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Table of Contents

Title Page
Dedication Page
General Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
Abbreviations for key references
Guide to abbreviations used in text
Allen Dunning's numbered Guide to the Ring's Musical Motifs
Detailed Table of Contents

The Ring

Introduction


References
Appendix I
Appendix I I

Key Colour Coding

Donations Welcome

I would be grateful for donations of any size, small or large, to help defray the cost (1) of maintaining this website, (2) and to finance my past and present research which produced my book posted here, Volume One of "The Wound That Will Never Heal," and my forthcoming revision of Volume One (to be submitted for publication), and completion of Volume Two on Wagner's six other canonic operas and music-dramas. I sacrificed at least seven years of paid employment and incurred debts to complete this project, and am currently unemployed, so I thank you in advance for any financial help you can provide. Your friend, Paul Heise.

[See #39 for #41’s dramatic context; as noted by Cooke, #41’s Embryo first appears earlier in R.2 in the following two key contexts:]

 

“Loge: [to Wotan and the gods] … the Nibelung, Night-Alberich, (#4) wooed in vain for the nixies’ favours; the thief robbed (#12) the Rhinegold then in revenge: (#19) it seems to him now the rarest jewel, (#37?) greater than woman’s grace. (#13>#41 Embryo) For the glittering toy that was torn from the deep the daughters’ lament rang out: to you, Wotan, they now appeal to call the thief to account (with increasing warmth: #12) and give back the gold to the waters, to remain their own (#12) forever.”

 

“Fricka: (softly to Loge) Might the golden trinket’s glittering gem be worn by women and serve as fair adornment?

 

Loge: A wife might ensure that her husband was true (#23) if she lovingly wore the bright-shining jewel, (#13>#41) which, shimmering, dwarfs have forged, bestirred by the spell of the Ring.”

[[#42]] The Wondrous “Tarnhelm” (man’s imagination)

The Tarnhelm, Wagner’s metaphor for that special product of the power of the human mind (the Ring), the imagination, initially served Alberich’s quest for Worldly power, but was co-opted by Wotan and the gods, with the aid of Loge’s cunning, to create and sustain the illusions which are the basis for religious belief, the basis for the gods’ rule over men’s hearts

(#42 based on #35; basis of #43 and #154; related to #48)

[Made by Mime to Alberich's specifications, it can, as we see below at its inception, make one invisible. We learn later  in R.3 that with its magic one can transform one form into another (including one's own form), and in T.1.2 we learn that it can transport one instantly from one place to another:]

 

“(#7: Alberich drags the screeching Mime by his ears from a side gallery.) (…)

Alberich: You'll be properly pinched if you don't finish making the delicate jewel on time, as I ordered. (...)

Mime: (Howling: #5>>; #6>>) Just let me  go! It's already finished, just as you asked; with sweat and toil it was fitted together ... .

[Mime makes various excuses, which Alberich contemptuously rejects.]