necessity. And won’t the curse of consciousness arise again out of this same natural necessity, this natural world without beginning or end, of which Erda, Mother Nature, the everlasting Wala, is the spokesperson? Is it possible to escape the eternal rebirth of reflective consciousness, since its occasional but rare occurrence in the vastnesses of all space and time seems to be an inevitable consequence of the laws of nature, a sort of Wagnerian “Wonder” predicated upon the supposition that, given enough space and time, i.e., enough matter and energy, it is not only possible, not only probable, but absolutely necessary, that reflective consciousness will occasionally evolve out of the stuff of Nature? On the other hand, is it possible to accept the objective world known to Alberich and renounce the futile quest to posit man’s transcendent value, and therefore to renounce the nihilistic impulse to crave an end to all things? Or is there a third possibility, in which conscious man could live a life of feeling without positing his own transcendent value, without questioning his natural descent, or posing questions of value vs. truth which inevitably lead to contradiction? Wagner addressed, and perhaps resolved, these ultimate questions in Parsifal.
[T.3.3: H]
Having removed Alberich’s Ring from Siegfried’s dead finger so she can wear it for her apotheosis, thereby accepting martyrdom at the hands of the Ring curse, Bruennhilde seizes a firebrand, and asks Wotan’s ravens to tell Loge the time has come to set Valhalla and its gods and heroes and illusions aflame, as Bruennhilde prepares to light Siegfried’s funeral pyre, and to be consumed by the fire with her lord:
(#37?; #98?; #19?: She has placed the ring on her finger and now turns to the pile of logs on which Siegfried’s body lies outstretched. She seizes a great firebrand from one of the vassals, brandishes it aloft and points to the back of the stage. #21; #Loge’s rising chromatic scales)
Bruennhilde: (#35?:; #34:; #?: [music which may reference Siegfried talking to the Woodbird in S.2.3?]) Fly home, you ravens! (#35:) Whisper to your lord what you heard here by the Rhine (:#34; :#35; :#? [musical reference to Siegfried talking to the Woodbird in S.2.3?])! (#33(ab?)) (#35:; #33(ab?) >>>>:) Make your way past Bruennhilde’s rock: tell Loge, who burns there (:#33(ab?)), to haste to Valhalla! (#54 >>:; #37:) For the end of the gods (#2 [but #2 sounds more like #1 here?]) is dawning now: (#54 >>> ) thus do I hurl the torch (#45 chords) into Valhalla’s proud-standing fortress. (#20a? [a mere hint, which breaks off?])
(She hurls the firebrand on to the pile of wood, which quickly ignites. #34. Two ravens have flown up from the rock on the river-bank and disappear in the background. She catches sight of her horse, which two men have just led in. #78?; #77?)
