“The unconscious [Bruennhilde] is precisely the involuntary, the necessary and creative … .” [466W-{49-51 (?)} Notes for ‘Artisthood of the Future’ (unfinished); Sketches and Fragments: PW Vol. VIII, p. 346]
And these considerations on the nature of unconscious artistic inspiration, which Wagner identifies especially as a feature of musical composition, recall how Wotan originally redeemed himself from consciousness of thoughts too unbearable to contemplate, by confessing his divine “Noth,” his unspoken secret, to Bruennhilde, thereby repressing his potentially conscious thoughts into his unconscious mind, so that he could be born anew as the creative and free hero Siegfried:
“Consciousness is the end, the dissolution of unconsciousness: but unconscious agency is the agency of nature, of the inner necessity … . So ye err when ye seek the revolutionary force in consciousness, and therefore fain would operate through the intelligence … . Not ye, but the folk [Wotan, collective, historical man, who in primal times involuntarily invented the gods by projecting his own idealized nature on to figures of his imagination. His creative gift is resurrected in Siegfried, the single artist-hero of the modern, secular age.] – which deals unconsciously – and for that very reason , from a nature-instinct – will bring the new to pass; but the might of the folk is lamed for just so long as it lets itself be led by the chain of an obsolete intelligence, a hindering consciousness: only when this is completely annihilated by and in itself, -- only when we all know and perceive that we must yield ourselves, not to our intelligence, but to the necessity of nature, therefore when we have become brave enough to deny our intellect, shall we obtain from natural unconsciousness [Bruennhilde, in whom Wotan represses his potentially conscious thoughts], from want [Noth?], the force to produce the new, to bring the stress of nature to our consciousness through its satisfaction.” [465W-{49-51 (?)} Notes for ‘Artisthood of the Future’ (unfinished); Sketches and Fragments: PW Vol. VIII, p. 345]
When Siegfried adds that upon her stallion’s back, and protected by the shelter of her shield, Siegfried has ceased to be Siegfried but is Bruennhilde’s arm alone, Wagner now re-introduces #111, the so-called “Siegfried’s Mission Motif,” in definitive form. #111 was introduced in S.1.1 in association with Siegfried’s presumption that in restoring his connection with his heroic Waelsung ancestors (or parents, to be literally accurate), knowledge of which Siegfried’s foster-father Mime had withheld from him, Siegfried was now free to cast aside Mime’s claim of influence and indebtedness, and entirely emancipate himself from loathsome Mime to seek a heroic life in the wider world, wielding the newly re-forged Nothung, the sword representing the heritage of genius which Siegfried inherits by virtue of being one among their number. Bruennhilde holds for Siegfried, of course, the full knowledge of his true identity as Wotan, which includes Wotan’s lower self, Mime, the very aspect of Wotan’s character from which Bruennhilde frees Siegfried’s conscious mind. Bruennhilde gave Wotan a new identity as Siegfried, and Siegfried therefore is not entirely himself, the unconsciously inspired artist-hero, without his muse, Bruennhilde, who represents for him his truer, instinctive self. #111 thus recalls Siegfried’s intent, as proclaimed to Mime in S.1.1, to undertake adventures in the wider world and to purge from himself all the limitations which Wotan felt would constrain the artist-hero’s freedom. But we must not forget that #111 is based upon #105, Mime’s so-called Starling Song, in which Mime reminded Siegfried of all that he owes Mime. Similarly, #19 (Alberich’s Ring), the basis for #20a (the first segment of the Valhalla Motif), recalls all that the gods owe Alberich.
