WAGNER AND THE VOLSUNGS

None of Wagner’s works is more closely linked with Old Norse, andmore especially Old Icelandic, culture. It would be carrying coals to
Newcastle if I tried to go further into the significance of the incomparable eddic poems. I will just mention that on my first visit to Iceland
I was allowed to gaze on the actual manuscript, even to leaf through it. . . It is worth noting that Richard Wagner possessed in his library thesame Icelandic–German dictionary that is still used today. His copy
bears clear signs of use. This also bears witness to his search for themeaning and essence of the genuinely mythical, its very foundation.
Wolfgang Wagner
Introduction to the program of the
production of the Ring in Reykjavik, 1994

Selma Gu›mundsdóttir, president of Richard-Wagner-Félagi› á Íslandi, presenting Wolfgang Wagner with a facsimile edition of the Codex Regius of the
Poetic Edda on his eightieth birthday in Bayreuth, August 1999.

Árni Björnsson

Wagner and the Volsungs
Icelandic Sources of Der Ring des Nibelungen

Viking Society for Northern Research
University College London
2003© Árni Björnsson
ISBN 978 0 903521 55 0

The cover illustration is of the eruption of Krafla, January 1981 (Photograph:Ómar Ragnarsson), and Wagner in 1871 (after an oil painting by Franz vonLenbach; cf. p. 51). Cover design by Augl‡singastofa Skaparans, Reykjavík.

Printed by Short Run Press Limited, Exeter

CONTENTS
PREFACE ............................................................................................ 6
INTRODUCTION ............................................................................... 7
BRIEF BIOGRAPHY OF RICHARD WAGNER ............................ 17
CHRONOLOGY ............................................................................... 64
DEVELOPMENT OF GERMAN NATIONAL CONSCIOUSNESS .. 68
ICELANDIC STUDIES IN GERMANY .......................................... 81
THE MAKING OF THE RING ......................................................... 97
FROM DRAFT TO RING-CYCLE .................................................. 118
COMPARISON WITH SOURCES ................................................. 128
DAS RHEINGOLD .............................................................................. 130
DIE WALKÜRE .................................................................................... 155
SIEGFRIED .......................................................................................... 185
GÖTTERDÄMMERUNG .................................................................... 223
SUMMARY ..................................................................................... 275
EPILOGUE ...................................................................................... 281
BOOKS REFERRED TO ................................................................ 282
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS ........................................................... 286
INDEX OF NAMES ........................................................................ 291

P R E FA C EThis volume contains a translation, made partly by Anna Yates andpartly by Anthony Faulkes, of a revised version of my Icelandic book
Wagner og Völsungar: Niflungahringurinn og íslenskar fornbókmenntir, published in Reykjavík in 2000 by Mál og menning, whohave kindly made available the digital reproductions for the illustrations. The quotations in the original German from Wagner’s librettos
and those from medieval sources, and many of the English translations of them, have been added by Anthony Faulkes, who has alsoedited the entire book and is responsible for the layout. David Ashurst
has read a proof and I am greatly obliged to him for his many corrections and suggestions for improvement of both style and content.
I am grateful to the Richard Wagner Society of Iceland for first suggesting the idea of the work and commissioning it, to Dr Árni Tómas
Ragnarsson for his help with the overall research project, particularlyin the selection and preparation of the illustrations, and to Jóhann J.
Ólafsson for various kinds of encouragement, advice and help. I would
also like to thank Die Richard-Wagner-Stiftung in Bayreuth for assistance in locating books and documents, the Icelandic Ministry of
Education and Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst for financial support for the research involved, and Jónas Kristjánsson, formerly
head of Stofnun Árna Magnússonar á Íslandi, who first proposed that
the Viking Society should undertake the publication of this English
edition.
Á. B.
May 2003

Note: Though all the Icelandic quotations have been translated into English, it
may be helpful to state that in names, when given in their Icelandic form, thesymbols ﬁ (ﬂ), ‹ (›) and ƒ are pronounced respectively like the letters th inEnglish thin and then, and like German ö.

INTRODUCTION

I became especially attracted to the unusually rich pages of Mone’s investigations of these heroic legends, even though stricter scholars have criticizedthem as overly audacious. This drew me irresistibly to the nordic sources ofthese myths, and to the extent that it was possible without fluent knowledgeof the Scandinavian languages, I now tried to get to know the Eddas, as wellas the prose fragments comprising the basis for large parts of these legends.
Viewed in the light of Mone’s comments, the Wälsunga saga exerted a decisive
influence on the manner in which I began to form this material to my own
purposes. The consciousness of the close primeval kinship of these old myths,
which had been shaping within me for some time, thus gradually gained thepower to create the dramatic forms which governed my subsequent works.
My Life 1983, 343.
Although the splendid type of Siegfried had long attracted me, it first enthralled
my every thought when I had come to see it in its purest human shape, set freefrom every later wrappage. Now for the first time, also, did I recognise thepossibility of making him the hero of a drama; a possibility that had not occurred
to me while I only knew him from the medieval Nibelungenlied.
A Communication to my Friends, 1851.

The sources mentioned here, the Poetic and Prose Eddas and Vƒlsungasaga, all belong to Old Icelandic literature. It has long been known toscholars that Wagner made extensive use of the poems in the Poetic
Edda along with Icelandic Heroic Sagas, and indeed he said so himself
on various occasions (see p. 99 below). The name of his work as awhole — The Ring of the Nibelung — has, however, carried theunconscious implication that most of its material is derived from thewell-known medieval German poem, Das Nibelungenlied. There is
therefore a need to emphasise that Wagner’s main sources wereoriginally written in Iceland in the thirteenth century, and preserved in
Icelandic manuscripts until they were printed in mostly Swedish andDanish editions of the seventeenth century and later.
Wagner’s own claim has now been confirmed by new and precise
textual comparison. The conclusion is that about 80 per cent of thederived motifs are drawn exclusively from Icelandic literature, andonly about 5 per cent exclusively from German literature, while about
15 per cent are common to Icelandic and German literature. Derived

8

WAGNER AND THE VOLSUNGS

motifs in Das Rheingold, Die Walküre and Siegfried are almost entirely
drawn from Old Icelandic literature. Many motifs from Das Nibelungenlied are found in the latter part of Götterdämmerung, but most of these
also occur in ﬁi›reks saga (an Old Norse prose saga based on medieval
German sources that are now lost). But neither Das Nibelungenlied
nor ﬁi›reks saga has in it pagan gods, valkyries or norns, or any mentionof the Twilight of the Gods.
About Iceland
Geologically, Iceland is one of the youngest countries on earth, createdby undersea volcanic eruptions about 15 million years ago. These forcesof nature are still at work, and the island is constantly evolving. Iceland still is the only volcanic country in northern Europe, and volcanic
activity there is frequent. It is worth recalling that the motif of magicalflames around the sleeping valkyrie on her mountain top is very
reminiscent of volcanic activity, while the Sleeping Beauty motif
clearly belongs in a European forest. After the end of the Ice Age, theclimate of Iceland was rather mild for several thousand years, andflora and fauna flourished undisturbed. When Scandinavian seafarers
reached Iceland in the second half of the ninth century, having
succeeded in building ships good enough to sail the north Atlantic,
this virtually untouched island must have seemed a promising place tosettle, with thriving vegetation, low-growing woods and plenty of fish
and birds for food. But four centuries after the settlement of Iceland acold period began, which continued with little abatement until around1900. The average annual temperature dropped by 1–2˚ C. Such coolingof the climate would not have been crucial in more southerly regions,but in these northern latitudes it had drastic implications for vegetationand livestock, and hence for all human life on the island.
The People of Iceland
The Icelandic nation is also one of the youngest in the world (the North
American and Australian immigrant populations are, of course,
younger). Iceland lies about 800 km from Shetland, and about 1,500
km from the coast of Norway. In the late ninth century attempts tosettle Iceland began in earnest. The settlers were largely from Scandinavia, mainly south-west Norway, but there were also considerable

INTRODUCTION

9numbers from the northern isles of Britain (Shetland, Orkney, and theHebrides) as well as from mainland Scotland and Ireland.
The latest DNA research indicates that about 60 per cent of the settlers
were of Nordic stock and about 40 per cent Celtic. The West Norse
language, however, came to predominate, though the culture of theisland was otherwise mixed; before long, Icelanders began to see themselves as a separate nation, regardless of where settlers had originated.
The vast majority were simply farmers, wishing to live in peace, freefrom pirates and from taxation by kings, who in their home countries
were growing ever more powerful and greedy for revenues. In the
period of independence (900–1262) Icelandic society was extremely
unusual. The main class of society comprised independent farmers,rich or poor, and there was no king, no government and no hereditaryaristocracy. The Church was under the domination of secular leaders.
The Alﬂingi (parliament) assembled once a year in the open air tolegislate and to settle disputes. Thirty-nine go›ar (chieftains) sat in
the parliament, and individual farmers could choose which chieftain
they wished to safeguard their interests. No such democratic leanings
could be found anywhere else in Europe at that time, except perhaps
in the city states of northern Italy. During this period Icelanders began
to write their renowned medieval literature.
The Viking MythIn this context it is necessary to correct the persistent Viking mythabout the Icelanders. According to the myth, Icelanders are alldescendants of ferocious Viking raiders who founded a Viking colonyon the island. A grim-faced Viking wearing a horned helmet sometimes
appears in tourist literature, to advertise Iceland. Although Iceland wassettled during the period known as the Viking Age, the fact is that only
a handful of Vikings (in the sense of piratical seafarers) came to Iceland,
which had nothing to offer them. There were at that time no monasteries, no churches, no palaces to pillage, no gold or other treasures tomake it worth while to sail for many days across the wild ocean. And
Iceland was much too far away from the wealth of Europe to function
as a ‘military’ base for raids. Icelanders, sons of farmers, naturally
travelled abroad from time to time, trading and even raiding with
Scandinavian Viking crews, but those few real Vikings who settled in

10

WAGNER AND THE VOLSUNGS

Iceland in their declining years appear to have seen it as a sort ofretirement home.
The main connection between Iceland and the Vikings is that two or
three hundred years after the end of the Viking Age, Icelandic authors
composed many thrilling tales of ancient Vikings, the stories known
as Heroic Sagas. These sagas gained popularity in Europe in the nineteenth century, and have led to the assumption that the Icelanders themselves were Vikings. The stories of Viking exploits are, however, justa small part of medieval Icelandic literature. The actual Sagas of Icelanders or ‘family sagas’ deal with a far broader spectrum of human life.
Post-Medieval Iceland
In 1262–63 Iceland lost its independence, to become a part of theNorwegian state, and in 1397, together with Norway, Iceland cameunder Danish rule. The old agrarian democracy was abolished, andthe Catholic Church, along with a few very wealthy families, came toown almost all the property in the country. The class structure grew toresemble that of other European countries. By 1500, free farmers ofsmall- to medium-sized estates had practically disappeared, being
replaced by tenants. Cooling climate, exploitation by landowners andDanish trading monopoly all contributed to lowering living standards,
so reducing resistance to disease and natural disaster. Through these
hard times, Icelanders sought comfort in the memory of their ancient
freedom, stored up in their old manuscripts.
After the Enlightenment and the Romantic Revival, an Icelandic
independence movement finally began in the nineteenth century. The
most important steps on the way to autonomy were the re-establishmentof the Alﬂingi (parliament) as an advisory assembly in 1845, Free Tradein 1855, the granting of a separate constitution for Iceland in 1874,
Home Rule in 1904, sovereignity under the Danish crown in 1918,
and finally the establishment of the modern Icelandic Republic in 1944.
Today, Iceland’s nearly 300,000 people enjoy one of the highest living
standards in the world.
Prerequisites for Literary Activity in the Middle AgesIn this context it is worth considering why so many more sagas andpoems were written in Iceland than elsewhere in northern Europe inINTRODUCTION

11

the Middle Ages. Why were Icelanders appointed as sources of
information and recorders of history at the courts of foreign kings?
And why did Icelanders write mainly in the vernacular, instead of in
Latin? These questions have been asked for centuries, and many
theories have been put forward; a few factors appear to be important.
Iceland adopted Christianity around AD 1000, and in the eleventh
century, with Christianity and the Church, the art of the pen arrived in
Iceland. At that time, Iceland still had many independent farmers who
owned their own land (cf. pp. 9–10 above); this was unlike the situationin mainland Europe, where the vast majority of farmers had long been
reduced to tenancy or serfdom on land owned by the crown, monasteries, churches, the aristocracy and other large landowners.
The Icelandic Church had limited power vis-à-vis temporal leadersduring the first few centuries after Iceland had become a Christiannation. The first churches were built by prosperous farmers, who owned
the churches and employed priests to serve in them. These priests could
thus act as scribes for their employers, in the language understood by
the farmers and the common people. This situation persisted well into
the thirteenth century, when the bishops succeeded in exerting theirauthority over most churches and clergy.
The free Icelandic farmers appear to have been interested in the artof writing, both for practical purposes and entertainment, for themselves
and their households. Farmers and other lay people did not understandLatin, which was the language of the learned, especially the clergy.
Hence most books came to be written in the vernacular, whether livesof saints, histories of kings, scholarly writings or Sagas of Icelanders,which tell of the Icelanders’ forefathers and of events in their own
familiar environment.
In feudal Europe, of course, costly vellum was not squandered on
writing stories for the illiterate and unfree peasantry. Works ofscholarship were written in Latin, while the relatively small quantityof poetry of chivalry and romance written in the vernacular was,naturally enough, about kings and queens and brave and noble men
and their fair ladies. The differences in social status between farmers
in Iceland and those in Europe appear to be the main reason for
Iceland’s unique medieval saga tradition, with regard to content,
language and style. Another reason for the writing of sagas was that,in a newly-settled country, a need was perceived to preserve the story

12

WAGNER AND THE VOLSUNGS

Medieval Icelandic manuscript books

Ví›im‡rarkirkja, an Icelandic church built in the ancient manner of turf
and stone

INTRODUCTION

13

of how Iceland was settled, and make a history, as this was a nation
without traditions. In addition, rights of inheritance were valid for up
to five generations, and hence it was necessary for potential heirs toproperty of whatever size to keep records of the original settlers andtheir descendants. In continental Europe, the nobility kept records oftheir genealogy for the same reason, to ensure their inheritance. Suchgenealogical records, and tales about disputes over old boundaries andother conflicts between the first generations of settlers, might develop
into family sagas, if a writer had the gift of the story-teller and literarytalent. There are other contributory factors, which could be applicableto many different nations. But the crucial thing was that in Iceland
free independent farmers gained the power of the pen, precisely when
the art of writing arrived in Iceland (Árni Björnsson 2001).
For these reasons, various remnants of ancient Germanic oral
traditions were written down only in Iceland, and preserved there, notleast in the Heroic Sagas and in the heroic poems in the Poetic Edda.
German scholars and writers such as Jakob Grimm and Richard Wagnerthus had to seek such traditions in Icelandic literature, though theychose to call it Old Norse, Old Germanic or even Urdeutsch, andactually believed it to be such.
Written Icelandic and Icelandic grammar have changed relatively
little since the thirteenth century, though the vocabulary has grown
and the pronunciation is different. This means that any intelligent
twelve-year-old child can read and understand sagas written in thethirteenth century, if they are printed in modernised spelling. Thus
‘Old’ Icelandic is really a misnomer.
What Does ‘Icelandic’ Mean?
About three and a half centuries ago, medieval Icelandic literaturebegan to be translated into other languages, and excerpts appeared inprint. This process has continued ever since, although for the past twoto three centuries this literature has generally been known internationally by such terms as (Old) Norse, Scandinavian, Nordic, norrön,
nord, septentrional, teutonic, altnordisch, altgermanisch and urdeutsch,but very rarely by its proper name, Icelandic.
Wagner himself used some of these terms, and this was quite naturalin the mid-nineteenth century. Even well-informed people in mainland
Europe were not aware of the existence of such phenomena as the

14

WAGNER AND THE VOLSUNGS

Icelandic nation, its culture or its language. All they knew was that
Iceland had been settled from Norway in the Middle Ages, and was
now a Danish dominion. The Icelanders’ campaign for independence
from Denmark was just beginning at this time, and was scarcely known
to anyone outside Iceland and Denmark — not even to Richard Wagner,
though he sympathised with movements for national freedom elsewhere.
The first German scholar who presented Icelandic as a literarylanguage in its own right was Konrad Maurer (1823–1902), professorof legal history at the University of Munich. As a specialist in thehistory of Scandinavian and Germanic law, he favoured the Icelanders’side in their campaign for independence, and spent six months in
Iceland in the summer of 1858. That same year he edited Gull-ﬁórissaga, the first German scholarly edition of one of the Sagas of Icelanders. In 1867 he published carefully-researched essays refuting theviews of the Norwegian Rudolf Keyser, published the previous year,that all Old Icelandic literature was in fact Norwegian. Maurer exploredthe concepts altnordisch, altnorwegisch and isländisch, and explained
the differences between them (Keyser 1866; Maurer 1867; 1869).
In nineteenth-century England, similar views to those of Maurer
were upheld by George Dasent (1817–96) and William Morris (1834–96). The term ‘Norse’ is sometimes, of course, used for the supposedcommon language of the Scandinavian countries in the Middle Ages,but medieval Icelandic literature was far more strongly influenced by
Roman, Greek and French literature, and the Bible, than by the rather
few works of literature written in other parts of Scandinavia.
Today it should be obvious that considerable differences exist
between the Scandinavian nations, that Iceland is not really a part of
Scandinavia, and that Icelandic culture has, for geographical and social
reasons, been quite unlike the cultures of other Scandinavian countries
right from the start, though its language shares the same roots. Yet thisold misunderstanding is remarkably persistent even today. Even people
who otherwise maintain high standards of scholarship are sometimes
guilty of inaccurately terming Old Icelandic literature ‘Scandinavian’,‘Old Norse’ or ‘Germanic’.
Truth, however, will out, and so a few obvious facts will here bestated. The Poetic Edda, the Prose Edda and Vƒlsunga saga, as Wagnerknew them, were written down in Iceland, in Icelandic, by Icelandic

Ludwig Frauer, Die Walkyrien der skandinavischgermanischen Götter- und Heldensaga, Weimar 1846,
title page. This work has an extensive account of medieval Icelandic sagas without once mentioning Iceland.

Konrad Maurer, Ueber die Ausdrücke: altnordische,altnorwegische & isländische Sprache, München
1867, title page.

INTRODUCTION
15

16

WAGNER AND THE VOLSUNGS

authors in the thirteenth century, three centuries or more after Iceland
was settled. No doubt the stories were based to some extent on mucholder oral traditions. Even ﬁi›reks saga af Bern, too, survived only in
Norway and Iceland, though the person who recorded the saga clearlysays that it consists of German narratives. The Eddas and sagas must
thus be regarded as Icelandic literature. It makes no sense to call them
Scandinavian, pan-Nordic, pan-Germanic or pan-European, thoughthese terms are not exactly wrong — merely imprecise.
By the same token, one might argue that American writers such as
Henry Longfellow and Mark Twain were English or European, when
they were born in the New World more than two centuries after theEuropean conquest of the continent. One might equally well ask
whether Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was a German writer, or simply
Germanic or European, whether Henrik Ibsen was Norwegian, Nordic
or just Germanic, or whether William Shakespeare was English orWest Germanic.
It is true that some of the stories tell of events far from Iceland, forexample in areas of Germanic culture in southern Europe, involving
for instance the Burgundians, Attila the Hun and Frankish kings. Butthat does not make the literature German. Or should we perhaps regard
Shakespeare’s plays Hamlet and Romeo and Juliet as Danish and
Italian, because they are set in these countries and based on stories from
Denmark and Italy? Should we regard Aventiure 6–8 of Das Nibelungenlied as Icelandic because they take place partly in a country called‘Islande’?

BRIEF BIOGRAPHY

17

B R I E F B I O G R A P H Y O F R I C H A R D WA G N E R

Early Years
Richard Wagner was born 22 May 1813 in Leipzig. His mother was
Johanna Rosine Pätz, daughter of a master baker in the town ofWeißenfels, not far from Leipzig. His father was Friedrich Wagner, aclerk with the police force in Leipzig. Richard was the ninth and lastchild of his parents. His father died at the age of 43 from typhus in an
outbreak which came about after the great battle with Napoleon’s armynear Leipzig, 16–19 October 1813, when Richard was less than six
months old.
Friedrich Wagner had been interested in the theatre and other artsand named his daughters after characters in the plays of Goethe andSchiller. One of them, Luise, married the publisher Friedrich Brockhaus, and another, Ottilie, married his brother, the antiquarian Hermann Brockhaus. Friedrich’s connections with amateur theatres led
to a friendship with the versatile artist Ludwig Geyer, who for a timelodged with the Wagner household. Geyer married the widow nine months
after her husband’s death, and they moved to Dresden. Six months
after the wedding their daughter Cäcilie was born. Geyer died in 1821
when Richard Wagner was eight. He greatly missed his stepfather,
who some maintained was his real father, though later scholarly
research suggests that this is very unlikely (Gregor-Dellin 1995, 34–5.).
Wagner attended a primary school in Dresden and was confirmed
there, but in 1828 the family moved back to Leipzig, where he went toa grammar school. Interest in literature and exceptional quickness inlearning revealed themselves in him much sooner than musical gifts.
Here they were close to Richard’s uncle Adolf Wagner, who wasregarded as a classical scholar and had a very good library, which his
young nephew, a fast reader and quick learner, devoured greedily.
Already in the year he was confirmed he had begun writing a drama
called Leubald und Adelaïde, a kind of juvenile imitation of thebloodiest of Shakespeare’s plays, and he continued work on thissporadically. At the age of sixteen he saw Beethoven’s opera Fidelio
and says that then he decided to be a composer (Mein Leben, I 46).

Richard Wagner’s birthplace in Leipzig

Minna Planer, Richard Wagner’s first wife
(1809–66)

18
WAGNER AND THE VOLSUNGSBRIEF BIOGRAPHY

19

Würzburg, Magdeburg, Riga
For the next few years Wagner studied music, composed a symphony
in C and started work on an opera that was to be called Die Hochzeit(The Wedding), and was about the love of two young people fromfeuding families. All that remains of this opera is the first scene. About
this time he got to know the composer Robert Schumann, who was
editor of a musical periodical in Leipzig.
In 1833, when Wagner was just twenty, he visited his brother Albertin Würzburg. Albert worked there as an actor, singer and producer,
and Richard was taken on as temporary chorus-master. Here he composed his first opera, Die Feen (The Fairies), which is based on a story
by the Italian fairy-tale writer Carlo Gozzi and is about the tragic loveof a fairy and a human. The music seems to have particular affinity
with that of Weber and Beethoven, and yet some hints can be heard ofwhat was to come later. The opera, however, did not receive a performance until 1888, five years after Wagner’s death. It was conductedby Hermann Levi in Munich.
In 1834 Wagner became conductor at the opera in Bad Lauchstädt,
and later in Magdeburg, where he got to know the actress Minna Planer.
She was four years older than he and at the age of 16 had had anillegitimate daughter, Natalie, who throughout her life was said publicly to have been her sister. Wagner and Minna became engaged thefollowing year and he composed the opera Das Liebesverbot (TheBan on Love; based on Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure), which
was first performed in Magdeburg in 1836. The music this time wasmore reminiscent of Donizetti, Rossini and Bellini, and also of Auber,
though there are also some novel scenes that Wagner was to develop
further later on (SSD XI 1–124).
These early operas are already characterised by the unusual procedure of the composer writing his own librettos, and Wagner regarded
himself as a poet just as much as a composer. In his view the text was
not accessory to the music, rather words and melody ought to form
an integrated whole. The normal thing had been for professional writers
to be commissioned to compile librettos for operas, and great composers were sometimes able to make good use of hastily put together
productions of various hacks who moreover regarded the words as
meant for nothing more than a vehicle for making vocal music soundpleasant. Wagner had far more respect for the words. He believed

20

WAGNER AND THE VOLSUNGS

they ought to have strength and integrity in their own right, even though
they were always designed to be complemented by music.
In 1836 Minna ran off to Königsberg and Wagner followed her. They
got married there, but Minna left him again for another man. She finally
returned to him for good in 1837 when he was appointed to a post as
conductor in Riga in Latvia.
In Riga Wagner began to compose his opera Rienzi, which is set infourteenth-century Rome. He now began to amass debts, and thisproclivity continued to plague him all his life. In the summer of 1839
the couple managed to escape their creditors and the threat of debtors’
prison by crossing the Baltic on a ship bound for London, from where
they travelled on to Boulogne and Paris. Wagner claimed later that theidea for the opera of The Flying Dutchman (based on the legend of thesea-captain under a curse, doomed to sail the seas for ever with hisghostly crew) first came to him when sailing in a violent storm off thecoast of Norway (Mein Leben, I 190).
Paris
For the next two and a half years Minna and Richard lived in straitened
circumstances in Paris. He got to know various artists, such as thecomposers Berlioz, Meyerbeer and Liszt, and the German poet Heine.
He found it difficult to get any of his works performed, though thejust-mentioned acquaintances tried to recommend him. He completed
Rienzi in Paris and eventually, in the middle of 1841, partly on therecommendation of Meyerbeer, the Dresden Opera decided to put thework on. At this Wagner became full of optimism, and he composed
The Flying Dutchman in two months. About the same time he beganwork on Tannhäuser. The inspiration for the plots of both came from
Heine, though as usual he went his own way in the treatment of thestories (see Gregor-Dellin 1995, 128, 167).
Dresden
Wagner became ever more interested in medieval German stories andmyths. At the beginning of April 1842, he and Minna moved to Dresden.
On the way they drove past the Wartburg castle, and the surroundings became fixed in his mind as the setting for the second act of Tannhäuser, withthe song contest taking place in the castle itself (Mein Leben, I 253–54).

Wedding-song for Richard Wagner and Minna
Planer, Königsberg 1836.

Richard and Minna Wagner in Paris 1840–41. Wagner
is furiously composing Rienzi with the help of Minnaand the dog. On the floor lie empty money-bags.

BRIEF BIOGRAPHY21

22

WAGNER AND THE VOLSUNGSTo begin with he and Minna lived to a large extent at the expense of
his in-laws the Brockhaus family, but in the autumn Rienzi was given
its première in Dresden and was very well received. Wagner still seems
to have been rather under the influence of older composers, this time
particularly Spontini and Meyerbeer. It looked as though he was all
set to continue on the same lines and achieve speedy popularity; but
his mind was aiming higher.
The Flying Dutchman was first performed at the beginning of January
1843, when Wagner was just thirty. This work is stamped with thegenuine marks of his own individual style which was now going todevelop over four decades. Soon after, he was appointed hofkapellmeister (director of the royal orchestra) in Dresden. His enhanced status
and increased salary did nothing to prevent him plunging ever further
into endless debts. About this time he managed to get The Flying
Dutchman performed in Berlin. He met Mendelssohn, who did not caremuch for Wagner’s music (see Gregor-Dellin 1995, 171–2, 190–92).
For the next few years Wagner continued as conductor in Dresden,
getting on at the same time with his own composing. He finished Tannhäuser, which is about the conflict of flesh and spirit and the possibilityof salvation, a type of legend which turns up in many parts of the world.
The opera was given its first performance in Dresden in October 1845.
In the same year Wagner began the libretto of Lohengrin, also on a widely
occurring theme, that of one from another world who comes to the worldof men as a saviour-figure but may not even tell his bride who he is.
Wagner soon started the music for Lohengrin. About the same time
he got the first idea for The Mastersingers, and in the autumn of 1846
he also wrote a rough draft of a libretto for an opera about Barbarossa,
but he very soon laid both of these aside.
In January 1848 his mother Johanna Rosine died. A little later the
February revolution broke out in Paris and was followed by riots in
Saxony and other German-speaking areas. Wagner participated in the
demand for the abolition of the monarchy and from the first madeparticular efforts to ensure that the position of artists should be better
than in the past. King Friedrich August II promised to abolish censorship and authorised certain other reforms of the law.
Wagner completed Lohengrin on 28 April 1848 and on 18 May the
first German national assembly met in St Paul’s church in Frankfurt
and demanded among other things a parliamentary government.

BRIEF BIOGRAPHY

Wagner in 1842 (after a drawing by E. B. Kietz)

Semper’s Opera House in Dresden (from a lithograph of 1841)

23

24

WAGNER AND THE VOLSUNGS

Wagner was no longer engaged on any major work and he devoted all
his energy to politics. He was seldom cautious either in speech or
writing, and made an inspired speech at the assembly in the middle ofJune. He spoke among other things about a political redeemer in a
way which could have been interpreted as a demand for the abolitionof the monarchy. The speech was printed and Wagner was on the pointof being dismissed from his post as conductor. So he wrote an apology
to His Royal Majesty with involved explanations in which he appeared
to be actually wanting to support the monarchy as a defence against
the evil power of capitalism. The affair was allowed to drop for thetime being.
As a continuation of his political ponderings about power, Wagner
went back to the subject of Barbarossa. This led him to embark on agreat flight of fancy, and the result was a 40-page poetically elevatedanthropological treatise, Die Wibelungen (translated by W. A. Ellis in
Pilgrimage to Beethoven and other Essays by Richard Wagner, 1994,
257–98). This dealt among other things with an imaginary primeval
kingship from the time of Noah, with patriarchy and half-mythologicalroyal lines such as the Nibelungs and Welfs, with ancient Roman
kingship and with the Franks as descendants of the Trojans.
Using a primitive kind of etymological argument, Wagner manages
into the bargain to make Barbarossa a descendant of Siegfried, who inturn is supposed to have had divine descent. He ends up interpretingthe story of the Nibelungs’ treasure and the origin of the myth about itin the spirit of the French philosopher Proudhon, who was one of theoriginators of anarchism and argued that private property was equivalent to theft. Thus Wagner seems to be attempting to link socialist
ideas with ancient Germanic legend (SSD II 115–55; XI 270–72).
Wagner was now entering mythological territory again, and theotherworld became ever more prominent in his works. Myths and fairytales seemed to him to reveal deeper and more universal truths thansecular history, novels and everyday life. This attitude had alreadyappeared in Die Feen, his Dutchman was cursed with immortality,
Tannhäuser lived among creatures of pagan mythology, Lohengrin isfrom the other world, the Ring takes place partly in the world of thegods, and Parsifal is on the borders of the supernatural. Wagner’s
preference for myth over history is derived from the Romantic viewthat folk-legend is truer than chronicle.

BRIEF BIOGRAPHY

25

In October 1848 Wagner, now thirty-five, wrote his own myth on atheme similar to that of Die Wibelungen and called it Die Nibelungensage (Mythus). For the first printed edition he changed the title to Der
Nibelungen-Mythus. Als Entwurf zu einem Drama (The NibelungenMyth. As Sketch for a Drama). This piece is only ten pages long andwas supposed to be the background to an opera which he was planningto compose and which was at first given the title Siegfrieds Tod(Siegfried’s Death). By the end of November he had finished the firstdraft of the libretto of this opera. Eventually Der Nibelungen-Mythus
itself turned out to be the basis and framework of the whole of theRing.
But the composition of this opera was not continued for the time
being. Wagner was still playing with the idea of a political redeemer,
and early in 1849 he wrote a long draft of a play about Jesus of Nazarethin which Christ appears unequivocally in the role of revolutionary(SSD XI 273–324). It was not long before Wagner himself came toplay such a role. Little had come of the reforms in the law that had
been promised by the king the previous year. Wagner got to know
quite well the Russian anarchist Mikhail Bakunin, who had just arrived
in Dresden from Paris where he had associated with Proudhon, George
Sand and Karl Marx. Wagner became very zealous in the revolutionary
movement and took an active part in the Dresden uprising of May 1849.
It was suppressed and he only just managed to escape to Switzerland.
ZürichWagner was in exile from his native land for thirteen years. He firstsettled in Zürich and applied himself to conducting and writing treatises,
not least about the links between the arts and sociological questions,and spent little time on composing for the first year. Still, he went now
and again to Paris to try his luck at the Opera, but success was very
slow in coming. In the autumn of 1850 he wrote in a great burst ofpassion one of his most notorious articles, Das Judentum in der Musik,
which was a bitter attack on the artistic influence of Jews, whom heregarded as mere intruders into European music (SSD V 66–85; GregorDellin 1995, 310–14).
This article aroused a great deal of harsh response, to which there is
still today no end in sight. Lizt, for example, who had by then become

26

WAGNER AND THE VOLSUNGS

Revolutionary newspaper article byWagner from Dresden, April 1849.

Police notice for Wagner’s arrest asa revolutionary in Dresden, May
1849.

BRIEF BIOGRAPHY

27

director of the opera in Weimar and had somewhat earlier given
Lohengrin its first performance, was horrified. The same autumn
Wagner helped the young, later world-renowned, pianist and conductor
Hans von Bülow take the first steps in his career. Between themdeveloped an indissoluble lifelong respect in spite of what was later totake place in their dealings together.
Wagner compiled early in 1850 the libretto for an opera that wasgoing to be called Wieland der Schmied (Wayland the Smith; SSD III
178–206). The main features of the concept are clearly derived from
Karl Simrock’s paraphrase of Vƒlundarkvi›a (Wieland der Schmied,1843), though some details are evidently drawn from other versionsof the Vƒlundr story. It shows that Wagner still sporadically had his
mind on Old Norse legend, and there can here be distinguished various
ideas that turn up again later in the Ring, such as the forging of thebest sword, the ring of power, fateful questionings, release from captivity,
redemption through love and a final conflagration.
Here again there are traces of revolutionary ideas about the redemption of ‘the people’, who need to create wings for themselves likeVƒlundr and fly free from their oppression. Wagner never, however,wrote any music for this libretto, and some people find this regrettable.
On the other hand he began in the summer of 1850 to tinker withmusic for Siegfrieds Tod (SSD III 178–206; Gregor-Dellin 1995, 293–
99; Gu›rún ﬁór›ardóttir 1998; Dokumente, 36).
Before going on any further with that he felt he needed to order histhoughts about the composition of operas. The first four major works
that he had completed, Rienzi, The Flying Dutchman, Tannhäuser and
Lohengrin, were still too conventional in his view and did not satisfy
his visions of the future. With this aim he wrote during the following
winter his longest treatise on artistic matters. It covers more than threehundred pages and the overall title is Oper und Drama. He read thegreater part of this work to his friends and acquaintances over twelve
evenings, and some of them found the reading rather soporific. He
himself must have learned a lot from sharing his thoughts with others,
and it would have strengthened his own ideology (SSD III 222–320;
IV 1–229; Gregor-Dellin 1995, 322).
Early in 1851Wagner got his hands on the epoch-making translation by Karl Simrock of the poems of the Poetic Edda and most of thenarrative parts of the Prose Edda. Much of this material he had of

28

WAGNER AND THE VOLSUNGS

course come across before in extracts of various lengths, but now he
had all this material before him in one book, especially the myths andlegends.
It now became apparent to him that it would need at least two operas
to follow the story of Siegfried from the beginning. In May and Junehe completed the libretto of a new opera which he called Der junge
Siegfried (The Young Siegfried). He gave an account of this change ofplan and much else besides in a long announcement to his friends(Eine Mitteilung an meine Freunde) later that summer. Afterwards, on
20 November, he explained to Liszt in a letter that in order to do justiceto the material it would need three full-length operas and in addition ashort introductory opera. By the end of 1852 Wagner had completed
the entire libretto of the Ring and he had 50 copies printed for his
friends and relations in February 1853, when he was not quite forty(see Dokumente 46–54, 60; Gregor-Dellin 1995, 359).
Wagner did not, however, get round to composing music for the
Ring immediately. His health was not good, though he went on long
tramps in the mountains that summer with Liszt and the poet Herwegh.
After that he undertook a month’s trip to northern Italy and saw theMediterranean for the first time. One day at a hotel in La Spezia by the
Gulf of Genoa he was lying in a doze with a fever when he had a kindof hallucination: he heard the opening sound of Das Rheingold (The
Rhinegold), the first of the four operas of the Ring-cycle, the longdrawn-out chord on E flat (Mein Leben, II 60).
At the end of April 1857 he and Minna were lodgers in a house in
the grounds of the newly-built mansion belonging to the Wesendoncks
near Zürich. Otto Wesendonck was a wealthy silk-merchant of thirtyfive who greatly admired Wagner and had among other things given
him financial help for his journey to Italy the previous year. His wife
Mathilde was thirteen years younger than her husband and devoted topoetry. She and Wagner came to be united in their souls, whether or
not they were ever so in their bodies; but he was ‘poetically’ in love withher, as some romantic poets have claimed to be with all womankind.
During the preceding years Wagner had been working conscientiously on the music for the Ring, though for a few months in thewinter of 1855 he was a guest conductor in London. He had completed
Das Rheingold and the second opera of the Ring-cycle, Die Walküre(The Valkyrie), and had also made some progress on the third, SiegfriedMathilde Wesendonck

Wagner at forty (from a water-colour by
C. Stockar-Escher, 1853)

BRIEF BIOGRAPHY
29

From a watercolour of Zürich in 1857. The Wesendoncks’ house is on the far left.

The Wesendoncks’ house in Zürich. To the right is the house occupied by Richard andMinna Wagner from April 1857.

32

WAGNER AND THE VOLSUNGS(as Der junge Siegfried was now called), when in mid-1957 he put thiswork aside and began to compose Tristan and Isolde. It seems also tohave come about that Wagner’s inward yearning failed to distinguishclearly between the situation of himself and Mathilde Wesendonck on
the one hand and the fatal love of Tristan and Isolde on the other. He
wrote Mathilde a passionate letter in the spring of 1858 which fell into
Minna’s hands and offended both Mathilde and Otto. Minna went toDresden, while Wagner himself drifted to Venice and went on with
Tristan and Isolde, which he finished in Lucerne in the summer of 1859.
Wanderings
That autumn Wagner went once again to Paris and stayed there formost of the following two years. He did some conducting in Paris andBrussels, and Minna came back to him. In March 1861 Tannhäuser
was performed three times at the Paris Opera, and on each occasion
the performance was subjected to intolerable disturbance organisedby Wagner’s enemies. This sort of loutish behaviour in opera houses
was by no means unknown in the nineteenth century if composers did
not conform to the expectations of some particular pressure groups.
This opera hooliganism can be compared with the football hooliganismof the present day.
For the next year or two Wagner had no settled home, and he andMinna finally split up in 1862. He conducted orchestras in various
places, St Petersburg among them, and managed now and again to dosome work on The Mastersingers, but he was in continual flight fromhis creditors.
Munich — Ludwig II
At the end of April 1864, Wagner was half in hiding with his friends in
Stuttgart when a royal messenger asked for him. Wagner presumed
that some representative of his creditors had tracked him down, but
unexpectedly it turned out to be a messenger from an unsuspectedadmirer, the new and very youthful king of Bavaria, Ludwig II, whowanted to offer the master gold and a life in clover. Wagner was now
fifty-one (Mein Leben, II 330–32).
Ludwig II was the grandson of Ludwig I, who was king of Bavaria
from 1825 to 1848 but was forced to abdicate, among other things
because of a liaison with a notorious Irish dancer called Lola Montez.

Photograph of Wagner at fifty (1864–65)

Drawing of Wagner playing the piano for Ludwig
II of Bavaria at the palace at Hohenschwangau
in the autumn of 1865.

BRIEF BIOGRAPHY
33

Wagner among his friends in Munich, 17 May 1865. At his feet lies the dog, Pohl, and behind him stands Hans von Bülow.

34
WAGNER AND THE VOLSUNGSBRIEF BIOGRAPHY

35

His son Maximilian II, who died in 1864, succeeded. Ludwig II wasonly 18 when he became king. He was said to be too highly gifted andperfect for any ordinary person to regard him as quite sane. He did notcare about his subjects, despised affairs of state, and most of all wanted
to live in the world of poetry and romance. The monument to this is therenowned series of fairy palaces that he began to have built, now visitedby millions of tourists to the immense benefit of the exchequer. But
the king’s extravagance and various schemes led in the end to his
being confined by the government to the castle of Berg on Starnberger
See in 1886. There he was found a little later drowned in the lake.
Wagner’s music was one of the great artistic undertakings thatLudwig II considered worth promoting and supporting, so that the composer could devote himself to his creative work untroubled by physicalworries. The king offered to pay all Wagner’s debts, give him an annuity
and defray the production costs of his compositions, and in return he
was to get the holographs and performance rights of the master’s works.
It goes without saying that Wagner accepted this offer with open arms.
He got rid of his debt problems, and a secure future seemed to welcome
him. The king allowed him to live in Haus Pellet, a villa on Starnberger
See, so that they could meet every day when the king was staying inthat area. In the autumn the king put at his disposal a mansion in central
Munich, and subsequently bought it for him.
CosimaThe opposition of authorities other than the king, however, meant that
Wagner could only stay in Munich for a year and a half under the wingof his powerful friend, who could actually be rather capricious andunpredictable. There were two main reasons for this. The high life, forwhich Wagner had a great weakness, with its constant coming andgoing of visitors and its other extravagances, greatly upset Ludwig’s
narrow-minded ministers and officials. They thought it preposterous
that state money should be squandered like this on artists. In addition,
Wagner’s private life was a source of great scandal. In the summer of1864, he and Liszt’s daughter Cosima, who was married to the conductor Hans von Bülow, Wagner’s great admirer, became lovers. Thisliaison did not remain secret for long.
Richard and Cosima first met when she was sixteen and he wasexactly forty. She was married to Hans von Bülow at twenty and had

36

WAGNER AND THE VOLSUNGS

Photograph of Wagner in 1865

Wagner knocking at the door of Ludwig’s
treasurer, 1867 (front page of Münchener
Punsch, 17 March 1867).

BRIEF BIOGRAPHY

37

two daughters by him. In late November 1863 she and Wagner saw
each other, as they often did in Berlin, he being now fifty and she
twenty-five. They then seem to have arranged a meeting together andacknowledged their mutual love. At the beginning of July Cosima went
to stay with him by Starnberger See with her daughters, and on 10
July 1865 their daughter Isolde was born. Isolde was of course,
nevertheless, according to the law counted as the daughter of Hans
von Bülow. Ironically, it was on the very day that she was born thatvon Bülow began orchestral rehearsals of Tristan and Isolde; twomonths later in Munich he conducted the first performance of thislove-opera of Wagner’s.
In Munich Wagner succeeded in finishing the second act of Siegfried,compiled the outline of the libretto of Parsifal and began to dictate to
Cosima his memoirs for King Ludwig, who wanted to know everything
about this demi-god of his. The king commissioned the well-known
architect Gottfried Semper, who had planned the opera-house in
Dresden, to design a theatre where Wagner’s operas could be performed
according to his own ideas. Nothing came of this, however, apart fromdrawings and a model, and it really looks as though Wagner did notwant all his work to be at the mercy of the king’s caprices (Mein Leben,
I 5; Gregor-Dellin 1995, 529–50, 593–602).
Tribschen near Lucerne
Wagner moved from Munich to Switzerland at the end of 1865, though
he continued to receive all his financial support from the king. Minna
died in Dresden in January 1866. Cosima stayed alternately with her
husband and with Wagner. They acquired Tribschen, a house near
Lucerne, in the summer of 1866, and lived there for the next six years.
Their daughter Eva was born in 1867 and their son Siegfried in 1869.
Cosima did not, however, go to live permanently with Wagner until
1868, and was not formally divorced from Hans von Bülow until 1870,
after which she and Wagner were publicly married.
In Switzerland Wagner finished The Mastersingers, and the opera
was first performed in Munich on 21 June 1868, with von Bülow conducting. In Leipzig during the same year he met the 24-year-old
philosopher Nietzsche, with whom he began a friendship which wasvery rewarding for both men, though in the end it caused them muchpain. King Ludwig, who now held the performing rights of Wagner’sView of Vierwaldstätter See in Switzerland with Mt Pilatus in the background, after a lost water-colour.
Beyond the lake can be seen Triebschen, Wagner’s house near Lucerne where he lived 1866–72.

38
WAGNER AND THE VOLSUNGSBRIEF BIOGRAPHY

39

operas, had Das Rheingold performed for the first time in Munich in
1869, and Die Walküre in 1870, both despite the unwillingness ofWagner himself, who had quite another style of production and a muchlarger stage in mind.
Bayreuth
In February 1871 Wagner finally completed Siegfried, and he now
began with the king’s permission to look about for a place where hewanted to have his own opera-house built. He liked the look of thesmall town of Bayreuth north of Nuremberg. He did not care for large
cities where there was so much else that might put his own palace ofmusic in the shade. Germany had now at last become a single Reichand Wagner immediately set about founding a society of supporters
over the whole country which was to finance the music festival thatwas now proposed. In 1872 he and Cosima moved to Bayreuth and in
the same year the foundation-stone was laid of the festival theatre.
The money, however, came in slowly, and at the end of 1873 the wholeenterprise seemed about to fail. Wagner was now just sixty.
King Ludwig had up to now not wished to give any support and waspresumably offended that Wagner had not wanted to have the theatre
built in Munich. Besides, from time to time Ludwig’s whole behaviour
was becoming ever more odd. Now, when the project seemed to be inreal trouble, he suddenly responded to the news with: ‘No, no, andonce again, no. It must not end like that.’ To be sure, he did not actuallyfinance either the building or the festival directly, but he underwrote ahuge loan for it and for a private house for Wagner himself. The Wagner
family paid back this loan over many decades (Gregor-Dellin 1995, 676).
During the years 1872 to 1874 Wagner composed the music for the
fourth opera in the Ring-cycle, Götterdämmerung (The Twilight of
the Gods, the drama corresponding to the original Siegfrieds Tod) andin 1874 the family moved into the newly-built mansion to which
Wagner gave the name Wahnfried. On the front of the house he explains
the name in lines of verse which apparently mean that here his
unrealistic yearnings have finally found peace. The meaning of theword Wahn has gradually changed over the last century from ‘yearning’to ‘madness’.
Rehearsals for the complete Ring-cycle took place in 1875 and thefirst performance was given in the new festival theatre in Bayreuth in

40

WAGNER AND THE VOLSUNGS

August 1876 in the presence of Emperor Wilhelm I. King Ludwig had
now become such a reclusive person that he stole at night on a private
train from Munich to see a few rehearsals that were arranged speciallyfor His Majesty. The work was in fact not fully rehearsed and somestage properties had not arrived; for instance the neck of the dragon
Fafner had apparently been sent to Beirut. Even so it was not thought
practicable to delay the first performance when so many important
people had announced their coming long in advance.
At the premières Wagner noticed a great deal that he thought might
have been done better and needed more rehearsal, and he seems tohave been considerably disappointed in his own work. He straightaway began to speak of the necessity of a repeat performance of the
Ring the next year, in which the main defects would be put right. This,
however, turned out to be impossible, because the festival had madean enormous loss which took many years to repay. The Ring was not
given another complete performance in Bayreuth until 1896, thirteen
years after Wagner’s death. The family kept the composer’s criticismsof his own production secret and they were not revealed until it was
decided to publish nearly all his correspondence and Cosima’s diaries,
long after the death of both. Until then producers at Bayreuth tried tokeep performances as much as possible on the original questionablelines.
A Controversial Figure
Richard Wagner is one of those figures about whom people havequickly taken sides with firm positions, for and against. Such figures
seem to have been endowed with a sort of charisma which operates on
different people in quite opposing ways. Those who have been affectedby it are then filled either with unbounded adoration or bitter hatred.
Figures with this propensity are inclined to let fly with all kinds ofopinions on the spur of the moment and can unawares turn into somekind of religious leader. Their followers always become far moredogmatic than their master. They seize on every little detail which
dropped from his pen or his lips and make it into an article of faith.
Their opponents do the same but use such details to condemn him. As
examples of countrymen of Wagner who have had to suffer similar
treatment after their deaths one might mention Martin Luther and Karl
Marx. This taking of sides in relation to Wagner is not yet over.

BRIEF BIOGRAPHY

41

When Wagner is being discussed it is usually not long before one of
the controversial aspects of his life outside his works is mentioned,
since people have made a great deal of these matters in speech, writing
and films. These are principally his love-affairs, economic difficulties
and antisemitism. The main reason for this is assuredly that he is aworld-renowned man, not that he was in these respects very different
from others of his time or even from people nowadays. It is therefore
important to try to give an objective account of these aspects.
Wagner’s love-affairs were actually not more extensive than thoseof many others. The love-life of his father-in-law Liszt, for example,
was far more colourful. After Minna stopped running off from Wagner
there seem to have been no serious problems between them for the
first decade and a half. Their lack of children, however, was always asource of some regret for them, and Minna found it hard to put up withher husband’s financial recklessness. In the latter part of his life Wagner
had a few romantic escapades, but probably the most remarkable thing
was that he fell in love with the wives of two of his friends andbenefactors. His liaison with Mathilde Wesendonck seems, however,
never to have been a very physical one, and Cosima von Bülow clearly
took the initiative in her relationship with him.
Antisemitism
Wagner’s antipathy to certain racial characteristics that he believed hecould see in the conduct of Jews has had far greater consequences. It
was nevertheless far from being anything exceptional. Antisemitism
has been endemic in Europe since the Middle Ages. Its origin can betraced to the fear felt by various classes of workpeople about competition from immigrant Jews, whose numbers had increased greatly
during the Middle Ages with the advent of refugees from the expansionof Islamic power. Jews were not permitted either to own land or topractise crafts outside their own communities. Trade and moneylending were almost the only businesses they could engage in openly,
and moreover these activities were considered beneath the dignity of
free-born men in the Middle Ages, and in some places they wereforbidden by the Church.
The authorities were able to profit greatly by this arrangement, forthey put high taxes on these activities engaged in by Jews, who themselves frequently got a bad reputation as usurers. In propaganda the42

WAGNER AND THE VOLSUNGS

Jews were among other things blamed for Christ’s crucifixion, and intimes of unrest they were often made scapegoats to provide some kindof outlet for public anger, as during the Crusades, the Black Death andother plagues, the Reformation and the Thirty Years’ War.
During the Enlightenment period and after the French Revolutionof 1789, Jews in Europe gradually gained ordinary human rights, forinstance in Prussia in 1812. After that they began to take an active partin all aspects of intellectual, secular and artistic life, and because of
their centuries-long experience they became especially influential in
the fields of banking and trade. Their continually defensive position
had also fostered among Jews an international fellow-feeling fromwhich they now benefited in business life. The old in-grown antagonism
was not uprooted in one generation either, but found a new outlet.
There is no reason to think that this antagonism was all that deeply
rooted in Wagner, any more than in most others of his time, but his
position seems to have been somewhat ambivalent and to have varied
according to his changing moods and the expedience of the moment.
Apart from the notorious article about Judaism in music of 1850, tracesof his antagonism appear most strongly in some fragments of memoirs
written by Cosima. Even so, his attitudes were to a large extent boundup with his reactions to individual Jews. Many of his chief acquaintances and colleagues to the end of his life were in fact Jewish, and heentrusted the conductor Hermann Levi, son of a Jewish rabbi, with thedirection of his ‘sacred’ final work, Parsifal, in 1882.
Round about 1880 there was an organised anti-Jewish movement inGermany which soon spread to Austria, Russia, France and Britain.
The background to it, as before, was competition and fear of the everincreasing influence of the Jews, especially in commerce. Wagner took
no part in this movement and he avoided putting his name to a special
petition which this faction sent to the emperor urging that the rights ofJews should be restricted again.
Nowhere in Wagner’s poetry is any anti-Jewish feeling to be foundeither, though attempts have been made to interpret unpleasant characters in his works, like Alberich, Mime and Beckmesser, as personifications of Jewishness. If one were to apply such criteria one could with
far more certain justification brand Shakespeare and Dickens as antisemitic because of works like The Merchant of Venice and Oliver Twist.

BRIEF BIOGRAPHY

43

Wagner, however, suffered the misfortune half a century after his
death that one of his dogmatic admirers came to power as chancellorof Germany. This was Adolf Hitler. There is a long and complex seriesof events relating to the connexions between Hitler and Wagner’s sonin-law, daughter-in-law and descendants. But it is hardly fair to blame
the composer personally for the Holocaust in the twentieth century as
some have wanted to do. Certainly it is the case that he expressed
horrible opinions in his envy and anger; he can be blamed for these,
but not for the fact that some Nazi murderers admired his musicodramatic works and interpreted them in their own way.
Because of these matters, the public in Germany was still shy andhalf afraid of Wagner’s music long after the Second World War. The
same can in fact be said of the attitude of ordinary people to Old
Icelandic literature and everything else that the Nazis had prized aspart of Germanic cultural inheritance. Neither of these artistic achievements has even now fully recovered from this burden of association.
It is still the case, for instance, that orchestras in Israel are afraid toplay works by Wagner because of the fear of extremists, even thoughmusicians themselves there are less than happy with this unofficial
ban. In Iceland itself it has been people of German-Jewish origin, like
Victor Urbancic and Róbert Abraham Ottósson, who have taken theinitiative in having the national Symphony Orchestra perform Wagner’s
music.
Death
When the first Bayreuth festival was over, Wagner went to Italy torecuperate. In 1877 he visited London as a conductor in order to reducethe debts the festival had incurred. In the same year he began work on
Parsifal but did not complete it until 1882, when it was given its
première at the second Bayreuth festival. During these years Wagner
spent much of his time in Italy for the sake of his health, and was in
Venice at the time of his death, 13 February 1883. He was buried in
the garden of his Bayreuth home, Villa Wahnfried, which today housesa large museum of his life and work, celebrating the triumphal progressof his operas. Wahnfried is now also the home of the Richard Wagner
Foundation.

Das Rheingold. Drawing by Theodor Pixis, Illustrierte Zeitung, Leipzig, 23
October 1869. Top: Alberich steals the gold from the Rhine Maidens. Centre:
Fafner and Fasolt take Freia from the gods; Walhall in the background. Bottom: Wotan and Loge visit Alberich and Mime in Nibelheim.

The final scene of Das Rheingold. Drawing by Theodor Pixis, 1869. The gods
enter Walhall, Loge looks towards the Rhine Maidens.

Die Walküre. Drawing by Theodor Pixis, 1869, for the production in Munich
in 1870. Brünnhilde warns Siegmund of his approaching death.

Die Walküre. Drawing by Joseph Hoffman, 1876. Siegmund with Nothung.

Das Rheingold. Drawing by K. Ekwall (1843–
1912) inspired by the production in Bayreuth of
1876. Illustrierte Zeitung, Leipzig, 16 September 1876. The Rhine Maidens with the glowing
gold; Alberich creeps up on them.

Alberich, Bayreuth 1876. Photograph by
Joseph Albert.

Brünnhilde (Amalia Materna) with her horse,
Grane, Bayreuth 1876. Photograph by Joseph
Albert.

Die Walküre. Drawing by K. Ekwall (1843–
1912). Siegmund’s death.

Götterdämmerung. The three Norns, Bayreuth 1876.
Photograph by Joseph Albert.

Siegfried. Drawing by Joseph Hoffmann, 1876. Siegfried kills thedragon Fafner.

Götterdämmerung. The Gibichung vassals, Bayreuth 1876.

Götterdämmerung. Drawing by K. Ekwall (1843–
1912). Siegfried’s body being carried back to thehall of the Gibichungs.

The ride of the valkyries. Drawing on glass by Carl Emil Doepler. Part of thescenery at Bayreuth, 1876.

Wagner in December 1871, after an oil painting by
Franz von Lenbach.

Richard and Cosima Wagner in Vienna in 1872.
Photograph by Fritz Luckhardt.

Festival Theatre in Bayreuth. Drawing by Ludwig Bechstein,
Allgemeine Illustrierte, 1876.

‘The new mythology. Wagner’s apotheosis in Bayreuth.’ Der Ulk,
Berlin, 1876. Wagner as Wotan, valkyries carry exhausted listeners.

‘Richard Wagner in heaven.’ Der Floh, Vienna 1883. Angels blow
Wagner horns, Wagner teaches Mozart and Beethoven and roasts
Offenbach, St Peter announces that the Ring shall be performed daily.

Wahnfried, the house in Bayreuth where Wagner lived from 1874 until his death. Photographby Mark Kemming. In front is a bust of Ludwig II, above the entrance is a depiction of Wotan
and his ravens (see next page) and the inscription ‘Hier wo mein Wähnen Frieden fand –Wahnfried – sei dieses Haus von mir benannt’ (Here where my longing found peace – Wahnfried– be this house named by me’). Richard and Cosima’s graves are in the garden behind.

The panel above the entrance to Wahnfried, Wagner’s house in Bayreuth, whichshows Wotan and his ravens between two of the muses. Cut by Robert Kraus, 1873–74.

Photograph of Wagner at sixty (1873)

The first conductors at the Bayreuth Festival. Left: Hermann Levi, who worked
with Wagner from 1871 onwards and conducted Parsifal on its first performance in 1882 and until 1894. Centre: Hans Richter, a close friend of Wagner
from 1866, he conducted the Ring at Bayreuth in 1876 and on until 1912.
Right: Felix Mottl, who assisted Wagner at the Festival of 1876 and was conductor at it for the next two decades.

Wagner with Cosima and friends in 1881. Left to right: Richard, Cosima, theauthor von Stein, the painter Joukovsky and the sisters Daniela and Blandine
von Bülow.

Wagner crossing the rainbow bridge from the Festival Theatre to Walhall

Aeschylus and Shakespeare do honour to Wagner

Wagner’s final requests to the singers at the first performance of the Ring,hung up at the stage entrance to the Festival Theatre: ‘Last request to my dearcolleagues. ! Clarity ! – The great notes look after themselves; the little notes
and their text are the main thing. – Never address yourselves to the public, but
always to each other; in soliloquies looking downwards or upwards, neverstraight forwards. – Last request: Let us never quarrel, my friends! Bayreuth,
13 August 1876. Richard Wagner.’

Bayreuth 1876. Emperor Wilhelm I of Germany greets Wagner at theFestival TheatreWagner at rehearsals of the Ring at Bayreuth. Drawing by Adolf von Menzel, 1875.

Wagner as conductor. Cartoon by K. Klic,
Humoristische Blätter, Vienna 1873.

60
WAGNER AND THE VOLSUNGS

Palazzo Vendramin-Calergi in Venice, where Wagner lived from 18 September 1882 until his death on 13 February 1883.

BRIEF BIOGRAPHY
61

Wagner’s funeral cortège passing the railway station in Bayreuth on its way to Wahnfried, 18 February 1883.
The church bells were rung, the band played the death march from Götterdämmerung.

Richard and Cosima Wagner’s graves in the garden of Wahnfried in Bayreuth. Photograph by Mark
Kemming.

1811 Birth of Ottilie Wagner (later Brockhaus).
1813 Birth of Richard Wagner 22 May in Leipzig. Death of his
father Friedrich in the autumn.
1814 Marriage of his mother Johanna Rosine to the artist Ludwig
Geyer. They settle in Dresden.
1815 Birth of his half-sister Cäcilie.
1817 Weber frequent guest at Geyer’s.
1820 Wagner learns of Mozart’s life-story.
1821 Death of Geyer. Richard goes for a time to Eisleben.
1822 He attends Kreuzschule (Holy Cross School) in Dresden.
1823 He begins reading Greek and Roman mythology.
1825 Performs Der Freischütz with his school-fellows.
1826 Translates parts of the Odyssey.
1827 Is confirmed and writes the play Leubald und Adelaïde.
1828 The family moves to Leipzig. Richard attends grammar
school and frequents his uncle Adolf’s library.
1829 He sees Beethoven’s Fidelio and decides to be a composer.
1830 Composes an overture. Gets to know Schumann in Leipzig.
1831 Enrolled in an academy of music.
1832 Composes Symphony in C and a draft libretto for Die Hochzeit.
1833 Goes to Würzburg. Composes his first opera, Die Feen.
1834 Conductor at Bad Lauchstädt and Magdeburg. Gets to know
Minna Planer.
1835 Composes Das Liebesverbot.

1811 Birth of Liszt.
1812 Napoleon’s disastrous campaign in Russia.
1813 Great battle with Napoleon’s army near Leipzig in October.
Birth of Verdi.
1814 Vienna Convention on the division of Europe.
1815 Battle of Waterloo.
1816 Weber appointed director of the Dresden opera.
1817 Student festival in Wartburg castle.
1818 Birth of Karl Marx.
1819 Publication of Schopenhauer’s chief work, Die Welt als
Wille und Vorstellung (The World as Will and Idea).
1820 Liszt gives his first concert at the age of nine.
1821 Births of Dostoevsky and Flaubert.
1822 Schubert’s Unfinished Symphony composed.
1823 First performance of Weber’s Euryanthe in Vienna.
1824 First performance of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. Birthof Bruckner.
1825 Death of the poet Jean Paul (Richter) at the age of 62.
1826 Death of Weber at the age of 40.
1827 Death of Beethoven at the age of 57.
1828 Births of Ibsen and Tolstoy. Death of Schubert at the ageof 31.

In the first column are listed the chief events of Wagner’s life, in the second contemporary events of political and cultural significance for it.

CHRONOLOGY1836 Das Liebesverbot performed in Magdeburg. Goes to Königsberg. Marries Minna.
1837 Conductor in Riga.
1838 Works on Rienzi.
1839 Flees his creditors in Riga by sea to London and Paris.
1840 Gets to know Heine, Liszt and Meyerbeer in Paris. Completes Rienzi.
1841 Composes The Flying Dutchman. Begins the libretto for
Tannhäuser.
1842 Moves to Dresden. First performance of Rienzi. Meets
Mendelssohn in Berlin.
1843 First performance of The Flying Dutchman in Dresden.
Becomes hofkapellmeister.
1844 Works on Tannhäuser.
1845 First performance of Tannhäuser in Dresden. Begins thelibrettos of Mastersingers and Lohengrin.
1846 Begins the music for Lohengrin.
1847 Works on Lohengrin.
1848 Death of his mother. Wagner begins the libretto of the Ring.
1849 Writes the libretto for an opera on Jesus of Nazareth. Gets
to know Mikhail Bakunin. Takes part in the May uprising in
Dresden. Flees to Zürich.
1850 First performance of Lohengrin in Weimar. Writes the ‘antiJewish’ article.
1851 Works on the libretto of the Ring. Writes Oper und Drama
and Eine Mitteilung an meine Freunde.
1829 Rossini composes William Tell.
1830 July revolution in France. Riots in German states. Birth ofHans von Bülow. Berlioz composes Symphonie Fantastique.
1831 Heine goes into exile in Paris.
1832 Death of Goethe at the age of 82.
1833 Birth of Brahms in Hamburg.
1834 Liszt gets to know Marie, Countess d’Agoult.
1835 First edition of Jakob Grimm’s Deutsche Mythologie.
1836 Meyerbeer composes Les Huguenots.
1837 Daguerre and Talbot discover photography.
1838 Schubert composes Kinderzenen etc.
1839 Birth of Mussorgsky.
1840 Births of Zola and Tchaikovsky.
1841 Opening of Semper’s opera-house in Dresden.
1842 Liszt appointed conductor in Weimar.
1843 Feuerbach’s Philosophie der Zukunft published.
1844 Birth of Nietzsche.
1845 Birth of Ludwig II of Bavaria.
1846 Berlioz composes Faust.
1847 Death of Mendelssohn in Leipzig at the age of 38.
1848 February revolution in France. Communist Manifesto
published. German national assembly in St Paul’s church inFrankfurt (Frankfurt Diet).
1849 German constitution agreed in Frankfurt.

1852 Completes the libretto of the Ring. Gets to know theWesendoncks.
1853 Travels to Italy. Vision of the music for Das Rheingold.
Sees the sixteen-year-old Cosima.
1854 Composes the music for of Das Rheingold and Die Walküre.
First conceives Tristan and Isolde.
1855 Guest conductor in London. Continues with the music for
Die Walküre.
1856 Completes Die Walküre and begins Siegfried.
1857 The Wagners take up lodgings with the Wesendoncks.
Music for the Ring broken off in the middle of Siegfried. Begins
Tristan and Isolde.
1858 Travels to Venice because of quarrel with the Wesendoncks.
Minna goes to Dresden.
1859 Completes Tristan and Isolde in Lucerne. Moves to Paris.
Minna returns to him.
1860 Concerts in Paris and Brussels. Visits Rossini in Paris.
1861 Tannhäuser a failure in Paris. Travels widely. Begins The
Mastersingers.
1862 Minna and Richard part for good.
1863 Visit to Russia. Cosima and Richard declare their love in Berlin.
1864 Flees from his creditors to Vienna. Ludwig II summons Wagner
to Munich. Cosima becomes his lover. Resumes work on Siegfried.
1865 Birth of Richard and Cosima’s daughter Isolde. First performance of Tristan and Isolde in Munich conducted by von
Bülow. Act II of Siegfried finished. Begins to dictate memoirs.

1850 Death of Balzac at the age of 51.
1851 First performance of Verdi’s Rigoletto in Venice.
1852 Napoleon III becomes emperor in France.
1853 First performances of Verdi’s La Traviata and Il Trovatore.
1854 Trades Unions banned in Germany.
1855 Freytag publishes Soll und Haben.
1856 Deaths of Heine in Paris at the age of 59 and of Schumann
at the age of 46. Births of Sigmund Freud and G. B. Shaw.
1857 Cosima Liszt and Hans von Bülow married in Berlin.
1858 Birth of Puccini in Lucca.
1859 Darwin publishes The Origin of Species. Battle of Solferino.
1860 Birth of Mahler. Death of Schopenhauer at the age of 72.
Cosima gives birth to Daniela von Bülow.
1861 Liszt goes to Rome to take orders. American Civil War
begins.
1862 Bismarck prime minister of Prussia. Birth of Gerhart
Hauptmann.
1863 German worker’s union founded. Cosima gives birth toBlandine von Bülow.
1864 German–Danish war over Schleswig. Birth of Richard
Strauss.
1865 Taine publishes La Philosophie de l’Art.
1866 The Austro-Prussian War. Austrian defeat at Königgrätz.
Siemens invents the dynamo.

