Bruennhilde: For him keep safe the sword’s stout fragments; from his father’s field I haply took them: [[ #92ab: ]] let him who’ll wield the newly forged sword receive his name from me (:#92) - [[ #92a:; #92c or #71 vari ( “hero motif”) or #57 rhythmic vari?]] may (#0ctave drop as heard in Erda’s “endet” and #57a:) ‘Siegfried’ (:#57a) joy in victory! (57)
Sieglinde: (deeply stirred: [[ #93 voc: ]]) Sublimest wonder! Glorious maid (:#93)! You true-hearted woman, I thank you for sacred solace! (#92ab:) For him whom we loved I’ll save what’s most dear (:#92ab): (#77?:) may my gratitude’s guerdon smile upon you one day (:#77?)! Fare you well! (#93: #90a?:) Let Sieglinde’s woe be your blessing (:#93; :#90a?)!
(She hurries away downstage left.)
Bruennhilde, naming him, introduces Siegfried here - Sieglinde’s and Siegmund’s son to be - as the greatest of heroes. The fact that Bruennhilde conceives and gives Siegfried his name, without even taking Sieglinde’s wishes into account, suggests that she is Siegfried’s metaphysical mother, that she has a special claim on Siegfried which even his natural mother, Sieglinde, does not. This is something which Sieglinde apparently feels in herself, and accepts without comment. In Siegfried Wotan’s hopes for redemption of Valhalla and its gods from Alberich’s curse will be realized, but not in the way Wotan at first imagined.
#92abc (the motif belonging to Siegfried as a fearless hero, introduced here as Bruennhilde heralds Siegfried as the world’s noblest hero, and names him), like #71, #77, #88, and #95, stems initially, according to Cooke, from the last 3 notes of #53, which means, in effect, that Siegfried, like the Valkyries, is an agent to whom Wotan looks to redeem the immortal gods from Erda’s truth, that all things, including the gods, change, and therefore all things end. In other words, Siegfried will be motivated by Wotan’s fear to undertake his adventures, except that for Siegfried this motivation will be subliminal, and not experienced as fear at all. There is a phrase which – instead of #92b -follows #92a, as a cadence, the second time it is heard here, which Dunning suggests may be what is known as the “Hero Motif,” which stems from the initial segment of #71. #71 is identified with the tragic history of the Waelsung heroes as revolutionaries who suffer the anguish and sacrifices, the “Noth,” associated with overthrowing Wotan’s old order. It may also be what Dunning described as a rhythmic variant of #57, the Sword Motif (Motif of Wotan’s Grand Idea) which also features prominently in this moment when Bruennhilde names Siegfried. However, the manner in which this motif is introduced suggests to me that it ought to be regarded as the end fragment or cadence of #92, in other words, as #93c, and not as a distinct motif, though it may well stem, taken independently, from the first segment of #71. While #71 bespeaks Siegfried’s Waelsung heritage, #57 (telling us of Siegfried’s inheritance of the two halves of Siegmund’s sword Nothung) links Siegfried with Wotan’s grand idea, his hope that his race of Waelsung heroes will redeem the gods (religious longing) from Alberich’s curse on his Ring.
