Hagen: (calling into the hall: #156a >> [Dunning previously identified this as #171, the “Gibichung Horncall.” Perhaps it’s the compound #156a/#171 as per below?]) Hoiho! Gutrune: (#33b Norns’ vari?:) come on out! (#33b vari:) Siegfried is here (:#33b – Norns’ vari?): Why linger within? (#103?)
Siegfried: (turning to the hall) (#33b vari:) I’ll tell you both how I bound Bruennhilde.
(#156/#171: Gutrune comes from the hall to meet him.)
Siegfried: [[ #169: ]] Bid me welcome, Gibich’s child! A goodly herald I am for you. (#156/[[ #171 ]])
Gutrune: [[ #169: ]] May Freia give you greeting in honour of all women (:#169)!
Siegfried: (#156/#171:) Be open handed and well-disposed to me in my happy state (“Frei und hold, sie nun mir frohem”]: (#110 vari: [or #145?]; #171?:) today I won you as my wife (:#110 vari [or #145?]; :#171?).
We hear a #162 Variant, expressing the anguish of Hagen’s solitary martyrdom for the sake of the bitter truth, as Siegfried, optimistic in his ignorance of his true situation, exuberantly announces his return. The contrast between the grim Hagen and exuberantly ignorant hero Siegfried is telling. Accompanied by the same Norn-like orchestral pulses which imparted a gloomy atmosphere to the last scene (when Alberich conspired with Hagen to destroy the gods and heroes, and Hagen complained of his fate in being born Alberich’s son), Hagen, with bitter irony, now asks from what spot Siegfried has sped so quickly. Siegfried, exclaiming at the Wonder of the Tarnhelm which brought him back to Gibichung Hall with the instantaneity of a wish fulfilled, says the power of the Tarnhelm transported him there from Bruennhilde’s mountain instantly. The Tarnhelm’s power is the symbol for the Wagnerian Wonder, the creative, artistic imagination at the service of Wagner’s music-drama, in which all time becomes now, all space becomes here, all wishes fulfilled.
With cruel irony, when Hagen asks whether Siegfried overpowered Bruennhilde, Siegfried ignores him to ask whether Gutrune is awake. They both call out to wake Gutrune, and Siegfried promises to tell them how he bound Bruennhilde. At this point two new motifs are introduced. #171 is the bright, brassy “Gibichung Horncall Motif,” which will later be contrasted with #103, “Siegfried’s Youthful Horncall.” #171 is in the Gibichung Family of motifs which include #151 (Hagen), #155 (“’Gunther’s False Friendship With Siegfried”), #156 (“Gutrune”), and perhaps #165. #171 serves as the herald of the double wedding of Siegfried with Gutrune, and Gunther with Bruennhilde, which Hagen has engineered. Cooke says #171 is the antithesis of #103. The other new motif,