1866 Death of Minna. Richard and Cosima move to Tribschen
near Lucerne.
1867 Birth of Richard and Cosima’s second daughter, Eva.
1868 First performance of The Mastersingers in Munich. Gets toknow Nietzsche. Cosima goes to live permanently with Wagner.
1869 First performance of Das Rheingold in Munich. Birth ofSiegfried Wagner.
1870 First performance of Die Walküre in Munich. Cosima
divorced from Hans von Bülow and married to Wagner.
Siegfried Idyll.
1871 Bayreuth chosen as site of music festival. Siegfried completed.
1872 Moves to Bayreuth. Foundation-stone of opera-house laid.
Draft score of Götterdämmerung finished.
1873 Full score of Götterdämmerung begun.
1874 Moves into the the house Wahnfried. Götterdämmerungcompleted.
1875 Rehearsals of the Ring at Bayreuth.
1876 First performance of the complete Ring-cycle at Bayreuth.
Stay in Italy.
1877 Conducting in London. Begins Parsifal.
1878 Works on Parsifal.
1879 Works on the full score for Parsifal.
1880 Health cure in Italy.
1881 Stay in Sicily.
1882 Completes Parsifal. First performance at the second
Bayreuth festival.
1883 Death of Wagner 13 February in Venice. Burial in Bayreuth.
1867 Ludwig II becomes engaged but breaks it off within a year.
1868 Death of Rossini in Paris at the age of 76. Wagner andNietzsche become known to each other.
1869 First Vatican Council opens. Death of Berlioz in Paris at
the age of 66.
1870 Franco-Prussian War begins. Death of Charles Dickens at
the age of 58.
1871 German Empire founded with Wilhelm I as emperor. The
Paris commune.
1872 Birth of Scriabin in Moscow.
1873 Ludwig II builds fairy palaces with most zeal.
1874 Birth of Schoenberg.
1875 Birth of Thomas Mann.
1876 Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina published. Brahms publishes his
first symphony. Tchaikovsky composes Swan Lake.
1877 Ibsen’s Pillars of Society published. Saint-Saëns composes
Samson et Dalila. Edison invents the phonograph.
1878 Bruckner composes his Fifth Symphony.
1879 Dostoevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov published.
1880 Death of Flaubert at the age of 59.
1881 Death of Dostoevsky at the age of 60. Births of Bartók andPicasso.
1882 Birth of Stravinsky.
1883 Bismarck takes measures for the introduction of a social
security system. Death of Marx at the age of 65. Birth of Kafka.

D E V E L O P M E N T O F G E R M A N N AT I O N A L C O N S C I O U S N E S S

Germanic Barbarians
Today we tend to think of Germany as one of the old-established great
powers, like the nation familiar to us in twentieth-century history. Yet
this image of Germany originates from no longer ago than 1871, when
the king of Prussia became Kaiser of all Germany. Before that, theGerman-speaking area was divided into a large number of independent
kingdoms and duchies, over which the spoken language varied considerably. The most powerful of the kingdoms were Prussia, Saxony
and Bavaria. This was quite different from the situation in their strong
and long-unified neighbours, France and Great Britain. From the time
when the German-speaking peoples began to develop a sense ofnationhood, it took four centuries for them to achieve unification as asingle nation.
Ever since the days of Julius Caesar, two thousand years ago, when
the Roman empire first confronted Germanic military forces north of
the Alps, the Romans, and after them the heirs of Roman culture, had
always called the Germans ‘barbarians’. The word barbarian hadoriginally been used by the Ancient Greeks of anyone who did not
speak Greek, but gradually they and others began to apply it toforeigners in general, and especially those whom the Romans regarded
as uncivilised, immoral and crude. This narrow-minded attitude to theunfamiliar, or to those who are to be exploited, is widespread in all
periods. One need only recall how colonists and slave-traders referredto black Africans as animals in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
Around AD 100, the Roman historian Tacitus compiled a book,
Germania, on the culture, religion and customs of the Germanic tribes.
In fact Tacitus himself never travelled to Germania, but based his bookon the accounts of Roman soldiers. The book describes the Germans,
admittedly, as a coarse people, heavy drinkers, with little learning, buton the other hand as lovers of freedom, uncorrupted by civilisation,honest, upright, brave, strong, self-sacrificing and moderate in theirwants, and their women as particularly chaste. It has been a matter of
debate whether the interpretations of the Roman mercenaries and theRoman horse-soldier fighting Germanic barbarians. Roman relief from Trier.
The Battle of Teutoburger Wald in AD 9, when
the Romans were defeated by Germans. Painting
from 1903.

70

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book itself are entirely reliable as history. Some even believe that
Tacitus was trying to convince his fellow-Romans of their wickedness
by drawing attention to and exaggerating these qualites of the Germans,
as a contrast to the corrupt sensuality of the ease-loving Romans.
Resurrection of Tacitus
In the Renaissance period, around the middle of the fifteenth century,
Tacitus’s book was rediscovered after centuries of oblivion, andpublished in Venice in 1470 and in Nuremberg in 1473. The publicationof this ancient book marks the beginning of a serious German counterattack on the cultural dominance of the Romance-speaking world, andGermans made full use of Tacitus in their campaign. One aspect of
this campaign was opposition to the power and corruption of the Popeand the Vatican, which came to a head with the Reformation and the
spread of Protestantism in the wake of Martin Luther. Conversely,
Tacitus’s ancient work was also used as a weapon against the Germans
themselves, or to spur them on in the struggle with the Ottoman Empire(Böldl 2000, 15–17; Schulze 1996, 43–5; Arthúr Björgvin Bollason
1990, 28–34).
This revived concept of the Germanic peoples, meaning the Cimbri,
Teutons and Goths, was, however, for a long time only regarded as
applicable to their courage, physical strength and uprightness. They
were still deemed uncivilised by the standards of the high culture of
Paris or Rome. Promoters of ancient Germanic culture therefore sought
out various, sometimes fantastic, devices for refuting this attitude, andfor demonstrating that the ancient Germans, or at least their chieftains,
had indeed been concerned about culture, and that the Germans
themselves were of honourable descent.
One of these theories was that Druids (spiritual leaders of the Celts),
fleeing from Britain, had in early times taught the Germans about
Greek, and even Egyptian, culture. Another was on the lines that theGermans were descended from one of Noah’s numerous sons, called
Tuyscon (i.e. German). After the Flood, the ark came to rest, of course,
on Mt Ararat in the Caucasus. It was in this area, in Scythia by theBlack Sea, that Noah’s issue were supposed to have first settled, andthis was precisely where the Goths were believed at the time to havecome from.

NATIONAL CONSCIOUSNESS

71

In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries Germanic scholars tried
harder and harder to glorify their languages. Some Dutch scholars
maintained that their forefathers, the Cimbri, had spoken the languageof Adam, and that this had escaped the confusion of tongues in the
Tower of Babel. Others claimed that German was the world’s secondoldest language, after Hebrew, and still others said that Greek and
Latin had developed from Germanic languages.
In order to reinforce their self-image in the face of the heroic legendsof the Greeks and Romans, such scholars began at the same time toglorify and exaggerate the importance of Germanic heroes, especiallythe chieftain Arminius, who, according to Roman histories, defeatedthe Roman legions at the renowned Battle of Teutoburger Wald in
AD 9. In the mid-sixteenth century his name was Germanicised to create
the national hero Hermann. He became a symbol for resistance to thepower of southern Europe and when King Gustavus Adolphus of
Sweden in the early seventeenth century intervened in the Thirty Years'
War between Catholics and Protestants, this was interpreted as arepetition of the triumphal march of the ancient Germanic Goths against
the decadent Roman Empire (Magnus 1554; Lohenstein 1689; Böldl
2000, 17–23).
Climate Theories
The efforts of Germanic scholars to promote national consciousness
did not go unnoticed by their neighbours in the south, and not all were
impressed. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, interestingexchanges of opinion took place between French and German thinkers
about the interpretation of the so-called ‘climate theory’. According tothis theory, climate and weather were important influences on thedevelopment of human behaviour both physical and mental. Suchtheories had in fact been known already among the Ancient Greeks,
and they have actually still been used by some scholars right on into
the twentieth century (Heiberg 1920, 453–64; Huntington 1915).
The classification of nations according to the climate theory began
in the late seventeenth century, when French writers claimed that those
who lived at Germany’s latitudes were incapable of any refinedlearning, though they could be endowed with fine physical powers.
Half a century later an opposing German view was set forth in anGustavus Adolphus, king of Sweden
1611–32

Baron Charles de Montesquieu (1689–1755)

72
WAGNER AND THE VOLSUNGSNATIONAL CONSCIOUSNESS

73

encyclopaedia of philosophy. There the division of the world into
climate zones — cold, temperate and hot — is linked with a classification of mankind and human qualities into three corresponding types.
The Latin nations — the French, Italians and Spanish — are assigned
to the hot zone. They have their virtues, but tend to be foolish, illogicalin thought, frivolous, arrogant, libidinous and vengeful. In the temperatezone, people are perceptive, far-seeing, sensible and logical. In thiszone live the Germans and the English, for instance. Yet the authors
do not deny the Germans’ weakness for drink, which Tacitus had
deemed their major vice. In the cold zone are, among others, theScandinavians, who are considered to be slow of understanding inspiritual things, avaricious and emotionally frigid, but to have a hightolerance of cold and hunger. Scandinavians, not surprisingly, were
not over-pleased with this description, especially the Swedes (Bouhour
1671; Walch 1726, I 24; Bonstetten 1825, 226).
In the German-speaking area, people began to express criticism ofTacitus and other ancient writers, casting doubt on their knowledge
and understanding of the ancient Germans. Those writers had neverthemselves visited the area, and their informants understood neither
the language of the Germans nor the basis of their organisation. Thus
all their conclusions were in the light of the standards of Roman society.
Some people suggested that Tacitus’s information related only toGermanic peasants, and not their civilised leaders (Zschackwitz 1743;
Schütze 1746, 31–49; Majer 1798, 24; Böldl 2000, 30–32).
The climate theory reached a scientific milestone when Montesquieu
published his major work De l’esprit des lois in 1748. He put forward
physiological arguments to show how a cold climate could strengthen
the tissues of the human body and at the same time enhance moral
power. In spite of his own nationality, he regarded the Germanic peoples
as superior to the Romance ones in this respect, and the more so thefurther north they lived. He saw the Nordic peoples as particularly
well fitted to promoting and preserving the freedom and equal rightsof the individual.
Montesquieu did not, however, directly contradict the prevailing viewthat in the field of higher culture the Germans and other Nordic nations
were uncivilised in comparison with the French, who were theinheritors of classical culture. Various other writers in southern Europe
took quite an extreme view of this, and continued to look down on the

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Germans, believing that the cold climate constricted the spiritual andaesthetic senses. Nor did the ideas of Montesquieu and his followers
about ancient Nordic freedom and equality give rise to any criticism
of the absolutism of the time, until around 1800, after Napoleon
Bonaparte had begun his attempt to conquer Europe (Espiard 1752;
Kleffel 1749, 11; von See 1975, 12–14; Böldl 2000, 27–30).
Desire for Unification of Germany
In the latter half of the eighteenth century there was growing pressure
to reduce the number of small German states by unification; many
influences were at work here. Technical progress had increased
productivity in agriculture and industry, and so merchants, farmers
and manufacturers wanted the multitude of import duties imposed byeach small state abolished. The bloody Seven Years’ War of 1756–63,
waged by Frederick II of Prussia against the ‘three petticoats’ (derKrieg mit den drei Röcken, i.e. Maria Theresa of Austria, Catharine
the Great of Russia and Mme de Pompadour in France, as he calledit), also lent weight to the argument that a strong united Germany
should be formed, which could stand against the other major powers(Schulze 1996, 49–62; Böldl 2000, 34–35).
Visionaries who sought to promote a sense of German nationality
and to diffuse knowledge of ancient Germanic culture were, of course,
supported by those who wanted unification for economic reasons; someof these were fairly wealthy. Thus publication of books and periodicals
supporting unification and German nationalism increased greatly after
the mid-eighteenth century.
In 1760–80, James Macpherson and Thomas Percy publishedcollections of early Scottish and English poetry in Britain. (Some years
later it was discovered that most of the poems attributed to the thirdcentury Ossian, relating to a prehistoric Scottish Heroic Age, had infact been written by the young Macpherson himself.) In Germany their
example was soon followed. Many Germans felt that the British were
far more akin to them than the French, and since 1714 England had
been ruled by Hanoverian monarchs of German descent (Macpherson
1760; Percy 1765; Meynert 1797; Böldl 2000, 35–37).
The most influential of the Germans in this field was the polymath
Johann Gottfried Herder (1744–1803), one of the pioneers of the Sturm
und Drang movement, which developed towards Romanticism. He

NATIONAL CONSCIOUSNESS

75

believed that all poetry originated with the people, regardless of nationalboundaries, and he was deeply interested in folk-poetry independentof conventional ‘culture’. Thus he took a particular interest in the poetryof those peoples whom Europeans regarded as primitive, and publishedfolk-poetry from various countries in 1778–79 (Volkslieder I–II).
This was a novel idea at this time, according to which folk-poetry
deserved as much respect as that of recognised poets and the Greeks
and Romans were not the only ones that could boast of fine ancient
poetry and culture. This boosted the confidence and self-respect of
those peoples who had hitherto been despised by the self-styled culturalélite of the Romance world, though it did not, of course, stop the peopleof southern Europe from continuing to feel superior. Others followed
Herder’s line, like Schiller, who demanded full respect for German
folk-culture (1958, 473–76).
Rediscovery of Early German Literature
In spite of the efforts of individual intellectuals to raise the status of
German antiquarian studies before the late eighteenth century, theycannot be said to have influenced national life very deeply, or to havesparked off any mass movement. In the first years of the nineteenth
century, however, there was a significant change. The obvious reasonsfor this were the German defeat by Napoleon’s armies in 1806 and theFrench occupation that followed. The French arrogantly trumpeted
to the world the humiliating defeat of the Germans by removing thestatue of Victory in her carriage from the top of the Brandenburg
Gate in Berlin, and transporting it to Paris. At this time, the spirit andtriumphalism of the French were attributed by many to the fact thatthey had a united fatherland, which they loved, and to their pride in
their culture, ancient and modern, while the Germans were manifestly
lacking such a coherent ideology.
After the defeat at the hands of the French, more and more voices
called for unification of the fragmented German states. At the sametime, the Germans were urged to nurture the Germanic cultural heritage
and the memory of their own ancient heroes, rather than enviously
contemplating the ancient glories of Greece, Rome and France. Early
German poems of chivalry and courtly love began to be published,
and translated into contemporary High German verse, or into prose, tomake them more accessible. Before this, such poetry had mainly been

The Brandenburg Gate in Berlin

Das Nibelungenlied. Kriemhilt and Prünhilt quarrel
while Sîfrit stands by. Illustration from the Hundeshagen manuscript.

Das Nibelungenlied. Gunther sails to Prünhilt’s castle in Islande. Illustrationby Eduard Bendemann and Julius Hübner from the edition of Leipzig 1840.

Das Nibelungenlied. Death of Sîfrit. Illustration from the
Hundeshagen manuscript.

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WAGNER AND THE VOLSUNGS

the domain of scholars. Now poets and other artists began to create
poems, stories, plays and visual art inspired by this early literature(Haymes and Samples 1996).
Das Nibelungenlied
The longest and most famous of the early German poems is Das
Nibelungenlied, composed in Middle High German around AD 1200
or a little later. The poem exists in various fragments and versions ofdifferent length in over 30 manuscripts dating from the thirteenth to
sixteenth centuries. It comprises in all 39 sections (Aventiure) and nearly
2,400 stanzas.
The characters of the poem coincide to some extent with those in
Old Icelandic poems and stories about Sigur›r Fáfnisbani, Brynhildr,
Gu›rún and Hƒgni. As it has generally (and mistakenly) been believedthat Wagner’s Ring is mainly based upon the first part of this poem, it
will be best to summarise briefly the main contents of the first 19
Aventiure. Parallels will be discussed later on in the order that they
appear in Wagner’s librettos.
1. The fair Kriemhilt grows up at the Burgundian court at Worms on the Rhine.
She dreams of training up a beautiful falcon, which is then torn to pieces by
two eagles.
2. Sîfrit grows up in the palace of Xanten, about 250 km further down the
Rhine. He is regarded as the finest of young lads.
3. Sîfrit travels to Worms to ask for Kriemhilt’s hand. Hagene, a follower ofher brother Gunther, briefly recounts Sîfrit’s previous exploits, i.e. winninga hoard of gold from the Nibelungs (in this poem a race of human heroes)and slaying a dragon, after which he bathes in the dragon’s blood, making
his skin invulnerable to weapons. Sîfrit challenges Gunther, but their fightis avoided, and Sîfrit becomes a guest of the Burgundians.
4–5. Sîfrit defeats the Saxons for Gunther. He is welcomed with a victory
parade, where he and Kriemhilt see each other for the first time.
6. Prünhilt is a beautiful, and strong, queen in Islande. Gunther sets out to sailto Islande and ask for her hand.
7–8. Prünhilt challenges Gunther to a trial of strength. Sîfrit, who had in his
youth acquired a cape of invisibility from the Nibelungs, stands unseen by
Gunther’s side and defeats Prünhilt. Prünhilt gathers forces, while Sîfrit
seeks reinforcements in the land of the Nibelungs.
9–10. Sîfrit rides ahead to Worms to herald the arrival of Gunther and Prünhilt.

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79

A double wedding is celebrated. Kriemhilt and Sîfrit make love on theirwedding night, but Prünhilt denies Gunther intercourse, and hangs him up
on a peg. On Gunther’s behalf, Sîfrit breaks down her resistance, and takes
away from her a ring and a belt, which he gives to Kriemhilt.
11–14. Sîfrit and Kriemhilt go to Xanten. Both queens give birth to sons, eachnamed after the other’s husband. Ten years later Sîfrit and Kriemhilt accept
an invitation to Worms. The two queens argue fiercely about the heroism
and reputation of their husbands. The dispute grows more and morerancorous until Kriemhilt discloses that Sîfrit has made love to Prünhilt.
Sîfrit denies this, and the parties make peace on the surface. But Sîfrit’s fateis sealed.
15. Hagene pretends he wishes to guard Sîfrit in battle, and Kriemhilt tells
him of the one place on Sîfrit’s body where he can be wounded.
16–17. Gunther, Sîfrit and Hagene go hunting. Hagene murders Sîfrit, and his
body is transported to Worms. When Hagene approaches the catafalque,
the body bleeds; this is regarded as evidence of his guilt. Sîfrit is given aroyal funeral.
18–19. Kriemhilt remains in Worms. Her brothers manage to achieve areconciliation, and she agrees to bring the gold of the Nibelungs from Xanten
to Worms. Hagene steals the treasure and hides it in the river Rhine.

This first half of the poem contains no parallels with Das Rheingold,
or with Die Walküre, and reference to Sîfrit’s youth is very slight. He
gains neither ring nor gold from a dragon, for instance. The main
parallels are with the latter part of Götterdämmerung, though Prünhilt
largely disappears from the action after Aventiure 14, as soon as themurder of Sîfrit has been planned. There is no shared funeral pyre.
The latter half of the poem deals with the revenge of Kriemhilt, whomarries King Etzel (Attila), and betrays her brothers. This is in fact
the main part of Das Nibelungenlied, but has no relevance to the story
told in the Ring.
The poem was not published until 1755, and for a long time afterthat remained largely unknown outside a small group of scholars. After
1800, however, it was published frequently in contemporary German
versions, and it began to be glorified as a treasure of German cultural
heritage, and was extensively used to promote German national
consciousness. Artists made illustrations, and it provided inspiration
for many poems, stories and plays. The poet Ernst Raupach publisheda play on the Nibelung treasure, in a prelude and five acts, in 1834.

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Plans for an Opera on the Nibelungs
There were various plans about for composing an opera on the
Nibelungs around the middle of the nineteenth century. Mendelssohnand Schumann both played with the idea about 1840, though nothingcame of it. In 1844 the German writer on aesthetics Friedrich Theodor
Vischer published a detailed proposal for a libretto which was to be
based on Das Nibelungenlied.
In the following years the poetess Louise Otto tried repeatedly to
get a composer to write music for a libretto based on Das Nibelungenlied, to be written by herself. Among those she approached was Wagner,
but he declined. She also made the acquaintance of the Danish composer Niels W. Gade, who started on a draft of such an opera, but thiscame to nothing. She succeeded in interesting Schumann in the idea
once again, but about this time his health began to fail. The firstcomplete opera on the subject of the Nibelungs was Die Nibelungenby Heinrich Dorn, which was first performed in Weimar in 1854,
conducted by Liszt (Dokumente, 15–17, 19–26, 75–7).

NATIONAL CONSCIOUSNESS81

ICELANDIC STUDIES IN GERMANY

Early Acquaintance
German writers and scholars first made the acquaintance of Old
Icelandic literature in Latin translations. The first of these were of theProse Edda (a treatise on poetics and mythology originally written by
Snorri Sturluson in the thirteenth century) and the first two poems,Vƒluspá and Hávamál, of the Poetic Edda (a thirteenth-century
collection of traditional heroic and mythological poems); all three were
published by the Danish scholar Peder Hansen Resen in Copenhagenin 1665. The Icelandic text of the first of these (Edda Islandorum) was
based on a greatly altered redaction of Snorri Sturluson’s Edda madeby Magnús Ólafsson (born c.1573, from 1622 until his death in 1636
priest at Laufás in northern Iceland) in 1609, and was accompanied byan anonymous Danish translation (perhaps partly the work of S. J.
Stephanius) and a Latin version mainly by Magnús Ólafsson, but withsome chapters by Torfæus (ﬁormó›ur Torfason). Vƒluspá and Hávamál
were printed in Icelandic and Latin; both texts of Vƒluspá were basedon the work of Stefán Ólafsson of Vallanes, those of Hávamál on thatof an anonymous interpreter, and notes to both poems by Gu›mundurAndrésson were also included (see Faulkes 1977–79).
Secondly, in 1685 a German translation was published of a famous
description of Norway compiled about 1600 by the Norwegian clericPeder Claussøn (Friis) and published by the Danish scholar Ole Wormin Copenhagen in 1632 (Norriges oc omliggende Øers sandfærdige
Bescríffuelse). Peder Claussøn had also made a Danish adaptation of
Snorri Sturluson’s Heimskringla (a history of Norway from the earliest
times down to 1177), which was published in 1633, also by Ole Worm,and his description of Norway was of course largely based on Icelandic
sources.
Thirdly, some Heroic Sagas (fornaldarsögur, sagas that supposedly
took place before the settlement of Iceland in the late ninth century)
were published in Sweden with Swedish and/or Latin translations in1664–1737; these included Hervarar saga ok Hei›reks in 1672, Gríms
saga Lo›inkinna, Ketils saga hœngs, ¯rvar-Odds saga and Sƒrla ﬂáttr82

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in 1697, ﬁi›reks saga in 1715 and Vƒlsunga saga in 1737 (on theselast two see pp. 105–06 below).
In 1746 the text of Gylfaginning from the Uppsala manuscript of
the Prose Edda was published by J. Göransson with Swedish and Latintranslations. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the title pagesof books were as wordy as the ‘blurb’ on a modern book’s wrapper.
The title page of this edition (De Yfverborna Atlingars, eller, Sviogötars
ok Nordmänners, Edda . . . Hyperboreorum Atlantiorum, seu,
Suiogothorum et Nordmannorum Edda) exemplifies the persistent urge
to fit the Prose and Poetic Eddas into some kind of mythological
European Union. It clearly states, for instance, that the book is written
in ‘Gothic’, which the Swedes regarded as an ancient form of Swedish.
Small differences may be seen beween the Swedish and the Latin of
the title page: in addition to Goths, Swedes, Norwegians and Scythians,
the Latin makes reference to the Germanic Cimbri and the Celtic Galli.
This tendency is in fact quite understandable, as no comparable
medieval sources exist from other nations of northern and central
Europe. Few people from these regions, however, had the audacity to
lay claim to the mythology of the Greeks and Romans, although many
parallels exist between it and Scandinavian mythology.
For a long time, only a small number of German scholars took aninterest in this field, and until the latter half of the eighteenth century
these scraps of eddic verse (that is, poetry of the type found in the
Poetic Edda and Gylfaginning, the mythological section of the Prose
Edda) and Scandinavian mythology were hardly accorded the dignified
name of literature. They were primarily valued as sources for the history
and religious practices of Scandinavian and other Germanic peoples,and did not always meet with the approval of strict Lutheran writers.
The first publication of what may be called a ‘Germanic mythology’in Hamburg in 1703 exemplifies such disapproving attitudes; it wasedited by a preacher named Trogullis (Troels) Arnkiel with the title
Cimbrische Heyden-Religion.
By the latter half of the eighteenth century, however, old Nordic
culture and religion was beginning to be elevated to a position of respectin the Germanic cultural region, in competition with the Classicalsouthern-European culture which had hitherto been regarded as the
only ‘correct’ standard. One of the first writers to express this attitude
was the Swiss historian Paul Henri de Mallet (1730–1807), who taught

The beginning of Hávamál in the Codex Regius of
the Poetic Edda.

Title page of the first printed edition of the Prose
Edda, Copenhagen 1665.

ICELANDIC STUDIES IN GERMANY
83

Title page of the first printed German translation of theProse Edda, Stettin 1777.

Ásgar›r, the citadel of the gods. Illustration from the first printed German translation of the Prose Edda, 1777, which seems to be based oncontemporary villages in northern Germany.

84
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85

for a time at the University in Copenhagen, and in 1755 and 1756
published Introduction à l’histoire de Dannemarc and Monumens dela mythologie et de la poésie des Celtes, which include a good deal ofmaterial derived from the Prose Edda, including most of the narrativesof Gylfaginning; he deemed Scandinavian religious ideas less extreme
than those of more southerly regions.
In this, Mallet followed Montesquieu’s theory of climate, without
drawing much distinction between Nordic, Celtic and Germanic. This
was a common view at the time. Unlike his scholarly predecessors, heregarded eddic verse as fully valid poetry in its own right, which
contradicted the age-old assumption that the Celts and Scandinavian
peoples were nothing but crude barbarians. Mallet’s book was soontranslated into German and was published in two volumes in 1765 byGottfried Schütze.
The Prose Edda was first published in German as Die isländische
Edda in Stettin in 1777, although it would be more accurate to callthis a summary or retelling of Gylfaginning along with Vƒluspá and
Hávamál, largely derived from Resen’s editions. In this book, several
Germanic and Celtic races are added to those listed in the Swedish
edition of 1746, i.e. Wends, Britons, Scots and Swabians. The work
was edited by Jakob Schimmelmann, a Lutheran Enlightenment man,
who viewed thirteenth-century reality through eighteenth-century
spectacles. He saw the author, Snorri Sturluson, for instance, as anenlightened ruler, governor and judge who had rescued the Edda
manuscripts from the ‘barbarism’ of the Popish church, rather than as anaristocratic politician, poet and historian who cultivated pagan poetry
as part of the cultural heritage of the Nordic world.
Schimmelmann also sought to demonstrate that the doctrines of the
Eddas and the Bible were in fact the same, as a beneficent God does
not discriminate between humans, and loved the ancient Nordic
peoples, just as he loves the Jews. Schimmelmann regarded Vƒluspá
and the mythology recounted in the Prose Edda as Scandinavian
variants of the Old Testament prophetic books, needing only to becleansed of the taint of heathenism.
Gradually, however, Old Icelandic poetry began to be studied in its
own right, and not just as a historical source. In 1766 translations of
Egill Skalla-Grímsson’s poems Sonatorrek and Hƒfu›lausn were published by the poet and critic Heinrich von Gerstenberg (1737–1823).

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His volume (Briefe über die Merkwürdigkeiten der Litteratur, 1766–70) contained the first notes in German on the names and various otheraspects of Nordic mythology that occur in these poems, along with anessay on verse forms (pp. 153–57). Gerstenberg, like Mallet, regarded
these and other old poems as evidence of quite a sophisticated culture.
He believed, however, that this culture had been brought from theEast by Ó›inn and the Ases — the gods of Old Norse mythology(Icelandic Æsir, plural of Áss), who were thought to have originatedhistorically as a race of people from Azerbaijan by the Black Sea.
Next on the scene was an Austrian Jesuit priest, Michael Denis, who
was a professor of aesthetics for a time, and subsequently director of
the Imperial Library in Vienna. He was regarded as a leading bibliographer, but was also a poet, who translated, or more accurately rewrote, many of the spurious Celtic poems of Ossian written by the
Scot Macpherson.
The main character in Denis’s work (Ossian und Sineds Lieder, 4vols, 1784) is the warrior-poet Sined. He also brought into his compilation, and rewrote, some Old Icelandic poetry, such as Vƒluspá andVegtamskvi›a (i.e. Baldrs Draumar), Eyvindr skáldaspillir’s Hákonarmál (from Heimskringla), and Egill Skalla-Grímsson’s Hƒfu›lausn.
In this he was following the same procedure as the Englishman Thomas
Percy, who translated some Old Icelandic poems (Five Pieces of Runic
Poetry, 1763) and added them to the mythological section of the second
edition of his translation of Mallet’s Introduction à l’histoire deDannemarc and Monumens de la mythologie et de la poésie des Celtes(Northern Antiquities, 1809).
Poetry about the ancient Celtic and Nordic world by Denis, Klopstockand other German poets of the late eighteenth century, expressed
nostalgia and idealised notions of a virtuous primitive life. This was
also one aspect of the quest in the many small states of Germany for ashared Germanic heritage as impressive as that of the Latin (i.e. French
and Italian) world. This was a major contributory factor in the Germans’
growing interest in Icelandic and other Scandinavian literature
throughout the nineteenth and well on into the twentieth century.
But Michael Denis was far from regarding these Nordic writings as
great art. The old poems were clearly far too crude for this contemporaryof Haydn and Mozart, and indeed for the Rococo period in general.
His versions of the poems were therefore made consistent with theICELANDIC STUDIES IN GERMANY

87

refinement and sensibility of the time. He was far from alone in his
views. In the theatres of Copenhagen at this time, Scandinavian heroes
and gods might appear wearing fanciful costumes and powdered wigs.
The poet and cultural guru Johann Gottfried Herder (see pp. 74–75
above) held different views. He felt that the poetry of the so-calledsavage or barbarian nations should not be beautified, but should beallowed to speak in its own uncouth manner. This difference of views
is exemplified, for instance, in the way that the oldest translations ofVƒluspá had interpreted this poem on the creation and end of the world
as a sibylline prophecy, or as a key to the secrets of the universe, derived
from a long-extinct class of priests. Herder, on the other hand, regardedVƒluspá and other eddic poetry as folk-verse from a time when theworld was perceived as poetry, as this pioneer of the Romantic movement put it. In a review of the German edition of Mallet’s Introduction àl’histoire de Dannemarc, Herder also upheld Montesquieu’s theory ofclimate to some extent, and suggested that Norse mythology could
provide ammunition for a new Germanic philosophy.
In spite of initially taking an internationalist view of folk poetry, in
his later years Herder began to distinguish between southern andnorthern poetry, in a broad sense. This attitude was to be influential
when Romantic scholars began to formulate theories about Germanic
myths and legends, and poets and composers were also inspired bythese subjects (J. G. Herder, Iduna, oder der Apfel der Verjüngung,
1796; Böldl 2000, 136–45).
Not all of those who were interested in Scandinavian culture shared
this polemic attitude. Friedrich David Gräter (1768–1830) has been
dubbed the godfather of the field of studies called Nordistik in German.
In 1789 he published Nordische Blumen (Nordic Flowers), containing
eight eddic poems in German translation, along with excerpts fromanother two, and four essays on mythology. He was, however, by nomeans the first to translate Icelandic poetry into German, as mentioned
above (pp. 85–86). Gräter was equally interested in early German
culture and contemporary Scandinavian, especially Danish, literature.
He continued to pursue these interests all his life, and co-edited various
periodicals. He held the view, however, that Graeco-Roman culture
was superior to the Nordic, as witness for instance his attempt to put
eddic poetry into Greek hexameters. In his later years he found himself
at loggerheads with those whose views were more nationalistic (Ernst

Johann Gottfried Herder (1744–1803)
Title page of volume I of Herder’s Volkslieder, published in 1778–79.

Jakob and Wilhelm Grimm

Title page of volume I of Jakob Grimm’s
Deutsche Mythologie, first published in 1835.

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Arndt 1814, 430; Jakob Grimm, Deutsche Mythologie, 1835; Böldl
2000, 145–51).
Whatever form it took, this dissemination of Old Icelandic literature
at least constituted a first attempt to present the Nordic heritage; thismay perhaps be compared to the modern idea that people can learn toappreciate classical music through TV and ‘pop’ versions.
Pan-Germanism
The medieval German Minnesänge, poems of chivalry and fair maidens
which had been composed at royal courts of various sizes in the periodof the Crusades, were not regarded as constituting a sufficiently rich or
ancient cultural heritage (cf. pp. 75–78 above). Efforts were therefore
made to expand the boundaries of what was perceived as the Germanic
cultural region. One of the most extreme proponents of this was Johann
Gottlieb Fichte, who, along with Hegel and Schelling, was among themost renowned philosophers of the German cultural period sometimes
identified with the writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.
In 1808, for instance, Fichte maintained in a series of Reden an die
deutsche Nation (Addresses to the German People; see especially p. 423)
that all the Germanic tribes that had not been subject to extended Roman
rule were in fact ‘German’. They had remained untouched by Roman
cultural influence, as witness the purity of the Germanic languages,
which were largely untainted by the pollution of Latin. He was followedby poets and scholars such as Ernst Moritz Arndt and the brothers
Grimm, who may be regarded, more than any others, as the inventors
of pan-Germanism. According to this theory, all Nordic peoples andNorse culture could be counted as parts of the Germanic cultural
heritage.
Wilhelm Grimm subscribed to this view in his 1811 edition of ancient
Danish epics, ballads and tales (Altdänische Heldenlieder, Balladen
und Märchen, 1811, ix–x, xvi–xxii, 427–30). He also favoured theview that in essence all the heroic tales of the Eddas were German(Deutsche Heldensage, 1829, 4, 436). The title of his brother Jakob’sbook Deutsche Mythologie (German Mythology; 1835) clearly follows
the same principle, since it largely comprises, of course, mythologicalmaterial from the Prose and Poetic Eddas. But Jakob Grimm interprets
the Eddic accounts in his own manner, and makes many and diverse
comparisons with phenomena drawn from such sources as the Ancient

ICELANDIC STUDIES IN GERMANY

91

Greeks and Romans, Indian myths and latter-day German oral
traditions. The principal idea of both Grimm brothers was that in ancient
times there had in every case been one myth and one story, from which
all variants had subsequently developed.
As a direct consequence of this pan-German ideology, Icelandic andother Norse studies were given a huge boost in German cultural life.
German and Norse culture was said to share a common origin, andefforts were made to discover as many Germanic heroes as possible,
in order to promote German national pride. Superhuman warriors weremost likely to be found in the romantic Heroic Sagas, such as Vƒlsunga
saga and Ragnars saga lo›brókar.
Publications of Old Icelandic Literature
It was not long before both scholarly and popular editions of Old
Icelandic poetry and sagas began to be published, together withtranslations, such as the publications of Friedrich von der Hagen (Die
Edda-Lieder von den Nibelungen, 1814; Altnordische Sagen und
Lieder, 1814; Nordische Heldenromane, 1814–15; Lieder der älterenoder Sämundischen-Edda, 1812) and his rivals, the brothers Grimm(Lieder der alten Edda, 1815). Here German readers first had theopportunity to read the originals of many eddic poems and Icelandic
sagas, together with translations. For the next few decades such
publications continued without a break, along with many writings
inspired by this ancient literature. It was as if German writers andscholars had been given thrilling new toys to play with, and were almost
beside themselves at the wealth they were able to choose from.
Not all scholars subscribed to this glorification of Nordic literature,
feeling that it was undeserved, as the ideas behind it were both crude
and immoral. Heated disputes were carried on in writing, between, forinstance, the historian Friedrich Rühs on the one hand and Peter
Erasmus Müller and the brothers Grimm on the other (see Böldl 2000,
159–69).
It is interesting that a hundred years after Old Icelandic culture was
first diffused on a large scale in Germany, a new trend of similar naturebegan with the publication of twenty-four volumes of translations of
Old Icelandic literature in Eugen Diederichs’s Thule edition of 1911–
30. Selected passages from the Icelandic sagas were, in addition,
published in small format for German soldiers in World War I, not

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WAGNER AND THE VOLSUNGS

least to teach them the art of dying with stoicism. Some scholars had
already begun to add racial mysticism to their admiration for warriors
and heroism — which was to reach its zenith in Nazism (see Óskar Bjarnason, ‘ﬁegar Íslendingar ur›u forfe›ur ﬁjó›verja’, Skirnir 1999, 53–88).
Enter Sigur›r FáfnisbaniFriedrich Schlegel, a writer and literary historian, appears to have been
the first to draw the attention of Germans to the Icelandic versions of
the legends of the Burgundians and Nibelungs. In the tenth of a seriesof lectures on classical and romantic literature that he gave in 1802, hecompared these versions with Das Nibelungenlied (Geschichte der alten
und neuen Literatur, 1961 (Kritische Friedrich-Schlegel-Ausgabe VI),
232–35).
These Icelandic legends first provided inspiration for new writings
in the work of a Prussian baron of French descent named FriedrichBaron de la Motte Fouqué (1777–1843). As early as 1808 he began
publication of a trilogy of plays, Sigurd der Schlangentödter, Sigurds
Rache and Aslauga (Sigur›r the Dragon-slayer, Sigur›r’s Revengeand Áslaug). These plays were dedicated to the philosopher Fichte(see p. 90 above) and his nationalism.
In 1810 the entire trilogy was published under the title Held desNordens (Hero of the North). This was a drama-cycle intended forreading aloud — a common form at that time, not meant for full stage
production. The plays are largely based upon events recounted inVƒlsunga saga and Ragnars saga lo›brókar, although Fouqué adds
some personal touches. The high-flown language of the plays led to
immediate popularity, not only among the public but also among
respected writers such as Richter (Jean Paul) and E. T. A. Hoffmann.
Beethoven himself, at the beginning of 1816, specifically urged Fouqué
to compile for him a libretto for a grand opera, which he said would bea great boon for himself and for the German theatre (Beethoven 1907,
II 63–64). Beethoven’s request seems never to have been fulfilled.
The translation of Sigur›r’s Icelandic nickname Fáfnisbani (Slayer ofFáfnir) as Schlangentödter (Dragon-slayer) seems to have been
Fouqué’s own (see Jakob and Wilhelm Grimm, Deutsches Wörterbuch
1854–1971, IX 471).
Though Fouqué never visited Iceland, he became an impassioned
admirer of all things Icelandic. He gathered gifts of books from wealthy

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93

Germans, for instance, to help stock the newly founded library (Stiftsbókasafn) in Iceland, forerunner of the present National Library. In
1821 he was made an honorary member of the Icelandic LiterarySociety (Hi› Íslenska bókmenntafélag), and on this occasion he wrote
an encomium on Iceland. The Icelandic poet Bjarni Thorarensen (1786–
1841) responded with a tribute in verse, Íslands riddari (Knight ofIceland), and also translated one-third of Fouqué’s poem. The firstpublication of one of the sagas of Icelanders in its entirety in German
was by Fouqué, Gunnlaugs saga ormstungu, 1826. Finnur Magnússon
(1781–1847), a renowned scholar in Copenhagen, thanked Fouqué inverse in 1827 (see Ulrich Groenke, ‘Fouqué und die isländische Literaturgesellschaft’, Island-Berichte 20, 1979, 94–101; Bjarni Thorarensen,
Ljó›mæli, 1935, I 110–16; II 118–24).
Fouqué wrote many dramas and novels, some of them based on
Icelandic literature, which enjoyed great popularity in their time. In
his novels, the heroes were all splendid and chivalrous medieval knights— even Egill Skalla-Grímsson, the medieval saga about whom depicts
him as a very rough diamond indeed. He also sets the stories of Sigur›r
Fáfnisbani in the High Middle Ages and not in the migration age (fourth
to fifth century of the Christian era). The only one of his works which
has stood the test of time is the tale of Undine, which is older thanHans Christian Andersen’s famous Little Mermaid, but on a similar
theme. Undine has provided several composers with inspiration forballets and operas.
However posterity judges Fouqué and his writings, he must be
acknowledged as the first person to have promoted Old Icelandic
literature vigorously in Germany (see Böldl 1996, 366–67).

Sigur›r tastes the dragon’s blood and understands the language of birds. Carving on a
12th-century church door from Hylestad,
Norway.

Reginn forges a sword for Sigur›r. Carving on a 12thcentury church door from Hylestad, Norway.

A dragon being killed by a man on horseback. Carving on a church door
from Valﬂjófssta›ir, Iceland, made about 1200.
Young man sounding a horn in a forest. 16thcentury carving on a seat-panel from Grund,Eyjafjör›ur, Iceland.

Cover of Fouqué’s Sigurd, der Schlangentödter, Berlin
1808.

Adolf Wagner (1774–1735), Richard’s uncle. Drawing
made in 1832.

THE MAKING OF THE RING

Wagner Looks North
From the discussion in the previous chapter, it should be clear thatmany of the Icelandic myths, heroic legends and ancient poems whichwere to occupy Richard Wagner in the latter part of his life had alreadyappeared in German when he was still a child. They were publishedby some of the foremost scholars in the field at the time. An avid
reader like him could therefore easily have got to know this fount ofstories during his childhood and youth. It has already been mentioned(p. 17) that during his schooldays in Leipzig (1828–30) Wagner spentlong hours in the library of his uncle Adolf, a man who took a keeninterest in the classics and linguistics. Wagner says (Mein Leben I, 30;
My Life, 1983, 23):
His huge library had excited me to feverish reading in all directions, sothat I jumped avidly from one area of literature to another, without achieving a basic grounding of any of them.

Unfortunately no catalogue exists of the library of uncle Adolf, comparable with that of his nephew Richard. Adolf is, however, known tohave been acquainted with Fouqué, and owned copies of his plays(see p. 92 above), which were largely based on Vƒlsunga saga. It isvery likely that a man like Adolf Wagner would have owned the
majority of the relatively few books on Old Norse literature that had
been published from the early nineteenth century onwards, such as
the translations published by Friedrich von der Hagen of Vƒlsunga
saga and Ragnars saga lo›brókar (Altnordische Sagen und Lieder,
1814) and ﬁi›reks saga (Nordische Heldenromane, 1814).
After Richard had reached adulthood, one of the most important
publishers of Old Icelandic writings in German was his friend Ludwig
Ettmüller, whom Wagner called ‘Edda-Müller’. In 1830 he publishedVƒluspá with a glossary, and later, in 1837, his own translation of Die
Lieder der Edda von den Nibelungen (including most of the heroic
poems of the Poetic Edda). He even attempted to use the Icelandic
system of alliteration in his translations. In 1851, the publication ofKarl Simrock’s translation of the Poetic Edda and the greater part of98

WAGNER AND THE VOLSUNGS

the Prose Edda marked a milestone. Wagner therefore certainly had
plenty of material to choose from when he entered this field about the
middle of the nineteenth century.
At this time Wagner owned four editions of Das Nibelungenlied,and during the years 1844–48 he borrowed many books on the subject
from the Royal Library in Dresden. Yet he frankly says in Eine
Mitteilung an meine Freunde (A Communication to my Friends) in
the summer of 1851 (AWF 357–59) that he has never been able to see
how to create an opera about Siegfried on the basis of Das Nibelungenlied (see also p. 7 above):
To all our wishes and warm impulses, which in truth transport us to the
Future, we seek to give a physical token by means of pictures from thePast, and thus to win for them a form the modern Present never can provide.
In the struggle to give the wishes of my heart artistic shape, and in theardour to discover what thing it was that drew me so resistlessly to theprimal source of old home Sagas, I drove step by step into the deeper
regions of antiquity, where at last to my delight, and truly in the utmost
reaches of old time, I was to light upon the fair young form of Man, in all
the freshness of his force.
My studies thus bore me, through the legends of the Middle Ages, rightdown to their foundation in the old-Germanic Mythos; one swathing after
another, which the later legendary lore had bound around it, I was able tounloose, and thus at last to gaze upon it in its chastest beauty. What here I
saw, was no longer the Figure of conventional history, whose garment
claims our interest more than does the actual shape inside; but the real
naked Man, in whom I might spy each throbbing of his pulses, each stir
within his mighty muscles, in uncramped, freest motion: the type of thetrue human being . . .
Although the splendid type of Siegfried had long attracted me, it firstenthralled my every thought when I had come to see it in its purest humanshape, set free from every later wrappage. Now for the first time, also, did
I recognise the possibility of making him the hero of a drama; a possibility
that had not occurred to me while I only knew him from the medieval
Nibelungenlied.

Wagner, admittedly, does not here state unequivocally what the ‘primal
source’ and ‘old-Germanic Mythos’ are. But he can hardly be meaning
anything other in this connection than Icelandic sagas and poems. He
had quite simply nothing else to choose from. Moreover, the Danish
composer Niels W. Gade recalled in his old age that in April 1846 hehad met Wagner, who was conducting Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony

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in Dresden. Wagner said to Gade: ‘I must study these Old Norse eddic
poems of yours; they are far more profound than our medieval poems’(Dokumente, 26).
In his autobiography Wagner also states directly that his reading ofFranz Joseph Mone’s bold studies of German heroic stories led him toturn his attention to other ‘German’ heroic legends than those about
the Nibelungs and German re-tellings of heroic stories (Mein Leben I,
394–95; My Life 1983, 343; Dokumente, 27):
I became especially attracted to the unusually rich pages of Mone’s investigations of these heroic legends, even though stricter scholars have criticizedthem as overly audacious. This drew me irresistibly to the nordic sourcesof these myths, and to the extent that it was possible without fluent
knowledge of the Scandinavian languages, I now tried to get to know the
Eddas, as well as the prose fragments comprising the basis for large partsof these legends. Viewed in the light of Mone’s comments, the Wälsunga
saga exerted a decisive influence on the manner in which I began to form
this material to my own purposes. The consciousness of the close primeval
kinship of these old myths, which had been shaping within me for sometime, thus gradually gained the power to create the dramatic forms whichgoverned my subsequent works.

It is clear that the verse-form of eddic poems and the setting of Vƒlsunga
saga had appealed to Wagner, and that he felt that these works bore
witness to a more fundamental stage of culture than Das Nibelungenliedand other medieval German poems. The characters and their qualities,
as well as many aspects of the stories, certainly differ considerablyfrom what one finds in Das Nibelungenlied.
Wagner says that he read these works during the period 1847 to 1848,
at the same time as he was working on the music for Lohengrin, which
he completed in April 1848. The theatre-goer Eduard Devrient noted in
his diary on 1 April 1848 that Wagner had walked with him in the Grosser
Garten in Dresden, and told him of a new idea for an opera based on thestory of Siegfried and the Nibelungs (Dokumente, 29).
Composition of Libretto and Music
Wagner started on the libretto of the Ring in the autumn of 1848,
constructing his own myth under the influence, which will be traced
as far as possible in detail in the chapter on Comparison with Sources
below, of the various ancient writings he had read. The first outline,

Title-page of Ettmüller’s edition of Vƒluspá,
Leipzig 1830, ‘The earliest monument ofGermanic-Nordic language’.

Title page of Simrock’s translation of the
Poetic and Prose Eddas, first published in
Stuttgart in 1851.

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THE MAKING OF THE RING

101

which he completed on 4 October, is only about eight pages long, andyet it actually contains the framework for the whole of Der Ring desNibelungen. At this period, however, Wagner had only one opera inmind, Siegfrieds Tod (The Death of Siegfried), which would later
become Götterdämmerung. Der Nibelungen-Mythus was thus at thisstage just the backcloth for this eventual opera.
Only two weeks later, on 20 October, he completed the first prose
draft of a libretto for Siegfrieds Tod, and shortly afterwards an outline
for the scene with the Norns intended for the opening of the same opera.
After this the libretto was shelved for two and a half years. At this time
Wagner was forced to flee the country because of his part in the Dresden
uprising in the spring of 1849, and settled in Switzerland. He might
never have pursued the project any further, any more than he did withhis drafts for music dramas on Frederick Barbarossa, Jesus of Nazarethand Vƒlundr (Wayland the Smith), all of which he compiled during
the years 1848–50, but which he got no further with (see pp. 24–27 above).
In the spring of 1851, however, he returned to the Siegfried material.
The most likely incentive for this seems to be the publication at theend of February of Karl Simrock’s new translation of almost all the
eddic poems and most of the narratives of the Prose Edda. This gave
Wagner an excellent overview of the Eddas and Norse mythology.
Before long he realised that it would be necessary to compose anotheropera, on Siegfried’s youth, in order to explain better what led up to
the hero’s death. His friend Eduard Devrient had in fact already pointed
this out to him in the winter of 1848–49. So in May 1851 Wagnerwrote two versions in prose for Der Junge Siegfried (The Young
Siegfried), and finally one in verse in June. This was to be a comic
opera, and a deliberate contrast to what followed (Dokumente, 28).
In the autumn of 1851 Wagner came to the conclusion that two further
operas would be required in order to accommodate all the material hewanted to include. He mentions this in letters to Theodor Uhlig on 12
October and 11–12 November, and to Franz Liszt on 20 November,
1851. So from early November 1851 to late May 1852, he was compiling the libretto for Das Rheingold and Die Walküre.
Wagner published fifty copies of the entire libretto in February 1853,
and presented them to friends and relatives. Ten years later, in 1863, it
was published on a commercial scale, with the revisions he had madeup to that time (see Dokumente, 57–60, 77–78; Strobel 1930, 262).

Draft of Siegfrieds Tod, 1848

Last page of Siegfrieds Tod (p. 159 of the libretto of
The Ring, privately printed in 1853) with Wagner’s
handwritten alterations. The work eventually became
Götterdämmerung.

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103

Here the original titles of the last two operas, Der junge Siegfried andSiegfrieds Tod, have been changed to Siegfried and Götterdämmerung(The Twilight of the Gods).
From the above it can be seen that Wagner wrote the librettos of thefour parts of the Ring in reverse order, starting with the last. After thishe began to compose the music, starting now at the beginning of thestory (cf. pp. 28 and 39 above). Between November 1853 and August 1857
he completed the music for Das Rheingold and Die Walküre, and beganwork on Siegfried. After this he put the opera cycle aside for sevenyears while he composed Tristan and Isolde and The Mastersingers. He
then completed Siegfried in 1864–71 and Götterdämmerung in 1869–74.
Icelandic Literature and Wagner
The Icelandic writings Wagner clearly made most use of, directly or
indirectly, in writing Der Ring des Nibelungen, are the Prose Edda,
the Poetic Edda, Vƒlsunga saga and ﬁi›reks saga, along with a few
details from Heimskringla, Egils saga and Gísla saga. These sources
will be briefly discussed here. Direct links between these and otherbooks and the text of Der Ring des Nibelungen will be discussed lateras they arise.
1. The Prose Edda was, as early as 1300, attributed to Snorri Sturluson,
who probably compiled it at his home in Reykholt between about 1220
and 1230. The meaning of the word edda is not entirely clear; it can,for instance, mean great-grandmother. But as the title of a book it
probably means ‘poetics’ and the Prose Edda is essentially a handbook
for poets. In order to understand the ancient poetic language, however,it was necessary to know something of various ancient myths of gods
and heroes, and so the Prose Edda has often been seen as a guide toNorse mythology. Versions of the book survive in three vellum
manuscripts and a number of vellum fragments from the fourteenth
and fifteenth centuries, which are preserved in Copenhagen, Uppsalaand Reykjavik. A paper copy of a lost vellum manuscript, from around
1595, is preserved in Utrecht, Holland. Since it was first compiled,additions to and adaptations of the original text have often been made,and the Prose Edda was first published, based on a much altered
seventeenth-century version with Latin and Danish translations, in
Copenhagen in 1665 (see p. 81 above).

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Snorri Sturluson’s warm pool at his home at Reykholt.
Photograph by Mats Wibe Lund.

A page from Kringla, the oldest manuscript fragmentof Snorri Sturluson’s history of the kings of Norway,
Heimskringla (Lbs frg. 82, c. 1258–1264).

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2. The Poetic Edda is a collection of mythological and heroic poems.
The oldest extant manuscript, which dates from about 1270, contains
about 30 poems. This came into the possession of Bishop Brynjólfur
Sveinsson in 1643. The bishop believed that the collection was thework of the eleventh-century scholar Sæmundr the Wise, and so hecalled it ‘Sæmundr’s Edda,’ just as the Prose Edda is known as ‘Snorri’s
Edda’ in Icelandic. Although this was a misunderstanding, the name‘Sæmundr’s Edda’ has continued to be used. In 1662 Bishop Brynjólfur
gave the book to the king of Denmark, since when it has been known
as the Codex Regius of the Eddic Poems or Konungsbók eddukvæ›a(the king’s book of eddic poems). This manuscript is now in the keepingof Stofnun Árna Magnússonar in Reykjavik. Some of the poems in it
are found in other medieval books and fragments, and further comparable poems of rather later date are preserved in various othermanuscripts, so that the eddic poems in all may be said to total about
1600 stanzas.
The poems are probably of varied date, and are likely to have evolved
gradually in oral tradition. The oldest of them may date back to long
before the settlement of Iceland. This is all speculation, however, andthere is no hard evidence other than the late-thirteenth-century Icelandic
written versions of the poems, which do, nevertheless, appear to containmany ancient motifs. Vƒluspá (The Seeress’s Prophecy) and Hávamál(Words of the High One) were published with Latin translations in
Copenhagen in 1665; the first volume of a complete edition of eddic
poems was published by the Árni Magnússon Foundation in Copenhagen in 1787 and the second in 1818, but this work was not completed
until 1828, when the third and final volume appeared, and the firstcomplete text was that edited by Rasmus Rask in 1818.
3. Vƒlsunga saga is one of the so-called Heroic Sagas (fornaldarsögur,‘sagas of ancient time’), which are set in prehistoric times outside
Iceland. Its historical background in general is the period of migrations
in Europe, that is the fourth to sixth centuries, and the story reflects
warfare between Burgundians, Huns and Goths. The god and goddess,Ó›inn and Frigg, also appear at the beginning of the saga. Vƒlsunga
saga was largely written on the basis of the heroic poems of the Edda,
probably in the late thirteenth century. It also contains material frompoems which have not been preserved in the actual Edda manuscript.
The oldest extant manuscript of Vƒlsunga saga dates from about 1400.

106

WAGNER AND THE VOLSUNGSThe saga was first printed in Stockholm in 1737, together with Latin
and Swedish translations.
4.ﬁi›reks saga af Bern is something between a Heroic Saga and achanson de geste in prose. It is disjointed, comprising many diverse
episodes, and indeed the foreword states that the saga was written
down from German oral stories and poems. ‘Bern’ is not Berne in
Switzerland but Verona in Italy, and ‘ﬁi›rekr’ is Theodoricus, king of
the Ostrogoths around AD 500. In the thirteenth century many German
merchants visited Bergen in Norway, and it is probable that the saga
was written down there. The oldest extant manuscript dates from about
1300. Although preserved in Stockholm, this manuscript appears tohave been written by Norwegians and Icelanders. A slightly different
version is preserved in later Icelandic manuscripts. The saga was firstprinted in Stockholm with Swedish and Latin translations in 1715.
5. Heimskringla is a history of the kings of Norway from legendary
times until 1177. It was written in Iceland in the first half of thethirteenth century, but most of the surviving manuscripts are later
copies. Since the sixteenth century Heimskringla has been attributed
to Snorri Sturluson. The first publication of the bulk of the book was
in Stockholm with Swedish and Latin translations in 1697.
6. Egils saga Skalla-Grímssonar and Gísla saga Súrssonar belong to
the actual Sagas of Icelanders, which are principally concerned with
Icelandic farmers and travellers, and take place mainly in Iceland. Thesesagas were consequently not printed and translated into foreign
languages until later than the sagas whose subjects were less restricted.
Egils saga was first printed on Hrappsey in Iceland in 1782, and a
Danish translation of the whole saga was published in Denmark in
1839 by N. M. Petersen (Historiske Fortællinger om Islændernes Færdhjemme og ude I). Gísla saga was first printed at Hólar in Iceland in
1756, and a Danish translation appeared in 1845. In 1816 a selection
from the Icelandic sagas translated into German by Karl Lachmann
was published in Berlin (Sagaenbibliothek des skandinavischen
Alterthums in Auszügen). It contains brief selections and retellings
from 66 sagas, 50 of them from Sagas of Icelanders and the shorter
tales (ﬂættir). Each chapter is usually only a few pages in length.
Wagner owned a copy of this book.

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Verse-Form
In Eine Mitteilung an meine Freunde (1851), Wagner declared that hedid not find a verse-form with the right metre for the light-footed Siegfried until he discovered the alliterative form in the same ‘primal myth’
where he had found the young Siegfried (AWF 375–76; Dokumente 51–
52; cf. the Preface to the proposed publication of Siegfrieds Tod in 1850,
Dokumente 34):
When I sketched my Siegfried — for the moment leaving altogether outof count its form of musical completion — I felt the impossibility, or atleast the utter unsuitability, of carrying-out that poem in modern verse . . .
Just so as this Human Being moved, must his spoken utterance need to be.
Here sufficed no more the merely thought-out verse, with its hazy, limbless
body; the fantastic cheat of terminal Rhyme could no longer throw its
cloak of seeming flesh above the total lack of living bony framework,
above the viscid cartilage, here stretched capriciously and there compressed,that verse’s hulk still holds within as makeshift. I must have straightway
let my ‘Siegfried’ go, could I have dressed it only in such verse. Thus I
must needs bethink me of a Speech-melody quite other. And yet, in truth,
I had not to bethink, but merely to resolve me; for at the primal mythic
spring where I had found the fair young Siegfried-man, I also lit, led by his
hand, upon the physically-perfect mode of utterance wherein alone thatman could speak his feelings. This was the alliterative verse, bending itself
in natural and lively rhythm to the actual accents of our speech, yielding
itself so readily to every shade of manifold expression, — that Stabreim
which the Folk itself once sang, when it was still both Poet and Myth-Maker.

Wagner had discovered alliteration, of course, in the eddic verse forms,
which are still used today in Icelandic poems. But it is not unreasonable
to call this alliterative form ‘Old Germanic’, since examples of such
poetry are known in German from before AD 900. Best known is a
fragment of Das Hildebrandslied, of which the first half exists in an
early ninth-century manuscript (W. Braune, Althochdeutsches
Lesebuch, 1958, no. XXVIII). The subject is not Sigur›r Fáfnisbani,
but is closer in content to Ásmundar saga kappabana (‘slayer ofwarriors’; Fornaldar sögur Nor›urlanda I, 383–408).
Before Wagner, attempts had been made, by Fouqué (1810), Friedrichvon der Hagen (1814) and Ludwig Ettmüller (1837) among others, toimitate the alliterative form in translations and retellings. In the
introduction to his edition of the heroic poems of the Poetic Edda in
1837, Ettmüller had also written at length about eddic verse-forms.
Wagner is known to have been in touch with Ettmüller in Zürich around108

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the time when he was working on the libretto of the Ring in 1851–52.
The old scholar offered him advice, though Wagner himself says littleof this. Finally, it is worth reiterating that when Wagner wrote Eine
Mitteilung an meine Freunde in the summer of 1851, he had recently
acquired Karl Simrock’s new translation of both Eddas, which was amilestone in the promulgation of Old Icelandic literature in German,
and also served as an excellent model for alliterative writing, as Simrock
himself was a talented versifier (see Wille 1935, 27; Magee 1990, 50–52).
As far as Wagner’s use of alliteration is concerned, it must be
admitted that he would not earn a high grade were he an Icelandic
high-school student today. He tends to over-alliterate, by the standardsof the formal Icelandic alliterative system, which has strict rules
regarding the position and number of the alliterating sounds. For
example, look at Alberich’s first words in Scene 1 of Das Rheingold,when he intervenes in the game of the Rhine Maidens, with alliterationon the letter n (lines 20–25; on the text used and form of reference toWagner’s librettos see p. 128 below):
He he! Ihr Nicker!
Wie seid ihr niedlich,
neidliches Volk!
Aus Nibelheim’s Nacht
naht’ ich mich gern,
neigtet ihr auch zu mir.

Ha, ha! You nixies!
How dainty you are,you delectable creatures!
From Nibelheim’s night
I’d gladly draw near
if only you’d look on me kindly.

Still, he would not actually fail the test of alliterative skill, and in fact
the eddic forms are much less strict than the rules of prosody invented
in later times by literary scholars. In any case, Wagner was not actuallytrying, rather incompetently, to imitate eddic verse structure. He
developed his own verse-forms after putting a good deal of thought
into the kind of line that would be suitable for music drama in German,
and concluded that he needed short lines that could be driven forward
by alliteration in units of varying length and rhythm. Plasticity was
always the major concern of Wagner’s mature work, and consequently
the eddic ‘long line’ as such, end-stopped and balanced about its
caesura, did not have the quality he wanted. Nevertheless he seems tohave drawn from his encounter with this poetry the idea of functional(rather than ornamental) alliteration, and a general economy ofsyllables.
Overall, Wagner did an excellent job, considering that the alliterativeTHE MAKING OF THE RING

109

form was quite foreign to him. He generally alliterates in a gracefulmanner, for added emphasis. An example of this is in Brünnhilde’s exhortation to Sieglinde in Act III Scene 1 of Die Walküre when she tells herthat she carries in her womb the world’s noblest hero, which is reminiscent of the eddic verse-form ljó›aháttr ‘song-form’ (lines 3644–48):
Denn eines wiss’
und wahr’ es immer:
den hehrsten Helden der Welt
heg’st du, o Weib,
im schirmenden Schoß!

Know this alone
and ward it always:
The world’s noblest hero
O woman, you harbour
within your sheltering womb.

It would be an interesting project for a composer with an ear for
Icelandic verse forms to consider whether Wagner’s interest inalliterative forms had an influence upon the nature of his music (cf.
Wiessner 1924; ﬁorsteinn Gylfason 1995; Jóhannes Jónasson 1998, 20).
An example of a minor change of wording made by Wagner toaccommodate alliteration is a line from Act II Scene 4 of Götterdämmerung, when Hagen urges the court to listen to Brünnhilde’s
complaint. The first version is from November 1848, the second from
December 1852 (SSD II 199; Huber 1988, 8035–36):
Merket wohl,
was die Frau euch klagt!
Jetzt merket klug,
was die Frau euch klagt!

}

Mark closely now
What the woman discloses!

Wagner’s Sources
It is unusual for writers to record precisely in footnotes where theyfound inspiration for every aspect of their work, and indeed they may
not see the process in these terms; rather, they use a variety of ingredients to cook up their own literary brew.
For a writer, Wagner is in fact rather explicit regarding his sources
and models, although he does not go into detail. And even if we had
no other evidence than Wagner’s own remarks quoted above, it seems
clear that Old Icelandic poems and sagas made a far greater contribution
to the Ring than did Das Nibelungenlied. The story and wording of the
Ring also demonstrate this clearly, when the works are compared.
Hardly any episode from Das Nibelungenlied has been used as amodel, except in the latter part of the final opera of the cycle, Götterdämmerung, for which Wagner had completed a detailed first draft,

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Siegfried’s Tod, two and a half years before he got access to Karl Simrock’s
Edda translations. Most of the relevant episodes, however, also occur inﬁi›reks saga, and could just as well well have been derived from there.
Many names in other parts of the Ring are also drawn from Das
Nibelungenlied (using Modern German, not Middle High German
spellings), though they are also found in Old Icelandic texts, generally
in a rather different form, or in another role, such as Alberich (Álfrekr),
Brünnhilde (Brynhildr), Gunther (Gunnarr), Hagen (Hƒgni), Siegfried(Sigur›r), Sieglinde (Sigrlinn), Siegmund (Sigmundr).
In many cases, however, Wagner’s knowledge of Old Icelandic texts
was via secondary sources such as books by the German scholars andwriters Jakob Grimm, Karl Simrock and Fouqué. He made copious
use of Grimm’s Deutsche Mythologie, whence he derived most of his
mythological name-forms. Eventually, however, Wagner altered manyof the names to his own taste, in order to give them added significanceand meaning in German, in accordance with Grimm’s understandingof them. Wodan (Ó›inn) thus became Wotan (cf. Wut, fury, wildness),
Fro (Freyr) became Froh (= joyful) and Donar (ﬁórr) became Donner(= thunder). Gunther’s sister was by Grimm named Gudrun, but Wagner
changed this to Gutrune, to signify ‘good rune(s)’ in German. The
name is still, however, clearly derived from the Gu›rún of Icelandic
texts, while Kudrun was the heroine of a medieval German poem of
the same name, though the subject is very different. Wagner, naturally
enough, also sought to use name-forms that were easily pronouncedby German speakers — and singers.
On the other hand, there is no evidence that Wagner ever met Konrad
Maurer, one of the leading German experts on Icelandic literature atthat time (see p. 14 above), though they were both in and around Munich
for eighteen months in 1864–65. This is perhaps not surprising. Maurer
was ten years younger, and Wagner had finished writing the entire
libretto of the Ring twelve years before he went to Munich.
At any rate, Wagner was clearly of the same view as the brothers
Grimm and many others, that the culture of northwest Europe was
essentially ‘German’ or Germanic, and so he probably felt that it was
unnecessary to specify in which country or region a story originated.
And at this time Iceland was, naturally enough, seen only as a Danish
or Norwegian colony (cf. p. 10 above). Thirdly, Wagner was less interested in history as such than in myth, which he regarded as trans-

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cending time and place. For these reasons, the words Iceland and
Icelandic never appear in his writings.
It is not always easy to discern how Wagner was influenced by his
forerunners in the field of Norse literature and myth in the Germanspeaking world; one cannot always rely on his own statements, or onwhat he says he remembers, and no deductions can be drawn from hissilences. His writings are often contradictory, depending on when they
were written, and his autobiography is considered by some to be an
unreliable source for his own life.
In 1856, at the request of Franz Müller, a government official in
Weimar, Wagner made a note of the ten books that had provided him
with most stimulus to write the Ring, which he had completed three
years before. His list was as follows:
1. ‘Der Nibelunge Noth u. die Klage.’ Ed. Lachmann.
2. ‘Zu den Nibelungen etc.’ by Lachmann.
3. ‘Grimm’s Mythologie.’
4. ‘Edda.’
5. ‘Volsunga-saga’ (translated by Hagen – Breslau).
6. ‘Wilkina- und Niflunga saga’ (ditto).
7. ‘Das deutsche Heldenbuch.’ Old edition, also revised by Hagen. Editedby Simrock in 6 volumes.
8. ‘Die deutsche Heldensage’ by Wilh. Grimm.
9. ‘Untersuchungen zur deutschen Heldensage’ by Mone (very important).
10. ‘Heimskringla’ translated by Mohnike (I think!) (not by Wachter — bad).

