repre-
sents him, another, which embodies her and her
S)anpathy for him (p. 7, syst. 3, in the treble clef):
XXX. SIEGLINDE'S SYMPATHY
\^i\
^
The Ring of the Nibelung
As she gives him to drink from a horn of water,
and he makes a sign of his gratitude, the motive
of her love is heard (p. 9, syst. 2) :
XXXI. SIEGLINDE'S LOVE
The fragment of the FKght Motive that precedes
the notes of this theme is to be observed ; and thus
joined, it occurs repeatedly in the next succeeding
portion of the drama. As the man and the woman
find themselves more and more bound by the fet-
ters of love, there appears still another motive
that relates to them, the Volsung pair; the motive
of the Woes of the Volsungs (p. 15, syst. i). It
appears first in close union with the motive of
Sieglinde's S)mipathy:
XXXII. THE WOES OF THE VOLSUNGS
XXX XXX
The development of these motives in this first
scene is beautifully and poetically carried through,
in a mood of tenderness and growing passion.
But now a harsh contrast comes. Sieglinde's sav-
age husband approaches, and as he comes, the
characteristic Hunding Motive is played by the
heavy brass instruments:
[56]
The Valkyrie
XXXIII. HUNDING'S MOTIVE
%& •
He announces his own name, and asks his
guest's, and we hear the motive of the Woes of
the Volsungs, as Siegmund goes on in mystifying
fashion to tell what his name is not, and to de-
scribe his storm-tossed life. As he tells of the
disappearance of his father, Wolfe, who is none
other than Wotan, the solemn strains of the Val-
halla Motive are intoned (p. 26, syst. 2). The
Motive of Sieglinde's J^ove is he^rd (p. 26, syst.
3, p. 28, syst. 2), and Sympathy (p. 28, syst. 4),
accompanying him; the Woes of the Volsungs in
a quicker or "diminished" form (p. 29, syst. i),
the motive of the Wearied Siegmund (p. 31, syst.
2), the. figure that in the prelude represented the
storm (p. ^i, syst. 3), and finally, as he ends his
story, the motive of the Woes of the Volsungs, in
its original form (p. 32, syst. i), all appear.
"Now," he sa^s to Sieglinde, "you may know
why I may not be called Friedmund": and there
comes an impressive motive denoting the heroic
lineage of the Volsungs (p. 32, syst. 2) :
XXXIV. HEROIC THEME OF THE VOLSUNGS
MoHb moderato
[57]
The Ring of the Nibelung
The scenes that follow, culminating in the love
duet between Siegmund and Sieglinde, bring in
most of the motives that have appeared since the
curtain parted; and in addition are to be noted
the Flight Motive (p. 35, syst. 3), and the Sword
Motive as Sieglinde, going to follow her husband,
indicates with her eyes a particular spot on the
trunk of the ash tree (p. 35, syst. 5). Left alone,
Siegmund calls upon Walse for the sword, he has
promised him in time of need: and as he calls,
looks toward the ash tree again, where, lighted by
a sudden flaring up of the fire on the hearth, he
sees a sword hilt sticking out — and then again
the Sword Motive is sonorously proclaimed (p. 39,
syst. 2). Sieglinde returns and tells Siegmund of
a sword she wishes he might win for himself, and
as she speaks, is heard the Victorious Cry of the
Volsungs united with the Sword Motive (p. 44,
syst. i).
XXXV. VICTORIOUS CRY OF THE VOLSUNGS
M .1 {"P* 1
flvnnpir ._j.. h'
r' P'
' f
XVIII
She relates how an old man once thrust a sword
to its hilt into the ash tree which none could ever
withdraw, and again the Valhalla motive is heard
(p. 44, syst. 4), since the old man is none other
than Wotan. The Sword Motive and the Victo-
rious Cry accompany her outburst of yearning and
Siegmund's avowal of his love. Follows the long
love song of the two, a broad, passionate, and
[58]
The Valkyrie
heroic melody, in which the Love Motive (xxxi)
the Valhalla Motive, the Flight Motive (p. 58, syst.
i), the Heroic theme with the Sword Motive (p.
67, syst. i), the Freia Motive (p. 61, syst. 2 and 4),
are mingled. Finally, in the height of his exalta-
tion, Siegmund springs up, seizes the sword hilt,
and pulls it from the tree trunk, in triumph. The
Victorious Cry of the Volsungs, the Sword Motive,
the motive of Compact (p. 70, syst. 4), accompany
this glorious scene, one of the most thrilling that
Wagner has created. The orchestral finale is de-
veloped from SiegKnde's Love Motive, with splen-
did and tumultuous passion.
We return in the second act to the company of
the gods. The prelude is built upon a strange
distortion of the Sword Motive in nine-eight
rh)rthm and minor harmonies, united with the
Flight Motive, which goes over into the closely
related Cry of the Valkyrie (p. 79, syst. 2) :
XXXVIa. CRY OF THE VALKYRIE
to which is later added the characteristic accom-
paniment figure, as the real Valkyrie Motive.
XXXVIb. VALKYRIE MOTIVE
[59]
The Ring of the Nibelung
and to which belongs, as further on appears, the
trill and the downward rush of chromatic sixths
(p. 82, syst. 2):
XXXVIc.
BBfimtHILDB
These motives accompany the interview of
Wotan and his daughter Briinnhilde, in which he
charges her to shield the Volsung in his approach-
ing fight with Hunding. Comes Fricka, before
whose injured majesty Briinnhilde disappears ; and
in the long debate which follows between her and
her spouse, and in which she represents and en-
forces the sanctity of the marriage tie by demand-
ing the death of the guilty Volsung pair, many of
the motives already made known reappear. As
Fricka gradually drives him from his purpose to
protect the Volsungs, even to the point of with-
drawing the invincible might of Nothung, the mo-
tive of Wotan's Grim Humor is heard (p. 99,
syst. 2):
XXXVll. WOTAN'S GRIM HUMOR
Its connection with the motives of Compact and
of Renunciation, both musically and logically, is
[60]
The Valkyrie
not difficult to perceive. Briinnhilde returns
with a return of the motives associated with her
(p. 104, syst. 4, etc.). Wotan swears to comply
with Fricka's demand (Compact Motive, p. 107,
syst. 2), and is sunk in the gloomiest brooding at
the predicament in which he finds himself thereby.
(Curse Motive, p. 108, syst. i), from which Briinn-
hilde seeks to lift him. The following scene, in
which Wotan discloses the breadth and depth of
his distress, the "gods' despair" the nature of the
fetters in which he has found himself, is com-
pacted of the most significant motives relating to
the causes and the chain of events that have
brought him where he is. A new one is intro-
duced when he tells of the hero who will dare to
do what to him is denied, in extricating him from
his plight, the motive of the God's Plight, in which
the traits of the Noms and the Dusk of the Gods
Motive may be discerned (p. 120, syst. 4):
XXXVIII. MOTIVE OF THE GOD'S PLIGHT
■■'Ml 1 1 '
'1 r r 1
•pT r Tr-
■pr r [rw=*'-^^*^
ijii.j \D(1'4
^^^
J- JiJ. Jj jj
IIJ^'IpliST^I
to which is often joined that of Wotan's Grim
Humor (p. 120, syst. 3; p. 121, syst. 4). Almost
with the forces of a new motive, significant of
Wotan's Renunciation of the World's Control, is
a compound of the Valhalla Motive, wrenched
into minor harmonies, with the Rhine Gold fan-
fare that appears on page 129, system 4.
[61]
The Ring of the Nibelung
Heralded by the Flight Motive, Siegmund and
Sieglinde, fleeing from the wrath of Hagen, rush
in. Her Love Motive softens the ominous, fore-
boding tone (p. 141, syst. 5). The rh)rthmic out-
line of Hunding's Motive is heard (p. 147, syst, 4),
suggesting his approach; and Sieglinde, beside
herself, falls unconscious in Siegmund's arms,
after an outburst of terror. As he sits, supporting
her head upon his lap, Briinnhilde appears, noti-
fying to him his approaching death, his removal
to join the band of heroes at Valhalla. Her com-
ing is announced by a solemn intonation of the
motive of Fate with its first questioning chord,
resolving in an upward inflexion (p. 152, syst. 4),
followed by an upward mounting phrase, pro-
phetic of Siegmund's death:
XXXIXa. MOTIVE OF FATE
fjnif » ii.01iiil1
XXXIXb. SIEGMUND'S DEATH PROPHECY
The following scene, in which these motives are
elaborated (in connection with the theme of Val-
halla), is of profound impressiveness. The Val-
kyrie Motive is heard (p. 156, syst. 2), and then the
Freia Motive, as Briinnhilde describes the Wish
[62]
The Valkyrie
Maidens who shall wait on the heroes (p. 157,
syst. i); then the motive of Sieglinde's Love as'
Siegmund learns that SiegUnde may not accom-
pany him thither (p. 158, syst. 3). He scornfully
rejects Briinnhilde's notification of his death de-
cree, and when he is told that the magic power of
his sword has been revoked, and that death is his
doom, starts to slay his beloved and their unborn
child ; a hurried and distorted version of the Death
Prophecy (xxxixft) appears as Briinnhilde stays
his hand (p. 168, syst. 4), and in a passionate out-
burst of sympathy promises to both their lives,
and she rushes forth. SiegUnde slumbers on in
Siegmund's arms as Hunding's horn heralds his
approach. He leaves her with a kiss (Freia Mo-
tive, p. 174, syst. i), and hastens to find the foe.
The Flight Motive, the Sword Motive, and in the
increasing darkness, Donner's Thunder Motive (p.
175, syst. 3), are heard. In the gloom the battle
takes place ; with the shrill Valkyrie trills and
the galloping bass motive, Briinnhilde appears (p.
179, syst. 3, 4), to protect the hero; but suddenly
Wotan emerges from the darkness, stretching out
his spear, upon which Siegmund's sword is
splintered, as we hear the Sword Motive in
minor, conjoined with the Compact Motive
(p. 180, syst. i). Siegmund falls, pierced by
Hunding's spear. The motive of the Menial (sig- '•v>c <..%■».
nifying the Nibelung's triumph) is heard (p. 180,
syst. 2. 3), and the Heroic Theme and the Fate
Motive sound solemnly (p. 180, syst. 3, 4); in the
gloom Briinnhilde lifts Sieglinde to her horse and
bears her away. Hunding, having accomplished
[63]
The Ring of the Nibelung
the purpose to which Wotan is pledged, falls dead
before the wave of his hand, as the god gazes
sadly on Siegmund's body. Then the thought of
Briinnhilde's disobedience rouses him to sudden
anger, and he storms forth, as through the orchestra
runs the motive of the God's Plight.
The third act opens upon a rocky peak where
the Valkyries are gathering; the orchestral pre-
lude is the well-known "Ride of the Valk)rries,"
a vivid and strongly characterized picture built
up entirely upon the several sections of the Val-
kyrie Motive, with which is associated a closely
allied rh)1;hmic figure of realistic character, sug-
gesting the galloping of their horses:
XL. THE VALKYRIES' RIDE
'^H ^' J _y I i ^ .
