Click here for the Wikipedia entry for Wagner's Ring of the Niebelung.
Das Rheingold
Die Walkure
Siegfried
Gotterdammerung (Brief)
Gotterdammerung (Long)
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Das Rheingold
In mythical times. In the
depths of the Rhine , the Rhinemaidens
Woglinde, Flosshilde, and Wellgunde laugh and play as they swim. Their singing
attracts the dwarf Alberich, who clumsily tries to catch them, to their
amusement. Suddenly a beam of sunlight falls into the water, creating a golden
glow. The Rhinemaidens joyfully swim around it (“Rheingold! Rheingold!”) while
Alberich, dazzled by the sight, asks them what it is. The girls tell him about
the Rhinegold, a treasure of immeasurable value, and explain that whoever wins
it will gain power over the world, but to do so he must renounce love.
Frustrated by his unsuccessful attempts to catch one of the girls, the ugly
dwarf curses love and steals the gold.
High on a mountain,
Fricka, the goddess of marriage, wakes her husband, Wotan, lord of the gods.
Delighted, he looks at their newly built castle visible in the distance
(“Vollendet das ewige Werk!”), but Fricka reproaches him: Wotan has promised
her sister Freia, goddess of youth, to the giants Fasolt and Fafner in return
for building the fortress. Suddenly Freia runs in, pursued by the giants, who
demand payment. Wotan manages to hold them back with the help of Donner and
Froh, two other gods who rush in to help. Finally Loge, the god of fire,
appears (“Immer ist Undank Loges Lohn!”). He cleverly suggests an alternative
payment: the ring that Alberich has forged from the Rhinegold and all the other
treasures he has accumulated. The giants agree, dragging Freia off as hostage.
With the youth goddess gone, the gods suddenly begin to age. Wotan and Loge
hurry down through the earth to find Alberich.
In Nibelheim, the
underground home of the Nibelungs, Alberich forces his timid brother Mime to
give him the Tarnhelm, a magic helmet Mime has made that transforms its wearer
into any shape and that can carry him anywhere in a second. Alberich tries it
on, turns invisible and torments Mime before going off to terrorize the other
dwarves whom he has enslaved to work for him. Wotan and Loge arrive, and Mime
tells them about Alberich’s cruel dictatorship. Reappearing, Alberich mocks the
gods and threatens to conquer the world and enslave them. Loge asks for a
demonstration of the Tarnhelm and Alberich obliges, turning himself first into
a huge serpent, then into a toad, which the gods capture easily. Loge snatches
the Tarnhelm, and as Alberich resumes his old form they bind him and drag him
off.
Back on the mountain,
Alberich is forced to summon the Nibelungs to heap up the gold for Freia’s
ransom. Loge keeps the Tarnhelm—and Wotan wants the ring. Alberich says he
would rather die than give it up, but Wotan wrests it from his finger, suddenly
overcome with lust for its power. Alberich is shattered. Freed and powerless,
he curses the ring: ceaseless worry and death shall be the destiny of all who
possess it. After the dwarf has left, Fricka, Donner, and Froh welcome back
Wotan and Loge, who show them the pile of gold. The giants return with Freia.
Fasolt, who loves the girl, agrees to accept the gold if it completely hides
her from his view. Froh and Loge pile up the treasure and even give up the
Tarnhelm, but Fasolt can still see Freia’s eye through a crack. Fafner demands
the Ring to close it. When Wotan refuses, the giants start to carry Freia off.
They are stopped by the sudden appearance of Erda, goddess of the earth, who
warns Wotan that possession of the ring will bring about the end of the gods
(“Weiche, Wotan! Weiche!”). Wotan wants to know more and tries to question her,
but she vanishes. He decides to follow her advice and throws the ring on the
hoard. Alberich’s curse immediately claims its first victim as Fafner kills his
brother in a dispute over the ring. The gods are horrified. Donner clears the
air with thunder and lightning and a rainbow appears, forming a bridge to the
castle. Wotan names it Valhalla (“Abendlich
strahlt der Sonne Auge”). As the voices of the Rhinemaidens echo from the
valley below, lamenting the loss of the Rhinegold, the gods proudly walk toward
their new home.
