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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.

(#138 based on the #53 chord; thus #138 is related to #1, #2, and #57b, and also to the family of motifs stemming from the last three notes of #53, which include #71, #77, #88, #92, #95, and perhaps #152.)

[[#139]] Siegfried’s kiss wakes his muse Bruennhilde, who will inspire his art by imparting Wotan's unspoken secret to him subliminally, through music

(#139 is based on #24; possibly related to #153; #139 may be a (or the) basis for (#@: E), the #Motif of Remembrance)

[[#140]] Siegfried’s and Bruennhilde’s loving salute to each other

(#140 is in the family of love motifs which includes #25, #39, #40, #64b, #80b, #133, and possibly #145)

[[#141ab]] What Siegfried doesn’t know (his true identity and fate), his unconscious mind Bruennhilde knows for him

(#141’s motival links, if any, not yet ascertained)

[[#142]] Bruennhilde calls upon the artist-hero Siegfried to preserve and respect her status as his muse of unconscious artistic inspiration

(#142’s motival links, if any, not yet ascertained; #142 is one of the primary themes Wagner incorporated into his Siegfried Idyll.)

[[#143]] Bruennhilde calls upon Siegfried as the “Hoard of the World” (i.e., the heir to Alberich's and Wotan's - Light-Alberich's - hoard of knowledge) to preserve its secret and not expose it to the light of day

(Cooke regarded #143 as a basis for #150, but Dunning disagrees. However, both #143 and #150 are directly associated with the crucial concept that Bruennhilde is imparting Wotan’s Hoard of Knowledge – i.e., his confession – to Siegfried, subliminally, so a musical kinship between these two motifs would not be surprising.