[743W-{1/3/69}Explanatory Program: Prelude to Act III ‘Die Meistersinger.’: PW Vol. VIII, p. 388]
[P. 388] {FEUER} “With the third strophe of the cobbler-song in the second act the first motive for the strings has been already heard; there it expressed the bitter cry of the man of resignation who shows the world a cheerful, energetic countenance; that smothered cry was understood by Eva, and so deeply did it pierce her heart that she fain would flee away, only to hear this cheerful-seeming song no longer.” [743W-{1/3/69}Explanatory Program: Prelude to Act III ‘Die Meistersinger.’: PW Vol. VIII, p. 388]
[744W-{2/24/69}Letter to King Ludwig II of Bavaria: SLRW, p. 739-740]
[P. 739] “Let me describe to you the passage which I was bold enough to find so pleasing and so exhilarating. Siegfried has slain Fafner: the forest murmurs that had earlier captivated him so charmingly now exert their magic spell; he understands the woodbird, and – as though guided by some sweet narcosis and obeying, as it were, some instruction without knowing what he is doing – goes into the dragon’s cave to remove the hoard … . Siegfried, sunk in thoughtful contemplation of the ring, then re-emerges from the cave on to the high ground in front of it: … . Siegfried, contemplating the ring and the tarnhelm: ‘What use you are to me, I do not know.’ As he emerges, one hears the motif of the ring winding its way eerily through the accompaniment (during the speeches of the two Nibelungs): it now passes, with supreme and ghostlike pliancy, into the theme of the Rhinedaughters from the end of the Rhinegold: ‘Rhinegold! Purest gold! Ah, would that you still lit the watery depths!’ (…) To the accompaniment of a gentle tremolo on the strings, this theme is now heard on six horns, as [P. 740] though from some distant dream-world.” [744W-{2/24/69}Letter to King Ludwig II of Bavaria: SLRW, p. 739-740]
[745W-{2/24/69}Letter to King Ludwig II of Bavaria: SLRW, p. 740]
[P. 740] “The sense of expectancy which seizes hold of us here is quite overwhelming! When the woodbird warns Siegfried afresh against Mime’s approach, and as the latter now creeps up from afar, wondering who could have told the lad of the ring, we hear gently, oh so gently his mother Sieglinde’s loving concern for her son sound forth with tuneful tenderness – the son to whom, dying, she had given birth. The bird continues to hold our attention with its gentle warning phrases, as Mime now turns fawningly to Siegfried.” [745W-{2/24/69}Letter to King Ludwig II of Bavaria: SLRW, p. 740]
[746W-{2/24/69}Letter to King Ludwig II of Bavaria: SLRW, p. 740]
[P. 740] “Finally, when Mime too has been slain, a feeling of utter loneliness breaks out in the youth who until now has felt only high spirits: bear, wolf and dragon have been his only associates: the woodbird whose language he now understands is, as it were, the only creature to which he feels akin. And now the terror of ecstasy, as it tells him of Bruennhilde! Yes, and what does all this mean? {FEUER} It is certainly no scene from family life: the fate of the world hangs upon the boy’s godlike simplicity and the uniqueness of a fearless individual!” [746W-{2/24/69}Letter to King Ludwig II of Bavaria: SLRW, p. 740]