The list appears to have been jotted down in a hurry, giving no indication of how each of these books inspired the writer. It is impossible
to say, for instance, what he means by the word ‘Edda’. He probably
means those editions and translations of the Poetic and Prose Eddas
which were already in print. But this scrap of paper has, naturally
enough, given rise to considerable debate, and views vary on its
reliability.
There has arisen some surprise that the only book that Wagner
specifically calls ‘very important’ is the work of the German historianMone, published in 1836. In his autobiography Wagner says he readMone’s book in 1847, and that this first sparked his interest in the
Norse version of the Nibelung story. He also indicates that, while Monewas not highly respected among language specialists, he himself liked
his boldness and imagination. Perhaps this was where Wagner first

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saw the possibility of creating his own mythological world — as heeventually did — and this could explain the significance of Mone’s
book in his mind.
Wagner never, on the other hand, mentions Fouqué and his trilogy
Held des Nordens of 1810 (see p. 92 above). Yet it is quite obviousthat some aspects of the structure and story of the Ring bear a closer
resemblance to Fouqué’s version than to the originals in Vƒlsunga
saga or the Prose Edda. But Wagner’s silence regarding Fouqué isquite understandable. He may have been just so familiar with Fouqué’sadventure stories that he felt it would be superfluous to mention them.
He probably read them in his youth; as mentioned below (p. 117) there
were copies of Fouqué’s book in his uncle Adolf’s library, where
Richard read enthusiastically in his youth.
It was in Fouqué’s trilogy that Wagner first saw a dramatisation of
the Icelandic version of the story of Sigur›r in Vƒlsunga saga. The
content of the first part of Fouqué’s trilogy coincides almost exactlywith that of Wagner’s Siegfried and Götterdämmerung.
Special features shared by Fouqué and Wagner include, for instance,
the three Norns who chant over Brünnhilde’s resting place on the Valkyrie Rock before the second appearance of Siegfried. Fouqué also uses
the Norns scene to fill in details about Hjálm-Gunnarr and his enemy
Agnarr in the eddic poem Sigrdrífumál and in Vƒlsunga saga (seeW II 4.3 and W III 2.1 below). The Norns do not appear at this point in
the Eddas or in Vƒlsunga saga and it would seem that their appearance
at the beginning of Götterdämmerung is drawn from Fouqué (see Dokumente, 19; Fouqué 1808, 45–47; Böldl 1996, 366–69; Kühnel 1991, 26).
Nor does Wagner make any reference in his list to the influence of
Greek tragedy, though especially Aeschylus’s Oresteia and Prometheus
Bound contain various parallels to the myths in the Prose Edda (see
Sørensen 1989, 1–24; Sabor 1997, 78–79).
Das Lied vom Hürnen Seyfrid
This Early New High German poem, whose title may be rendered as‘Siegfried of the Horny Skin’, has sometimes been regarded as one of
Wagner’s sources for his concept of Siegfried, though he never says
so himself. A version of the poem appears to have been published in
Nuremberg around 1530 (the first edition is undated). In 1557 thefamous writer and mastersinger Hans Sachs dramatised the story inTHE MAKING OF THE RING

113

Hans Sachs. Lead coin from 1576, the year of his death.

Wagner’s memorandum of his chief sources for the Ring. Among them henames ‘Edda’, ‘Volsunga-saga’, ‘Wilkina- und Niflunga saga’ (i.e. ﬁi›rekssaga) and ‘Heimskringla’.

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seven acts. The poem was published in modern German in 1811, andin Early New High German in 1825. It was also published in a cheap
popular edition before the middle of the nineteenth century. It comprises
179 stanzas. Since a role in the making of the Ring has been attributed
to it, a brief summary of the poem follows:
King Sigmund and Queen Siglinge of Niderlant have a difficult son,
Seyfrid. He is sent away to see the world, finds work with a blacksmithand breaks his anvil. The smith sends him to fetch coals from near the denof a dragon, hoping that the dragon will kill him. Seyfrid kills the dragon,burns the body and smears the fat from the dragon’s corpse on his own
body. This makes his skin invulnerable (‘horny’) all over, except for aplace he cannot reach, between his shoulder-blades.
He then goes to the court of King Gybich, at Worms on the Rhine. The
king has three sons, Günther, Gyrnot and Hagen, and a fair daughter,
Krimhilt. Another dragon steals her away to his cave. Gybich announcesthat he who rescues Krimhilt from the dragon shall receive her hand in
marriage.
Dwarves offer to give Seyfrid their gold if he slays the dragon which
has stolen it from them. Their king is Eugel, and his father was Nibelung.
Eugel tells Seyfrid of Krimhilt in the dragon’s cave and the giant Kuperan,
who keeps the key to the cave. Eugel makes Seyfrid invisible in a cape (orcap) of mist and he fights the giant. The giant is defeated and Seyfrid
finds Krimhilt.
The dragon, who turns out to be a man under a spell, spews fire. Seyfrid
slays him, together with another sixty smaller dragons. Eugel accompanies
Seyfrid and Krimhilt towards Worms. Seyfrid turns back, fetches the
dwarves’ gold and sinks it in the Rhine. King Gybich rides to meet Seyfrid
and prepares the wedding, which lasts fourteen days. Gybich’s sons begin
to envy Seyfrid, and Hagen stabs him to death by a spring in Odenwald.

In Wagner’s Nibelungen-Mythus, three items from the poem may berecognised. First, the name of the dwarf Nibelung, first owner of thegold. Second, the enmity and mutual fear of dwarves and giants. Thishostility has no real parallel in Wagner’s other sources. Third,
Siegfried’s behaviour towards the smith in Wagner’s work bears someresemblance to that of Seyfrid in the poem, though a similar motif
may be seen in ﬁi›reks saga, and even in the fairytale (in the Grimms’
Kinder- und Hausmärchen, 1850, no. 4, 27–28) of the boy who wentout into the world to learn fear.

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Use of Sources
From all his sources, Richard Wagner synthesised his own myth, whichis integrated and independent. His intention was not to set Das
Nibelungenlied or the Eddas to music. Instead he used material frommany different sources and melded it together in his own crucible.
Even so, scholars have long been comparing the librettos of the Ringwith the early literature that contains models for certain episodes, inorder to show which sources are likely, and which highly unlikely.
This quest has sometimes, of course, led scholars to extremes. Somecannot see the wood for the trees, while others get lost in it (see, forinstance, Golther 1902; Huber 1988; Magee 1990).
As far as is known, no attempt has ever been made before to examine
the making of the Ring from a primarily Icelandic viewpoint in the
search for prototypes and parallels. There are plenty of these to befound in Icelandic literature, however, not least in terms of episodes,
wording, and references familiar to Icelanders but not recognised ordeemed important by others.
Yet it is not easy to display these parallels, as Wagner gathers material
from many different sources and uses the motifs in different places in
his writing. Direct borrowings, while they exist, are relatively rare. It
is worth reiterating that Wagner’s librettos are his own independent
creation, though he makes copious use of Old Icelandic literature. In
this context, it should be made clear, once and for all, that whether
Wagner derived his ideas directly from reading Icelandic sagas andpoems, or via versions and retellings by German writers and scholars,
the ultimate source is Old Icelandic literature.
Elizabeth Magee’s excellent book, published in 1990, is mainly
concerned with Wagner’s intermediate sources between the primarysources and his own final version. She feels that Wagner’s links to theprimary sources have been sufficiently explored, as she says in her
introduction (p. 15):
It will also be noted that our subject is the influence of the Nibelung activityof Wagner’s contemporaries, not of the primary sources — the Völsunga
saga and Eddas, Das Nibelungenlied, Das Lied vom Hürnen Seyfrid, andThidreks saga — themselves. These latter have already been widely, if
not fully comprehensively, dealt with by others.

The present author is not in agreement with this last assertion. An
attempt will be made here to point out far more cases of prototypes in

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the primary sources than have hitherto been identified, while lessattention will be paid to the intermediaries. Elizabeth Magee has dealt
excellently with that subject. Wagner’s ideology and interpretation will
also largely be left alone, not to mention the music itself.
The chapter on Comparison with Sources will cite examples of medieval
Icelandic and German material being used in Der Nibelungen-Mythus
and early drafts of the Ring librettos, even where Wagner later omitted
them. They clearly demonstrate how much Wagner had already in 1848
absorbed from the literary sources, even if he subsequently madechanges during the development of his work, omitting some things,
adding others, abbreviating or expanding, in accordance with his ownchanging ideology or with the requirements of the music, stage direction
or verse-form. As time passed, Wagner appears to have used a freer
hand, adding more of his own original ideas.
The Old Icelandic literature considered here comprises the Poetic
Edda, Prose Edda, Vƒlsunga saga and ﬁi›reks saga, along with ahandful of items from Heimskringla, Egils saga and Gísla saga (seepp. 103–06), Ragnars saga lo›brókar, and possibly Sƒrla ﬂáttr. The
German primary sources are principally Das Nibelungenlied, Das Liedvom Hürnen Seyfrid and the Grimms’ Kinder- und Hausmärchen (seepp. 78–79, 114). Various versions of older sources compiled bynineteenth-century German writers and scholars (cf. pp. 92–93, 110–12) will be mentioned from time to time. The correspondences will besummarised in tabular form at the end of the discussion of each opera.

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Wagner’s Reading on the Volsungs and Niflungs
A. In his youth, Wagner spent a good deal of time in his uncle Adolf Wagner’s
library, which must have included most of the writings that had come out in
German about Old Icelandic and other Old Norse literature, as well as thoseabout medieval German literature. It is known that Adolf owned Fouqué’s
Sigurd der Schlangentödter (1808) and Held des Nordens (1810). It is very
likely that he owned translations of both Vƒlsunga saga and ﬁi›reks saga.
B. The following works on relevant topics were in Richard Wagner’s own
library before 1849:
1. Parts of the Poetic Edda and Prose Edda translated by Friedrich Rühs, Friedrich von der Hagen, C. F. Meyer, Ludwig Ettmüller and the brothers Grimm.
2. Translations of Heimskringla by Ferdinand Wachter and Gottlieb Mohnike.
3. Extracts from sixty-six Icelandic sagas translated by Karl Lachmann.
4. Editions of Nibelungenlied by A. J. Vollmer, Gustav Pfizer, Karl Simrock
and a fourth from 1840 with no editor named.
5. Editions of Das Lied vom Hürnen Seyfrid by Karl Simrock and A. J. Vollmer.
6. Editions of Kudrun by Adolf Ziemann, Karl Simrock and A. J. Vollmer.
7. L. Frauer, Die Walkyrien der skandinavisch-germanischen Götter- undHeldensaga, 1846.
8. W. Grimm, Deutsche Heldensage.
9. Jakob Grimm, Deutsche Mythologie, Deutsche Grammatik, Geschichte derdeutschen Sprache.
10. J. and W. Grimm, Deutsche Sagen.
11. F. Hagen, Heldenbuch.
12. Karl Lachmann, Zu den Nibelungen und zur Klage.
13. F. Mone, Untersuchungen zur Geschichte der teutschen Heldensage.
14. C. Russwurm, Nordische Sagen.
15. Hans Sachs, Der hörnen Seufrid.
16. Karl Simrock, Das kleine Heldenbuch, Das Amelungenlied.
17. Ludwig Uhland, Gedichte.
18. Karl Weinhold, Die Sagen von Loki.
C. The following books were borrowed by Wagner from the Royal Library in
Dresden during the years 1844–49:
1. Editions of Nibelungenlied by F. Hagen, J. Hinsberg, C. W. Göttling andKarl Lachmann.
2. Editions of and books about the Eddas by J. and W. Grimm, G. T. Legis,
J. L. Studach and L. Ettmüller.
3. Vƒlsunga saga, ed. F. Hagen.
4. J. Grimm, Deutsche Rechtsalterthümer.
5. J. and W. Grimm, Altdeutsche Wälder.
D. Finally, it is clear that Wagner made a great deal of use of Karl Simrock’s
translation of both Eddas after it came out early in 1851, just before hestarted to work with his full energy on the compilation of the complete
libretto of the Ring.

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Der Nibelungen-Mythus
In order to understand some of the observations in the next chapter
on Wagner’s librettos, it is useful to have his first draft of the Ring at
hand. It was written in the autumn of 1848 and originally called Die
Nibelungensage (Mythus). This version is to be found in Strobel 1930,
26–33. It was subsequently published as Der Nibelungen-Mythus. Als
Entwurf zu einem Drama (The Nibelungen-Myth. As Sketch for a
Drama) in GSD II 156–66 (second edition, 1887–88). Wagner completed the draft on 4 October 1848. It was conceived as the background to Siegfrieds Tod, the opera that Wagner had in mind at thattime and that became the last opera of the Ring-cycle, eventually being
renamed Götterdämmerung. Nearly two thirds of this draft containmaterial for the prospective opera, and indeed he completed the librettoof this opera only two weeks later (cf. pp. 101–03 above). The first
third of the draft provided the framework for all the other three operasof the cycle: Das Rheingold, Die Walküre and Siegfried.
Der Nibelungen-Mythus is quoted here from the rather quirky translation by William Ashton Ellis printed in Pilgrimage to Beethoven andother Essays by Richard Wagner (reprinted from Richard Wagner’s
Prose Works VII, 1898), 1994, 299–311, which is based on the GSD II
version. Some adjustment has been made to the spelling and punctuation in the interest of consistency, and the names of the operas towhich the episodes of the draft refer appear at the head of each section
in square brackets.
[Das Rheingold]
From the womb of the Night and Death was spawned a race that dwells in
Nibelheim (Nebelheim), i.e. in gloomy subterranean clefts and caverns:
Nibelungen are they called; with restless nimbleness they burrow through thebowels of the earth, like worms in a dead body; they smelt and smith hard
metals. The pure and noble Rhine-gold Alberich seized, divorced it from thewaters’ depth, and wrought therefrom with cunning art a ring that lent him
rulership of all his race, the Nibelungen: so he became their master, forced
them to work for him alone, and amassed the priceless Nibelungen-Hoard,

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whose greatest treasure is the Tarnhelm, conferring power to take on any shapeat will, a work that Alberich compelled his own brother Reigin (Mime = Eugel)
to weld for him. Thus armoured, Alberich made for mastery of the world andall that it contains.
The race of Giants, boastful, violent, ur-begotten, is troubled in its savage
ease: their monstrous strength, their simple mother-wit, no longer are a match
for Alberich’s crafty plans of conquest: alarmed they see the Nibelungen forging
wondrous weapons, that one day in the hands of human heroes shall cause theGiants’ downfall. — This strife is taken advantage of by the race of Gods,
now waxing to supremacy. Wotan bargains with the Giants to build the Godsa Burg from whence to rule the world in peace and order; their building finished,
the Giants ask the Nibelungen-Hoard in payment. The utmost cunning of theGods succeeds in trapping Alberich; he must ransom his life with the Hoard;
the Ring alone he strives to keep: — the Gods, well knowing that in it resides
the secret of all Alberich’s power, extort from him the Ring as well: then hecurses it; it shall be the ruin of all who possess it. Wotan delivers the Hoard to
the Giants, but means to keep the Ring as warrant of his sovereignty: theGiants defy him, and Wotan yields to the counsel of the three Fates (Norns),
who warn him of the downfall of the Gods themselves.
Now the giants have the Hoard and Ring safe-kept by a monstrous Worm in
the Gnita- (Neid-) Haide [the Grove of Grudge]. Through the Ring theNibelungs remain in thraldom, Alberich and all. But the Giants do notunderstand how to use their might; their dullard minds are satisfied with having
bound the Nibelungen. So the Worm lies on the Hoard since untold ages, ininert dreadfulness: before the lustre of the new race of Gods the giants’ race
fades down and stiffens into impotence; wretched and tricksy, the Nibelungengo their way of fruitless labour. Alberich broods without cease on the meansof gaining back the Ring.
In high emprise the Gods have planned the world, bound down the elements
by prudent laws, and devoted themselves to most careful nurture of the Humanrace. Their strength stands over all. Yet the peace by which they have arrived
at mastery does not repose on reconcilement: by violence and cunning was it
wrought. The object of the higher ordering of the world is moral consciousness:but the wrong they fight attaches to themselves. From the depths of Nibelheim
the conscience of their guilt cries up to them: for the bondage of the Nibelungenis not broken; merely the lordship has been reft from Alberich, and not for any
higher end, but the soul, the freedom of the Nibelungen lies buried uselessly
beneath the belly of an idle Worm: Alberich thus has justice in his plaints
against the Gods. Wotan himself, however, cannot undo the wrong withoutcommitting yet another: only a free Will, independent of the Gods themselves,
and able to assume and expiate itself the burden of all guilt, can loose thespell; in Man the Gods perceive the faculty of such free-will. In Man they
therefore seek to plant their own divinity, to raise his strength so high that, infull knowledge of that strength, he may rid him of the Gods’ protection, to do

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WAGNER AND THE VOLSUNGSof his free will what his own mind inspires. So the Gods bring up Man for thishigh destiny, to be the canceller of their own guilt; and their aim would be
attained even if in this human creation they should perforce annul themselves,that is, must part with their immediate influence through freedom of man’s
conscience. Stout human races, fruited by the seed divine, already flourish: in
strife and fight they steel their strength; Wotan’s Wish-maids shelter them as
Shield-maids, as Walküren led the slain-in-fight to Walhall, where the heroes
live again a glorious life of jousts in Wotan’s company.
[Die Walküre]
But not yet is the rightful hero born, in whom his self-reliant strength shallreach full consciousness, enabling him with the free-willed penalty of death
before his eyes to call his boldest deed his own. In the race of the Wälsungenthis hero at last shall come to birth: a barren union is fertilised by Wotan
through one of Holda’s apples, which he gives the wedded pair to eat: twins,
Siegmund and Sieglinde (brother and sister), spring from the marriage,
Siegmund takes a wife, Sieglinde weds a man (Hunding); but both theirmarriages prove sterile: to beget a genuine Wälsung, brother and sister wed
each other. Hunding, Sieglinde’s husband, learns of the crime, casts off his
wife, and goes out to fight with Siegmund. Brünnhild, the Walküre, shields
Siegmund counter to Wotan’s commands, who had doomed him to fall in
expiation of the crime; already Siegmund, under Brünnhild’s shield, is drawing
sword for the death-blow at Hunding — the sword that Wotan himself once
had given him — when the god receives the blow upon his spear, which breaks
the weapon in two pieces. Siegmund falls. Brünnhild is punished by Wotan
for her disobedience: he strikes her from the roll of the Walküren, and banishes
her to a rock, where the divine virgin is to wed the man who finds and wakes
her from the sleep in which Wotan plunges her; she pleads for mercy, that
Wotan will ring the rock with terrors of fire, and so ensure that none save thebravest of heroes may win her. —[Siegfried]
After long gestation the outcast Sieglinde gives birth in the forest to Siegfried(he who brings Peace through Victory): Reigin (Mime), Alberich’s brother,
upon hearing her cries, has issued from a cleft and aided her: after the travail
Sieglinde dies, first telling Reigin of her fate and committing the babe to his
care. Reigin brings up Siegfried, teaches him smithery, and brings him thetwo pieces of the broken sword, from which, under Mime’s directions, Siegfriedforges the sword Balmung.
Then Mime prompts the lad to slay the Worm, in proof of his gratitude.
Siegfried wishes first to avenge his father’s murder: he fares out, falls upon
Hunding, and kills him: only thereafter does he execute the wish of Mime,
attacks and slays the Giant-worm. His fingers burning from the Worm’s hot

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blood, he puts them to his mouth to cool them; involuntarily he tastes the
blood, and understands at once the language of the woodbirds singing roundhim. They praise Siegfried for his glorious deed, direct him to the Nibelungenhoard in the cave of the Worm, and warn him against Mime, who has merely
used him as an instrument to gain the Hoard, and therefore seeks his life.
Siegfried thereon slays Mime, and takes the Ring and Tarnhelm from the Hoard:he hears the birds again, who counsel him to win the crown of women,
Brünnhild. So Siegfried sets forth, reaches Brünnhild’s mountain, pierces thebillowing flames, and wakes her; in Siegfried she joyfully acclaims the highest
hero of the Wälsung-stem, and gives herself to him: he marries her with
Alberich’s Ring, which he places on her finger. When the longing spurs him
to new deeds, she gives him lessons in her secret lore, warns him of the dangers
of deceit and treachery: they swear each other vows, and Siegfried speeds forth.
[Götterdämmerung]A second hero-stem, sprung likewise from the Gods, is that of the Gibichungenon the Rhine: there now bloom Gunther and Gudrun, his sister. Their mother,
Grimhild, was once overpowered by Alberich, and bore him an unlawful son,
Hagen. As the hopes and wishes of the Gods repose on Siegfried, so Alberichsets his hope of gaining back the Ring on his hero-offspring Hagen. Hagen issallow, glum and serious; his features are prematurely hardened; he looks
older than he is. Already in his childhood Alberich had taught him mystic lore
and knowledge of his father’s fate, inciting him to struggle for the Ring: he isstrong and masterful; yet to Alberich he seems not strong enough to slay the
Giant-worm. Since Alberich has lost his power, he could not stop his brother
Mime when the latter sought to gain the Hoard through Siegfried: but Hagen
shall compass Siegfried’s ruin, and win the Ring from his dead body. Toward
Gunther and Gudrun Hagen is reticent, — they fear him, but prize his foresightand experience: the secret of some marvellous descent of Hagen’s, and that heis not his lawful brother, is known to Gunther: he calls him once an Elf-son.
Gunther is being apprised by Hagen that Brünnhild is the woman mostworth desire, and excited to long for her possession, when Siegfried speeds
along the Rhine to the seat of the Gibichungs. Gudrun, inflamed to love by thepraises he has showered on Siegfried, at Hagen’s bidding welcomes Siegfriedwith a drink prepared by Hagen’s art, of such potence that it makes Siegfriedforget his adventure with Brünnhild and marriage to her. Siegfried desires
Gudrun for wife: Gunther consents, on condition that he helps him win
Brünnhild. Siegfried agrees: they strike blood-brothership and swear each otheroaths, from which Hagen holds aloof. — Siegfried and Gunther set out, andarrive at Brünnhild’s rocky fastness: Gunther remains behind in the boat;
Siegfried for the first and only time exerts his power as Ruler of the Nibelungen,by putting on the Tarnhelm and thereby taking Gunther’s form and look; thus
masked, he passes through the flames to Brünnhild. Already robbed by

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Siegfried of her maidhood, she has lost alike her superhuman strength, and all
her runecraft she has made away to Siegfried — who does not use it; she ispowerless as any mortal woman, and can only offer lame resistance to thenew, audacious wooer; he tears from her the Ring — by which she is now to
be wedded to Gunther — , and forces her into the cavern, where he sleeps thenight with her, though to her astonishment he lays his sword between them.
On the morrow he brings her to the boat, where he lets the real Gunther takehis place unnoticed by her side, and transports himself in a trice to theGibichenburg through the power of the Tarnhelm. Gunther reaches his homealong the Rhine, with Brünnhild following him in downcast silence: Siegfried,
at Gudrun’s side, and Hagen receive the voyagers. — Brünnhild is aghast
when she beholds Siegfried as Gudrun’s husband: his cold civility to her amazes
her; as he motions her back to Gunther, she recognises the Ring on his finger:
she suspects the imposture played upon her, and demands the Ring, for it
belongs not to him, but to Gunther who received it from her: he refuses it. She
bids Gunther claim the Ring from Siegfried: Gunther is confused, and hesitates.
Brünnhild: ‘So it was Siegfried that had the Ring from her?’ Siegfried, recognising the Ring: ‘From no woman I had it: my right arm won it from theGiant-worm; through it I am the Nibelungen’s lord, and to none will I cede its
might.’ Hagen steps between them, and asks Brünnhild if she is certain about
the Ring? If it be hers, then Siegfried gained it by deceit, and it can belong to
no one but her husband, Gunther. Brünnhild loudly denounces the trick playedon her; the most dreadful thirst for vengeance upon Siegfried fills her. She
cries to Gunther that he has been duped by Siegfried: ‘Not to thee — to thisman am I wed; he won my favour.’ — Siegfried charges her with shamelessness: Faithful had he been to his blood-brothership, — his sword he laid
between Brünnhild and himself: — he calls on her to bear him witness. —Purposely, and thinking only of his ruin, she will not understand him. — The
clansmen and Gudrun conjure Siegfried to clear himself of the accusation, if
he can. Siegfried swears solemn oaths in confirmation of his word. Brünnhild
taxes him with perjury: All the oaths he swore to her and Gunther, has hebroken: now he forswears himself, to lend corroboration to a lie. Everyone isin the utmost commotion. Siegfried calls Gunther to stop his wife fromshamefully slandering her own and husband’s honour: he withdraws with
Gudrun to the inner hall. — Gunther, in deepest shame and terrible dejection,
has seated himself at the side, with hidden face: Brünnhild, racked by thehorrors of an inner storm, is approached by Hagen. He offers himself as thevenger of her honour: she mocks him, as powerless to cope with Siegfried:
One look from his glittering eye, which shone upon her even through thatmask, would scatter Hagen’s courage. Hagen: He well knows Siegfried’s awfulstrength, but she will tell him how he may be vanquished? So she who once
had hallowed Siegfried, and armed him by mysterious spells against all
wounding, now counsels Hagen to attack him from behind; for, knowing thatthat the hero ne’er would turn his back upon the foe, she had left it from the

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blessing. — Gunther must be made a party to the plot. They call upon him toavenge his honour: Brünnhild covers him with reproaches for his cowardiceand trickery; Gunther admits his fault, and the necessity of ending his shameby Siegfried’s death; but he shrinks from committing a breach of bloodbrotherhood. Brünnhild bitterly taunts him: What crimes have not been wreakedon her? Hagen inflames him by the prospect of gaining the Nibelung’s Ring,which Siegfried certainly will never part with until death. Gunther consents;
Hagen proposes a hunt for the morrow, when Siegfried shall be set upon, andperhaps his murder even concealed from Gudrun; for Gunther was concernedfor her sake: Brünnhild’s lust-of-vengeance is sharpened by her jealousy of
Gudrun. So Siegfried’s murder is decided by the three. — Siegfried andGudrun, festally attired, appear in the hall, and bid them to the sacrificial rites
and wedding ceremony. The conspirators feigningly obey: Siegfried andGudrun rejoice at the show of peace restored.
Next morning Siegfried strays into a lonely gully by the Rhine, in pursuit ofquarry. Three mermaids dart up from the stream: they are the soothsaying
Daughters of the waters’ bed, whence Alberich once had snatched the gleaming
Rhine-gold to smite from it the fateful Ring: the curse and power of that Ring
would be destroyed, were it re-given to the waters, and thus resolved into its
pure original element. The Daughters hanker for the Ring, and beg it ofSiegfried, who refuses it. (Guiltless, he has taken the guilt of the Gods upon
him, and atones their wrong through his defiance, his self-dependence.) They
prophesy evil, and tell him of the curse attaching to the Ring: Let him cast it in
the river, or he must die today. Siegfried: ‘Ye glib-tongued women shall not
cheat me of my might: the curse and your threats I count not worth a hair.
What my courage bids me, is my being’s law; and what I do of mine own
mind, so is it set for me to do: call yet this curse or blessing, it I obey andstrive not counter to my strength.’ The three daughters: ‘Wouldst thou outvie
the Gods?’ Siegfried: ‘Shew me the chance of mastering the Gods, and I must
work my main to vanquish them. I know three wiser women than you three;they wot where once the Gods will strive in bitter fearing. Well for the Gods,
if they take heed that then I battle with them. So laugh I at your threats: theRing stays mine, and thus I cast my life behind me.’ (He lifts a clod of earth,and hurls it backwards over his head.) — The Daughters scoff at Siegfried,
who weens himself as strong and wise as he is blind and bond-slave. ‘Oaths
has he broken, and knows it not: a boon far higher than the Ring he’s lost, andknows it not: runes and spells were taught to him, and he’s forgot them. Farethee well, Siegfried! A lordly wife we know; e’en to-day will she possess the
Ring when thou art slaughtered. To her! She’ll lend us better hearing.’ —Siegfried, laughing, gazes after them as they move away singing. He shouts:‘To Gudrun were I not true, one of you three had ensnared me!’ He hears his
hunting-comrades drawing nearer, and winds his horn: the huntsmen —Gunther and Hagen at the head — assemble round Siegfried. The midday
meal is eaten: Siegfried, in the highest spirits, mocks at his own unfruitful

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chase: But water-game had come his way, for whose capture he was not
equipped, alack! or he’d have brought his comrades three wild water-birds
that told him he must die today. Hagen takes up the jest, as they drink: Does
he really know the song and speech of birds, then? — Gunther is sad andsilent. Siegfried seeks to enliven him, and sings him songs about his youth:
his adventure with Mime, the slaying of the Worm, and how he came tounderstand bird-language. The train of recollection brings him back the counselof the birds to seek Brünnhild, who was fated for him; how he stormed theflaming rock and wakened Brünnhild. Remembrance rises more and more
distinct. Two ravens suddenly fly past his head. Hagen interrupts him: ‘What
do these ravens tell thee?’ Siegfried springs to his feet. Hagen: ‘I rede them;
they haste to herald thee to Wotan.’ He hurls his spear at Siegfried’s back.
Gunther, guessing from Siegfried’s tale the true connection of the inexplicablescene with Brünnhild, and suddenly divining Siegfried’s innocence, had thrownhimself on Hagen’s arm to rescue Siegfried, but without being able to stay theblow. Siegfried raises his shield, to crush Hagen with it; his strength fails him,
and he falls of a heap. Hagen has departed; Gunther and the clansmen standround Siegfried, in sympathetic awe; he lifts his shining eyes once more:‘Brünnhild, Brünnhild! Radiant child of Wotan! How dazzling bright I see
thee nearing me! With holy smile thou saddlest thy horse, that paces throughthe air dew-dripping: to me thou steer’st its course; here is there Lot to choose(Wal zu küren)! Happy me thou chos’st for husband, now lead me to Walhall,that in honour of all heroes I may drink All-father’s mead, pledged me bythee, thou shining Wish-maid! Brünnhild, Brünnhild! Greeting!’ He dies. The
men uplift the corpse upon his shield, and solemnly bear it over the rockyheights, Gunther in front.
In the Hall of the Gibichungs, whose forecourt extends at the back to thebank of the Rhine, the corpse is set down: Hagen has called out Gudrun; withstrident tones he tells her that a savage boar had gored her husband. — Gudrun
falls horrified on Siegfried’s body: she rates her brother with the murder;
Gunther points to Hagen: he was the savage boar, the murderer of Siegfried.
Hagen: ‘So be it; an I have slain him, whom no other dared to, whatso was his
is my fair booty. The Ring is mine!’ Gunther confronts him: ‘Shameless Elfson, the Ring is mine, assigned to me by Brünnhild: ye all, ye heard it.’ —Hagen and Gunther fight: Gunther falls. Hagen tries to wrench the Ring fromthe body, — it lifts its hand aloft in menace; Hagen staggers back, aghast;
Gudrun cries aloud in her sorrow; — then Brünnhild enters solemnly: ‘Cease
your laments, your idle rage! Here stands his wife, whom ye all betrayed. My
right I claim, for what must be is done!’ — Gudrun: ‘Ah, wicked one! ’Twas
thou who brought us ruin.’ Brünnhild: ‘Poor soul, have peace! Wert but his
wanton: his wife am I, to whom he swore or e’er he saw thee.’ Gudrun: ‘Woe’s
me! Accursed Hagen, what badest thou me, with the drink that filched herhusband to me? For now I know that only through the drink did he forget
Brünnhild.’ Brünnhild: ‘O he was pure! Ne’er oaths were more loyally held,

FROM DRAFT TO RING-CYCLE

125

than by him. No, Hagen has not slain him; for Wotan has he marked him out,
to whom I thus conduct him. And I, too, have atoned; pure and free am I: forhe, the glorious one alone, o’erpowered me.’ She directs a pile of logs to be
erected on the shore, to burn Siegfried’s corpse to ashes: no horse, no vassal
shall be sacrificed with him; she alone will give her body in his honour to theGods. First she takes possession of her heritage; the Tarnhelm shall be burntwith her; the Ring she puts upon her finger. ‘Thou froward hero, how thou
held’st me banned! All my rune-lore I bewrayed to thee, a mortal, and so went
widowed of my wisdom; thou usedst it not, thou trustedst in thyself alone: but
now that thou must yield it up through death, my knowledge comes to me
again, and this Ring’s runes I rede. The ur-law’s runes, too, know I now, theNorns’ old saying! Hear then, ye mighty Gods, your guilt is quit: thank him,
the hero, who took your guilt upon him! To mine own hand he gave to end his
work: loosed be the Nibelungs’ thraldom, the Ring no more shall bind them.
Not Alberich shall receive it; no more shall he enslave you, but he himself be
free as ye. For to you I make this Ring away, wise sisters of the waters’ deep;
the fire that burns me, let it cleanse the evil toy; and ye shall melt and keep it
harmless, the Rhinegold robbed from you to weld to ill and bondage. One
only shall rule, All-father thou in thy glory! As pledge of thine eternal might,
this man I bring thee: good welcome give him; he is worth it!’ — Midst solemn
chants Brünnhild mounts the pyre to Siegfried’s body. Gudrun, broken downwith grief, remains bowed over the corpse of Gunther in the foreground. The
flames meet across Brünnhild and Siegfried: — suddenly a dazzling light isseen: above the margin of a leaden cloud the light streams up, shewing
Brünnhild, armed as Walküre on horse, leading Siegfried by the hand fromhence. At like time the waters of the Rhine invade the entrance to the Hall: on
their waves the three Water-maids bear away the Ring and Helmet. Hagen
dashes after them, to snatch the treasure, as if demented, — the Daughters
seize and drag him with them to the deep.

Draft and Final Version
One can see that most of the major events in the story of the Ring arealready included in this short draft. Wagner may have taken accountof an attempt made by the renowned scholar Karl Lachmann (1836,
339–45) to recreate the original Nibelung myth, but his approach wasquite different.
In the final version of Das Rheingold, the main additions to theoriginal Nibelungen-Mythus are the role of the Rhine Maidens, thestruggle over Freia and the apples of youth, and Erda’s prophecy. In
Die Walküre, the only major addition is Fricka’s intervention, which
forces Wotan to kill Siegmund and throws the god into despair. In

126

WAGNER AND THE VOLSUNGS

Siegfried, the main additions are Wotan’s visit to Mime and their contest
of wisdom, the awakening of Erda, and Wotan’s attempt to hinder
Siegfried’s journey to Brünnhilde. Finally, the role of Alberich isdeveloped considerably, both in Siegfried and in Götterdämmerung.
He becomes Wotan’s main adversary.
The final part of the draft, the original version of Götterdämmerung,is the most developed, containing complete sections of dialogue. Moreepisodes than before are inspired by ﬁi›reks saga or Das Nibelungenlied. Wagner, however, treats this material with a free hand, and manyof his changes have a greater resemblance to Vƒlsunga saga or the
Eddas, especially at the ending.
Wagner’s first draft contains so many items that resemble Vƒlsunga
saga that one must question Elizabeth Magee’s assertion (1990, 60–
61; cf. 44–46) that Wagner had not read this saga before writing Der
Nibelungen-Mythus. She bases this view on the fact that records do
not show him borrowing the saga from the Royal Library in Dresden
until three weeks after he completed the draft. But this does not preclude
the possibility that a fast reader like Wagner, observant and with anexcellent memory, may have quickly read a copy of Vƒlsunga saga,
belonging to a friend, at some point; Friedrich von der Hagen’s
translation had been published as early as 1814. Wagner could easily
have read it in a single evening. And let us not forget Wagner’s hours
spent in the library of his uncle Adolf in his youth (see p. 117 above).
Or he could have read the book in the reading-room of the Royal
Library, without borrowing it.
As mentioned above (p. 99), Wagner wrote in his autobiographythat he had read Vƒlsunga saga in early 1848, more than six months
before he wrote Der Nibelungen-Mythus (Mein Leben I 30, 394–95).
In a letter to Theodor Uhlig of 1851, he describes his efforts to buy a
copy of the book while he was still in Dresden; his detailed descriptionof its appearance and size clearly indicate that he knew the book andhad handled it, before trying to buy a copy and finally finding it in thelibrary. When he borrowed it, it turned out that he did not need it, as hehad remembered everything correctly! (Dokumente 57–58, 64)
A multitude of small departures from the original Nibelungen-Mythus
will be discussed as they arise below. Special mention will be made ofthose cases where a concept from the Old Icelandic sources that appears
in the draft is omitted in the final version.

1′ 10″1′ 30″
1′ 10″
3′ 50″

1′ 20″
1′ 15″
1′ 25″
4′ 00″Die Valkyrie
Act I
Act II
Act III
Total

Siegfried
Act I
Act II
Act III
Total

GötterdämmerungAct I
2′ 00″Act II
1′ 10″Act III
1′ 20″
Total
4′ 30″
Whole cycle
14′ 50″2′ 30″

Oct. 1848

May 1851

Nov. 1851

DRAFT

Nov. 1851

AVERAGE LENGTH

Das Rheingold

NAME

Nov. 1848

May 1851

May 1852

March 1852

PROSE TEXT

Nov. 1848–Dec. 1852

June 1851

June 1852

Sept.–Nov. 1852

VERSE TEXT

Oct. 1869–Apr. 1872

Sept. 1856–Aug. 1869

June–Dec. 1854

Nov. 1853–Jan. 1854

DRAFT OF MUSICMay 1873–Nov. 1874

Oct. 1856––Feb. 1871

Jan. 1855–Mar. 1856

Feb.–May 1854

FINAL MUSIC

Wagner wrote the librettos for the four operas of the Ring in reverse order (Götterdämmerung first, Das Rheingold last), though the music
for them was composed in the order in which they were intended to be performed, sometimes with long breaks while Wagner turned his
mind to other things. The words were compiled always in the same stages, first a rough draft, then a text in prose, and finally the text inverse, though this last sometimes underwent changes before it reached its final form. Below is a schematic overview of the stages ofcomposition. The first sketch for the plot, Die Nibelungensage (Mythus), was completed 4 October 1848.

THE COMPOSITION OF THE RING — OVERVIEW128

WAGNER AND THE VOLSUNGSC O M PA R I S O N W I T H S O U R C E S

Method of reference
A. Wagner’s libretto
Each item in the list of comparisons is identified by act (in roman numerals),
scene (in arabic numerals) and item number (arabic numerals). G = Götterdämmerung (G. P. = Prologue), R = Das Rheingold, S = Siegfried, W = Die
Walküre.
Quotations from the final version of the libretto of the Ring, and thetranslations of them, are from Wagner’s Ring 1993 (reprinted 2000), except
for the German text of the stage directions, which is not given in that edition
and is taken from the edition of the relevant full score as published by Schott(Mainz): Das Rheingold, Sämtliche Werke 10, ed. Egon Voss, 1988; Die
Walküre, 1874; Siegfried, 1876; Götterdämmerung, Sämtliche Werke 13, ed.
Hartmut Fladt, 1981. These are the editions on which the text and translationin Wagner’s Ring 1993 are based. Numbers in brackets refer to lines of the
Ring in Huber 1988; in the case of stage directions, the number of theimmediately preceding or following line of verse text is given.
References to early draft versions of Wagner’s librettos are shown in square
brackets [ ].These are generally taken from Strobel 1930, with references topage numbers, but references to the older version of Siegfrieds Tod (later Götterdämmerung) and other works are to volume and page of SSD.
References to Wagner’s Die Nibelungensaga (Mythus) or Der NibelungenMythus (also in square brackets) are made to the pages of the English
translation, pp. 118–25 above.
B. Poetic Edda
Reference is made to individual eddic poems by stanza number. The edition
generally used and quoted is Edda. Die Lieder des Codex Regius nebst
verwandten Denkmälern, ed. Gustav Neckel, 4th edn rev. Hans Kuhn, 1962,
but the spelling is normalised. For the poems Grógaldr and Fjƒlsvinnsmál thetext used is that of Norrœn Fornkvæ›i, ed. S. Bugge, 1867 (repr. 1965), 338–
51. The translations are by Anthony Faulkes.
C. Prose Edda
The text is quoted from Snorri Sturluson, Edda. Part 1, Prologue and Gylfaginning, 1988, and Part 2, Skáldskaparmál, 1998. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. The
translations are generally from Snorri Sturluson, Edda. Trans. Anthony Faulkes,
1987, reprinted 1998. Both are cited by chapter number (SnE G = Gylfaginning,

COMPARISON WITH SOURCES129

SnE S = Skáldskaparmál; note that the first few chapters of Skáldskaparmál
are conventionally numbered as a continuation of Gylfaginning).
D. Vƒlsunga saga
Text and translation (with some modification) cited by chapter number inVƒlsunga Saga. The Saga of the Volsungs. Ed. and trans. R. G. Finch, 1965.
E. ﬁi›reks saga
Quoted by chapter numbers from the edition of Gu›ni Jónsson, 1951 (thesame as in C. R. Unger’s edition of 1853), with the chapter numbers of H.
Bertelsen’s edition (1905–11) in brackets. The translations are by Anthony
Faulkes.
F. Das Nibelungenlied (NL)
Reference is made by stanza number and the number of the Aventiure, in theedition of Karl Bartsch, 1948. The translation used is that of A. T. Hatto,
1965.
G. Das Lied vom Hürnen Seyfrid
Reference is made to stanza numbers in the edition of Wolfgang Golther, 1911.

130

WAGNER AND THE VOLSUNGSDAS RHEINGOLDICELANDIC EQUIVALENTS*

CHARACTERS
Rhine Maidens
Flosshilde
Wellgunde
Woglinde[Fljóthildr][Vellgunnr][Váglinda]
Nibelungs

Alberich
Mime

Advari, Álfrekr
Reginn, Mímir
Gods

Wotan
FrickaFreia
Donner
Froh
Loge
Erda

Ó›inn
Frigg, Lofn, Vár
Freyja, I›unn
ﬁórr
Freyr
Loki, LogiJƒr›, Vala
GiantsFafnerFasoltFáfnirReginn*The names in brackets are those used in the surtitles for the production of
the Ring in Reykjavik in 1994, which were presented in an Icelandic version
by ﬁorsteinn Gylfason. They are not found in early Icelandic texts.

Wagner’s Nibelungs
The plural word Nibelungen (Icelandic Niflungar) has various meanings in medieval sources. In the Prose Edda, Niflungar is a name for
the Gjúkungar (the sons of Gjúki), Gunnarr and Hƒgni. In the firstpart of Das Nibelungenlied they appear as human heroes, living inNibelunge lant, served by both giants and dwarves. In the latter part ofthe poem, and in ﬁi›reks saga, the name is used of the royal family of
the Burgundians, as in several of the eddic poems. In Das Lied vom
Hürnen Seyfrid, on the other hand, the Nibelungs are dwarves, whose
ancestor was called Nibelung. Wagner appears to adopt this idea,
although he also imbues his Nibelungs with various attributes of dark-

COMPARISON WITH SOURCES

131

elves and dwarves, as described in the Poetic and Prose Eddas. Der
Nibelungen-Mythus says of the Nibelungs (p. 118 above):
From the womb of the Night and Death was spawned a race that dwells in
Nibelheim (Nebelheim), i.e. in gloomy subterranean clefts and caverns:
Nibelungen are they called.

The genitive singular Nibelungen in the title of The Ring refers to Alberich.
Nibelheim or Nebelheim is a nineteenth-century Germanisation of
the Icelandic Niflheimr, which often occurs in the Prose Edda, and isbelieved to mean ‘world of mists’ or ‘world of darkness’.
Der Nibelungen-Mythus continues:
With restless nimbleness they burrow through the bowels of the earth, likeworms in a dead body; they smelt and smith hard metals.

The wording of this passage is clearly derived from the Prose Edda
(SnE G14):
ﬁar næst settusk gu›in upp í sæti sín ok réttu dóma sína ok mintusk hva›andvergar hƒf›u kviknat í moldunni ok ni›ri í jƒr›unni svá sem ma›kar í holdi.
(Next the gods took their places on their thrones and instituted their courtsand discussed where the dwarfs had been generated from in the soil anddown in the earth like maggots in flesh.)

And in the Prose Edda, dwarves and black elves down in the earth areoften said to own precious metals, and to be unusually skilful smiths.
They were commissioned, for instance, to make various magical items
for the gods.
Das Rheingold, Scene One
R.1.1
Three Rhine Maidens guard a hoard of gold at the bottom of the Rhine.
Their names, all of which are reminiscent of water and waves, areinvented by Wagner (Ring, 1–19).
[In Der Nibelungen-Mythus they do not appear until just before
Siegfried’s murder (G. III.1.1), where they are called ‘weissagende
Töchter der Wassertiefe’ (‘soothsaying Daughters of the waters’ bed’,p. 123 above). In the original draft of early October, 1848, Die
Nibelungensaga (Mythus), they were said to have swans’ wings (‘Drei
Meerfrauen mit Schwanenflügeln’, Strobel 1930, 30).]
The Rhine Maidens are largely Wagner’s own creation, though they
may have been based on various folk-tales.

132

WAGNER AND THE VOLSUNGS

A suggestion might also have come from ﬁi›reks saga, where Hƒgni
speaks with sjókonur (‘sea-women’) who have come from the Rhine
to a nearby lake, and kills two of them (364 (397)). In Das Nibelungenlied, Hagene also speaks with merewîp in the Danube (NL 1533–49,
Av. 25). In both cases, however, the events take place long after theslaying of Sîfrit/Sigur›r, when the Nibelungs are making their final
journey to King Etzel/Attila.
The swans’ wings of the Rhine Maidens in Die Nibelungensaga(Mythus) are very likely derived from the eddic poem Vƒlundarkvi›a(1–2), the prose introduction of which says:
Snemma of morgin fundu ﬂeir á vatnsstrƒndu konur ﬂrjár, ok spunnu lín.
ﬁar váru hjá ﬂeim álptarhamir ﬂeira. ﬁat váru valkyrjur.
(Early in the morning, they found on the shore of the lake three women, andthey were spinning linen. Near them were their swan-shapes; they were valkyries.)

A little over a year later Wagner wrote an opera libretto on Wayland
the Smith, which is partly based upon Karl Simrock’s retelling ofVƒlundarkvi›a (see p. 27 above; SSD III 178–206).
R. 1.2The dwarf Alberich intervenes in the game of the Rhine Maidens, andtries to grab one of them (Ring, 20–196).
Alberich’s name is derived from the Albrîch of Das Nibelungenlied,
who is first introduced as a strong dwarf in the service of the Nibelungkings. After Sîfrit has won the hoard of gold from the Nibelungs, heforces Albrîch to become guardian of the gold (NL 96–99, Av. 3; 493–
502, Av. 8). His name is also reminiscent of the dwarf Álfrekr in ﬁi›rekssaga, who was renowned for his skill and thievery (16 (28)).
R. 1.3The luminous Rhinegold appears (Ring, 197):
Durch die Flut ist von oben her ein immer lichterer Schein gedrungen, dersich an einer hohen Stelle des mittlesten Riffes allmählich zu einem blendend
hell strahlenden Goldglanze entzündet; ein zauberisch goldenes Licht bricht
von hier durch das Wasser.
(An increasingly bright glow penetrates the floodwaters from above, flaring
up as it strikes a point high up on the central rock and gradually becoming ablinding and brightly beaming gleam of gold; a magical golden light streams
through the water from this point.)

COMPARISON WITH SOURCES133

The ‘Rhinegold’ name is Wagner’s own idea, but all the sources used
for comparison here, except ﬁi›reks saga, mention gold in the river
Rhine, a prize which men strive to possess. In the Middle Ages theUpper Rhine deposited alluvium of golden sand. But the idea ofluminous gold occurs only in the Prose Edda, in a description of afeast held for the gods by the giant Ægir (a personification of the ocean)in his hall under the sea (SnE S33):
En er go›in hƒf›u sezk í sæti ﬂá lét Ægir bera inn á hallargólf l‡sigull ﬂat
er birti ok l‡sti hƒllina sem eldr ok ﬂat var ﬂar haft fyrir ljós at hans veizlu.
(And when the gods had taken their places, Ægir had glowing gold brought
into the middle of the hall which illuminated and lit up the hall like fire,
and this was used as lights at his feast.)

R. 1.4
Alberich hears the Rhine Maidens chattering about the power of thegold, and how it can be gained (Ring, 253–57, 269–74, 299–302, 314–17):
Wellgunde:
Der Welt Erbe
gewänne zu eigen,wer aus dem Rheingold
schüfe den Ring,der maaßlose Macht ihm verlieh’.
...
Woglinde:
Nur wer der Minne,
Macht versagt,
nur wer der Liebe
Lust verjagt,
nur der erzielt sich den Zauberzum Reif zu zwingen das Gold.
...
Alberich:
Der Welt Erbe
gewänn’ ich zu eigen durch dich?
Erzwäng’ ich nicht Liebe,
doch listig erzwäng’ ich mir Lust?
...
Das Licht lösch’ ich euch aus,
entreiße dem Riff das Gold,schmiede den rächenden Ring:

The world’s wealthwould be won by him
who forged from the Rhinegold
the ringthat would grant him limitless power.

Only the man who forswears
love’s sway,
only he who disdains
love’s delights
can master the magic spellthat rounds a ring from the gold.

The world’s wealthmight I win through you?
Though love can’t be gained by force,through cunning might I enforce
its delights?
Your light I’ll put out,
wrench the gold from the rockand forge the avenging ring:134

WAGNER AND THE VOLSUNGS

denn hör’ es die Fluth –so verfluch’ ich die Liebe!

so hear me, you waters: –thus I lay a curse on love!

In Das Nibelungenlied (1124, Av. 19) it is said that after the murder ofSîfrit, the hoard of the Nibelungs was taken from Nibelunge lant to Worms:
Der wunsch der lac dar under, von golde ein rüetelîn.
der daz het erkunnet, der möhte meister sîn
wol in aller werlde über ietslîchen man.
(In among the rest lay the rarest gem of all, a tiny wand of gold, and if any
had found its secret he could have been lord of all mankind!)This wand is not mentioned elsewhere in the poem and has no role init. The idea seems, however, to have taken root in Wagner’s mind andto have been applied to the ring itself. Cf. S. II.2.6.
The Poetic and Prose Eddas mention two magic rings, wrought bydwarves. One is the gold ring Draupnir (SnE S35, cf. SnE G49):ﬁá bar fram Brokkr sína gripi. Hann gaf Ó›ni hringinn ok sag›i at ina
níundu hverja nótt mundi drjúpa af honum átta hringar jafnhƒfgir sem hann.
(Then Brokk brought out his precious things. He gave the ring to Odin
and said that every ninth night there would drip from it eight rings equal
to it in weight.)

The other is the ring which Loki takes from the dwarf Andvari (SnES39; cf. R. 4.1):
Dvergrinn ba› hann taka eigi bauginn af sér ok lézk mega œxla sér fé afbauginum ef hann heldi.
(The dwarf asked him not to take the ring from him, saying he could multiply
wealth for himself from the ring if he kept it.)

In both cases, the power of the ring is solely that it can yield more wealth.
There is no mention of forswearing love for wealth, which is Wagner’s
own idea, and indeed a common motif in Romantic literature.
Das Rheingold, Scene 2
R. 2.1
The gods Wotan, Fricka, Freia, Froh, Donner and Loge are introduced
into the story one by one (Ring, 323–609).
The names and conduct of the gods are largely consistent with thedescriptions given in the Prose Edda of Ó›inn, Frigg, Freyja, Freyr,ﬁórr and Loki (SnE G20–35). The names have, however, existed invarious different forms in Germanic dialects, and Wagner creates theircharacters with considerable freedom.

COMPARISON WITH SOURCES

135

R. 2.2Giants have built a mighty citadel for Wotan. In return they demandFreia, goddess of youth and love, as had been agreed. These terms
were accepted on Loge’s advice, and Wotan feels that he is bound by
the contract, which is carved on the shaft of his spear (Ring, 332–47):
Wotan:
Vollendet das ewige Werk:
auf Berges Gipfel
die Götter-Burg,
prächtig prahlt
der prangende Bau!
Fricka:Dich freut die Burg,
mir bangt es um Freia.
Achtloser, laß dich erinnern
des ausbedungenen Lohn’s!

The everlasting work is ended!
On mountain peak
the gods’ abode;
resplendent shines
the proud-standing hall!
The stronghold delights you,but I fear for Freia.
Heedless husband, don’t you recall
the payment that was agreed?

The Prose Edda’s account of the citadel-builder includes the following(SnE G42):
ﬁat var snimma í ƒndver›a byg› go›anna, ﬂá er go›in hƒf›u sett Mi›gar›
ok gert Valhƒll, ﬂá kom ﬂar smi›r nokkvorr ok bau› at gera ﬂeim borg á
ﬂrim misserum svá gó›a at trú ok ørugg væri fyrir bergrisum ok hrímﬂursum ﬂótt ﬂeir komi inn um Mi›gar›. En hann mælir sér ﬂat til kaups athann skyldi eignask Freyju, ok hafa vildi hann sól ok mána. ﬁá gengu
Æsirnir á tal ok ré›u rá›um sínum, ok var ﬂat kaup gert vi› smi›inn . . .
En ﬂví ré› Loki er ﬂat var til lagt vi› hann.
(It was right at the beginning of the gods’ settlement, when the gods had
established Midgard and built Val-hall, there came there a certain builder
and offered to build them a fortification in three seasons so good that it
would be reliable and secure against mountain-giants and frost-giants
even though they should come in over Midgard. And he stipulated as his
payment that he should get Freyja as his wife, and he wished to have thesun and moon. Then the Æsir went into discussion and held a conference,and this bargain was made with the builder . . . And it was Loki that was
responsible for this being granted him.)

R. 2.3[Der Nibelungen-Mythus (1848) describes the race of Giants as urbegotten, with ‘monstrous strength’ and ‘simple mother-wit’. See p.
119 above.]
Giants as a separate race turn up in various places in the Poetic andProse Eddas. Giants, male and female, live in Jƒtunheimar (the World

136

WAGNER AND THE VOLSUNGSof Giants), and the gods are often attracted to pretty Giant maidens. In
other sources, such as Das Nibelungenlied (94, Av. 3; 487–502, Av. 8)
Giants only appear as gigantic males, and no Giant maidens are
mentioned.
R. 2.4
Fricka rebukes Wotan for believing his treacherous friend, Loge (Ring,
425–28):
Daß am liebsten du immer
dem listigen trau’st!
Viel Schlimmes schuf er uns schon,doch stets bestrickt er dich wieder.

So you still prefer to trustin that cunning trickster?
Much ill he has caused us already,yet ever again he ensnares you.

The cunning Loki is one of the best-known characters of the Poetic
and Prose Eddas; he appears to be a half-god, half-giant (SnE G33):
Sá er enn tal›r me› Ásum er sumir kalla rógbera Ásanna ok frumkve›aflær›anna ok vƒmm allra go›a ok manna. Sá er nefndr Loki e›a Loptr,
sonr Fárbauta jƒtuns . . . Loki er frí›r ok fagr s‡num, illr í skaplyndi, mjƒkfjƒlbreytinn at háttum. Hann haf›i ﬂá speki um fram a›ra menn er slœg›heitir, ok vælar til allra hluta. Hann kom Ásum jafnan í fullt vandræ›i ok
opt leysti hann ﬂá me› vélræ›um.
(That one is also reckoned among the Æsir whom some call the Æsir’scalumniator and originator of deceits and the disgrace of all gods andmen. His name is Loki or Lopt, son of the giant Farbauti . . . Loki ispleasing and handsome in appearance, evil in character, very capricious
in behaviour. He possessed to a greater degree than others the kind oflearning that is called cunning, and tricks for every purpose. He was always
getting the Æsir into a complete fix and often got them out of it by trickery.)

The enigmatic relationship between Loki and Ó›inn is well known; at
one point he is ‘comrade and table-companion of Ó›inn’ (SnE S16).
He also enters an eating contest with Logi, the personification of fire
(SnE G46–47), who is also mentioned in Orkneyinga saga (ch. 1) andother Old Icelandic texts (see SnE S, p. 183). Wagner combines Lokiand Logi into a single character of dual nature.
R. 2.5
The giants Fasolt and Fafner enter, and demand payment for their work
(Ring, 449–67). [In the first version of Das Rheingold of November
1851, the giants are named Windfahrer and Reiffrost; four months
later they had been renamed Fasolt and Fafner (Strobel 203, 209).]

COMPARISON WITH SOURCES137

The older names could be Germanised versions of Icelandic names
for giants, such as Vindsvalr and Hrímnir. Fáfnir is of course familiarfrom the Poetic and Prose Eddas and Vƒlsunga saga. The name Fasolt
is derived from the Fasold of ﬁi›reks saga, whence it was adopted inheroic poems and stories written by German writers and scholars in
the nineteenth century. In these contexts, however, Fasolt/Fasold issimply a man of great strength, and not a giant. Wagner may havechosen the name to alliterate with Fafner. In Icelandic sources, Fáfnir’s
brothers are named Reginn and Otr.
R. 2.6
Wotan attempts to save Freia (Ring, 468–86):
Nennt, Leute, den Lohn:
was dünkt euch zu bedingen?
Fasolt:Bedungen ist,
was tauglich uns dünkt;gemahnt es dich so matt?
Freia, die holde,
Holda, die freie –vertragen ist’s –sie tragen wir heim.
Wotan:
Seid ihr bei Trost
mit eurem Vertrag?
Denkt auf andren Dank:
Freia ist mir nicht feil.
Fasolt:Was sag’st du, ha!
Sinn’st du Verrath?
Verrat am Vertrag?
Die dein Speer birgt,
sind sie dir Spiel,
des berath’nen Bundes Runen?

Name your due, good people;
what are you minded to ask?
We already asked
for what seems to us fitting;is your memory of it so faint?
Freia the fair,
Holda the free –it’s already agreed:
we carry her home.
Are you out of your minds
with this contract of yours?
Think of some other thanks:
Freia isn’t for sale.
What’s that you say? Ha!
You’re plotting betrayal?
Betrayal of our agreement?
The runes of well-considered contract,
safeguarded by your spear,
are they no more than sport to you?

The Prose Edda says (SnE G42):
En at kaupi ﬂeira váru sterk vitni ok mƒrg sœri, fyrir ﬂví at jƒtnum ﬂótti
ekki trygt at vera me› Ásum gri›alaust ef ﬁórr kvæmi heim, en ﬂá var
hann farinn í Austrveg at berja trƒll.
(But at their agreement there had been mighty witnesses invoked and manyoaths, for the giants did not think it safe to be among the Æsir without a138

WAGNER AND THE VOLSUNGS

guarantee of safety if Thor were to return home, but at the time he wasgone away into eastern parts to thrash trolls.)

R. 2.7
Fafner points out to Fasolt that Freia’s apples have more importancethan the goddess herself (Ring, 530–47):
Freia’s Haft
hilft wenig;
doch viel gilt’s
den Göttern sie zu entreißen.
Gold’ne Äpfel
wachsen in ihrem Garten;sie allein
weiß die Äpfel zu pflegen:der Frucht Genußfrommt ihren Sippen
zu ewig nie
alternder Jugend;siech und bleichdoch sinkt ihre Blüthe,alt und schwach
schwinden sie hin,müssen Freia sie missen:
ihrer Mitte drum sei sie entführt!

Holding Freia
helps us little;
much, however, will be gained
if we wrest her away from the gods.
Golden apples
grow in her garden;
she alone
knows how to tend them;
the taste of the fruit
confers on her kinsfolk
endlessly neverageing youth;
but, sick and wan,
their bloom will wither,old and weak
they’ll waste away,
if Freia they have to forgo:so let her be plucked from their midst!

The Prose Edda’s account of I›unn and her apples of youth is heretransferred to Freia. The Edda says (SnE G26):
Bragi heitir einn . . . Kona hans er I›unn. Hon var›veitir í eski sínu epli
ﬂau er go›in skulu á bíta er ﬂau eldask, ok ver›a ﬂá allir ungir, ok svá
mun vera allt til ragnarøkrs.
(There is one called Bragi . . . Idunn is his wife. She keeps in her casket
apples which the gods have to feed on when they age, and then they all
become young, and so it will go on right up to the Twilight of the Gods.)

R. 2.8
Donner threatens the giants with his hammer (Ring, 557–59, 564–67):
Fasolt und Fafner,
fühltet ihr schon
meines Hammers harten Schlag?
...
Schon oft zahlt’ ich

Fasolt and Fafner,you’ve felt my hammer’s
heavy blow before?
Often before I’ve

COMPARISON WITH SOURCES
Riesen den Zoll;
kommt her! des Lohnes Last
wäg’ ich mit gutem Gewicht!

139

paid giants their due;come here, the debt’s discharge
I’ll weigh out in good measure.

Such threats from ﬁórr have various prototypes in verses about thegods in the Poetic Edda, e.g. Vƒluspá 26:
ﬁórr einn ﬂar vá,
ﬂrunginn mó›i,hann sjaldan sitr
er hann slíkt um fregn.

Thor alone there struck a blow,
bursting with wrath,
he seldom sits idle,
when he learns of such things.

R. 2.9Wotan forbids Donner to use force, as the contract must be observed(Ring, 568–72):
Halt, du Wilder!
Nichts durch Gewalt!
Verträge schützt
meines Speeres Schaft:spar’ deines Hammers Heft!

Stop, you firebrand!
Nothing by force!
My spearshaft
safeguards contracts:
spare your hammer’s haft.

Wotan’s reference to the need to uphold rules and contracts is similar
to what is said of Ó›inn (here described as a king in Sweden) in Snorri
Sturluson’s Heimskringla, Ynglinga saga ch. 8:Ó›inn setti lƒg í landi sínu, ﬂau er gengit hƒf›u fyrr me› Ásum.
(Odin established in his land the same laws which had formerly been
current among the Æsir.)R. 2.10Once Loge has arrived, he is alternately threatened and coaxed to finda way of freeing Freia (Ring, 610–24):
Wotan:
Arglistig
weich’st du mir aus:mich zu betrügen
hüte in Treuen dich wohl!
Von allen Götterndein einz’ger Freund,nahm ich dich auf
in der übel trauenden Troß. –Nun red’ und rathe klug!
Da einst die Bauer der Burgzum Dank Freia bedangen,Slyly
you seek to elude me;
take care, in truth,that you don’t deceive me.
Of all the gods
your only friend,
I took you
into the ill-trusting tribe. –Now speak and counsel wisely!
When the citadel’s builders
demanded Freia by way of thanks,

140

WAGNER AND THE VOLSUNGS

du weißt, nicht anders
willigt’ ich ein,als weil auf Pflicht du gelobtest
zu lösen das hehre Pfand.

you know that
I only acquiesced
because you promised on oathto redeem the noble pledge.

The Prose Edda says (SnE G42):
En ﬂat kom ásamt me› ƒllum at ﬂessu mundi rá›it hafa sá er flestu illuræ›r, Loki Laufeyjarson, ok kvá›u hann ver›an ills dau›a ef eigi hitti
hann rá› til at smi›rinn væri af kaupinu, ok veittu Loka atgƒngu.
(And there was agreement among them all that he must have been responsible for this decision who is responsible for most evil, Loki Laufeyjarson,and declared he would deserve an evil death if he did not find a scheme
whereby the builder would forfeit his payment, and they offered to attack
Loki.)

R. 2.11
Donner threatens Loge with his hammer (Ring, 637–38):
Verfluchte Lohe,dich lösch’ ich aus!

Accursèd flame,
I’ll snuff you out!

In the eddic poem Lokasenna 63, Thor says to Loki:ﬁegi ﬂú, rƒg vættr!
ﬁér skal minn ﬂrú›hamarr,Mjƒllnir, mál fyrnema.

Be quiet, perverted creature!
My mighty hammer, Mjollnir,
shall deprive you of speech.

R. 2.12The giants agree to accept the Rhinegold instead of Freia. The gold issaid to be ‘red’ (Ring, 681–84, 730–33, 801–802):Loge:
Nur einen sah ich,
der sagte der Liebe ab:um rothes Goldentrieth er des Weibes Gunst.
...
Wotan:
Von des Rheines Goldhört’ ich raunen:
Beute-Runen
berge sein rother Glanz.
...
Fafner:
Uns rauhen Riesen genügt

Only one man I saw
who forswore love’s delights:
for the sake of red gold
he forwent women’s favours.

Of the gold in the Rhine
I’ve heard it whisperedthat booty-runes
lie hid in its fiery glow.

We uncouth giants will be content

COMPARISON WITH SOURCES
des Niblungen rothes Gold.

141

with the Niblung’s bright red gold.

Gold is not normally called ‘red’ in German (in that language the word
is more often gelb, ‘yellow’), but it was, and is, commonly so in Icelandic, for instance in the eddic poem Reginsmál 9:‘Rau›u gulli (kva› Hrei›marr)
hygg ek mik rá›a munu,
svá lengi sem ek lifi.’‘Red gold’, said Hreidmar,‘I think I’ll have at my disposal
as long as I live.’

R. 2.13
When the giants take Freia as their hostage, the gods grow pale andweak (Ring, 853–56, 893–97):
Loge:
Wie bang und bleichverblüht ihr so bald!
Euch erlischt der Wangen Licht;
der Blick eures Auges verblitzt! –...
Ohne die Äpfel,
alt und grau,
greis und grämlich,welkend zum Spott aller Welt,
erstirbt der Götter Stamm.

How fearful and wan
you wither away so soon!
The bloom in your cheeks is fading;the light has gone from your eyes!
Without the apples,
old and grey,
grizzled and grim,
withered and scorned by the whole of
the world,
the race of gods will perish.

The Prose Edda recounts the kidnapping of I›unn and her apples thus
(SnE G56):
En at ákve›inni stundu teygir Loki I›unni út um Ásgar› í skóg nokkvorn
ok segir at hann hefir fundit epli ﬂau er henni munu gripir í ﬂykkja, ok ba›
at hon skal hafa me› sér sín epli ok bera saman ok hin. ﬁá kemr ﬂar ﬁjazijƒtunn í arnarham ok tekr I›unni ok fl‡gr braut me› ok í ﬁrymheim til
bús síns. En Æsir ur›u illa vi› hvarf I›unnar ok ger›usk ﬂeir brátt hárir
ok gamlir.
(But at the agreed time Loki lured Idunn out through Asgard into a certain
forest, saying that he had found some apples that she would think worth
having, and told her she should bring her apples with her and comparethem with these. Then giant Thjassi arrived in eagle shape and snatched
Idunn and flew away with her to his home in Thrymheim. But the Æsirwere badly affected by Idunn’s disappearance and soon became grey and old.)R. 2.14
Wotan and Loge set off for Nibelheim to try to take the gold from
Alberich. Donner, Froh and Fricka bid them farewell (Ring, 925–28):

142

WAGNER AND THE VOLSUNGS

Donner:Fahre wohl, Wotan!
Froh:
Glück auf! Glück auf!
Fricka:O kehre bald
zur bangenden Frau!

Fare well, Wotan!
Good luck! Good luck!
O come back soon
to your worried wife!

This is reminiscent, on the one hand, of two journeys made by Loki toblack elves in order to gain their gold and talismans (SnE S35, 39).
The farewell, on the other hand, is similar to that of Frigg to Ó›inn inthe eddic poem Vafﬂrú›nismál 4, when he goes in search of the allwise giant:
Heill ﬂú farir,
heill ﬂú aptr komir,
heill ﬂú á sinnum sér.

