The Valkyrie: Act Two, Scene Three - A mountain pass: Siegmund and Sieglinde
[V.2.3: A]
Siegmund and Sieglinde, pursued by Hunding, his clan and hounds, and ultimately by Wotan’s Wild Hunt, are accompanied as they escape by #39 and/or #40, the two earlier versions of the basic Love Motif which Cooke noted are introduced in the transition from R.2 to R.3, when Wotan and Loge descend to Nibelheim, where Alberich has attained the first fruits in his quest for the power he can obtain by renouncing love. Obviously #39 and #40, though love motifs, convey a feeling of Alberich’s curse on love, that in his world love is on the run and at risk, as it was when the basis for the Love Motif, Freia’s Motif #25, was introduced as she fled from the Giants:
(On reaching the mountain ridge, Bruennhilde gazes down into the gorge and sees Siegmund and Sieglinde; she watches them approaching for a moment, then goes into the cave where her horse is stabled, thus disappearing completely from the audience. Siegmund and Sieglinde appear on the mountain ridge. Sieglinde is hurrying on ahead; Siegmund tries to restrain her. (#39 or #40? [obsessively repeated]; #77 hint?)
Siegmund: (#40?:) Rest here now: grant yourself respite (:#40?)!
Sieglinde: Further! Further!
Siegmund: (embracing her with gentle force) No further now! (He clasps her firmly to him.) (#39 &/or #40 frags?:) Tarry here, sweetest of wives! From the transports of bliss you started up and rushed away in headlong haste: I could scarcely follow your breakneck flight: through forest and field, over crag and rock, speechless, silent, onward you sprang; no call would bring you to rest. (She stares wildly ahead of her.) Rest here awhile! Speak but a word! (#39:) End this speechless fear (:#39)! (#64:) See, your brother holds his bride (:#64): (#75:) Siegmund is your helpmeet (:#75) (#5 repeated in series, or #7, or #86 embryo?)
Sieglinde: (#25 vari: gazing into Siegmund’s eyes with growing ecstasy; she then throws her arms passionately about his neck and so remains for a moment; then she starts up in sudden terror.) Away! Away! Flee one who’s defiled! Unhallowed her arm enfolds you; dishonoured, disgraced, this body is dead: flee from the corpse and let it go! (#40?:) May the wind waft her away (:#40?)
