der ring des nibelungen - Fantasy Castle Books

What sense is inside it?
The name till now was unsounded.
WOTAN.
What, in might over fear,
my manfulness found,
shall matchlessly live
and lead the meaning to light !
(Wotan and Fricka walk towards the bridge; Froh and
Freia follow next, then Donner.)
LOGE
(lingering in ttie foreground and looking after the gods).
To their end they fleetly are led,
who believe themselves founded for ever.
Almost I shame to mix in their matters;
in flustering fire afresh to be loosened
a lurking fondness I feel.
To swallow the teachers who settled me tame,
rather than blindly blend in their wreck,
though godliest gods I may think them,
no fool's thought were it found!
I'll deem about it; who bodes what I do?
(He proceeds leisurely to join the gods. Out of the depth is
heard the song of the Rhine-daughters, sounding upwards.)
THE THREE RHINE-DAUGHTERS.
Rhinegold! Guiltless gold!
How bright and unbarred
was to us once thy beam!
We mourn thy loss that lone has made us!
Give us the gold, O bring us the gleam of it back!
WOTAN (just about to set his foot on the bridge, stops and
turns round).
Whose sorrow reaches me so?
LOGE.
The river-maidens,
who grieve for their missing gold.
WOTAN.
The cursed Nodders !
Keep me clear of their noise!
LOGE (calling down into the valley).
You in the water, why yearn you and weep?
Hear from Wotan a hope
Gleams no more the gold to the maids,
may the gods, with strengthened glory,
sun them sweetly instead!
(The gods laugh aloud and step on to the bridge.)
THE RHINE-DAUGHTERS (from the depth).
Rhinegold! Guiltless gold!
O would that thy light
in the wave had been left alive!
Trustful and true is what dwells in the depth;
faint and false of heart what is happy on high!
(As all the gods are crossing the bridge to the castle, the
curtain falls.)
Wotan.
What meaneth the name, then?
Strange 'tis methinks to my hearing.
What my spirit has found
to master my dread,
when triumph is won —
maketh the meaning clear.
He takes FRICKA bv the hand and walks slowly with her
towards the bridge: FROH, FREIA and DONNER follow.
Loge
(remaining in the foreground and looking after the gods).
They are hasting on to their end who now
deem themselves strong in their greatness.
Ashamed am I to share in their dealings;
to flickering fire again to transform me,
fancy lureth my will:
to burn and waste them who bound me erewhile,
rather than blindly sink with the blind —
e'en were they of gods the most godlike —
not ill were it, meseems!
I must bethink me: who knows what may hap?
He goes, assuming a careless manner, to join the gods.
The three RHINE-DAUGHTERS in the valley.
The Three Rhine-daughters.
Rhinegold! Guileless gold!
How brightly and clear
shimmered thy beams on us!
For thy pure lustre now lament we:
give us the gold, o give us its glory again!
Wotan (preparing to set his foot on the bridge, stops and
turns round).
What plaints come hither to me?
Loge.
Wotan.
The river children
bewailing the stolen gold.
Accursed nixies!
Cease their clamourous taunts.
Loge (calling down towards the valley).
Ye in the water! why wail ye to us?
Hear what Wotan doth grant!
Gleams no more on you maidens the gold,
in the newborn godly splendour
bask ye henceforth in bliss!
The gods laugh and cross the bridge during the following.
The Rhine-daughters.
Rhinegold! Guileless gold!
O would that thy treasure
were glittering yet in the deep!
Tender and true 'tis but in the waters:
false and base are all who revel above!
As the gods cross the bridge to the castle the curtain falls.
29. The Valhalla Motive
But the cunning Loge knows that the curse must do its work,
even if not until the distant future; and hence as he remains in
the foreground looking after the gods, the Loge and Ring
Motives are heard. The cries of the Rhine-daughters greet
Wotan. They beg him to restore the ring to them, but Wotan is
deaf to their entreaties. He preferred to give the ring to the
giants rather han forfeit Freia. The WALHALLA MOTIVE swells
to a majestic climax and the gods enter the castle. Amid
shimmering arpeggios the Rainbow Motive resounds. The
gods have attained the height of their glory—but the
Nibelung’s curse is still potent, and it will bring woe upon all
who have possessed or will possess the ring until it is restored
to the Rhine-daughters. Fasolt was only the first victim of
Alberich’s curse. (1)
So we lose sight of them, moving into their new house; in spite of
their glory a little like the first family of the county. But while to
triumphant strains they seek their serene stronghold, we know that
the lines have been laid for disaster. The Ring is in the world, with its
terrific power; and there is in the world one whom wrong has turned
into a deadly enemy, whose soul is undividedly bent upon getting
possession of the Ring, which Wotan may not himself attempt to get
—stopped, if not by Erda's warning or by terror of the curse, by the
fact that he finally gave it to the giants in payment of an
acknowledged debt, and that his spear stands precisely for honor in
relations of the sort. (4)
The battlements of the fortress glitter in the light of the evening sun,
and a lingering lament over the loss of the sinless serenity of the
Golden Age is heard in the sweet song of the Rhine-maidens as this
prologue of the drama ends. (3)
The Valhalla Motive resounds, and the gods start to walk over
the rainbow arch to the castle. Loge, left behind, is ashamed to
share in their dealings. “They are hastening on to their end,”
he says, yet he joins the celestial procession. As they cross the
river, below them are heard the Rhine daughters lamenting the
loss of their gold (Praise of the Rhine Gold, Rhine Gold
fanfare). The gods smile, but pass on in majestic company,
while the full power of the orchestra intones the Valhalla
Motive and the Rainbow Motive; and so the Prelude to the
Trilogy is closed. (2)
The building of the rainbow-bridge by the gods themselves is in
accordance with the mythological tradition; according to this, the
rainbow binds heaven and earth together, and over it the gods ride
daily to their seat of judgment by Urd’s Brunnen, the spring
which waters the roots of the world-ash Ygdrassil. The home of
the gods is in Asgard, with its twelve Himmels-burgen; of these,
according to the Grimnersmal, a song found in the Edda,
Gladsheim is the fifth, and within Gladsheim is Walhalla, where
Odin has his high seat. Of the swellers in Walhalla we will speak
more fully further on; here it is sufficient to say that the root of
the name is the word Wal, signifying choice; the slain in war are
the elect, chosen of Odin, hence a very general name for a
battlefield is Wal-statt or Wal-platz.
With this entrance of the gods into Walhalla, Wagner closes the
introduction to his Trilogy; the Himmels-burg is built, and the
giants are baffled; but the love of gold has already touched with
baleful hands the gods, the golden age of their innocence is over;
their solemn pledge has been evaded, the fatal theft is accomplished,
and the curse has already begun its work. How the evil destiny
unrolls itself with relentless force, till it involves gods and men
alike in one common ruin, is told in the succeeding drama. (5)