[P. 337] “ … where the Symphonist still timidly groped back to the original dance-form – never daring, even for his expression, to quite transgress the bounds which held him in communication with that form – the Poet now will cry to him: ‘Launch without a fear into the full flood of Music’s sea; hand in hand with me, you can never lose touch of the thing most seizable of all by every human being; for through me you stand on the solid ground of the Dramatic Action [the seed of Wotan’s poetic intent, his confession to Bruennhilde], and that Action, at the moment of its scenic show, is the most directly understandable of all poems. Stretch boldly out your melody, that like a ceaseless river it may pour throughout the work: in it say you what I keep silent [as Wotan’s unspoken secret (what he himself said he speaks in words to no one), which he confessed to Bruennhilde, is sublimated into feeling in musical motifs], since you alone can say it: and silent shall I utter all, since my hand it is that guides you.’ [Wotan’s confession to Bruennhilde, figuratively speaking, thus becomes the hidden “Programme” of the Ring’s music]
[P. 338] Of a verity the poet’s greatness is mostly to be measured by what he leaves unsaid, letting us breathe in silence to ourselves the thing unspeakable; the musician it is who brings this untold mystery to clarion tongue, and the impeccable form of his sounding silence is endless melody [In other words, the unspoken secret of the Ring’s meaning is to be found in its musical motifs, but not in the sense of musical expression as such, but rather, in terms of the associative power of the motifs’ seemingly unlimited capacity for cross-referencing the libretto text].” [689W-{9/60} Music of the Future, PW Vol. III, p. 337-338] [See also 437W]
And of course the thing Siegfried’s music-drama keeps silent, the thing unspeakable yet spoken by music, is Wotan's unspoken secret, his confession to Bruennhilde. As Wotan said to Bruennhilde just before he made confession to her, “What in words I reveal to no one, let it stay unspoken for ever: with myself I commune when I speak with you.” So the Ring’s musical motifs must hold the key to unlock the secret of Wotan’s confession.
And following up Wagner’s discussion of the nature of the “Wonder,” the magical effect created by the musical motifs, in the following extracts Wagner describes how these motifs make all space and time (within the context of the drama of which they are a part) here and now, i.e. present. This in turn explains why, thanks to Bruennhilde, Siegfried lives fearlessly in the present unencumbered by Wotan’s Hoard of unbearable knowledge of a sordid past and terrifying future.
There is no more cogent, striking evidence to support our allegorical reading of the Ring libretto than this:
[P. 466] “Siegfried lives entirely in the present, he is the hero, the finest gift of the will [i.e., Wotan’s Will, Bruennhilde].” [820W-{3/12/72}CD Vol. I, p. 466]
To grasp this we must recall that Bruennhilde called herself Wotan’s “will.” Siegfried is therefore Bruennhilde’s finest gift, for he lives in the present only because she (i.e., Wagner’s musical motifs, Wotan’s unconscious mind) holds for him the knowledge of gods’ and man’s history and fate, which Wotan imparted to her, so that Siegfried can be freed from Wotan’s existential fear and paralysis. He neither ruminates on a tainted past, nor foresees the tragic future. Siegfried can act seemingly spontaneously only because he remains ignorant and innocent of his true source of inspiration through the magical protection Bruennhilde confers on him, which allows him to safely draw upon the Ring’s power (and the hoard of knowledge it produces) for inspiration, without
