: Richard Wagner
: Siegfried and The Twilight of the Gods: The Ring of the Niblung II
: anboco
: 9783736407183
: 1
: CHF 0.90
:
: Erzählende Literatur
: English
: 500
: Wasserzeichen
: PC/MAC/eReader/Tablet
: ePUB
The cycle is a work of extraordinary scale. Perhaps the most outstanding facet of the monumental work is its sheer length: a full performance of the cycle takes place over four nights at the opera, with a total playing time of about 15 hours, depending on the conductor's pacing. The first and shortest work, Das Rheingold, typically lasts two and a half hours, while the final and longest, Götterdämmerung, takes up to five hours, excluding intervals. The cycle is modelled after ancient Greek dramas that were presented as three tragedies and one satyr play. The Ring proper begins with Die Walküre and ends with Götterdämmerung, with Rheingold as a prelude. Wagner called Das Rheingold a Vorabend or 'Preliminary Evening', and Die Walküre, Siegfried and Götterdämmerung were subtitled First Day, Second Day and Third Day, respectively, of the trilogy proper. The scale and scope of the story is epic. It follows the struggles of gods, heroes, and several mythical creatures over the eponymous magic ring that grants domination over the entire world. The drama and intrigue continue through three generations of protagonists, until the final cataclysm at the end of Götterdämmerung.

SIEGFRIED& THE TWILIGHT OF THE GODS


BY RICHARD WAGNER


ILLUSTRATIONS BY ARTHUR RACKHAM

 

TRANSLATED BY MARGARET ARMOUR

"Nothung! Nothung!
Conquering sword!

SIEGFRIED


CHARACTERS

SIEGFRIED
MIME
THE WANDERER
ALBERICH
FAFNER
ERDA
BRÜNNHILDE

SCENES OF ACTION

 

I.      A CAVE IN A WOOD

II.      DEPTHS OF THE WOOD

III.      WILD REGION AT THE FOOT OF A ROCKY MOUNTAIN;
AFTERWARDS: SUMMIT OF"BRÜNNHILDE'S ROCK"

 

THE FIRST ACT

A rocky cavern in a wood, in which stands a naturally formed smith's forge, with big bellows. Mime sits in front of the anvil, busily hammering at a sword.

MIME

[Who has been hammering with a small hammer, stops working.

Slavery! worry!
Labour all lost!
The strongest sword
That ever I forged,
That the hands of giants
Fitly might wield,
This insolent urchin
For whom it is fashioned
Can snap in two at one stroke,
As if the thing were a toy!

[