The gathering of the nine sisters gives occasion
for one of Wagner's concerted pieces, in which,
though they are rare in his later music dramas, he
shows the highest skill and feeling for effect in
vocal part-writing. As Briinnhilde comes, carry-
ing Sieglinde upon her horse, the motive of the
God's Plight appears (p. 203, syst. i), then the
diminished version of the Death Prophecy (p. 204,
syst. i), and the motive of Flight (syst. 2). Sieg-
linde's refuge, where her child is to be born, is to
be Fafner's cave; and as this is told, the motive
of the Ring (p. 224, syst. i), which the dragon is
guarding, and of the Dragon (xxiii, syst. 2),
accompany the reference. Briinnhilde announces
[64]
The Valkyrie
to her that she bears in her womb the most glo-
rious hero of the worid, Siegfried; and now for
the first time his motive is set forth (p. 226, syst. 3) :
XLI SIEGFRIED, THE VOLSUNG
For him she shall keep the fragments of the
shattered sword which Briinnhilde has gathered
from the field of his father's death, and the Sword
Motive gleams through the orchestra (p. 227,
syst. i). Profoundly moved, Sieglinde bursts
forth in exaltation "O radiant wonder!" etc., in
the wonderful theme that is to play so wonderful
a part in the climax of the Trilogy at the close of
" The Dusk of the Gods." The theme is that
of Redemption through Love (p. 228, syst. i) :
XLII. REDEMPTION THROUGH LOVE
[65]
The Ring of the Nibelung
Wotan comes through the storm-wind; his
anger is expressed through the motive of Grim
Humor (p. 240, syst. i), and a development of it
through the musical device known as augmenta-
tion (as appears first on p. 243, syst. 3).
The scene between the angry father and the dis-
obedient daughter, that closes the drama is one of
the finest of all Wagner's imaginings. It is carried
through with the most sustained power and un-
ending resource, complete and inevitable in its
expression of the great emotional climax it depicts
— the change and merging of the god's anger into
sorrowing love, the submissiveness of the implor-
ing daughter, the consolation she fijids in the form
of punishment her father decrees. Her wonderful
song of justification is based on the theme that is
brought inmiediately to a hearing (p. 265, syst. i).
XLIII. BRUNNHILDE'S JUSTIFICATION
That and the motive of Wotan's Grim Humor
(xxxvii) constitute most of the material out of
which the next pages of the score are compacted.
From the latter has been developed the little phrase
(p. 265, syst. 5), that is frequently heard in the
[66]
The Valkyrie
orchestra in more or less fullness, and the per-
sistent running figure that envelopes much that is
now heard (p. 269, syst. 4, and the following).
Wotan's reply rises to a height of tragic pathos,
as he discloses the full measure of his own despair.
It is not granted him to end his own unending
sorrow in the wreck of a ruined world (Renuncia-
tion, p. 276, syst. 3; Curse, immediately following).
Brunnhilde in vain pleads for a tnitigation of her
punishment, which he has decreed to be the loss
of her divine attributes (Compact, p. 278, syst. 2).
In vain she urges that, as a mortal maiden, she
may have the heroic child of the Volsungs for her
spouse (Heroic Theme, p. 281, syst. 2; Siegfried
the Volsung, syst. 3). Wotan announces to her
that she shall be locked in sleep; and a series of
descending chromatic harmonies, vague and un-
steady in tonality, suggest the dim land of twi-
light and slumber (p. 284, syst. 4) :
XLIV. TWILIGHT MOTIVE
A gently rhythmical motive first heard in
minor (p. 285, syst. 4), then later in major, re-
flects the picture of sleep :
XLV. SLUMBER MOTIVE
i
[67]
The Ring of the Nibelung
Whoever shall find her and awaken her shall
possess her for his wife.
Briinnhilde prays to be surrounded by terrors
that shall keep from her all but the hero without
fear (p. 286, syst. 3) — by a wall of fire; and the
motive of the Fire Magic is heard in flickering
arpeggios accompanied by the Valkyrie Motive
(p. 288, syst. 2). Wotan gazes at his daughter in
deep emotion, and the Valkyrie and Slumber
Motives are sounded in heroic exaltation (p. 289,
syst. 3, p. 290, syst. i). The daughter's high
and noble spirit breaks down the father's anger
and he gives her his farewell in a long, sustained
song of glorified melody of indescribable godlike
breadth, tenderness, and dignity. He grants her
request; the barrier of flame shall keep away all
but the one fearless hero. It is accompanied by
a marvellous orchestral interweaving of fragments
and extensions and efflorescences of the Slumber
Motive, Valkyrie Motive, the Death Prophecy, the
Fire Motive, Loge's flaming chromatics, Si^-
fried's Motive and an ennobled and broadened
development of Brunnhilde's song of Justification
(p. 294, syst. 2). The Slumber Motive becomes
more predominant (p. 295, syst. 2). The Re-
nunciation Motive points with its ominous tones to
Wotan's painful surrender (p. 297, syst. 3). He
kisses her godhead from her, and the veiled har-
monies of the Twilight Motive (p. 297, syst. 4),
descend; the soft movement of the Slumber Mo-
tive returns (p. 298, syst. 2), united with the
melody to which Wotan has just sung his fare-
well. The Fate Motive is heard (p. 299, syst. i).
[68]
The Valkyrie
With the motive of Compact Wotan summons
Loge. His scintillating chromatic trills accom-
pany his appearance as streams of flame, and
with the Magic Fire Charm united with the Slum-
ber Motive (p. 302, syst. 3). Finally the Siegfried
Motive is added to them through the majestic
proclamation of the trombones (p: 303, syst. 3),
and the melody of Wotan's farewell (p. 304, syst.
i) follows it. The end comes in the Slumber
Motive and the Fire music, as Wotan slowly and
sorrowfully disappears.
[69]
///. SIEGFRIED
Again the scene and the spirit, the atmosphere
and the music change completely. There shall
be life, human and joyous, and the joy of life, in
plenty; but first we are taken into the gloom and
squalor of the Nibelung's abode. Mime sits and
ponders in his forest cave. The motive of Re-
flection (xvi) runs through the orchestral pre-
lude. What he ponders over is suggested by the
motive of the Rising Hoard (p. i, syst. 3). The
Smithy Motive comes in (syst. 5), the motives of
the Menial (p. 2, syst. 3), and the Ring Motive
(p. 3, syst. s). Mime's despondent musings bring
him to the thoughts of Fafner the dragon (Dragon
Motive, p. 7, syst. 7), and the Sword that would
lay him low (p. 8, syst. 3). In the midst of his
dronings enters Siegfried, and the horn announces
him in the clear and vigorous blast that through
the rest of the Trilogy is associated with the im-
petuous child of the forest (p. 11, syst. i):
XLVI. SIEGFRIED'S HORN CALL
He demands of Mime the sword he has been at
work on (Sword Motive, p. 15, syst. 4), but, test-
ing it, he spHnters it to pieces on the anvil, and
bursts out into impatient scolding of the dwarfs
paltry bungling, most characteristically expressed
[70]
Siegfried
by a motive denoting here his impatience, in other
places his strenuous activity (p. i6, syst. i):
XLVIi. SIEGFRIED'S STRENUOUS ACTIVITY
Mime prates on to him of his excellent care of
him, of his fostering love: and in the story a
rh)rthmically altered and shortened version of the
Smithy Theme has a prominent place (p. 19,
syst. i). But Siegfried is all impatience at this
futile tale and demands another kind of love,
such as he sees in nature out of doors, and the
sweet melody of Love in Nature adds point to his
question (p. 27, syst. 3):
XLVIII. LOVE IN NATURE
ir>i:)^$i^4^^V^
He asks about his father and mother, but can
get no satisfaction from the dwarf, who always
returns to the enumeration of his own deserts, till
finally he learns that his mother died in giving
him birth (Woes of the Volsungs, p. 37, syst. 4).
The scene is elaborated with poetic beauty and
psychological insight. Finally Mime fetches Sieg-
fried, as a proof of his story, the broken pieces of
[71]
The Ring of the Nibelung
his father's sword, which Siegfried declares he
must weld anew, and a brilliant variant of the
Sword Motive in six-eight rhythm leaps from the
orchestra (p. 44, syst. i). Leaving Mime to
wrestle with this task, which he knows he cannot
perform, Siegfried storms forth into the forest to
the gay strains of his Song of Wandering (p. 46,
syst. 2):
XLIX. SONG OF WANDERING
Left alone, Mime is soon interrupted in his
worries by the entrance of an unwelcome guest,
Wotan, who is traversing the world as the Wan-
derer. He is announced by his Motive of Wan-
dering, in which the constant shifting and wan-
dering of the tonality of the first measures, through
chromatic changes in the harmony, as well as the
tranquil dignity and measured tread of the last,
are significant (p. 50, syst. 3) :
L.
WOTAN' i
> MOTIVE OF WANDERING
1 5 ■ ^^- ....
i^->
==E
^^
^#
v^
^^
J. „,i\
►
%3 l/rg
•
-T-l 1—
pioke
i^ii
£ir3
^k./j ij
p
jr^\
[[ytg n ..
M=^ =
w=^-
-hM=
*f===
■i 4 i
f »» ■'
^ J
^J ^i
Kj- ■•
^
L__r
[7 2]
Siegfried
The ensuing scene of the three riddles pro-
pounded by each for the stake of his head, a
scene full of the traits of prehistoric legends, in-
troduces a throng of motives that have gone
before. As the Wanderer describes the gods who
dwell on the cloud-hidden heights, ruled by Wotan,
a new motive appears, the motive of the Gods'
Might (p. 62, syst. 4):
LI. MOTIVE OF THE GODS' MIGHT
The Wanderer having saved his head by his
answers. Mime takes his turn timidly and ner-
vously, — as is suggested by a motive of descend-
ing chromatics that introduces his trial (p. 66,
syst. 2).
The Wanderer's third question as to who will
weld the splinters of Nothung the sword, throws
him into despair — though its answer is lightly
suggested by the orchestra with the theme of
Siegfried the Volsung (p. 74, syst. i). Siegfried's
theme of Strenuous Activity covers his confusion
(syst. 2), and the theme of Renunciation suggests
the outcome of his vain quest for a response
(p. 75, syst. 2). The Wanderer claims the victory
and Mime's head, but gives his opponent the
answer after scornfully commenting on Mime's
failure to ask for the solution of the problem that
is tormenting . him. The Wanderer's Motive
[73]
The Ring of the Nibelung
(p. 75, syst. 4), Renunciation (p. 76, syst. i), the
Sword (syst. 2), the Compact, combined with the
Smithy Motive (syst. 2), and the Dragon (syst. 4)
accompany his words. Only he who has never
known fear shall forge Nothung anew, says
Wotan: he leaves Mime's head forfeit to him —
and who that is we hear from the orchestra in
the motive of Siegfried the Volsung (p. 77, syst. 3).
The Wanderer turns away smiling. Mime falls,
overwhelmed with terror and despair, and the
orchestra gives expression in shivering chromatic
tremolos to his state of fear. The tremolo passes
into Loge's figure as the sunlight strikes into the
recesses of the cave, and fills the creature of
darkness with a new terror, in which Siegfried
finds him as he returns, with his Song of Wander-
ing (p. 81, syst. i), and the signal of his Strenu-
ous Activity (p. 87, syst. 4). Mime tries to frighten
the fearless boy with his own fear, that he may
feel sure of his forfeited head. He tells him he
has promised his mother to teach him this won-
derful thing; but not all his graphic words nor all
Loge's fireworks can succeed, though Siegfried
is a willing pupil. Only from the slumbering
Briinnhilde shall he learn fear; and so, through all
this, comes forth more and more clearly Briinn-
hilde's Slumber Motive; at first chromatically
twisted and weakened, to fit with Mime's mood
(p. 90, syst. 3, 4; p. 91, syst. 2), then, in the clear
C major, in its proper form (p. 91, syst. 4). Then
Mime tries the dragon on him; but only to rouse
anew Siegfried's eagerness for the sword to wield
against this interesting creature; and he demands
[74]
Siegfried
the pieces, that he himself may forge the blade.
The great scene of the forging that follows is
introduced with a leaping triplet motive in aug-
mented intervals, that runs through much of it,
clearly derived from the first part of Siegfried's
Horn Call. His successful progress in the task
gives Mime much to think of — how shall he
gain the ring, if Siegfried slays the dragon?