Fare thee well!
Come back safe!
Be safe on the way!

Das Rheingold, Scene Three
R. 3.1
Alberich has made himself a magic ring, and he forces other blackelves (or dwarves) to make treasures for him. He compels his brother,
Mime, to make him the ‘Tarnhelm’, a helmet which can make him
invisible or allow him to take on any shape he pleases (Ring, 951–72).
[In Der Nibelungen-Mythus Wagner introduces Alberich’s brotherwith the names Reigin (Mime = Eugel); see p. 119 above.]
Reginn the smith is known from the eddic poems Reginsmál and Fáfnismál, the Prose Edda and Vƒlsunga saga; in all these cases he is Fáfnir’s
brother and Sigur›r’s foster-father. In ﬁi›reks saga, the brother of
Mímir the smith is called Reginn, who changes himself into a dragon
and is slain by Sigur›r (163 (268); 166 (271)). In Fouqué’s play Sigurd
der Schlangentödter (1808), this character is called Reigen.
Mímir (sometimes Mímr) as a wise giant appears in both the Poetic
and the Prose Edda (Vƒluspá 28, 46; Sigrdrífumál 14; SnE G15, 51).
In ﬁi›reks saga (57 (84), 163 (268)–168 (273)), on the other hand, heis a famous smith, and Sigur›r’s foster-father, but not a dwarf. In
Heimskringla, Ynglinga saga ch. 4, Mímir is a hostage of great wisdom,
sent by the Æsir to live among the Vanir after the war between these
two races of gods. His head is cut off and sent to Ó›inn, who casts a

COMPARISON WITH SOURCES

143

spell on it so that the head acquires prophetic powers, and Ó›inn carries
this with him. In Das Lied vom Hürnen Seyfrid, Eugel (Eugeleyne) is
the king of the dwarves, oppressed by the giant King Kuperan. Neither
Mime nor any equivalent character occurs in Das Nibelungenlied.
Gradually the name Mime came to be preferred by Wagner; this canalso mean an actor in German.
R. 3.2
Alberich (to Loge and Wotan; Ring, 1152–54, 1200–01):
Den Lichtalben
lacht jezt Loge,
der list’ge Schelm:...
Den Schwarz-Albenverachtet ihr ewigen Schwelger: –So Loge now smiles
on the light-elves,cunning rogue that he is?
You eternal free-livers
scorn the black elf: –The Prose Edda says of Álfheimr, the world of elves (SnE G17):
ﬁar byggvir folk ﬂat er ljósálfar heita, en døkkálfar búa ni›ri í jƒr›u, ok
eru ﬂeir ólíkir ﬂeim s‡num en myklu ólíkari reyndum. Ljósálfar eru fegrien sól s‡num, en døkkálfar eru svartari en bik.
(There live the folk called light-elves, but dark-elves live down in the
ground, and they are unlike them in appearance, and even more unlike
them in nature. Light-elves are fairer than the sun to look at, but darkelves are blacker than pitch.)

Wagner, however, seems to use Lichtalben to mean gods and SchwarzAlben as another name for dwarfs.
R. 3.3
Concerning the magic helmet, Alberich says (Ring, 1245–59):
Den hehlenden Helmersann ich mir selbst;
der sorglichste Schmiedt,
Mime, mußt’ ihn mir schmieden:schnell mich zu wandeln,nach meinem Wunsch,
die Gestalt mir zu tauschen,taugt der Helm;
Niemand sieht mich,wenn er mich sucht;
doch überall bin ich,geborgen dem Blick.

The masking helmet
I thought up myself;
but Mime – most heedful of smiths –had to forge it for me:
to transform me swiftly
and change my shapeto whatever I want
the helmet serves;
no one sees me,
though he may seek me;
yet I am everywhere,
hidden from sight.

144

WAGNER AND THE VOLSUNGS

So, ohne Sorge
bin ich selbst sicher vor dir,
du fromm sorgender Freund!

And so, free from care,
I’m safe from you, too,
my fondly caring friend!

The Poetic and Prose Eddas and Vƒlsunga saga all mention an œgishjálmr(‘helmet of terror’) which had belonged to Hrei›marr, and was stolen
from him by Fáfnir. Though feared by all, it is not said to confer
invisibility (Fáfnismál 16–17; Reginsmál, prose after stanza 14; SnE
S40; Vƒlsunga saga chs 18, 20).
In Das Nibelungenlied Sîfrit forces Albrîch to give him a cloak ofinvisibility (NL 97, Av. 3; 431, Av. 7; 653 and 661, Av. 10). This makesSîfrit invisible, but there is no mention of shape-changing. From thecloak of invisibility and the terror helmet, Wagner creates the Tarnhelm.
R. 3.4
Loge dares Alberich to change himself into a toad, and then he and
Wotan succeed in seizing and manacling him (Ring, 1296–1317):
Loge’s cunning in getting the better of Alberich is reminiscent of Loki’s
journey to the land of the (black) elves for gold, to save Ó›inn andhimself from mortal danger (Vƒlsunga saga ch. 14; cf. SnE S39):‘Einn dvergr hét Andvari,’ segir Reginn. ‘Hann var jafnan í forsinum, er
Andvarafors heitir, í geddu líki . . . ﬁá sendu ﬂeir Loka at afla gullsins.
Hann kom til Ránar ok fekk net hennar, fór ﬂá til Andvarafors ok kasta›i
netinu fyrir gedduna, en hon hljóp í netit.’(‘There was a dwarf whose name was Andvari,’ said Reginn. ‘He wasalways in a waterfall known as the Andvari Falls in the semblance of apike . . . So they sent Loki to get the gold. He went to Ran, got her net, andthen went to the Andvari Falls, cast the net in front of the pike, and it ran
into the net.’)Das Rheingold, Scene FourR. 4.1
Wotan and Loge force Alberich to give up all the gold and the Tarnhelm,
but he does his best to retain the magic ring (Ring, 1356–60):
Alberich (aside):
Doch behalt’ ich mir nur den Ring, But if I can keep the ring for myself,des Hortes entrath’ ich dann leicht: I can easily manage without the hoard:den von neuem gewonnen
for it’s soon replenishedCOMPARISON WITH SOURCES

145

und wonnig genährt
and splendidly fattened
ist er bald durch des Ringes Gebot. by means of the ring’s command.

The corresponding account in the Prose Edda is (SnE S39):ﬁá sendi Ó›inn Loka í Svartálfaheim ok kom hann til dvergs ﬂess er heitir
Andvari. Hann var fiskr í vatni, ok tók Loki hann hƒndum ok lag›i á hannfjƒrlausn alt gull ﬂat er hann átti í steini sínum. Ok er ﬂeir koma í steininn,
ﬂá bar dvergrinn fram alt gull ﬂat er hann átti, ok var ﬂat allmikit fé. ﬁá
svipti dvergrinn undir hƒnd sér einum litlum gullbaug. ﬁá sá Loki ok ba›
hann fram láta bauginn. Dvergrinn ba› hann taka eigi bauginn af sér ok
lézk mega œxla sér fé af bauginum ef hann heldi.
(Then Odin sent Loki into the world of black-elves and he came across adwarf called Andvari. He was a fish in a lake, and Loki captured him andimposed on him as a ransom all the gold he had in his cave. And when
they came into the cave the dwarf brought out all the gold he had, and that
was a substantial amount of wealth. Then the dwarf slipped under his arm
one small gold ring. But Loki saw and told him to hand over the ring. The
dwarf asked him not to take the ring from him, saying he could multiply
wealth for himself from the ring if he kept it.)Finally Wotan forcibly seizes the ring from Alberich, and places it on
his finger.
Alberich lays a curse on the ring (Ring, 1486–1503, 1514–19):
Wie durch Fluch er mir gerieth,
verflucht sei dieser Ring!
Gab sein Goldmir – Macht ohne Maaß,nun zeug’ sein Zauber
Tod dem – der ihn trägt!
Kein Froher sollseiner sich freu’n,keinem Glücklichen lachesein lichter Glanz;
wer ihn besitzt,
den sehre die Sorge,und wer ihn nicht hat,den nage der Neid!
Jeder gierenach seinem Gut,
doch keiner genieße
mit Nutzen sein’.
...
So – segnet

Just as it came to me through a curse,
so shall this ring be accursed in turn!
Just as its gold once endowed mewith might beyond measure,
so shall its spell now deal
death to whoever shall wear it!
No joyful man
shall ever have joy of it;
on no happy man
shall its bright gleam smile;
may he who owns it
be wracked by care,and he who does not
be ravaged by greed!
Each man shall covet
its acquisition,
but none shall enjoy
it to lasting gain.
And so in direst need

146

WAGNER AND THE VOLSUNGSin höchster Nothder Nibelung seinen Ring. –Behalt’ ihn nun,
hüte ihn wohl:meinem Fluch fliehest du nicht!

the Nibelung
blesses his ring. –Keep it now
and guard it well:
you’ll not escape from my curse!

In the Prose Edda, the story of Loki and the dwarf Andvari continues
as follows (SnE S39):
Loki kva› hann eigi skyldu hafa einn penning eptir ok tók bauginn af
honum ok gekk út, en dvergrinn mælti at sá baugr skyldi vera hverjumhƒfu›sbani er átti.
(Loki said the dwarf was not going to keep one penny and took the ringfrom him and went out, and the dwarf pronounced that this ring should be
the deadly destruction of whoever possessed it.)In the eddic poem Reginsmál 5 the dwarf says, as he vanishes into therock:
ﬁat skal guller Gustr áttibrœ›rum tveim
at bana ver›a,ok ƒ›lingumátta at rógi;
mun míns fjár
mangi njóta.

That gold,
which Gust owned,
shall cause the deathof two brothers,
and for eight rulers
be cause of strife;from my wealthno one shall benefit.

In Das Nibelungenlied, there is no particular curse upon the ring, which
in time becomes one of the proofs that Sîfrit has lain with Prünhilt (NL
679, Av. 10; 847–48, Av. 14). There the ring is simply a splendid pieceof jewellery, with no magic powers. The same applies to Brynhildr’s
finger-ring in ﬁi›reks saga 343 (388).
R. 4.2
When they return to the scene, the giants demand enough gold to hide
Freia’s body entirely (Ring, 1560–68):
Fasolt:Das Weib zu missen,wisse, gemuthet mich weh:soll aus dem Sinn sie mir schwinden,
des Geschmeides Hort
häufet denn so,
daß meinem Blickdie Blühende ganz er verdeck’!

To lose the woman,
you know, grieves me deeply:
if she’s to fade from my thoughts,
then heap up
the hoard of trinkets
so that it hides
the radiant child from my sight!

COMPARISON WITH SOURCES
Wotan:
So stellt das Maaßnach Freia’s Gestalt.

147

Then set the measure
to Freia’s form.

The giants’ demand that Freia be hidden with gold has a clear prototype
in the tale of the ‘otter-ransom’, though the objects are quite different:a goddess of love on the one hand, and a predator on the other. This
motif occurs in the Prose Edda and Vƒlsunga saga; in the eddic poem
Reginsmál (prose introduction), Reginn says:Ó›inn ok Hœnir ok Loki hƒf›u komit til Andvarafors . . . ‘Otr hét bró›ir
várr,’ kva› Reginn, ‘er opt fór í forsinn í otrs líki. Hann haf›i tekit einn lax
ok sat á árbakkanum ok át blundandi. Loki laust hann me› steini til bana.
ﬁóttusk Æsir mjƒk hepnir veri› hafa ok flógu belg af otrinum. ﬁat sama
kveld sóttu ﬂeir gisting til Hrei›mars ok s‡ndu vei›i sína. ﬁá tóku vér ﬂáhƒndum ok lƒg›um ﬂeim fjƒrlausn at fylla otrbelginn me› gulli ok hyljaútan ok me› rau›u gulli.’(Odin, Hænir and Loki had come to Andvari’s falls . . . ‘Our brother wascalled Otter,’ said Regin, ‘who often went in the falls in the form of anotter. He had caught a salmon and was sitting on the river bank, eating it
in a doze. Loki struck him with a stone and killed him. The Æsir thought
they had been very lucky and flayed off the otter’s hide. The same evening
they went to lodge with Hreidmar and showed what they had caught. Then
we seized them and laid down as the ransom for their lives that they must
fill the otter’s hide with gold and cover it on the outside with red gold.’)

R. 4.3After Freia has been covered with gold, the giants seek to catch aglimpse of her through the chinks (Ring, 1608–13, 1620–27, 1634–
36, 1652–58):
Fafner:Noch schimmert mir Holda’s Haar: Holda’s hair still glints through the gold:
dort das Gewirkthat trinket yonder
wirf auf den Hort!
add to the hoard!
Loge:
Wie? auch den Helm?
What? The helmet as well?
Fafner:Hurtig, her mit ihm!
Be quick, give it here!
Wotan:
Lass’ ihn denn fahren!
All right, let it go!
...
Fasolt:Weh! noch blitzt
Alas! Her glance

148

WAGNER AND THE VOLSUNGS

ihr Blick zu mir her;des Auges Sternstrahlt mich noch an:
durch eine Spalte
muß ich’s erspäh’n! –Seh’ ich dieß wonnige Auge,von dem Weibe lass’ ich nicht ab.
...
Fafner:An Wotan’s Finger
glänzt von Gold noch ein Ring:den gebt, die Ritze zu füllen!
...
Wotan:
Fordert frech was ihr wollt:
alles gewähr’ ich;
um alle Welt dochnicht fahren lass’ ich den Ring!
Fasolt:Aus dann ist’s!
beim Alten bleibt’s:
nun folgt uns Freia für immer!

still gleams on me here;
her starry eye
still shines upon me:
I cannot but see itthrough the crack! –While I still see this lovely eye,
I’ll not give up the woman.

On Wotan’s finger
a ring of gold still glints:
give that to fill the cranny!

Brazenly ask for whatever you want,everything will I grant you;but not for the world
shall I give up the ring!
Then it’s all off!
We’re back where we started:
Freia will follow us now for ever.

Behind this dramatic scene lies the ancient story of how the gold wasstolen from the dwarf Andvari, and how the gods strove to cover theotter-skin bag with gold (SnE G39):
Fór hann [Loki] í braut til Hrei›mars ok s‡ndi Ó›ni gullit. En er hann sábauginn ﬂá s‡ndisk honum fagr ok tók hann af fénu, en greiddi Hrei›mari
gullit. ﬁá fyldi hann otrbelginn sem mest mátti hann ok setti upp er fullr
var. Gekk ﬂá Ó›inn til ok skyldi hylja belginn me› gullinu, ok ﬂá mælir
hann vi› Hrei›mar at hann skal sjá hvárt belgrinn er ﬂá allr hul›r. En
Hrei›marr leit til ok hug›i at vandliga ok sá eitt granahár ok ba› ﬂat
hylja, en at ƒ›rum kosti væri lokit sætt ﬂeira. ﬁá dró Ó›inn fram bauginn
ok hul›i granahárit.
(He [Loki] went off back to Hreidmar’s and showed Odin the gold. And
when Odin saw the ring he found it beautiful and removed it from thetreasure, and started paying Hreidmar the gold. The latter then filled theotter-skin as tightly as he could and stood it up when it was full. Then
Odin went up to it and began covering the skin with the gold. Then he told
Hreidmar to see whether the skin was now fully covered, and Hreidmar
looked and examined closely and saw one whisker and said it must becovered, otherwise it was the end of any agreement between them. Then
Odin took out the ring and covered the whisker.)

COMPARISON WITH SOURCES

149

R. 4.4The seeress Erda rises up from the earth and speaks to Wotan (Ring,
1672–78, 1688–91, 1695–96):
Wie alles var, weiß ich;
Wie alles wird,
Wie alles sein wird,
seh’ ich auch:der ew’gen Welt
Ur-Wala,Erda mahnt deinen Muth.
...
Alles was ist, endet!
Ein düst’rer Tag
dämmert den Göttern:
dir rath’ ich, meide den Ring!
...
Ich warnte dich –du weißt genug.

How all things were – I know;
how all things are,how all things will be,
I see as well:the endless earth’s
primeval vala,Erda, bids you beware.
All things that are – end.
A day of darkness
dawns for the gods:
I counsel you: shun the ring!
I’ve warned you –you know enough.

Some of these words of Erda’s seem to echo lines of the eddic poemVƒluspá (28, 44, 57):
Ein sat hon úti,ﬂá er inn aldni kom
yggjungr Ása,ok í augu leit:‘Hvers fregni› mik,
Hví freisti› mín?’...
Fjƒl› veit hon frœ›a,fram sé ek lengra
um ragna rƒkrƒmm, sigt‡va.
...
Sól tér sortna,sígr fold í mar,hverfa af himni
hei›ar stjƒrnur.

Alone sat she outside,
when the old one came,the fearful one of the Æsir,and looked in her eyes:‘What are you asking me?
Why do you try me?’
Much knowledge she has,
I see further ahead
beyond the doom of the powers,
mighty, of the victory-gods.
The sun begins to go black,earth sinks into sea,
vanish from the skybright stars.

And her final words are especially reminiscent of the famous warningwith which several stanzas of the poem end (28, 33, 35, 39, 41, 48, 62, 63):
Vitu› ér enn, e›a hvat?

Do you see yet, or what?

The word vala (spelled Wala in the Ring) is a back-formation from
Icelandic vƒlu-, genitive of vƒlva, ‘prophetess’ (found in the name of the

150

WAGNER AND THE VOLSUNGS

eddic poem Vƒluspá). It first appears in the seventeenth century, when it
was sometimes taken to be the name of the prophetess in that poem.
R. 4.5Thus warned, Wotan gives in to the giants’ demand (Ring, 1711–15):
Wotan:
Zu mir, Freia!
Du bist befreit:
wieder gekauft
kehr’ uns die Jugend zurück! –Ihr Riesen, nehmt euren Ring!
Er wirft den Ring auf den Hort.

To me, Freia!
You are freed:
now it’s bought back,may our youth return! –You giants, take your ring!
(He throws the ring on to the hoard.)

This episode of the Prose Edda narrative ends with these words (SnE G39):ﬁá dró Ó›inn fram bauginn ok hul›i granahárit ok sag›i at ﬂá váru
ﬂeir lausir frá otrgjƒldunum. En er Ó›inn haf›i tekit geir sinn en Lokiskúa sína ok ﬂurftu ﬂá ekki at óttask, ﬂá mælti Loki at ﬂat skyldi haldask
er Andvari haf›i mælt, at sá baugr ok ﬂat gull skyldi ver›a ﬂess banier átti, ok ﬂat helzk sí›an.
(Then Odin took out the ring and covered the whisker and declared thatthey were now quit of the otter-payment. And when Odin had taken his
spear and Loki his shoes and they had no need to have any more fear, then
Loki pronounced that it should remain valid, what Andvari had pronounced,
that the ring and the gold should be the death of him who possessed it,
and this was subsequently fulfilled.)

R. 4.6
The giants quarrel, and fight over the ring and how the gold is to beshared between them (Ring, 1716–21, 1726–28, 1737–38):
Fasolt:Halt, du Gieriger!
gönne mir auch ’was!
Redliche Theilung
taugt uns beiden.
Fafner:Mehr an der Maid als am Goldlag dir verliebtem Geck:...
theil’ ich den Hort,
billig behalt’ ich
die größte Hälfte für mich.
...

Don’t be so greedy!
Grant me some, too!
Equal shares
befit us both.
You set greater store by the maidthan you did by the gold, you lovesick loon!
If I now share the hoard,it’s fair that I keep
the biggest half for myself.

COMPARISON WITH SOURCES
Fasolt:Mein ist der Ring;
mir blieb er für Freia’s Blick.
...

151

The ring is mine:
I got it for Freia’s glance.

As they fight over the ring, Fafner slays Fasolt, and grabs the ring
(Ring, 1743–44):
Nun blinz’le nach Freia’s Blick: Now gaze your fill on Freia’s glance:
an den Reif rühr’st du nicht mehr! never again will you touch the ring!

The Prose Edda continues the story (SnE S40):
Hrei›marr tók ﬂá gullit at sonargjƒldum, en Fáfnir ok Reginn beiddusk
af nokkvors í bró›urgjƒld. Hrei›marr unni ﬂeim enskis pennings af
gullinu. ﬁat var› órá› ﬂeira brœ›ra at ﬂeir drápu fƒ›ur sinn til gullsins.
ﬁá beiddisk Reginn at Fáfnir skyldi skipta gullinu í helminga me›
ﬂeim. Fáfnir svarar svá at lítil ván var at hann mundi mi›la gullit vi›
bró›ur sinn er hann drap fƒ›ur sinn til gullsins ok ba› Regin farabraut, en at ƒ›rum kosti mundi hann fara sem Hrei›marr.
(Hreidmar then took the gold as atonement for his son, and Fafnir andRegin demanded something of it for themselves in atonement for theirbrother. Hreidmar would not let them have a single penny of the gold. The
brothers then undertook this terrible course of action that they killed theirfather for the gold. Then Regin demanded that Fafnir should divide thegold equally between them. Fafnir replied that there was little likelihoodof his sharing his gold with his brother when he had killed his father forthe gold, and told Regin to be off, otherwise he would meet the same fateas Hreidmar.)R. 4. 7
When Fafner has left, Donner and Froh create a walkway to Walhall(Ring, 1789–93):
Von ihren Füßen aus zieht sich mit blendendem Leuchten eine RegenbogenBrücke über das Tal hinüber bis zur Burg . . .
(From their feet a rainbow bridge of blinding radiance stretches out acrossthe valley to the castle . . .)Froh:
Zur Burg führt die Brücke,The bridge leads to the stronghold,leicht, doch fest eurem Fuß:
light yet firm to the foot:beschreitet kühn
tread undaunted
ihren schrecklosen Pfad!
its terrorless path!

The idea of the rainbow bridge is clearly from the Prose Edda, where
the rainbow bridge Bifrƒst (‘shivering way’) is often mentioned, mostclearly in the following (SnE G13):

152

WAGNER AND THE VOLSUNGSﬁá mælir Gangleri: ‘Hver er lei› til himins af jƒr›u?’ ﬁá svarar Hár ok
hló vi›: ‘Eigi er nú fró›liga spurt. Er ﬂér eigi sagt ﬂat at gu›in ger›u brú
til himins ok heitir Bifrƒst? Hana muntu sét hafa, kann vera at ﬂat kallirﬂú regnboga. Hon er me› ﬂrim litum ok mjƒk sterk ok ger me› list ok
kunnáttu meiri en a›rar smí›ir.
(Then spoke Gangleri: ‘What way is there to heaven from earth?’ ThenHigh replied, laughing: ‘That is not an intelligent question. Has no one
ever told you that the gods built a bridge to heaven from earth called
Bifrost? You must have seen it, maybe it is what you call the rainbow. It
has three colours and great strength and is built with art and skill to agreater extent than other constructions.)

R. 4.8Before leading the gods over the bridge, Wotan gives a name to thecastle (Ring, 1810–13):
Wotan:
Folge mir, Frau:
Follow me, wife:
in Walhall wohne mit mir!
in Valhalla dwell with me!
Fricka:Was deutet der Name?
What meaning lies in the name?
Nie, dünkt mich, hört’ ich ihn nennen. Never, I think, have I heard it before.

The name Walhall is not used in the Ring until this point. The gods’hall Valhƒll (‘hall of the slain’) is mentioned in many eddic poems,
but the most detailed descriptions are in the Prose Edda (SnE G40)
and in the eddic poem Grímnismál 23:
Fimm hundru› dura
ok um fjórum tøgum,svá hygg ek at Valhƒllu vera;átta hundru› einherja
ganga ór einum durumﬂá er ﬂeir fara at vitni at vega.

Five hundred doors
and forty more,these I think there are in Val-hall;eight hundred lone fighterswill go through each doorway
when they go to attack the wolf.

THE RING
EDDIC POEMS
Rheintöchter
Rheingold
gold in Rhine
Goldglanz
Subterranean
dvergarpeople(dwarfs)
Alberich
Andvari
Alberich’s ring ring
Power of thering
Riesen (giants) jƒtnar (giants)
Burg
Giants desire
Freia
Wotan’s friend- Lokasenna
ship with Loge ﬁrymskvi›aFafnerFáfnirFasoltFreia’s apples
eternal youthI›unn’s apples
eternal youth

PROSE EDDA
Vƒ LSUNGA SAGA
Ránardœtr
gold in Rhine
gold in Rhinel‡sigullsvartálfar, døkk- dvergrálfar (dark-elves)
AndvariAndvaridwarf’s ringdwarf’s ring
multiply wealthDraupnirjƒtnarborg
giants demand
FreyjaÓ›inn’s friendship with Loki
FáfnirFáfnirFasoldAlbrîchring

Álfrekrdwarf’s ringhuge menstrong dwarf

dvergrgiants steal
kings’daughter

giantsking of dwarfs

NIBELUNGENLIED HÜRNEN SEYFRID
merewîp
gold in Rhine
gold in Rhine

ﬁI‹REKS SAGA
sjókonur

DAS RHINEGOLD: SURVEY OF MOTIFSEDDIC POEMSœgishjálmr
Loki betrays
dwarfsdwarf’s curse
otterskincoveredwith gold
Erda’s wisdom Vƒlva inVƒluspáDu weißt genug! Viti› ﬂér enn?
Fafner kills
Fáfnir kills
FasoltHrei›marr
Rainbow bridge Bifrƒst,rainbow
WalhallValhƒll

THE RING
Tarnhelm
Wotan and
Loge betray
Alberich
Alberich’s curse
Freia covered
with gold
dwarf’s curse
otterskincoveredwith goldVƒ LSUNGA SAGA ﬁI‹REKS SAGAœgishjálmr

Fáfnir and Reginn Fáfnir kills
kill Hrei›marr
Hrei›marrBifrƒst,rainbowValhƒlldwarf’s curse
otterskincoveredwith gold

PROSE EDDA
œgishjálmr
Loki betrays
Andvari
NIBELUNGENLIED HÜRNEN SEYFRID
magic capemagic cape

COMPARISON WITH SOURCES

155

DIE VALKÜREICELANDIC EQUIVALENTS*

CHARACTERS
HumansSiegmundSieglinde
Hunding

Sigmundr
Sign‡
Siggeirr, Hundingr
Gods

Wotan
FrickaÓ›inn
Frigg
Valkyries

Brünnhilde
Gerhilde
Grimgerde
Helmwige
Ortlinde
Rossweisse
Schwertleite
Siegrune
Waltraute

Brynhildr[Geirhildr][Grímger›r][Hjálmweig][Oddlinda][Jófrí›r][Hjƒrdís][Sigrún][Valﬂrú›r]*The names in brackets are those used in the surtitles for the production of
the Ring in Reykjavik in 1994, which were presented in an Icelandic version
by ﬁorsteinn Gylfason. They are not found as names of Valkyries in early
Icelandic texts.

Die Walküre
The idea of the valkyries derives from the Eddas and other early poetry.
The German word Walküre is a nineteenth-century Germanisation of
the Icelandic valkyrja (‘chooser of the slain’). The Prose Edda says
(SnE G36):
Enn eru ﬂær a›rar er ﬂjóna skulu í Valhƒll, bera drykkju ok gæta bor›búna›ar ok ƒlgagna . . . ﬁessar heita valkyrjur. ﬁær sendir Ó›inn til hverrar
orrostu. ﬁær kjósa feig› á menn ok rá›a sigri.
(There are still others, whose function it is to wait in Val-hall, serve drink
and look after the tableware and drinking vessels . . . These are calledvalkyries. Odin sends them to every battle. They allot death to men andgovern victory.)

156

WAGNER AND THE VOLSUNGS

Most of the names of the valkyries were women’s names found by
Wagner in early German poems and tales, or adaptations of these;
there are, however, no valkyries in that literature. On the role ofvalkyries as conductors of the dead to Walhall, which is not evident in
Old Icelandic sources, see J. Grimm, Deutsche Mythologie 1854, 393;
cf. Ettmüller 1830, 1, 56.
Die Walküre, Act One, Scene One
W. I.1.1[Before line 1861 of Der Ring, there is an extended description of the
ash-tree printed in GSD (1907) IV, 2. This is not in Wagner’s full score,but it is printed in Huber 1988, and the translation is in Wagner’s Ring
1993 in note 3 on p. 365):
Das Innere eines Wohnraumes. In der Mitte steht der Stamm einer mächtigen
Esche, dessen stark erhabene Wurzeln sich weithin in den Erdboden verlieren;von seinem Wipfel ist der Baum durch ein gezimmertes Dach geschieden,
welches so durchschnitten ist, daß der Stamm und die nach allen Seiten hinsich ausstreckenden Äste durch genau entsprechende Öffnungen hindurch
gehen; von dem belaubten Wipfel wird angenommen, daß er sich über dieses
Dach ausbreite.
(The interior of a dwelling. In the middle stands the trunk of a huge ash,whose prominently raised roots extend a considerable distance before disappearing into the ground. The top of the tree is cut off by a timber roof withholes let into it in such a way that the bole of the tree and the boughs whichbranch out from it pass through the holes, which fit them exactly. We are to
imagine that the leafy top of the tree spreads out above this roof.)Vƒlsunga saga says (ch. 2):
Svá er sagt at Vƒlsungr konungr lét gera hƒll eina ágæta, ok me› ﬂeimhætti at ein eik mikil stó› í hƒllinni, ok limar trésins me› fƒgrum blómum
stó›u út um ræfr hallarinnar, en leggrinn stó› ni›r í hƒllina.
(The tale goes that King Volsung had a magnificent hall built, and in sucha way that there was a great oak standing inside, its branches with theircolourful flowers spreading out through the roof, while its trunk stretcheddown into the hall.)]

Die Walküre, Act One, Scene Two
W. I.2.1
Hunding comes home and finds a stranger (Siegmund) with his wife
Sieglinde (Ring, 1943–45):

COMPARISON WITH SOURCES
Heilig ist mein Herd: –heilig sei dir mein Haus!
Rüst’ uns Männern das Mahl!

157

Sacred is my hearth: –may my house be sacred to you!
Prepare a meal for us men!

The name Hundingr appears in some eddic poems and in Vƒlsungasaga. In the introduction to Helgakvi›a Hundingsbana II, Sigmundrand Hundingr are said to be enemies, and in Vƒlsunga saga Sigmundr
is slain by the sons of Hundingr (chs 11–12).
W. I.2.2
Hunding notices the resemblance between Siegmund and Sieglinde(Ring, 1946–48):
Hunding misst scharf und verwundert Siegmund’s Züge, die er mit denen seiner
Frau vergleicht.
(Hunding examines Siegmund’s features closely and with surprise, comparing
them with those of his wife.)
Hunding:
Wie gleicht er dem Weibe!
Der gleißende Wurm
glänzt auch ihm aus dem Auge.

How like the woman he looks!
The selfsame glittering serpentis glinting in his eye, too.

Here the prototype is in Ragnars saga lo›brókar (ch. 9; Fornaldar
sögur Nor›urlanda I 244–46). Ragnarr’s young wife, Kráka, maintains
that she is not the daughter of a peasant, but of a king:Nú spyrr hann, hverr fa›ir hennar var, ef hún væri eigi dóttir ﬂess insfátæka karls, er á Spangarhei›i var. Hún segir, at hún var dóttir Sigur›ar
Fáfnisbana ok Brynhildar Bu›ladóttur . . . ok nú segir hún ok hefr ﬂar upp
sƒgu, sem ﬂau hittust á fjallinu Sigur›r ok Brynhildr ok hún var byrju›.
‘Ok er Brynhildr var› léttari, var mér nafn gefit, ok var ek kƒllu› Áslaug.’. . . ﬁá svarar Ragnarr: ‘ﬁessum mun ek vi› breg›a Áslaugar órunum, er
ﬂú mælir.’ Hún svarar: ‘ﬁú veizt, at ek em eigi heill ma›r, ok mun ﬂat vera
sveinbarn, er ek geng me›, en á ﬂeim sveini mun vera ﬂat mark, at svá
mun ﬂykkja sem ormr liggi um auga sveininum . . . En ek vil, at sjá sveinn
sé heitinn eftir fe›r mínum, ef í hans auga er ﬂetta fræg›armark, sem ekætla, at vera muni.’ . . . sá inn ungi ma›r var borinn í hƒllina ok lag›r í
skikkjuskaut Ragnars. En er hann sér sveininn, var hann spur›r, hvat heita
skyldi. Hann kva› vísu:(Now he asks who her father was, if she was not the daughter of the poor
man who lived on Spangarheath. She said she was the daughter of Sigurd,
killer of Fafnir, and Brynhild, daughter of Budli . . . and now she tells him
and begins the story where Sigurd and Brynhild met on the mountain, andshe was begotten. ‘And when Brynhild was delivered I was named and I
was called Aslaug.’ . . . Then Ragnar answers, ‘I am amazed at this fantasy

158

WAGNER AND THE VOLSUNGS

about Aslaug that you speak of.’ She answers, ‘You know that I am now
with child, and it will be a boy that I am carrying, and on the boy will bethis sign that it will seem that a snake lies round the boy’s eye . . . But I
desire that this boy be named after my father if that glorious symbol is in
his eye, as I think will be the case.’ . . . this young person was carried into
the hall and laid in the lap of Ragnar’s cloak. And when he sees the boy,they asked him what he should be called. He spoke a verse:)
Sigur›r mun sveinn of heitinn,
Sigurd shall the boy be called;sá mun orrostur heyja,
he will wage battles,mjƒk líkr vera mó›ur
be very like his mother,ok mƒgr fƒ›ur kalla›r;
and be called his father’s son;sá mun Ó›ins ættar
he shall be said to be
yfirbátr vera heitinn,
the most outstanding of Odin’s line.
ﬂeim er ormr í auga,
He has a snake in his eye
er annan lét svelta.
who had the other killed.
...
Sá ek engum sveini
I have seen in no boynema Sigur›i einum
except in Sigurd
í brúnsteinum brúna
laid in the stones of his brows [eyes]bar›hjarls tauma lag›a;brown [shining?] field-bands [snakes];
sjá hefir dagr‡rir d‡ja,
this keen diminisher of water’s shine[of gold, i.e. generous person]– dælt er hann at ﬂví kenna –– he is easy to recognise from it –hvass í hvarmatúni
has in eyelid-field [eye]hring myrkvi›ar fengit.
got dark-wood’s ring [snake].

Ragnars saga was available in German in Friedrich von der Hagen’s
Altnordische Sagen und Lieder (1814), and would very likely havebeen in Wagner’s uncle Adolf’s library (see p. 97 above).
W. I.2.3 (Ring, 1948–49)
Er [Hunding] birgt sein Befremden, und wendet sich wie unbefangen zu Siegmund.
(He [Hunding] conceals his dismay and turns to Siegmund as though quite
naturally.)

Hunding’s character resembles that of King Siggeirr, the husband of
Sigmundr’s twin sister, Sign‡, in Vƒlsunga saga. When Sigmundr
contemptuously refuses to sell him the good sword which he has drawn
from the tree (cf. W.I.3.3), the saga says (ch. 3):
Siggeirr konungr reiddisk vi› ﬂessi or›, ok ﬂótti sér há›uliga svarat vera.
En fyrir ﬂví at honum var svá varit at hann var undirhyggjuma›r mikill,ﬂá lætr hann nú sem hann hir›i ekki um ﬂetta mál, en ﬂat sama kveld
hug›i hann laun fyrir ﬂetta, ﬂau er sí›ar kómu fram.

COMPARISON WITH SOURCES

159(King Siggeir grew angry at these words, and considered that he had been
given an insolent answer, but since he was a great dissembler, he now
made as if he didn’t mind about this matter, yet that very evening he thoughtof how he could pay him back, and that is what later came about.)

W. I.2.4
Siegmund conceals his real name, but relates his adventures with hisfather (Ring, 1982–86, 2007–15):
Wolfe, der war mein Vater;zu zwei kam ich zur Welt,
eine Zwillingsschwester und ich.
Früh schwanden mir
Mutter und Maid.
...
Geächtet flohder Alte mit mir;lange Jahre
lebte der Junge
mit Wolfe im wilden Wald:manche Jagd
ward auf sie gemacht;
doch muthig wehrte
das Wolfspaar sich.

Wolfe was my father;as one of twain I came into the world,a twin-born sister and I.
Mother and maidsoon disappeared.
Outlawed, the old man
fled with me;
deep in the wildwood
the youngster lived
with Wolfe for many a year:
many’s the timethey were hunted down;
but wolf and whelp
would put up a stout defence.

His story is reminiscent of the account in Vƒlsunga saga ch. 8 of thelife of Sigmundr and his son Sinfjƒtli in the woods, in the shape ofwolves (cf. also W. II.1.3):
ﬁat er nú at segja at Sigmundi ﬂykkir Sinfjƒtli of ungr til hefnda me› sér
ok vill nú fyrst venja hann me› nƒkkut har›ræ›i. Fara nú um sumrum
ví›a um skóga ok drepa menn til fjár sér. Sigmundi ﬂykkir hann mjƒk í ættVƒlsunga, ok ﬂó hyggr hann at hann sé sonr Siggeirs konungs . . . Nú er
ﬂat eitthvert sinn at ﬂeir fara enn á skóginn at afla sér fjár, en ﬂeir finna
eitt hús ok tvá menn sofandi í húsinu me› digrum gullhringum. ﬁeir hƒf›uor›it fyrir óskƒpum ﬂví at úlfahamir hengu í húsinu yfir ﬂeim. It tíunda
hvert dœgr máttu ﬂeir komask ór hƒmunum. ﬁeir váru konungasynir. ﬁeir
Sigmundr fóru í hamina ok máttu eigi ór komask, ok fylg›i sú náttúra sem
á›r var, létu ok vargsrƒddu.
(The story now tells how Sigmund thought Sinfjotli too young to go with
him in search of vengeance, and decided he would first gain him experiencein something that called for grit and determination. For some summers
they roved far and wide through the forest and killed people for plunder.
Sigmund thought that he took after the Volsungs, and markedly so, but he160

WAGNER AND THE VOLSUNGS

believed him to be King Siggeir’s son . . . Now one day they went again to
the forest in order to find themselves riches, and they came to a cabin, andin the cabin were two men asleep, wearing heavy gold rings. An evil fate
had overtaken them, for there were wolf skins hanging above them in thecabin. They could shed the skins once every ten days. They were princes.
Sigmund and Sinfjotli got into the skins, and could not get out of themagain — the strange power was there, just as before, and they even howled
like wolves.)

W. I.2.5
Hunding becomes convinced that Siegmund is of a hostile family, but
he decides not to kill the unarmed man until the following morning(Ring, 2116–21):
Mein Haus hütet,Wölfing, dich heut’;für die Nacht nahm ich dich auf:
mit starker Waffe
doch wehre dich morgen;zum Kampfe kies’ ich den Tag.

My house, Wölfing,protects you today;
for the night I have taken you in:
but with sturdy weapon
defend yourself in the morning;
I choose the day for the fight.

‘A manslaughter during the night was considered a murder,’ says Jakob
Grimm in his Deutsche Rechtsaltertümer (1854), 87 n., without citing
any source. This motif, however, appears in a few Icelandic sagas.
The best-known case is in Egils saga ch. 59, when King Eiríkr BloodAxe and Queen Gunnhildr plan to execute Egill in York. Then theirmutual friend, the chieftain Arinbjƒrn, says:‘Eigi mun konungr . . . láta Egil drepa í nótt, ﬂví at náttvíg eru mor›víg.’
Konungr segir: ‘Svá skal vera, Arinbjƒrn, sem ﬂú bi›r, at Egill skal lifa ínótt; haf›u hann heim me› ﬂér ok fœr mér hann á morgin.’(‘He [the king] will not have Egil killed tonight because night-killings are
murders.’ The king said: ‘It shall be as you ask, Arinbjorn, Egil shall live
tonight. Take him home with you and bring him to me in the morning.’)

This chapter of Egils saga existed in German translation in an anthology
from 1816, and a copy of this book was in Wagner’s own library (seep. 106 above and Westernhagen 1966, 102).
Die Walküre, Act One, Scene Three
W. I.3.1
Left alone for the night, Siegmund ponders his situation; but Sieglinde
soon comes to offer him help (Ring, 2131–34, 2192–2239):

COMPARISON WITH SOURCES

161

Siegmund:Ein Schwert verhieß mir der Vater, My father promised me a sword:
ich fänd’ es in höchster Noth. –I’d find it in direst need. –Waffenlos fiel ich
Unarmed I chanced
in Feindes Haus.
on my enemy’s house.
...
Sieglinde:
Eine Waffe lass’ mich dir weisen – : Let me show you a weapon:
O wenn du sie gewänn’st!
if only you could win it!
Den hehr’sten Helden
As the noblest of heroes
dürft’ ich dich heißen:
might I hail you:dem Stärk’sten allein
the strongest alone
ward sie bestimmt. –was destined to gain it. –O merke wohl, was ich dir melde! – Heed well what I have to tell you. –Der Männer Sippe
The men from his clan
saß hier im Saal,sat here in the hall,von Hunding zur Hochzeit geladen: as guests at Hunding’s wedding:er frei’te ein Weib,
he was wooing a woman
das ungefragt
whom villains, unasked,
Schächer ihm schenkten zur Frau.
had given him as his wife.
Traurig saß ich
Sadly I sat there
während sie tranken:
while they were drinking:ein Fremder trat da herein –a stranger then came in –ein Greis in grauem Gewand;an old man dressed in grey;
tief hing ihm der Hut,his hat hung so low
der deckt’ ihm der Augen eines;that one of his eyes was hidden,
doch des and’ren Strahl,
but the flash of its fellow
Angst schuf er allen,
struck fear all around,
traf die Männer
as its lowering staresein mächtiges Dräu’n:transfixed the men:mir alleinin me alone
weckte das Augehis eye awakened
süß sehnenden Harm,
sweetly yearning sorrow,
Thränen und Trost zugleich.
mingled with tears and solace.
Auf mich blickt’ er,
He gazed at me
und blitzte auf Jene,
and glared at themals ein Schwert in Händen er schwang; as he brandished a sword in his hands;
das stieß er nun
he then drove it deep
in der Esche Stamm,in the ash-tree’s trunk;bis zum Heft haftet’ es drin: –it was buried up to the hilt: –dem sollte der Stahl geziemen,
the steel would rightly belong to him
der aus dem Stamm’ es zög’.
who could draw it forth from the trunk.
Der Männer Alle,Of all the menfolk,
so kühn sie sich müh’ten,much as they struggled,

162

WAGNER AND THE VOLSUNGS

die Wehr sich keiner gewann;Gäste kamen
und Gäste gingen,die stärk’sten zogen am Stahl –keinen Zoll eintwich er dem Stamm’:dort haftet schweigend das Schwert. –Da wußt’ ich, wer der war,
der mich gramvolle gegrüßt:
ich weiß auch,
wem allein
im Stamm’ das Schwert er bestimmt.

none could win the weapon;
guests would comeand guests would go,
the strongest tugged at the steel –not an inch did it stir in the trunk:in silence the sword still cleaves there. –I knew then who he was
who greeted me in my grief:
I also knew
for whom alone
he destined the sword in the tree.

In Vƒlsunga saga the corresponding account is as follows (ch. 3):
Svá er sagt at ﬂar váru miklir eldar ger›ir eptir endilangri hƒllinni, en nú
stendr sjá inn mikli apaldr í mi›ri hƒllinni, sem fyrr var nefndr. Nú er ﬂessvi› getit, at ﬂá er menn sátu vi› eldana um kveldit, at ma›r einn gekk inní hƒllina. Sá ma›r er mƒnnum ókunnr at s‡n. Sjá ma›r hefir ﬂess háttar
búning, at hann hefir heklu flekkótta yfir sér. Sá ma›r var berfœttr ok
haf›i kn‡tt línbrókum at beini. Sá ma›r haf›i sver› í hendi ok gengr at
barnstokkinum, ok hƒtt sí›an á hƒf›i. Hann var hárr mjƒk ok eldiligr okeins‡nn. Hann breg›r sver›inu ok stingr ﬂví í stokkinn, svá at sver›it søkkr
at hjƒltum upp. ¯llum mƒnnum fellusk kve›jur vi› ﬂennan mann. ﬁá tekrhann til or›a ok mælti: ‘Sá er ﬂessu sver›i breg›r ór stokkinum, ﬂá skal
sá ﬂat ﬂiggja at mér at gjƒf, ok skal hann ﬂat sjálfr sanna at aldri bar
hann betra sver› sér í hendi en ﬂetta er.’ Eptir ﬂetta gengr sjá inn gamlima›r út ór hƒllinni, ok veit engi hverr hann er e›a hvert hann gengr. Nústanda ﬂeir upp ok metask ekki vi› at taka sver›it. ﬁykkisk sá bezt hafa er
fyrst náir. Sí›an gengu til inir gƒfgustu menn fyrst, en ﬂá hverr at ƒ›rum.
Engi kemr sá til er nái, ﬂví at engan veg bifask er ﬂeir taka til.
(It is said that big fires were lighted down the length of the hall, and as
was mentioned before, the great apple-tree stood there in the middle ofthe hall. Now the story goes that, while the men were sitting round thefires in the evening, a man came into the hall. It was a man whose
appearance was unfamiliar. This is how he was dressed: he had on amottled cape, he was bare-footed and had bound his linen breeches roundthe leg. The man held a sword in his hand and went up to Barnstock [thetree in the centre of the hall] and had a low hood over his head; he wasvery grey, venerable and had but one eye. He drew back the sword andplunged it into the trunk, so that the sword sank in up to the hilt. No one
was able to utter a word of welcome to the man. Then he started to speak,
and these were his words: ‘The man to pull out this sword from the trunk
shall receive it from me as a gift, and he will find out for himself that henever bore in hand a better sword than this.’ After that the old man wentout of the hall, and no one knew who he was or where he was going. TheyCOMPARISON WITH SOURCES

163

now got up, and no one hung back in taking hold of the sword. He counted
himself best off who got it out first. Then the most notable among themwent up first, and afterwards the others, one by one. And not one whowent up succeeded, for when they took hold, the sword would not budge.)

W. I.3.2
Wagner definitely hints in the music that Wälse, the father of the twins,
was in fact Wotan himself in disguise. [In the Nibelungen-Mythus of
1848 (p. 120 above) this is explained in the following way:
But not yet is the rightful hero born, in whom his self-reliant strength shallreach full consciousness, enabling him with the free-willed penalty of death
before his eyes to call his boldest deed his own. In the race of the Wälsungenthis hero at last shall come to birth: a barren union is fertilised by Wotan
through one of Holda’s apples, which he gives the wedded pair to eat:twins, Siegmund and Sieglinde (brother and sister), spring from themarriage.]In the final version, Wagner did not use this story about the impregnating apple. The story was, however, derived from Vƒlsunga saga,
where it relates to the royal grandparents of Sigmundr, who in theirold age pray to the gods to give them a child (chs 1–2):
ﬁat er nú sagt at Frigg heyrir bœn ﬂeira, ok segir Ó›ni hvers ﬂau bi›ja.
Hann ver›r eigi ƒrﬂrifará›a ok tekr óskmey sína, dóttir Hrímnis jƒtuns,
ok fær í hƒnd henni eitt epli ok bi›r hana fœra konungi. Hon tók vi› eplinu
ok brá á sik krákuham ok fl‡gr til ﬂess er hon kemr ﬂar sem konungrinn
er, ok sat á haugi. Hon lét falla eplit í kné konunginum. Hann tók ﬂat epli
ok ﬂóttisk vita hverju gegna mundi; gengr nú heim af hauginum ok til
sinna manna, ok kom á fund dróttningar ok etr ﬂat epli sumt. ﬁat er nú atsegja at dróttning finnr ﬂat brátt at hon mundi vera me› barni . . . ﬁat var
sveinbarn . . . ﬁessum er nú nafn gefit ok er kalla›r Vƒlsungr.
(And we are next told how Frigg heard their prayer and spoke to Odin
about their request. He was not at a loss what to do and fetched an adoptive
daughter [‘wish-maiden’, i.e. valkyrie] of his, the daughter of Hrimnir
the Giant, put an apple in her hand and told her to take it to the king. She
seized the apple, assumed the form of a crow, and flew until she came towhere the king was sitting on a howe. She dropped the apple into theking’s lap. He picked the apple up and guessed what it was all about.
Then he left the howe and went back to his men, had a talk with the queen,
and [she] ate part of the apple. You must now hear how the queen soon
found that she was going to have a child . . . It was a boy . . . A name was
now given to him and he was called Volsung.)

164

WAGNER AND THE VOLSUNGSW. I.3.3
Siegmund reveals his real name and that of his father (Ring, 2406–19):
Sieglinde:
Doch nanntest du Wolfe den Vater? But Wolfe, you said, was your father?
Siegmund:Ein Wolf war er feigen Füchsen! A wolf to fearful foxes!
Doch dem so stolz
But he whose eyestrahlte das Auge,once flashed as proudly
wie, Herrliche, hehr dir es strahlt, as yours, fair woman, flashes now –der war – Wälse genannt.
Wälse was his name.
Sieglinde:
War Wälse dein Vater,
If Wälse’s your father
und bist du ein Wälsung,and if you’re a Wälsung;
stieß er für dichif he thrust the sword
sein Schwert in den Stamm –in the tree for you –so lass’ mich dich heißen
then let me name you
wie ich dich liebe:
as I love you:
Siegmund –Siegmund –so nenn’ ich dich!
thus do I call you!

In Vƒlsunga saga, Sigmundr and Sign‡ are twin children of KingVƒlsungr (ch. 2):
Nú ﬂá er hann var alroskinn at aldri, ﬂá sendir Hrímnir honum Hljó›,
dóttur sína . . . ﬁau áttu tíu sonu ok eina dóttur. Inn elzti sonr ﬂeira hét
Sigmundr, en Sign‡ dóttir. ﬁau váru tvíburar, ok váru ﬂau fremst ok vænst
um alla hluti barna Vƒlsungs konungs.
(Now when he reached manhood Hrimnir sent his daughter, Hliod, to him. . . They had ten sons and one daughter; their eldest son was called
Sigmund, and their daughter Signy. They were twins and in every way thebest looking and the most remarkable of King Volsung’s children.)

The names Wälse and Wälsungen do not appear in medieval German;
they are simply a Germanisation of the Icelandic names Vƒlsungr(which might have been understood to mean ‘descendant of Vƒlsi’)and Vƒlsungar, which are known from the Eddas and Vƒlsunga saga.

W. I.3.4 (Ring, before 2419 and 2441)
Siegmund springt auf . . . Er zieht mit einem gewaltigen Zuck das Schwert aus
dem Stamme, und zeigt es der vor Staunen und Entzücken erfassten Sieglinde.
(Siegmund leaps up . . . With a violent effort he draws the sword from the tree
and shows it to Sieglinde, who is seized by astonishment and ecstasy.)

COMPARISON WITH SOURCES

165

Vƒlsunga saga (ch. 3):
Nú kom til Sigmundr, sonr Vƒlsungs konungs, ok tók til ok brá sver›inu ór
stokkinum, ok var sem laust lægi fyrir honum.
(Then Sigmund, the son of King Volsung, came up, gripped the sword andpulled it out of the trunk as if he found it quite loose.)

W. I.3.5
Siegmund acknowledges his identity, and Sieglinde reveals herself as
his sister (Ring, 2441–42, 2455–63):
Siegmund:Siegmund, den Wälsung
Siegmund the Wälsungsieh’st du, Weib!
you see here, wife!
...
Sieglinde:
Bist du Siegmund,If you are Siegmund
den ich hier sehe –whom I see here –Sieglinde bin ich,
Sieglinde am I,
die dich ersehnt:
who has longed for you:die eig’ne Schwester
your own true sistergewann’st du zueins mit dem Schwert! you’ve won for yourself with the sword!
Siegmund:Braut und Schwester
Bride and sisterbist du dem Bruder –you are to your brother –so blühe denn Wälsungen-Blut!
so let the blood of the Wälsungs blossom!

[The Nibelungen-Mythus of 1848 also says (p. 120 above):
To beget a genuine Wälsung, brother and sister wed each other.]

The union of the twins is clearly derived from Vƒlsunga saga, whichsays that Sign‡ wants to have a brave son in order to avenge her father,
King Vƒlsungr. After two failed attempts, she disguises herself withthe help of a sorceress, and visits her twin brother, Sigmundr, in his
hiding place (ch. 7):
Nú er ﬂat frá Sign‡ju at segja at hon ferr til jar›húss bró›ur síns ok bi›rhann veita sér herbergi um nóttina, — ‘ﬂví at ek hefi villzk á skóginum úti,ok veit ek eigi hvar ek fer.’ Hann mælti at hon skyldi ﬂar vera, ok vildi eigi
synja henni vistar, einni konu, ok ﬂóttisk vita at eigi mundi hon svá launahonum gó›an beina at segja til hans. Nú ferr hon í herbergi til hans, oksetjask til matar. Honum var› opt litit til hennar ok lízk konan væn ok frí›.
En er ﬂau eru mett, ﬂá segir hann henni at hann vill at ﬂau hafi eina
rekkju um nóttina, en hon br‡zk ekki vi› ﬂví, ok leggr hann hana hjá sér
ﬂrjár nætr samt. Eptir ﬂat ferr hon heim . . . Ok er fram li›u stundir, fœ›ir

166

WAGNER AND THE VOLSUNGS

Sign‡ sveinbarn. Sá sveinn var Sinfjƒtli kalla›r. Ok er hann vex upp, er
hann bæ›i mikill ok sterkr ok vænn at áliti ok mjƒk í ætt Vƒlsunga.
(Signy, we are now told, went to her brother’s retreat and asked him to
give her shelter for the night — ‘For I am lost here in the forest, and I don’tknow where I’m going.’ He said she could stay there, and that he would
not refuse her shelter, all alone as she was, and he felt that she would not
repay his hospitality by giving him away. So she joined him in the shelter
and they sat down to a meal. He often glanced at her, and she appeared to
be a good-looking and attractive woman. And when they were satisfied,
he told her that he wanted them to sleep together that night. She made no
objection and for three nights in succession he laid her next to him. Afterwards she went back . . . And after some time had passed, Signy gave birth
to a son. The boy was called Sinfjotli, and when he grew older he was tall,strong and handsome, and took after the Volsung family very markedly.)

Die Walküre, Act Two, Scene One
W. II.1.1
Wotan and Brünnhilde are revealed as battle deities (Ring, 2464–72):
Wotan, kriegerisch gewaffnet mit dem Speer: vor ihm Brünnhilde, als Walküre,
ebenfalls in voller Waffenrüstung.
(Wotan, armed for battle, with his spear; before him Brünnhilde, as a valkyrie,
likewise fully armed.)
Wotan:
Nun zäume dein Roß,reisige Maid!
Bald entbrennt
brünstiger Streit.
Brünnhilde stürme zum Kampf,
dem Wälsung kiese sie Sieg!
Hunding wähle sich
wem er gehört:
nach Walhall taugt er mir nicht.

Now harness your horse,
warrior maid!
A furious fightwill soon flare up:
let Brünnhilde fly to the fray;for the Wälsung let her choose victory!
Hunding may choose
to whom he belongs:
he’s no use to me in Valhalla.

Historically, Brunhilda is known as a princess and later as a queen of
the Visigoths around AD 600. In legends and poems about the Volsungs
and Nibelungs, one of the main characters always carries some variantof her name. Only in the Icelandic version is she said to be a valkyrie.
W. II.1.2
Fricka enters and demands that Siegmund be punished for adultery
and incest (Ring, 2509–16):

COMPARISON WITH SOURCES
Ich vernahm Hunding’s Noth,um Rache rief er mich an:
der Ehe Hüterin
hörte ihn,
verhieß strengzu strafen die Thatdes frech frevelnden Paar’s,das kühn den Gatten gekränkt.

167

Hunding’s distress I heard;
he called on me for vengeance:
wedlock’s guardian
gave him ear
and promised to punish
severely the deedof that brazenly impious pairthat dared to wrong a husband.

As guardian of wedlock, Fricka here has more in common with the
Greek Hera and the Roman Juno than the Norse Frigg. The real guardianof marriage in Norse mythology is called Vár, and there is anothergoddess called Lofn, who helps lovers. The Prose Edda says of thequalities of these goddesses (SnE G35):
Átta Lofn: hon er svá mild ok gó› til áheita at hon fær leyfi af Alfƒ›r e›aFrigg til manna samgangs, kvenna ok karla, ﬂótt á›r sé bannat e›aﬂvertekit . . . Níunda Vár: hon hl‡›ir á ei›a manna ok einkamál er veita
sín á milli konur ok karlar . . . Hon hefnir ok ﬂeim er brig›a.
(Eighth Lofn: she is so kind and good to pray to that she gets leave from
All-father or Frigg for people’s union, between women and men, even if
before it was forbidden or refused . . . Ninth Var: she listens to people’s
oaths and private agreements that women and men make between eachother . . . She also punishes those who break them.)

W. II.1.3
Fricka accuses Wotan, as Wälse, of wandering wolf-like in the forest(according to Ring, 2037–40, he wore a wolf-skin) and of himself
begetting the Wälsungs (Ring, 2560–2608). She denies that Siegmund
is independent of Wotan, since Wotan has given him the sword (Ring,
2636–76). Wotan submits (Ring, 2725). Compare the parallels fromVƒlsunga saga in W. I.2.4 and W. I.3.1–5.
Die Walküre, Act Two, Scene Two
W. II.2.1
Once Fricka has left, Wotan meditates on the events that have led him
to his present situation. He tells Brünnhilde how, after the cursing of
the Ring, he sought more knowledge from Erda (Ring, 2805–13):
Wotan:
Da verlor ich den leichten Muth; Then I lost all lightness of heart;zu wissen begehrt’ es den Gott:the god desired knowledge:

168

WAGNER AND THE VOLSUNGSin den Schooß der Welt
schwang ich mich hinab,
mit Liebes-Zauberzwang ich die Wala,
stört’ ihres Wissens Stolz,
daß sie Rede nun mir stand.
Kunde empfing ich von ihr.

into the womb of the world
I descended,mastered the valawith love’s magic spelland broke her wisdom’s pride,that she gave account of herself.
Knowledge I gained from her.

The Prose Edda account (SnE G58) of Bƒlverkr (Ó›inn) visiting Gunnlƒ› in order to get the mead of poetry is an obvious model for this scene:Fór Bƒlverkr ﬂar til sem Gunnlƒ› var ok lá hjá henni ﬂrjár nætr, ok ﬂálofa›i hon honum at drekka af mi›inum ﬂrjá drykki.
(Bolverk went to where Gunnlod was and lay with her for three nights andthen she let him drink three draughts of the mead.)

W. II.2.2
The valkyries, Wotan reveals, were the fruit of his union with Erda
(Ring, 2815–22):
Wotan:
Der Welt weisestes Weib
gebar mir, Brünnhilde, dich.
Mit acht Schwestern
zog ich dich auf:
durch euch Walküren
wollt’ ich wenden,
was mir die Walazu fürchten schuf.

The world’s wisest woman
bore to me, Brünnhilde, you.
With eight sisters
I brought you up:
through you valkyries
I hoped to avert
the fate that the vala
had made me fear.

It was Wagner’s own idea to make Brünnhilde the daughter of Wotan(in the Poetic Edda she is his adoptive daughter, óskmær), but the numberof the valkyries is taken from the Eddas. The mothers of Heimdallr andthe daughters of Ægir and Rán are both also said to number nine. In theeddic poem Helgakvi›a Hjƒrvar›ssonar (prose before stanza 6) it says:
Hann sat á haugi; hann sá rí›a valkyjur níu, ok var ein gƒfugligust.
(He was sitting on a burial-mound; he saw nine valkyries riding by, andone was the most imposing.)

W. II.2.3
The function of the valkyries is now explained (Ring, 2824–26, 2835–40):
Wotan:
Daß stark zum Streit
uns fände der Feind,That our foe might find us
stalwart in strife

COMPARISON WITH SOURCES

169

hieß ich euch Helden mir schaffen: I bade you bring me heroes:...
die solltet zu Sturm
you’d to spur them on
und Streite ihr nun stacheln,
to onslaught and strife,
ihre Kraft reizen
honing their strength
zu rauhem Krieg,
for hot-blooded battle,
daß kühner Kämpfer Schaaren
so that hosts of valiant warriors
ich samm’le in Walhall’s Saal.
I’d gather in Valhalla’s hall.

Einherjar (‘lone fighters’), the slain warriors in Valhƒll, are well known
from the Eddas. In the Prose Edda, the pastime of these favourites ofÓ›inn is described thus (SnE G20, G41):
Ó›inn heitir Alfƒ›r, ﬂví at hann er fa›ir allra go›a. Hann heitir ok Valfƒ›r,
ﬂvíat hans óskasynir eru allir ﬂeir er í val falla. ﬁeim skipar hann Valhƒll
ok Vingólf, ok heita ﬂeir ﬂá einherjar . . . Hvern dag ﬂá er ﬂeir hafa klæzk
ﬂá hervæ›a ﬂeir sik ok ganga út í gar›inn ok berjask ok fellr hverr áannan. ﬁat er leikr ﬂeira. Ok er lí›r at dƒgur›armáli ﬂá rí›a ﬂeir heim til
Valhallar ok setjask til drykkju.
(Odin is called All-father, for he is father of all gods. He is also called Valfather [father of the slain], since all those who fall in battle are his adopted
sons. He assigns them places in Val-hall and Vingolf, and they are thenknown as Einherjar . . . Each day after they have got dressed they put on
war-gear and go out into the courtyard and fight each other and they falleach upon the other. This is their sport. And when dinner-time approaches
they ride back to Val-hall and sit down to drink.)

W. II.2.4
Wotan fears that Alberich may gain control of the magic ring and thegold guarded by Fafner (Ring, 2848–49, 2855–57, 2876–81, 2968–77):
Durch Alberich’s Heerdroht uns das Ende:...
Nur wenn je den Ringzurück er gewänne –dann wäre Walhall verloren:...
Fafner hütet den Hort,um den er den Bruder gefällt.
Ihm müßt’ ich den Reif entringen,den selbst als Zoll ich ihm zahlte:
doch mit den ich vertrug,
ihn darf ich nicht treffen.
...

Through Alberich’s hostour end now threatens.
Only were heto win back the ring
would Valhalla then be lost.
Fafner broods on the hoard
for which he killed his brother.
From him I must wrest the ring,which I paid him once as tribute:having treated with him,
I cannot meet him.

170

WAGNER AND THE VOLSUNGS

Vom Niblung jüngst
Of the Niblung I lately
vernahm ich die Mär’,heard it told
daß ein Weib der Zwerg bewältigt, that the dwarf had had his way with awoman
dess’ Gunst Gold ihm erzwang.
whose favours gold had gained him.
Des Hasses Frucht
A woman harbours
hegt eine Frau;the seed of hate;des Neides Kraft
the force of envy
kreiß’t ihr im Schooß;stirs in her womb:
das Wunder gelang
this wonder befell
dem Liebelosen.
the loveless dwarf.

A model for Alberich’s fathering a child is to be found in the conception of Hƒgni in ﬁi›reks saga (169 (274)):
Ok ﬂat bar at eitt sinn, at hún var víndrukkin, ﬂá er konungr var eigi
heima í sinu ríki, ok var sofnu› í einum grasgar›i úti, ok til hennar kom
einn ma›r ok liggr hjá henni . . . Ok er nú ﬂa›an lí›r nokkur stund, er
dróttning ólétt, ok á›r hún fœ›i barn, ﬂá berr ﬂat at, ﬂá er hún er ein
saman stƒdd, at til hennar kemr inn sami ma›r . . . En hann lézt vera einnálfr. ‘En ef ﬂat barn mætti upp vaxa, ﬂá seg ﬂví sitt fa›erni, en leyn hvernmann annarra. Nú er ﬂat sveinbarn, sem mik varir,’ segir hann, ‘ok sá
mun vera mikill fyrir sér, ok oftliga mun hann vera í nau›um staddr, ok
hvert sinn, er hann er svá staddr, at eigi fær hann sik sjálfr leyst, ﬂá skalhann kalla á sinn fƒ›ur, ok mun hann ﬂar vera, ﬂá er hann ﬂarf.’ Ok nú
hverfr ﬂessi álfr svá sem skuggi.
(It happened on one occasion that she was drunk with wine when the kingwas not at home in his kingdom, and she had fallen asleep in a grassy
garden outdoors and to her came a man and lay with her . . . When sometime has passed, the queen is pregnant and before she gives birth, it happens
when she is alone that the same man comes to her . . . And he said that he
was an elf. ‘And if that child should manage to grow up, then tell it about
its paternity, but keep it secret from everyone else. If it is a boy, as I expect,’he says, ‘then he will be a great man, and will often be in great danger
and every time he is in such a position that he cannot free himself, he shallcall on his father, and he will be there when he is needed.’ And now this elf
disappears like a shadow.)

For further comparison, see some of the aspects of Hagen in Götterdämmerung, especially G. I.2 and G. II.1 (Ring, 7158–69 and 7736–45).
W. II.2.5
Brünnhilde calls Wotan Siegvater (Ring, 3041). The equivalent nameSigfa›ir/Sigfƒ›r (Father of Victory or of Battle) is found as a name forÓ›inn in Vƒluspá 55, Grímnismál 48 and SnE G20.

COMPARISON WITH SOURCES

171

Die Walküre, Act Two, Scene Three
Flight of Sieglinde and Siegmund (Ring, 3051–3159). No prototypes
exist in the Icelandic or German texts.

Die Walküre, Act Two, Scene Four
W. II.4.1
In compliance with the instructions that Fricka has compelled Wotan
to give her, Brünnhilde appears to Siegmund in her role as a herald ofdeath (Ring, 3160–63, 3166–95):
Brünnhilde:
Siegmund! –Sieh’ auf mich!
Ich – bin’s,
der bald du folg’st...
Nur Todgeweihten
taugt mein Anblick:wer mich erschaut,der scheidet vom Lebens-Licht.
Auf der Walstatt alleinerschein’ ich Edlen;
wer mich gewahrt,
zur Wal kor ich ihn mir.
Siegmund:Der dir nun folgt,
wohin führ’st du den Helden?
Brünnhilde:
Zu Walvater,
der dich gewählt,führ’ ich dich:nach Walhall folg’st du mir.
Siegmund:
In Walhall’s Saal
Walvater find’ ich allein?
Brünnhilde:
Gefall’ner Helden
hehrer Schaar
umfängt dich hold
mit hoch-heiligem Gruß.

