Info

Home Page / About Wagnerheim
Introduction by Roger Scruton
About the Author
Interactive Features
Wagner Lecture Videos
Wagner Lecture / Papers Transcript
Links
Contact Us
Discussion Forum

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.

[[#165]] Siegfried’s ironic employment of his Phallus Nothung to preserve his muse Bruennhilde’s chastity and Gunther’s honor, so Siegfried can give Bruennhilde unsullied to Gunther as his wife

Commonly called the “Honor Motif”: The consequence of the failure of the poet-dramatist Siegfried to obtain unconscious artistic inspiration through loving union with his muse Bruennhilde, on this occasion, is that Siegfried will become too conscious of the inner processes of his formerly unconscious inspiration (as Wagner did) to find redemption in it any longer, and will expose the muse’s secrets – the formerly unconscious process of religious revelation and artistic inspiration – to the light of day, along with the bitter truth (Wotan’s hoard of knowledge which he repressed into his unconscious mind by confessing it to his “Will” Bruennhilde, a hoard embodied now by Alberich’s Ring), which it was formerly the sole purpose of art to conceal.

(#165’s motival links, if any, not yet ascertained; however, it has a two octave drop which may be a hyperbolic variant of Erda’s “Ende!” This may link it to the set of Gibichung motifs based on a drop of a specific interval, namely, #151, #155, #156, and #171)

“Siegfried: (#151; #87 Vari Trombones: Leaping down from the rock and stepping nearer: #151; #Hagen’s Watch Accompaniment; #42 End Fragment) Night draws on: (#154) Within your chamber you’ll have to wed me.

 

Bruennhilde: (Threateningly stretching out her finger on which she wears Siegfried’s Ring: keep away! Fear this token! (#84; #45?; #19 Vari >>) You’ll never force me into shame (#45; #42 End Fragment) as long as the Ring protects me.

 

Siegfried: (#161; #42?; #151b; #Hagen’s Watch Accompaniment >>; #64 Voc? [a possible reference to music heard when Siegmund sang to Sieglinde in V.1.3: “There Nothung the sword shall shield you, when Siegmund succumbs to your love”?]) Let it give Gunther a husband’s rights: be wedded to him with the Ring!

 

Bruennhilde: (#151b>>) Away, you robber! (#19?) Impious thief! (#19 Vari) Make not so bold as to near me! (#13 Vari; #153 Varis) The Ring makes me stronger than steel: you’ll never steal it from me! (#77?)

 

Siegfried: (#51) To wrest it from you you teach me now.

 

(He makes to attack her. They struggle. Bruennhilde breaks free, runs away and then turns to defend herself. #161/#77 repeated; #150; #151?; #51; #77/#161; #51: He seizes her by the hand and tears the Ring from her finger. Bruennhilde screams violently. #21?; #139, #153, or #154? [in a sinuous Vari]; #143: As she sinks down in his arms, as though broken, her gaze unconsciously meets Siegfried’s. #154?;