Die Walkure (Valkyrie)
Act I
As a storm rages,
Siegmund, pursued by enemies, stumbles exhausted into an unfamiliar house.
Sieglinde finds him lying by the hearth, and the two feel an immediate
attraction. But they are soon interrupted by Sieglinde’s husband, Hunding, who
asks the stranger who he is. Calling himself “Woeful,” Siegmund tells of a
disaster-filled life (“Friedmund darf ich nicht heissen”), only to learn that
Hunding is a kinsman of his foes. Hunding, before retiring, tells his guest
they will fight to the death in the morning.
Left alone, Siegmund
calls on his father, Wälse, for the sword he once promised him. Sieglinde
reappears, having given Hunding a sleeping potion. She tells of her wedding, at
which a one-eyed stranger thrust into a tree a sword that has since resisted
every effort to pull it out (“Der Männer Sippe”). Sieglinde confesses her
unhappiness to Siegmund. He embraces her and vows to free her from her forced
marriage to Hunding. As moonlight floods the room, Siegmund compares their
feeling to the marriage of love and spring (“Winterstürme wichen dem
Wonnemond”). Sieglinde hails him as “Spring” (“Du bist der Lenz”) but asks if
his father was really “Wolf,” as he said earlier. When Siegmund gives his
father’s name as Wälse instead, Sieglinde recognizes him as Siegmund, her twin
brother. He pulls the sword from the tree and claims Sieglinde as his bride,
rejoicing in the union of the Wälsungs.
Act II
High in the mountains,
Wotan, leader of the gods, tells his warrior daughter, the Valkyrie Brünnhilde,
that she must defend his mortal son Siegmund in his upcoming battle with
Hunding. Leaving joyfully to do his bidding (“Hojotoho!”), the Valkyrie passes
Fricka, Wotan’s wife and the goddess of marriage. Fricka insists that Wotan
must defend Hunding’s marriage rights against Siegmund. She ignores his
argument that Siegmund could save the gods by winning back the Ring from the
dragon Fafner. When Wotan realizes he is caught in his own trap—his power will
leave him if he does not enforce the law—he agrees to his wife’s demands. After
Fricka has left in triumph, the frustrated god tells the returning Brünnhilde
about the theft of the Rhinegold and Alberich’s curse on it (“Als junger
Liebe”). Brünnhilde is shocked to hear her father, his plans in ruins, order
her to fight for Hunding. Then, alone in the darkness, she withdraws as
Siegmund and Sieglinde approach.
Siegmund comforts his
distraught bride and watches over her when she falls asleep. Brünnhilde appears
to him as if in a vision, telling him he will soon go to Valhalla (“Siegmund!
Sieh auf mich!”). He tells her he will not leave Sieglinde and threatens to
kill himself and his bride if his sword has no power against Hunding.
Brünnhilde, moved, decides to defy Wotan and help him. She vanishes. Siegmund
bids farewell to Sieglinde when he hears the approaching Hunding’s challenge.
When Siegmund is about to win, however, Wotan appears and shatters his sword,
leaving him to be killed by Hunding. Brünnhilde escapes with Sieglinde and the
broken sword. Wotan contemptuously fells Hunding with a wave of his hand and
leaves to punish Brünnhilde for her disobedience.
Act III
On the Valkyries’ Rock,
Brünnhilde’s eight warrior sisters—who have gathered there briefly, bearing
slain heroes to Valhalla—are surprised to see her enter with Sieglinde. When
they hear she is fleeing Wotan’s wrath, they are afraid to hide her. Sieglinde
is numb with despair until Brünnhilde tells her she bears Siegmund’s child.
