der ring des nibelungen - Fantasy Castle Books

(By degrees the waves change into clouds which become
gradually clearer, and when at last they have quite
disappeared, as it were in fine mist,
An Open District on Mountain-Heights
Becomes visible, at first still dim with night. The breaking
day lightens with growing brightness a castle with shining
battlements that stands upon a point of rock in the
background; between this castle-crowned rock and the
foreground of the scene lies, as is to be supposed, a deep
valley, with the Rhine flowing through it. At the side on
flowery ground lies Wotan with Fricka beside him; both
are asleep.)
FRICKA (awakens, her eye falls on the castle; she is
surprised and alarmed).
Wotan! Husband! Awaken!
WOTAN (lightly in his dream)
The happy hall of delight
Is locked amid gate and guard;
Manhood’s worship, measureless might,
Mount to unfinishing fame!
FRICKA (shakes him).
Up from the dreadless drift of thy dreams!
Awake, and weigh what thou doest!
WOTAN (awakes, and raises himself a little; his eye is
immediately caught by sight of the castle).
Behold the unwithering work!
With heeding towers the height is tipped;
Broadly stands the stately abode!
As I drew it in my dream—
As it was in my will—
Safe and fair finds it my sight,—
Holy, sheltering home!
FRICKA.
So meet thou deemest
what most is my dread?
Thy welcomed walls
for Freia beware of.
Waken and be not unmindful
to what a meed thou art bound!
The work is ended
and owed for as well;
forgettest thou what thou must give?
WOTAN.
Forgotten not is the guerdon
they named who worked at the walls;
the unbending team
by bargain I tamed,
that here the lordly
hall might be lifted;
they piled it thanks befall them;
for the pay fret not thy thought.
FRICKA.
O light unmerciful laughter!
Loveless masterly mischief!
Had I but heard of your freak,
its fraud would wholly have failed;
but boldly you worked it
abroad from the women,
where safe from sight you were left
alone with the giants to juggle.
So without shame
or shyness you sold them
Freia, my flowering sister,
and deemed it sweetly was done.
What to you men
for worship is meet,
when your minds are on might?
WOTAN.
Was Wotan's want
from Fricka so far,
who sought for the fastness herself ?
FRICKA.
Of my husband's truth was my heed;
I tried, in soundless sorrow,
how to find him the fetters
fittest to hold him at home;
lordly abode
and blissful living
lightly with bitless reins
should bind thee to lingering rest;
thy bent for the building leaned
on fence and fight alone;
worship and might
thou mean'st it to widen;
that steadier storm may betide thee
thou turn'st to its towering strength.
WOTAN (smiling).
Wert thou to grasp me
in guard like a woman,
thou yet must yield to my godhood
that, in the bulwarks
irked and bounded,
the world it outwards should win.
Freedom and freshness
he loves who lives;
I part not lightly with pastime.
FRICKA.
Hard, unmoved
The waves have gradually changed into clouds which little
by little become lighter, and at length disperse into a fine
mist. As the mist disappears upwards in little clouds
An Open Space on a Mountain Height
Becomes visible in the twilight. – The dawning day lights
up with growing brightness a castle with glittering
pinnacles which stands on the top of a cliff in the
background. Between this cliff and the foreground a deep
valley through which the Rhine flows is visible. – At one
side, on a flowery bank, lies WOTAN with FRICKA near
him, both asleep.
Fricka
(awakes: her gaze falls on the castle; alarmed).
Wotan, give ear! Awaken!
Wotan (dreaming).
The sacred dwelling of joy
Is guarded by gate and door:
Manhood’s honour, might without bound,
Rise now to endless renown!
Fricka (shakes him).
Up from thy vision’s blissful deceit!
My husband, wake and bethink thee!
Wotan (awakes and raises himself a little. His eyes are at
once fixed by the view of the castle).
Achieved the eternal work!