Siegmund! –Look on me!
I am shewhom you’ll follow soon.
The death-doomed alone
are destined to look on me:
he who beholds megoes hence from life’s light.
In battle alone
I appear before heroes:
him who perceives me
I’ve chosen as one of the slain.
The hero who follows you –where will you lead him?
The Lord of the Slain
has chosen you –to him do I lead you now:
you’ll follow me to Valhalla.
In Valhalla’s hallshall I find the Lord of the Slain alone?
The noble hostof fallen heroes
welcomes you fondlywith greeting most holy.

172

WAGNER AND THE VOLSUNGS

Siegmund:Fänd’ ich in Walhall
Wälse, den eig’nen Vater?
Brünnhilde:
Den Vater findet
der Wälsung dort!
Siegmund:Grüßt mich in Walhall
froh eine Frau?
Brünnhilde:
Wunschmädchen
walten dort hehr:
Wotan’s Tochterreicht dir traulich den Trank!

Might I find my own father,
Wälse, in Valhalla?
The Wälsung will find
his father there.
Will a woman greet me
gladly in Valhalla?
There Wish-Maidens
hold sublime sway:
Wotan’s daughter
will lovingly hand you your drink.

Wagner’s Walvater (‘Lord of the Slain’) is the equivalent of Valfƒ›r,
which is known as a name for Ó›inn in Icelandic, e.g. in Vƒluspá 1,
27–28 and Grímnismál 48. The Prose Edda says of Ó›inn (SnE G20):
Hann heitir ok Valfƒ›r, ﬂvíat hans óskasynir eru allir ﬂeir er í val falla.
(He is also called Val-father, since all those who fall in battle are his
adopted sons.)

The eddic poem Oddrúnargrátur (16) calls Brynhildr óskmær (wishmaiden, i.e. adoptive or chosen maiden). Grímnismál (36) says of the
valkyries:ﬁær bera einherjum ƒl.

These serve ale to the Einheriar.

Brünnhilde’s role as a herald of death is strongly reminiscent of thatof the valkyries in the poem Hákonarmál by the tenth-century Norwegian poet Eyvindr skáldaspillir, quoted in Heimskringla at the endof Hákonar saga gó›a (ch. 31). Here Ó›inn sends two valkyries,Gƒndul and Skƒgul, to fetch the strong and victorious king to Valhƒll:Gƒndul ok Skƒgul
sendi Gautat‡r
at kjósa of konunga,
hverr Yngva ættar
skyldi me› Ó›ni faraok í Valhƒllu vesa.
...
Gƒndul ﬂat mælti,studdisk geirskapti:‘Vex nú gengi go›a,

Gautatyr [Odin] sent
Gondul and Skogul
to choose from the kings
which ones of Yngvi’s line
should go to be with Odin
and be in Val-hall.
Gondul spoke this,she leaned on her spear-shaft:‘The gods’ following is growing

COMPARISON WITH SOURCES
er Hákoni hafame› her mikinn
heim bƒnd of bo›it.’
Vísi ﬂat heyr›i,hvat valkyrjur mæltu
mærar af mars baki.
Hyggiliga létu
ok hjalma›ar sátu
ok hƒf›usk hlífar fyrir.

173

since the powers have summoned
Hakon to their homewith a great host.’
The ruler heard this,what the battle-maids were saying,
glorious, on horseback.
They spoke wisely
and they sat, helmeted,and held their shields before them.

Hákon feels the valkyrie’s arrangement is unfair, and is reluctant, andSkƒgul answers him.
‘Hví ﬂú svá gunni,’ kva› Hákon,‘Why do you thus, Skogul,’ said Hákon,‘skiptir, Geir-Skƒgul?
‘ordain the battle?
Várum ﬂó ver›ir gagns frá go›um.’ We deserved victory from the gods.’‘Vér ﬂví vƒldum,’ kva› Skƒgul,‘We arranged it,’ said Skogul,
es ﬂú velli helt,‘that you held the fielden ﬂínir fíandr flugu.’
and your foes fled.’‘Rí›a vit skulum,’‘We two shall ride,’kva› en ríkja Skƒgul,said the mighty Skogul,‘grœna heima go›ato the gods’ green homesÓ›ni at segja,
to tell Odinat nú mun allvaldr komathat the most powerful ruler
á hann sjálfan at séa.’
is coming to see him in person.’Ó›inn orders his followers to greet the king with honour:‘Hermó›r ok Bragi,’
kva› Hroptat‡r,‘gangi› í gƒgn grami,
ﬂvít konungr ferr,sás kappi ﬂykkir.
til hallar hinig.’...
‘Einherja gri›skalt ﬂú allra hafa.
ﬁigg ﬂú at Ásum ƒl.
Jarla bági,ﬂú átt inni hérátta brœ›r,’ kva› Bragi.

‘Hermod and Bragi,’
said Hroptatyr [Odin],‘go forth to meet the ruler,
for a king is coming
who seems to be a hero
here to this hall.’‘Safe-conduct shall you haveof all the Einheriar (W. II. 2.3).
Take ale with the Æsir [gods].
Opponent of earls,
you have in here
eight of your brothers,’ said Bragi.

W. II.4.2
Siegmund refuses to accompany Brünnhilde to Walhall, unless he cantake Sieglinde with him (Ring, 3199–14):

174

WAGNER AND THE VOLSUNGS

Doch Eines sag’ mir, du Ew’ge!
Begleitet den Bruder
die bräutliche Schwester?
Umfängt Siegmund
Sieglinde dort?
Brünnhilde:
Erdenluft
muß sie doch athmen:
Sieglindesieht Siegmund dort nicht!
Siegmund:So grüße mir Walhall,
grüße mir Wotan,
grüße mir Wälse
und alle Helden –grüß’ auch die holden
Wunches-Mädchen: –zu ihnen folg’ ich dir nicht.

But tell me one thing, immortal!
Will the sister-bride
go with her brother?
Will Siegmund embrace
Sieglinde there?
Earthly air
she must breathe awhile:
Siegmundwill not see Sieglinde there!
Then greet for me Valhalla,
greet for me Wotan,
greet for me Wälse
and all the heroes –greet, too, Wotan’s
gracious daughters: –to them I follow you not.

In Hákonarmál the king is wary of Ó›inn:Ræsir ﬂat mælti,vas frá rómu kominn,stó› allr í dreyra drifinn:‘Illú›igr mjƒkﬂykkir oss Ó›inn vesa.
Séumk vér hans of hugi.’...

The ruler said this,he was come from battle,
he stood all covered in blood:‘Very evilly disposed
looks Odin to us.
We fear his purpose.’...

‘Ger›ir órar,’kva› enn gó›i konungr,‘viljum vér sjalfir hafa.
Hjalm ok brynju
skal hir›a vel.
Gótt es til gƒrs at taka.’‘Our armour,’said the good king,‘shall we ourselves keep.
Helmet and mail-coatmust be guarded well.
It is good to have them to hand.’The principal difference of content is that in Wagner, Siegmund’s
actions are attributable solely to love, while King Hákon’s reluctanceis due to his distrust of Ó›inn and his desire to live longer.
This poem was one of the first skaldic poems to be printed andtranslated, and was widely available in Wagner’s time, for instance inThomas Percy’s Five Pieces of Runic Poetry (1763) and in a numberof German translations. Wagner also had two different translations of
the relevant section of Heimskringla in his library in Dresden. Much

COMPARISON WITH SOURCES

175

the same themes also appear in Eiríksmál in Fagrskinna, but that poem
is unlikely to have been known to Wagner.
W. II. 4.3
Siegmund says he will kill himself and Sieglinde rather than be parted
from her. Brünnhilde finally decides to defy Wotan and spare
Siegmund, while letting Hunding die (Ring, 3313–20):
Halt’ ein, Wälsung!
Höre mein Wort!
Sieglinde lebe –und Siegmund lebe mit ihr!
Beschlossen ist’s;
das Schlachtloos wend’ ich:
dir, Siegmund,schaff’ ich Segen und Sieg!

Stay your hand, Wälsung!
Hark to my word!
Sieglind’ shall live –and Siegmund with her!
My mind is made up;
I’ll change the course of the battle:
Siegmund, on you
both blessing and victory I bestow!

The eddic poem Sigrdrífumál (prose between stanzas 4 and 5) andVƒlsunga saga ch. 21 tell how a valkyrie, Sigrdrífa or Brynhildr, did
not follow Ó›inn’s orders regarding who should die in a battle, HjálmGunnarr or Agnarr (brother of Au›i or Au›a). The eddic poem Helrei›
Brynhildar 8 says:ﬁá lét ek gamlan
á Go›ﬂjó›u
Hjálm-Gunnar næstheljar ganga;
gaf ek ungum sigrAu›u bró›ur;
ﬂá var mér Ó›inn
ofrei›r um ﬂat.

Then I made the old man
among the people of the gods [or Goths],
Hjalm-Gunnar next
go to the world of death;I gave the victory to the young
brother of Au›a;
Odin was very angry
with me for that.

Die Walküre, Act Two, Scene Five
W. II.5.1
When Siegmund eventually meets Hunding, the valkyrie gives him
her encouragement in the fight, but Wotan appears and brings about
Siegmund’s death (Ring, 3384–88):
Brünnhilde:
Triff’ ihn, Siegmund!
Strike him, Siegmund!
Traue dem Schwert!
Trust in your sword!
Als Sigmund so eben zu einem tödlichen Streiche auf Hunding ausholt, bricht

176

WAGNER AND THE VOLSUNGSvon links her ein glühend röthlicher Schein durch das Gewölk aus, in welchem
Wotan ersheint, über Hunding stehend und seinen Speer Siegmund quer
entgegenhaltend.
(Siegmund is on the point of dealing Hunding a fatal blow when a bright red
glow breaks through the clouds on the right; in it can be seen Wotan, standing
over Hunding and holding his spear diagonally at Siegmund.)Wotan:
Zurück vor dem Speer!
Get back from the spear!
In Stücken das Schwert!
In splinters the sword!
Brünnhilde weicht erschroken vor Wotan mit dem Schilde zurück: Siegmund’s
Schwert zerspringt an dem vorgehaltenen Speere.
(Still holding her shield, Brünnhilde recoils in terror before Wotan: Siegmund’ssword shatters on the outstretched spear.)In Vƒlsunga saga ch. 11 Sigmundr’s sword shatters on Ó›inn’s spear,in spite of the protection of ‘prophecy-women’. This is not a punishment,
however: Sigmundr has grown old and his good fortune is exhausted.
Mart spjót var ﬂar á lopti ok ƒrvar. En svá hlíf›u honum hans spádísir athann var› ekki sárr, ok engi kunni tƒl hversu margr ma›r fell fyrir honum.
Hann haf›i bá›ar hendr bló›gar til axlar. Ok er orrosta haf›i sta›it um
hrí›, ﬂá kom ma›r í bardagann me› sí›an hƒtt ok heklu blá. Hann haf›ieitt auga ok geir í hendi. ﬁessi ma›r kom á mót Sigmundi konungi ok brá
upp geirinum fyrir hann. Ok er Sigmundr konungr hjó fast, kom sver›it í
geirinn ok brast í sundr í tvá hluti.
(Numerous spears hurtled through the air, and arrows, too, but his norns(lit. ‘prophecy-women’) looked after him, so he remained unscathed, andno one kept count of the men who fell before him. Both his arms were
bloody to the shoulders. Now when the battle had gone on for some time,a man who had on a dark cloak and a hat coming down low over his faceentered the fray. He had but one eye and in his hand he held a spear. The
man advanced towards King Sigmund, raising the spear to bar his way,
and when King Sigmund struck fiercely, his sword hit against the spearand snapped in two.)

Die Walküre, Act Three, Scene One
W. III.1.1
Eight valkyries gather at a mountain peak, some bearing across theirsaddles fallen heroes that they are bringing to Wotan (Ring, 3399–3453).
A gathering of valkyries has no prototype in the Poetic Edda, butVƒluspá 30 contains an image of them riding together to Valhƒll,presumably after having chosen the fallen:

COMPARISON WITH SOURCES
Sá hon valkyrjur,
vítt um komnar,gƒrvar at rí›atil Go›ﬂjó›ar;
Skuld helt skildi,
en Skƒgul ƒnnur,
Gunnr, Hildr, Gƒndul
ok Geirskƒgul;nú eru tal›arnƒnnur Herjans,gƒrvar at rí›agrund, valkyrjur.

177

She saw valkyries
come from afar,
ready to rideto the people of the gods [or of men];
Skuld held a shield,
and Skogul another,
Gunnr, Hildr, Gƒndul
and Geirskƒgul;now are numbered
Herjan’s [Ó›inn’s] women,
ready to ride
the earth, valkyries.

W. III.1.2
Brünnhilde arrives on horseback with Sieglinde, and asks the othervalkyries where a hiding-place may be found for her (Ring, 3618–31):
Siegrune:Nach Osten weithin
dehnt sich ein Wald:der Nibelungen Hortentführte Fafner dorthin.
Schwertleite:
Wurmes-Gestalt
schuf sich der Wilde:
in einer Höhle
hütet er Alberich’s Reif!
Grimgerde:
Nich geheu’r ist’s dort
für ein hilflos Weib.
Brünnhilde:
Und doch vor Wotan’s Wuth
schützt sie sicher der Wald:
ihn scheut der Mächt’ge
und meidet den Ort.

Away to the east
A forest stretches:
there Fafner has taken
the Nibelung hoard.
The savage assumed
the shape of a dragon
and in a cave
he guards Alberich’s ring.
No place it isfor a helpless woman.
And yet the forest
will surely shield her from Wotan’s wrath:
the mighty god shuns it
and shies from the spot.

Here, for the first time in the Ring, Fafner is specifically stated to be in
the form of a dragon (German Wurm, like Icelandic ormr, can mean
both snake and dragon). This is consistent with the eddic poem Reginsmál (prose after stanza 14) and the Prose Edda (SnE S40), and Vƒlsunga
saga (ch. 14) says:‘Sí›an drap Fáfnir fƒ›ur sinn,’ segir Reginn, ‘ok myr›i hann, ok ná›a ek
engu af fénu. Hann ger›isk svá illr at hann lag›isk út ok unni engum at
njóta fjárins nema sér ok var› sí›an at inum versta ormi og liggr nú á ﬂví fé.

178

WAGNER AND THE VOLSUNGS(‘Later on Fafnir killed his father,’ said Regin, ‘hiding his murdered body,and I didn’t get any of the treasure. He grew so malevolent that he went off
to live in the wilds and allowed none but himself to have any pleasure in
the riches, and later on he turned into a terrible dragon and now he lieson the treasure.’)In ﬁi›reks saga (163 (268)) it is Reginn, Mímir’s brother, who ischanged into a dragon, but this dragon does not guard any hoard ofgold. In Das Nibelungenlied (100, Av. 3) Sîfrit admittedly slays adragon, bathes in his blood, and his skin grows ‘horny’ and invulnerable. But this dragon is not connected with any gold, either.
In Das Lied vom Hürnen Seyfrid, Seyfrid also kills a dragon and hisskin becomes invulnerable (7–11), and he later kills another dragon tosave a princess (127–49), but in this case the gold in the cave is irrelevant.
W. III.1.3
Brünnhilde tells Sieglinde that she is carrying Siegmund’s child (Ring,
3591–95, 3644–48):
Lebe, o Weib,um der Liebe willen!
Rette das Pfanddas von ihm du empfing’st:...
Denn Eines wiss’
und wahr’ es immer:
der hehrsten Helden der Welt
heg’st du, o Weib,
im schirmenden Schooß!

O woman, live
for the sake of love!
Save the pledge
you received from him:
Know this alone
and ward it always:
the world’s noblest hero,
O woman, you harbour
within your sheltering womb!

In Vƒlsunga saga (ch. 7) a son, Sinfjƒtli, is born to the twins, but Sigmundr later marries Hjƒrdís, daughter of Eylimi. She goes amidst theslain after Sigmundr’s last battle and finds him mortally wounded.
Sigmundr then informs Hjƒrdís that she is with child (ch. 12):ﬁú ferr me› sveinbarn ok fœ› ﬂat vel ok vandliga, ok mun sá sveinn ágætr
ok fremstr af várri ætt.
(You are with child — a boy. Give him a good and careful upbringing —the boy shall be famous and the foremost of our house.)

W. III.1.4
Brünnhilde advises Sieglinde to flee eastward to the forest, near to
Fafner’s lair. She gives her the fragments of Siegmund’s sword, which
she gathered on the battlefield (Ring, 3659–66):

COMPARISON WITH SOURCES
Verwahr’ ihm die starken
Schwertes-Stücken;
seines Vaters Walstatt
entführt’ ich sie glücklich:
der neu gefügt
das Schwert einst schwingt,
den Namen nehm’ er von mir –‘Siegfried’ erfreu’ sich des Sieg’s!

179

For him keep safe
the sword’s stout fragments;from his father’s fieldI haply took them:
let him who’ll wield
the newly forged sword
receive his name from me –may ‘Siegfried’ joy in victory!

In Vƒlsunga saga ch. 12 Sigmundr continues to give Hjƒrdís advice
before his death. He says of the fragments of his sword:
Var›veit ok vel sver›sbrotin. ﬁar af má gera gott sver› er heita mun Gramr
ok sonr okkarr mun bera ok ﬂar mƒrg stórverk me› vinna ﬂau er aldrimunu firnask, ok hans nafn mun uppi me›an verƒldin stendr.
(Look after the pieces of the sword as well. A fine sword can be made fromthem — it will be called Gram, and our son will bear it and perform many
great deeds with it, deeds which shall never be forgotten, and his nameshall live as long as the world endures.)

Die Walküre, Act Three, Scene Two
W. III.2.1
When Wotan arrives, he banishes Brünnhilde from him (Ring, 3770–
73, 3797–3802, 3822–25):
Wunschmaid bist du nicht mehr; Wish-Maid you are no more;
Walküre bist du gewesen: –valkyrie you have been: –nun sei fortan,
now henceforth be
was so du noch bist!
what you are even now!
...
Hieher auf den Berg
Here on the mountainbanne ich dich;I’ll lay you under a spell;in wehrlosen Schlafin shelterless sleep
schließ’ ich dich fest;
I’ll shut you fast;
der Mann dann fange die Maid, the maiden shall fall to the man
der am Wege sie findet und weckt. who stumbles upon her and wakes her.
...
Dem herrischen Manne
Henceforth she’ll obey
gehorcht sie fortan,
the high-handed man;am Herde sitzt sie und spinnt,
she’ll sit by the hearth and spin,aller Spottenden Ziel und Spiel.
the butt and plaything of all who
despise her.

Ó›inn’s punishment of a valkyrie for disobedience by putting her tosleep is mentioned in several eddic poems and in Vƒlsunga saga (ch.

180

WAGNER AND THE VOLSUNGS

21). The eddic poem Sigrdrífumál (prose between stanzas 4 and 5)
contains a description of the self-willed valkyrie:
Hon nefndiz Sigrdrífa ok var valkyrja. Hon sag›i, at tveir konungar bƒr›uz;
hét annarr Hjálm-Gunnarr, hann var ﬂá gamall ok inn mesti herma›r, ok
haf›i Ó›inn hánum sigri heitit; enannarr hét Agnarr, Au›u bró›ir,er vætr engi vildi ﬂiggja.
Sigrdrífa feldi Hjálm-Gunnar í orrostunni. En Ó›inn stakk hana svefﬂorni
í hefnd ﬂess ok kva› hana aldri skyldu sí›an sigr vega í orrostu ok kva›
hana giptaz skyldu.
(She said her name was Sigrdrifa and she was a valkyrie. She said that
there were two kings fighting each other; one was called Hjalm-Gunnar,
he was now old and a very great warrior and Odin had promised him
victory; but
the other was called Agnar, the brother of Au›a,whom no creature wished to accept.
Sigrdrifa slew Hjalm-Gunnar in the battle. And Odin pricked her with asleep-thorn in revenge for this and said that she would never again win
victory in battle and said that she should be married.)

Die Walküre, Act Three, Scene Three
W. III.3.1
Brünnhilde pleads with Wotan (Ring, 4061–78):
Dieß Eine
mußt du erhöhren!
Zerknicke dein Kind,das dein Knie umfaßt;
zertritt die Traute,zertrümm’re die Maid;ihres Leibes Spurzerstöre dein Speer:
doch gieb, Grausamer, nicht
der gräßlichsten Schmach sie Preis!
Auf dein Gebot
entbrenne ein Feuer;
den Felsen umglühe
lodernde Gluth;
es leck’ ihre Zung’,es fresse ihr Zahn
den Zagen, der frech sich wagte,
dem freislichen Felsen zu nah’n!

This one thing
you must allow me!
Crush your child
who clasps your knee,
trample your favourite underfoot,and dash the maid to pieces;
let your spear destroy
all trace of her body:but, pitiless god, don’t give her up
to the shamefullest of fates!
At your behest
let a fire flare up;
let its searing flames
encircle the fell;
its tongue shall lick,its tooth consume
the coward who dares to draw nearto the fearsome rock in his rashness.

COMPARISON WITH SOURCES

181

In Vƒlsunga saga the valkyrie responds more curtly to Ó›inn’s plan
to marry her off (ch. 21):
En ek streng›a ﬂess heit ﬂar í mót at giptask engum ﬂeim er hræ›ask kynni.
(And in return I made a solemn vow to marry no one who knew the meaningof fear.)W. III.3.2
Wotan consents to Brünnhilde’s request (Ring, 4095–4102, 4136–41):
Wotan:
Flammende Gluth
Fiery flames shallumglühe den Fels;
encircle the fell;
mit zehrenden Schreckenwith withering fears
scheuch’ es den Zagen;let them fright the faint-hearted;
der Feige fliehe
the coward shall flee
Brünnhilde’s Fels: –from Brünnhilde’s fell: –denn Einer nur freie die Braut,
for one man alone shall woo the bride,
der freier als ich, der Gott!
one freer than I, the god!
...
Herauf, wabernde Lohe,
Arise, you flickering flame,
umlod’re mir feurig den Fels!
enfold the fell with fire!
Er stösst mit dem Folgenden dreimal mit dem Speer auf den Stein.
(During the following, he strikes the stone three times with his spear.)Loge! Loge! Hieher!
Loge! Loge! Come hither!
Dem Stein entfährt ein Feuerstrahl, der zur allmählich immer helleren
Flammengluth anschwillt . . . Hier bricht die lichte Flackerlohe aus . . . Lichte
Brunst umgiebt Wotan mit wildem Flackern. Er weis’t mit dem Speere
gebieterisch dem Feuermeere den Umkreis des Felsenrandes zur Strömung
an . . .
(A stream of fire springs from the rock, gradually increasing in intensity until
it becomes a brilliant fiery glow . . . Bright flickering flames break out . . .
Flickering wildly, tongues of lambent flame surround Wotan. With his spear,
he directs the sea of fire to encircle the edge of the rock . . .)Wer meines Speeres
He who fears
Spitze fürchtet,
my spear-point
durchschreite das Feuer nie!
shall never pass through the fire!

The fearless hero, who alone may wake the valkyrie, has a model inVƒlsunga saga ch. 21 and in the eddic poem Sigrdrífumál (prose before
stanza 5) and in the following passage from Helrei› Brynhildar (9–10):
Lauk hann mik skjƒldum
í Skatalundi,

In shields he shut me
in warrior-grove,

182

WAGNER AND THE VOLSUNGS

rau›um ok hvítum,randir snurtu;
ﬂann ba› hann slíta
svefni mínum,er hvergi landshrœ›az kynni.
Lét um sal minnsunnanver›an,hávan brenna
her alls vi›ar;ﬂar ba› hann einn ﬂegn
yfir at rí›a,ﬂanns mér fœr›i gull,
ﬂats und Fáfnir lá.

red and white,rims touched;him bade he breakmy sleep
who in no land
could be afraid.
He made round my hallin the south,
blaze highall wood’s damager [fire];
there he bade one warrior
ride across
who brought me the gold
which under Fafnir lay.

The enchanted flames around Brynhildr’s hall are also mentioned in
the eddic poem Fáfnismál (42–43) and in the prose introduction to
Sigrdrífumál, as well as in the Prose Edda (SnE S41) and Vƒlsunga
saga (ch. 21), but not in Das Nibelungenlied or any other medieval
German poem. The German word Waberlohe appears first in thenineteenth century (see Jakob and Wilhelm Grimm, Deutsches Wörterbuch 1854–1971, XIII 11), as a translation of the Old Icelandic vafrlogi(flickering flame).
It is worth considering whether the fearsome fire on a mountaintop
may originally have been inspired by volcanic eruptions, which medieval Icelandic poets must often have seen, but which are unknown incentral Europe. The red sky of morning or evening over mountaintops
is more likely to inspire feelings other than fear.

Brünnhilde
Visit to Wala
Wala’s wisdom
WalkürenAnnouncementof deathBrünnhilde
protects
SiegmundWotan breaks
Siegmund’ssword

Sanctuary forthe night
Wotan’s sword
in tree
Union of twins

THE RING
Impregnating
applesWurm im Auge

Sigrdrífa
protects
Agnarrvalkyrjur

Brynhildr
Gunnlƒ›EDDIC POEMSChild born oftwins
Brynhildr
Gunnlƒ›mead of poetry
valkyrjur

Overnight truce[Egils saga]

PROSE EDDAÓ›inn breaks
Sigmundr’ssword[Hákonarmál][Hákonarmál]

Brynhildr

Ó›inn’s sword
in tree

Brynhildr

V¯LSUNGA SAGA ﬁI‹REKS SAGA
Impregnating
applesormr í auga
[Ragnars saga]

DIE VALKYRIE: SURVEY OF MOTIFS

Prünhilt

NIBELUNGENLIEDTHE RING
Wotan’s spear
Brünnhilde
foretells
birth
Wotan punishes
Brünnhilde
Fearless heroshall awaken
Brünnhilde
Brünnhilde’s
sleepFire on themountaintop
PROSE EDDAÓ›inn’s spearÓ›inn punishes
valkyrie
Fearless heroshall awaken
Brynhildr
Brynhildr’s
Brynhildr’s
sleep
sleep
Fire on the
Vafrlogi on themountaintop
mountaintop

EDDIC POEMSÓ›inn’s spear
V¯LSUNGA SAGAÓ›inn’s spear
Sigmundr
foretellsbirthÓ›inn punishes
Brynhildr
Fearless heroshall awaken
Brynhildr
Brynhildr’s
sleep
Vafrlogi on
mountaintop

COMPARISON WITH SOURCES

185

SIEGFRIED
CHARACTERSICELANDIC EQUIVALENTS
HumansSiegfried

Sigur›r
Gods

The Wanderer

Gangrá›r/Gangleri/Ó›inn
Valkyries

Brünnhilde

Brynhildr
Nibelungs

Alberich
Mime

Andvari
Mímir
Giant/dragon

FafnerFáfnirSeeress

Erda/WalaJƒr›/Vala
Bird

Waldvogel (woodbird)Ig›ur (nuthatches)

Siegfried, Act One, Scene One
S. I.1.1
Mime is in his cave, striving to make a sword for Siegfried, but Siegfried always breaks it. Mime has the fragments of Siegmund’s sword,
but cannot make a new sword from them. Yet he knows that only withthat weapon can Siegfried defeat the dragon Fafner, who lies on thegold and the ring. Siegfried is very hostile towards his foster-father(Ring, 4162–75):
Mime:
Fafner, der wilde Wurm,
lagert im finstern Wald;mit des furchtbaren Leibes Wucht
der Nibelungen Hort
hütet er dort.

Fafner, the grim-hearted dragon,dwells in the gloomy wood;with the weight of his fearsome bulk
he watches over
the Nibelung hoard there.

186

WAGNER AND THE VOLSUNGS

Siegfried’s kindischer Kraft
To Siegfried’s childlike strength
erläge wohl Fafner’s Leib:
Fafner would no doubt fall:des Nibelungen Ring
the Nibelung’s ringerränge er mir.
he’d win for me.
Nur ein Schwert taugt zu der That;
One sword alone befits the deed
nur Nothung nützt meinem Neid,and only Nothung serves my grudge,
wenn Siegfried sehrend ihn schwingt: – if Siegfried wields it with fell intent: –und ich kann’s nicht schweißen,
yet I cannot forge it,
Nothung das Schwert! –Nothung the sword! –Wagner’s change of the name of the smith — Reigin–Mime — wasdiscussed in connection with Scene III of Das Rheingold (R. 3.1). In
ﬁi›reks saga (164 (269)) Mímir is Sigur›r’s foster-father, but theysoon become enemies, and Mímir never attempts to make a sword forhim. In Das Lied vom Hürnen Seyfrid (5) the smith has no name. Seyfrid
is only his apprentice. No sword is made. In Das Nibelungenlied there
is no mention whatsoever of Sifrît’s foster-father, or of the making ofa sword. In the eddic poem Reginsmál, the Prose Edda (SnE S40) andVƒlsunga saga (ch. 13), on the other hand, Reginn is a smith at the
court of King Hjálprekr, father-in-law of Sigur›r’s mother, Hjƒrdís.
The prose introduction to Reginsmál says:ﬁá var kominn Reginn til Hjálpreks, sonr Hrei›mars. Hann var hverjum
manni hagari, ok dvergr of vƒxt; hann var vitr, grimmr ok fjƒlkunnigr.
Reginn veitti Sigur›i fóstr ok kenslu ok elska›i hann mjƒk.
(Then Regin, the son of Hreidmar, had come to Hjalprek’s; he was moreskilled than anyone and a dwarf in stature; he was wise, fierce, andknowledgeable about magic. Regin fostered Sigurd and educated him, andloved him greatly.)

S. I.1.2
Siegfried takes a sword and breaks it on the anvil, so the fragments fly
about (Ring, 4226–31):
Den schwachen Stiftnenn’st du ein Schwert?
Da hast du die Stücken,
schändlicher Stümper:
hätt’ ich am Schädel
dir sie zerschlagen!

This puny pin
you call a sword?
Here, take the pieces,
you shameful bungler:
if only I’d smashed themagainst your skull!

[In the first draft of Siegfried, Mime makes two swords, which Siegfried
breaks (see Strobel 1930, 66).]
In Vƒlsunga saga, the smith succeeds at his third attempt. At the second

COMPARISON WITH SOURCES

187

attempt, Vƒlsunga saga indicates some hostility on Sigur›r’s part
towards Reginn (ch. 15):
Reginn gerir nú eitt sver› ok fær í hƒnd Sigur›i. Hann tók vi› sver›inu okmælti, ‘ﬁetta er ﬂitt smí›i, Reginn,’ ok høggr í ste›jann, ok brotna›i sver›it.
Hann kastar brandinum ok ba› hann smí›a annat betra. Reginn gerir
annat sver› ok fær Sigur›i. Hann leit á. ‘ﬁetta mun ﬂér líka, en vant muny›r at smí›a.’ Sigur›r reynir ﬂetta sver› ok br‡tr sem it fyrra. ﬁá mælti
Sigur›r til Regins, ‘ﬁú munt líkr vera inum fyrrum frændum ﬂínum okvera ótrúr.’(So Regin made a sword, and placed it in Sigurd’s hands. He grasped thesword. ‘This is what your work’s like, Regin,’ he said, striking the anvil —and the sword broke. He flung away the blade and told him to forge asecond and better one. Regin made a second sword and brought it to Sigurd.
He examined it. ‘You’ll be pleased with this one, though you’re not aneasy man to work metal for.’ Sigurd tried out the sword, and broke it justlike the first. Then Sigurd said to Regin: ‘You’re like your forebears —untrustworthy.’)

S. I.1.3
Siegfried knows nothing of his origins, and demands that Mime tell
him who his parents are (Ring, 4445–47, 4463–72):
Heraus damit,
räudiger Kerl!
Wer ist mir Vater und Mutter?
...
Mime:
Einst lag wimmernd ein Weibda draußen im wilden Wald:zur Höhle half ich ihr her,am warmen Herd sie zu hüten.
Ein Kind trug sie im Schooße;
traurig gebar sie’s hier;sie wand sich hin und her,ich half, so gut ich konnt’:
groß var die Noth, sie starb –doch Siegfried, der genas.

Out with it,
scurvy wretch!
Who are my father and mother?

Out there in the wildwood
a woman once lay whimpering:
I helped her into the cave
to ward her by the warming hearth.
She bore a child within her womb:in sadness she gave it birth here;
back and forth she writhed,I helped as best I could:
great was her travail; she died –but Siegfried, he survived.

[The Nibelungen-Mythus of 1848 also says (p. 120 above):
After long gestation the outcast Sieglinde gives birth in the forest to
Siegfried.]Siegfried’s ignorance of his origins has a parallel in ﬁi›reks saga (162–
64 (267–69), where the baby Sigur›r is washed ashore on a spit of188

WAGNER AND THE VOLSUNGS

land in a cask. He is found by a hind, who takes care of him until
Mímir discovers him and takes him in. The wording of the NibelungenMythus is reminiscent of the prolonged pregnancy of the mother ofKing Vƒlsungr (cf. W. I.3.2), the great-grandmother of Sigur›r inVƒlsunga saga (ch. 2):
Nú ferr inu sama fram um vanheilsu dróttningar at hon fær eigi alit barnit,
ok ﬂessu ferr fram sex vetr at hon hefir ﬂessa sótt. Nú finnr hon ﬂat, at hon
mun eigi lengi lifa, ok ba› nú at hana skyldi særa til barnsins, ok svá var
gert sem hon ba›. ﬁat var sveinbarn, ok sá sveinn var mikill vexti ﬂá erhann kom til, sem ván var at. Svá er sagt at sjá sveinn kyssti mó›ur sínaá›r hon dœi.
(The queen’s morbid condition, her inability to give birth to the child,remained unchanged, and after six years she was still not free of it. She
then realised that she had not long to live and thereupon ordered that thechild should be cut out of her, and what she ordered was done. It was aboy, and, as might be expected, the lad was a fair size when he wasdelivered. People say that the boy kissed his mother before she died.)

S. I.1.4
Siegfried demands proof of his birth. Mime finally produces thefragments of the shattered sword (Ring, 4518–30, 4576–81):
Das gab mir deine Mutter:
für Mühe, Kost und Pflege
ließ sie’s als schwachen Lohn.
Sieh’ her, ein zerbroch’nes Schwert!
Dein Vater, sagte sie, führt’ es,
als im letzten Kampf er erlag.
Siegfried:
Und diese Stücken
sollst du mir schmieden:
dann schwing’ich mein rechtes Schwert!
Auf! Eile dich, Mime,
mühe dich rasch;kannst du ’was recht’s,
nun zeig’ deine Kunst!
...
Mime:
Wie füg’ ich die Stücken
des tückischen Stahl’s?
Keines Ofens Gluthglüht mir die ächten;

Your mother gave me this:for trouble, board and care
she left it as paltry payment.
See here, a shattered sword!
Your father, she said, had borne it
when he fell in his final fight.
And these fragments
you shall forge for me:then I’ll wield my rightful sword!
Come on now, Mime, bestir yourself
and be quick about it;
if there’s aught you’re good at,then show me your art!

How join the shardsof insidious steel?
No furnace’s fire
can fuse these sterling splinters,

COMPARISON WITH SOURCES
keines Zwergen Hammer
zwingt mir die harten.

189

nor any dwarf’s hammer
subdue their stubborn strength.

In Vƒlsunga saga (ch. 15), Hjƒrdís, Sigur›r’s mother, is still alive, andremarried, and it is she who gives him the fragments of the sword.
When Reginn has twice failed in the attempt to make a good enoughsword for him, Sigur›r goes to meet his mother:
Gekk nú til mó›ur sinnar. Hon fagnar honum vel. Talask nú vi› ok drekka.
ﬁá mælti Sigur›r, ‘Hvárt hƒfum vér rétt til spurt at Sigmundr konungr
seldi y›r sver›it Gram í tveim hlutum?’ Hon svarar, ‘Satt er ﬂat.’ Sigur›rmælti, ‘Fá mér í hƒnd, ek vil hafa.’ Hon kva› hann líkligan til frama ok
fær honum sver›it. Sigur›r hittir nú Regin ok ba› hann ﬂar gera af sver›
eptir efnum. Reginn reiddisk ok gekk til smi›ju me› sver›sbrotin ok ﬂykkir
Sigur›r framgjarn um smí›ina.
(He now went to his mother. She made him welcome, and they talked anddrank together. ‘Is what I’ve heard true?’ said Sigurd then. ‘Did King
Sigmund entrust you with the sword Gram, in two pieces?’ ‘That is so,’she replied. ‘Let me have them,’ said Sigurd. ‘I want them.’ She said heseemed likely to win fame, and brought him the sword. Sigurd then sought
out Regin and told him to fashion a sword from them to the best of hisability. Regin got angry and went to the smithy with the pieces of thesword, thinking that Sigurd was very exacting when it came to forging.)

Siegfried, Act One, Scene Two
S. I.2.1
After Siegfried has left, the Wanderer (Wotan) visits Mime, sayingthat he is tired after a long journey (Ring, 4586–94):
Heil dir, weiser Schmied!
Dem wegmüden Gast,
gönne holddes Hauses Herd!
Mime:
Wer ist’s, der im wilden
Walde mich sucht?
Wer verfolgt mich im öden Forst?
Wanderer:
Wand’rer heißt mich die Welt:
weit wandert’ ich schon.

Hail to you, wise smith!
to a way-weary guest
you’ll not begrudge
your house’s hearth!
Who is it who seeks me out
in the wildwood?
Who tracks me through the desolate
forest?
As Wanderer am I known to the world:
already I’ve wandered widely.

Obligations towards guests, who must be offered shelter, warmth, foodand drink, clothes, a warm welcome and conversation, are mentioned

190

WAGNER AND THE VOLSUNGSin the Poetic Edda (Hávamál 2–4) and the Prose Edda (SnE G2). The
eddic poem Vafﬂrú›nismál, the principal model for this episode,includes the following (6–8):[Ó›inn:]Heill ﬂú nú, Vafﬂrú›nir!
nú em ek í hƒll kominn,
á ﬂik sjálfan sjá;
hitt vil ek fyrst vita,
ef ﬂú fró›r sére›a alsvi›r, jƒtunn.
[Vafﬂrú›nir:]
Hvat er ﬂat manna,er í mínum sal
verpumk or›um á?
Út ﬂú né komirórum hƒllum frá,nema ﬂú inn snotrari sér.
[Ó›inn:]Gagnrá›r ek heiti;
nú emk af gƒngu kominn
ﬂyrstr til ﬂinna sala;la›ar ﬂurfi
hefi ek lengi farit
ok ﬂinna andfanga, jƒtunn.

Hail, Vafthrudnir!
Now I am come into the hallto look on you yourself;
this I want to know first,
whether you are wiseor all-wise, giant.
What person is this
who in my hall
is addressing words to me?
You shall not come out
from our halls,
unless you are the wiser.
Gagnrad I am called;
now I have come from walking,thirsty to your halls;
in need of hospitality
and welcome from you,
I have travelled long, giant.

Ó›inn often appears as a stranger in disguise in the Poetic and Prose
Eddas. Some of his pseudonyms have the meaning of ‘wanderer,’ such
as Gangleri (‘walk-weary’) in Grímnismál 46, and Vegtamr (‘accustomed to the way’) in Baldrs draumar 6 and 13.
S. I.2.2
Some of the lines of this scene appear to be direct borrowings from afrequently repeated passage in Vafﬂrú›nismál (Ring, 4607–10):
Wanderer:
Viel erforscht’ ich,erkannte viel:wicht’ges konnt’ ichmanchem künden.

Much I’ve fathomed,much made out:
matters of moment
I’ve made known to many.

Vafﬂrú›nismál 3, 44, 46, 48, 50, 52, 54:[Ó›inn:]Fjƒl› ek fór,

Much I have travelled,

COMPARISON WITH SOURCES
fjƒl› ek freista›a,fjƒl› ek reynda regin.

191

much have I put to the test,
much have I tried the Powers.

S. I.2.3
Wotan offers to stake his head in a contest of wisdom (Ring, 4633–40):
Hier sitz’ ich am Herd,und setze mein Haupt
der Wissens-Wette zum Pfand:mein Kopf ist dein,
du hast ihn erkies’t,
erfräg’st du mir nicht
was dir frommt,
lös’ ich’s mit Lehren nicht ein.

I sit by the hearth here
and stake my headas pledge in a wager of wits:
my head is yours
to treat as you choose,
if you fail to ask
what you need to know
and I don’t redeem it with my lore.

This scene is very similar in structure (and even in metre) to theequivalent section of Vafﬂrú›nismál (as well as, in structure, to that in
SnE G2). Ó›inn undertakes a contest of wisdom with the giant
Vafﬂrú›nir, and wagers his life. There is, however, a great difference
between the proud giant in his hall, who lays down the rules of thegame, and the cowardly dwarf in his cave. Vafﬂrú›nir is instantly
willing to compete, while Mime is evasive, and tries to get rid of thisguest. In Wagner’s version the contests are far from equal; in place ofthe ‘all-knowing’ giant of Vafﬂrú›nismál we have Wotan ironicallyterming his opponent a ‘wise’, ‘knowledgeable’ or ‘honest’ smith,dwarf or Nibelung.
S. I.2.4
The nature of the questions and their answers is also rather different in
Wagner’s version from what it is in Vafﬂrú›nismál (Ring, 4649–4822).
These are, broadly speaking, concerned with various items of information that have already been given, for instance on the home of the
Niblungs, black elves, giants, light elves, gods and heroes, and about
the sword Nothung. The information is also added that the giants livein Riesenheim (Ring, 4675–77):
Wanderer:Auf der Erde Rücken
wuchtet der Riesen Geschlecht:
Riesenheim ist ihr land.

On the earth’s broad backweighs the race of giants:
Riesenheim is their land.

[In both the older versions of Siegfried of the spring of 1851, the text
is somewhat longer (Strobel 1930, 74, 121):

192

WAGNER AND THE VOLSUNGS

frost und hitze hat sie gezeugt
frost zeugte sie
hitze gebar sie

Frost and heat begot them.
Frost begot them,heat delivered them.]

This idea appears to be borrowed directly from the Prose Edda, whichtells of the frozen northern rivers, Élivágar, and sparks of fire from thesouth (SnE G5):
Ok ﬂá er mœttisk hrímin ok blær hitans svá at brá›na›i ok draup, ok af
ﬂeim kvikudropum kvikna›i me› krapti ﬂess er til sendi hitann, ok var›manns líkandi, ok var sá nefndr Ymir. En hrímﬂursar kalla hann Aurgelmi,
ok eru ﬂa›an komnar ættir hrímﬂursa.
(And when the rime and the blowing of the warmth met so that it thawed
and dripped, there was a quickening from these flowing drops due to thepower of the source of the heat, and it became the form of a man, and he
was given the name Ymir. But the frost-giants call him Aurgelmir, andfrom him are descended the generations of frost-giants.)

The same idea is found in the eddic poem Vafﬂrú›nismál (31; this stanza
is also quoted in the same chapter of Gylfaginning as was just quoted):Ór Élivágum
stukku eitrdropar,svá óx, unz var› ór jƒtunn;
ﬂar órar ættir
kómu allar saman;
ﬂví er ﬂat æ alt til atalt.

From Elivagar
shot poison drops,
and grew until from them came a giant;in him our ancestries
all converged;
thus ever too terrible is all this.

S. I.2.5
The Wanderer poses his final question (Ring, 4819–22):
Sag’ mir, du weiser
Tell me, you wily
Waffenschmied,
weapon-smith,wer wird aus den starken Stücken
who do you think will forge Nothung,
Nothung das Schwert, wohl schweißen? the sword, out of these mighty
fragments?

This is, admittedly, a different question from that asked by Ó›inn inVafﬂrú›nismál 54, but it is of the same nature, in that it can only beanswered by the person who asks the question:
Hvat mælti Ó›inn,á›r á bál stigi,sjálfr í eyra syni?

What said Odin
before he mounted the pyrehimself into his son’s ear?

COMPARISON WITH SOURCES

193

Siegfried, Act One, Scene Three
S. I.3.1
The Wanderer leaves, having told Mime that Nothung can only be forgedby a man who is totally fearless (cf. W. III.3.2). To that man he consigns
the right to cut off Mime’s head. When Siegfried enters it transpires that
he does not know how to fear, and wishes to learn (Ring, 4939–41):
Ist’s eine Kunst,
If it’s an art,
was kenn ich sie nicht? –then why don’t I know it? –Heraus! Was ist’s mit dem Fürchten? Out with it! What is this fear?

Vƒlsunga saga says of Sigur›r (ch. 23):
Eigi skorti hann hug, ok aldri var› hann hræddr.
(He never lacked courage and he was never afraid.)

Wagner soon observed the common ground between this motif and
the Grimm’s tale (no. 4) of the boy who went out into the world tolearn fear, and he adds some features from the latter to his portrayal of
the brave lad (see p. 114 above and S. III.3.1. below).
S. I.3.2
Mime tells Siegfried of the dragon Fafner, who will be able to teachhim fear (Ring, 4975–85):
Folge mir nur,
Just follow me
ich führe dich wohl;
and I’ll lead you there;
sinnend fand ich es aus.
I’ve thought up a way of teaching you.
Ich weiß einen schlimmen Wurm, I know of an evil dragon
der würgt’ und schlang schon viel: who’s killed and devoured many:
Fafner lehrt dich das Fürchten,
Fafner will teach you fear
folg’st du mir zu seinem Nest.
if you’ll follow me to his lair.
Siegfried:
Wo liegt er im Nest?
Where does he lie in his lair?
Mime:
Neid-Höhle
Neidhöhle
wird es genannt:
is it called:
im Ost, am ende des Wald’s.
to the east, at the edge of the wood.

[In the Nibelungen-Mythus of 1848 the giants have the gold guardedby an unnamed dragon on Gnita-Haide (cf. p. 119 above), and in the firstversion of Siegfrieds Tod (later Götterdämmerung) of 1848 (SSD II219), Siegfried says that the dragon writhed on a ‘barren heath.’ When
Wagner decided in 1851 to write a separate, lighter, opera on Siegfried’s

194

WAGNER AND THE VOLSUNGS

youth, he transferred the setting to a forest. This environment was, infact, consistent with both ﬁi›reks saga (166 (271)) and Das Lied vom
Hürnen Seyfrid (6–7), although in these cases the dragon guards no gold.
In the first version of Siegfried, the dragon is already named Fafner,
but is said to be found in a place named Neidwald (Strobel 1930, 66).]
The placename Gnitahei›r occurs in several eddic poems, and theProse Edda says (SnE S40):
Fáfnir fór upp á Gnitahei›i ok ger›i sér ﬂar ból ok brásk í orms líki oklag›isk á gullit.
Fafnir went up on to Gnita-heath and made himself a lair there and turned
into the form of a serpent and lay down on the gold.

The element neid (envy, hatred, calumny) admittedly has some similarity in sound to gnit in Gnitahei›r, while the name is also a little
reminiscent of Gnipahellir in the chilling refrain of the eddic poemVƒluspá (44, 49, 58):
Geyr (nú) Garmr mjƒkfyr Gnipahelli.

Garmr (now) bays loudin front of jutting cave.

S. I.3.3
Siegfried begs Mime to make him a sword from the fragments ofSiegmund’s sword which, as mentioned earlier, the Wanderer had said
could only be made by one who did not know fear. Siegfried soon
determines to forge the sword himself (Ring, 4991–5001, 5009–11,
5278–79):
Siegfried:
Drum schnell! Schaffe das Schwert,
in der Welt will ich es schwingen.
Mime:
Das Schwert? O Noth!
Siegfried:
Rasch in die Schmiede!
Weis’ was du schuf’st!
Mime:
Verfluchter Stahl!
Zu flicken versteh’ ich ihn nicht!
Den zähen Zauberbezwingt keines Zwergen Kraft.
Wer das Fürchten nicht kennt,

Be quick then! Make me the sword,in the world I mean to wield it.
The sword? O woe!
Into the smithy with you!
Show me what you’ve made.
Accursèd steel!
I don’t understand how to patch it up!
No dwarf’s resources
can master the stubborn spell.
He who’s never known fear

COMPARISON WITH SOURCES

195

der fänd’ wohl eher die Kunst.
would sooner find the art.
...
Siegfried:
Des Vaters Stahl
For me my father’s blade
fügt sich wohl mir:will doubtless fit together:Ich selbst schweiße das Schwert! I’ll forge the sword myself!
...
Schau, Mime, du Schmied:
See, Mime, you smith:so schneidet Siegfried’s Schwert! thus severs Siegfried’s sword!
Er schlägt auf den Ambos, welchen er, von oben bis unten in zwei Stücken
zerspaltet, so dass er unter grossem Gepolter auseinander fällt.
(He strikes the anvil, which splits from top to bottom and falls apart with aloud crash.)In the Poetic and Prose Eddas and Vƒlsunga saga, Reginn makes thesword for Sigur›r from the fragments, and in all these cases he splits
the smith’s anvil with the sword. Vƒlsunga saga says (ch. 15):
Reginn gerir nú eitt sver›. Ok er hann bar ór aflinum, s‡ndisk smi›jusveinum sem eldar brynni ór eggjunum. Bi›r nú Sigur› vi› taka sver›inu
ok kvezk eigi kunna sver› at gera ef ﬂetta bilar. Sigur›r hjó í ste›jann okklauf ni›r í fótinn, ok brast eigi né brotna›i. Hann lofa›i sver›it mjƒk ok
fór til árinnar me› ullarlag› ok kastar í gegn straumi, ok tók í sundr erhann brá vi› sver›inu.
(Then Regin made a sword. And when he drew it from the furnace, it seemedto the lads working in the smithy as if the edges were all aflame. He next
told Sigurd to take the sword, saying that if this one failed, then he didn’tknow how to make a sword. He struck at the anvil and cleft it right down
to its base, and the sword neither shattered nor snapped. He praised thesword highly and went down to the river, taking along a tuft of wool which
he threw in against the stream, and it was sliced through when he held thesword against it.)

In ﬁi›reks saga 165 (270) and Das Lied vom Hürnen Seyfrid 5, nosword is made, and the young lad breaks the smith’s anvil with ahammer. This incident in the smithy does not occur in Das Nibelungenlied. Wagner may have borrowed the idea of Sigur›r making his own
sword from Ludwig Uhland’s poem Siegfrieds Schwert, first publishedin 1812 (see Uhlands Gedichte und Dramen II, 1863, 218–19).
S. I.3.4[The Nibelungen-Mythus of 1848 says (p. 120 above):

196

WAGNER AND THE VOLSUNGS

Then Mime prompts the lad to slay the Worm, in proof of his gratitude.
Siegfried wishes first to avenge his father’s murder: he fares out, falls
upon Hunding, and kills him.

Vengeance for his father is still one of the themes in the first versionof Siegfrieds Tod of 1848, in this case directed against the sons ofHunding (Strobel 1930, 28; SSD II, 219).]
This episode in both early versions of the plot is derived from the
Poetic Edda and Vƒlsunga saga (chs 15–17). It appears in its mostconcise form in the eddic poem Grípisspá 9:
Fyrst muntu, fylkir,fƒ›ur um hefna
ok Eylima
alls harms reka;ﬂú munt har›aHundings sonu
snjalla, fella;mundu sigr hafa.

First you will, ruler,avenge your father,and all Eylimi’s
injuries repay;
you will the toughsons of Hunding,bold ones, slay;
you’ll have victory.

In the first version of Der junge Siegfried in the spring of 1851, thetheme of vengeance for the father has been omitted — indeed in the
new version Siegfried does not even know who his father was. Oncethe libretto of Die Walküre was written in the autumn of 1852, Hunding
was of course long dead, and without issue, by the time Siegfried had
grown to manhood, and so there was no one on whom to wreak
vengeance (see Strobel 1930, 77). The theme of father-vengeance istouched upon, however, in S. III.2 when Siegfried is confronted by
Wotan, who declares that it was his spear that shattered Nothung.
Delighted to have found his father’s enemy, Siegfried attacks anddefeats the god (Ring, 6453–67).

Siegfried, Act Two, Scene One
S. II.1.1
Alberich and the Wanderer (Wotan) speak together at Fafner’s cave
(Ring, 5280–5469).
This encounter is almost entirely Wagner’s invention. The only slightsimilarity is with Vƒlsunga saga ch. 18, where an old man with a long
beard (Ó›inn) meets Sigur›r at Fáfnir’s lair (see S. II.2.1 below).

COMPARISON WITH SOURCES

197

Siegfried, Act Two, Scene Two
S. II.2.1
Mime and Siegfried come to Fafner’s cave. Throughout Act One it
was clear that Mime wanted Siegfried to slay the dragon, so that hecould take the magic ring and the gold. After Siegfried had killed thedragon, Mime intended to kill him with poison (Ring, 5556–64, 5582–84):
Mime:
Ich lass’ dich schon:am Quell dort lagr’ ich mich.
Steh’ du nur hier;steigt dann die Sonne zur Höh’,
merk’ auf den Wurm,aus der Höhle wälzt er sich her:hier vorbei
biegt er dann,am Brunnen sich zu tränken . . .
im Abgehen, für sich
Fafner und Siegfried –Siegfried und Fafner –oh, brächten beide sich um!

I’ll leave you now
and settle down by the spring.
You just stay here;
when the sun’s at its highest
look out for the dragon,
out of the cave it will crawl this way,then turnoff herein order to drink at the well . . .
(to himself, as he goes)
Fafner and Siegfried –Siegfried and Fafner –if only each might kill the other!

In the prose introduction to Fáfnismál, Reginn goads Sigur›r on tokill Fáfnir, and then their journey is described thus:
Sigur›r ok Reginn fóru upp á Gnitahei›i ok hittu ﬂar sló› Fáfnis, ﬂá erhann skrei› til vatns.
(Sigurd and Regin went up on Gnitaheid and found Fafnir’s track there,
where he crawled to water.)

The account in the Prose Edda (SnE S40) is nearly the same, but inVƒlsunga saga ch. 18 it is somewhat more detailed. Here it is impliedthat Reginn plans that Fáfnir and Sigur›r should kill each other, for an
old man with a long beard (Ó›inn) appears, calls Reginn’s instructions‘ill-advised’ and suggests a better plan:
Reginn mælti, ‘Ger grƒf eina ok sezk ﬂar í. Ok ﬂá er ormrinn skrí›r til
vatns, legg ﬂá til hjarta honum ok vinn honum svá bana. ﬁar fyrir fær ﬂú
mikinn frama.’ . . . Nú rí›r Sigur›r á hei›ina, en Reginn hverfr í brott yfrithræddr. Sigur›r ger›i grƒf eina. Ok er hann er at ﬂessu verki, kemr athonum einn gamall ma›r me› sí›u skeggi ok spyrr hvat hann gerir ﬂar.
Hann segir. ﬁá svarar inn gamli ma›r, ‘ﬁetta er órá›. Ger fleiri grafar ok
lát ﬂar í renna sveitann, en ﬂú sit í einni ok legg til hjartans orminum.’ ﬁáhvarf sá ma›r á brottu.

198

WAGNER AND THE VOLSUNGS(‘Dig a pit,’ said Regin, ‘and sit in it, and when the dragon comes crawlingto the water, stab him to the heart and so destroy him. Then you’ll win
great distinction.’ . . . So Sigurd rode up to the moors and Regin went off
in great fright. Sigurd dug a pit, and while he was about this an old man
with a long beard came up to him and asked what he was doing there. He
told him. ‘That’s ill-advised,’ the old man then replied. ‘Dig other pits andlet the blood run into them — you are to sit in one and stab the dragon to
the heart.’ Then the old man vanished.)

In ﬁi›reks saga 166 (271) and Das Lied vom Hürnen Seyfrid 6–11 theyouth is sent alone to the dragon’s lair, and here he is clearly intended
to be killed by the dragon. This dragon does not guard any gold, but
Sigur›r/Seyfrid smears his body with the dragon’s blood or fat, gaining
an invulnerable ‘horny’ skin. Das Nibelungenlied (100, Av. 3; 899–
902, Av. 15) mentions Sîfrit’s youthful dragon-slaying only in passing,simply to explain his invulnerability.
Wagner does not mention Siegfried digging holes to hide in, andindeed this would not have been consistent with his concept of thefearless hero, who must of course face his enemy head-on.
S. II.2.2
Siegfried sits down beneath a lime tree, and considers what his parents
may have looked like (Ring, 5606–13):
Aber – wie sahmeine Mutter wohl aus?
Das – kann ich
nun gar nicht mir denken! –Die Rehhindin gleich
glänzten gewiß
ihr hell schimmernden Augen, –nur noch viel schöner! – –But – what must
my mother have looked like? –That I cannot
conceive of at all! –Like those of the roe-deer,her bright-shining eyesmust surely have glistened –only far fairer! – –This could be a reference to the account in ﬁi›reks saga of how a hindcared for the baby Sigur›r, who after the death of his mother was
carried down a river in a glass cask to the sea, and is finally cast ashore
on a spit of land (160 (266), 162 (267)):
Nú hefir sveinninn nokkut vaxit, ok er kerit hrœrir vi› eyrina, ﬂá brotnar
ﬂat í sundr, ok grætr barnit. Nú kom ﬂar at ein hind ok tekr barnit í munn
sér ok berr heim til síns bœlis. ﬁar átti hún tvau bƒrn. ﬁar leggr hún
sveininn ni›r ok lætr sveininn drekka sik, ok ﬂar fœ›ir hún hann sem sínbƒrn, ok er hann ﬂar me› hindinni tólf mána›i. Nú er hann svá sterkr okmikill sem ƒnnur bƒrn fjƒgra vetra gƒmul.

COMPARISON WITH SOURCES

199(Now the boy has grown somewhat and when the vessel is thrown up against
the sand-bank it breaks apart, and the child cries. A hind came along andtakes the child in her mouth and carries him home to her lair. There she
had two young. She puts the boy down and lets him drink from her, andshe feeds him there like her own young and he is there with the hind fortwelve months. Now he is as strong and big as other children at the age offour.)

S. II.2.3
Soon Fafner appears in dragon form (Ring, 5701–06):
Er [Siegfried] zieht sein Schwert, springt Fafner an und bleibt herausfordernd
stehen . . . Fafner wälzt sich weiter auf die Höhe herauf, und speit aus den
Nüstern auf Siegfried . . . Siegfried weicht dem Geifer aus, springt näher zu,
und stellt sich zur Seite . . . Fafner sucht ihn mit dem Schweife zu erreichen . . .
Siegfried, welchen Fafner fast erreicht hat, springt mit einem Satze über diesen
hinweg, und verwundet ihn in dem Schweife . . . Fafner brüllt, zieht den Schweif
heftig zurück, und bäumt den Vorderleib, um mit dessen voller Wucht sich auf
Siefried zu werfen; so bietet er diesem die Brust dar; Siegfried erspäht schnell
die Stelle des Herzens, und stösst sein Schwert bis an das Heft hinein. Fafner
bäumt sich vor Schmerz noch höher, und sinkt, als Siegfried das Schwert
losgelassen und zur Seite gesprungen ist, auf die Wunde zusammen.
(He [Siegfried] draws his sword, leaps towards Fafner and stands there,
challenging him. Fafner drags himself further up the slope and spits at Siegfriedthrough his nostrils. Siegfried avoids the venom, jumps closer and stands toone side of the dragon. Fafner tries to reach him with his tail. Siegfried, whom
Fafner has almost reached, jumps over him in a single bound and wounds him
in the tail. Fafner roars, draws his tail back violently and raises the front halfof his body in order to throw his full weight down on Siegfried; in doing so he
exposes his breast to the latter; Siegfried quickly notes the position of theheart and thrusts in his sword as far as the hilt. Fafner rears up even higher in
his pain and sinks down on the wound, as Siegfried releases the sword andleaps to one side.)

The slaying of the dragon is recounted in the eddic poem Fáfnismál
and in the Prose Edda (SnE S40), but the most detailed account is inVƒlsunga saga ch. 18:
Ok er ormrinn skrei› til vatns, var› mikill landskjálfti, svá at ƒll jƒr› skalf
í nánd. Hann fn‡sti eitri alla lei› fyrir sik fram, ok eigi hræddisk Sigur›rné óttask vi› ﬂann gn‡. Ok er ormrinn skrei› yfir grƒfina, ﬂá leggr Sigur›r
sver›inu undir bœxlit vinstra, svá at vi› hjƒltum nam. ﬁá hleypr Sigur›r
upp ór grƒfinni ok kippir at sér sver›inu ok hefir allar hendr bló›gar upp
til axlar. Ok er inn mikli ormr kenndi síns banasárs, ﬂá laust hann hƒf›inu
ok spor›inum svá at allt brast í sundr er fyrir var›.

200

WAGNER AND THE VOLSUNGS(And when the dragon crawled to the water, the earth tremors were soviolent that all the land round about shook. He breathed out poison allover the path ahead, but Sigurd was neither frightened nor dismayed by
the noise. And when the dragon crawled across the pit, Sigurd thrust in
the sword under the left shoulder, and it sunk in up to the hilt. Then Sigurd
leapt out of the pit, wrenching back the sword, and getting his arms bloody
right up to the shoulders. And when the huge dragon felt its death wound,it lashed with its tail and head, shattering everything that got in its way.)

In ﬁi›reks saga 166 (271) Sigur›r kills the dragon, not with a sword,
but with a wooden club. In Das Lied vom Hürnen Seyfrid, Seyfrid
slays a dragon to save the princess Krimhilt (139–49). Das Nibelungenlied(100, Av. 3) says only that Sîfrit slew a dragon in his youth, and gives
no further details.
S. II.2.4
Fafner and Siegfried have a conversation before the dragon dies (Ring,
5707–10, 5717–20):
Fafner:Wer bist du, kühner Knabe,der das Herz mir traf?
Wer reizte des Kindes Muth
zu der mordlichen That?
...
Du helläugiger Knabe,
unkund deiner selbst,
wen du gemordet,
meld’ ich dir.

Who are you, valiant lad,
who has wounded me to the heart?
Who goaded the mettlesome childto commit this murderous deed?
You bright-eyed boy,unknown to yourself:
I’ll tell you
whom you have murdered.

The eddic poem Fáfnismál (1, 5) contains very similar material, thougharranged rather differently:
Sveinn ok sveinn,
hverjum ertu sveini um borinn?
Hverra ertu manna mƒgr,er ﬂú á Fáfni rautt
ﬂinn inn frána mæki?
Stƒndumk til hjarta hjƒrr.
...
Hverr ﬂik hvatti,
hví hvetjaz lézt,
mínu fjƒrvi at fara?
Inn fráneygi sveinn,ﬂú áttir fƒ›ur bitran . . .

Boy! and again, boy!
to what boy were you born?
Of what people are you son,that you should redden on Fafnir
your shining sword?
The blade stands in my heart.
Who urged you,why did you let yourself be urged,
to attack my life?
Shining-eyed boy,
you had a fierce father . . .

COMPARISON WITH SOURCES

201

S. II.2.5
Fafner tells Siegfried that Mime is plotting to kill him (Ring, 5731–34):
Blicke nun hell,
blühender Knabe;der dich Blinden reizte zur That,
beräth jetzt des Blühenden Tod.

See clearly now,
you radiant youth;
he who goaded you on in your blindness
is plotting the death of the radiant youth.

In Vƒlsunga saga ch. 18 Fáfnir says:
Reginn, bró›ir minn, veldr mínum dau›a, ok ﬂat hlœgir mik er hann veldr
ok ﬂínum dau›a, ok ferr ﬂá sem hann vildi.
(My brother Regin has brought about my death, and I am glad that he willbring about your death, too — that will be just what he wanted.)

S. II.2.6
Before Fafner dies, Siegfried asks the question uppermost in his mind
(Ring, 5737–42):
Siegfried:
Woher ich stamme,
rathe mir noch;weise ja schein’st duWilder im Sterben;
rath’es nach meinem Namen:
Siegfried bin ich genannt.

Advise me yeton where I have come from;wise you seem,wild beast, in dying;
divine it from my name:
Siegfried I am called.

This corresponds to Fáfnismál 4:Ætterni mittkve› ek ﬂér ókunnigt vera
ok mik sjálfan it sama;
Sigur›r ek heiti,
Sigmundr hét minn fa›ir,
er hefk ﬂik vápnum vegit.

My lineage,
I declare to be unknown to you,and myself likewise;
Sigurd I am called,
Sigmund was my father,
I who have slain you with weapons.

S. II.2.7 (Ring, 5747–53)
Fafner hat sich im Sterben zur Seite gewälzt. Siegfried zieht ihm jetzt das
Schwert aus der Brust; dabei wird seine Hand vom Blute benezt: er fährt
heftig mit der Hand auf.
(Fafner, in dying, has rolled over on one side. Siegfried now draws his sword
from his breast; as he does so, his hand comes into contact with the dragon’s
blood: he snatches his hand away.)
Siegfried:
Wie Feuer brennt das Blut!
Its blood is burning like fire.

202

WAGNER AND THE VOLSUNGSEr führt unwillkürlich die Finger zum Munde, um das Blut von ihnen abzusaugen. Wie er sinnend vor sich hinblickt, wird seine Aufmerksamkeit immer
mehr von dem Gesange der Waldvögel angezogen.
(Involuntarily, he raises his fingers to his mouth in order to suck the bloodfrom them. As he gazes thoughtfully in front of him, his attention is caught
increasingly by the song of the forest birds.)
Siegfried:
Ist mir doch fast –It’s almost as though
als sprächen die Vög’lein zu mir: the woodbirds were speaking to me:
nützte mir das
was this brought about
des Blutes Genuß? –by the taste of the blood? –Das selt’ne Vög’lein hier –That strange little bird here –horch! was singt es mir?
listen! what is it singing to me?

The account of the dragon’s blood on the tongue, and understandingof the speech of birds, occurs in the Prose Edda (SnE S40), Vƒlsunga
saga chs 19–20, and in the following prose passage in the eddic poem
Fáfnismál (between stanzas 31 and 32):
Sigur›r tók Fáfnis hjarta ok steikti á teini. Er hann hug›i, at fullsteiktværi, ok freyddi sveitinn ór hjartanu, ﬂá tók hann á fingri sínum ok skynja›i,hvárt fullsteikt væri. Hann brann ok brá fingrinum í munn sér. En er
hjartbló› Fáfnis kom á tungu hánum, ok skil›i hann fuglsrƒdd. Hann
heyr›i, at ig›ur klƒku›u á hrísinu.
(Sigur›r took Fafnir’s heart and roasted it on a spit. When he thought that
it would be cooked, and the blood frothed out of the heart, he took his
finger and tried whether it was cooked. He was burned and stuck his finger
in his mouth. And when Fáfnir’s heart-blood came on his tongue, then heunderstood the speech of birds. He heard that there were nuthatches
twittering in the brushwood.)