(Ring Motive, p. 105, syst. 2). As Siegfried goes
on he sings an immensely vigorous apostrophe to
the sword whose name he has demanded of the
dwarf, in which the Nothung Phrase plays an
important part (p. 107, syst. i):
Ul. NOTHUNG PHRASE
Several other characteristic melodic figures run
through this robust and jubilant scena — as much
a tour de force for the tenor, with an added artis-
tic requirement at the bellows and anvil, as any
in Italian opera. The most important of these is
the motive of Siegfried's Triumph (p. 115, syst. 4):
Llll. SIEGFRIED'S TRIUMPH
and the motive of the Forging (p. 119, syst. 4):
[75]
The Ring of the Nibelung
LIV. MOTIVE OF THE FORGING
Meanwhile Mime schemes to brew a poison to
administer to the young hero when he has slain
Fafner, and potters over it, imagining great things
from possessing the gold. The Smithy Motive
intrudes itself upon Mime's fancies (p. 129, syst. 2;
p. 132, syst. 2, etc.), as Siegfried sings his tri-
umphant song, and the curtain falls as he cleaves
the anvil in twain with his irresistible blade, now
his to win all the world has in store for him.
A wood shrouded in gloom, before the entrance
to Fafner's fearsome cavern, is shown in the sec-
ond act. Gloomy and fearsome music accom-
panies the picture, in which a transformed and
darkened version of the Giants' Motive plays
much part (p. 136, syst. i) ; so do the Dragon Mo-
tive (syst. 2), the Ring (syst. 6), the Curse (p. 137,
syst. 4), and the Nibelung's Work of Destruction
(p. 138, syst. i). Alberich is seen in the darkness,
brooding and watching for the dragon's slayer.
The galloping figure of the Ride (xl, p. 140,
syst. i), united with the theme of the Plight of the
Gods precede the approach of Wotan the Wan-
derer on his horse. There is a suggestion of the
Valhalla Theme (p. 142, syst. 2) and the motive
of Wandering accompanies Wotan's declaration in
answer to Alberich's sullen and scornful greeting,
that he comes to watch, not to do (p. 143, syst. 4).
In the dialogue that follows, the two natures are
[76]
Siegfried
wonderfully diflFerentiated in the music. Alber-
ich's taunts are accompanied by the motive of
Wotan's Grim Humor (p. 144, syst. 4), the
motive of Compact (p. 145, syst. 4), the Nibe-
lung's Work of Destruction (p. 147, syst. i), the
Ring (p. 148, syst. 3), Loge's motive (p. 149,
syst. i), and finally, the motive of the Sword (p.
149, syst. 4) the symbol of his hope of regaining
the ring, through Fafner's death. Wotan rouses
the sleeping dragon to warn him of his approach-
ing doom, who demands only to be let sleep ; and
with a bit of world philosophy (motive of the
Primeval Element, p. 157, syst. i), leaves him to
face the situation. The Riding Motive accom-
panies his departure, with the harmonies of his
Wandering Motive (p. 158, syst. 3) and a strain of
the parting song he had sung to Briinnhilde (p.
159, syst. i).
Siegfried and Mime approach, on their errand,
as day breaks. A fragment of Siegfried's song at
the forge is heard (p. 160, syst. 5), and other
familiar motives, including the Briinnhilde Slumber
Motive advising us that he is not to learn fear
from the dragon, but from her. Mime describes
the coming terrors of the monster, but Siegfried
plans his course of action cheerfully (Heroic
Theme of the Volsungs, p. 164, syst. 4, Strenu-
ous Activity, p. 165, syst. 3). Mine leaves him,
and, reclining under the trees, he ponders on his
hatred for his foster father, and on the mother
whom he never saw. The scene is one of the
most poetically beautiful of all Wagner's pictur-
ings of nature brought into relation with human
[77]
The Ring of the Nibelung
tenderness; of exquisite art and unerring feeUng
in the instrumental coloring and suflFused with
sheer musical beauty; while its pictorial quality
and its delineation of the wood are irresistible.
As an excerpt for concert performance it has be-
come familiar as the " Waldweben," — the Sounds
of the Forest. There is the rustle of the trees in
the whispering violin figure, in thirds and sixths
(p. 171, ff.) that we hear so much of. From the
theme of the Woes of the Volsungs (xxxii) is
evolved the beautiful melody that accompanies
Siegfried's musings about his mother (p. 174,
syst. 2). The theme of Love in Nature (xlviii)
is fittingly associated with it in its wistful tender-
ness (p. 17s, syst. 3). Freia's Motive with its
characteristic undulating accompaniment is joined
to them (p. 176, syst. 2), in harmony with the
mood and the color scheme. Now comes the
bird, which entrances Siegfried with its singing;
and its music Wagner has devised with the^ sub-
tlest and truest feeling for the possibilities of rais-
ing bird sounds, mostly unmusical, to the higher
power of music, while still retaining their charac-
teristic charm. He thus represents Siegfried's
gracious birdling" (pp. 176-178):
LV. THE BIRD
((
[78]
Siegfried
As a way of understanding this strange lan-
guage, Siegfried attempts to imitate it on a reed;
but with lamentably harsh and unmusical results.
He gives it up, and blows on his own horn a
"blithesome wood-song" — the horn call, the
Siegfried Motive, the Sword Motive (p. 184).
The sound wakes the sleeping dragon, who comes
out to devour the venturesome disturber of his
peace. In the fight that follows the orchestral
background is made up of developments of the
Dragon Motive, the Giants, the Sword Motive,
and Siegfried's Horn Call. The fearless hero is
victorious and as he pierces the dragon's heart,
the theme of the Nibelung's Work of Destruction
is predominant (p. 190, syst. 4), followed by the
Curse (p. 191, syst. 3). Dying, the dragon asks
his slayer's name (Siegfried, the Volsung, p. 194,
syst. 2), and warns him, in a passage of real pathos
and touching power, of the machinations of Mime,
thus putting one good deed to the credit of a
misspent life (the Nibelung's Work of Destruction,
p. 193, syst. 2). Siegfried's hand being spotted
with the dragon's blood in withdrawing the sword,
it bums like fire, and he puts it to his mouth.
Then it seems to him that he understands the
voice of the bird as it speaks to him. That
voice bids him discover the ring among the
dragon's treasure. He enters the cave to find it,
and Mime steals back to the scene of the conflict,
with his little pot of poison for the victor. Al-
berich also emerges from his hiding-place to bar
his brother's way. They have their quarrel over
the spoils, in the course of which the motives of
[79]
The Ring of the Nibelung
the Tamhehn (p. 2cx), syst. 2), of Reflection (syst.
4), of the Smithy (p. 202, syst. i), Alberich's Cry
of Triumph (p. 204, syst. 3), the Ring (p. 205,
syst. 2), and the Rhine Gold (p. 206, syst. i),
show forth the subject of their dispute and are
welded together in a way to set forth clearly the
harsh and domineering nature of the one, the
feeble shiftiness and impotent avarice of the other.
Siegfried emerges from the cavern, thoughtfully
regarding his booty, the Ring and the Tamhelm,
which alone he has selected from the treasure,
and which he considers only as trifles that will
vouch for his victory over the dragon, nothing
more. Mime sidles up to him, very friendly, with
his flowery compliments to him and to himself,
in the music of mock-friendliness and full of
childish double-meanings. A new motive comes
forth for an instant here, denoting his covetous-
ness for the dragon's booty, later to be developed
in " The Dusk of the Gods " as expressive of the
Gibichungs and their covetousness (p. 213, syst.
2):
LVI. MOTIVE OF COVETOUSNESS
(Th« Gibichungs)
But Siegfried repulses him — a straih of the
Bird's song suggests whence his instinctive dislike
has gained the reinforcement of reason (p. 213,
syst. 4; p. 216, syst. 4) — and as Mime tries anew
to cajole him into taking his poisonous brew, he
[80]
Siegfried
suddenly fells him with his sword. Alberich's
mocking laughter is heard, in the Smithy Motive,
together with the motive of Reflection (p. 222,
syst. i). Siegfried picks the body up and throws
it into the mouth of the cave to keep company
with the dead dragon (Horn Call, p. 222, syst. 3;
Smithy Motive, syst. 4; Giant Motive, p. 224,
syst. i; Rising Hoard, syst. 3; Ring, syst. 3).
Once more Siegfried turns to his friendly Bird,
to the music of the theme of Love in Nature
(p. 226, syst. 4), and as he sadly confides his
desolate feeUngs, a new motive springs brilliantly
and aggressively from the orchestra, a motive of
passionate longing, expressive of his yearning for
love (p. 228, syst. 3):
LVII. YEARNING FOR LOVE
mmom i
Ctu
^Orhmmff
immediately followed by the tenderer phrase of
the theme of Love in Nature (p. 229, syst. 2).
The Bird tells him of the love that is waiting for
him, of the bride whom he shall waken and win,
and Siegfried starts joyfully on under this guid-
ance to find her. Among the themes that are
welded together in this magnificently animated
scene are those of Siegfried the Volsung (p. 234,
syst. 2), Briinnhilde's Slumber (syst. 3), and the
various sections of the Bird's own song, as it flies
on, leading Siegfried toward the blazing rock.
* [81]
The Ring of the Nibelung
The third act opens with a stormy orchestral
prelude in which the Riding Motive and the mo-
tive of the God's Plight are first imited, and then
in the bass, the motive of the Compact (p. 239,
syst. 4) ; the harmonies are transformed into those
of the Wanderer's Motive (p. 240). The scene
depicts a wild, rocky place in the mountains.
Wotan is at hand, and we are in the realm of
mother Erda, whom he summons from sleep to
answer his question, how a god may conquer his
care? The scene is conceived in a spirit of
gloomy, unearthly restlessness. The god foresees
the end of his rule and of his race. The music is
largely dominated by a phrase derived from the
Flight Motive (p. 242, syst. 3, etc.). His call is
accompanied by the Norn Motive (p. 243, syst. 2)
and its converse, that of the Dusk of the Gods
(syst. 4, etc.). As Erda's uncanny shape appears
in bluish light within the cavern, the mysterious
harmonies of the Twilight Motive are sounded
(p. 244, syst. 3) following the motive of Compact,
and the motive of Fate (p. 245, syst. i). The
Noms, she tells him, wake while she sleeps; why
does he not ask them? They are in thrall to the
world, says Wotan: the Ring Motive here, because
the magic of the ring still rules the world (p. 248,
syst. 3), and the motive of Renunciation (syst. 4).
Darkness o'erspreads her spirit, is Erda's avowal ;
her wisdom is waning; a conqueror once overcame
even her knowledge, and she bore him a Wish
Maiden (Valhalla, p. 249, syst. 4), bold and wise
(Briiniihilde's Slumber Motive, p. 250, syst. 2 ; Fate
Motive, syst. 3). Why does he not ask her ? With
[82]
Siegfried
the melody of her Justification (p. 251, syst. i),
and the Valkyrie's Motive (syst. 4), and closing
with a phrase from his noble song of farewell in
"The Valkyrie" (p. 252, syst. 4), he explains the
Valkyrie's fate to Erda, who is dazed by the
change that has come upon the world; her wis-
dom is powerless before the new order of things.
But Wotan himself can face the downfall of the
Eternals without dismay — he leaves gladly his
heritage to the Vol^jung; and therewith is an-
nounced the grandiose Theme of the World's
Heritage (p. 257, syst. 3):
LVIII. THE WORLD'S HERITAGE
It' t J:
l Oif lf ' tr
I Jin 0i jjljiPJlrcif
r
He hopes that against the fearless hero, Alber-
ich's curse will be impotent; and that Briinnhilde,
awakened by him, will then achieve a deed to set
free the world — the restitution of the ring. (Sieg-
fried, the Volsung, p. 258, syst. i ; Valhalla, syst.
