commit the second sin against Bruennhilde, for only by disavowing all further perpetuation of our religio-artistic sin of world-denial, our sin against our mother, Nature (Erda), by renouncing our impulse to seek redemption from Alberich’s curse of consciousness, can the artist-hero (and we ourselves, who have depended on him, and aided and abetted him, in committing this sin of self-deception), hope to atone for this greatest of sins against the truth. And this also means that the artist-hero must never again seek to heal our inherently unhealing wound through loving union with his muse of unconscious artistic inspiration.
Hagen’s response to Siegfried’s remark “I’m thirsty!” (he’d just handed him a drink) is to suggest that Siegfried explain how he came to understand the language of birdsong, i.e., how Siegfried (Wagner) the music-dramatist gained unique access to the inner processes of unconscious artistic inspiration, i.e., the secrets kept for Siegfried by Bruennhilde.We know Siegfried is hungry for self-knowledge when he says he’s thirsty because #154, Hagen’s Potion Motif, sounds in the orchestra, reminding us that it was through Hagen’s potion that Siegfried forgot or, that is to say, betrayed Bruennhilde, revealing the contents of his unconscious mind to consciousness. And so it is a natural consequence of Siegfried’s thirst for self-knowledge that Siegfried will soon remember Bruennhilde. Then, accompanied by an inversion of #174c (a segment of the Rhinedaughters’ new lament for the lost gold), and #128b (a segment of one of the Woodbird’s two songs), Hagen says he’s heard it told that Siegfried can understand the language of birdsong, and asks him if this can be true. Now, #174 being a loose inversion of #4, an inversion of #174c may well bring #4 - Woglinde’s Lullaby, to which she sang the first words of the Ring - to mind. And of course #128b also stems from #4. #174c is therefore an evocation of Mother-melody or Ur-melody, of preconscious animal instinct (represented by the Rhinedaughters) before the evolution of human consciousness through natural necessity brought about the Fall, the birth of language and reflective human thought (Alberich’s Ring).
{{ The #174c inversion which Dunning identified here in the score seems to be identical to what I have described as the #Motif of Remembrance (#@: E or F?), heard here three times, specifically in the context of Hagen’s effort to persuade Siegfried to recount how he came to understand the meaning of birdsong. I had thought that this #Motif of Remembrance was identical to the motif, #139, which follows #134 in T.1.2 as Siegfried is toasting Bruennhilde just before drinking Hagen’s Potion: “(#134) this first (#139) drink to true remembrance [or “love”], Bruennhild’, I drink to you!” Dunning identified that motif as #139, the motif associated with Siegfried’s waking Bruennhilde in S.3.3. The question is, is the #Motif of Remembrance (#@: E or F?) #174c inverted, or #139? Furthermore, as Hagen tells Siegfried he’s heard Siegfried can understand birdsong, we also hear what sounds like a hint of #145 or #110 from S.3.3, music from the climax of Siegfried’s and Bruennhilde’s S.3.3 love-duet (Siegfried’s ecstatic experience of unconscious artistic inspiration, which freed him from fear), or T.P.2 love-duet associated with Bruennhilde’s inspiration sending Siegfried out into the cunning world to produce his art. There may even be a touch of the motif which represents Siegfried’s contempt for Mime, #104, which I have noted may actually be a basis for #145. These speculations will have to be vetted in the score. }}
In translation, Hagen – an advocate for objective consciousness - is actually trying to persuade Siegfried to transform his feeling back into thinking, that is to say, to make music disclose its original source of inspiration, to make music trace its origin back to Wotan’s confession of his