Wagner does not use the motif of roasting the heart. In ﬁi›reks saga
Sigur›r does not taste the dragon’s blood, but the broth from its meat,
which he is cooking; the effect is the same.
S. II.2.8
The voice of a woodbird, now intelligible, is heard (Ring, 5754–61):
Hei! Siegfried gehört
Hey! Siegfried now owns
nun der Niblungen Hort:
the Nibelung hoard:o, fänd’ in der Höhle
O might he now findden Hort er jetzt!
the hoard in the cave!
Wollt’ er den Tarnhelm gewinnen If he wanted to win the Tarnhelm,
der taugt’ ihm zu wonniger That: it would serve him for wondrous deeds:
doch wollt’ er den Ring sich errathen, but could he acquire the ring,COMPARISON WITH SOURCES
der macht’ ihn zum Walter der Welt!

203

it would make him the lord of the world!

[In the Nibelungen-Mythus of 1848 (p. 121 above) there seem to be
many woodbirds; in the spring of 1851 a single nightingale, and laterthat summer just one woodbird (Strobel 1930, 83, 156).]
In the Prose Edda and in ﬁi›reks saga (166 (271)) there are two birds;
their only advice to Sigur›r is to go home and kill Mímir, as he has
just killed his brother, Reginn, and may expect him to seek vengeance.
In the eddic poem Fáfnismál (32–38) there appear to be seven nuthatches, and six in Vƒlsunga saga (ch. 20). The fourth of these says:ﬁá væri hann vitrari ef hann hef›i ﬂat sem ﬂær hƒf›u rá›it honum, ok ri›isí›an til bóls Fáfnis ok tœki ﬂat it mikla gull er ﬂar er.
(He would be wiser to do as they advised . . . and afterwards ride toFafnir’s lair, taking the great treasure that lies there.)On the Ring and its power (Ring, 5760–61), cf. R. 1.4.
S. II.2.9
Siegfried takes the woodbird’s advice (Ring, 5762–64):
Siegfried:
Dank, liebes Vög’lein,
My thanks for your counsel,
für deinen Rath:
you dear little bird:
gern folg’ ich dem Ruf.
I’ll gladly follow your call.
Er wendet sich nach hinten, und steigt in die Höle hinab, wo er alsbald gänzlichverschwindet.
(He turns to the back of the stage and descends into the cave, where he soon
disappears from sight.)

The prose at the end of the eddic poem Fáfnismál says (Vƒlsunga
saga ch. 20 has an almost identical passage):
Sigur›r rei› eptir sló› Fáfnis til bœlis hans ok fann ﬂat opit, ok hur›ir af
járni ok gætti; af járni váru ok allir timbrstokkar í húsinu, en grafit í jƒr›ni›r.
(Sigurd rode along Fafnir’s track to his lair and found it open and withdoors and door-frames of iron; of iron too were all the beams in the houseand it was dug into the ground.)Siegfried, Act Two, Scene Three
S. II.3.1
Over the body of the dragon, Alberich and Mime quarrel (Ring, 5765–
5858).

204

WAGNER AND THE VOLSUNGS

This exchange has no parallel in medieval literature, either Icelandic
or German, and is Wagner’s invention.
S. II.3.2
Siegfried comes out of the cave with the Tarnhelm and the ring, leaving
the gold behind (Ring, 5859–63):
Was ihr mir nützt,weiß ich nicht:
doch nahm ich euch
aus des Hort’s gehäuftem Gold,weil guter Rath mir es rieth.

What use you are
I do not know:
but I took you
from the heaped-up gold of the hoard
since goodly counsel counselled me to do so.

The following is from the end of Fáfnismál:
ﬁar fann Sigur›r stórmikit gull ok fyldi ﬂar tvær kistur. ﬁar tók hannœgishjálm ok gullbrynju ok sver›it Hrotta ok marga d‡rgripi.
(There Sigurd found a huge amount of gold and filled two chests with it.
He took there a helmet of terror and a gold coat of mail and the sword
Hrotti and many fine treasures.)In the Icelandic versions of the story the ring is not specificallymentioned as being in Sigur›r’s possession until later, when he either
gives the ring to Brynhildr (SnE S41), or takes it away from her (Vƒlsunga
saga ch. 29).
S. II.3.3
The woodbird warns Siegfried against Mime (Ring, 5869–77):
Hei! Siegfried gehört
nun der Helm und der Ring!
O traute er Mimedem treulosen nicht!
Hörte Siegfried nur scharf
auf des Schelmen Heuchlergered’:wie sein Herz es meint
kann er Mime versteh’n;so nützt’ ihm des Blutes Genuß.

Hey! Siegfried now owns
the helm and the ring!
Oh let him not trust
the treacherous Mime!
Were Siegfried to listen keenly
to the rogue’s hypocritical words,
he’d be able to understandwhat Mime means in his heart;thus the taste of the blood was of use to him.

A similar warning occurs in Vƒlsunga saga ch. 20, and in the eddic
poem Fáfnismál 33 (quoted SnE S40) the second nuthatch twitters:
ﬁar liggr Reginn,ræ›r um vi› sik,
vill tæla mƒg,ﬂann er trúir hánum,There lies Regin
planning with himself,
intending to trick the boy
who trusts him,

COMPARISON WITH SOURCES
berr af rei›irƒng or› saman.
Vill bƒlva smi›r
bró›ur hefna.

205

in his wrath he composes
crooked speeches.
The maker of mischiefs intends
to avenge his brother.

S. II.3.4
Mime emerges from his hiding place and sees Siegfried deep in thought(Ring, 5878–84):
Er sinnt, und erwägt
der Beute Werth: –weilte wohl hierein weiser Wand’rer,schweifte umher,
beschwatzte das Kind
mit list’ger Runen Rath?

He ponders and broods on
the booty’s worth: –has some wily Wand’rer
been loitering here,roaming aroundand beguiling the childwith his counsel of cunning runes?

In this reference to the Wanderer (Wotan), who visited Mime in S. I.2
and who talked with Alberich on this very spot in S. II.1, we have yet
another allusion to the old long-bearded man (Ó›inn) who appears
from time to time in Vƒlsunga saga to give Sigur›r and others advice(chs 13, 17, 18, cf. chs 3, 11 and 44).
S. II.3.5 (Ring, 5892–94)
Er tritt näher an Siegfried heran, und bewillkommet diesen mit schmeichelnden Gebärden.
(He [Mime] comes closer to Siegfried and welcomes him with wheedling gestures.)
Willkommen, Siegfried!
Welcome, Siegfried!
Sag’, du Kühner,
Tell me, brave boy,
hast du das Fürchten gelernt?
have you learned the meaning of fear?

In Vƒlsunga saga ch. 19 (and in similar terms in the eddic poem
Fáfnismál 23), the corresponding meeting between Reginn and Sigur›r
is recounted as follows:
Eptir ﬂetta kom Reginn til Sigur›ar ok mælti, ‘Heill, herra minn; mikinn
sigr hefir ﬂú unnit er ﬂú hefir drepit Fáfni, er engi var› fyrr svá djarfr at
á hans gƒtu ﬂor›i sitja, ok ﬂetta frem›arverk mun uppi me›an verƒldin
stendr.’(After this Regin came to Sigurd and said: ‘Greetings, my lord. You have
won a great victory by killing Fafnir, when before no man was daring
enough to lie in wait for him, and this great deed will live for as long as
the world shall last.’)206

WAGNER AND THE VOLSUNGSS. II.3.6
Mime does his best to conceal the fact that he intends to kill Siegfried.
But Siegfried, by tasting the blood of the dragon, has gained the ability
to understand Mime’s true intentions (Ring, 5903–16):
Siegfried:
Der mich ihn morden hieß,The man who bade me murder him
den hass’ ich mehr als den Wurm. I hate much more than the dragon.
Mime:
Nur sachte! Nicht lange
But soft! You’ll notsieh’st du mich mehr:
have to see me much longer.
zum ew’gen Schlaf
I’ll soon lockschließ’ ich dir die Augen bald!
your eyes in lasting sleep!
Wozu ich dich brauchte,
You’ve done
hast du vollbracht;
what I needed you for;jetzt will ich nur noch
all that I still want to dodie Beute dir abgewinnen: –is to win from you the booty: –mich dünkt, das soll mir gelingen; I think that I ought to succeed in that;zu bethören bist du ja leicht!
you’re easy enough to fool after all!
Siegfried:
So sinn’st du auf meinen Schaden? So you’re planning to do me harm?
Mime:
Wie sagt’ ich denn das?
What, did I say that?

Wagner here makes use of the exchange between Reginn and Sigur›r
and the twittering of the nuthatches in Fáfnismál (25, 33–38) andVƒlsunga saga chs 19–20:
Nú stendr Reginn ok sér ni›r í jƒr›ina langa hrí›. Ok ﬂegar eptir ﬂettamælti hann af miklum mó›i, ‘Bró›ur minn hefir ﬂú drepit, ok varla má ek
ﬂessa verks saklauss vera.’ Nú tekr Sigur›r sitt sver›, Gram, ok ﬂerrir á
grasinu ok mælti til Regins, ‘Fjarri gekk ﬂú ﬂá, er ek vann ﬂetta verk ok ek
reynda ﬂetta snarpa sver› me› minni hendi, ok mínu afli atta ek vi› orms
megin, me›an ﬂú látt í einum lyngrunni, ok vissir ﬂú eigi hvárt er var
himinn e›a jƒr›.’ . . . [Sigur›r] heyr›i at ig›ur klƒku›u á hrísinu hjá
honum. ‘ﬁar sitr Sigur›r ok steikir Fáfnis hjarta. ﬁat skyldi hann sjálfr
eta. ﬁá mundi hann ver›a hverjum manni vitrari.’ ¯nnur segir, ‘ﬁar liggr
Reginn ok vill véla ﬂann sem honum trúir.’ ﬁá mælti in ﬂri›ja, ‘Hƒggvi
hann ﬂá hƒfu› af honum, ok má hann ﬂá rá›a gullinu ﬂví inu mikla einn.’. . . ﬁá mælti in fimmta, ‘Eigi er hann svá horskr sem ek ætla ef hann vægir
honum, en drepit á›r bró›ur hans.’ ﬁá mælti in sétta, ‘ ﬁat væri snjallræ›ief hann dræpi hann ok ré›i einn fénu.’(Regin now stood looking down at the ground for a long time. And thereupon he said in great anger: ‘You have killed my brother, but I can scarcely

COMPARISON WITH SOURCES

207

be free of blame for the deed.’ Then Sigurd took up his sword Gram, wiped
it on the grass and said to Regin: ‘You went a good way off while I
performed the deed, and I tried out this keen sword with my own hand,
and with my own strength I strove against the might of the dragon —while you were lying in a heather bush, not knowing whether you were on
your head or your heels!’ . . . [Sigurd] heard some nuthatches twittering
near him in the thicket. ‘There sits Sigurd, roasting Fafnir’s heart. He
should eat it himself, and then he’d be wiser than any man.’ ‘There lies
Regin meaning to play false the man who trusts him,’ said a second. Then
said a third: ‘Let him srike off his head. Then he can have the great treasure
all to himself.’ . . . Then said a fifth: ‘If he spares him, having previously
killed his brother, he’s not as wise as I imagine.’ Then said the sixth: ‘It
would be a sound plan if he killed him and had the treasure all to himself.’)

S. II.3.7 (Ring, 6003–06)
Siegfried (holt mit sem Schwerte aus): (raising his sword):
Schmeck’ du mein Schwert,
Have a taste of my sword,
ekliger Schwätzer!
you loathsome babbler!
Er führt . . . einen jähen Streich nach Mime; dieser stürzt sogleich todt zu
Boden . . .
(He deals Mime a sudden blow; the latter immediately falls to the ground,dead . . .)...
Siegfried:
Neides-Zoll
Nothung pays
zahlt Nothung.
the wages of spite.

The killing of Reginn is told briefly in the eddic poem Fáfnismál (prose
between stanzas 39 and 40) and the Prose Edda (SnE S40), and inVƒlsunga saga ch. 20 the episode is as follows, after the birds havewarned Sigur›r of Reginn’s treachery:ﬁá mælti Sigur›r, ‘Eigi munu ﬂau óskƒp at Reginn sé minn bani, ok heldr
skulu ﬂeir fara bá›ir brœ›r einn veg.’ Breg›r nú sver›inu Gram ok høggrhƒfu› af Regin.
‘Death at Regin’s hands is not my evil destiny,’ said Sigurd then. ‘Better
instead for both brothers to go the same way.’ Then he drew the sword
Gram and struck off Regin’s head.

The dragon’s gold, his dying words, the tasting of the blood, understanding of the speech of birds and the slaying of the smith are, ofcourse, not to be found in Das Nibelungenlied or in Das Lied vom
Hürnen Seyfrid.

208

WAGNER AND THE VOLSUNGSS. II.3.8
After having buried Fafner and Mime, Siegfried lies down again
beneath the lime tree and sings of his loneliness (Ring, 6042–46):
Doch ich – bin so allein,
hab’ nicht Brüder noch Schwestern:meine Mutter schwand,mein Vater fiel:
nie sah sie der Sohn! –But I am so alone,
have no brothers or sisters;
my mother died,my father was slain:
their son never saw them! –This lament is strongly reminiscent of Sigur›r’s words in Fáfnismál 2:Gƒfugt d‡r ek heiti,
en ek gengit hefk
inn mó›urlausi mƒgr;fƒ›ur ek ákka,sem fira synir,geng ek æ einn saman.

Noble animal I’m called,
but I have gonea motherless son;no father have I,
like sons of men,always I go alone.

S. II.3.9
The woodbird now tells Siegfried about Brünnhilde (Ring, 6065–73):
Hei! Siegfried erschlug
nun den schlimmen Zwerg!
Jetzt wüßt ich ihm nochdas herrlichste Weib.
Auf hohem Felsen sie schläft,
Feuer umbrennt ihren Saal:
durchschritt’ er die Brunst,
weckt’ er die Braut,
Brünnhilde wäre dann sein!

Hey! Siegfried’s now slain
the evil dwarf!
Now I know
the most glorious wife for him.
High on a fell she sleeps,
fire burns round her hall:
if he passed through the blaze
and awakened the bride,
Brünnhilde then would be his!

The birds give similar advice in the eddic poem Fáfnismál (40, 42–44):
Mey veit ek eina,
myklu fegrsta,
gulli gœdda,ef ﬂú geta mættir.
...
Salr er á há
Hindarfjalli,
allr er hann útaneldi sveipinn;
ﬂann hafa horskir
halir um gƒrvanór ódøkkum
Ógnar ljóma.

I know one maid,by far the fairest,
endowed with gold,
if you might win her.
There is a hall on highHindarfell,round the outside it is all
surrounded with fire;
this have wise
heroes builtof shining
river’s light [gold].

COMPARISON WITH SOURCES
Veit ek á fjalli
fólkvitr sofa,
ok leikr yfirlindar vá›i.
...
Knáttu, mƒgr, sjá
mey und hjálmi . . .

209

I know on the mountainbattle-maid sleeps,
and plays over her
lime-tree’s destruction [fire].
You shall, young man, seemaid under helmet . . .

Siegfried, Act Three, Scene One
S. III.1.1
The Wanderer (Wotan) awakens the seeress Erda from her sleep (Ring,
6111–14, 6127–31):
Wache! Wala!
Wala, erwach’!
Aus langem Schlaf
weck’ ich dich schlummernde auf.
...
Allwissende!
Urweltweise!
Erda! Erda!
Ewiges Weib!
Wache, erwache,du Wala! erwache!

Waken, vala!
Vala, awake!
From lengthy sleep
I awake you, slumberer.
All-knowing!
Primevally wise!
Erda! Erda!
Eternal woman!
Waken, awaken,
you vala, awaken!

On the name Wala, see R. 4.4. The context of the awakening of theseeress and Wotan’s conversation with her have obvious models in
the Poetic Edda, especially Baldrs draumar, Vƒluspá and Grógaldr
which begins thus (1):Vaki ﬂú, Gróa!
vaki ﬂú, gó› kona!
Vek ek ﬂik dau›ra dura.

Wake thou, Gróa
wake thou, good woman!
I awake thee at the doors of the dead.

Although Grógaldr is not in the medieval collection of eddic poems,
and is first found in manuscripts of the late seventeenth century, it was(like Fjƒlsvinnsmál, S. III.2.1) included by Simrock in his edda-translationof 1851 and would thus have been known to Wagner. Another possiblemodel for him is the opening of Hyndluljó›, which, although it too is
not in the main collection, is also in Simrock’s translation:
Vaki, mær meyja,
vaki, mín vina,
Hyndla systir,er í helli b‡r!

Awake, maid of maids,
awake, my friend,
sister Hyndla,
who live in a cave!

210

WAGNER AND THE VOLSUNGSNú er røkr røkra,rí›a vit skulum
til Valhallarok til vés heilags.

Now is the twilight of twilights,
ride we shallto Val-halland to the holy sanctuary.

In the eddic poem Baldrs draumar, Ó›inn calls himself Vegtamr(‘accustomed to the way’, lit. ‘way-tame’), and his role here is reminiscent of Wagner’s Wanderer. In this poem, he rides to Niflhel to seek
knowledge of the fate of his son, Baldr, who has had ominous dreams (4):ﬁá rei› Ó›inn
fyr austan dyrr,
ﬂar er hann vissivƒlu lei›i;nam hann vittugri
valgaldr kve›a,
unz nau›ig reis,
nás or› um kva›.

Then rode Odinto the east of the doorway,
where he knew
was the seeress’s grave;
he began for the wise one
a corpse-arousing spell to chant,
until perforce she rose,
spoke a corpse’s words.

S. III.1.2 (Ring, 6032–36)
Die Hölengruft erdämmert. Bläulicher Lichtschein: von ihm beleuchtet
steigt mit dem Folgenden Erda sehr allmählich aus der Tiefe auf. Sieerscheint wie von Reif bedeckt; Haar und Gewand werfen einen glitzernden
Schein von sich.
(The vaulted cave begins to glow with a bluish light, in which Erda is seen
rising very slowly from the depths. She appears to be covered in hoarfrost; hair and garments give off a glittering sheen.)
Erda:
Stark ruft das Lied;
Strong is the call of your lay;kräftig reizt der Zauber;mighty the lure of its magic spell;ich bin erwacht
from knowing sleep
aus wissendem Schlaf:
am I roused:
wer scheucht den Schlummer mir? who is it who drives my slumber away?

In Baldrs draumar 5 the seeress says of herself:
Hvat er manna ﬂat,mér ókunnra,
er mér hefir aukit
erfit sinni?
Var ek snivin snjóvi
ok slegin regni
ok drifin dƒggu;dau› var ek lengi.

Which of men is that
unknown to me,
who has caused to me
this troublesome way?
I was snowed on with snow,
and beaten with rain,
and driven with dew;long was I dead.

COMPARISON WITH SOURCES

211

S. III.1.3
The Wanderer gives Erda her answer (Ring, 6137–40, 6157–58):
Wanderer:
Der Weckrufer bin ich,
und Weisen üb’ ich,
daß weithin wache
was fester Schlaf verschließt.
...
Daß ich nun Kunde gewänne,weck’ ich dich aus dem Schlaf.

Your awakener am I,
and strains I singthat all may wakewhom heavy sleep enfolds.
That I may now gain knowledge,
I wake you from your sleep.

Baldrs draumar (6):Vegtamr ek heiti,
sonr em ek Valtams;
seg›u mér ór helju –ek man ór heimi –Way-tame I am called,
I’m son of Slaughtered-tame;speak to me from the world of the dead –I shall [speak to you] from [this] world –S. III.1.4
Erda avoids answering her interlocutor’s questions, and asks him
repeatedly to allow her to go back to sleep (Ring, 6222–23):
Lass’ mich wieder hinab:
Schlaf verschließe mein Wissen!

Let me descend once more:
let sleep enfold my knowledge!

In Baldrs draumar the seeress says three times (7, 9, 11):Nau›ug sag›ak,
nú mun ek ﬂegja.

Under compulsion I told,
now shall I be silent.

S. III.1.5
Erda is appalled when the Wanderer tells her what he has done toBrünnhilde in punishment for her supposed disobedience (Ring,
6206–09, 6216–21):
Erda:
Wirr wird mir,seit ich erwacht:
wild und kraus
kreis’t die Welt!
...
Der die That entzündet,
zürnt um die That?
Der die Rechte wahrt,
der die Eide hütet,I’ve grown confusedsince I was wakened:wild and awry
the world revolves!
Does he who urged the deedgrow wroth when it is done?
Does he who safeguards rights
and helps uphold sworn oaths

212

WAGNER AND THE VOLSUNGS

wehret dem Recht,
herrscht durch Meineid?

gainsay that rightand rule through perjured oath?

This echoes the seeress’s accounts of the moral degeneration of theworld in Vƒluspá, especially stanzas 26 and 45:
Á genguz ei›ar,or› ok sœri,mál ƒll meginlig,er á me›al fóru.
...
Brœ›r munu berjaz
ok at bƒnum ver›az,
munu systrungar
sifjum spilla.

The oaths were reneged on,words and vows,
all the mighty contracts
which had passed between them.
Brothers will fight each otherand be each other’s slayers,
siblings will
violate kinship.

S. III.1.6
Finally they accuse each other of acting under false pretences (Ring,
6238–39, 6242–43):
Erda:
Du bist – nicht
was du dich nenn’st!
...
Wanderer:
Du bist – nicht,
was du dich wähn’st!

You are notwhat you say you are!

You are notwhat you think you are!

In the next-to-last stanza of Baldrs draumar (13), the following
exchange takes place.
‘Ertattu Vegtamr,
sem ek hug›a,heldr ertu Ó›inn,
aldinn gautr.’‘Ertattu vƒlva,né vís kona,
heldr ertu ﬂriggja
ﬂursa mó›ir.’‘You are not Way-tame,as I thought,
rather are you Odin,
the ancient sacrificial victim.’‘You are not a prophetessor a wise woman,rather are you motherof three giants.’

The content of Baldrs draumar has little in common with the Ring,
but the form and the course of events are similar.

COMPARISON WITH SOURCES

213

Siegfried, Act Three, Scene Two
S. III.2.1
When the Wanderer/Wotan has dismissed Erda, Siegfried appears, on
his way to the mountaintop. Wotan attempts by various means to hinder
his progress and ascertain whether he really is the chosen one. Finally
Siegfried breaks Wotan’s spear with Siegmund’s reforged sword, which
Wotan had previously shattered with his spear. This is the ultimate
proof of Siegfried’s power. At this point Wotan gives up and disappears(Ring, 6291–466; cf. W. II.5.1; Ring, 3386–87).
The prolonged dispute between Wotan and Siegfried has no direct
parallel in older literature, either German or Icelandic. But somethingsimilar takes place in the late eddic poem Fjƒlsvinnsmál (see S. III.1.1).
Svipdagr comes in disguise to Menglƒ›’s castle, and is stopped by aguard. They exchange questions and answers for a long time until it isrevealed that no one may sleep in Menglƒ›’s embrace but he whosename is Svipdagr. Only then will Fjƒlsvi›r allow him inside.
S. III.2.2 (Ring, 6470–73)
Die wachsende Helle der immer tiefer sich senkenden Feuerwolken trifft
Siegfried’s Blick.
(Siegfried’s attention is caught by the growing brightness of the clouds of firethat roll down the mountain towards him. )Siegfried:Ha, wonnige Gluth!
Ha, rapturous glow!
Leuchtender Glanz!
Radiant gleam!
Strahlend nun offen
The pathway lies open,
steht mir die Straße . . .
Shining before me . . .
Hellstes Leuchten der Flammen.
(The flames reach their brightest intensity.)

Compare this stanza in Vƒlsunga saga ch. 29, probably from a lost
eddic poem:
Eldr nam at œsask
en jƒr› at skjálfa
ok hár logi
vi› himni gnæfa.
Fár treystisk ﬂar
fylkis rekka
eld at rí›ané yfir stíga.

The fire grew great,
the ground did shakeand tall flame
towered to the sky.
Few warrior kings
were willing to rideor fare onwards throughthe fire’s rage.

214

WAGNER AND THE VOLSUNGS

Once again, one may consider whether this could be a poetic description of a volcanic eruption (cf. W. III.3.2). Compare also Vƒluspá 57(G. III.3.12).
Siegfried, Act Three, Scene Three
S. III.3.1
Having passed through the fire, Siegfried sees Brünnhilde asleep inher armour, lying beneath a shield (Ring, 6484–96, 6503–08):
Was strahlt mir dort entgegen? – What beam of light bedazzles my gaze? –Welch’ glänzendes StahlWhat metalwork wrought in glittering
geschmeid?
steel?
Blendet mir noch
Is it the blaze
die Lohe den Blick? –that still blinds my eye? –Helle Waffen? –Shining weapons! –Heb’ ich sie auf?
Shall I remove them?
Er hebt den Schild ab, und erblickt Brünnhilde’s Gestalt, während ihr Gesicht
jedoch zum grossen Theil vom Helm verdeckt ist.
(He raises the shield and sees Brünnhilde’s form, although her face remains
largely concealed by her helmet.)
Ha! in Waffen ein Mann: –Ha! In weapons a man: –wie mahnt mich wonnig sein Bild! – how his likeness fills me with wonder! –Das hehre Haupt
Does his helm perhaps
drückt wohl der Helm?
press on his noble head?
Leichter würd’ ihm,
Lighter it were
lös’t’ ich den Schmuck.
if I loosened his headgear.
Vorsichtig löst er den Helm, und hebt ihn der Schlafenden ab; langes lockiges
Haar bricht hervor. Siegfried erschrickt.
(He carefully loosens the helmet and removes it from the sleeper; long curlinghair breaks free. Siegfried starts:)
Ach! – wie schön! –Ah! – how fair! –...
Von schwellendem Athemschwingt sich die Brust: –brech’ ich die engende Brünne?
Er versucht die Brünne zu lösen.
(He tries to loosen the byrnie.)
Komm’, mein Schwert,
Schneide das Eisen!

His breast is heavingwith swelling breath: –shall I break the trammelling breastplate
open?

Come my sword,
and cut through the iron!

COMPARISON WITH SOURCES

215

Siegfried zieht sein Schwert, durchschneidet mit zarter Vorsicht die Panzerringe
zu beiden Seiten der Rüstung, und hebt dann die Brünne und die Schienen ab,
so dass nun Brünnhilde in einem weichen weiblichen Gewande vor ihm liegt. . . Er fährt erschreckt und staunend auf.
(Siegfried draws his sword and, with tender care, cuts through the rings ofmail on both sides of the armour. He then lifts away the breastplate and greaves,so that Brünnhilde now lies before him in a woman’s soft garment . . . Hestarts up in shock and astonishment.)
Das ist kein Mann! – –No man is this! – –The awakening of the valkyrie is described in the Poetic and Prose
Eddas (Sigrdrífumál, introductory prose; SnE S41), and Vƒlsunga saga
has the following (ch. 21):
En er hann kom at, stó› ﬂar fyrir honum skjaldborg ok upp ór merki. Sigur›r
gekk í skjaldborgina ok sá at ﬂar svaf ma›r ok lá me› ƒllum hervápnum.
Hann tók fyrst hjálminn af hƒf›i honum ok sá at ﬂat var kona. Hon var í
brynju, ok var svá fƒst sem hon væri holdgróin. ﬁá reist hann ofan ór hƒfu›smátt ok í gegnum ni›r ok svá út í gegnum bá›ar ermar, ok beit sem klæ›i.
(And when he got up to it there stood before him a shield rampart with abanner out on top. Sigurd went inside the shield rampart and saw a man
there, asleep and lying fully armoured. First he removed the helmet fromhis head and saw that it was a woman. She had on a hauberk and it was astight as if grown into the flesh. Then he sheared right down from the neck,then right along both sleeves, and the blade bit in as if cutting cloth.)

Wagner depicts Siegfried acting far more carefully than Sigur›r in thesaga, and watching the woman for longer. In the saga, Brynhildr cannot
have been wearing much under her byrnie, since it was ‘as though it
had grown to her flesh.’
It is at this point in the Ring that Siegfried, gripped by sexual panic,
learns what fear is (see p. 114 and S. I.3.1 above).
S. III.3.2
Overcoming his fear, Siegfried attempts to wake the sleeping woman(Ring, 6546–66):
Siegfried:
Erwache! erwache!
heiliges Weib! – –Sie hört mich nicht. –So saug’ ich mir Leben
aus süßesten Lippen –sollt’ ich auch sterbend vergeh’n!

Awake! Awake!
Thrice-hallowed woman! – –She cannot hear me. –So I suck life
from her sweetest of lips –though I should perish and die!

216

WAGNER AND THE VOLSUNGS

Er . . . heftet . . . seine Lippen auf ihren Mund . . . Brünnhilde schlägt die
Augen auf. Siegfried fährt auf und bleibt vor ihr stehen . . .
(He . . . presses his lips on her mouth . . . Brünnhilde opens her eyes. Siegfriedstarts up and remains standing in front of her . . .)Brünnhilde:
Heil dir, Sonne!
Heil dir, Licht!
Heil dir, leuchtender Tag!
Lang’ var mein Schlaf;
ich bin erwacht:
wer ist der Held,der mich erweckt’?

Hail to you, sun!
Hail to you, light!
Hail to you, light-bringing day!
Long was my sleep;
awakened am I:
who is the hero
who woke me?

Siegfried:
Durch das Feuer drang ich,das den Fels umbrann:
ich erbrach dir den festen Helm:
Siegfried bin ich,
der dich erweckt.

I pressed through the firethat burned round the fell;
I broke open your tight-fitting helmet:
Siegfried am I
who woke you.

Brünnhilde:
Heil euch, Götter!
Heil dir, Welt!
Heil dir, prangende Erde!

Hail to you, gods!
Hail to you, world!
Hail to you, splendent earth!

With the exception of the kisses, which are reminiscent of The Sleeping
Beauty and other fairy-tales, the entire content and dialogue of this
episode is found in the prose introduction and first four stanzas of the
eddic poem Sigrdrífumál, though the order sometimes differs:ﬁá tók hann brynju af henni; en hon vakna›i, ok settiz hon upp ok sá Sigur›
ok mælti:(Then he took the mailcoat off her, and she awoke, and she sat up and saw
Sigurd, and said:)‘Hvat beit brynju?
‘What cut my mailcoat?
Hví brá ek svefni?
Why did I shake off my sleep?
Hverr feldi af mér
Who has taken off mefƒlvar nau›ir?’
my pale constraints?’
Hann svara›i:
He replied:‘Sigmundar burr;‘Sigmund’s son;
sleit fyr skƒmmu
Sigurd’s sword
hrafns hrælundir
tore just nowhjƒrr Sigur›ar.’raven’s corpse-flesh.’

COMPARISON WITH SOURCES‘Lengi ek svaf,
lengi ek sofnu› var.
...
Heill dagr!
Heilir dags synir!
Heil nótt ok nipt!
...
Heilir Æsir!
Heilar Ásynjur!
Heil sjá in fjƒln‡ta fold!’

217‘Long I slept,long was I asleep.
Hail day!
Hail sons of day!
Hail night and her kin!
Hail Æsir!
Hail goddesses!
Hail the most kindly earth!’

The main difference here is that Wagner does not have Brünnhilde
greeting the night, as she does the day. Perhaps he felt it was not fitting
to mention darkness at this joyful moment. And of course he was notfamiliar with Iceland’s bright summer nights.

S. III.3.3
Brünnhilde speaks of the prophetic love for Siegfried which motivatedher apparent disobedience to Wotan (Ring, 6602–10):
Brünnhilde:
Was du nicht weißt,
weiß ich für dich:doch wissend bin ich
nur – weil ich dich liebe! –O Siegfried! Siegfried!
Siegendes Licht!
Dich liebt’ ich immer:
denn mir allein
erdünkte Wotan’s Gedanke.

What you don’t know
I know for you:and yet I am knowing
only because I love you! –O Siegfried! Siegfried!
Conquering light!
I loved you always:
To me alone
was Wotan’s thought revealed.

In the eddic poem Fjƒlsvinnsmál 49 (cf. S. III.1.1, S. III.2.1), Menglƒ›says:
Lengi ek sat
Lyfjabergi á,
bei› ek ﬂín dœgr ok daga;
nú ﬂat var›,er ek vætt hefi,
at ﬂú ert kominn, mƒgr! til minnasala.

Long sat I
on Lyfjaberg,
waited for you days and days;
now has come to bewhat I have waited for,that you are come, young man! to myhalls.

218

WAGNER AND THE VOLSUNGSS. III.3.4[In the older versions of Siegfried of 1851, Brünnhilde tells the main
story of Die Walküre at a similar point to that in which some references
to it appear in the final version (Ring, 6608–25). Her narrative began
as follows (Strobel 1930, 93, cf. 185):
Hilde hiess ich, wenn ich streif erregte, die brünne trug ich, wenn in kampf
ich zog: Brünnhillde nannte mich Wodan.
(I was called Hilde when I made war, I wore armour when I went into
battle: Wodan named me Brünnhilde.)This account was, of course, made redundant as soon as the opera Die
Walküre existed in its own right.]
It is reminiscent of the wording of the Prose Edda (SnE S41):ﬁá vakna›i hon ok nefndisk Hildr. Hon er kƒllu› Brynhildr ok var valkyrja.
(Then she awoke and said her name was Hild. She is known as Brynhild,and was a valkyrie.)

Another parallel exists in the eddic poem Helrei› Brynhildar (7):Hétu mik allirí Hlymdƒlum
Hildi undir hjálmi,hverr er kunni.

All called mein Hlymdalir
Hild under helmet,
each who knew of me.

S. III.3.5
A long courtship game commences. Siegfried is filled with passion,and longs for Brünnhilde. She is reluctant to submit to his will, feelingthis is best for both of them. She refers to her armour, and to the horse
Grane, as symbols of her untouchability as a valkyrie. Yet she admits she
has longed for Siegfried all her life, and finally gives way (Ring, 6626–
6898):
This episode has no direct prototype in the texts that describe thecouple’s first meeting on the mountaintop. In Vƒlsunga saga, on theother hand, the second meeting of Sigur›r and Brynhildr, in Brynhildr’shall, is described as follows (ch. 25):
Hann réttir í mót hƒndina kerinu ok tók hƒnd hennar me› ok setti hanahjá sér. Hann tók um háls henni ok kyssti hana ok mælti, ‘Engi kona hefirﬂér fegri fœzk.’ Brynhildr mælti, ‘Vitrligra rá› er ﬂat at leggja eigi trúna›sinn á konu vald, ﬂví at ﬂær rjúfa jafnan sín heit.’ Hann mælti, ‘Sá kœmibeztr dagr yfir oss at vér mættim njótask.’ Brynhildr svarar, ‘Eigi er ﬂat
skipat at vit búim saman. Ek em skjaldmær, ok á ek me› herkonungum

COMPARISON WITH SOURCES

219

hjálm . . .’ Sigur›r svarar, ‘ﬁá frjóumsk vér mest ef vér búum saman . . . okekki lér mér tveggja huga um ﬂetta, ok ﬂess sver ek vi› gu›in at ek skal ﬂik
eiga e›a enga konu ella.’ Hon mælti slíkt. Sigur›r ﬂakkar henni ﬂessi
ummæli ok gaf henni gullhring, ok svƒr›u nú ei›a af n‡ju.
(He reached for the cup and at the same time took her hand and drew her
down beside him. Embracing her, he kissed her and said: ‘No woman
born is lovelier than you.’ ‘Wiser not to surrender your trust to a woman,for they always break their vows,’ said Brynhild. ‘The day we wed would
be our happiest,’ he said. ‘We’re not fated to share our lives together,’
Brynhild replied. ‘I am a shield-maiden, wearing a helmet along withwarrior kings . . .’ ‘We shall prosper best if we share our lives together,’answered Sigurd . . . ‘I’m not in two minds about this, and I swear by thegods that I either marry you or no one at all.’ She spoke to the same effect.
Sigurd thanked her for what she had said and gave her a gold ring. Thenthey again repeated their vows.)

THE RING
EDDIC POEMSPROSE EDDA
Vƒ LSUNGA SAGA ﬁI‹REKS SAGANIBELUNGENLIEDLong pregnancy
Long pregnancy
Mime brings up Reginn fosters Reginn fosters Reginn fosters Mime fosters
and teaches
and teaches
and teaches
and teaches
and teaches
Siegfried
Sigur›r
Sigur›r
Sigur›r
Sigur›r
Siegfried’s
Sigur›r’s
aversion to Mime
aversion to Mímir
Serpent lies on Serpent lies on Serpent lies on Serpent lies on Serpent, but no Dragon, but no
gold
gold
gold
gold
gold
gold
Wotan asÓ›inn asÓ›inn asWanderer
Wanderer
Wanderer
Wotan talks with Ó›inn talks withMime
dwarfs and giants
Viel erforscht’ ich, Fjƒl› ek fór,erkannte viel fjƒl› ek freista›a
Schwarzalben
døkkálfar, svartLichtalbenálfar, ljósálfarGiants produced Giants produced Giants produced
from frost and heat from frost and heat from frost and heat
Sword from frag- Sword from frag- Sword from frag- Sword from fragments three times ments
ments
ments three times

SIEGFRIED: SURVEY OF MOTIFS

Seyfrid’s
aversion to smith
Gold kept bydragonSeyfrid works fora smithHÜRNEN SEYFRID

THE RING
EDDIC POEMSPROSE EDDA
Vƒ LSUNGA SAGA
ﬁI‹REKS SAGANIBELUNGENLIED HÜRNEN SEYFRID
Siegfried cleaves Sigur›r cleaves Sigur›r cleaves Sigur›r cleaves
Sigur›r breaks[Grimm: boy
Seyfrid breaks
anvil with sword anvil with sword anvil with sword anvil with sword anvil with hammer breaks anvil]smith’s anvil
Siegfried avenges Sigur›r avenges
Sigur›r avenges
father’s death
father’s death
father’s death
Mime incites
Reginn incites Reginn incites Reginn incites
Siegfried
Sigur›r
Sigur›r
Sigur›r
Wanderer at
One with long beard
Fafner’s caveat Fáfnir’s lair
Serpent creeps
Serpent creeps Serpent creeps Serpent creeps
to water
to water
to water
to water
Siegfried gives Sigur›r hides
Sigur›r hides
false namehis name
his name
Helläugige Knabe fráneygi sveinn
fráneygi sveinn
Fafner in form
Fáfnir in form Fáfnir turns into Fáfnir becomesReginn becomesof serpentof serpent
serpent shapea serpenta serpent
Who incited you? Who incited you?
Who incited you?
Fafner warns
Fáfnir warns
Fáfnir warns
Siegfried against Sigur›r against
Sigur›r against
inciter and hoard Reginn and gold
Reginn and gold
Killing of serpent Killing of Fáfnir Killing of Fáfnir Killing of Fáfnir Killing of serpent Killing of dragon Killing of dragon
Blood in mouth Blood on tongue Blood on tongue Blood on tongue Broth on tongue

Hilde hieß ich

Hétu mik Hildi

Names herself Hildr

EDDIC POEMSPROSE EDDA
Understanding
Understandingof birds’ speech of birds’ speech
Bird’s warning
Bird warns Sigur›r Bird warns Sigur›r
against Mime
against Reginn against Reginn
Siegfried kills
Sigur›r kills
Sigur›r kills
Mime
ReginnReginnSiegfried takes
Sigur›r takes
Sigur›r takes
little from cave
all the gold
all the gold
Bird suggests go- Birds direct to
ing to Brünnhilde valkyrie
Felsenburg
Hindarfjall
fjall
Wotan speaksÓ›inn’s talks
with Walawith seeresses
Siegfried cuts
Sigur›r cuts
Sigur›r cuts
Brünnhilde’s
Brynhildr’s
Brynhildr’s
mailcoat
mailcoat
mailcoat
Siegfried wakes Siegfried wakes Siegfried wakes
Brünnhilde
Brynhildr
Brynhildr
Brünnhilde’s
Sigrdrífumál
hymn of praise

THE RING
Bird’s voice

Sigur›r cuts
Brynhildr’s
mailcoat
Siegfried wakes
Brynhildr

Vƒ LSUNGA SAGA
ﬁI‹REKS SAGA NIBELUNGENLIED HÜRNEN SEYFRID
Understanding
Understandingof birds’ speech of birds’ speech
Bird warns Sigur›r Bird warns Sigur›r
against Reginn against Mímir
Sigur›r kills
Sigur›r kills
ReginnMímir
Sigur›r takes
all the gold
Birds direct toBrynhildr
Hindarfjall
borg
cave

COMPARISON WITH SOURCES223

GÖTTERDÄMMERUNGICELANDIC EQUIVALENTS*

CHARACTERS
HumansSiegfried
Gunther
GutruneHagen
Mannen (vassals)Frauen (women)

Sigur›r
Gunnarr
Gu›rúnHƒgni[Gjúkaﬂegnar]Supernatural beings

The three Norns
Brünnhilde
Waltraute
RheintöchterUr›r, Ver›andi, Skuld (nornir)
Brynhildr[Valﬂrú›r]
Ránardœtr

*The names in brackets are those used in the surtitles for the production of
the Ring in Reykjavik in 1994, which were presented in an Icelandic version
by ﬁorsteinn Gylfason. They are not found in early Icelandic texts.

Götterdämmerung, title
The title for the last opera of the Ring, which literally means ‘twilight(or dusk) of the gods’, and replaced Wagner’s earlier title (Siegfrieds
Tod) for his draft of this opera, is a literal translation of the Old Icelandic
word Ragnarøkkr, which is the one used in the Prose Edda and the
eddic poem Lokasenna 39. The word found in other eddic poems
including Vƒluspá, is Ragnarƒk, and means ‘doom of the powers’,
and is presumably the earlier form. The word in the Prose Edda may
be the result of ‘folk-etymology’. Though Wagner did find out that his
title was not the oldest term for the myth, he decided not to change it,thinking that it was a more poetic and suitable concept for what he hadin mind.
Götterdämmerung, Prologue
G. P. 1
The three Norns, tall female figures in long, dark, veil-like garments,
are seen at Brünnhilde’s rock in the pre-dawn darkness (Ring, 6899,
6909–18):

224

WAGNER AND THE VOLSUNGSFirst Norn:An der Welt-Esche
wob ich einst,
da groß und starkdem Stamm entgrünte
weihlicher Äste Wald;im kühlen Schatten
rauscht’ ein Quell,
Weisheit raunend
rann sein Gewell’;da sang ich heil’gen Sinn.

At the world-ash
once I wove
when, tall and strong,a forest of sacred branches
blossomed from its bole;in its cooling shade
there plashed a spring,
whispering wisdom,
its ripples ran:
I sang then of sacred things.

Three Fates, who spin the threads of men’s lives, are familiar from
Graeco-Roman mythology. In the Prose Edda, their Norse cousins,the Norns, the ash Yggdrasill and the well at its roots are introduced asfollows (SnE G15):
Askrinn er allra tréa mestr ok beztr. Limar hans dreifask yfir heim allan
ok standa yfir himni . . . ﬁar stendr salr einn fagr undir askinum vi›
brunninn, ok ór ﬂeim sal koma ﬂrjár meyjar ﬂær er svá heita: Ur›r,
Ver›andi, Skuld. ﬁessar meyjar skapa mƒnnum aldr. ﬁær kƒllum vér nornir. . . Gó›ar nornir og vel ætta›ar skapa gó›an aldr, en ﬂeir menn er fyriróskƒpum ver›a, ﬂá valda ﬂví illar nornir.
(The ash is of all trees the biggest and best. Its branches spread out over
all the world and extend across the sky . . . There stands there one beautiful
hall under the ash by the well, and out of this hall come three maidens
whose names are Weird, Verdandi [becoming], Skuld [necessity]. These
maidens shape men’s lives. We call them norns. . . . Good norns, ones ofnoble parentage, shape good lives, but as for those people that become
the victims of misfortune, it is evil norns that are responsible.)

G. P. 2The Norns begin to speak of Wotan’s role in the disaster that overcame
the world-ash (Ring, 6919–22):
First Norn:
Ein kühner Gott
trat zum Trunk an den Quell;seiner Augen eines
zahlt’er als ewigen Zoll.

A dauntless god
came to drink at the spring;
one of his eyes
he paid as toll for all time.

The Prose Edda says of the ash tree and Ó›inn’s eye (SnE G15):
En undir ﬂeiri rót er til hrímﬂursa horfir, ﬂar er Mímis brunnr, er spek› okmannvit er í fólgit, ok heitir sá Mímir er á brunninn. Hann er fullr af
vísindum fyrir ﬂví at hann drekkr ór brunninum af horninu Gjallarhorni.

COMPARISON WITH SOURCES

225

ﬁar kom Alfƒ›r ok beiddisk eins drykkjar af brunninum, en hann fekk eigi
fyrr en hann lag›i auga sitt at ve›i.
(But under the root that reaches towards the frost-giants, there is where
Mimir’s well is, which has wisdom and intelligence contained in it, andthe master of the well is called Mimir. He is full of learning because hedrinks of the well from the horn Gjallarhorn. All-father went there andasked for a single drink from the well, but he did not get one until heplaced his eye as a pledge.)

The myth of Mímir’s well and Ó›inn’s eye is also mentioned in theeddic poem Vƒluspá 28 (quoted in SnE G15):
Alt veit ek, Ó›inn,hvar ﬂú auga falt,
í inum mæraMímis brunni.
Drekkr mjƒ› Mímir
morgin hverjan
af ve›i Valfƒ›rs –vitu› ér enn, e›a hvat?

I know it all, Odin,
where you deposited your eye,in that renowned
well of Mimir.
Mimir drinks mead
every morningfrom Val-father’s pledge.
Know you yet, or what?

G. P. 3
[Wagner wrote a draft of a prelude to Götterdämmerung as early as
October 1848. At the beginning, the Norns mention three of the pointsof the compass (Strobel 1930, 56):First Norn:
Im Osten knüpft ich das Seil.
Second Norn:
Nach Westen winde ich es.
Third Norn:
Nach Norden will ich’s werfen.

In the east I knot a thread.
To the west I turn it.
To the north I fling it.

This is reminiscent of the beginning of Helgakvi›a Hundingsbana I(4), where the Norns twist the threads of destiny of the new-born hero:ﬁær austr ok vestr
enda fálu,
ﬂar átti lof›ungr
land á milli;
brá nipt Neraá nor›rvega
einni festi,
ey ba› hon halda.

They east and west
secretly fastened its ends,
the ruler owned
the land in between;
the kinswoman of Neri [a norn]
towards the norththrew one cord;
she bade it hold for ever.

The entire episode was reworked by Wagner in the final version, until
little was left except a reference to Wotan and the fount of wisdom.]

226

WAGNER AND THE VOLSUNGS

G. P. 4The Norns throw a rope from one to another, and exchange words.
Five times they end with the following question, or a variation of it(Ring, 6941, 6962, 6991, 7002, 7024):
Weißt du, wie das wird?

Do you know what will become of it?

This is undeniably similar to the oft-repeated refrain in the eddic poemVƒluspá (27, 28, 33, 35, 39, 41, 48, 62, 63):
Vitu› ér enn, e›a hva›?

Know you yet, or what?

G. P. 5
Finally, they say they have no more wisdom to tell the world, and saythat they will return to the mother below (Ring, 7043–46):
Zu End’ ewiges Wissen!
Der Welt melden
Weise nichts mehr.
Hinab! Zur Mutter! Hinab!

An end to eternal wisdom!
Wise women no longer
tell the world their tidings.
Descend! To our mother! Descend!

These words are equally reminiscent of the end of Vƒluspá (66):
Nú mun hon søkkvaz.

Now will she sink down.

G. P. 6
Siegfried and Brünnhilde, about to part, appear and reminisce about
their love (Ring, 7055–58):
Brünnhilde:
Was Götter mich wiesen,
gab ich dir:heilige Runen
reichen Hort.

What gods have taught me
I gave to you:a bountiful storeof hallowed runes.

A long section of the eddic poem Sigrdrífumál (5–19) and the corresponding section of Vƒlsunga saga (ch. 21) list various runes that canbe used for magical purposes. This is the part of the list in stanza 19:
ﬁat eru bókrúnar,ﬂat eru bjargrúnar,ok allar ƒlrúnar,ok mætar meginrúnar,hveim er ﬂær kná óviltar
ok óspiltar
sér at heillum hafa;
njóttu, ef ﬂú namt,
unz rjúfaz regin.

These are book-runes,
these are birth-helping runes,
and all ale-runes,and valuable power-runes,
for any who can, unconfused
and uncorrupted,
use them for their good;enjoy them, if you have learned them,
until the powers are destroyed.

COMPARISON WITH SOURCES

227

G. P. 7
Brünnhilde continues (Ring, 7059–62):
Doch meiner Stärke
magdlichen Stammnahm mir der Held,dem ich nun mich neige.

But the maidenly sourceof all my strength
was taken away by the hero
to whom I now bow my head.

Only in ﬁi›reks saga is Brynhildr’s superhuman strength attributed toher virginity; she has denied her husband, Gunnarr, his conjugal rights,
and he confides in his friend Sigur›r (228 (319)):
Ok nú svarar Sigur›r: ‘Ek mun segja ﬂér, hvat til berr, er á ﬂessa lund
ferr. Hún hefir ﬂá náttúru, at á me›an hún fær haldit sínum meydómi, munvarliga fást sá karlma›r, er afl hafi vi› henni, ok ﬂegar er ﬂví er brug›it,ﬂá er hún ekki sterkari en a›rar konur.’(And Sigurd replies: ‘I shall tell you why it is that this happens. Her nature
is such, that as long as she is able to keep her virginity, a man can hardly
be found who is equal to her in strength, but when it is lost she will be nostronger than other women.’)

G. P. 8The lovers speak of Siegfried’s obligation (Ring, 7071–78, 7090–97):
Siegfried:
Mehr gab’st du, Wunderfrau,
als ich zu wahren weiß:
nicht zürne, wenn dein Lehrenmich unbelehret ließ!
Ein Wissen doch wahr’ ich wohl:
daß mir Brünnhilde lebt;eine Lehre lernt’ ich leicht:
Brünnhilde’s gedenken!
...
Brünnhilde:
Gedenk’ der Eide,
die uns einen;
gedenk’ der Treue,
die wir tragen;gedenk’ der Liebe,der wir leben:
Brünnhilde brennt dann ewig
heilig dir in der Brust! –You gave me more, O wondrous woman,than I know how to cherish:
chide me not if your teaching
has left me untaught!
One lore I cherish yet:that Brünnhilde lives for me;
one lesson I learned with ease:to be ever mindful of Brünnhild’!

Recall the oaths
that unite us;
recall the trustthat we place in each other;recall the love
for which we live:
Brünnhilde then will burn for aye
with holy fire in your breast! –Sigur›r’s vows to Brynhildr are mentioned in the eddic poem Grípisspá(31), Vƒlsunga saga (ch. 22) and ﬁi›reks saga (227 (319)), but not, of228

WAGNER AND THE VOLSUNGS

course, in Das Nibelungenlied. In Vƒlsunga saga, Sigur›r’s exchangewith Brynhildr on this occasion ends as follows (ch. 22):
Sigur›r mælti, ‘Engi finnsk ﬂér vitrari ma›r, ok ﬂess sver ek at ﬂik skal ek
eiga, ok ﬂú ert vi› mitt œ›i.’ Hon svarar, ‘ﬁik vil ek helzt eiga, ﬂótt ek
kjósa um alla menn.’ Ok ﬂetta bundu ﬂau ei›um me› sér.
(‘No one is wiser than you,’ said Sigurd, ‘and I swear it is you I shallmarry, and we are ideally suited.’ ‘I should wish to marry you,’ sheanswered, ‘even though I might have the choice of all the men there are.’
And this they swore, each to the other.)

In ﬁi›reks saga 227 (319) their vows are recalled after Sigur›r has
married Grímhildr, when he accompanies Gunnarr to ask for Brynhildr’s hand:It fyrra sinn, er ﬂau hƒf›u hitzt, ﬂá haf›i hann ﬂví heitit henni me› ei›um,
at hann skyldi engrar konu fá nema hennar, ok hún it sama at giftast engum
manni ƒ›rum.
(The previous time they had met he had promised her with oaths that hewould take no other wife than her, and she likewise that she would take noother husband.)

G. P. 9Siegfried gives Brünnhilde the Nibelung’s ring as a pledge of fidelity(Ring, 7098–7107):
Siegfried:Lass’ ich, Liebste, dich hierin der Lohe heiliger Hut,zum Tausche deiner Runen
reich’ ich dir diesen Ring.
Was der Thaten je ich schuf,dess’ Tugend schließt er ein;ich erschlug einen wilden Wurm,
der grimmig lang’ ihn bewacht.
Nun wahre du seine Kraft
als Weihe-Gruß meiner Treu’!

If, my dearest, I leave you here
in the fire’s hallowed guard,
in return for all your runes
I hand this ring to you.
Whatever deeds I have done,
their virtue it enfolds;
I slew a savage dragonthat long had guarded it grimly.
Now keep its power safein solemn token of my troth.

In the Prose Edda, Sigur›r does not give Brynhildr the ring until theymeet each other again, and he is then in the form of Gunnarr (SnES41). In Vƒlsunga saga too, Sigur›r does not give her the gold ring
until their second encounter (ch. 25), cf. S. III.3.5. In ﬁi›reks saga heexchanges rings with her (229 (319)) and in Das Nibelungenlied (679–COMPARISON WITH SOURCES

229

80, Av. 10) the hero does not give her a ring as a bed present, but takes
a ring and a belt as well from her.
G. P. 10Brünnhilde places the ring on her finger (Ring, 7108–09, 7118–22):
Ihn geiz’ ich als einziges Gut:
I covet it as my only wealth:für den Ring nimm nun auch mein Roß! for the ring now take my horse!
...
Doch wohin du ihn führ’st,
But wherever you lead him– sei es durch’s Feuer –– be it through fire –grauenlos folgt dir Grane;
Grane will fearlessly follow;
denn dir, o Helde,
for you, O hero,soll er gehorchen!
he shall obey!

The name of the horse has appeared twice before (Ring, 3469 and6648). In the prose introduction to the eddic poem Reginsmál and inVƒlsunga saga ch. 13, Sigur›r chooses the horse from the stud of King
Hjálprekr; in Vƒlsunga saga this is on Ó›inn’s advice, and Grani isthere said to be descended from Sleipnir, Ó›inn’s eight-footed steed.
In ﬁi›reks saga (168 (273) the horse is Brynhildr’s gift to Sigur›r.
In this case her home is a castle, and not a mountaintop. Sigur›r comesto her after killing his foster-father, Mímir.
Hingat hefi ek ætlat mitt erendi, ﬂví at Mímir, minn fóstri, vísa›i mér hingat
til hests eins, er Grani heitir, er ﬂú átt. Nú vilda ek hann ﬂiggja, ef ﬂú vill
veitt hafa.’ ‘ﬁiggja máttu einn hest af mér, ef ﬂú vill, ok ﬂótt fleiri vilir ﬂú.’(‘I decided to come here, because my foster-father Mimir directed mehere for a horse of yours called Grani. Now I would accept it if you arewilling for it to be mine.’ ‘You can have a horse from me, if you wish, andmore than one, if you like.’)

The horse Grani is mentioned neither in Das Nibelungenlied nor in
Das Lied vom Hürnen Seyfrid.
Götterdämmerung, Act One, Scene One
G. I.1.1
Gunther and Gutrune, who are brother and sister (children of Gibich
and Grimhild), and their maternal half-brother Hagen, sit in their hallby the Rhine. Hagen is the illegitimate son of Alberich and Grimhild.
He says it is a disgrace that both Gunther and Gutrune remain unmarried,
and this will not contribute to their power or respect (Ring, 7154–79).

230

WAGNER AND THE VOLSUNGSThe name-forms Gunther and Hagen are from Das Nibelungenlied(NL 4, 9, Av. 1; in the form Hagene in this poem), where the two arequite unrelated, and Gunther’s sister is called Kriemhilt (NL 2). Thereis also similarity and in most cases etymological connection between
these names and those of the names of Gjúki and his wife Grímhildr,
and their offspring Gunnarr, Hƒgni and Gu›rún, in many of the eddic
poems, the Prose Edda and Vƒlsunga saga. In these texts, Hƒgni is in
no way inferior to Gunnarr. Guttormr/Gothormr is the name of Gjúki’s
stepson. In ﬁi›reks saga, Gunnarr’s sister is named Grímhildr, corresponding to the Kriemhilt of Das Nibelungenlied, and Hƒgni is theirhalf-brother, the son of an elf who impregnated their mother as she lay
in drunken slumber in a garden (cf. W. II.2.4). Hƒgni is here a
malevolent character.
G. I.1.2
Siegfried comes sailing down the Rhine to the Gibichungs’ castle,
with his horse aboard ship. The brothers decide to give him a warm
reception (Ring, 7255–74).
In all earlier versions, German and Icelandic, the hero arrives onhorseback (NL 71–72, Av. 3; SnE S41; Vƒlsunga saga ch. 28).
Götterdämmerung, Act One, Scene Two
G. I.2.1
When he enters, the hero behaves in a typically forthright way (Ring,
7277–80):
Siegfried (to Gunther):
Dich hört’ ich rühmen
weit am Rhein:nun ficht mit mir,oder sei mein Freund!

I heard you praised
far along the Rhine:
now fight with me,
or be my friend!

This challenge to a duel appears to be derived from Das Nibelungenlied,
where a prolonged exchange of insults takes place between Sîfrit andthe Burgundian king before they make their peace (NL 104–28, Av. 3).
The Poetic and Prose Eddas and Vƒlsunga saga ch. 28 do not mention
any confrontation when Sigur›r comes to the Gjúkungs. On thecontrary, he appears to receive an immediate welcome, and indeed his
own behaviour is courteous (Sigur›arkvi›a in skamma 1–2).

COMPARISON WITH SOURCES

231

G. I.2.2
On Hagen’s instructions, Gutrune gives Siegfried a drink, preparedby Hagen, to make him forget the past (Ring, 7334–47):
Gutrune:Willkommen, Gast,
Welcome, guest,
in Gibich’s Haus!
to Gibich’s home!
Seine Tochter reicht dir den Trank. His daughter brings you this drink.
Siegfried:
Vergaß’ ich alles
Were all forgotten
was du mir gab’st,that you gave me,von einer Lehre
one lesson alone
lass’ ich doch nie: –I’ll never neglect: –den ersten Trunkthis first drink
zu treuer Minne,
to true remembrance,
Brünnhilde, bring’ ich dir!
Brünnhild’, I drink to you!
Er setzt das Trinkhorn an und trinkt in einem langen Zuge . . . Er reicht das Hornan Gutrune zurück, welche, verschämt und verwirrt, die Augen vor ihm niederschlägt. Siegfried heftet den Blick mit schnell entbrannter Leidenschaft auf sie.
(He raises the horn to his lips and takes a long draught. He returns the horn toGutrune who, ashamed and confused, stares at the ground. Siegfried fixes hisgaze on her with suddenly inflamed passion.)
Die so mit dem Blitz
You who sear my sightden Blick du mir seng’st,with your flashing glance,
was senk’st du dein Auge vor mir? why lower your eyes before me?
Ha, schönstes Weib!
Ha, fairest of women!

The actual potion of forgetfulness is derived from Vƒlsunga saga alone.
In this case it is neither Hƒgni nor Gu›rún herself who administers thedrink to Sigur›r, but their mother, Grímhildr, who was a sorceress (ch. 28):
ﬁat finnr Grímhildr hvé mikit Sigur›r ann Brynhildi, ok hvé opt hann getr
hennar; hugsar fyrir sér at ﬂat væri meiri gipta at hann sta›festisk ﬂar okætti dóttur Gjúka konungs . . . Eitt kveld er ﬂeir sátu vi› drykk, ríss dróttning
upp ok gekk fyrir Sigur› ok kvaddi hann og mælti, ‘Fƒgnu›r er oss á ﬂinni
hérvist, ok allt gott viljum vér til y›ar leggja. Tak hér vi› horni ok drekk. . . brœ›r ﬂínir [skulu vera] Gunnarr ok Hƒgni ok allir er ei›a vinni›. . .’ Sigur›r tók ﬂví vel, ok vi› ﬂann drykk mun›i hann ekki til Brynhildar.
Hann dval›isk ﬂar um hrí› . . . Ok eitt kveld skenkir Gu›rún. Sigur›r sér
at hon er væn kona ok at ƒllu in kurteisasta.
(Grimhild noticed how deeply Sigurd loved Brynhild, and how often hetalked of her. She thought that it would be a good thing if he settled there
and married King Gjuki’s daughter . . . One evening as they sat drinking,the queen got up, went to Sigurd and addressing him said: ‘We are delighted

232

WAGNER AND THE VOLSUNGS

that you are here. We wish to give you all that’s good. Take this horn anddrink . . . Gunnar and Hogni, and all who take the oaths, shall be yourbrothers . . .’ Sigurd took this well, and with that drink he lost all memoryof Brynhild. He stayed there for a time . . . One evening Gudrun wasserving wine. Sigurd saw tht she was a beautiful woman and most courtly
in every way.)

Sigur›r’s loss of memory and the wiles of Grímhildr are also mentioned
in the eddic poem Grípisspá 31–35.
G. I.2.3
Gunther explains that he has a certain bride in mind (Ring, 7365–66,
7369, 7371, 7373, 7375–84):
Auf eine setzt’ ich den Sinn,
die kein Rath mir je gewinnt.
...
Auf Felsen hoch ihr Sitz –...
ein Feuer umbrennt den Saal. –...
Nur wer durch das Feuer bricht –...
– darf Brünnhilde’s Freier sein.
Nun darf ich den Fels nicht erklimmen;das Feuer verglimmt mir nie!
Siegfried:
Ich – fürchte kein Feuer:
für dich frei’ ich die Frau;denn dein Mann bin ich,
und mein Muth ist dein –gewinn’ ich mir Gutrun’ zum Weib.
Gunther:
Gutrune gönn’ ich dir gerne.
Siegfried:
Brünnhilde bring’ ich dir.

On one have I set my mind
whom no shift can ever win me.
High on a fell her home –a fire burns round the hall. –Only he who breaks through the fire –– may sue for Brünnhilde’s love.
Now I may not climb that fell;
the fire will never die down for me!
I’m not afraid of any fire:for you I’ll woo the woman;for your liegeman am I
and my courage is yours, –if I can win Gutrun’ as wife.
I grant you Gutrune gladly.
I’ll bring back Brünnhilde for you.

The description of Brünnhilde’s home and conduct is quite similar tothat in the Prose Edda (SnE S41):
Hon sat á Hindafjalli ok var um sal hennar vafrlogi, en hon haf›i ﬂess
heit strengt at eiga ﬂann einn mann er ﬂor›i at rí›a vafrlogann.
(She was living on Hindafell and around her hall was a flickering flame,and she had made a vow to wed only that man who dared to ride theflickering flame.)COMPARISON WITH SOURCES

233

A similar description of Brynhildr’s situation is found in Vƒlsunga
saga ch. 29, and the eddic poem Grípisspá (35) says of Sigur›r’s
proposition:
ﬁik mun Grímhildrgƒrva véla,
mun hon Brynhildarbi›ja f‡sa
Gunnari til handa,
Gotna dróttni;
heitr ﬂú fljótliga fƒrfylkis mó›ur.

Grimhild willcompletely trick you,she’ll urge you to ask
for the hand of Brynhild
on Gunnar’s behalf,lord of Goths;
at once you’ll promise
the ruler’s mother to go.

G. I.2.4
Gunther wants to know how Siegfried can help him (Ring, 7385–87):
Gunther:
Wie willst du sie täuschen?
Siegfried:
Durch des Tarnhelm’s Trugtausch’ ich mir deine Gestalt.

How do you plan to deceive her?
Through the Tarnhelm’s disguise
I’ll change my shape with yours.

The Prose Edda (SnE S41) and Vƒlsunga saga (ch. 29) say only that
Sigur›r and Gunnarr ‘exchanged forms/appearances’ (and in the Prose
Edda names), and there is no mention of a magical helmet. In Vƒlsunga
saga Grímhildr is said to have enabled them to do this:Gunnarr rí›r nú at eldinum, ok vill Grani eigi ganga. Gunnarr má nú eigi
rí›a ﬂenna eld. Skipta nú litum, sem Grímhildr kenndi ﬂeim Sigur›i ok
Gunnari.
(Gunnar then rode at the fire, but Grani wouldn’t go on. So Gunnar could
not ride through the fire. Sigurd and Gunnar then exchanged appearances
as Grimhild had taught them.)

G. I.2.5
Siegfried and Gunther swear oaths of loyalty (Ring, 7388–7400):
Gunther:
So stelle Eide zum Schwur!
Swear oaths, then, as a vow!
Siegfried:
Blut-Brüderschaft
Let an oath be sworn
schwöre ein Eid!
to blood-brotherhood.
Hagen füllt ein Trinkhorn mit frischem Wein; dieses hält er dann Siegfried
und Gunther hin, welche sich mit ihren Schwertern die Arme ritzen und diesekurze Zeit über die Öffnung des Trinkhorns halten.

234

WAGNER AND THE VOLSUNGS(Hagen fills a drinking-horn with new wine and offers it to Siegfried andGunther, who scratch their arms with their swords and hold them for a moment
over the top of the horn. Both men place two fingers on the horn, which Hagencontinues to hold between them.)
Siegfried:Blühenden Lebens
The freshening blood
labendes Blutof flowering life
träufelt’ ich in den Trank.
I let trickle into the drink.
Gunther:
Bruder-brünstig
Bravely blended
muthig gemischt
in brotherly love,blüh’ im Trank unser Blut.
may our lifeblood blossom in the drink!
Both:
Treue trink’ ich dem Freund:Faith I drink to my friend:
froh und frei
happy and free
entblühe dem Bund
may blood-brotherhood
Blut-Brüderschaft heut’!
spring from our bond today!

The vows of Sigur›r, Gunnarr and Hƒgni are referred to repeatedly in
the Prose Edda (SnE S41), Vƒlsunga saga (chs 28, 32) and the eddic
poem Grípisspá; in the fragment of Sigur›arkvi›a (Brot af Sigur›arkvi›u 17), the mixing of blood is also mentioned:
Mantattu, Gunnarr,
til gƒrva ﬂat,
er ﬂit bló›i í sporbá›ir rendut.

You did not, Gunnar,
remember too clearly,that you both let your bloodrun into your footprints.

Das Nibelungenlied tells only of the comradeship of Sîfrit and Gunther,and of Sîfrit’s marriage to Gunther’s sister (NL 126–32, Av. 3; 607–
29, Av. 10), but not of any formal vows (except Gunther’s vow that hewould give Sîfrit Kriemhilt in marriage, NL 608, Av. 10).
G. I.2.6
Hagen has not taken part in the oath-swearing (Ring, 7409–17):
Siegfried (to Hagen):Was nahm’st du am Eide nicht Theil? Why did you take no part in the oath?
Hagen:
Mein Blut verdürb’euch den Trank! My blood would mar your drink!
Nicht fließt mir’s ächtIt doesn’t flow truly
und edel wie euch;and nobly like yours;
störrisch und kalt
stubborn and cold
stockt’s in mir;it curdles within me,

COMPARISON WITH SOURCES

235

nicht will’s die Wange mir röthen. refusing to redden my cheek.
D’rum bleib’ ich fern
So I keep well away
vom feurigen Bund.
from your fiery bond.