Eager to be saved, she receives the pieces of the sword from Brünnhilde and
thanks her rescuer, then rushes off into the forest to hide from Wotan. When
the god appears, he sentences Brünnhilde to become a mortal woman, silencing
her sisters’ objections by threatening to do the same to them. Left alone with
her father, Brünnhilde pleads that in disobeying his orders she was really
doing what he wished (“War es so schmählich”). Wotan will not give in: she must
lie in sleep, a prize for any man who finds her. But as his anger abates she
asks the favor of being surrounded in sleep by a wall of fire that only the
bravest hero can pierce. Both sense this hero must be the child that Sieglinde
will bear. Sadly renouncing his daughter (“Leb’ wohl”), Wotan kisses
Brünnhilde’s eyes with sleep and mortality before summoning Loge, the god of fire,
to encircle the rock. As flames spring up, the departing Wotan invokes a spell
forbidding the rock to anyone who fears his spear (Fire Music).
Seigfried
Act I
In his cave deep in the
forest, the dwarf Mime forges a sword for his foster son Siegfried (“Zwangvolle
Plage!”). He hates the boy but hopes that Siegfried will kill the dragon
Fafner, who guards the Nibelungs’ treasure, so that Mime can get the all-powerful
ring and rule the world. Siegfried runs in, picks up the new sword and smashes
it, raging at Mime’s incompetence. The dwarf, acting innocently, offers him
food and kind words, but Siegfried doesn’t want any of it. He knows he cannot
be Mime’s real son, as there is no physical resemblance between them, and
demands to know who his parents were. For the first time, Mime tells Siegfried
how he found his mother, Sieglinde, in the woods and how she died giving birth
to him. Siegfried is moved by the story but asks for proof. When Mime shows him
the fragments of his father’s sword, Nothung, Siegfried orders Mime to repair
it for him and rushes out.
As Mime sinks down in
despair, a stranger enters. It is Wotan, lord of the gods, in human disguise as
the Wanderer (“Heil dir, weiser Schmied”). He challenges the fearful Mime to a
riddle competition, in which the loser forfeits his head. The Wanderer easily
answers Mime’s three questions—who lives under the earth (the Nibelungs), on it
(the giants), and above it (the gods). Mime in turn knows the answers to the
traveler’s first two questions but gives up in terror when asked who will
repair the sword Nothung. The Wanderer admonishes Mime for enquiring about
faraway matters when he doesn’t know about the things that closely concern him.
Then he departs, leaving the dwarf’s head to “him who knows no fear” and who
will re-forge the magic blade.
When Siegfried returns
demanding his father’s sword, Mime tells him that he can’t repair it and tries
in vain to explain the concept of fear to the boy. To teach him, he proposes a
visit to Fafner’s cave. Siegfried agrees and enthusiastically begins to forge
the sword himself (“Nothung! Neidliches Schwert!”). While he works, Mime
prepares a sleeping potion to give to Siegfried once he has killed Fafner.
Flashing the finished sword, the boy smashes the anvil in half and runs off
into the forest.
Act II
That same night, Mime’s
brother Alberich is hiding by the entrance to Fafner’s cave, obsessed with
thoughts of winning back the ring. The Wanderer enters, assuring the startled
Nibelung that he is not after the ring. Instead, he warns Alberich to watch out
for Mime. He then wakes Fafner and tells him that a young hero is on his way to
kill him. Unimpressed, the dragon goes back to sleep. The Wanderer and Alberich
disappear.
As Dawn breaks, Mime and
Siegfried arrive. The youth sends Mime away and, caught up in the peaceful
beauty of the woods, thinks about his parents (Forest Murmurs). Listening to
the song of a bird, he tries to imitate it on a reed pipe but fails and blows
his horn instead. This awakens Fafner, who comes out of the cave, and in the
ensuing fight Siegfried kills the dragon. With his dying breath, he warns the
boy of the destructive power of the treasure. When Siegfried accidentally
touches a drop of Fafner’s blood to his lips, he suddenly understands the
singing of the bird, directing him to the gold in the cave (“Hei! Siegfried
gehört nun der Niblungen Hort!”). Alberich and Mime appear quarreling but
withdraw as Siegfried comes out with the ring and the Tarnhelm. The bird warns
Siegfried not to trust Mime, and when the dwarf returns with the potion,
Siegfried kills him. The bird then tells Siegfried of a beautiful woman named
Brünnhilde, asleep on a mountain surrounded by fire. He immediately sets out to
find her.