On mountain summit the gods’ abode!
Proudly stand the glittering walls!
As in dreams ‘twas designed,
As by will ‘twas decreed,
Strong and fair stand it in sight:
Hallowed, glorious pile!
Fricka.
Wotan.
Fricka.
Wotan.
Fricka.
What thee delighteth
brings me but dread!
Thou hast thy joy,
my fear is for Freia!
Heedless one, dost thou remember
the truly promised reward!
The work is finished
and forfeit the pledge:
forgettest thou what thou must pay?
I mind me well of the bargain
they made who raised me the walls:
by a bond bound
were the rebels in thrall,
that they this hallowed
dwelling might build me;
it stands now — thank the workers: —
for the wage fret not thyself.
O laughing, impious lightness!
loveless, cold-hearted folly!
Had I but known of thy pact,
the trick I then had withstood;
but ever ye men
kept afar from the women,
that, deaf to us and in peace,
alone ye might deal with the giants.
So without shame
ye base ones abandoned
Freia, my loveliest sister,
pleased right well with your pact!
What to our hard hearts
is holy and good,
when ye men lust for might!
Was like greed
to Fricka unknown,
when she for the building did beg?
For my husband's truth aye in care
with sorrow must I ponder,
how to hold him beside me,
lured by his fancy afar:
halls fair and stately,
joys of the homestead,
surely should bind thee
in peaceful repose.
But thou in this work hast dreamed
of war and arms alone:
glory and might
ever to win thee,
and ne'er ending strife to enkindle,
were builded the towering walls.
Wotan (smiling).
Wouldst thou, o wife,
in the fortress then fix me,
to me, the God, must be granted,
that, in the castle
prisoned, yet from
outside I must win me the world:
ranging and changing
love all who live;
forego that game, then, I cannot!
Fricka.
Cold, unloving,
8. The Motive of Valhalla
The dawn illumines a castle with glittering turrets on a rocky
height at the back. Through a deep valley between this and the
foreground the Rhine flows. With the opening of the second
scene the stately VALHALLA MOTIVE is heard. This is a motive
of superb beauty. It greets us again and again in “Rhinegold”
and frequently in the later music-dramas of the cycle. Yet
often as it occurs, one hears it with ever-growing admiration.
Valhalla is the dwelling of gods and heroes, and its motive is
divinely and heroically beautiful. Though it is essentially
broad and stately it often assumes a tender mood, like the
chivalric gentleness which every true hero feels toward
woman. Thus it is at the opening of the second scene, for here
this motive, which when played forte or fortissimo is one of
the stateliest of musical inspirations, is marked piano and
molto dolce. In crescendo and decrescendo it rises and falls, as
rises and falls with each breath the bosom of the beautiful
Fricka, who slumbers at Wotan’s side. (1)
The stage gradually brightens, and the castle of Valhalla is
disclosed, standing upon a cliff overlooking the Rhine. Wotan
and Fricka lie asleep in the foreground. Day is dawning. The
Motive of Valhalla is softly intoned by the brass instrument.
The motive is one of the most grandiose and imposing of all,
and wonderfully expressive of the power and dignity of the
gods. It is generally played by the brass choir of the orchestra,
which Wagner reinforced by the so-called “Bayreuth tubas,”
an instrument devised by him for his Nibelung instrumentation.
The relationship of this motive with that of the Ring will
appear on examination; but its form is more massive, its
harmonies simplified and its intervals made diatonic instead of
chromatic. This inter-relation of themes of allied significance
will be met with through the whole Trilogy. It is one of the
most subtle and potent devices employed by Wagner to
enhance their suggestiveness, and to secure coherency and
unity in his system. (2)
The second scene of the Rheingold introduces us to the world of the
Gods; the forms, that is to say, in which the human mind embodies its
ideas of the ruling powers of the universe. Wotan, Fricka, and the
others, here represent not merely the Northern Divinities, from whom
their names are borrowed, but all religious creeds whatsoever that
have held sway over the human race; and Wotan himself, as the
typical figure, symbolizes the Power of Creed. (3)
Then occurs a gradual transformation-scene both to the eye and the
ear. The rocks disappear, black waves flow past, the whole all the
while appearing to sink. Clouds succeed the water, mist the clouds.