In no early narrative of the Nibelung/Niflung story does one of thebrothers-in-law avoid participating in the oath, but in some cases their
stepbrother Guttormr/Gothormr is not invited to be one of the oathtakers, and hence he may later kill Sigur›r (Sigur›arkvi›a inn skamma
20; SnE S41; Vƒlsunga saga ch. 32).
In Gísla saga Súrssonar ch. 6, on the other hand, ﬁorgrímr refuses
to swear an oath of blood-brotherhood with Vésteinn, Gísli’s brotherin-law; Gísli and his brother ﬁorkell were, in turn, ﬁorgrímr’s brothersin-law:
Ok nú vekja ﬂeir sér bló› ok láta renna saman dreyra sinn í ﬂeiri moldu,
er upp var skorin undan jar›armeninu, ok hrœra saman allt, moldina ok
bló›it; en sí›an fellu ﬂeir allir á kné ok sverja ﬂann ei›, at hverr skal
annars hefna sem bró›ur síns, ok nefna ƒll go›in í vitni. Ok er ﬂeir tókusk
í hendr allir, ﬂá mælti ﬁorgrímr: ‘Œrinn vanda hefi ek, ﬂótt ek gera ﬂetta
vi› ﬂá bá›a, ﬁorkel ok Gísla, mága mína, en mik skyldir ekki vi› Véstein’— ok hnykkir hendi sinni. ‘Svá munu vér ﬂá fleiri gera,’ segir Gísli ok
hnykkir ok sinni hendi, — ‘ok skal ek eigi binda mér vanda vi› ﬂann mann,er eigi vill vi› Véstein, mág minn.’(And now they draw blood and let their blood run together in the earth
which was scratched up under the sod, and mix it all together, earth andblood; and then they kneel and swear an oath, that each shall avenge theother as his brother, and they call all the gods to witness. But when theycame to shake hands Thorgrim said: ‘There is burden enough in this forme if I do it with these two, Thorkel and Gisli, my brothers-in-law; but I
have no ties with Vestein’ – and he draws back his hand. ‘Then more of us
will do the same,’ says Gisli, and he too draws back his hand, ‘for I will
not bind myself to the man who will not bind himself to Vestein, my wife’s
brother.’)ﬁorgrímr later murders Vésteinn, just as Hagen murders Siegfried. Thisepisode from Gísla saga was included in the German selection fromthe sagas of Icelanders published in 1816. This book is known to havebeen in both Wagner’s earlier and later libraries (i.e. before 1849 andlater on; see pp. 106 and 117 above and Westernhagen 1966, 102).
Hagen’s description of himself is very like the description of Hƒgni in
ﬁi›reks saga (169 (274)):
Ok nú er hann fjƒgra vetra gamall, er hann gengr í leika me› sveinum, ok
er hann har›r ok sterkr ok illr vi›reignar, ok nú er honum ﬂví brug›it, at

236

WAGNER AND THE VOLSUNGS

hann er yfirlits sem troll, en eigi sem menn, ok eftir skapi sínu er hansásjóna. Ok ﬂessu rei›ist hann mjƒk ok gengr til eins vatns ok sér sinnskugga, ok nú sér hann, at hans andlit er svá bleikt sem bast ok svá fƒltsem aska ok ﬂat er mikit ok hræ›iligt ok grimmligt.
(And now he is four years old, when he starts to play with boys, and he istough and strong and difficult to deal with, and now he is accused ofbeing like trolls in appearance and not like people, and of his face matching
his temperament. He becomes very angry at this and goes to a pond andlooks at his reflection, and now he sees that his face is as wan as bast andas pale as ashes and it is large and frightening and fierce.)

G. I.2.7
Siegfried is eager to win Brünnhilde for Gunther (Ring, 7419–21, 7425–
26, 7431–32):
Siegfried:
Frisch auf die Fahrt!
Dort liegt mein Schiff;schnell führt es zum Felsen.
...
Gunther:Rastest du nicht zuvor?
Siegfried:
Um die Rückkehr ist’s mir jach.
...
Hagen (to Gutrune):Sieh’, wie’s ihn treibt
zum Weib dich zu gewinnen!

Quick, let’s be off!
There lies my boat;
to the fell it will bring us swiftly.

Won’t you rest beforehand?
I’m longing to return.

See how he hastens
to win you as wife!

In all the Old Icelandic sources, the brothers-in-law and sworn brothers
go on horseback to seek Brynhildr’s hand for Gunnarr. Sigur›r has bythis time long been married to Gu›rún. In Vƒlsunga saga (ch. 28) hestays at least two and a half years with the Gjúkungs before they set
off on the journey of courtship. In Das Nibelungenlied, on the other
hand, they sail all the way to ‘Islande,’ where Prünhilt rules as queen(NL 325–528, Av. 6–8).
Götterdämmerung, Act One, Scene Three
G. I.3.1
The valkyrie Waltraute visits Brünnhilde on the mountaintop, and asks
for the ring in order to save the gods from destruction, but Brünnhilde
refuses to give up this token of Siegfried’s love (Ring, 7452–7665).

COMPARISON WITH SOURCES

237[In the version of the Siegfrieds Tod of 1848, the whole troop of
valkyries ride past Brünnhilde’s rock, and exchange words with her(SSD II, 183–86).]
This episode is entirely Wagner’s invention, and has no prototype.
G. I.3.2
Left alone again, Brünnhilde notices turbulence in the fire encircling
the mountain below her rock (Ring, 7666–73):
Es ist Abend geworden. Aus der Tiefe leuchtet der Feuerschein allmählichheller auf . . .
(It is evening. From below, the glow of the fire gradually increases in brightness. . .)
Brünnhilde:
Abendlich Dämmern
Evening twilightdeckt den Himmel:
shrouds the heavens:heller leuchtet
more brightly shines
die hütende Lohe herauf. –the sheltering blaze below. –Was leckt so wüthend
Why does the blazing billow
die lodernde Welle zum Wall?
lick at the bulwark in such wild fury?
Zur Felsenspitze
The fiery tide is rolling
wälzt sich der feurige Schwall.
towards the top of the fell.

Sigur›r’s ride through the flames is described as follows in Vƒlsunga
saga ch. 29):
Eldr nam at œsask
en jƒr› at skjálfa
ok hár logi
vi› himni gnæfa.

The fire grew great,
the ground did shakeand tall flame
towered to the sky.

The description is, once again, reminiscent of a view of a volcanic
eruption and of Vƒluspá 57, cf. W. III.3.2 and S. III.2.2.
G. I.3.3
A man emerges from the flames (Ring, 7678–80, 7684–88, 7697–99):
Siegfried, auf dem Haupte den Tarnhelm, der ihm bis zur Hälfte das Gesicht
verdeckt und nur die Augen frei läßt, erscheint in Gunthers Gestalt . . . Siegfried,
im Hintergrunde auf dem Steine verweilend, betrachtet Brünnhilde, regungslos
auf seinem Schild gelehnt.
(On his head Siegfried wears the Tarnhelm, which covers half his face, leaving
only his eyes free. He appears in Gunther’s form . . . Siegfried remains on therock at the back, observing Brünnhilde and resting motionlessly on his shield.)
...

238

WAGNER AND THE VOLSUNGS

Brünnhilde:
Wer ist der Mann,der das vermochte,
was dem stärksten nur bestimmt?
Siegfried:
Ein Helde, der dich zahmt –bezwingt Gewalt dich nur.
...
Ein Gibichung bin ich,
und Gunther heißt der Held,dem, Frau, du folgen soll’st.

Who is the man
who has done
what only the strongest was fated to do?
A hero who’ll tame you,if force alone can constrain you.
A Gibichung am I,
and Gunther’s the name of the hero
whom, woman, you must follow.

Vƒlsunga saga recounts the same events as follows (ch. 29):
Ok er Sigur›r kom inn um logann, fann hann ﬂar eitt fagrt herbergi, ok
ﬂar sat í Brynhildr. Hon spyrr hverr sá ma›r er. En hann nefndisk Gunnarr
Gjúkason — ‘Ertu ok ætlu› mín kona me› jáyr›i fe›r ﬂíns, ef ek ri›a ﬂinn
vafrloga, ok fóstra ﬂíns me› y›ru atkvæ›i.’ ‘Eigi veit ek gerla hversu ekskal ﬂessu svara,’ segir hon. Sigur›r stó› réttr á gólfinu ok studdisk á sver›shjƒltin ok mælti til Brynhildar . . . ‘Mƒrg stórvirki hafi ﬂér unnit, en minnizk
nú á heit y›ur, ef ﬂessi eldr væri ri›inn, at ﬂér mundi› me› ﬂeim manni
ganga er ﬂetta ger›i.’(And when Sigurd went in past the flames he found a fine dwelling, andBrynhild was sitting within. She asked who the man was. He said he was
Gunnar, Gjuki’s son. ‘And you are to be my wife — your father consented
if I rode through your leaping flames, as did your foster-father, if you so
decided.’ ‘I hardly know how to answer,’ she said. Sigurd stood erect on
the floor, leaning on the hilt of his sword, and said to Brynhild . . . ‘You
have performed many great deeds . . . but now think of your oath, that if
any one rode through the fire you would go with the man who did so.’)In Das Nibelungenlied Gunther, King of the Burgundians in Worms,
is finally accepted by Queen Prünhilt when he defeats her in a contest
of arms; but it is Sîfrit, standing by his side wearing a cloak ofinvisibility, who performs the feats for him (NL 431–74, Av. 7).

G. I.3.4 (Ring, 7722–26)[Siegfried] faßt sie bei der Hand und entzieht ihrem Finger den Ring . . .
([Siegfried] seizes her by the hand and tears the ring from her finger . . .)Jetzt bist du mein!
Now you are mine!
Brünnhilde, Gunther’s Braut –Brünnhilde, Gunther’s bride,gönne mir nun dein Gemach!
allow me to enter your chamber!

COMPARISON WITH SOURCES
Brünnhilde:
Was könntest du wehren,
elendes Weib!

239

How could you stop him,
woman most wretched!

These events are recounted in rather variable ways in all the probablesources. In Vƒlsunga saga there appears to be no violence, but in thisversion Sigur›r and Brynhildr have been together twice before (ch. 29):
Hann tók ﬂá af henni hringinn Andvaranaut er hann gaf henni, en fekk
henni nú annan hring af Fáfnis arfi.
(Then he took from her the ring Andvaranaut [Andvari’s gift] which hehad given her, and gave her another from Fafnir’s inheritance.)

In the Prose Edda, the process is reversed, and Sigur›r gives her the
ring – and in this version it appears to be a different Brynhildr whom
he has never met before (SnE S41):
En at morni ﬂá er hann stó› upp ok klæddi sik, ﬂá gaf hann Brynhildi at
línfé gullbauginn ﬂann er Loki haf›i tekit af Andvara, en tók af henni
annan baug til minja.
(And in the morning when he got up and dressed, he gave Brynhild asmorning gift the gold ring that Loki had taken from Andvari, and received
from her another ring as keepsake.)

In ﬁi›reks saga, the exchange of rings takes place in Gunnarr’s hall,
after Sigur›r has, with Gunnarr’s permission, lain with Brynhildr in
the royal bedchamber (229 (319)):
Ok er morgnar, ﬂá tekr hann af hennar hendi eitt fingrgull ok lætr á annat
í sta›inn.
And in the morning he took from her hand a gold ring and put another onin its place.

In Das Nibelungenlied the events are the same as in ﬁi›reks saga,
except that Sîfrit gives her no ring in place of the one he takes fromher (NL 679, Av. 10). He also takes her belt, which is mentioned again
later as part of the evidence that Sîfrit had slept with her (NL 847–49,
Av. 14). Neither in Das Nibelungenlied nor in ﬁi›reks saga does thering have any supernatural power.
G. I.3.5
Siegfried drives her away with a gesture of command. He draws his
sword (Ring, 7727–30):
Nun, Nothung, zeuge du,daß ich in Züchten warb:

Now, Nothung, attest
that I wooed her chastely:

240

WAGNER AND THE VOLSUNGS

die Treue wahrend dem Bruder,trenne mich von seiner Braut!

keeping faith with my brother,
keep me apart from his bride!

The naked sword in the bed between Siegfried and Brünnhilde has adirect prototype in the Prose Edda and the Poetic Edda, Brot af
Sigur›arkvi›u 18–19 and Sigur›arkvi›a in skamma 4, which reads asfollows:
Seggr inn su›rœnilag›i sver› nekkvi›,mæki málfán,á me›al ﬂeira;né hann konu
kyssa ger›i,né húnskr konungr
hefja sér at armi;
mey frumunga
fal hann megi Gjúka.

The southern warrior
laid a naked sword,
an inlaid blade,
between them;he did not
kiss the woman,nor did the Hunnish kingraise her on his arm;
the maid very young
he kept for the son of Gjuki.

Vƒlsunga saga has a rather more detailed account:ﬁar dvelsk hann ﬂrjár nætr, ok búa eina rekkju. Hann tekr sver›it Gramok leggr í me›al ﬂeira bert. Hon spyrr hví ﬂat sætti. Hann kva› sér ﬂat
skipat at svá ger›i hann brú›laup til konu sinnar e›a fengi ella bana.
(He stayed there three nights, and they shared the same bed. He took thesword Gram and laid it naked between them. She asked the reason. He
said it was ordained that he should marry his wife in this way, or else die.)This not very convincing explanation here presumably alludes to thefact that if he were to break faith with his sworn-brother he would bepunished by death. The episode of the sword in the bed does not occur
in ﬁi›reks saga or Das Nibelungenlied or Das Lied vom Hürnen Seyfrid.
Götterdämmerung, Act Two, Scene One
G. II.1.1
Alberich has a long conversation with Hagen, in which he reminds
him of his filial duties (Ring, 7731–7829).
This episode has no prototype, and is Wagner’s own invention.
Götterdämmerung, Act Two, Scene Two
G. II.2.1
Apparently thanks to the power of the Tarnhelm (cf. p. 122), Siegfried
is instantly at the hall of the Gibichungs. He announces that Gunther

COMPARISON WITH SOURCES

241

and Brünnhilde are on their way, and that preparations should be madefor their arrival (Ring, 7830–7906).
The sources make no mention of this quality of the magic helmet. The
return of Sigur›r after visiting Brynhildr is recounted in similar termsin Vƒlsunga saga ch. 29 (though here they do not go direct to Gjuki’shome) and the Prose Edda (SnE S41):
Sigur›r hljóp ﬂá á hest sinn ok rei› til félaga sinna. Skipta ﬂeir Gunnarr
ﬂá aptr litum ok fóru aptr til Gjúka me› Brynhildi.
(Sigurd then leapt on his horse and rode to his companions. He and Gunnar
then changed back their forms and they returned to Gjuki with Brynhild.)

In Das Nibelungenlied Sîfrit is sent on ahead to Worms on horseback
after a nine-day ocean voyage from ‘Islande’, to bring the joyful news
that Gunther is on his way with Prünhilt, and to order the preparationof a feast (NL 529–62, Av. 9).
Götterdämmerung, Act Two, Scene Three
G. II.3.1
Hagen summons his followers to slaughter animals and prepare drinks
for the wedding feast (Ring, 7907–94).
In Das Nibelungenlied, Gunther’s brothers, sisters and mother immediately begin to invite guests to the feast (NL 563–66, Av. 9).
Götterdämmerung, Act Two, Scene Four
G. II.4.1
Gunther presents Brünnhilde to his followers, along with Siegfried
and Gutrune. Siegfried does not remember Brünnhilde, but she recognises both him and the ring on his finger (Ring, 8021, 8027, 8031–45):
Brünnhilde:
Siegfried . . . hier . . ? Gutrune . . ? Siegfried . . . here? . . Gutrune . . ?
...
Siegfried . . . kennt mich nicht?. . . Siegfried . . . knows me not! . . .
...
Ha! – der Ring . . .
Ha! . . . the ring . . .
an seiner Hand!
upon his hand!
Er . . . Siegfried?
He . . . Siegfried?
Some vassals:
Was ist? Was ist?
What is it? What is it?

242

WAGNER AND THE VOLSUNGS

Hagen:
Jetzt merket klug,
was die Frau euch klagt!
Brünnhilde (to Siegfried):
Einen Ring sah ich
an deiner Hand; –nicht dir gehört er,
ihn entriß mir
auf Gunther deutend– dieser Mann!
Wie mochtest von ihm
den Ring du empfah’n?
Siegfried:
Den Ring empfing ich
nicht von ihm.

Mark closely now
what the woman discloses!
A ring I saw
upon your hand: –it belongs not to you
but was wrested from me(pointing to Gunther)– by this man here!
How could you have
got the ring from him?
I did not get
the ring from him.

In the Prose Edda (SnE S41) and Vƒlsunga saga (ch. 30) the fatefulexchange of rings is not discovered until Brynhildr and Gu›rún wadeout into the Rhine to wash their hair, and begin to argue with eachother about who has the braver husband and who took Brynhildr’s
virginity. This dramatic scene is not used by Wagner.
In ﬁi›reks saga the long dispute takes place in the hall of Gunnarr
in the land of the Niflungs. When Brynhildr demands that Grímhildr
give up her seat, because she has the nobler husband, Grímhildr says
(343 (388)):‘Nú hefr ﬂú upp ﬂenna leik, er ﬂú munt vilja, at vit talim fleira okkar ámilli, hvat ﬂér er til sœmdar e›a ósœmdar. Seg nú mér fyrstu spurning, er
ek spyr ﬂik: Hverr tók ﬂinn meydóm, e›a hverr er ﬂinn frumverr?’ ﬁásvarar Brynhildr: ‘ﬁar hefir ﬂú mik spurt ﬂess, er ek kann vel at segja ok
mér er engi ósœmd í. Ríki konungr Gunnarr kom til minnar borgar . . . tók
ek hann til manns, ok var ek honum gift me› margs konar pr‡›i . . . Ok
ﬂessu vil ek eigi ﬂik leyna ok engi annan, ef eftir spyrr, at hann er minn
frumverr.’ Nú svarar Grímhildr: ‘Nú l‡gr ﬂú ﬂat, er ek spur›a ﬂik, sem
mér var ván. Sá ma›r, er ﬂinn meydóm tók fyrsta sinn, heitir Sigur›r sveinn.’
Nú svarar Brynhildr: ‘Ek var› aldrigi Sigur›ar kona ok aldri hann minnma›r.’ ﬁá mælti Grímhildr: ‘ﬁat sk‡t ek hér til ﬂessa fingrgulls, er hanntók af ﬂér, ﬂá er hann haf›i tekit ﬂinn meydóm. ﬁetta sama gull tók hannaf ﬂinni hendi ok gaf mér.’(‘Now you are beginning a game such that you will want us to talk further
together about what is to your honour and what is to your shame. Answer
me now the first question I ask you: Who took your virginity and who wasyour first husband?’ Then Brynhild replied: ‘There you have asked me

COMPARISON WITH SOURCES

243

something I can easily tell you, and there is no shame to me in it. The
powerful King Gunnar came to my castle . . . I took him as husband and I
was then married to him with many kinds of splendour . . . And this I shallconceal neither from you nor from anyone else who enquires, that he is
my first husband.’ Now Grimhild replies: ‘Now you are telling a lie about
what I asked you, as I expected. The man who first took your virginity iscalled Boy Sigurd [Young Sigurd].’ Now Brynhild replies: ‘I never was
Sigurd’s wife and he was never my husband.’ Then said Grimhild: ‘I callto witness in this matter this gold ring, which he took from you when he
had taken your virginity. This same gold he took from your hand and gave
to me.’)In Das Nibelungenlied Kriemhilt and Prünhilt also quarrel over theirhusbands’ heroic qualities, and who should take precedence whenentering the cathedral. This is followed by Kriemhilt’s revelation about
the ring and belt (NL 814–50, Av. 14).
The fateful ring is, in all these versions, on the hand of one of thewomen when it is shown as a piece of evidence: Brynhildr, Gu›rún,
Grímhildr or Kriemhilt. Nowhere is it said to be on the hand of Sigur›r/Sîfrit. Wagner is alone in this.
G. II.4.2
The argument continues (Ring, 8046–56):
Brünnhilde (to Gunther):
Nahm’st du von mir den Ring,
If you took from me the ring
durch den ich dir vermählt,by which I was wed to you,so melde ihm dein Recht,
then tell him of your right to it,
ford’re zurück das Pfand!
demand the token back!
Gunther:
Den Ring? – Ich gab ihm keinen: – The ring? – I gave him none: –doch kenn’st du ihn auch gut?
but are you sure that it’s the same?
Brünnhilde:
Wo bärgest du den Ring,
Where are you hiding the ringden du von mir erbeutet?
that you carried off as your prize?
Gunther schweigt . . .
(Gunther says nothing . . .)Brünnhilde:
Ha! – Dieser war es,
Ha! He it was
der mir den Ring entriß.
who wrested the ring away from me:
Siegfried, der trugvolle Dieb!
Siegfried, the treacherous thief!

In Vƒlsunga saga, after the revelation about the ring, Brynhildr takes
to her bed and asks Gunnarr (ch. 31):

244

WAGNER AND THE VOLSUNGS

Hvat ger›ir ﬂú af hring ﬂeim er ek selda ﬂér, er Bu›li konungr gaf mér atefsta skilna›i, er ﬂér synir Gjúka konungs kómu› til hans ok hétu› atherja e›a brenna, nema ﬂér næ›i› mér?
(What did you do with the ring I gave you, King Budli’s gift to me at ourlast parting, when you sons of King Gjuki came to him, swearing to harryand burn if you didn’t get me?)G. II.4.3
Brünnhilde maintains that Siegfried has lain with her (Ring, 8102–03,
8108–26):
Er zwang mir Lust
He forced delightund Liebe ab.
from me, and love.
...
Siegfried:
Hört, ob ich Treue brach!
Listen whether I broke my faith!
Blutbrüderschaft
Blood-brotherhood
hab’ ich Gunther geschworen!
have I sworn to Gunther.
Nothung, das werthe Schwert,
Nothung, my worthy sword
wahrte die Treue Eid:
defended the oath of loyalty;
mich trennte seine Schärfe
its sharp edge sundered mevon diesem traur’gen Weib.
from this unhappy woman.
Brünnhilde:
Du listiger Held,
You cunning hero,
sieh’ wie du lüg’st, –look how you’re lying,
wie auf dein Schwert
just as you’re wrong
du schlecht dich beruf’st!
to appeal to your sword!
Wohl kenn’ ich seine Schärfe,Well do I know its sharp-set edge,
doch kenn’ auch die Scheide,but I also know the scabbard
darin so wonnig
in which your true friend,
ruht’ an der Wand
Nothung, rested
Nothung, der treue Freund,serenely against the wall
als die Traute sein Herr sich gewann. while its master won him his sweetheart.
The vassals:
Wie? Brach er die Treue?
What? Has he broken faith?
Trübte er Gunther’s Ehre?
Has he tarnished Gunther’s honour?

The question of whether Sigur›r had sexual relations with the betrothedwife of his sworn brother, Gunnarr, is handled in different ways in theearly sources. In surviving eddic poetry, this interpretation is rejected.
It is simply frustrated love for Sigur›r and jealousy of Gu›rún thatdrive Brynhildr to vengeance. In Sigur›arkvi›a in skamma 28 Sigur›rsays of Brynhildr on his deathbed:

COMPARISON WITH SOURCES
Mér unni mær
fyr mann hvern,
en vi› Gunnar
grand ekki vannk;
ﬂyrm›a ek sifjum,svƒrnum ei›um,
sí›r værak heitinn
hans kvánar vinr.

245

The girl loved me
beyond all men,but against Gunnar
I committed no injury;
I respected relationship,sworn oaths,
lest I should be called
his wife’s lover.

The eddic poem Helrei› Brynhildar 12 is even more specific:
Sváfu vi› ok un›umí sæing einni,
sem hann minn bró›ir
um borinn væri;hvártki knáttihƒnd yfir annatátta nóttum
okkart leggja.

We slept and were content
in one bed,
as if he my brotherborn were;neither of us
their arm over the otherfor eight nights
did lay.

Das Nibelungenlied does not give a clear answer to the question. Itsays only that Sîfrit forced Prünhilt to submission with Gunther’s
consent; the latter did not, however, want Sîfrit to have sexual relations
with her. It is not clear, on the other hand, how he succeeded insubjugating her (NL 651–55 and 666–80, Av. 10; 840–50, Av. 14).
The Prose Edda (SnE S41) and Vƒlsunga saga (chs 31–32) are alsovague on the subject, though it emerges already in Vƒlsunga saga ch.
29 that Sigur›r and Brynhildr have a daughter, Áslaug (not said to be
Brynhildr’s in the Prose Edda). In Vƒlsunga saga Sigur›r and Brynhildr
are also said to have met twice before. (The complexity of the various
versions of the story of Brynhildr, of which different versions are
combined in different ways in the various sources, is well treated inT. M. Andersson, The Legend of Brynhild, 1980 (Islandica XLIII).)ﬁi›reks saga is the most unambiguous. After Brynhildr has refusedher husband, Gunnarr, his conjugal rights, the latter says to Sigur›r(228–29 (319)):‘Fyrir sakar okkarrar vináttu ok mágsemdar ﬂá trúi ek engum manni jafnvel
sem ﬂér, ﬂó at ﬂat mál sé, er mikit liggi vi›, at leynt sé, ok ek veit, at ﬂú ert
svá sterkr ma›r, at ﬂú mátt fá hennar meydóm, ef nokkurr ma›r er sá íverƒldunni, ok helzt má ek ﬂér til trúa, at ﬂat skal aldrigi upp koma fyrir
engan mann, ﬂótt á ﬂenna veg sé gert.’ Nú svarar Sigur›r ok lézt svá gera
vilja sem hann vill. Ok nú er ﬂetta rá›it. Ok nú er kveld kemr ok Gunnarr
skal fara til sinnar hvílu, ok er ﬂat í fyrsta lagi, ﬂá er svá til hagat, atSigur›r sveinn ferr í rekkjuna, en Gunnarr ferr í braut me› klæ›i Sigur›ar,

246

WAGNER AND THE VOLSUNGS

ok hyggja ﬂat nú allir menn, at ﬂar sé Sigur›r sveinn. Ok nú kastar Sigur›rklæ›um á hƒfu› sér ok lætr allómáttuliga ok liggr svá ﬂar til, er allirmenn eru sofna›ir ok á braut farnir. Ok ﬂá tekr hann til Brynhildar ok fær
skjótt hennar meydóm.
(‘For the sake of our friendship and relationship I trust no man as well as
you, even in an affair which it is very important should be kept secret, andI know that you are so strong a man that you can take her virginity if there
is any such man in the world, and I can trust you best to do it so that it will
never become known to any man that it was done in this way.’ Now Sigurd
replies and says he will do as he wishes. And now this is arranged. And
now when evening comes and Gunnar is to go to his bed, and this is at thefirst opportunity, then it is managed that Boy Sigurd gets into the bed,
while Gunnar goes off with Sigurd’s clothes on, and everyone thinks it is
Boy Sigurd. And now Sigurd throws clothes over his head and behaves as
if he has absolutely no strength and lies like that until everyone has goneto sleep and gone away. And then he takes hold of Brynhild and quickly
takes her virginity.)

The clear implication in ﬁi›reks saga is that Brynhildr herself wasaware of the pretence from the start. Things only go wrong when
Grímhildr discloses the secret in a rage. Brynhildr says to Gunnarr(344 (388)):
Sigur›r sveinn hefir rofit ykkur trúna›armál ok sagt sinni konu Grímhildi
allt, hversu ﬂú lag›ir ﬂinn trúna› undir hann, ok ﬂá er ﬂú fekkt eigi sjálfr
mitt lag ok lézt Sigur› sveinn taka minn meydóm. ﬁat sama fœr›i Grímhildr
mér í brigzli í dag fyrir ƒllum mƒnnum.
(Boy Sigurd has broken your confidence and told his wife Grimhild
everything, how you placed your confidence in him and when you yourself
could not obtain marital relations with me, you let Boy Sigurd take myvirginity. Grimhild has now upbraided me with this today in front of
everyone.’)Wagner appears to decide that Siegfried and Brünnhilde should makelove at their first encounter, but not at the second, when Siegfried had
no memory of her and was in the form of Gunther.
G. II.4.4
Siegfried and Brünnhilde both swear on Hagen’s spear that they are
telling the truth (Ring, 8125–69).
In Das Nibelungenlied (NL 855–60, Av. 14) Sîfrit offers to swear at
Gunther’s request that he has not had sexual relations with Prünhilt.
No such oath is mentioned in the Icelandic sources.

COMPARISON WITH SOURCES

247

Götterdämmerung, Act Two, Scene Five
G.II.5.1
When Siegfried has left, Brünnhilde ponders her shame (Ring, 8204–22):
Brünnhilde:
Welches Unhold’s List
What demon’s art
liegt hier verhohlen?
lies hidden here?
Welches Zaubers Rath
What store of magic
regte dieß auf?
stirred this up?
Wo ist nun mein Wissen
Where is now my wisdom
gegen dieß Wirrsal?
against this bewilderment?
Wo sind meine Runen
Where are my runes
gegen dieß Räthsel?
against this riddle?
Ach Jammer! Jammer!
Ah, sorrow! Sorrow!
Weh’! ach Wehe!
Woe, ah woe!
All’ mein Wissen
All my wisdom
wies ich ihm zu:
I gave to him:in seiner Macht
in his power
hält er die Magd;he holds the maid;in seinen Banden
in his bonds
hält er die Beute,
he holds the booty
die, jammernd ob ihrer Schmach, which, sorrowing for her shame,jauchzend der reiche verschenkt! – the rich man exultantly gave away. –In Vƒlsunga saga, Brynhildr’s laments and imprecations are even more
prolonged and colourful, for example (ch. 32):
Eptir ﬂetta gekk Brynhildr út ok settisk undir skemmuvegg sinn ok haf›imargar harmtƒlur, kva› sér allt leitt, bæ›i land ok ríki, er hon átti eigi Sigur›.
(After this, Brynhild went out and sat beneath the wall of her private
quarters, and gave vent to her grief. She said that everything was hatefulto her, land and power, too, since Sigurd was not hers.)

Her fury and grief are also described in Das Nibelungenlied (NL 863–
64, Av. 14) and ﬁi›reks saga (344 (388)).
G. II.5.2
Brünnhilde’s thoughts now turn to vengeance (Ring, 8223–37):
Brünnhilde:
Wer bietet mir nun das Schwert, Who’ll offer me now the sword
mit dem ich die Bande zerschnitt’? with which to sever those bonds?
Hagen:
Vertraue mir,Have trust in me,
betrog’ne Frau!
deserted wife!

248

WAGNER AND THE VOLSUNGS

Wer dich verrieth,
Whoever betrayed you,das räche ich.
I shall avenge it.
Brünnhilde:
An wem?
On whom?
Hagen:An Siegfried, der dich betrog.
On Siegfried, who deceived you.
Brünnhilde:
An Siegfried? . . du?
On Siegfried? . . You?
Ein einz’ger Blick
A single glanceseines blitzenden Auges,
from his flashing eye –– das selbst durch die Lügengestalt which, even through his false disguise,leuchtend strahlte zu mir –brightly lighted upon me –deinen besten Muth
would makemachte er bangen!
your greatest courage quail!

The motif of Siegfried’s keen gaze may be attributed to a very similar
form of words in two places in Vƒlsunga saga (chs 23, 32):
Augu hans váru svá snƒr at fár einn ﬂor›i at líta undir hans brún . . . Augu
Sigur›ar váru svá snƒr at fár einn ﬂor›i gegn at sjá.
His eyes were so piercing that few dared look him in the face . . . Sigurd’seyes were so piercing that few dared meet them.

G. II.5.3
Brünnhilde has revealed that Siegfried is almost invulnerable (Ring,
8258–65):
Hagen:
So kann keine Wehr ihm schaden?
Brünnhilde:
Im Kampfe nicht: – doch –träf’st du im Rücken ihn.
Niemals – das wußt’ ich –wich’ er dem Feind,nie reicht’ er fliehend ihm den Rücken:
an ihm d’rum spart’ ich den Segen.
Hagen:
Und dort trifft ihn mein Speer!

And so no weapon can harm him?
In battle, no! But –if you struck him in the back.
Never, I knew,
would he yield to a foe,
never, fleeing, present his back;so I spared it the spell’s protection.
And there my spear shall strike him!

In ﬁi›reks saga, Sigur›r bathes in the blood of the dragon, which makes
his skin invulnerable, except for a place between his shoulder-blades
where he could not reach to spread the blood (166 (271)). In Das
Nibelungenlied he also bathes in the dragon’s blood, with the same
results, but the vulnerable place is due to a leaf which was stuck against

COMPARISON WITH SOURCES

249

his back. In this case Hagene tricks Kriemhilt into telling him of thevulnerable place (NL 100, Av. 3; 899–902, Av. 15). In Das Lied vom
Hürnen Seyfrid, he spreads himself with the fat from the dragon’sburned body, which gives him invulnerable ‘horny’ skin except
between the shoulder-blades, where he could not reach (7–11).
Vƒlsunga saga and the Poetic and Prose Eddas do not mention
Sigur›r being invulnerable. The only parallel is that Sigmundr is said
to be immune to poisons, internally and externally, while his sons are
only immune to poisons externally (SnE S42; cf. the prose passage
Frá dau›a Sinfjƒtla before the eddic poem Grípisspá):Svá er sagt at Sigmundr Vƒlsungsson var svá máttugr at hann drakk eitr
ok saka›i ekki, en Simfjƒtli, sonr hans, ok Sigur›r váru svá har›ir á hú›na
at ﬂá saka›i ekki eitr at útan kvæmi á ﬂá bera.
(They say that Sigmund Volsungsson was so tough that he could drink
poison and not be harmed, while his son Sinfiotli and Sigurd had such
hard skins that poison did not harm them if it got on to their bare flesh.)

Wagner adds a new significance to Brynhildr’s talk of magic runes inVƒlsunga saga and the eddic poem Sigrdrífumal; not only is Brünnhilde
supposed to have taught Siegfried wisdom at their first encounter, butalso to have made his body largely invulnerable.
G. II.5.4
Brünnhilde now turns her anger against Gunther (Ring, 8276–84):
Brünnhilde (to Gunther):O feiger Mann!
falscher Genoß!
Hinter dem Helden
hehltest du dich,
daß Preise des Ruhmes
er dir erränge!
Tief wohl sankdas theure Geschlecht,
das solche Zagen gezeugt!

O craven man!
False companion!
Behind the hero
you hid yourself,that the harvest of famehe might reap for you!
The much-loved race
has sunk far indeed
that fathers such faint-hearts as you!

Brynhildr’s reproaches to Gunnarr appear in various places in eddic
poems; the following example is from Vƒlsunga saga (ch. 31):
Ok ﬂar kom at ek hétumsk ﬂeim er ri›i hestinum Grana me› Fáfnis arfi okri›i minn vafrloga ok dræpi ﬂá menn er ek kva› á. Nú treystisk engi atrí›a nema Sigur›r einn. Hann rei› eldinn, ﬂví at hann skorti eigi hug til.
Hann drap orminn ok Regin ok fimm konunga, en eigi ﬂú, Gunnarr, er ﬂúfƒlna›ir sem nár, ok ertu engi konungr né kappi.

250

WAGNER AND THE VOLSUNGS(And so I promised to marry the man who would ride the steed Grani with
Fafnir’s inheritance, and ride through my leaping flames, and kill themen I named. Now none dared the ride save Sigurd alone. He rode throughthe fire, for he did not lack the courage for the feat. He it was who killed
the dragon, and Regin and five kings — and not you, Gunnar, for you
turned pale as a corpse, and you’re no king, nor a hero.)

G. II.5.5
Gunther feels the justice of her reproaches (Ring, 8285–86, 8298–99,
8305–13):
Gunther:Betrüger ich – und betrogen!
Verräther ich – und verrathen!
...
Blutbrüderschaft
schwuren wir uns!
...
Brünnhilde:
Dich verrieth er,
und mich verriethet ihr alle!
Wär’ ich gerecht,
alles Blut der Welt
büßte mir nicht eure Schuld!
Doch des Einen Tod
taugt mir für alle:
Siegfried falle –zur Sühne für sich und euch!

Deceiver I – and deceived!
Betrayer I – and betrayed!
Blood-brotherhood
we swore to one another!

You he betrayed,
and me have you all betrayed!
If I had my due,
all the blood in the world
could never make good your guilt!
But one man’s deathwill serve for all:may Siegfried fall
to atone for himself and you!

These lines are paralleled by the following section of Vƒlsunga saga(chs 31–32):‘Ek vil eigi lifa,’ sag›i Brynhildr, ‘ﬂví at Sigur›r hefir mik vélt ok eigi sí›r
ﬂik, ﬂá er ﬂú lézt hann fara í mína sæng. Nú vil ek eigi tvá menn eiga senn
í einni hƒll, ok ﬂetta skal vera bani Sigur›ar e›a ﬂinn e›a minn, ﬂví athann hefir ﬂat allt sagt Gu›rúnu, en hon brigzlar mér.’ . . . Ok enn kom
Gunnarr til hennar. ﬁá mælti Brynhildr, ‘ﬁú skalt láta bæ›i ríkit ok féit,
lífit ok mik, ok skal ek fara heim til frænda minna ok sitja ﬂar hrygg, nemaﬂú drepir Sigur› ok son hans. Al eigi upp úlfhvelpinn.’ Gunnarr var› númjƒk hugsjúkr ok ﬂóttisk eigi vita hvat helzt lá til, alls hann var í ei›umvi› Sigur›, ok lét ‡mist í hug, ﬂótti ﬂat ﬂó mest svívir›ing er konan gengi
frá honum.
(‘I don’t want to live,’ said Brynhild, ‘for Sigurd betrayed me, and hebetrayed you no less when you let him sleep with me. Now I’ll not have

COMPARISON WITH SOURCES

251

two husbands at one and the same time in one hall, and this will mean
Sigurd’s death — or yours or mine, for he’s told Gudrun everything, andshe taunts me with it.’ . . . And Gunnar came to her once more. Then
Brynhild said: ‘You’ll lose both power and wealth, your life and me, andI shall go back to my family and live there sorrowfully, if you don’t kill
Sigurd and his son. Don’t rear the wolf cub.’ Gunnar now grew very
distressed. He did not know, he thought, what had best be done, for he wasbound to Sigurd by oath, and his mind toyed, now with this, now with that,but he thought it would be a terrible disgrace if his wife left him.)

G. II.5.6
Hagen too incites Gunther to seek Siegfried’s death (Ring, 8314–17):
Hagen (to Gunther):Er falle – dir zum Heil!
Ungeheure Macht wird dir,gewinn’st von ihm du den Ring,den der Tod ihm wohl nur entreißt.

May he fall – for your good!
Tremendous power will then be yours
if you win from him the ringthat death alone would wrest from him.

Das Nibelungenlied (NL 870, Av. 14) contains an equivalent stanza:Sîn gevolgte niemen, niwan daz Hagene
riet in allen zîten Gunther dem degene,ob Sîfrit niht enlebte, sô wurde im undertân
vil der künege lande. der helt dô trûren began.
(Yet none followed Ortwin’s proposal, except that Hagen kept putting it toGunther that if Siegfried were no more, Gunther would be lord of many
kingdoms, at which Gunther grew very despondent.)

But in Vƒlsunga saga it is Gunnarr who explains the problem to Hƒgni
(ch. 32):
Ok kallar til sín Hƒgna, bró›ur sinn, ok mælti, ‘Fyrir mik er komit vandmæli
mikit,’ — segir at hann vill drepa Sigur›, kva› hann hafa vélt sik í trygg›,— ‘Rá›um vit ﬂá gullinu ok ƒllu ríkinu.’ Hƒgni segir, ‘Ekki samir okkr
sœrin at rjúfa me› ófri›i. Er oss ok mikit traust at honum.’ . . . Gunnarr
svarar, ‘ﬁetta skal fram fara, ok sé ek rá›it. Eggjum til Guttorm, bró›ur
okkarn. Hann er ungr ok fás vitandi ok fyrir utan alla ei›a.’ . . . Gunnarr
segir Sigur› deyja skulu, — ‘E›a mun ek deyja ella.’ Hann bi›r Brynhildi
upp standa ok vera káta. Hon stó› upp ok segir ﬂó, at Gunnarr mun eigi
koma fyrr í sama rekkju henni en ﬂetta er fram komit. Nú rœ›ask ﬂeir vi›brœ›r. Gunnarr segir at ﬂetta er gild banasƒk at hafa tekit meydóm
Brynhildar.
(And he summoned his brother, Hogni. ‘I am faced with a difficult problem,’he told him, and said he meant to kill Sigurd, who, he declared, had broken
faith with him — ‘Then the gold and all the power will be ours.’ ‘It would

252

WAGNER AND THE VOLSUNGS

not be right,’ said Hogni, ‘to break our oaths by a hostile act. And he’s agreat asset to us.’ . . . ‘It will have to be carried out,’ said Gunnar, ‘and I
see a way. Let’s urge on our brother Guttorm to do it. He is young andsimple and free from any oath.’ . . . Gunnar said that Sigurd must die —‘Or else I shall die.’ He told Brynhild to get up and be gay. She got up but
said that Gunnar would not share her bed until it was done. The brothers
now talked it over. Gunnar said that to have robbed Brynhild of her virginity
fully deserved death.)

G. II.5.7
Gunther has scruples about the killing (Ring, 8322–32):
Gunther:Doch Gutrune, ach!
der ich ihn gönnte:
straften den Gatten wir so,
wie bestünden wir vor ihr?
Brünnhilde:
Was rieth mir mein Wissen?
Was wiesen mich Runen?
Im hilflosen Elend
achtet mir’s hell:
Gutrune heißt der Zauber,der den Gatten mir entzückt!
Angst treffe sie!

But Gutrune, ah!
whom I didn’t begrudge him:
if we punished her husband so,
how would we stand in her sight?
What did my wisdom tell me?
What did my runes have to teach me?
In my helpless distressit dawns upon me now:
Gutrun’s the name of the spellthat spirited away my husband!
May she be struck by dread!

In the Icelandic sources there is no direct mention of Gunnarr’s affection
for his sister, but in Das Nibelungenlied Gunther is highly reluctant totake part in the plot (NL 866–68, Av. 14). Brynhildr/Prünhilt’s hatredand jealousy of Sigur›r/Sîfrit’s wife are mentioned, however, in all
sources, for example in the eddic poem Sigur›arkvi›a in skamma 8:
Opt gengr hon innan,
ills um fyld,ísa ok jƒkla,aptan hvern,
er ﬂau Gu›rún
ganga á be›ok hana Sigur›r
sveipr í ripti,
konungr inn húnski,
kván friá sína.

Often she left the house,filled with bitterness,
on ice and glaciers,
every evening,when he and Gudrun
go to bed
and her Sigurd
wraps in bedclothes,
the Hunnish kingto caress his wife.

G. II.5.8
Hagen suggests the means of killing Siegfried (Ring, 8333–38):

COMPARISON WITH SOURCES
Muß sein Tod sie betrüben,verhehlt sei ihr die That.
Auf munt’res Jagen
ziehen wir morgen;
der Edle braus’t uns voran –ein Eber bracht’ ihn da um.

253

Since his death is bound to afflict her,then let the deed be hid from her.
Tomorrow let’s merrily
go a-hunting:the noble hero will rush on ahead –a boar might bring him down.

In ﬁi›reks saga (345–46 (390–91)) Hƒgni plans the hunting expedition,
while in Das Nibelungenlied Gunther and Hagene conspire (NL 911–
16, Av. 15–16). The hunting trip is not mentioned in the Poetic or Prose
Edda or Vƒlsunga saga, and indeed hunting for game in forests was
not part of the Icelandic social scene.
G. II.5.9
Finally, the killing is resolved upon (Ring, 8339–57):
Gunther:
So soll es sein!
Siegfried falle:sühn’ er die Schmach,die er mir schuf!
Des Eides Treue
hat er getrogen:mit seinem Blut
büß’ er die Schuld!

So shall it be!
May Siegfried fall:
let him purge the shamethat he caused me!
The oath of loyalty
he has betrayed:with his blood
let him cleanse his guilt!

Gunther’s volte-face is described in Das Nibelungenlied (NL 874–76,
Av. 14), and in ﬁi›reks saga (344 (388)) Gunnarr says to Brynhildr:
Frú, eigi skaltu gráta, ok ﬂegi ﬂú ﬂegar í sta›. Sigur›r sveinn mun eigi
lengi vera várr herra ok mín systir Grímhildr mun eigi vera ﬂín drottning.
(Lady, you must not cry, be quiet immediately. Boy Sigurd will not long be
our lord and my sister Grimhild will not be your queen.)

Gunnarr’s consent and planning of the murder are described in eddic
poems, the Prose Edda and Vƒlsunga saga, at varying length. Gunnarr
says in Brot af Sigur›arkvi›u 2:
Mér hefir Sigur›r
selda ei›a,ei›a selda,
alla logna;ﬂá vélti hann mik,er hann vera skyldi
allra ei›aeinn fulltrúi.

To me Sigurd
gave oaths,
oaths gave,
all false;then he deceived mewhen he should have beenof every oathsole guarantor.

254

WAGNER AND THE VOLSUNGS

Götterdämmerung, Act Three, Scene One
G. III.1.1
The three Rhine Maidens meet Siegfried on the banks of Rhine. They
want the ring, but after some banter Siegfried refuses to give it up(Ring, 8391–8557).
Possible prototypes for the Rhine Maidens are discussed in connection
with Das Rheingold (R. 1.1). This episode, with Siegfried as the protagonist, is otherwise entirely Wagner’s invention. Nevertheless itcorresponds in various ways to Hagene’s meeting with the waterwomen in Das Nibelungenlied, Av. 25, of whom it is said that ‘they
floated on the waves before him like water-fowl’ (Si swebten sam dievogele vor im ûf der fluot, NL 1536), and this led him to believe what
they said was trustworthy. They warn Hagene of the treacherous death
he is about to suffer, just as Wagner’s Rhine Maidens warn Siegfried(Ring 8487–91). Like Hagene in Das Nibelungenlied, Wagner’s Siegfried
reacts with heroic contempt for death.
G. III.1.2
Before he sees the Rhine Maidens, Siegfried muses over how he has
become separated from the other huntsmen (Ring, 8416–17):
Ein Albe führte mich irr’,
daß ich die Fährte verlor.

An elf has led me astray,so that I lost the trail.

In Das Nibelungenlied (930, Av. 16), Hagene suggests that they split
up on the hunt.

Götterdämmerung, Act Three, Scene Two
G. III.2.1
The hunting companions stop for a meal in the forest. They bring out
drinking horns and leather bags (Ring, 8564–99).
Das Nibelungenlied tells of the hunters’ meal in the forest, and the thirstthat tormented Sîfrit after the hunt (NL 963–70, Av. 16). In ﬁi›rekssaga they kill a wild boar, and start to cut it up (347 (391)). Earlier thatmorning Hƒgni had made sure the breakfast meal was heavily salted,
and served the saltiest bits to Sigur›r, to make him thirstier (345 (390)).

COMPARISON WITH SOURCES

255

G. III.2.2
Siegfried begins to tell the story of his life (Ring, 8600–8682).
None of the sources Wagner appears to have used for this episodeinclude such an account of the hero’s life.
G. III.2.3
Hagen gives Siegfried a drug which reverses the effect of the one hewas given in Act I (see G. I.2.2) (Ring, 8683–87, 8709–14):
Hagen:
Trink’ erst, Held,aus meinem Horn:ich würzte dir holden Trank,
die Erinnerung hell dir zu wecken,
daß Fernes nicht dir entfalle!
...
Siegfried:
Den Helm löst’ ich
der herrlichen Maid;mein Kuß erweckte sie kühn: –o wie mich brünstig da umschlang
der schönen Brünnhilde Arm!
Gunther:
Was hör’ ich?

Drink first, hero,from my horn:
I’ve seasoned a sweet-tasting drink
to stir your memory afreshso that distant things don’t escape you!

I loosed the glorious
woman’s helmet;
emboldened, my kiss awoke her: –oh! how fair Brünnhilde’s arm
clasped me in its ardour!
What’s that I hear?

Wagner may not have had any prototype for the drink that restoresSiegfried’s memory. It is possible, however, that he knew such aphenomenon from Sƒrla ﬂáttr, one of the shorter Heroic Sagas. Here(ch. 7) a sorceress (the goddess Freyja in disguise) gives He›inn adrink which makes him lose his memory and commit an atrocity against
his sworn brother Hƒgni. Some time later he meets the sorceress again,
she gives him another drink, and he regains his memory (Fornaldar
sögur Nor›urlanda I 375–78). It seems that there was no Germantranslation of Sƒrla ﬂáttr that Wagner could have known, but he may
have seen the Latin version (which he could certainly have read) in Sagan
af Hiedine og Hogna. Historia duorum regum Hedini et Hugonis, Uppsala1697.
As stated in connection with Act I Scene 2 (G. I.2.2), the drink offorgetfulness comes from Vƒlsunga saga (ch. 28). Later, when Brynhildr and Gunnarr’s wedding is celebrated, the saga says (ch. 29):

256

WAGNER AND THE VOLSUNGSOk er lokit er ﬂessi veizlu, minnir Sigur› allra ei›a vi› Brynhildi ok lætrﬂó vera kyrt.
(And when it [the feast] was over, Sigurd remembered all his vows to
Brynhild, but he gave no sign.)

G. III.2.4
Siegfried’s words about Brünnhilde have sealed his fate (Ring, before8715):
Zwei Raben fliegen aus einem Busche auf, kreisen über Siegfried, und fliegendann, dem Rheine zu, davon.
(Two ravens fly up out of a bush, circle over Siegfried and then fly off in the
direction of the Rhine.)

These are clearly Ó›inn’s ravens, which are described in the eddic
poem Grímnismál 20. The Prose Edda says of them (SnE G38):
Hrafnar tveir sitja á ƒxlum honum ok segja í eyru honum ƒll tí›indi ﬂau er
ﬂeir sjá e›a heyra. ﬁeir heita svá: Huginn ok Muninn. ﬁá sendir hann ídagan at fljúgja um allan heim ok koma ﬂeir aptr at dƒgur›armáli. ﬁar afver›r hann margra tí›inda víss.
(Two ravens sit on his shoulders and speak into his ear all the news theysee or hear. Their names are Hugin and Munin. He sends them out atdawn to fly over all the world and they return at dinner-time. As a result
he gets to find out about many events.)

G. III.2.5
The flight of the ravens gives Hagen his chance to strike (Ring, 8715–17):
Hagen:
Erräth’st du auchCan you also guess
dieser Raben Geraun’?
what those ravens whispered?
Siegfried fährt heftig auf und blickt, Hagen den Rücken zukehrend, den Raben
nach.
(Siegfried starts up suddenly and, turning his back on Hagen, watches theravens fly away.)
Hagen:
Rache riethen sie mir!
To me they counselled vengeance!
Hagen stößt seinen Speer in Siegfrieds Rücken.
(Hagen thrusts his spear into Siegfried’s back.)

The murder of Siegfried in the forest has its main prototypes in ﬁi›rekssaga 347 (391) and Das Nibelungenlied (916–1001, Av. 16). It also
appears that Sigur›r is murdered out of doors in the eddic poems

COMPARISON WITH SOURCES

257

Gu›rúnarkvi›a II (4–8) and Brot af Sigur›arkvi›u (5–7) and the prose
passage at the end of this latter poem (Frá dau›a Sigur›ar), which
acknowledges the different versions of the hero’s death:
Hér er sagt í ﬂessi kvi›u frá dau›a Sigur›ar, ok víkr hér svá til, sem ﬂeir
dræpi hann úti. En sumir segja svá, at ﬂeir dræpi hann inni í rekkju sinni
sofanda. En ﬂ‡›verskir menn segja svá, at ﬂeir dræpi hann úti í skógi.
(Here it tells in this poem about the death of Sigurd, and here it turns outthat they killed him in the open, but some say that they killed him inside in
his bed while asleep. But Germans say that they killed him out in theforest.)Ravens appear in both Gu›rúnarkvi›a II 8 and Brot af Sigur›arkvi›u
5, the one in the latter as harbinger of bad news. It says:
Soltinn var› Sigur›r
sunnan Rínar,hrafn at mei›ihátt kalla›i.

Dead was Sigurd
south of the Rhine,a raven on a tree
called loudly.

In Das Nibelungenlied (NL 981, Av. 16) the spear is driven into Sîfrit’s
back as he lies down at a spring to quench his thirst. After this he getsup to fight for a while. In ﬁi›reks saga too he is drinking at a brook, butdoes not fight once he has been pierced by the spear (347 (391)):
Ok ﬂá kemr at Sigur›r sveinn ok slæst ﬂegar ni›r at bekkinum sem a›rir
ﬂeir. Ok ﬂá stendr upp Hƒgni, er hann hefir drukkit, ok tekr sitt spjótbá›um hƒndum ok leggr milli her›ar Sigur›i svein, svá at stendr í gegnum
hans hjarta ok út um brjóstit.
(And then Boy Sigurd came up and immediately flung himself down likethe others of them. Then Hogni stands up when he has had a drink, andtakes his spear in both hands and thrusts it between Boy Sigurd’s shoulders
so that it sticks through his heart and out through his breast.)

In the eddic poem Sigur›arkvi›a inn skamma (21–24), the Prose Edda
(SnE S41) and Vƒlsunga saga (ch. 32), Sigur›r is killed in his bed.
G. III.2.6
Siegfried, dying, fully remembers his love (Ring, 8722–39):
Brünnhilde –Brünnhilde –heilige Braut –hallowed bride –wach’ auf! öffne dein Auge! –awaken! Unclose your eyes! –Wer verschloß dichWho locked you
wieder in Schlaf?
in sleep once again?
Wer band dich in Schlummer so bang? – – Who bound you in slumber’s
dread bonds? – –258

WAGNER AND THE VOLSUNGS

Der Wecker kam;er küßt dich wach,und aber der Braut
bricht er die Bande: –da lacht ihm Brünnhilde’s Lust! –Ach, dieses Auge,ewig nun offen! –Ach, dieses Athems
wonniges Wehen! –Süßes Vergehen –seliges Grauen – :Brünnhild’ bietet mir – Gruß!

One came to wake you;his kiss awakes you
and once again he breaks
the bride’s bonds: –and Brünnhilde’s joy laughs uponhim. –
Ah! Those eyes –now open forever! –Ah, this breath’s
enchanted sighing!
Sweet extinction, –blissful terror – :Brünnhild’ gives me her greeting!

A comparable declaration of love may be seen in a long exchange inVƒlsunga saga, when Sigur›r, like others, tries to persuade Brynhildr
out of her bitterness, but she accuses him of betrayal and hostility toher. Sigur›r replies (ch. 31):
‘Annat er sannara. Ek unna ﬂér betr en mér, ﬂótt ek yr›a fyrir ﬂeim svikum,
ok má ﬂví nú ekki breg›a, ﬂví at ávallt er ek gá›a míns ge›s, ﬂá harma›i
mik ﬂat er ﬂú vart ekki mín kona. En af mér bar ek sem ek mátta, ﬂat, er ekvar í konungshƒll, ok un›a ek ﬂví ﬂó at vér várum ƒll saman . . . Gjarna
vilda ek at vit stigum á einn be› bæ›i ok værir ﬂú mín kona . . . Eigi mun›aek ﬂitt nafn,’ sag›i Sigur›r, ‘ok eigi kennda ek ﬂik fyrr en ﬂú vart gipt, ok
er ﬂetta inn mesti harmr . . . Heldr en ﬂú deyir, vil ek ﬂik eiga, en fyrirláta
Gu›rúnu’ . . . ‘Eigi vil ek ﬂik,’ sag›i Brynhildr, ‘ok engan annara.’(‘The truth is rather different,’ replied Sigurd. ‘I loved you more than myself— though I met with trickery, and now that can’t be changed — for when
my wits were unclouded it always grieved me that you weren’t my wife.
But I bore up as best I could, for I was in a royal hall. And yet I was gladthat we were all together . . . I would like us to sleep together,’ replied
Sigurd, ‘and you would be my wife . . . I had no memory of your name,’said Sigurd, ‘nor recognised you before you were married — and that is
my greatest sorrow . . . . Rather than you should die, I’ll marry you andleave Gudrun’ . . . ‘I don’t want you,’ said Brynhild, ‘nor any other man.’)G. III.2.7 (Ring, 8739)
Auf die stumme Ermahnung Gunthers erheben die Mannen Siegfrieds Leicheund geleiten sie, mit dem Folgenden, in feierlichem Zuge über die Felsenhöhe
langsam von dannen.
(At Gunther’s silent command, the vassals lift up Siegfried’s body and, during
the following, carry it away slowly in solemn procession over the cliff top.)COMPARISON WITH SOURCES

259

Das Nibelungenlied (999, Av. 16) has the following account:
Dô die herren sâhen daz der helt was tôt,si leiten in ûf einen schilt, der was von golde rôt,
und wurden des ze râte, wie daz solde ergândaz man ez verhæle, daz ez het Hagene getân.
(When those lords saw that the hero was dead they laid him on a shieldthat shone red with gold, and they plotted the ways and means of concealing
the fact that Hagen had done the deed.)ﬁi›reks saga says only (347 (391)):
Nú taka ﬂeir upp lík Sigur›ar sveins ok fara me› heim til borgar.
(Now they lift up the body of Boy Sigurd and take it back to the castle.)

Götterdämmerung, Act Three, Scene Three
G. III.3.1
Back in the Gibichungs’ hall, Gutrune is awaiting her husband’s return(Ring, 8743–50):
Schlimme Träume
störten mir den Schlaf! –Wild wieherte sein Roß: –Lachen Brünnhilde’s
weckte mich auf. – –Wer war das Weib,
das ich zum Ufer schreiten sah? –Ich fürchte Brünnhild’! –Troubled dreams
disturbed my sleep! –His horse was neighing wildly: –Brünnhilde’s laughter
woke me up. – –Who was the woman
I saw going down to the shore? –I’m afraid of Brünnhild’! –Two eddic poems mention Brynhildr’s chilling laughter. One is Brot
af Sigur›arkvi›u (10):
Hló ﬂá Brynhildr– bœr allr dun›i –einu sinni
af ƒllum hug:‘Lengi skulu› njóta
landa ok ﬂegna,
er ﬂér frœknan gram
falla létu›.’ﬁá kva› ﬂat Gu›rún,
Gjúka dóttir:‘Mjƒk mælir ﬂú
miklar firnar;
gramir hafi Gunnar,

Then Brynhild laughed– the whole dwelling resounded –just oncewith all her heart:‘Long shall you enjoy
lands and subjects,
now the brave prince
you’ve made fall.’
Then said Gudrun,
Gjuki’s daughter:‘Very great abominations
have you spoken;
may fiends take Gunnar,

260

WAGNER AND THE VOLSUNGSgƒtva› Sigur›ar!
Heiptgjarns hugar
hefnt skal ver›a.’murderer of Sigurd!
Thought bent on hatefulness
shall be avenged.’

In Sigur›arkvi›a in skamma 30 Brynhildr laughs, but says nothing,and is answered by Gunnarr. In Vƒlsunga saga, when Brynhildr rejoices
over Gu›rún’s grief, Gunnarr responds (ch. 32):
Eigi hlær ﬂú af ﬂví at ﬂér sé glatt um hjartarœtr, e›a hví hafnar ﬂú ﬂínum
lit? Ok mikit fora› ertu, ok meiri ván at ﬂú sér feig.
(You’re not laughing because you feel happy deep down in your heart —else why does your colour leave you? You’re a monster and very likely adoomed woman.)ﬁi›reks saga gives a more detailed account of the events of the night(348 (391)):
Ok nú stendr drottning Brynhildr uppi á borg ok sér, at Gunnarr konungr
ok hans bró›ir Hƒgni ok Gernoz rí›a til borgar, ok svá, at ﬂar munu ﬂeir
fara me› Sigur› svein dau›an. Hún gengr ór borginni móti ﬂeim ok mælti,at ﬂeir hafi veitt allra manna heilastir, ok bi›r nú fœra Grímhildi.
(And now Queen Brynhild is standing up on the castle and sees that King
Gunnar and his brother Hogni and Gernoz are riding towards the castle,
looking as though they must be bringing the dead Boy Sigurd. She goesout of the castle to meet them and said that they have had the luckiest huntof all men and tells them to bring their catch to Grimhild.

G. III.3.2
Entering the hall ahead of Siegfried’s body, Hagen mocks Gutrune(Ring, 8765–66, 8768–73):
Hagen:
Jagdbeutebringen wir heim.
...
Auf! Gutrun’!
Begrüße Siegfried!
Der starke Held,er kehret heim.
Gutrune:Was geschah, Hagen!
Nicht hört’ ich sein Horn!

The spoils of the chase
we’re bringing home.
Up, Gutrun!
Welcome Siegfried!
The doughty herois coming home.
What’s happened? Hagen!
I didn’t hear his horn!

In Brot af Sigur›arkvi›u 6, Gu›rún alone appears to be there to see
the cortège arrive:COMPARISON WITH SOURCES
Úti stó› Gu›rún,
Gjúka dóttir,
ok hon ﬂat or›aalls fyrst um kva›:‘Hvar er nú Sigur›r,
seggja dróttinn,
er frændr mínir
fyrri rí›a?’

261

Outside stood Gudrun,
daughter of Gjuki,
and this was the thing
she first said:‘Where is Sigurd,lord of warriors,
now my kinsmen
are riding in front?’

G. III.3.3
Hagen maintains the pretence the plotters agreed on (Ring, 8779–81):
Gutrune:Was bringen die?
Hagen:
Eines wilden Ebers Beute:Siegfried, deinen todten Mann!

What are they bringing?
A wild boar’s prey:
Siegfried, your dead husband!

ﬁi›reks saga reports a similar exchange (ch. 348 (391)):ﬁá svarar Hƒgni: ‘Eigi var hann myr›r. Vér eltum einn villigƒlt, ok sá inn
sami villigƒltr veitti honum banasár.’ ﬁá svarar Grímhildr: ‘Sá sami villigƒltr hefir ﬂú verit, Hƒgni, ok engi ma›r annarra,’ — ok nú grætr hún sárliga.
(Then Hogni answers: ‘He was not murdered. We were chasing a wildboar, and that same boar gave him a death wound.’ Then Grimhild answers:‘That same boar was you, Hogni, and no other man.’ And now she weeps
bitterly.)

After the plot against Sîfrit’s life (NL 864, Av. 14) Prünhilt largely
disappears from the first part of Das Nibelungenlied, or rather becomesinactive. She sits, however, on her throne and hears Kriemhilt’s laments
unmoved (NL 1100, Av. 18). She is next mentioned in the latter part ofthe poem, when the emissaries of King Etzel of the Huns visit the
Burgundians, long after Sîfrit’s death (NL 1426, Av. 24). In ﬁi›rekssaga, her gloating over Sigur›r’s death and Grímhildr’s grief is rather
more pronounced, but after this she more or less disappears from thisstory too (ch. 348 (391)). All Brünnhilde’s actions after this in the
Ring are drawn principally from the purely Icelandic sources.
G. III.3.4
Gutrune now berates Gunther (Ring, 8785–90):
Siegfried! Siegfried erschlagen!
Fort, treuloser Bruder!

Siegfried! Siegfried slain!
Away, faithless brother,

262

WAGNER AND THE VOLSUNGSDu Mörder meines Mannes!
O Hilfe! Hilfe!
Wehe! Wehe!
Sie haben Siegfried erschlagen!

my husband’s murderer!
Oh help me! Help me!
Woe! Ah woe!
They’ve slaughtered Siegfried!

Gu›rún’s grief at the murder of Sigur›r is described in various placesin the Poetic Edda, often at length, in complex and moving terms.
Gu›rúnarkvi›a II includes this stanza (12):Nótt ﬂótti mér
ni›myrkr vera,
er ek sárla satk
yfir Sigur›i;úlfar ﬂóttumzƒllu betri,
ef ﬂeir léti mik
lífi t‡nae›a brendi mik
sem birkinn vi›.

The night seemed to me
to be pitch-black,as I sat sorrowfully
over Sigurd;
wolves seemed to me
better than all
if they made melose my life
or burned me
like birchwood.

G. III.3.5
Gunther abandons the agreed pretence (Ring, 8791–94, 8798–8802):
Gunther:
Nicht klage wider mich!
Dort klage wider Hagen:er ist der verfluchte Eber,der diesen Edlen zerfleischt’.
...
Hagen:
Ja denn! Ich hab’ ihn erschlagen:ich – Hagen –schlug ihn zu todt!
Meinem Speer war er gespart,bei dem er Meineid sprach.

Hold me not to blame!
Blame Hagen there:
he’s the accursèd boarthat rent the noble hero’s flesh.

Yes, then! I slew him:I – Hagen –I struck him dead!
He was marked out by my spearby which he’d falsely sworn.

In Das Nibelungenlied (1001, Av. 16) Hagene says immediately after
the murder that he himself will bring Sîfrit’s body to Kriemhilt, andthat he cares nothing for her grief. Gu›rúnarkvi›a II makes passing
reference to Gunnarr’s bad conscience (7):Hnipna›i Gunnarr,sag›i mér Hƒgni
frá Sigur›arsárum dau›a:‘Liggr of hƒggvinn

Gunnar hung his head,
Hogni told me
about Sigurd’s
bitter death:‘He lies cut down

COMPARISON WITH SOURCES
fyr handan ver
Gothorms bani,of gefinn úlfum.’263

beyond the water,
the slayer of Gothorm,
given to wolves.’

And Brot af Sigur›arkvi›u says (7):Einn ﬂví Hƒgni
andsvƒr veitti:‘Sundr hƒfum Sigur›
sver›i hƒgginn,
gnapir æ grár jór
yfir gram dau›um.’

Alone Hogni
gave answer to this:‘Asunder Sigurd
with sword we’ve cut,
the grey horse ever droops his headover the dead prince.’