Act III
On a wild mountain pass,
the Wanderer summons Erda, goddess of the Earth, to learn the gods’ fate
(“Wache, Wala!”). She evades his questions, and he resigns himself to the
impending end of the gods’ reign. His hope now rests with Brünnhilde and
Siegfried and the redemptive power of their love. When Siegfried approaches,
making fun of the god whom he takes for a mere old man, the Wanderer attempts
to block his path. With a stroke of Nothung, Siegfried shatters the Wanderer’s
spear (the same one that smashed Nothung to pieces years before) and advances.
Dawn breaks on the
mountaintop where Brünnhilde sleeps. Siegfried, who has never before seen a
woman, thinks he has discovered a man. When he removes Brünnhilde’s armor, he
is overwhelmed by the sight of her beauty. For the first time he feels fear.
Mastering his emotions, he awakens the girl with a kiss. Hailing the daylight
(“Heil dir, Sonne!”), Brünnhilde is overjoyed to learn that it is Siegfried who
has brought her back to life. At first she resists his declarations of passion,
realizing that earthly love must end her immortal life (“Ewig war ich”).
Finally understanding that her vanished godhood has left her a mortal woman,
she says goodbye to Valhalla and joins
Siegfried in praise of love.
Gotterdammerung (brief)
For the longer version of the synopsis from the 1965 London Records recording, click here.
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Prologue
By a cave on the
Valkyries’ rock, the three Norns, daughters of Erda, weave the rope of destiny
(“Welch Licht leuchtet dort?”). They tell how Wotan ordered the world ash tree,
from which his spear was once cut, to be felled and its wood piled around Valhalla . The burning of the pyre will mark the end of
the old order of the gods. When one of the Norns mentions Alberich and the
theft of the Rhinegold, the rope breaks. The Norns’ wisdom has ended.
Terrified, they descend into the earth.
At dawn, Siegfried and
Brünnhilde emerge from the cave (“Zu neuen Taten”). The former Valkyrie has
given Siegfried her armor and taught him all her wisdom. Now she sends him into
the world to do heroic deeds. As a pledge of his love, Siegfried gives her the
ring he took from the dragon Fafner, and she offers her horse, Grane, in
return. They say goodbye and Siegfried sets off on his travels (Rhine Journey).
Act I
In the hall of the
Gibichungs on the banks of the Rhine , Gunther
and Gutrune discuss the royal family’s diminishing glory with their
half-brother, Hagen. Hagen envies Gunther his
position as legitimate heir, while the cowardly Gunther wishes he had Hagen Hagen Hagen Hagen Hagen Hagen
On the mountaintop,
Brünnhilde waits for Siegfried’s return, when the sudden arrival of her sister
Waltraute interrupts her thoughts. Horrified by the impending destruction of Valhalla , Waltraute has come to ask for Brünnhilde’s
help. The only way to save the gods, she says, is for Brünnhilde to give the
ring back to the Rhinemaidens, its rightful owners. Brünnhilde angrily refuses,
declaring that Siegfried’s love is more important to her than the fate of the
gods. Waltraute leaves in despair. When Siegfried’s horn sounds in the
distance, Brünnhilde is overjoyed. Her happiness quickly turns into confusion
and terror when a strange figure appears before her, claiming her as Gunther’s
bride and tearing the ring from her hand.
Act II
As Hagen
sits sleeping outside the Gibichungs’ hall at night, Alberich appears as if in
a dream and reminds his son that he has to win back the ring (“Schläfst du, Hagen Hagen Hagen Hagen Hagen
Beside herself with fury,
Brünnhilde can only think of vengeance (“Welches Unhold’s List”). Hagen Hagen Hagen Hagen
Act III
Siegfried, separated from
his hunting party, meets the three Rhinemaidens by the banks of the river. The
girls ask him to return the ring to them and he almost agrees, but when they
tell him of Alberich’s curse he decides to keep it to prove he is not afraid.