2 ; Ring, syst. 4, — now in the clear F major, —
the love theme originally associated with Sieglinde,
p. 259, syst. I, as referable to the love which bore
him Priinnhilde) and sends Erda back to her
endless sleep.
She disappears; and again the Bird's melody is
heard. Siegfried and his guide are approaching.
Wotan, still standing where he was, asks the boy
whither he is going; questions him further as to
[S3]
The Ring of the Nibelung
his doings; and as the boy recounts them, the
themes that have been associated with them again
pass before us. Wotan laughs in pleasure at the
young fellow's sturdiness, which rouses his ire,
and he bids the Wanderer stand from his way;
then curiously asks him about his great hat, has
missing eye. His impatience is increased at the
old man's declaration that if he knew whom he
was addressing, he would refrain from his scoffing
(Motive of Wotan's Grim Humor, p. 272, syst. 2),
and warns him against his wrath. That wrath
rises, and with it increase the convolutions of the
motive. Wotan attempts to restrain his progress
toward the sleeping Briinnhilde, describes the sea
of fire that surrounds her (Fire motive. Riding
motive, p. 276). The glow of the flame appears
high up on the mountain; with it Siegfried's im-
patience increases (Siegfried, the Volsung, p. 277,
syst. 3), and as Wotan tries to bar his way with
the sacred spear, he hews it in pieces with his
sword (Sword motive, p. 279, syst. 2). The mo-
tive of Compact is heard, broken by pauses (syst.
3). Wotan tells him to fare forth, he cannot
stop him. Siegfried mounts toward the bright-
ening glow; the music increases in richness and
complexity. Among the motives here are those
of Siegfried the Volsung (p. 280, syst. 2), Praise of
the Rhine Gold (syst. 3), the various sections
of the Bird's song; Siegfried's Horn Call (p. 281,
syst. 3), and the Fire Motive (syst. 3). Siegfried
disappears up the mountain side, while this gor-
geous orchestral interlude is unrolled. The music
gradually falls into the quieter strains of Briinn-
[84]
Siegfried
hilde's Slumber Motive (p. 283, syst. 6), as the
mountain side is hidden in a dissolving cloud. It
sinks to the gentlest pianissimo as the cloud
passes away and shows the mountain top upon
which Briinnhilde lies asleep, as Wotan left her
at the close of "The Valk)nie." A morning light
gleams in the bright blue sky. In the orchestra is
heard the mysterious harmonies of the Fate Mo-
tive (p. 285, syst. i) followed by a thin thread of
melody spun out of the Freia and the Slumber
Motives (syst. 2, flF.). Siegfried appears over the
rocky summit, gazing in amazement on the sight
before him. The Fate harmonies come as if
echoing his questionings, and the motive of the
Enchainment of Love (x, p. 286, syst. 2, p. 287)
accompanies them, forming much of the sub-
stance of the music that follows. It is inter-
rupted by a strain of Wotan's farewell song to
Briinnhilde (p. 287, syst. i), but regains its su-
premacy again as he continues to gaze at the
sleeper. Finally he bends over her to remove her
armor, and cuts its bands with his sword (Sword
Motive, p. 289, syst. 2; Renunciation, syst. 3).
Startled and astonished at the sight of the first
woman he has ever seen, — "That is no man!"
he cries, — he starts back, as the motive of Yearn-
ing for Love bursts in a torrent from the orches-
tra (p. 289, syst. 4). Now first, truly, he learns
what fear is, and the quick rush of his emotions is
embodied in a transformation and union of the
themes of the Woes of the Volsungs (xxxii,
p. 290, syst. 4), here given a new meaning, and of
the Yearning for Love. He involuntarily calls on
[85] '
The Ring of the Nibelung
his mother for help — "A woman Ueth here
asleep!" he murmurs, and Briinnhilde's Slumber
Motive is murmured as gently in the orchestra
(p. 293, syst. i); she has taught him to fear; the
Freia Motive appears (syst. 2). How rouse her
from her slumber? He bends over her and im-
presses a kiss upon her mouth. The motive of
Renunciation is drawn out in the linked sweetness
of thirds to the most delicate pianissimo, yielding
to the upward soaring of the Freia Motive. In a
long, gradual crescendo the orchestra rises to the
broad harmonies of Briinnhilde's Awakening
Greeting to the Sun and the light of day. A
prominent characteristic of it is the harmonic
succession, E minor, C. major, E minor, D minor;
and this is followed by a sonorous melody in
thirds (p. 296, syst. 4):
Lix. brUnnhilde's awakening
This magnificent hymn is of a grandeur that
finds few parallels in dramatic literature; and
though it is developed with the greatest sym-
phonic power, its true effect is essentially dra-
matic. This motive leads into the Fate harmonies
as Briinnhilde asks what hero has awakened her
(p. 298, syst. i), and Siegfried, as in a trance,
answers that he it was, as, beneath insistently
' [86]
Siegfried
repeated chords in an irregular rh)1;hm, his Heroic
Theme breaks through (syst. 3). Then, as he
bursts into an ecstasy of thanksgiving, the new
theme of the Greeting of Love is added to the
score (p. 300, syst. 2):
LX. THE GREETING OF LOVE
Their love kindles in their contemplation of
each other; and its ecstasy is expressed in another
characteristic theme (p. 301, syst. 3):
LXI. THE ECSTASY OF LOVE
with which Siegfried's theme is closely united.
A measure from the Death Prophecy (xxxixft)
P- 30Sj syst. i) accompanies Briinnhilde's refer-
ence to her disobedience, and then comes one from
her song of Justification (xliii, p. 305, syst. 4);
for Briinnhilde is thinking regretfully of her lost
immortality (Valkyrie Motive, p. 308, syst. 4), and
is terrified by Siegfried's passionate pleadings
that she quench the fire that glows in his breast.
In Valhalla all the heroes bent low before her
(Valhalla, p. 313, syst. 3); now her lot is shame!
There is a mournful touch of the theme of Renun-
[87]
The Ring of the Nibelung
ciation (p. 314, syst. i), and Siegfried, in the theme
of the Worid's Inheritance (syst. 4) asks her to
be to him not the slumbering maid but the wife.
The gloomy tones of the Curse are heard (p. 316,
syst. 2) as her dread overmasters her. Siegfried
calms her fears, and the motive of the World's
Inheritance persists (p. 317, syst. 3), till finally
her spirit is dissuaded and the new Theme of
Peace makes tranquil the spirit of the music (p,
318, syst. 4):
LXII. THEME OF PEACE
the accompanying figure of which is derived from
the Slumber Motive.
This is almost immediately joined to another
new motive in praise of Siegfried as the World's
Treasure (p. 319, syst. 3):
LXIII. SIEGFRIED, THE WORLD'S TREASURE
/ww/=
J_Ji
m
Siegfried feels the tumultuous waves of "a glo-
rious flood" within him; and the billows of that
flood are represented in the orchestra by a varia-
tion of that diminished form of the heroic Volsung
Theme that has previously expressed his bewilder-
[SS]
Siegfried
ment at his first approach to Brunnhilde; or, as
some consider it, a variant of the theme of Stren-
uous Activity (p. 323, syst. 3).
The passionate pleadings of the hero break
down the woman's dread, till finally she herself
acknowledges the surging flood, the raging fire
within her — does he not fear her, the mad, furi-
ous maid ? she asks in a vocal phrase that is the
motive of Siegfried, the Volsung; while the im-
petuous Valkyrie theme is hurled forth by the
orchestra (p. 330, syst. 2, 3,). The orchestra takes
the Volsung's phrase from her mouth, as she em-
braces him impetuously. The Bird twitters mer-
rily, as Siegfried declares that he has lost again
all his fear; and presently comes a new theme,
denoting their final union, the theme of Love's
Resolve (p. 333, syst. 4) :
LXIV. THEME OF LOVE'S RESOLVE
Briinnhilde throws herself into Siegfried's arms;
and with a magnificent crescendo in passionate
power, in an outpouring of the ecstasy, the drama
is closed.
[89]
IF. THE DUSK OF THE GODS.
It is night upon the Valkyrie's rock. The three
Noms sit there, winding the skein of the world's
destinies in the gloom. They sing, telling of the
destruction by Wotan of the World's Ash Tree
from which he cut his spear, and under which
once they wove. The ash tree withered and died;
the spear, with its runes of treaties in the shaft,
was shattered ; Wotan bade the heroes of Valhalla
cut the tree and pile it around the castle; and
when it bums, the castle will fall in ruins and
with it the might of the gods. This prelude to
the drama is a wonderful piece of dark tone-
picturing, filled with a feeling of nameless dread.
The opening is based on the harmonic progressions
of Briinnhilde's Awakening, between which comes
the figure of the Primeval Element, and above it
the Norn's Theme, then, as if in questioning, the
Theme of Fate (p. 2, syst. i). Further progress
of the piece discloses a measured version of Loge's
Fire Motive (p. 2, syst. 4), the Valhalla Motive
(p. 5, syst. i), the Compact Theme (syst. 3),
Dusk of the Gods (p. 6, syst. i), the Might of the
Gods (p. 7, syst. i), the Ring (p. 10, syst. 4), as
the final result of its curse, the downfall of the
Gods, is spoken of, Loge's Motive in its original
form (p. 12, syst. 4), the Twilight harmonies
(p. 15, syst. 3), Alberich's Cry of Triumph (p. 17,
syst. 2), Siegfried's Horn Call (syst. 4), the
Curse (p. 18, syst. i), each with its own reference
[90]
The Dusk of the Gods
to the underlying causes of world-shattering events
of which the Noms sung. Their skein breaks,
their wisdom is at an end, and with the Curse
Motive, the Twilight Motive, and the Theme of
Fate, they sink out of sight, returning to Mother
Erda (p. 19). The day begins to dawn, and its
coming is shown forth by one of Wagner's won-
derful nature-pictures, bringing warmth and color
after the gray mystery of the Noms. There is an
expanded and dignified version of Siegfried's
Horn Call that now and hereafter is referable to
Siegfried, the Hero (p. 19, syst. 3, 4), and then a
new motive appears, characteristic of Brunnhilde,
the woman (p. 20, syst. i).
LXV. BRUNNHILDE'S MOTIVE
iaidMbm
{''■■j^iii'
^
With the full daybreak appear Siegfried, fully
armed, and Briinnhilde, leading her horse, and
we learn the new Heroic Siegfried Motive, and
the Valk}nie Motive in close companionship (p. 21,
syst. i). Brunnhilde sends forth her hero to new
deeds of valor. She has given him all her knowl-
edge, all she has. Another new motive voices her
Heroic Love (p. 21, syst. 4):
LXVI. BRUNNHILDE'S HEROIC LOVE
[91]
The Ring of the Nibelung
derived from that variant of the Heroic Motive
of the Volsungs, that so frequently accompanied
Siegfried's early passion in the preceding drama.
The Greeting of Love is heard (p. 22, syst. 4),
but it is chiefly from the last two with the broad-
ened Horn Call (p. 23, syst. 4; p. 25, syst. 2, ff.)
that this superb and impassioned scene of fare-
well is developed. Siegfried gives her his ring as
a pledge (Ring Motive, p. 29, syst. 2 ; p. 30, syst. 2),
and she returns the gift with Grane, her horse
(Valkyrie Motive, p.30 , syst. 3, 4, etc.; Ride
Motive, p. 31, syst. 3). Siegfried's Song of Wan-
dering is suggested (p. 33, syst, 3; p. 35, syst. i),
and comes at length more frequently forward.