G. III.3.6
Hagen kills Gunther, having claimed the Ring for himself (Ring,
8803–05, 8814):
Heiliges Beute-Recht
I’ve now acquired
hab’ ich mir nun errungen:the sacred right of conquest:
d’rum fordr’ ich hier diesen Ring. and so I demand this ring.
...
Er greift nach Siegfrieds Hand; diese hebt sich drohend empor . . . Alles bleibtin Schauder regungslos gefesselt.
(He reaches towards Siegfried’s hand, which raises itself threateningly . . . Allremain transfixed with horror.)In none of the works used for comparison here is an attempt made tosteal a ring from Siegfried/Sigur›r’s dead body. In Das Nibelungenlied(1043–45, Av. 17), Sîfrit’s wound begins to bleed when Hagene
approaches the body; this is a familiar motif, but not found elsewherein the sources about the Volsungs.
G. III.3.7
Brünnhilde now enters (Ring, 8814–23):
Brünnhilde:
Schweigt eures Jammers
jauchzenden Schwall!
Das ihr alle verriethet,
zur Rache schreitet sein Weib.
Kinder hört’ ichgreinen nach der Mutter,da süße Milch sie verschüttet:
doch nicht erklang mir
würdige Klage,des höchsten Helden werth.

Silence your grief’sexultant clamour!
His wife, whom you all betrayed,
comes in quest of revenge.
I heard children
whimpering for their mothersince they’d spilt some fresh milk:
but no sound I heardof a worthy lament
befitting the greatest of heroes.

264

WAGNER AND THE VOLSUNGSThe closest parallel to these lines is found in these stanzas of Brot af
Sigur›arkvi›u (14–15):
Vakna›i Brynhildr,
Bu›la dóttir,
dís skjƒldunga,
fyr dag litlu:‘Hveti› mik e›a leti› mik– harmr er unninn –,sorg at segjae›a svá láta!’ﬁƒg›u allirvi› ﬂví or›i,
fár kunni ﬂeim
fljó›a látum,er hon grátandi
gør›iz at segja,
ﬂat er hlæjandihƒl›a beiddi.

Brynhild awoke,
Budli’s daughter,lady of the Skjoldungs,
a little before day:‘Urge me or hinder me– the injury is done –,to tell my sorrowor thus to die!’All were silent
at this speech,
few could understandthis behaviour of women,
as she, weeping,began to tellwhat, laughing,
she’d asked the men for.

G. III.3.8
Gutrune guesses that Brünnhilde was part of the conspiracy (Ring,
8824–27):
Brünnhilde! Neid-erbos’te!
Brünnhilde! Grieved by your grudge!
Du brachtest uns diese Noth!
You brought this harm upon us!
Die du die Männer ihm verhetztest, You who goaded the men against him,
weh’, daß du dem Haus genah’t! alas, that you ever came near this house!

These few lines of Gutrune’s appear to combine elements from morethan one source. First, the answer of Gjúki’s daughter Gullrƒnd to
Brynhildr in the eddic poem Gu›rúnarkvi›a I 24:
ﬁegi ﬂú, ﬂjó›lei›,ﬂeira or›a!
ur›r ƒ›linga
hefir ﬂú æ verit;rekr ﬂik alda hverr
illrar skepnu,
sorg sára
sjau konunga,
ok vinspell
vífa mest.

Desist, you hated by all,from these words!
Ruin of princes
have you ever been;
every wave of ill fatedrives you along,
you bitter griefof seven kings,
the greatest destroyerof women’s friends.

Secondly, Sigur›r’s words when he is mortally wounded in the eddic
poem Sigur›arkvi›a in skamma 27:

COMPARISON WITH SOURCES
Ek veit gƒrla,hví gegnir nú:
ein veldr Brynhildrƒllu bƒlvi.

265

I know wellwhat is the reason now:
Brynhild alone causes
all the trouble.

G. III.3.9
Brünnhilde does not deny Gutrune’s accusation, yet she has an answer(Ring, 8828–34, 8839–41):
Brünnhilde:
Armsel’ge, schweig!
Sein Eheweib war’st du nie:
als Buhlerin
bandest du ihn.
Sein Mannes-Gemahl bin ich,
der ewige Eide er schwur,
eh’ Siegfried je dich ersah.
...
Gutrune:Wie jäh nun weiß ich’s,
Brünnhild’ war die Traute,
die durch den Trank er vergaß!

Wretched woman, peace!
You were never his lawful wife:
as wanton alone
you bound him.
His rightful wife am I,
to whom he swore eternal vows
ere Siegfried ever saw you.

How swiftly I see it now:
Brünnhild’ was his one true love,
whom the philtre made him forget.

Here the roles of the women in Das Nibelungenlied (847–50, Av. 14)
and ﬁi›reks saga (343 (388)), where Kriemhilt/Grímhildr accuses
Prünhilt/Brynhildr of having been Sîfrit/Sigur›r’s mistress, are reversed.
In Vƒlsunga saga, after the confrontation in the river, and before
Sigur›r’s death, the two women sit together in their bower, andBrynhildr confides in Gu›rún about the vows she exchanged with
Sigur›r (ch. 30):
Ekki hƒfum vér launmæli haft ok ﬂó hƒfum vit ei›a svarit, ok vissu ﬂér ﬂat,
at ﬂér véltu› mik, ok ﬂess skal hefna.
(What we said was no secret, making vows as we did, and you knew you
were playing me false, but I’ll be revenged.)

G. III.3.10
The preparation of Siegfried’s pyre begins (Ring, 8842–54):
Brünnhilde (to the vassals):
Starke Scheite
schichtet mir dort
am Rande des Rhein’s zu Hauf’:hoch und hell

Heavy logs
heap up for me here
in a pile at the edge of the Rhine:
high and bright266

WAGNER AND THE VOLSUNGS

lod’re die Gluth,
let the flames flare up
die den edlen Leiband consume the noble limbs
des hehrsten Helden verzehrt! – of the most exalted hero! –Sein Roß führet daher,
Lead his stallion hither:
daß mit mir dem Recken es folge: let it follow the warrior with me:denn des Helden heiligste
for my own body yearns
Ehre zu theilen
to share in the hero’s
verlangt mein eigener Leib. –holiest honour. –Vollbringt Brünnhilde’s Wort!
Do as Brünnhilde bids!
Die jungen Männer errichten, während des Folgenden, vor der Halle, nahe
am Rheinufer, einen mächtigen Scheithaufen: Frauen schmücken diesen dann
mit Decken, auf welche sie Kräuter und Blumen streuen.
(During the following, the young men raise a huge funeral pyre outside thehall, near to the bank of the Rhine: women cover it with rugs over which theystrew herbs and flowers.)

The pyre being covered in rugs and flowers appears to be derived
from Brynhildr’s words in the eddic poem Sigur›arkvi›a in skamma 66:
Tjaldi ﬂar um ﬂá borgtjƒldum ok skjƒldum,
valarift vel fá›
ok Vala mengi.

Hang there around the pyretapestries and shields,
foreign cloth well dyed
and many slaves.

G. III.3.11 (Ring, before 8899, 8920 and 8931; 8920–30)[Brünnhilde] winkt den Mannen, Siegfrieds Leiche auf den Scheithaufen zu
tragen; zugleich zieht sie von Siegfrieds Finger den Ring ab und betrachtet
ihn sinnend . . . Sie hat den Ring sich angesteckt . . .
([Brünnhilde] signals to the vassals to bear Siegfried’s body to the funeralpyre; at the same time she draws the ring from his finger and gazes at it
thoughtfully . . . She has placed the ring on her finger . . .)After seizing a firebrand, Brünnhilde directs Wotan’s ravens and Loge
to Walhall:
Fliegt heim, ihr Raben!
Fly home, you ravens!
Raunt es eurem Herren,
Whisper to your lord
was hier am Rhein ihr gehört! what you heard here by the Rhine!
An Brünnhilde’s Felsen
Make your way
fahrt vorbei:
past Brünnhilde’s rock:der dort noch lodert,tell Loge, who burns there,
weiset Loge nach Walhall!
to haste to Valhalla!
Denn der Götter Ende
For the end of the gods
dämmert nun auf:
is dawning now:

COMPARISON WITH SOURCES

267

so – werf’ ich den Brand
thus do I hurl the torch
in Walhall’s prangende Burg. into Valhalla’s proud-standing stronghold.
Sie schleudert den Brand in den Holzstoß, welcher sich schnell hell entzündet.
Zwei Raben sind vom Felsen am Ufer aufgeflogen und verschwinden nachdem Hintergrunde.
(She hurls the firebrand on to the pile of wood, which quickly ignites. Tworavens have flown up from the rock on the riverbank and disappear into thebackground.)The burning of Walhall, here caused by Loge at Brünnhilde’s instigation, is in the Prose Edda evidently part of the giant Surtr’s destructionof the whole earth by fire (SnE G51):
ﬁví næst slyngr Surtr eldi yfir jƒr›ina ok brennir allan heim.
(After that Surt will fling fire over the earth and burn the whole world.)

In Vƒluspá (49–52) and the Prose Edda (SnE G51) Loki is also on theside of the fire-giant Surtr at Ragnarƒk (the doom of the powers).
G. III.3.12[In May 1856 Wagner sketched a farewell for Brünnhilde which hedid not ultimately use. In its versified form it culminates in her splendid words (Ring, p. 125; Wagner’s Ring 1993, 363; cf. the second
illustration on p. 102):
Enden sah ich die Welt.

I saw the world end.

These echo the words of the seeress towards the end of Vƒluspá (57–58) and makes clear that Wagner at that time saw Götterdämmerungas Ragnarƒk, the end of the world as well as of the gods.]
G. III.3.13
In the final version of his opera, Wagner was content simply to let
Brünnhilde look forward to embracing Siegfried once more (Ring,
8931–53):
Brünnhilde:
Grane, mein Ross,
sei mir gegrüßt!
Weißt du auch, mein Freund,wohin ich dich führe?
Im Feuer leuchtend
liegt dort dein Herr,
Siegfried, mein seliger Held.

Grane, my horsetake this my greeting!
Do you know, my friend,where I’m taking you now?
Lit by the fire,your lord lies there,
Siegfried, my blessed hero.

268

WAGNER AND THE VOLSUNGSDem Freunde zu folgen,
You whinny with joy
wieherst du freudig?
to follow your friend?
Lockt dich zu ihm
Does the laughing fire
die lachende Lohe ? –lure you to him? –Fühl’ meine Brust auch,Feel how the flames
wie sie entbrennt,
burn in my breast,
helles Feuer
effulgent firesdas Herz mir erfaßt:
seize hold of my heart:ihn zu umschlingen,to clasp him to meumschlossen von ihm,
while held in his arms
in mächtigster Minneand in mightiest lovevermählt ihm zu sein! –to be wedded to him! –Heiajaho! Grane!
Heiayoho! Grane!
Grüß’ deinen Herren!
Greet your master!
Siegfried! Siegfried! Sieh’!
Siegfried! Siegfried! See!
Selig grüßt dich dein Weib!
In bliss your wife bids you welcome!
Sie sprengt das Roß mit einem Satze in den brennenden Scheithaufen.
(With a single bound she urges the horse into the blazing pyre.)

Brünnhilde’s actions at the end of the opera, and the funeral pyre sheshares with Siegfried, are derived from a number of eddic poems,
especially the prose introduction to Helrei› Brynhildar and Sigur›arkvi›a in skamma 65–70, as well as the Prose Edda (SnE S41) andVƒlsunga saga. The funeral pyre is described as follows in Vƒlsunga
saga ch. 33:
Nú er búit um lík Sigur›ar at fornum si›, ok gert mikit bál. Ok er ﬂat ermjƒk í kynt, ﬂá var lagt á ofan lík Sigur›ar Fáfnisbana ok sonar hansﬂrévetrs, er Brynhildr lét drepa, ok Guttorms. Ok er bálit var allt loganda,
gekk Brynhildr ﬂar á út . . . Ok eptir ﬂetta deyr Brynhildr ok brann ﬂarme› Sigur›i, ok lauk svá ﬂeira ævi.
(So Sigurd’s body was laid out according to the ancient custom, and agreat pyre was built. And when it was properly alight the body of Sigurd
Fafnisbane was laid upon it, also the body of his three year old son whom
Brynhild had ordered to be slain, and Guttorm’s. And when the pyre wasblazing, Brynhild went out on to it . . . And after that Brynhild died andwas burnt there with Sigurd, and so their days ended.)In the eddic poem Sigur›arkvi›a in skamma, Brynhildr says to Gunnarr(65):Bi›ja mun ek ﬂikbœnar einnar,
sú mun í heimi
hinzt bœn vera:

I shall ask you
for one boon,
this will in the world
be my last request:

COMPARISON WITH SOURCES
láttu svá brei›aborg á velli,at undir oss ƒllum
jafnrúmt sé,
ﬂeim er sultume› Sigur›i.

269

let be built on the plaina pyre so broadthat beneath us all
there be enough space,
for those who diedwith Sigurd.

The Icelandic sources, however, all differ from Wagner’s version inthat the horse Grani does not go with Sigur›r and Brynhildr to thefuneral pyre; instead, the famous sword is again laid between them. In
Sigur›arkvi›a in skamma, Brynhildr says to Gunnarr (68):
Liggi okkar enn í millimálmr hringvari›r,egghvast járn,
svá endr lagit,
ﬂá er vit bæ›ibe› einn stigum
ok hétum ﬂá
hjóna nafni.

Let there lie again between us
the ring-adorned metal,
the sharp-edged iron,
as once it was laid,
when we bothlay down in one bed,
and had the nameof man and wife.

The role of the horse, on the other hand, is reminiscent of the funeralpyre of the god Baldr and his wife Nanna, as recounted in the Prose
Edda (SnE G49):
ﬁá var borit út á skipit lík Baldrs, ok er ﬂat sá kona hans Nanna Nepsdóttir
ﬂá sprakk hon af harmi ok dó. Var hon borin á bálit ok slegit í eldi . . .
Hestr Baldrs var leiddr á bálit me› ƒllu rei›i.
(Then Baldr’s body was carried out on to the ship, and when his wife
Nanna Nep’s daughter saw this she collapsed with grief and died. She wascarried on to the pyre and it was set fire to . . . Baldr’s horse was led on to
the pyre with all its harness.)

G. III.3.14 (Ring, before 8954)
Sogleich prasselt der Brand hoch auf, so daß das Feuer den ganzen Raum vorder Halle erfüllt . . . Als der ganze Bühnenraum nur noch von Feuer erfüllt
erscheint, verlischt plötzlich der Glutschein, so daß bald bloß ein Dampfgewölke zurückbleibt, welches sich dem Hintergrunde zu verzieht, und dort
am Horizonte sich als finstere Wolkenschicht lagert.
(The flames immediately flare up so that the fire fills the entire space in frontof the hall . . . When the whole stage seems to be engulfed in flames, the glow
suddenly subsides, so that soon all that remains is a cloud of smoke which drifts
away to the back of the stage, settling on the horizon as a layer of dark cloud.)

270

WAGNER AND THE VOLSUNGSThe eddic poem Vƒluspá describes Ragnarƒk (the doom of the gods)
thus (57):
Sól tér sortna,sígr fold í mar,hverfa af himni
hei›ar stjƒrnur;
geisar eimivi› aldrnara,leikr hár hitivi› himin sjálfan.

The sun will go dark,
earth sink in the sea,
from heaven vanish
bright stars;
steam surges
with life’s warmer [fire],high flame flickers
against the very sky.

G. III.3.15
The fire dies down, the river overflows its banks, and the Rhine
Maidens appear. Hagen dives into the river for the ring, and the Rhine
Maidens drag him down into the deep (Ring, before 8954).
This incident has no parallel in the early sources.
G. III.3.16 (Ring, after 8954)
Helle Flammen scheinen in dem Saale der Götter aufzuschlagen. Als die Götter
von den Flammen gänzlich verhüllt sind, fällt der Vorhang.
(Bright flames seem to flare up in the hall of the gods, finally hiding them fromsight completely. The curtain falls.)

Wagner wrote six versions of the end of the Ring libretto. Finally, hedecided to let the music speak for itself: there is a gleam of hope of a
new and better world, as the atonement theme is heard from theorchestra.
After the description of Ragnarƒk, Vƒluspá says (59):
Sér hon upp koma
ƒ›ru sinnijƒr› ór ægi,i›jagrœna.

She sees come up
a second time,earth from ocean,again green.

THE RING
EDDIC POEMSPROSE EDDA
Norns
Norns
Norns
Betrothal with
Ring asBetrothal with
Alberich’s ring keepsake
Andvari’s ringBrünnhilde’s
Sigrdrífa’s
noble teaching wise counsel
Siegfried andSigur›r andSigur›r andBrünnhilde’s vows Brynhildr’s vows Brynhildr’s vows
Hagen son of
dwarf
Siegfried’schallenge
Grane a valkyrie Grani of divine Grani of divine
horse
descent
descent
Drink ofForgetfulness
forgetfulness
and trickery
Blood-brotherhood Blood in footprints oath-brothers
Refusal of oath[Gísla saga]
Siegfried takes
No intercourse Birth of child
Brünnhilde’s
virginity
Loss of virginity Unclear

Birth of childbrothers-in-law

oath-brothers

Grani of divine
descent
Drink offorgetfulness
oath-brothers

Grani of divine
descent

Ring askeepsake

Betrothal with Ring as
Andvari’s ring keepsake
Brynhildr’s
wise counsel
Sigur›r andBrynhildr’s vowsHƒgni of elvish
descentSîfrit’s challenge

NIBELUNGENLIEDVƒ LSUNGA SAGA ﬁI‹REKS SAGAGÖTTERDÄMMERUNG: SURVEY OF MOTIFSHÜRNEN SEYFRID

THE RING
EDDIC POEMSPROSE EDDA
Vƒ LSUNGA SAGA ﬁI‹REKS SAGANIBELUNGENLIEDHÜRNEN SEYFRID
Sword between Sword between Sword between Sword between
Recognition of
Recognition of Recognition of
Recognition of Recognition of
ring
ring
ring
ring
ring
Brünnhilde affirms
Brynhildr demands Gu›rún demands Kriemhilt demands
intercourse with
Sigur›r confess Brynhildr confess Brünnhild confessSiegfried
to intercourse
to intercourse
to intercourse
Brünnhilde’s
Brynhildr’s
Brynhildr’s
Brynhildr’s
Prünhilt’s
provocation
defiance
defiance
defiance
defiance
Siegfried’s
Sigur›r’s
piercing lookpiercing look
Plot to kill
Plot to kill
Plot to kill
Plot to kill
Plot to kill
Plot to kill
Siegfried
Sigur›r
Sigur›r
Sigur›r
Sigur›rSîfritSiegfried vulnerVulnerable in
Vulnerable in
Vulnerable inable in the backone spot
one spot
one spot
Double wedding Double wedding
Double wedding
Siegfried drinks,
Sigur›r recovers[Drink restoresrecovers memory
memorymemory: Sƒrla ﬂáttr]Two ravensÓ›inn’s ravens Ó›inn’s ravens
Murder in wood Both
Murder in bed Murder in bed
Murder in wood Murder in wood
Murder in wood
Brünnhilde lets Brünnhilde lets Brünnhilde lets Brünnhilde lets
herself burn with herself burn with herself burn with herself burn with
Siegfried
Sigur›r
Sigur›r
Sigur›r

THE RING
Alberich
AlvaterBrünnhilde
DonnerErda
FafnerFasoltFreia
FrickaFroh
Gibichungen
Grane
Grimhild
GutruneGunther
Hagen
Heervater
Hunding
Loge

Hundingr
Loki, Loge

FreyjaFrigg
Freyr
Gjúkungar
Grani
Grímhildr
Gu›rúnGunnarrHƒgni

FreyjaFrigg
Freyr
Gjúkungar
Grani
Grímhildr
Gu›rúnGunnarrHƒgniHerfƒ›r
Hundingr
Loki

FáfnirPROSE EDDA
AndvariAlfƒ›r
Brynhildrﬁórr
Jƒr›
Fáfnir

EDDIC POEMS
AndvariAlfƒ›r
Brynhildrﬁórr

Hundingr

Gjúkungar
Grani
Grímhildr
Gu›rúnGunnarrHƒgni

FáfnirBurgonden

Kriemhilt
Gunther
HageneNiflungar
Grani
Grímhildr
GunnarrHƒgniReginnFasoldKrimhilt
Günther
Hagen

Gybich’s sons

Prünhilt

Brynhildr
Brynhildr

NIBELUNGENLIED HÜRNEN SEYFRIDAlbrîchEugel, EugleyneVƒ LSUNGA SAGA ﬁI‹REKS SAGA
AndvariÁlfrekr

CORRESPONDENCE OF NAMES IN THE RINGEDDIC POEMS
Mímir/Reginn
Niflheimr
Niflungar
Gramr
Rín
Sigur›r
Sigrlinn
SigmundrSigfƒ›r
Vala/vƒlva
ValhƒllValfƒ›r
Gangrá›rÓ›innValhƒllValfƒ›r
GangleriÓ›inn

SigmundrSigfƒ›r

PROSE EDDA
Mímir/Reginn
Niflheimr
Niflungar
Gramr
Rín
Sigur›rÓ›innVƒ LSUNGA SAGA ﬁI‹REKS SAGA
ReginnMímir
NiflungalandNiflungar
Gramr
Gramr
Rín
Rín
Sigur›r
Sigur›r, Sigfre›r
Sign‡
Sigmundr
Sigmundr
Nibelunge lant
Nibelunge
BalmuncRînSîfrit, Sîvrit
Sigelint
Sigemunt
Reyn
Seyfrid
Siglinge
SigmundNybling

NIBELUNGENLIED HÜRNEN SEYFRID

Of the 55 proper names in the Ring (7 of these only in early versions), 31 have correspondences in eddic poems, 29 in
the Prose Edda, 18 in Vƒlsunga saga, 15 in ﬁi›reks saga, 13 in Das Nibelungenlied, and 10 in Das Lied vom Hürnen
Seyfrid. The remainder (mainly valkyries and Rhine Maidens) were either invented by Wagner himself, or adaptedfrom early German poems and legends or Jakob Grimm’s Deutsche Mythologie. All names are modified to conformto German linguistic patterns.

THE RING
Mime
Nibelheim
NibelungenNotungRhein
Siegfried
Sieglinde
SiegmundSiegvater
Wala
WalhallWalvater
Wanderer
Wotan

SUMMARY275

S U M M A RY

The Aims of the Ring
Richard Wagner’s intention was never to set to music other people’sverse — neither the Eddas nor Das Nibelungenlied. He wrote his own
librettos. The fact remains, however, that he sought the bulk of his
ideas for the stories, dialogue and scene-setting of Der Ring desNibelungen in eddic poems, the Prose Edda and Vƒlsunga saga, as
well as in some episodes of ﬁi›reks saga and Das Nibelungenlied. It
is to be hoped that the above account has made this clear.
Wagner brought together myths of gods and legends of heroes. In
the mid-nineteenth century this was a novel idea; he may have found a
prototype in the myth of the dwarf Andvari and his gold in the Prose
Edda. Here the curse on the ring is a sort of leitmotiv for the destructionof all gods, men, dwarves and monsters who gain possession of the ringor covet the gold hidden in the Rhine. This way of combining stories
of gods and heroes also occurs in Vƒlsunga saga and in some eddic poems.
Using all these different elements, Wagner created an entirely
independent work of art in four parts, adapting characters and eventsto the rules of his own creation. The various Old Icelandic poems andstories are often inconsistent in their treatment of the same events.
From these primary sources Wagner constructed his own myth, picking,choosing and adapting to his own taste so as to create a logical courseof events. His construction is undeniably very ingenious, and it is worth
reiterating that borrowed motifs comprise only a part of the whole work.
Wagner’s mythical world depicted in Der Ring des Nibelungen has
become more real to most nations of the world than the original fragmentary Norse-Icelandic myths, which have never been widely read. The
Ring has thus had a deep influence on perceptions of Norse mythology.
Wagner’s story closely parallels the structure of the eddic poemVƒluspá: an idyllic life of gods, a curse on the gold, betrayal and oathbreaking, the downfall of the gods, the end of the world, and an
indistinct hope of salvation. Vƒluspá can be seen as a backcloth toWagner’s whole myth, though there are few exact borrowings. But
the influence of this poem can be perceived throughout the Ring.

276

WAGNER AND THE VOLSUNGS

Wagner’s fundamental message is, in short, a warning against thecurse of covetousness and hunger for power; those who fall victim to
the curse misuse the pure resources of nature (the gold) to gain powerover others (the ring), cutting themselves off from love in return.
Alberich, Wotan, Fafner, Mime and Hagen all give way to this
temptation. This leads to betrayal and yet more betrayal by gods, men,
giants and dwarves, culminating in wholesale devastation. The virtuous,
ignorant human, brought into the world to save it from destruction,
also falls victim to treachery.
For well over a century, efforts have been made all over the world to
explain and interpret Wagner’s myth. Tens of thousands of books andessays have been written about Wagner, and several hundred more areadded each year. Much of this focuses on the Ring, because of boththe length of the cycle, and the variety of ways in which it can beinterpreted. All this debate is enough to make the head spin.
Because of commonly-held prejudices sometimes held by those
unfamiliar with the Ring, it should be stated that the opera-cycle is nota glorification of warriors and heroes. In all four operas battles andvengeance play only a minor role, whether by comparison with theaverage ninteenth-century opera, with the action films of today, oreven with real life. Examples of bloodshed may be counted on one’s
fingers.
In Das Rheingold the giant Fafner slays his brother, the giant Fasolt,
over the gold. In Die Walküre the goddess Fricke has Hunding kill
Sigmund for adultery. Siegfried slays the dragon, who is a symbol of
how gold can change people into monsters. He then slays Mime forhis treachery. The only real murders are carried out in the final parts of
Götterdämmerung, when Brünnhilde demands the death of Siegfriedin revenge for his deceit and her own dishonour. Hagen murders both
Siegfried and Gunther in order to gain the power of the ring. There areno ‘heroic’ battles in the Ring.
Main Sources of Inspiration
Wagner composed his myth in an organised way. Though his operas
are generally regarded as long, and the Ring itself takes altogether
about 15 hours in performance, he had to compress a lot of material
into its framework. Let us recall here what Wagner’s sources appear
to have been for the individual ideas in each of the operas.

SUMMARY277

Das Rheingold
The episode of the Rhine Maidens is Wagner’s own invention.
Most of the other motifs may be traced back to the Prose Edda:
gods, goddesses, giants, the citadel-builder, I›unn’s apples, Loki’s
journey, a black elf, the dwarf’s gold, Andvari’s ring and the curse
upon it, Fáfnir, a magical helmet, the rainbow bridge Bifrƒst, Valhƒll.
The seeress Erda, however, is mainly traceable to the eddic poemsVƒluspá and Baldrs draumar.
Die Walküre
The motifs of this opera are mainly drawn from the first eleven chaptersof Vƒlsunga saga: the tree growing in the middle of the hall, Ó›inn’ssword in its trunk, the sword that only Sigmundr can draw out, the lifeof father and son in the woods, love between twins, Ó›inn shattering asword, and a Valkyrie put to sleep with flames around her rock. Various
characters from Vƒlsunga saga are omitted, however.
Wisdom as the bed-price of the goddess Erda is mainly based on theaccount of Ó›inn’s visit to Gunnlƒ› in the Prose Edda (SnE G58),
while Brynhildr’s warning of death is from Hákonarmál in Heimskringla (Hákonar saga gó›a ch. 31). The ride of the valkyries ismentioned in Vƒluspá, and in fact the whole concept of valkyries isfound only in Icelandic literature.
Siegfried
The events in the smithy are a mixture of elements of the stories of theboyhood of Sigur›r in Reginsmál, the Prose Edda, Vƒlsunga saga andﬁi›reks saga, while there are also traces of Das Lied vom Hürnen
Seyfrid and the Grimms’ folk-tale (no. 4) of the boy who went out into
the world to learn fear. Sieglinde’s difficult childbearing or longgestation parallels the long pregnancy in Vƒlsunga saga.
The contest of wisdom between Wotan and Mime resembles a similar
contest between Ó›inn and a giant in the eddic poem Vafﬂrú›nismál,
while the slaying of the dragon and Mime, and understanding the speechof birds, have parallels in the eddic poem Fáfnismál and in Vƒlsunga saga.
The awakening of the seeress is reminiscent of the eddic poem Baldrs
draumar and various other awakenings in the Eddas, while theconfrontation between Wotan and Siegfried bears some resemblance
to the eddic poem Fjƒlsvinnsmál.

278

WAGNER AND THE VOLSUNGS

Siegfried’s passing through the fire and the awakening of the valkyrie on the mountain have their closest parallels in the eddic poem
Sigrdrífumál and Vƒlsunga saga, though they are also reminiscent of
the Sleeping Beauty story.
The dialogues between Alberich and Wotan are entirely Wagner’s
invention.
Götterdämmerung
The initial scene with the Norns is derived from the Prose Edda andthe eddic poem Helgakvi›a Hundingsbana I.
The farewell of Siegfried as he leaves Brünnhilde is reminiscent ofSigrdrífumál, Vƒlsunga saga and ﬁi›reks saga.
The drink of forgetfulness is entirely from Vƒlsunga saga, while
Siegfried’s second plunge through the flames to Brünnhilde is fromthe same saga, and also appears in the Poetic and Prose Eddas.
The relationship with Gunther, the quarrel between the women,
accusations of treachery against Brünnhilde, and the killing of Siegfried
are common to all the sources used here for comparison. But the hunting
expedition and the details of the murder in the forest occur only inﬁi›reks saga and Das Nibelungenlied.
Siegfried’s dialogue with the Rhine Maidens and the role of Alberich
are Wagner’s own invention, but may be inspired by an episode in
Das Nibelungenlied.
Brünnhilde and Siegfried’s funeral pyre is derived from the eddic
poem Sigur›arkvi›a in skamma, the Prose Edda and Vƒlsunga saga.
Wagner’s Points of Emphasis
Some examples may be mentioned where Wagner emphasises different
points from those prominent in the original sources.
Alberich becomes Wotan’s principal adversary; there is no real
prototype for this role, either in the Albrîch of Das Nibelungenlied orin the Andvari of Icelandic texts. The curse on the ring is certainly
derived from Andvari’s curse, and in Das Nibelungenlied Albrîch issaid to guard a hoard of gold, but otherwise these characters play only
minor roles in the original sources. On the other hand, the roles ofgods other than Wotan and Fricka are much less important in Wagner’s
work than the corresponding figures in the Poetic and Prose Eddas.

SUMMARY279

Siegfried’s long-standing and bluntly-expressed antipathy for his
foster-father, the blacksmith, has little parallel in the purely Icelandic
versions of the story, but it appears clearly in ﬁi›reks saga as soon as
the young Sigur›r grows into a youth. Nor do they get along well in
Das Lied vom Hürnen Seyfrid, but there the smith is only the boy’s master,and not his foster-father. There is no such smith in Das Nibelungenlied.
More symbolic significance is attached to the ring itself by Wagner
than in any of his sources. Even so, the curse on the ring resembles, morethan anything else, what is told of the dwarf Andvari in the Prose Edda,
though there it does not lead to the end of the world as in Wagner’s version.
It should be emphasised yet again that as the work developed, Wagnerbecame increasingly independent. He gradually thinned out some ofthe detail and developed his own ideas. Yet a remarkable number ofborrowed features remain in the completed opera-cycle, as has been indicated here. Of these, about four-fifths can be said to be derived solely
from Old Icelandic texts, one-sixth are common to all the sources, andabout one-twentieth may be attributed entirely to German texts.
Conclusion
One could maintain, of course, that all this process of comparison isirrelevant, that only Wagner’s actual librettos, his own creation and thedevelopment of his ideas, have any significance. But as long as people
all over the world feel the need to trace Wagner’s original sources for the
Ring, in book after book, and in the programme for every production —generally without much knowledge of the subject — it is a worthwhiletask to demonstrate which sources proved most useful to him. (A recent
example of ignorance of this topic is in the programme of a productionof Das Rheingold at the Royal Theatre in Stockholm in 1997: GunillaPetersén, ‘Richard Wagner och Nibelungernas ring. Rhenguldet’,12–15.)It should be stated here that the focus of this book has been solely
on exploring, by comparison with original sources, where Wagnersought inspiration in Old Icelandic and other medieval literature. Somereaders may feel that the writer has been over-bold in his assertions,while others may believe he should have gone further. A conscious
decision was made not to discuss Wagner’s philosophy or possible
influences from his personal life on his work. These topics have alreadybeen addressed extensively by hundreds of other writers, and their

280

WAGNER AND THE VOLSUNGS

works can easily be consulted if the reader does not feel able to form
his or her own opinion. The principle here has been to stick to tangible
examples, although some are certainly a little hard to grasp.

SUMMARY

281

EPILOGUE

The Reception of Wagner’s Works in Iceland
Though Wagner took so much of his material for his operas from
Icelandic literature, neither this fact nor the operas themselves havebeen well known in Iceland until recently. There are scattered mentions,mostly positive, of Wagner and his operas in Icelandic books andperiodicals from 1876 onwards, and some of his music was performedin Iceland by the Icelandic Symphony Orchestra from 1950 onwards;
recordings by the Icelandic singer Pétur Jónsson, who had performedin Wagner’s operas in Germany, had been heard on the radio during
the previous decades and helped to make Wagner’s music better known
in Iceland. In the second half of the century some Icelanders went tosee performances in Bayreuth, and programmes about Wagner began
to be broadcast on radio and television. Many Icelanders had theopportunity to see films of all Wagner’s operas in the 1980s and 1990s.
A milestone was reached when it was decided to perform a shortened
version of the Ring-cycle in the National Theatre during the Arts
Festival in Reykjavik in 1994, the fiftieth anniversary of Icelandic
independence. This was produced under the auspices of Richard
Wagner’s grandson Wolfgang Wagner and first performed on 27 May,
1994, with Icelandic singers in all roles except those of Wotan,
Brünnhilde and Siegfried, and in the view of most who saw it, it was agreat success. Since then Wagner’s operas can be said to have achieved
some popularity among Icelanders, and links with Bayreuth have been
maintained. In 1995 a Richard Wagner Society was founded in Icelandand is flourishing today, maintaining links with the International
Association of Wagner Societies.

282

WAGNER AND THE VOLSUNGSBOOKS REFERRED TO

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BOOKS REFERRED TO

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Lied vom Hürnen Seyfrid, Das, ed. Wolfgang Golther, 1911.
Lohenstein, Daniel Caspar von, Großmüthiger Feldherr Arminius oder
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Mein Leben = Richard Wagner, Mein Leben I–II, 1986. Trans. byAndrew Gray as My Life, 1983.
Meynert, Johann Fridrich, Staffel der Kultur auf welcher die Deutschen
im fünften Jahrhunderte stunden. Aus Vergleichung der deutschen
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Mone, Franz Joseph, Untersuchungen zur Geschichte der teutschen
Heldensage, 1836.
My life see Mein Leben.
Nibelungen-Mythus, Der, in GSD, 2nd ed., 1887–88, II 156–66; English version in Pilgrimage to Beethoven and other Essays by Richard Wagner, trans. William Ashton Ellis, 1994, 299–312 (reprinted
from Richard Wagner’s Prose Works VII, 1898). The original version, Die Nibelungensaga (Mythus), 1884, in Strobel 26–33. See
also SSD II 155–66.
NL = Das Nibelungenlied, ed. Karl Bartsch, 1948. Trans. A. T. Hatto,
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Denkmälern, ed. Gustav Neckel, 4th edn rev. Hans Kuhn, 1962;Norrœn Fornkvæ›i, ed. S. Bugge, 1867 (repr. 1965).
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Schütze, Gottfried, Drei kleine Schutzschriften für die Alten Deutschen,1746.
von See, Klaus, Völkisches Denken in Deutschland zwischen Französischer Revolution und Erstem Weltkrieg, 1975.
Simrock, Karl, trans., Die Edda, die ältere und jungere, nebst den
mythischen Erzählungen der Skalda, 1851.
SnE = Snorri Sturluson, Edda. Part 1, Prologue and Gylfaginning,
1988; Part 2, Skáldskaparmál, 1998. Ed. Anthony Faulkes; Snorri
Sturluson, Edda. Trans. Anthony Faulkes, 1987, reprinted 1998. All
cited by chapter number (SnE G = Gylfaginning, SnE S = Skáldskaparmál; note that the first few chapters of Skáldskaparmál are conventionally numbered as a continuation of Gylfaginning).
SSD = Richard Wagner, Sämtliche Schriften und Dichtungen I–XII.
6th ed., 1913.
Strobel, Otto (ed.), Richard Wagner. Skizzen und Entwürfe zur RingDichtung, 1930.
Sørensen, Villy, ‘Griechische und nordische Mythologie als Inspirationsquellen Richard Wagners’, Programmheft V der BayreutherFestspiele, 1989, 1–24.
Vischer, Friedrich Theod., ‘Vorschlag zu einer Oper’, Kritische Gänge
II, 1844, 397–436.
Vƒlsunga Saga. The Saga of the Volsungs, ed. and trans. R. G.
Finch, 1965.
Wagner’s Ring of the Nibelung. A Companion, ed. Stewart Spencer
and Barry Millington, 1993. Paperback reprint 2000.
Walch, Johann Georg, ed., Philosophisches Lexicon, 1726.
Westernhagen, Curt von, Richard Wagners Dresdener Bibliothek 1842–
1849, 1966.
Wiessner, Hermann, Der Stabreimvers in Richard Wagners ‘Ring desNibelungen’, 1924 (Germanische Studien 30).
Wille, Eliza, Fünfzehn Briefe Richard Wagners mit Erinnerungen undErläuterungen, 1935.
Zschackwitz, Joh. Ehrenfried, Erläuterte Teutsche Alterthümer, 1743.
ﬁi›reks saga, ed. Gu›ni Jónsson, 1951; ed. C. R. Unger, 1853; ed. H.
Bertelsen, 1905–11.
ﬁorsteinn Gylfason, ‘Richard Wagner as a Poet’, in Wagner’s Ringand its Icelandic Sources, 1995, 77–86.

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WAGNER AND THE VOLSUNGSL I S T O F I L L U S T R AT I O N S

Page
2 Selma Gu›mundsdóttir, president of Richard-Wagner-Félagi› á Íslandi,
presenting Wolfgang Wagner with a facsimile edition of the Codex Regiusof the Poetic Edda on his eightieth birthday in Bayreuth, August 1999.
Photograph: Árni Tómas Ragnarsson.
12 Medieval Icelandic manuscript books. Photograph: Bent Mann Nielsen.
Postcard from Arnamagnæan Institute in Copenhagen.
12 Ví›im‡rarkirkja. Photograph: Hjörleifur Stefánsson. From: Kristján
Eldjárn, Hundra› ár í ﬁjó›minjasafni, Reykjavik 1994, no. 71.
15 Ludwig Frauer, Die Walkyrien der skandinavisch-germanischen Götterund Heldensaga, Weimar 1846, title page. Photograph: Landsbókasafn–
Háskólabókasafn.
15 Konrad Maurer, Ueber die Ausdrücke: altnordische, altnorwegische &isländische Sprache, Munich 1867, title page. Photograph: Landsbókasafn–
Háskólabókasafn.
18 Richard Wagner’s birthplace in Leipzig. From: Julius Kapp, Richard
Wagner, Berlin 1933, p. 1.
18 Minna Planer, Richard Wagner’s first wife. From: Marcel Prawy, ‘Nun sei
bedankt . . .’, Munich 1983, p. 186.
21 Wedding-song for Richard Wagner and Minna Planer, Königsberg 1836.
From: Julius Kapp, Richard Wagner, Berlin 1933, p. 25.
21 Richard and Minna Wagner in Paris 1840–41. Drawing by E. B. Kietz.
Richard Wagner Archiv, Bayreuth. From: Herbert Barth et al., Wagner. A
Documentary Study, London 1975, illustration 40.
23 Wagner in 1842 (after a drawing by E. B. Kietz). From: Marcel Prawy:‘Nun sei bedankt . . .’, Munich 1983, p. 187.
23 Semper’s Opera House in Dresden (from a lithograph of 1841). Richard
Wagner Museum, Lucerne. From: Herbert Barth et al., Wagner. A Documentary Study, London 1975, illustration 41.
26 Revolutionary newspaper article by Wagner in Volksblätter, Dresden, 8
April 1849. From: Herbert Barth et al., Wagner. A Documentary Study,
London 1975, illustration 75.
26 Police notice for Wagner’s arrest as a revolutionary in Dresden, May 1849.
From: Marcel Prawy, ‘Nun sei bedankt . . .’, Munich 1983, p. 100.
29 Mathilde Wesendonck. From: Julius Kapp, Richard Wagner, Berlin 1933,
p. 70.
29 Wagner at forty (from a water-colour by Clementine Stockar-Escher, 1853).
Owned by Margarey von Stocker. From: Herbert Barth et al., Wagner. A
Documentary Study, London 1975, illustration 94.
30 Watercolour of Zürich in 1857. Owned by Frau Heck-Rieter. From: Herbert
Barth et al., Wagner. A Documentary Study, London 1975, illustration 108.

ILLUSTRATIONS

287

31 The Wesendoncks’ house in Zürich. From: Bayreuth 1993, program of
Bayreuther Festspiele.
33 Photograph of Wagner at fifty. From: Julius Kapp, Richard Wagner, Berlin
1933, p. 97.
33 Drawing of Wagner playing the piano for Ludwig II of Bavaria at thepalace at Hohenschwangau, autumn 1865. From: Marcel Prawy: ‘Nun sei
bedankt . . .’, Munich 1983, p. 153.
34 Wagner among his friends in Munich, 17 May 1865. Photograph: Joseph
Albert. Richard Wagner Archiv, Bayreuth. From: Herbert Barth et al.,Wagner. A Documentary Study, London 1975, illustration 138.
36 Photograph of Wagner in 1865. From: Bayreuther Festspiele 1995 (program), p. 127.
36 Wagner knocking at the door of Ludwig’s treasurer (front page of Münchener
Punsch, 17 March 1867). From: Herbert Barth et al., Wagner. A Documentary Study, London 1975, illustration 164.
38 View of Vierwaldstätter See in Switzerland, after a lost water-colour.
Richard Wagner Gedenkstätte der Stadt Bayreuth. From: Herbert Barth etal., Wagner. A Documentary Study, London 1975, illustration 162.
44 Das Rheingold. Drawing by Theodor Pixis, Illustrierte Zeitung, Leipzig,
23 October 1869. From: Herbert Barth et al., Wagner. A Documentary
Study, London 1975, illustration 170.
45 The final scene of Das Rheingold. Drawing by Theodor Pixis, 1869.
Wittelsbacher Ausgleichsfond, Munich. From: Herbert Barth et al., Wagner.
A Documentary Study, London 1975, illustration 169.
45 Die Walküre. Drawing by Theodor Pixis, 1869, for the production in
Munich in 1870. Wittelsbacher Ausgleichsfond, Munich. From: Herbert
Barth et al., Wagner. A Documentary Study, London 1975, illustration 171.
46 Die Walküre. Drawing by Joseph Hoffman, 1876. Bildarchiv BayreutherFestspiele. From: Oswald Georg Bauer, Richard Wagner. Die Bühnenwerke
von der Uraufführung bis heute, Frankfurt am Main 1982, p. 197.
46 Das Rheingold. Drawing by K. Ekwall. Illustrierte Zeitung, Leipzig, 16
September 1876. From: Herbert Barth et al., Wagner. A Documentary Study,
London 1975, illustration 223.
47 Alberich, Bayreuth 1876. Photograph by Joseph Albert. From: Herbert
Barth et al., Wagner. A Documentary Study, London 1975, illustration 219.
47 Brünnhilde (Amalia Materna) with her horse, Grane, Bayreuth 1876.
Photograph by Joseph Albert. From: Herbert Barth et al., Wagner. A Documentary Study, London 1975, illustration 220.
47 Die Walküre. Drawing by K. Ekwall. From: Marcel Prawy, ‘Nun sei bedankt. . .’, Munich 1983, p. 229.
48 Götterdämmerung. The three Norns, Bayreuth 1876. Photograph by Joseph
Albert. From: Herbert Barth et al., Wagner. A Documentary Study, London
1975, illustration 222.
48 Siegfried. Drawing by Joseph Hoffmann, 1876. Bildarchiv BayreutherFestspiele. From: Oswald Georg Bauer, Richard Wagner. Die Bühnen-

288

WAGNER AND THE VOLSUNGS

werke von der Uraufführung bis heute, Frankfurt am Main 1982, p. 219.
49 Götterdämmerung. The Gibichung vassals, Bayreuth 1876. Postcard from
Bayreuther Bühnenfestspiele.
49 Götterdämmerung. Drawing by K. Ekwall. From: Marcel Prawy, ‘Nun sei
bedankt . . .’, Munich 1983, p. 230.
50 The ride of the valkyries. Drawing on glass by Carl Emil Doepler. Part ofthe scenery at Bayreuth, 1876. From: Oswald Georg Bauer, Richard
Wagner. Die Bühnenwerke von der Uraufführung bis heute, Frankfurt am
Main 1982, p. 199.
51 Wagner in December 1871, after an oil painting by Franz von Lenbach.
Owned by Winifred Wagner. From: Herbert Barth et al., Wagner. A Documentary Study, London 1975, illustration 184.
51 Richard and Cosima Wagner in Vienna in 1872. Photograph by Fritz Luckhardt. Richard Wagner Gedenkstätte der Stadt Bayreuth. From: Herbert
Barth et al., Wagner. A Documentary Study, London 1975, illustration 177.
52 Festival Theatre in Bayreuth. Drawing by Ludwig Bechstein, Allgemeine
Illustrierte, 1876. From: Marcel Prawy, ‘Nun sei bedankt . . .’, Munich
1983, p. 54.
53 ‘The new mythology. Wagner’s apotheosis in Bayreuth.’ Der Ulk, Berlin,
1876. Historisches Museum der Stadt Wien. From: Herbert Barth et al.,Wagner. A Documentary Study, London 1975, illustration 227.
54 ‘Richard Wagner in heaven.’ Der Floh, Vienna 1883. From: BayreutherFestspiele 1998 (program), p. 34.
55 Wahnfried, Wagner’s house in Bayreuth. Photograph by Mark Kemming.
From: Wolfgang Wagner, Bayreuther Leitmotive, Freiburg 1992, cover.
56 The panel above the entrance to Wahnfried. Cut by Robert Kraus, 1873–
74. Richard Wagner Archiv, Bayreuth. From: Herbert Barth et al., Wagner.
A Documentary Study, London 1975, illustration 196.
56 Photograph of Wagner at sixty. From: Julius Kapp, Richard Wagner, Berlin
1933, p. 135.
57 The first conductors at the Bayreuth Festival. Hermann Levi, Hans Richter, Felix Mottl. Richard Wagner Archiv, Bayreuth. From: Martin GregorDellin and Michael von Soden, Richard Wagner. Leben, Werk, Wirkung.
Hermes Handlexikon, Düsseldorf 1983, p. 33.
57 Wagner with Cosima and friends in 1881. Photograph by Adolf von Gross.
From: Bayreuther Festspiele 2000 (program), p. 26.
58 Wagner crossing the rainbow bridge from the Festival Theatre to Walhall.
From Marcel Prawy, ‘Nun sei bedankt . . .’, Munich 1983, p. 223.
58 Aeschylus and Shakespeare do honour to Wagner. Cartoon. From:
Bayreuther Festspiele 1998 (program), p. 19.
59 Wagner’s final requests to the singers at the first performance of the Ring,
13 August 1876, hung up at the stage entrance to the Festival Theatre.
Richard Wagner Gedenkstätte der Stadt Bayreuth. From: Herbert Barth etal., Wagner. A Documentary Study, London 1975, illustration 208.

ILLUSTRATIONS

289

59 Bayreuth 1876. Emperor Wilhelm I of Germany greets Wagner at the Festival Theatre. Artist unknown. From: Jordi Mota and Maria Infesta, Das
Werk Richard Wagners im Spiegel der Kunst, Tübingen 1995, illustration 191.
60 Wagner at rehearsals of the Ring at Bayreuth. Drawing by Adolf vonMenzel, 1875. From: Bayreuther Festspiele 2000 (program), p. 25.
60 Wagner as conductor. Cartoon by K. Klic, Humoristische Blätter, Vienna
1873. From: Herbert Barth et al., Wagner. A Documentary Study, London
1975, illustration 203.
61 Palazzo Vendramin-Calergi in Venice. Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana,
Venice. From Herbert Barth et al., Wagner. A Documentary Study, London
1975, illustration 258.
62 Wagner’s funeral cortège, 18 February 1883. Drawing. From: Marcel
Prawy, ‘Nun sei bedankt . . .’, Munich 1983, p. 56.
63 Richard and Cosima Wagner’s graves. Photograph by Mark Kemming.
From: Wolfgang Wagner, Bayreuther Leitmotive, Freiburg 1992, p. 28.
69 Roman horse-soldier fighting Germanic barbarians. Roman relief fromTrier. Landesmuseum Trier. From: Tacitus, Germania, ed. Allan A. Lund,
Heidelberg 1988, plate Vl. Photograph: Landsbókasafn.
69 The Battle of Teutoburger Wald in AD 9. Painting from 1903. Deutsches
Historisches Museum, Berlin. From: Hagen Schulze, Kleine Deutsche
Geschichte, Munich 1996, p. 8.
72 Gustavus Adolphus. From: Svensk uppslagsbók XI, p. 1249.
72 Baron Charles de Montesquieu. Photograph: Landsbókasafn.
76 The Brandenburg Gate in Berlin. From a booklet issued by Richard Wagner
Verband Berlin, 2000.
76 Das Nibelungenlied. Kriemhilt and Prünhilt quarrel while Sîfrit stands
by. Illustration from the Hundeshagen manuscript. Bildarchiv Preussischer
Kulturbesitz, Berlin. From: Walter Hansen, Die Spur der Helden, Bergisch
Gladbach 1988, p. 108.
77 Gunther sails to Prünhilt’s castle in Islande. Illustration by Eduard Bendemann
and Julius Hübner. From: Das Nibelungenlied, ed. Gottfried Oswald
Marbach, Leipzig 1840. Photograph: Landsbókasafn–Háskólabókasafn.
77 Das Nibelungenlied. Death of Sîfrit. Illustration from the Hundeshagen
manuscript. Bildarchiv Preussischer Kulturbesitz, Berlin. From: Walter
Hansen, Die Spur der Helden, Bergisch Gladbach 1988, p. 109.
83 The beginning of Hávamál in the Codex Regius of the Poetic Edda. Photograph: Jóhanna Ólafsdóttir. From: Konungsbók Eddukvæ›a og Flateyjarbók, Reykjavík 1996 (exhibition catalogue, Stofnun Árna Magnússonar), p. 5.
83 Title page of the first printed edition of the Prose Edda, Edda Islandorum,
Copenhagen 1665. Photograph: Landsbókasafn.
84 Title page of the first printed German translation of the Prose Edda, Die Isländische Edda, Stettin 1777. Photograph: Landsbókasafn–Háskólabókasafn.
84 Ásgar›r, the citadel of the gods. Illustration from Die Isländische Edda,
Stettin 1777. Photograph: Landsbókasafn–Háskólabókasafn.

290

WAGNER AND THE VOLSUNGS

88 Johann Gottfried Herder. From: Brockhaus VIII, p. 391.
88 Title page of J. G. Herder, Volkslieder I, Leipzig 1778. Photograph: Landsbókasafn–Háskólabókasafn.
89 Jakob and Wilhelm Grimm. From: Brockhaus VII, p. 634.
89 Title page of Jakob Grimm, Deutsche Mythologie I, 3rd ed., Göttingen
1854. Photograph: Landsbókasafn–Háskólabókasafn.
94 Sigur›r tastes the dragon’s blood and understands the language of birds.
Carving on a 12th-century church door from Hylestad, Norway. Universitetets Oldsaksamling, Oslo. Photograph: Claus Hansmann. From: Siegfried.
Programmheft V, Bayreuth 1989, p. 13.
94 Reginn forges a sword for Sigur›r. Carving on a 12th-century church door
from Hylestad, Norway. Universitetets Oldsaksamling, Oslo. Photograph:
Claus Hansmann. From: Siegfried. Programmheft V, Bayreuth 1989, p. 9.
95 A dragon being killed by a man on horseback. Carving on a church door
from Valﬂjófssta›ir, Iceland, made about 1200. ﬁjó›minjasafn Íslands.
Photograph: Ívar Brynjólfsson.
95 Young man sounding a horn in a forest. 16th-century carving on a seatpanel from Grund, Eyjafjör›ur, Iceland. ﬁjó›minjasafn Íslands. From:Árbók hins íslenzka fornleifafélags 1980, Reykjavík 1981, p. 92.
96 Cover of Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué, Sigurd, der Schlangentödter, Berlin
1808. Photograph: Landsbókasafn.
96 Adolf Wagner. Drawing made in 1832. Owned by Winifred Wagner. From:
Herbert Barth et al., Wagner. A Documentary Study, London 1975, illustration 16.
100 Title-page of Vaulu-spá, ed. Ludwig Ettmüller, Leipzig 1830. Photograph:
Landsbókasafn–Háskólabókasafn.
100 Title page of Die Edda, die ältere und jüngere, trans. Karl Simrock, 2ndenlarged ed., Stuttgart 1855. Photograph: Landsbókasafn–Háskólabókasafn.
102 Draft of Siegfrieds Tod, 1848. Leaf from a notebook. From: Herbert Barthet al., Wagner. A Documentary Study, London 1975, illustration 72.
102 Last page of Siegfrieds Tod (p. 159 of the libretto of The Ring, privately
printed in 1853), with Wagner’s handwritten alterations. Richard Wagner
Archiv, Bayreuth. From: Herbert Barth et al., Wagner. A Documentary
Study, London 1975, illustration 103.
104 Snorri Sturluson’s warm pool at his home at Reykholt. Photograph byMats Wibe Lund. From Magnús Magnússon, Landi›, sagan og sögurnar,
Reykjavík 1987, p. 137.
104 A page from Kringla, the oldest manuscript fragment of Snorri Sturluson’s
history of the kings of Norway, Heimskringla (Lbs frg. 82, c. 1258–1264).
Landsbókasafn–Háskólabókasafn. Photograph: Landsbókasafn. From:
Magnús Magnússon, Landi›, sagan og sögurnar, Reykjavík 1987, p. 141.
113 Hans Sachs. Lead coin from 1576. From: Brockhaus XVI, p. 319.
113 Wagner’s memorandum of his chief sources for the Ring. Richard WagnerStiftung, Bayreuth. From: Die Walküre. Programmheft III, Bayreuth 1988, p. 69.

INDEX

291

INDEX OF NAMES
Personal names of real people are indexed, except for Richard Wagner. Titlesof medieval Icelandic and German works of literature are also included. The
Icelandic letters ﬁ, æ, ¯, ö come at the end of the alphabet, but › is treated as d.

Aeschylus 58, 112
Claussøn (Friis), Peder 81
d’Agoult, Marie Countess 65
Daguerre, Louis Jacques Mandé 65
Andersen, Hans Christian 93
Darwin, Charles 66
Arminius (Hermann) 71
Dasent, George 14
Arndt, Ernst Moritz 90
Denis, Michael 86
Arnkiel, Trogillus (Troels) 82
Devrient, Eduard 99, 101Ásmundar saga kappabana 107
Dickens, Charles 42, 67
Auber, Daniel François Esprit 19
Diederichs, Eugen 91
Bakunin, Mikhail 25, 65
Donizetti, Gaetano 19
Baldrs draumar 86, 209–212, 277
Dorn, Heinrich 80
de Balzac, Honoré 66
Dostoevsky, Fyodor 64, 67
Barbarossa (Emperor Frederick I) 22, Edison, Thomas Alva 67
24, 101
Egill Skalla-Grímsson 85, 86, 93
Bartók, Bela 67
Egils saga 103, 106, 116, 160
van Beethoven, Ludwig 17, 19, 54, 64, Eiríksmál 175
92, 98Ellis, William Ashton 118
Bellini, Vincenzo 19
Ettmüller, Ludwig 97, 100, 107
Berlioz, Hector 20, 65, 67
Eyvindr skáldaspillir 86, 172
Bible, The 14, 85
Fáfnismál 142, 144, 182, 197, 199–
von Bismarck, Otto 66, 67
208, 277
Brahms, Johannes 65, 67
Fagrskinna 175
Brockhaus, Friedrich 17, 22
Feuerbach, Ludwig 65
Brockhaus, Hermann 17, 22
Fichte, Johann Gottlieb 90, 92
Brockhaus, Ottilie see Wagner, Ottilie Finnur Magnússon 93
Brot af Sigur›arkvi›u 234, 240, 253, Fjƒlsvinnsmál 209, 213, 217, 277
257, 259, 260, 263
Flaubert, Gustave 64, 67
Bruckner, Anton 64, 67
de la Motte Fouqué, Friedrich 92, 93,
Brynjólfur Sveinsson, bishop 105
96, 97, 107, 110, 111, 117, 142
von Bülow, Blandine 57, 66
Frederick II (the Great) of Prussia 74
von Bülow, Cosima 35, 37, 39–42, 51, Freud, Sigmund 66
55, 57, 63, 66, 67
Freytag, Gustav 66
von Bülow, Daniela 57, 66
Friedrich August II, king of Saxony 22
von Bülow, Hans 27, 34, 37, 65–67 Friis see Claussøn, Pedervon Bülow, Isolde 37, 66
Gade, Niels W. 80, 98, 99
Caesar, Julius 68
von Gerstenberg, Heinrich 85, 86
Catharine the Great 74
Geyer (Avenarius), Cäcilie 17, 64

292

WAGNER AND THE VOLSUNGS

Geyer, Ludwig 17, 64
Ibsen, Henrik 16, 64, 67
Gísla saga Súrssonar 103, 106, 116, Jean Paul see Richter
235
Jesus Christ 25, 65, 101
von Goethe, Johann Wolfgang 16, 17, Joukovsky 57
65, 90Kafka, Franz 67
Gozzi, Carlo 19
Ketils saga hœngs 81
Gräter, Friedrich David 87
Keyser, Rudolf 14
Grimm, Jakob 13, 65, 89–92, 110, 114, Klopstock, Friedrich Gottlieb 86
116, 160
Kudrun 117
Grimm, Wilhelm 89–92, 110, 114, 116 Lachmann, Karl 106, 125
Grímnismál 152, 170, 172, 256
Levi, Hermann 19, 42, 57
Gríms saga lo›inkinna 81
Lied vom Hürnen Seyfrid, Das 112,
Grípisspá 196, 227, 232–234, 249
115–117, 129, 130, 143, 178, 186,
Grógaldr 209
194, 195, 198, 200, 207, 229, 240,Gu›mundur Andrésson 81
249, 274, 277, 279
Gu›rúnarkvi›a I 264
Liszt, Cosima, see von Bülow, Cosima
Gu›rúnarkvi›a II 257, 262
Liszt, Franz 20, 25, 28, 35, 41, 64–66,
Gull-ﬁóris saga 14
80, 101
Gunnlugs saga ormstungu 93
Lokasenna 140, 223
Gustavus Adolphus, king of Sweden Longfellow, Henry 16
71, 72
Ludvig I, king of Bavaria 32
Göransson, J. 82
Ludvig II, king of Bavaria 32, 33, 35–
von der Hagen, Friedrich 91, 97, 107,37, 39, 40, 65–67
126, 158
Luther, Martin 40, 70
Hákonarmál 86, 172, 174, 277
Macpherson, James 74, 86
Hauptmann, Gerhart 66
Magee, Elizabeth 115, 116
Hávamál 81, 83, 85, 105, 190
Magnús Ólafsson 81
Haydn, Joseph 86
Mahler, Gustav 66
Hegel, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich 90 de Mallet, Paul Henri 82, 85–87
Heimskringla 81, 86, 103, 104, 106, Mann, Thomas 67
113, 116, 117, 139, 142, 172, 174, 277 Maria Theresa 74
Heine, Heinrich 20, 65, 66
Marx, Karl 25, 40, 64, 67
Helgakvi›a Hjƒrvar›ssonar 168
Materna, Amalia 47
Helgakvi›a Hundingsbana I 225, 278 Maurer, Konrad 14, 110
Helgakvi›a Hundingsbana II 157
Maximilian II, king of Bavaria 35
Helrei› Brynhildar 175, 181, 218, 245, Mendelssohn, Felix 22, 65, 80
268
Meyerbeer, Giacomo 20, 22, 65
Herder, Johann Gottfried 74, 75, 87, 88 Mone, Franz Joseph 7, 99, 111, 112
Hermann see Arminius
de Montesquieu, Charles 72–74, 85, 87
Herwegh, Georg 28
Montez, Lola 32
Hervarar saga 81
Morris, William 14
Hitler, Adolf 43
Mottl, Felix 57
Hoffmann, E.T.A. 92
Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus 54, 64, 86
Hyndluljó› 209
Müller, Franz 111

INDEX

293

Müller, Peter Erasmus 91
Proudhon, Pierre Joseph 24, 25
Mussorgsky, Modest 65
Puccini, Giacomo 66
Napoleon III 66
Ragnars saga lo›brókar 91, 92, 97,
Napoleon Bonaparte 17, 64, 74, 75
116, 157, 158
Nibelungenlied, Das 7, 8, 16, 76–80, Rask, Rasmus Kristian 105
92, 98, 99, 109, 115–117, 126, 129, Raupach, Ernst 79
130, 132, 134, 136, 143, 144, 146, Reginsmál 142, 144, 146, 147, 177,
178, 182, 186, 195, 198, 200, 207,
186, 229, 277
228–230, 234, 236, 238–241, 243, Resen, Peder Hansen 81, 85
245–248, 251–254, 256, 257, 259, Richter, Hans 57
261–263, 265, 274, 275, 278, 279 Richter, Johann Paul (Jean Paul) 64, 92
Nietzsche, Friedrich 37, 65, 67
Róbert Abraham Ottósson 43
Oddrúnargrátr 172
Rossini, Gioacchino 19, 65–67
Offenbach, Jacques 54
Rühs, Friedrich 91
Orkneyinga saga 136
Sachs, Hans 112, 113
Ossian 86
Saint-Saëns, Camille 67
Otto, Louise 80
Sand, George 25
Pätz, Johanna Rosine see Wagner, von Schelling, Friedrich 90
Johanna Rosine
Schiller, Friedrich 17, 75
Percy, Thomas 74, 86, 174
Schimmelmann, Jakob 85
Petersén, Gunilla 279
Schlegel, Friedrich 92
Petersen, N. M. 106
Schoenberg, Arnold 67
Pétur Jónsson 281
Schopenhauer, Artur 64, 66
Picasso, Pablo 67
Schubert, Franz 64, 65
Planer, Minna 18–22, 28, 32, 37, 41, Schumann, Robert 19, 64, 66, 80
64–67
Schütze, Gottfried 85
Planer, Natalie 19
Scriabin, Alexander 67
Poetic Edda 2, 7, 13, 14, 27, 81–83, Selma Gu›mundsdóttir 2
85, 90, 97, 99, 101, 103, 105, 107, Semper, Gottfried 23, 37, 65
108, 110–113, 115–117, 126, 128, Shakespeare, William 16, 42, 58
130, 131, 134–137, 139, 142, 144, Shaw, George Bernard 66
155, 164, 168, 169, 176, 190, 194– Siemens, Ernst W. von 66
196, 209, 215, 230, 240, 244, 249, Sigrdrífumál 112, 142, 175, 180, 182,
262, 274, 275, 278
215, 216, 226, 249, 278
de Pompadour, Mme 74
Sigur›arkvi›a in skamma 230, 235,
Prose Edda 7, 14, 27, 81–85, 90, 98,
240, 244, 252, 257, 260, 264, 266,
99, 101, 103, 105, 107, 108, 110–112,
268, 269, 278
115–117, 126, 128, 130, 131, 133– Simrock, Karl 27, 97, 100, 101, 108,
138, 140–148, 150–152, 155, 164,
110, 117, 132, 209
167–170, 172, 177, 182, 186, 190, Snorri Sturluson 81, 85, 103–106, 139
192, 194, 195, 197, 199, 202–204, Spontini, Gasparo 22
207, 215, 218, 223–225, 228, 230, Stefán Ólafsson 81
232–235, 239–242, 245, 249, 256, von Stein 57
257, 267–269, 274, 275, 277–279 Stephanius, S. J. 81

294

WAGNER AND THE VOLSUNGS

Strauss, Richard 66
149, 150, 170, 172, 176, 194, 209,
Stravinsky, Igor 67
212, 214, 223, 225, 226, 237, 267,
Sæmundr Sigfússon the Wise 105
270, 275, 277
Sƒrla ﬂáttr 81, 116, 255
Wagner, Adolf 17, 64, 96, 97, 117, 126
Tacitus, Publius Cornelius 68, 70
Wagner, Albert 19
Taine, Hippolyte 66
Wagner, Cosima see von Bülow,Talbot, William 65
CosimaTchaikovsky, Piotr Ilyich 65, 67
Wagner, Eva 37, 67
Theodoricus, king of the Ostrogoths Wagner, Friedrich 17, 64,
106
Wagner, Johanna Rosine 17, 22, 64
Thorarensen, Bjarni 93
Wagner, Luise 17
Tolstoy, Leo 64, 67
Wagner, Minna see Planer, MinnaTorfæus (ﬁormó›ur Torfason) 81
Wagner, Ottilie 17, 64
Twain, Mark 16
Wagner, Sigfried 37, 67
Uhland, Ludwig 195
Wagner, Wolfgang 2, 281
Uhlig, Theodor 101
von Weber, Carl Maria 19, 64
Urbancic, Victor 43
Wesendonck, Mathilde 28–32, 41, 66
Vafﬂrú›nismál 142, 190–192, 277
Wesendonck, Otto 28, 30–32, 66
Verdi, Giuseppe 64, 66
Wilhelm I, Emperor 40, 59, 67
Vischer, Friedrich Theodor 80
Worm, Ole 81Vƒlsunga saga 7, 14, 82, 91, 92, 97, Zola, Émile 65
99, 103, 105, 112, 113, 115–117, 126, ﬁi›reks saga 8, 16, 82, 97, 103, 106,
129, 137, 142, 144, 147, 156–159,
110, 113–117, 126, 129, 130, 132,
162–165, 167, 175–179, 181, 182,
133, 137, 142, 146, 170, 178, 186,
186–189, 193, 195–197, 199, 201–
187, 194, 195, 198, 200, 202, 203,
207, 213, 215, 218, 226–231, 233–
227–230, 235, 239, 240, 242, 245–
243, 245, 247–251, 253, 255, 258,
248, 253, 254, 256, 257, 259–261,
260, 265, 268, 274, 275, 277, 278
265, 274, 275, 277–279
Vƒlundarkvi›a 27, 132
ﬁorsteinn Gylfason 130, 155, 223Vƒluspá 81, 85–87, 97, 105, 139, 142, ¯rvar-Odds saga 81