Predicting Siegfried’s imminent death, the Rhinemaidens disappear as Hagen,
Gunther, and the other hunters enter. Asked by Hagen Hagen Hagen Hagen
Back at the Gibichungs’
hall, Gutrune wakes from a bad dream, wondering what has happened to Siegfried.
When his body is carried in, she accuses Gunther of murder, who replies that Hagen Hagen Rhine (“Starke Scheite schichtet mir dort”). She
denounces the gods for their guilt in Siegfried’s death, takes the ring from his
hand and promises it to the Rhinemaidens. Putting the ring on her finger, she
lights the pyre and leaps into the flames. The river overflows its banks and
destroys the hall. Hagen Valhalla
and the gods are seen, surrounded by flames.
Gotterdammerung - Index to Acts
This index is for the more detailed synopsis of Gotterdammerung. For the brief synopsis click here.
The SIDE references refer to the classic 1965 London Records recording of Gotterdammerung, George Solti conducting. The below synopses have largely been taken from the libretto from that recording.
CLICK HERE FOR LEITMOTIFS FOR GOTTERDAMMERUNG
The Opera, in Prelude and three acts, follows:
Prelude - On the Valkyries' Rock
ACT I - Scene 1 - The Hall of the Gibichungs on the banks of the Rhine
ACT I - Scene 2 - The Valkyries' Rock
ACT II - In front of the Gibichungs' Hall
ACT III - Scene 1 - A Wild, Wooded and Rocky Valley on the Rhine
ACT III - Scene 2- The Hall of the Gibichungs
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The SIDE references refer to the classic 1965 London Records recording of Gotterdammerung, George Solti conducting. The below synopses have largely been taken from the libretto from that recording.
CLICK HERE FOR LEITMOTIFS FOR GOTTERDAMMERUNG
The Opera, in Prelude and three acts, follows:
Prelude - On the Valkyries' Rock
ACT I - Scene 1 - The Hall of the Gibichungs on the banks of the Rhine
ACT I - Scene 2 - The Valkyries' Rock
ACT II - In front of the Gibichungs' Hall
ACT III - Scene 1 - A Wild, Wooded and Rocky Valley on the Rhine
ACT III - Scene 2- The Hall of the Gibichungs
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ACT I Prelude - On the Valkyries' Rock
[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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ACT I - Scene 1 - The Hall of the Gibichungs on the banks of the Rhine
The hall is open at the back; the shore
and the swiftly-flowing river can be seen. Gunther and Gutrune, children of
Grimhilde, defunct queen of the Gibichungs, are seated in a throne to one side
before which is a table with drinking vessels. They are in conference with
their half-brother, Hagen, the son fathered by Alberich, through the lure of
his riches, upon Grimhilde.
[SIDE
3] Gunther (Nun hor', Hagen Hagen
Glancing up the river, Hagen Hagen Hagen Hagen Hagen Hagen Hagen Hagen
Click here to go to Act I, Scene 2
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ACT I - Scene 2 - The Valkyries' Rock
After a linking orchestral interlude, the
scene returns to the Valkyries' rock. Brunnhilde is sitting in the entrance of
the cave, gazing at her ring and lost in memories of Siegfried. She runs into
the wood and hears a distant clap of thunder and a rushing sound in the air (Altgewohntes Gerdusch), a Valkyrie steed
winging its way through the air. She
returns with her sister Valkyrie Waltraute, whose anxious fear she does not
notice, [SIDE 5] and wonders what
can have induced her sister to break their father’s stern interdict imposed on
all her fellow Valkyries at the time of her own fall from grace — never to see
her more. Was it to share (Lockte dicta, Schwester) in her present
all-embracing happiness? Waltraute is horrified at what she considers to be her
sister's levity. She has come —unknown to Wotan, defying his dread command —to
tell (Hore mit Sinn, was ich dir sage)
of the unhappy state of affairs existing in Valhalla ,
which fills her with dismay and dread. Since Brunnhilde's departure, Wotan has
ceased to send her and her fellow -Valkyries into battle to procure heroes for Valhalla . Long he roamed the earth alone, returning one
day with his spear shattered. Having ordered the heroes to pile the logs of the
world ash-tree around Valhalla , he called the
council of the gods together and sits there in their midst silent upon his
throne, partaking no more of Freia's apples, which confer immortality upon the
gods. He has dispatched his two ravens, harbingers of death, upon some mission,
from which they have not yet returned. Once, when Waltraute wept upon his
breast, she saw his face soften and knew he was thinking of his favorite child
Brunnhilde. As in a dream, he whispered that if Brunnhilde would return the
ring to the Rhine daughters the world would be
freed from its curse. So Waltraute had dared to steal away and come (An deiner Hand der Ring) to beg her
sister to do just this. At first the mated Brunnhilde can scarcely comprehend
what is being required of her, but, when she does understand, she laughs (Den Rheintochtern— ich —den Ring) in her
sister's face. The ring given her by Siegfried means more to her than all the
glories—all the agonies, too—of the gods. Finding her sister adamant, Waltraute
departs, distraught (Wehe! Wehe!) and full of reproaches.
