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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

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.

(#71 based on the last three notes of #53, and therefore based ultimately on #1 and #2; related to #57b through #1; the family of heroic motifs based on the last 3 notes of #53 also includes #77, #88, #92, #95, and possibly #152)

[[#72]] Siegmund Destined to Win Wotan's Sword Nothung

Siegmund is destined to fall heir to Wotan’s futile quest to redeem the gods of Valhalla by restoring lost innocence, and therefore foredoomed to die for love

(#72 is a compound motif comprised of #57b and #20a; see #20 and #57 for extensive series of motif links)

[[#73]] Siegmund's “Winterstorms Have Waned” Aria

Siegmund (brother Spring) and Sieglinde (sister Love) longed for and found each other: sibling incest and adultery as symbols for the Waelsungs’ instinctive war against a vile, corrupt social order predicated on self-interest and complacency instead of love

(#73’s motival links, if any, not yet ascertained; Dunning suggests a distant relationship to #2)

[[#74]] Waelsung's “Love-Longing”

(#74 in same family as #22, #99, and possibly #106)

[[#75]] Siegmund's and Sieglinde's delight in each other (united are Love and Spring)

(#75’s motival links, if any, not yet ascertained; this motif is employed in Wagner’s independent chamber orchestra composition, the Siegfried Idyll)