As they finally part, a long orchestral interlude
begins, which pictures Siegfried's journey up the
Rhine, an immensely animated and picturesque
description, in which the chief components are
Siegfried's Song of Wandering, Brunnhilde's
Theme, the Greeting of Love, Siegfried's Horn
Call, the Flight Motive (as it appears joined with
that of Siegfried's Love, in The Valkyrie, p. 39,
syst. 3), Loge's Dancing Flames (p. 40, syst. 4);
then, the billowy figure of the Primeval Element
(p. 41, syst. 5), Praise of the Rhine Gold (p. 43,
syst. i), the Rhine Gold fanfare (syst. 2), Re-
nunciation (syst. 4), the Ring (p. 44, syst. i),
and the Rhine Gold fanfare, repeated, is an-
swered by Alberich's baleful Cry of Triumph (p.
44, syst. 4).
Here closes the pi elude, and the curtain parts
upon the first scene, showing the Hall of the Gibi-
chungs, on the bank of the Rhine. There are
[92]
The Dusk of the Gods
Gunther, Gutrune and their half brother Hagen,
Black Alberich's swarthy son, whose works of
darkness are suggested by the Hagen Motive (p.
45, syst. i). One of the most significant and fre-
quently recurring features of which is the interval
of the "tritone'' in the bass (D-^):
LXVII. HAGEN'S MOTIVE
It comes in immediate connection with the
motive of covetousness, which now is transferred
to denote the race of the Gibichungs (syst. 2, ff.).
Hagen urges the necessity of a wife for Gunther,
a husband for Gutrune, to enhance the lustre of
the family name. Freia's Motive is suggested
(p. 47, syst. I, 3,): Briinnhilde he mentions for
Gunther, and with the mention are associated the
Valkyrie Motive (p. 47, syst. 4), the Fire chro-
matics (p. 48, syst. i), and a snatch of the Bird's
song (syst. 2, 3,), Siegfried alone could win her
(Heroic Theme of the Volsungs, p. 49, syst. i;
the Horn Call, and Sword motive, syst. 3). For
Gutrune he chooses Siegfried, and he tells them
of his deeds, for which the appropriate and fa-
miliar themes are employed (the Dragon, p. 50,
syst. 3; the Sword, syst. 4; the Ring, p. 51, syst. i;
Rhine Gold fanfare, syst. 2; Alberich's Cry of
Triumph, syst. 3; Valkyrie, syst. 3). Bv trickery
and magic can Briinnhilde be won for 'Gunther.
[93]
The Ring of the Nibelung
Hagen has a potion, and as he describes its
love spell, the Freia Motive is heard (p. 54, syst.
3), the Tamhelm Motive (p. 55, syst. i), and the
first suggestion of a motive later to appear in
more characteristic form, as referring to Hagen's
potion (Theme of Deception by Magic, Ixx,
p. 55, syst. 2). Gunther is enthusiastic over the
scheme. Siegfried's approach affords the oppor-
tunity to carry it through. His Horn Call comes
from a distance (p. 56, syst. 2, ff.), and the Praise
of the Rhine Gold (p. 58, syst. 3), now and again
united, and then a vigorous statement of the Ring
Motive (p. 59, syst. 4). To Hagen's hail Siegfried
answers, accompanied by the motive of the Gibi-
chungs (p. 60, syst. 2), and Hagen's cry of welcome
is ominously sounded above the Curse Motive
(p. 61, syst. 2). Siegfried lands, and his horse is
cared for by Hagen.
Siegfried's answer proffers his life and his sword
(Heroic Theme of the Volsungs, p. 65, syst. i ; the
Ecstasy of Love, syst. 2; the Forging Themes,
Smithy Motive, Sword Motive, syst. 3). Hagen
asks if he is not the possessor of the Nibelung's
treasure (Smithy, Rising Hoard, syst. 4). Sieg-
fried admits it, but makes light of it. The Tam-
helm he has, not knowing its use, which Hagen
forthwith tells him (Tamhelm, p. 67, syst. i), and
then reminds him of the Ring (Ring, syst. 3),
which he has given to Briinnhilde (Heroic Love,
Ixvi, syst. 3). Now comes Gutrune carrying
a drinking horn with Hagen's potion and the
orchestra discloses the motive of Gutrune's Greet-
ing (p. 68, syst. 2\
[94]
The Dusk of the Gods
LXVIII. GUTRUNE'S GREETING
immediately connected with her Theme of Love :
LXIX. GUTRUNE'S LOVE
She offers him the potion, and murmuring his
devotion to Briinnhilde, he drinks it to her (Greet-
ing of Love, the World's Heritage, p. 69, syst. i).
Immediately follows the theme of the Deception
by Magic (p. 69, syst. 2) :
LXX. DECEPTION BY MAGIC
P^-H * '
closely analogous with the vague Tamhelm har-
monies. At once Briinnhilde vanishes from his
mind, and looking upon Gutrune with a sudden
burst of passion, he addresses her in vehement
strains, to an orchestral passage developed from
the theme of Gutrune's Greeting. Alberich's
Curse sounds warningly (p. 72, syst. i), and as
[95]
The Ring of the Nibelung
Siegfried asks Gunther if he has a wife, Briinn-
hilde's Motive faintly ascends from the orchestra
(syst. 2). No, is Gunther's reply (Valkyrie Mo-
tive, syst. 3), and he hopes to win the one on
whom he has set his heart. Whom can he not
win, replies Siegfried, with him as his friend ? and
we hear the theme of the Ecstasy of Love (syst. 4).
And as Gunther tells of her mountain home and
the surrounding wall of fire, Loge's chromatics
and the Bird's song are sounded, and the Magic
Deception keeps all remembrance from Siegfried's
mind (p. 73, syst. 3). Siegfried fears no fire
(Loge's Motive, p. 74, syst. i, etc.), and Gunther
shall have this maid if he gives him Gutrune for
his wife. By the Tamhelm's power he will be-
guile her. The Curse Motive casts its shadow
(p. 75, syst. 3), the Fire Theme flickers again, the
Sword Theme rings out (p. 76, syst. 2). They
agree to swear Blood-Brotherhood, and the Com-
pact Motive confirms their agreement (syst. 3).
The ceremony is picturesque, of immemorial an-
tiquity, performed over a horn of wine that Hagen
brings, each dropping a drop of his own blood into
it from a cut he makes in his arm. The charac-
teristic dissonant "tritone" in the bass of Hagen's
Motive recurs through this scene, with ominous
significance (p. 76, syst. 5; p. 77, syst. 2, etc.) —
especially since he himself takes no part in it, —
as does Alberich's Curse (p. 78, syst. 3, etc.).
The theme of Compact lends its weight of author-
ity (p. 77, syst. 3, etc.). The theme to which
Gunther and Siegfried sing the formula is this
(p. 77, syst. 3):
[96]
The Dusk of the Gods
LXXI. BLOOD— BROTHERHOOD
Bridit Pin Bru dw dm Buadi TtiiRt den Tm - •• dw Plmiad,
Bfdkt {f «'ar Ir «• kimd, /mitt if JrUm4 kf It /Hf«4
Especially to be noted here is the emphatic
downward stroke that is used in connection with
it, now a fifth (as at p. 76, syst. 5, and p. 79,
syst. i), followed, same line, by the interval of
Hagen's tritone, but most characteristically an
octave, as at p. 78, syst. 4. This octave frequently
recurs in future references to this matter.
The two start at once to fetch the bride, the
Hagen, Valk3nie, Gutrune, and Loge Motives ac-
compan5nng their embarcation on Siegfried's boat.
Hagen seats himself to guard the entrance to the
hall. The strange tritone sounds heavily in the
bass, the Horn Call is given a new, ominous turn
in a diminished seventh chord, and the syncopations
of the Nibelung's Work of Destruction continue
their monotonous beat, as he sits on his guard and
reflects on the coming of Briinnhilde, with the
Ring. Alberich's Cry of Triumph adds its lower-
ing strains (p. 84, syst. 4; p. 85, syst. 2), and the
themes of Siegfried, the Valkyrie (syst. 2 ; syst. 4),
and of Renunciation (p. 86, syst. 2, 4), the Rhine
Gold fanfare (syst. 3), the Ring (p. 87, syst. 2)
unite to make this gloomy interlude, during which
the curtain is drawn. Brunnhilde's Motive (p. 88,
syst. 3, 5), the Greeting of Love (syst. 4, 6), and
strains of the motive of Briinnhilde's Awakening
(p. 88, syst. 6; p. 89, syst. 4) lead to the next
scene, showing us Briinnhilde seated on her rock,
gazing silently at Siegfried's ring on her finger.
[97]
The Ring of the Nibelung
The theme of Siegfried, the World's Treasure (p.
90, syst. i) gives voice to her thoughts. The
galloping figure of the Valkyries (p. 90, syst. j;
p. 90, syst. 2, etc.), the Valkyrie Motive (syst. 3),
the Cry (syst. 4), the rush of descending chromatic
sixth chords (p. 91, syst. i) all notify the coming
of one of the sisterhood, and in a storm cloud
rides Waltraute. A rush of motives from "The
Valkyrie" and "Siegfried" floods Briinnhilde's
eager questioning of her sister, and her relation of
what has befallen her. But for nothing of this
has Waltraute come. She has direful tidings of
Wotan and Valhalla. The motive of Wotan's
Grim Humor rules much of her recital (p. 99,
syst. 2, etc.). No more are the Wish Maidens
sent to the field of battle; through the world
wandered Wotan (motive of the God's Plight, p.
100, syst. 4). His spear was splintered (Compact,
p. 1 01, syst. 2) when he returned (Valhalla).
The World's Ash Tree he had cut down and
piled before the castle (motive of the God's
Might, p. 102, syst. i), and there he sits, grave
and mute, surrounded by his heroes (broadened
Valhalla Theme, p. 102, syst. 2, etc.; Fate Motive,
p. 103, syst. 2). The Golden Apples he no more
tastes (Golden Apples, xiii, p. 103, syst. 3).
Forth from Valhalla he sends his ravens, seeking
tidings *(Alberich's Cry of Triumph, p. 104, syst.
2, 3, 4). Round his knees cower the Valkyries
(in Wotan's Grim Humor, syst. 4). Then he re-
members Briinnhilde — a strain from his farewell
song is heard (p. 105, syst. 2) — and sighs, speaks
the words, if ever the River Maidens win from
[98]
The Dusk of the Gods
her hands again the Ring, free from the Curse
would be the god and the world. (Praise of the
Rhine Gold, p. 105, syst. 2; Ring, syst. 2; Alber-
ich's Curse, syst. 3; Valhalla, syst. 4). It is with
this prayer that she comes to Briinnhilde — give
up the Ring, end all the grief of the gods (Re-
nunciation, p. 107, syst. i). But Briinnhilde will
hear nothing of all this — evil fancies, they are ;
and the Grim Humor of Wotan is transferred to
her (p. 107, syst. i). From the Compact Motive
is evolved another with an important part to play
in "The Dusk of the Gods," that may be called
the Tangled Thread of Fate. "Dark and wild
seemeth thy speech," sings Briinnhilde, and thus
the orchestra expresses it (p. 107, syst. ^):
LXXII. TANGLED THREADS OF FATE
She scorns the idea of casting Siegfried's pledge
of love into the Rhine. The Ring Motive now
sounds more and more insistently as Waltraute
urges her request (p. 109), and with it, on Briinn-
hilde's part, are heard strains of her Awakening
Motive (p. 109, syst. i), the theme of the World's
Heritage (p. no, syst. 4), then her own motive
(p. Ill, syst. 2) and the motive of Love's Greeting
(syst. 3) as Briinnhilde hymns the praises of the
Ring and the preciousness of Siegfried's love,
which it represents to her. The music is worked
up into a development of the themes of Grim
[99]
The Ring of the Nibelung
Humor (p. iii, syst. 3), Renunciation (p. 112,
syst. I, 2), the Ring (syst. 3), the Curse (p. 112,
syst. 4; p. 113, syst. i); and amidst the wild Val-
kyrie Motives Waltraute rushes away in anguish.