Evening falls. The fires surrounding
the rock leap up suddenly and burn brighter. Brunnhilde wonders why. A horn
call is heard from the valley below. She rises (Siegfried zur ck) to greet her hero. Siegfried, transformed into
the likeness of Gunther by the tarnhelm which he wears upon his head, cleaves
his way through the enveloping flames, which fall back before him. Brunnhilde
realizes (Verrat!) that she is
betrayed.
[SIDE
6]
Speaking with Gunther's voice, rougher and deeper than his own,
Siegfried demands her in marriage, announcing himself (Ein Gibichung bin ich) as Gunther the Gibichung. Though she opposes
the power of the ring to him, its power proves impotent as Siegfried/Gunther seizes
hold of Brunnhilde and they struggle violently. As he forces the Ring from her
finger she shrieks and collapses as if broken. As he drives her, with faltering
steps, before him into the cave, the young hero (Nun, Nothung, zeuge du) draws his sword—the magical sword Nothung
(Needful), conferred by Wotan upon his father Siegmund — and sets it between
them, calling it to witness his loyalty to his blood brother. The curtain
falls.
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ACT II - In front of the Gibichungs' Hall
On a rocky height in the background
stand altar-stones to Wotan, Fricka and Donner. It is night. Hagen
Alberich is urging his son (Schlaft du Hagen mein Sohn) not to relax
his efforts to gain possession of the ring. Wotan, who robbed Alberich of it,
is no longer dangerous; his power lost to the last scion of the Volsungs, the
race he himself begot to fulfill his purpose for him, the god now sits awaiting
his end. Siegfried, who carried the ring light-heartedly away after killing
Fafner, scarce conscious of what its possession could confer, has given it to Brunnhilde
as her bridal ring. She is wise. Everything must be done to prevent her giving
it back to the daughters of the Rhine, its rightful guardians, for in that
event all would be lost. But if Hagen Hagen
[SIDE
7] Hagen gazes
motionless towards the Rhine , over which the
light of dawn is spreading. Siegfried
steps suddenly from behind a clump of bushes; he is in his own form, but has
the Tarnhelm on his head. He takes this off and hangs it on his girdle. He
tells Hagen (Hioho! Hagen Hagen Hagen
[SIDE
8] She is dazed and incredulous when
Siegfried, supporting her, obviously does not recognize her and Gunther informs
her that his sister is to be wedded to the young hero. Next (Ha! der Ring) she spies the ring,
wrested from her, as she thinks, by Gunther, upon Siegfried's finger. Hagen Hagen
[SIDE
9] When all, save Brunnhilde, Hagen and Gunther,
have entered the hall, the first-named (Welches
Unholds List) cries out to know who will aid her in her in misery and dire
distress. Hagen Hagen Hagen Hagen Hagen Hagen Hagen Hagen
Gunther and Brunnhilde now turn to
enter the hall, but are met by the out-coming bridal procession. Gutrune beckons Brunnhilde with a friendly
smile. As Brunnhilde would disassociate herself in horror, Hagen
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