[SIDE
1] It is
night. Fire gleams from the valley below.
The three Norns (the Fates of Teutonic and Norse mythology), daughters
of Erda the earth goddess, begotten before earth was created, spinners of the
web of Fate, lie idle, one stretched out
(right) at the foot of a pine tree, the second before Brunnhilde’s cave (left),
and the third on a rock (center). They are busy winding the golden rope into
which are woven the destinies of man and god. As they weave, attaching the rope
to the branch of a pine-tree, later changing it to a rock at the entrance to
Brunnhilde’s cave, they recount in roundabout and somewhat involved fashion a
string of events which may be summarized as follows.
Long ago, as they worked, the Norns had
slung their rope upon the world ash-tree, at the foot of which a spring
whispering wisdom welled up. One day Wotan, king of the gods, came to drink
from the spring and hacked himself a branch from the tree with which to make
himself a shaft for his spear, upon which he inscribed records of binding
treaties honorably respected, and by, virtue of which he made himself ruler of
the world. Later Wotan had commissioned the giants Fasolt and Fafner to build
him a stronghold, Valhalla , which was to be
garrisoned with the souls of heroes fallen in battle. It was the duty of the
Valkyrie maidens, daughters of Wotan and Erda, to bring in these heroes from
the battlefield. In payment of the giants' labors, Wotan promised Fasolt and
Fafner Freia, goddess of youth, which promise, however, trusting to the
specious cunning of Loge; god of fire, he did not intend to honor. When called
upon to do so, he proceeded to trick Alberich, lord of the dwarf Nibelung
smiths, out of his hoard of gold, and with this he then bought off the giants.
From this moment, the world ash-tree began to wither — the spring to dry up.
The Nibelung hoard contained a magic
ring, the gold for which had been stolen from the daughters of the Rhine by Alberich, who had been able to fashion it only
by foreswearing love. Mastery of this ring would eventually lead its possessor
to mastery of the world. When deprived of it by force, Alberich had laid a
curse upon it—death to whoever possessed it, and indeed, during the course of
Wagner's great Prologue and Tetralogy Der Ring des Nibelungen, it has claimed
many victims, Wotan himself only escaping by being forced, in order to save
Freia, to yield it up to the giants as part of the payment for the building of
Valhalla. Since that time, knowing that the ring's power for evil cannot be
broken save by returning it to the Rhine daughters from whom the gold was
originally filched, Wotan has been bending all his powers to procure that end.
Because she attempted to execute her
father's secret desire in defiance of his expressed wish, Wotan was obliged to
imprison his Valkyrie daughter Brunnhilde, locked in sleep, on a rock
surrounded by Loge's fire. There she was to remain inviolate until such time as
a hero who knew not the meaning of fear should come to wake her. Siegfried, son
of the Volsung twins Siegmund and Sieglinde, appeared, set upon accomplishing
this. With his spear, Wotan attempted to bar the young hero's passage to the
flame-girt rock upon which the peerless maid slumbered. The spear's might was
shattered by Siegfried's sword, after which the young man continued on his way
unopposed. Wotan then dispatched the heroes from Valhalla
to hew the withered trunk and branches of the world ash-tree in pieces and pile
them up around the stronghold. The spring of wisdom dried up for ever.
Now, Wotan sits in Valhalla
surrounded by all the gods and heroes, awaiting the coming of the end. The
second Norn prophesies that he will one day plunge his shattered spear into
Loge's breast and hurl it into the piled-up logs around the stronghold. These somber
imaginings, coupled with the thought of the stolen gold still unreturned to its
rightful guardians, the daughters of the Rhine
trouble the minds and cloud the vision of the Norns, who no longer see the
course of events clearly. The second Norn notices that the rock is fraying the
rope and the woof is beginning to ravel. It is too slack; as the sisters heave
on it to tauten it, it snaps. Crying that eternal wisdom is ending and that
they can speak to the world no more, they sink down to mother Erda, the earth
goddess, and vanish.
Dawn breaks, Brunnhilde and Siegfried
come out from the cave in which they have passed their bridal night. Brunnhilde
(Zu neuen Tat) is urging Siegfried.—albeit
regretfully—to set out in pursuit of further deeds of valor. By means of magic
spells known to her, she has made her beloved hero's body invulnerable.
[SIDE
2] After an ecstatic exchange, vows of
eternal fidelity and remembrance, etc., Siegfried (Reich' ich dir diesen Ring) takes Alberich’s Ring from his finger
and gives it to Brunnhilde, the Ring which he obtained when he slew the giant
Fafner who, transformed into a dragon, had for eons been watching over the
Nibelung hoard. Brunnhilde gives him in exchange Grane, her Valkyrie steed.
After an ecstatic loving identification one with the other, Siegfried leads his
horse over the edge of the Rock, and a horn is head from below as he finally
takes his leave and the curtain falls. There follows the celebrated orchestral
passage known as Siegfried's Journey to the Rhine.
Click here to go to: Act 1, Scene 1
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