This, then, is the second tragic fault of Briinn-
hilde which speedily works for her sorrow and her
downfall. Evening comes on, and as she sits
thoughtfully, the fire light blazes up again around
her mountain (Magic Fire, p. 116). It must be
that Siegfried approaches, and she starts up in
delight (Siegfried's Motive, p. 117, syst. 3; Horn
Call, syst. 4), to meet him. But as Siegfried
bursts through the wall of flame she draws back
in terror. The Tamhelm has given him the form
and appearance of Gunther. "Betrayed," she
cries, and the mystic harmonies of the Tamhelm
are sounded, followed by the correlative Magic
Deception, and then the Gibichung Motive (p.
119, syst. 2, 3). Siegfried, all memory of Briinn-
hilde blotted from his mind by the power of
Hagen's potion, announces that he is Gunther,
come as her wooer, whom she must follow, and
Brunnhilde bursts out into imprecations against
the faithless Wotan, as she deems him, for re-
laxing the protecting power of the fiery walls
around her. Springing toward her (Hagen's bass,
the syncopations of the Nibelung's Work of De-
struction, are heard leading into the Tamhelm
and Magic Deception harmonies) Siegfried tells
her she must be his bride (motive of the Menial,
p. 123, syst. I, 2): he wrests the ring from her,
resisting violently, and drags her fainting to the
entrance of the cave. Alberich's Cry of Triumph
[100]
The Dusk of the Gods
(p. 124, syst. 2), the Ring, the Valk)rrie, the
Curse, finally the theme of the World's Heritage
and BriinnMlde's own motive, accompany the
struggle, by which she is forced to be Gunther's
bride. The syncopated beats of the Destructive
Work of the Nibelung are as the panting breath
of the exhausted woman. Siegfried follows her
into the cave, drawing his sword that shall lie
between them that night, preserving his faith with
his blood-brother, as the resounding octaves that
accompanied the theme of the Blood-Brotherhood
and the Sword Motive, connected with the motive
of Compact, are heard (p. 127, syst. 2); then
Gutrune's Motive, (syst. 4), the Sword (p. 128,
syst. i), the pompous octave, the Tamhelm, the
Magic Deception. Briinnhilde's Motive, sadly in
minor, recalls the joyous first night on Siegfried's
breast; and the end comes in the mysterious har-
monies of the Tamhelm. The malignant work
of Hagen is accomplished. The Volsung, swayed
by the magic of his potion, has betrayed his bride,
for Gunther, who knows not that Briinnhilde is
already the wife of another.
The second act opens under the baleful influ-
ences of the Nibelung and his son. The beating
syncopations of the Nibelung's Work of Destruc-
tion, the heavy fall of Hagen's discordant bass, and
Alberich's Cry of Triumph, sound through the
night, 'where Hagen still sits, guarding the Hall,
in full armor, but asleep. Alberich crouches be-
fore him and addresses him in his sleep. His
hatred of all joy is suggested by the motive of
Renunciation (p. 132, syst. 3), as he urges him to
[lOl]
The Ring of the Nibelung
hate the happy, to be crafty, strong and bold;
tells him of his plight, the theft of the Ring; how
Wotan lost dominion through the Volsungs (dis-
torted Valhalla Theme, p. 134, syst. 4), and how
the gods must all fall. They two will win the
world, if Hagen's faith remains true; and with
this comes the new motive of- Murder (p. 135,
syst. 3):
LXXIil. MURDER
?<
Around which flicker Loge's chromatics. The
Ring must be won from the Volsung; his undoing
alone will serve. Hagen swears fidelity and Al-
berich disappears. The Ring motive, Siegfried's
Horn Call, the motive of Renunciation, the
Theme of Murder, the frequently recurring s)ni-
copations, the Rhine Daughters (p. 138, syst. i),
the Giants (p. 138, syst. 3, 4), make up the musi-
cal substance of the scene. Alberich summons
Hagen to swear to him, with the distorted Val-
halla Motive (p. 139, syst. 3). Alberich himself
swears by his own Curse (p. 140, syst. 2), and his
injunction to fidelity, "Be true!" brings back the
motive of the Menial (syst. 4).
Day dawns, and the gloomy motives of the
malignant intriguers give way to music of a more
cheerful quality. The theme is that of the
Awakening Day (p. 141, syst. 3):
[102]
The Dusk of the Gods
LXXIV. THE AWAKENING DAY
^
Siegfried returns from his unhappy errand, re-
counting his success on Brunnhilde's Rock, and
asking for Gutrune (motive of Gutrune's Greet-
ing, p. 143, syst. I, 3, etc.). He relates his ad-
ventures to her. (The Magic Fire, the Gibichung,
the Valk)nie, the Tamhelm, the Magic Deception
are chiefly in evidence, with the motive of Yearn-
ing for Love as an accompaniment figure, p. 144,
syst. 2, etc.). He quiets her scruples as to his
night with Briinnhilde, after her somewhat cir-
cumstantial examination of him, by pointing to
his sword, which lay between them, as the de-
cisive octaves of the Blood-Brotherhood theme
ring out. Hagen discerning the boat bearing
Gunther and Briinnhilde (motive of the Awaken-
ing Day, p. 149, syst. i), Gutrune goes to prepare
a welcome for her brother's bride (Gutrune's
Love Motive, syst. 4), and Hagen blows his cow
horn to assemble the vassals of the Gibichungs
for the coming wedding feast. The motive hero
is a section of the theme of the Awakening Day,
yet with the sinister inflection that Hagen's influ-
ence gives it, through that strange recurring dis-
sonant interval. Hagen calls to arms, to meet
coming need — which is the joyous wedding cere-
mony impending. (The Motive of the Dusk of the
The Ring of the Nibelung
Gods, p. 152, syst. I, points to impending catas-
trophe.) The vassals gather with uncouth cries,
and the chorus that ensues is a wonderful piece of
boisterous, humorous barbarity, of a piece with
the scene and the surroundings. An accompani-
ment figure is employed here (p. 159, syst. i)
which, while it has a reminder of the Gibichung
Motive in transformed rhythms, points also to the
orchestral accompaniment to Siegfried's song at
the anvil. It passes into the Gibichung Motive
(p. 157, syst. i). A phrase from Gutrune's Love
Motive is frequently used here and later as a
Wedding Call (as on p. 158, syst. 2). Hagen
calls for offerings to the gods (and the phrase is a
reminiscence of Mime's smooth compliments and
self-appreciation to Siegfried, p. 163, syst. 3), also
for a carousal, at which the vassals break into
uproarious laughter and unite in a great chorus
of greeting, preluded by Hagen's characteristic
figure (p. 167, syst. i) and based on a phrase from
the theme of the Awakening Day (p. 168, syst. i),
and the Wedding Call variant of Gutrune's Greet-
ing (syst. 4). Through a magnificent crescendo
this is worked up and carried over into a swelling
wedding march that greets the arrival of Gunther
and his unwilling bride, Briinnhilde, in their boat
(p. 175, syst. 3):
LXXV. WEDDING MARCH
[104]
The Dusk of the Gods
Jm.
r Jti^Ei/l
"i'mi^'^iii ^w
Briinnhilde, with bowed head, steps forth, led
by Gunther, who presents her to the vassals. The
Valkyrie Motive is ominously suggested (p. 177,
syst. I ; p. 179, syst. i); the Wedding Call with rich
chromatic harmony and Briinnhilde's Motive are
brought together in alternation (p. 179, syst. 2).
Briinnhilde has not yet looked up ; but as Gunther
pronounces the words " Gutrune and Siegfried " the
orchestra bursts out in a sudden climax and crash,
and Briinnhilde raises her head, fixing her gaze
on Siegfried in astonishment. Pianissimo, the
Fate harmonies throw their baleful suggestion
upon the situation (p. 180, syst. 3). All are as-
tonished; some wonder softly what ails her.
"Siegfried here?" she asks. He tranquilly re-
plies that he has won Gunther's sister, as Gun-
ther has won her. "He lies," she cries, and is as
one in a swoon. The Fate Motive sounds (p. 181,
syst. 4). Briinnhilde's own motive accompanies
her anguished whisper, "Siegfried knows me not."
She sees the ring upon his finger (Ring, Curse
and Renunciation Motives, p. 184, syst. 3, 4), and
with suppressed excitement she asks how it came
there, since it was wrested from her not by him,
but by Gunther — for so Siegfried seemed to her,
through the Tamhelm's magic (the Nibelung's
Work of Destruction is indicated through all this
passage, p. 183). Gunther, in great perplexity,
The Ring of the Nibelung
says he gave Siegfried nothing (Magic Deception,
p. 184, syst. 4: Rhine Gold fanfare in minor, p.
185, syst. 2). Now Briinnhilde's rage flames up:
Ha, she cries; Siegfried it was who robbed her
— Siegfried the traitor and thief : (Motive of the
Tangled Threads of Fate (p. 186, syst. i). No,
he replies, he won it from a dragon. (Praise of
the Riine Gold, Giants, Rhine Daughters, p. 186,
syst. 4; p. 187, syst, i). If Brunnhilde knows the
ring, and it is the one Gunther took from her,
then it is his, and Siegfried has it by guile, for
which he must atone — so argues Hagen, almost
laying his hand upon the accomplishment of his
father's purpose (Curse, p. 187, syst. 3; Deception
by Magic, syst. 4). Brunnhilde bursts out with a
storm of denimciation of the shameful betrayal,
and the Ring Motive descends as in a flood. Her
outburst is further accompanied by the Valhalla
Motive (p. 190, syst. i), a fragment of her Justi-
fication (syst. 2), the Flight Motive (p. 191, syst. i)
and a passage of chord formations based on the
successions of the Twilight Motive, as it appeared
when Wotan cast her into her magic sleep (p. 191,
syst. 3, 4). Vehemently she pushes aside Gun-
ther with his attempts to calm her (the accom-
paniment to the vassal's charms reappears here
p. 192, syst. 2; and the Tangled Threads of Fate,
syst. 3) and proclaims to all present that Siegfried
is her husband — he forced from her delight and
love (Renunciation, p. 193, syst. 3 ; Tangled
Threads of Fate, p. 194, syst. i, 2). Siegfried
denies it. His plighted Blood-Brotherhood (the
octaves) Nothung, (Sword and Compact Motives,
[io6]
The Dusk of the Gods
p. 194, syst. 4) which lay between them, parted
them in honor. (Tangled Threads of Fate, p.
195, syst. 2). Briinnhilde declares that Nothung
hung on the wall in its sheath, when its lord won
his true love (Briinnhilde's Heroic Love, p. 195,
syst. 2, etc.). Profound sensation among the
vassals; all urge Siegfried to cast the slander
from him with an oath. The phrase of Blood-
Brotherhood is twice repeated (p. 198, syst. 4;
p. 199, syst. i), with an emphatically broadened
version of the Theme of the Tangled Threads of
Fate, and Siegfried swears upon the point of
Hagen's spear to these strains (p. 199, syst. 2) :
LXXVI. THE OATH
Hel . ie Wahr,
bei . U-g« Whf > M
Ul • Imt-W wm f ^
1= ,^
the similarity of which to Alberich's Curse is to be
observed.
With a quick, fierce rush of the Valk)nie^s Cry
and the Riding Motive (p. 200, syst. 4) Briinn-
hilde breaks in and putting her hand upon the
spear point swears her oath, that by that spear
point he shall perish, for broken are all his vows.
The chorus cries out, and after a fiery recapitula-
tion of Briinnhilde's Heroic Love (p. 203, syst. 3)
more calmly continued as Siegfried recommends
rest and quiet for the "untamed mountain maid,"
(with a suggestion of the motive of Reflection p.
[107]
The Ring of the Nibelung
205, syst. 2), he calls for the feast to go on with
the Wedding Call (p. 206, syst. 4) which is de-
veloped with grandiose sonority. He goes off
with Gutrime, followed by the vassals, leaving
Gunther and Hagen behind, with Brunnhilde.