This finally clears, revealing a calm and lovely scene on the
mountain-heights. The music has during this been painting the
change, too: Sounds of running water, above which hovers a
moment, a memory of the scene just past and a foreboding of its
sorrowful consequences, the strain signifying the renunciation of love;
when this dies away, the motif of the ring, to be heard so many times
after, its fateful character plainly conveyed by the notes, which also
literally describe its circular form. By what magic of modulation the
uninitiated cannot discern, the ring-motif, as the water by degrees is
translated into mist, slides by subtle changes into a motif which
seems, when it is reached, conspicuously different from it, the motif of
the Gods' Abode.
There in the distance it stands, when the mists have perfectly
cleared, bathed in fresh morning light, the tall just-completed castle,
with shimmering battlements, crowning a high rocky mountain, at
whose base, far down out of sight, flows the Rhine. For the Rhine is
the centre of the world we are occupied with: under it, the Nibelungs;
above it, the Gods; beside it, the giants and the insignificant human
race. The music itself here, while the dwelling of the gods is coming
into sight, seems to build a castle: story above story it rises, topped
with gleaming pinnacles, one lighter and taller than all the rest,
piercing the clouds. (4)
As Fricka awakens her eyes fall on the castle. In her surprise
she calls to her spouse. Wotan dreams on, the Ring Motive,
and later the Valhalla Motive being heard in the orchestra, for
with the ring Wotan is finally to compensate the Giants for
building Valhalla. As he opens his eyes and sees the castle you
hear the “Spear Motive,” which is a characteristic variation of
the Motive of Compact”. For Wotan should enforce, if
needful, the compacts of the Gods with his spear. (1)
In the foreground lie sleeping side by side, on a flowery bank, the god
and goddess Wotan and Fricka. He lies dreaming happily of the
abode from which the world is to be commanded by him, to the
display of immeasurable power and his eternal honour. His wife's
sleep is less easy. For the situation is not as free from complications
as his untroubled slumbers might lead one to suppose. Wotan has
employed to build him this stronghold the giants Fasolt and Fafner,
formerly his enemies, but bound to peace by treaties, and has
promised them the reward stipulated for, Freia, goddess of beauty
and youth, sister of Fricka. And this he has done without any serious
thought of keeping his word. "It has never seriously entered my
mind," he assures Fricka, when, starting in dismay from her sleep
and beholding the completed burg, she reminds him that the time is
come for payment, and asks what shall they do. Loge, he enlightens
her, counselled the compact and promised to find the means of
evading it. He relies upon him to do so. This calm frankness in the
god, with its effect of personal clearness from all sense of guilt,
suggests the measure of Wotan's distinguishing simplicity. Referring
later to the dubious act which so effectually laid the foundation of
sorrows, he says, "Unknowingly deceitful, I practised untruth. Loge
artfully tempted me." He explains himself to Fricka, when she asks
why he continues to trust the crafty Loge, who has often already
brought them into straits: "Where frank courage is sufficient, I ask
counsel of no one. But slyness and cunning are needed to turn to
advantage the ill-will of adversaries, and that is the talent of Loge."
(4)
9. The Motive of Compact
Wotan sings of the glory of Walhalla. All through his
apostrophe resounds the Walhalla Motive. Fricka reminds him
that he has made a compact with the Giants to deliver over to
them for their work in building Walhalla, Freia, the Goddess
of Youth and Beauty. This introduces on the cellos and double
basses the MOTIVE OF COMPACT. A theme more expressive of
the binding force of law it is impossible to conceive. It has the