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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

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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.

remark in V.3.1: “… receive his name from me”?]; #148; [[ #177a ]]; #148; [[ #177b ]] #148: From this point onwards the mists begin to divide again, until the hall of the Gibichungs can be made out once more, as in the opening act. #149 Vari; [[ #177ab ]]; #149 Vari; #170a?)”

 

[[#178 = #93]]Wagner’s Hymn (Sieglinde’s “Sublime Wonder”) to the failed artist-hero Siegfried and his muse of formerly unconscious artistic inspiration, Bruennhilde, who – thanks to Siegfried’s betrayal of Wotan’s unspoken secret, which she had kept in silence, to the light of day, now wakes forever, and becomes the voice of her mother Erda’s (Nature’s) objective knowledge of their fate

Sometimes called “The Redemption Motif,” or the “Motif of Redemption by Love,” but this is incorrect.

(See #93 for motival links)

(#115; #54; #2 [sounding like #1]: She signals to the Vassals to bear Siegfried’s body to the funeral pyre; at the same time she draws the Ring from his finger and gazes at it thoughtfully.)

 

Bruennhilde: My inheritance now I take as my own. (#19) Accursed band! (#19) (#164?; #19 Vari) Fear-ridden Ring! (#5/#15 Vari >>) I grasp your gold and give it away. (#59c; #12) Wise sisters (#59c/#174a >>) of the watery deep, (#4?) you daughters who swim in the Rhine, (#59c/#174a) I thank you for your sound advice! (#59a, b, or c?) I give you what you covet: (#12) (#Voc? [perhaps a reference to music associated in V.3.1 with Bruennhilde’s proclamation that Sieglinde, who had contemplated suicide, should live for her unborn child, prior to naming Siegfried and the introduction of #92 and #93?]) from my ashes take it as your own! (#12 Fragment) Let the fire that consumes me (#12 Fragment) cleanse the Ring of its curse: (#174c; #19 chords?) in the floodwaters let it dissolve, (#5?) and safely guard (#19?) the shining gold (#19 Vari; #51?) that was (#37) stolen to your undoing.

 

(#37; #98?; #19?; #21: She has placed the Ring on her finger and now turns to the pile of logs on which Siegfried’s body lies outstretched. She seizes a great firebrand from one of the vassals, brandishes it aloft and points to the back of the stage.)

 

Bruennhilde: (#35?; #34) Fly home, you ravens! (#35) Whisper to your lord what you heard here by the Rhine! (#33) (#35; #33>>>>) Make your way past Bruennhilde’s Rock: tell Loge, who burns there, to haste to Valhalla! (#54 >>>; #37) for the end of the gods (#2 [sounding like #1]) is dawning now: (#54 >>>) thus do I hurl the torch (#45 Chords) into Valhalla’s proud-standing fortress. (#20a Hint?)