So Wotan insists that he must now make a stand against Fricka and her forces of conservatism, as we hear what Dunning describes as a loose variant of #53, the motif to which Erda informed Wotan that all things come to an end, all things change and are ephemeral (including the allegedly immortal gods). Fricka has promised Hunding, as wedlock’s guardian, that she’ll avenge his shame – that he has been cuckolded by Siegmund and Sieglinde, guilty of adultery and incest - upon the Waelsung twins.
[V.2.1: B]
Fricka, with dignified, self-righteous bearing, now confronts Wotan with her complaints, expressing her fear that through his encouragement the illicit twin-pair’s misbehavior will lead to social instability due to their irreverence towards the gods:
Fricka: Wherever you hide in the hills (#5; #64 or #80 hint?; #79?:) to escape the eyes of your wife (:#5; :#64 or #80 hint?; :#79?), I seek you out here, all alone, that you promise me your help.
Wotan: Let Fricka freely confide her cares. (#67)
Fricka: (#68:) Hunding’s distress [“Noth”] I heard; he called on me for vengeance: wedlock’s guardian gave him ear and promised to punish severely the deed of that brazenly impious pair (:#68) that dared to wrong a husband.
Wotan: What was so wrong that was done by the couple (#64?:) that spring united in love? Love’s enchantment had cast upon them its magic spell: who’ll make me amends for the power of love (:#64?)?
Fricka: How foolish and dull you pretend to be, as though, in truth, you did not know (#68:) that I grieve for wedlock’s holy vow, a vow most harshly broken (:#68)! (…)
Wotan: Unholy I deem the vow that binds unloving hearts; and, in truth, you can’t expect me now to bind by force what won’t be bound by you: (#21) (#20? loose vari on horns: [in the form of a slow arpeggio]) wherever forces are boldly stirring, I openly counsel war (:#20? loose vari on horns). (#79)
