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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.

(#56 in the family of Nature motifs, variations on the Primal Nature Motif #1 and Rhine Motifs #2 and #3, which include #12)

[[#57ab]] “Wotan's Grand Idea” of redemption from Alberich’s curse on his Ring

Commonly known as the “Sword Motif” - Wotan’s grand idea of redemption from Alberich’s curse on his Ring is to produce a race of heroes who can redeem Valhalla’s gods (religious faith) from Alberich’s threat to make all men as conscious as he is of the objective truth, by restoring lost innocence. These Waelsung heroes are to inherit a sword made by Wotan, whose motif #57 incorporates the Primal Nature Motif #1, and therefore represents the innocent time before the Fall.

(#57a based on the octave drop when Erda, during her prophecy of the gods' doom, said that (#53) All things that are, (#Octave Drop) end!; #57b based on #1; related to other Nature arpeggios like #12 and #56; related through #1 to #53 and #54, and through #53's last three notes to the set of heroic motifs which include #71, #77, #88, #92, #95, and perhaps #152)

[[#58ab]] Valhalla as religious man’s refuge from dread and dismay in the face of truth

Wotan’s Waelsung heroes are Siegmund, Wagner’s idea of a moral hero, and Siegmund’s son Siegfried, Wagner’s metaphor for an artist-hero (such as Wagner himself). Wotan hopes that these heroes, wielding his sword (later christened by Siegmund: Nothung), will preserve Valhalla, man’s heritage of religious illusion, from the truth.

(#58a’s motival links, if any, not yet ascertained; #58b basis of #79)

[[#59abc]] The Rhinedaughters’ first lament for the lost Rhinegold

Nature's lament for the innocence that has been lost through man's natural acquisition of the power of conscious human thought, a basis for man's longing to restore lost innocence in musical feeling.

(#59a a variant of #15; #59bc’s motival links, if any, not yet ascertained; is #59bc a #4 or #16 variant in the minor?)