The music takes a gloomier color, as Brunnhilde
gazes sadly after the couple; the Renunciation
Theme (p. 208, syst. 5) and the syncopations of
Nibelung's Work of Destruction are united with
the harmonies of the theme of the Deception by
Magic (p. 209, syst. i), and the spectre of the
motive of Murder is outlined (p. 209, syst. 2, 3)
followed by the Fate harmonies (syst. 5). Briinn-
hilde sadly wonders what wisdom she has for
this riddle — all her wisdom she has given him
(theme of the World's Heritage, p. 210, syst. 2).
The motive of Murder bursts out as a despairing
cry (p. 211, syst. 3) followed by the motive of the
Menial joined with Hagen's Theme in the bass
(syst. 4). These two are now used together as a
motive indicative of the league of revenge in
which Hagen seeks to enlist Briinnhilde's aid.
The motive of the Oath (p. 212, syst. i), accom-
panies his suggestion, to which she at first answers
in scorn that a glance from his eye would wither
all his courage; a state of mind subtly bodied
forth by the theme of the World's Heritage, in
strange, new harmonies (syst. 3) together with the
Magic Deception. He knows Siegfried's might;
but she shall tell him his vulnerable point. She
has thrown a protecting spell about the hero
(theme of the Ecstasy of Love, p. 214, syst. 3)
yet (Destructive Work of the Nibelung) if he
[108]
The Dusk of the Gods
strikes at his back — (League of Revenge, p. 216,
syst. 2). He turns to Gunther, who bewails his
lot (motive of Renunciation p. 219, syst. 3), tell-
ing him that naught will avail for his honor but
Siegfried's death (Murder Motive, syst. 4). The
oath of Blood-Brotherhood restrains him; but
Hagen declares that Siegfried betrayed him, and
adds as a further argument that the possession of
the ring would give him dominion over all the
world. The thought of Gutrune, Siegfried's
spouse, gives him pause (Gutrune's two motives,
p. 223, syst. 4); Hagen suggests a boar hunt,
wherein the hero may come to his death. Gun-
ther is persuaded (League of Revenge, p. 225,
syst. 4), and the three vow together that Siegfried
shall die. The sinister music voicing their death
dealing plans is suddenly interrupted by the jubi-
lation of the bridal procession issuing from the
hall ; this harsh contrast is continued to the speedy
close of the act, — the Wedding Call with the
motive of Murder; and upon the harsh strains of
the latter the curtain drops.
The third act opens upon a wild valley on the
Rhine. The boar hunt is to come; Siegfried's
clear call is heard, and with it Hagen's, in the
stubborn semitone of the motive of the Menial.
This gives place to the flowing measures of the
Primeval Element, and the Praise of the Rhine
Gold. The fanfare of the Rhine Gold cuts
through it (p. 232, syst. 5). The three Rhine
Maidens are disporting themselves in the stream,
and the orchestra sets forth a prelude to that
incomparably graceful and melodious trio in which
[109]
The Ring of the Nibehing
they sing their joys and their regretful memories
of the lost gold. The picture is first of their
swimming. Its chief elements are thes^:
^ LXXVila. THE RHINE DAUGHTERS
-5>
They sing thus:
Fhui Son
/Imt mm
U^
- det Uch-to Stnh - tea^
ia
d«r Ti« - fei
fi IJ iiijdiiiri fiifiiiiii ^iiifiTM
hell — da heil und liehr_ desVa-ten Gold iwch iirihr glaaji tol
Siegfried's Horn Call indicates his approach; he
has wandered away from his companions in the
hunt, and stands on the bank looking at the water
nixies, who banter him, asking what he would
give them if they promised him a bag. " Ask what
ye will," he answers (Rhine Gold fanfare, p. 246,
syst. 5). The ring on his finger, they say, as the
[no]
The Dusk of the Gods
Ring Motive points their reply (p. 247, syst. i),
and when he refuses, accuse him of miserliness.
Siegfried is a bit annoyed at this, and is about to
throw them the ring, when they gravely tell him
to keep it, till the ill fate it brings has reached
him, when he will fain be freed by them from its
Curse (Curse Motive, p. 255, syst. 2; motive of the
Menial, p. 256, syst. i; Smithy, syst. 2; Praise
of the Rhine Gold, syst. 2). Only the stream
can stay it (Dusk of the Gods, p. 257, syst. 2).
But Siegfried will not be frightened into doing
what he was willing to do of his own accord, and
puts the ring back upon his finger. Again they
warn him of the curse woven by the Noms, and
that Weaving Motive, as it appeared in the pre-
lude of the drama, briefly returns. The sisters
sing of the blindness of Siegfried — oaths he swore
and heeded not; runes he reads, and recks not; a
glorious gift was his — that he lost it he knows
not. A proud woman will that day his wealth
inherit — she will heed their prayer. They dis-
appear with the Curse Motive. At once Hagen's
horn is heard, which Siegfried answers with his,
as the hunting party comes up to rest and pre-
pare a meal. The activity of the scene is accom-
panied by a development of Siegfried's Horn Call,
» the Wedding Call, the Rhine Daughter's song (p.
275) the Gibichung Motive (p. 277, syst, i, etc.);
and as Siegfried speaks of the Rhine Daughters'
warning that he should that day be slain, the
combination of themes in the League of Revenge
is heard (p. 278, syst. 3). Siegfried offers drink
to Gunther to cheer his darkling spirit (Wedding
[III]
The Ring of the Nibelung
Call, p. 279, syst. 4; Blood-Brotherhood, p. 280,
syst. i), but Gunther looks at it with horror; and
the tricky Loge's figure plays about the situation.
Hagen suggests that Siegfried can understand the
speech of birds (p. 282, Bird song, syst. 2), and to
divert the gloomy Gunther, Siegfried offers to
tell him the wondrous adventures of his boyhood.
Siegfried's tale brings before us a vision of all the
vivid and picturesque happenings from the first
pages of "Siegfried," with a ricKly suggestive re-
capitulation of the appropriate themes ; the Smithy
Motive; Mime's crooning song (p. 204, syst. 2),
the Sword Motive and the Nothung phrase (syst.
3), the motive of Reflection and the Dragon Mo-
tive. Under a whispering violin arpeggio figure
comes the theme of the Woes of the Volsungs
(p. 285, syst. 2), then the Sounds of the Forest (p.
286, syst. 3), and Siegfried sings the tune of the
Bird's Song (p. 287, syst. i). When Siegfried
reaches the death of Mime, in his story, Hagen
secretly drops a magic juice into his drinking
horn, and bids the hero drink of it, telling him
that it will refresh his remembrance — it is a
juice to take away the forgetfulness of the magic
draught. The uncanny harmonies of the Tarn-
helm (p. 291, syst. i), and of the Deception (syst.
2) follow, and at once Briinnhilde's theme is heard
as though the first sign of his returning memory.
He goes on to tell of the Bird's counsel and guid-
ance of him toward Briinnhilde's rock, of his
awakening of the sleeping Valk)rrie, and with
Siegfried's access of ecstasy in the telling, the
theme of Fate (p. 294, syst. 3), and an enriched
[112]
The Dusk of the Gods
version of the Slumber Motive (syst. 4), pass
through the orchestra. Finally with the themes
of the World's Heritage and the Awakening of
Brunnhilde (p. 295, syst. 3), he reaches in rapture
the climax of his story — "then, like flames of
fire enfolded me beauteous Briinnhilde's arms!"
Gunther starts up in dismay. The Curse Mo-
tive with the motive of the Menial in the bass
(p. 296, syst. 2) crash through the orchestra.
Wotan's fateful ravens fly by, and as Siegfried
starts up to look at them, Hagen, with a great
cry of "Vengeance is their decree," thrusts his
spear into the hero's back. In a wild outburst
Siegfried's Heroic Theme, twisted and wrecked
in minor dissonant harmonies, rises (syst. 3), as
Siegfried turns, swinging his shield on high in an
effort to crush his slayer; but his strength fails
him, and he falls back upon it himself. All are
horrified. Brokenly pulsing through the orches-
tra, comes a figure that voices the feelings of the
assemblage :
LXXVill. FIGURE OF MOURNING
followed by the Fate Motive (p. 293, syst. i);
and as Hagen proclaims that he did the deed as
the punishment for treachery, the Blood-Brother-
hood Motive comes. Siegfried, supported by two
men, opens his eyes and, calls upon Brunnhilde;
The Ring of the Nibelung
once more the harmonies and the upward roUing
arpeggios of Briinnhilde's Awakening greet him,
as they did on the fiery summit. Now he pours
out his dying soul in a longing, passionate apos-
trophe to her. The succeeding themes are those
of Fate (p. 298, syst. 4), Siegfried the Volsung
(p. 299, syst. i), Love's Greeting (p. 300, syst. i).
Love's Ecstasy (s)rst. 3); and as the Fate Motive
once more is whispered, the hero is dead. The
great orchestral interlude that follows, accom-
panying the funeral procession, is one of the
majestic and soul-shattering climaxes of the Tri-
logy; The Funeral March it is called, and in it
are recapitulated all the tragic experiences of the
race of Volsungs; as Wolzogen observes, all the
sensuous, all the passionate, all the tragical in
them is here raised to the higher power of the
spiritual. The music speaks through the themes,
— connected and transfigured by the Figure of
Mourning — of the Woes of the Volsungs (p. 301,
syst. 2), the Heroic Theme of the Volsungs (syst.
5; second phrase, p. 302, syst. 2), Sieglinde's Sym-
pathy (p. 302, syst. 2) and her Love; these recall-
ing the origin and the relation of the hero to the
fateful circle of events now closing around. Then
it reaches a clear, keen, climax in the Sword Mo-
tive (p. 303, syst. i), followed by the theme of
Siegfried, the Volsung (syst. 3), and the broadened
and ennobled form of the Horn Call that has ac-
companied him in the prelude of "The Dusk of the
Gods" (p. 304, syst. i). Finally, the tender
theme of Briinnhilde brings this mighty tone poem
to its close (p. 304, syst. 5). With its passage into
[114]
The Dusk of the Gods
the third scene (representing night in the Hall of
the Gibichungs, with the moonlight reflected from
the Rhine) come Alberich's Cry of Triumph (p.
305, syst. i), and the broadened Horn Call in
sad, minor harmonies. Gutrune enters; she is
disturbed by evil dreams; her motive of Greeting
accompanies her in minor harmonies (syst. 3),
and the Fate question (syst. 4). The minor version
of Siegfried's Horn Call that plays so prominent
a part in " The Dusk of the Gods " is insistently
repeated, with its premonitions of evil (syst. 3, ff.).
Brunnhilde is not in her chamber; she has gone
to the shore (Briinnhilde's Motive, syst. 3, and the
Tangled Threads of Fate in the bass, syst. 4),
Hagen's voice outside with his characteristic mo-
tives (p. 307, syst. 3), announces his approach;
he calls for torches, calls for Gutrune to greet
Siegfried, who no more will wind his horn, no
more will fight or hunt or woo winsome women
(Blood-Brotherhood Theme, followed by the theme
of Renunciation, p. 308, syst. 4). They bring the
hero's body and set the bier down in the middle
of the hall. A wild boar killed him, declares
Hagen; and here there appears (p. 309, syst. 4), a
furious downward rushing chromatic figure that
appears frequently in the ensuing scene to denote
Gutrune's despair. She is beside herself with
grief. The rhythmic strokes of the Figure of
Mourning sound dully (p. 310, syst. 4). She
charges her brother Gunther with the deed, but
he directs the blame upon Hagen (Murder Motive,
p. 312, syst. 2), who defiantly accepts it (melody
of the Oath, syst. 3, Blood-Brotherhood Motive,
[IIS]
The Ring of the Nibelung
sysL 4); and he daims the Ring as his rightful
heritage (Ring, p. 313, syst 3). They fight
(Curse motive, p. 314, sysL i) and Gunther falls
by a stroke of Hagen's sword. Rushing forward
to tear the ring from Siegfried's finger, the dead
man's hand raises itself threateningly toward him
and he recoils in horror, as the Sword Motive is
intoned by the trumpets. Brunnhilde advances
solemnly to the front, accompanied by the down-
ward and upward sweeping progressions of the
Gods' Twilight and Xom Motives (p. 314, syst.
