Bruennhilde in S.3.3 &/or T.P?]) bin ich Thoerin enttaucht: nicht fass’ ich, was ich erfahre (:#voc?).”]) (#81 grace-note twist?) (#164 >> :) Your meaning seems wild and confused; in your eye – so over weary – fitful fire gleams (:#164): (#164 vari [very concentrated]) with pallid cheek, wan sister (:#164 vari), what would you have me do in your wildness? (#19)
Waltraute: (vehemently: #167 embryo?:; #?: [fire figurations a bit like those in the finale of S.3.3 before the duet set to #145, and also like the finale of Twilight of the Gods when Bruennhilde prepares to join Siegfried in death, after throwing the torch on to his funeral pyre?]) Upon your hand, the ring – that’s it: o heed my counsel! (#5 loose varis:) For Wotan, cast it away from you (:#167 embryo?; :#? [fire figurations perhaps from the Siegfried & Twilight of the Gods finales?]; :#5 loose varis)!
Bruennhilde: (#19 vari or #167?:) The ring – from me?
Waltraute: (#161 vari:) Give it back to the Rhinedaughters (:19 vari or #167?; :#161 vari)!
Bruennhilde: (#161 vari:) To the Rhinedaughters – I – the ring? (#19 vari) Siegfried’s pledge of love? – (#139 or #remembrance motif (#@: e or f?)? [a motif played by flutes during T.1.2-3, perhaps from the Siegfried Idyll music?]) Are you out of your mind?
Waltraute: (#161 vari:) Hear me, hear of my fears (:#161 vari)! (#19?) (#13 varis:) The world’s ill-fate [“Unheil”] surely hangs upon it (:#13 varis): (#161 vari >>:) cast it away, into the waves (:#161 vari)! (#161b?) (#13 vari >> :) To end Valhalla’s distress, (#161a or #15?) cast the accursed ring into the river (:#13 vari).
As Waltraute, having weighed Wotan’s words, tells how she flew to Bruennhilde to entreat her to take the burden from Wotan and restore the Ring to the Rhinedaughters, we hear #81 transform into #164. This motival transformation underlines Wotan’s recognition that Siegfried is no freer a hero than Siegmund was, and is therefore bound to succumb to the Ring curse just as Siegmund did. It is for this reason that Wotan desperately wishes for Bruennhilde to restore the Ring to the Rhinedaughters before it is too late, before Siegfried forces the Ring out of Bruennhilde’s hands and makes its power available to Hagen, and by extension to Alberich.