4), finally the Fate harmonies (p. 315, syst. 2),
silencing the quarrelling querulous lot through the
majesty and fearful calm of her grief, coming for
vengeance. Children crying to their mother, she
has heard, not the lament befitting the highest
hero's fame (Siegmund's Death Prophecy, syst. 3).
Gutnme's wild outburst she checks — never was
she wife of his (themes of Fate and of Gut-
rune's Greeting, p. 316, syst. 2), and with the
theme of the World's Heritage proudly claims
that title for herself (syst. 4). Now Gutrune's
eyes are opened — she sees for what purpose
Hagen poured the poison into Siegfried's drink
(motive of the Magic Deception, p. 317, syst. i,
then that of Gutrune's Love, syst. 2).
The Fate Motive and the rhythmic beats of the
Figure of Mourning, brood oppressively over the
scene. After long contemplation of Siegfried,
Brunnhilde turns to the men and women and
begins that great address, filled with lofty elo-
quence of grief, passion, solemn exaltation, the
far-seeing vision of a prophetess and seer, that
[116]
The Dusk of the Gods
is the very climax and crown of the whole Trilogy,
In it she apostrophizes her hero, his glory, his
strength. To the accompaniment of majestic
chords the motive of the God's Might roll up-
ward. She bids them kindle a funeral pyre for
the hero's body and her own (Fire motive, p. 318,
syst. 5; Siegfried the Volsung, p. 319, syst. i; and
the Dusk of the Gods, syst. 2). The music,
developed with grandiose power from these mo-
tives, then takes a tenderer expression as it passes
into the theme of Love's Greeting (p. 321, syst. 3).
'She celebrates his faith; in wedlock traitor, true
in friendship, from his heart's true love he was
barred by his sword (Sword motive, p. 322, syst.
4). Truer than his were oaths never spoken, yet
bonds he broke — the octaves of the oath are
quickly hanimered out (p. 324, syst. 1). " Know ye
why that was? " she asks, as did the Noms; and
the Death Prophecy and the Fate Motive come to
point the question. Now she turns to the gods,
as the Valhalla Motive sounds, and demands that
they look upon her and behold their eternal dis-
grace (Renunciation theme, in the vocal melody,
p. 324, syst. 3; a strain of her theme of Justifica-
tion is heard in the bass, syst. 4, and developed in
the next succeeding passage). AH things now she
knows — motive of Fate (p. 326, syst. i) — and
now she sends home Wotan's ravens with tidings
of the Dusk of the Gods. The next following
orchestral passage is wonderfully wrought of the
themes of the Curse, the Rhine Gold's Praise,
Valhalla, and the God's Plight, as Briinnhilde sings
"Rest thou, rest thou, thou god!" (p. 326, syst. 3).
[117]
The Ring of the Nibclung
Once more begins the majestic sweep of the
motives of the Gods' Might (p. 326, syst. 4), of
their Twilight and of the Primeval Element (p.
327, syst. i), as she signs to the vassals to put
Siegfried's body on the pyre they have built. But
first she draws the ring from his finger — her
heritage (Curse and Ring, p. 327, syst. 2), which
she gives away (Rhine Gold's Praise, the Rhine
Daughters, their first song in "The Rhine Gold,"
the Rhine Gold fanfare, the Rhine Daughters
again, the Ring, — a wonderful gathering up of
correlated themes, p. 327-29). From her ashes
shall the Rhine Maidens recover their treasure,
purified from its curse by fire.
Putting the ring on her finger she seizes a fire
brand (motive of Compact, p. 329, syst. 2) and as
she waves it the Fire Motive bursts out. Fly
home, she cries to Wotan's ravens; tell him the
tidings of the Rhine; but first go to Briinnhilde's
rock and bid Loge, burning there, go to Valhalla
(Twilight of the Gods, p. 330, syst. 4). The end
of the gods is near (Noms, p. 331, syst. i). She
flings the firebrand upon the pyre, and as it blazes
up she perceives her horse led forward by two
men. (Valkyrie's Cry, and motive with the char-
acteristic rush of triUs and chromatic sixths, p.
331, syst. 4; p. 332, syst. i). Grane too, shall
accompany her to her master upon the pyre. Her
spirit is raised to a fiery exaltation ; and now comes
that noble melody, first suggested by Sieglinde in
the last act of "The Valkjnie," as Briinnhilde
tells her of the hero to be borne by her, the theme
of Redemption through Love (p. 333, syst. 2)
[118]
The Dusk of the Gods
which comes to raise the climax of the scene and
of the work to its summit of grandiose eloquence.
She swings herself upon the horse and together
they leap into the flames, which then seize upon
the building itself, as the scintillation of the
Magic Fire with Loge's theme seem to possess
the whole orchestra. The flames die down mo-
mentarily, and the .Rhine is seen overflowing in
a mighty flood. The Rhine Daughters come
with the motive of the Praise of the Rhine Gold,
up to the very place of the fire, and Hagen, mak-
ing one last despairing effort to seize the Ring,
as the Curse motive is thundered from the bass,
plunges madly into the flood (p. 337, syst. 5) and
is drawn down by the nixies into the river. The
Rhine Daughters' song is sung by the orchestra
(P- 33^? syst. 3); the Valhalla Theme adds its
solemn strains (syst. 4) ; the theme of Redemption
through Love is joined to them (syst. 6). Fol-
lows the theme of the Might of the Gods. The
hall has fallen into the ruins, and in the distant
heavens is seen Valhalla, with the gods, blazing
brightly. The theme of. the Twilight of the
Gods marks their downfall; and with a softer
repetition of the theme of Redemption through
Love, which marks the passing of the old order
and the coming of a new, the great drama is
brought to its end.
[119]
BIBUOGRAPHY
William J. Henderson: Richard Wagner, his Life and
Dramas. New York, G. P. Putnam's Sons.
Henry T. Finck: Wagner and his Works. New York,
Charles Scribner's Sons.
Houston Stewart Chamberlain: Richard Wagner.
Translated by G. Ainslie Hight. Philadelphia, J. B.
Lippincott Company.
Adolphe Jullien : Richard Wagner, his Life and Works.
Translated by Florence Hall. Boston, J. B. Millet Co.
C. F. Glasenapp : Life of Richard Wagner. Translated
by William Ashton Ellis. London, Kegan Paul,
Trench, Triibner & Co.
Richard Wagner's Prose Works. Translated by Wil-
liam Ashton Ellis. London, Kegan Paul, Trench,
Triibner & Co. (" Opera and Drama," " The Music
of the Future," "The Art Work of the Future," "A
Communication to My Friends," Preface to the " Ring"
poems, "Art and Revolution").
Correspondence of Wagner and Liszt. Translated by
Francis Hueffer. New York, Charies Scribner's Sons.
Richard Wagner's Letters to His Dresden Friends.
Translated by J. S. Shedlock. London, H. Grevel &
Co.
Richard Wagner's Letters to August Roeckel.
Translated by Eleanor C. Sellar. Bristol, England,
J. W. Arrowsmith.
W. H. Hadow: Studies in Modem Music, Vol. I. Lon-
don, Seeley & Co.
Ernest Newman : A Study of Wagner. New York, G. P.
Putnam's Sons.
Henry Edward Krehbiel: Studies in the Wagnerian
Drama. New York, Harper & Brothers.
William J. Henderson: Modem Musical Drift. New
York. Longmans, Green & Co.
[I2I]
Bibliography
C. Hubert H. Parry: Studies of Great Composers. Lon-
don, George Routledge & Sons.
Jessie L. Weston: The Legends of the Wagner Drama.
New York, Charles Scribner's Sons.
G. T. Dippold: Richard Wagner's Poem, "The Ring of
the Nibelung." New York, Henry Holt & Co.
George Bernard Shaw: The Perfect Wagnerite. Chi-
cago and New York, Herbert S. Stone & Co.
Albert Lavignac: The Music Dramas of Richard Wag-
ner. Translated by Esther Singleton. New York,
Dodd, Mead & Co.
Hans Von Wolzogen: Guide through the Music of Wag-
ner's " Ring of the Nibelimg." Translated by Nathsui
Haskell Dole. New York, G. Schirmer.
[122]
'
INDEX TO MUSIC MOTIVES
Pagb
Alberich's Cry of Triumph XX 48
Alberich's Curse XXIV 50
Awakening Day ^ LXXIV 103
Bird, The LV 78
Blood-Brotherhood LXXI 97
Briinnhilde LXV 91
Brilnnhilde's Awakening • . LIX 86
Brunnhilde's Heroic Love LXVI 91
Briinnhilde's Justification XLIII 66
Compact IX 42
Coveteousness (The Gibichungs) LVI 80
Cry of the Valkyrie XXXVI« 59
Deception by Magic LXX 95
Donner*s Storm Magic XXVII 52
Dragon XXII 49
Dusk of the Gods XXVI 52
Ecstasy of Love LXI 87
Enchainment of Love X 43
Fate XXXIX* 62
Figure of Mourning LXXVIII 113
Flight (Freia) XI 43
Forging, Motive of the LI V 76
Freia XVII 46
Giants XII 44
Gods' Might LI 73
Gods' Plight, Motive of the XXXVIII 61
Golden Apples . . ^. XIII 44
[123]
Index to Music Motives
Pagb
Greeting of Love LX 87
Gutrane's Greeting LX VIII 95
Gutrune's Love LXIX 95
Hagen LXVII 93
Heroic Theme of the Volsungs XXXIV 57
Hunding XXXIII 57
Loge XIV \ 45
Love in Nature XLVIII 71
Love's Resolve, Theme of LXIV . 89
Magic Fire XV 45
Menial, Motive of the Ill 38
Murder LXXIII 102
Nibelung*s Work of Destruction XXIII 50
Norn XXV 51
Nothung Phrase . i LIZ 75
Oath, The LXXVI 107
Peace, Theme of LXII 88
Praise of the Rhine Gold V 39
Primeval Element (The) 1 36
Redemption Through Love , XLII 65
Reflection XVI 46
Renunciation VII 40
Rhine Gold IV 38
Rhine Daughters LXXVII no
Rhine Maidens, The II 37
Ring VI 39
Rising Hoard XXI 49
Siegfried's Horn Call XLVI 70
Siegfried's Strenuous Activity XLVII 71
Siegfried the Volsung XLI 65
Siegfried's Triumph LIII 75
[124]
Index to Music Motives
Pagb
Siegfried the Worid's Treasure LXIII 88
Sieglinde's Love XXXI 56
Sieglinde*s Sympathy XXX 55
Siegmund's Death Prophecy XXXIX b 62
Slumber XLV 67
Smithy XVIII 47
Song of Wandering XLIX 72
Sword XXVIII 53
Tangled Threads of Fate LXXII 99
Tamhdm XIX 48
TwiUght XLIV 67
Valhalla VIII 41
Valkyrie's Cry XXXVI« 59
Valkyrie's Motive XXXVI* 59
Valkyrie's Ride XL 64
Victorious Cry of the Volsungs XXXV 58
Wearied Siegmund XXIX 55
Wedding March LXXV 104
Woes of the Volsungs XXXII 56
World's Heritage LVIII Z-^
Wotan's Grim Humor XXXVII 60
Wotan's Motive of Wandering L 72
Yearning for Love , LVII 81
B, s-ai
[I2S]
X
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