Richard Wagner. The Ring of the Nibelung. Day Two. Siegfried

"The Ring of the Nibelung" is a cycle of four epic operas by Richard Wagner: "Das Rheingold", "Valkyrie", "Siegfried", "Götterdämmerung". The total performance time of all four operas is more than 15 hours. The creation of the tetralogy took the composer almost a quarter of a century. Wagner's concept is based on the motifs of folk legends, sagas, literary monuments of the Middle Ages, the great German epic poem of the 13th century "The Song of the Nibelungs", Scandinavian songs "Edda", etc. The librettos of the parts of the tetralogy, written by the composer, were created in reverse order - from the last opera to the first. In the original concept, Siegfried reigned supreme, young, bright and pure. He was supposed, according to the composer, "to teach humanity the knowledge of injustice, its eradication and the construction of a just world in place of the world of evil." However, later the tragic figure of the king of the gods Wotan, who, like Siegfried, submits to fate, acquired great significance. The root cause of evil is the curse of gold, which leads to crimes, murders and ultimately to the destruction of the world. The power of gold is stronger than men and gods.

All four operas were first performed in August 1876 in Bayreuth.

"Siegfried" is the second day and the third part of the tetralogy "Der Ring des Nibelungen", an opera in three acts.

In the last act of "Die Walküre" we said goodbye to Sieglinde, and she set off on the way to the home of the Nibelungs. There she was found by Mime, the blacksmith, Alberich's brother. There she died, having given birth to her son, whom she named Siegfried; Mime became his adoptive father and raised him. Siegfried grows into a strong, arrogant, harsh youth, he is a child of the forest, enjoys communication with its inhabitants and despises the dwarf who raised him. Siegfried, the son of Sieglinde and Siegmund, is raised in the forest by the blacksmith Mime, brother of Alberich. Mime hopes that the boy will get him a ring of Rhine gold, which is guarded by Fafner, who has turned into a Dragon. However, no matter what sword Mime forges, Siegfried breaks it. Mime still has the fragments of Nothung, but he does not know how to forge a sword from them again. One day, when Siegfried is not at home, Mime is visited by Wotan in the guise of a wanderer. He tells him how to forge the sword again: "only he who has never known fear will forge the sword Nothung again", but at the same time Mime learns that it is this fearless one who will cut off Mime's head. Siegfried puts the pieces together and forges the sword anew. Mime comes up with a plan to kill the fearless Siegfried with a poisoned drink to save his own head.

Alberich guards Fafner's hole. He accuses Wotan of wanting to seize the ring, but Wotan gives it up in favor of Siegfried. Mime and Siegfried appear. Mime leaves (out of respect for Fafner), while Siegfried enjoys the mood of the forest and the singing of the birds. In doing so, he inadvertently wakes Fafner. After this, he defeats Fafner, whose blood gets on Siegfried's tongue, after which he begins to understand the speech of birds. A forest bird advises him to take the ring and the cap of invisibility from Fafner's treasure. To the chagrin of Alberich and Mime, Siegfried follows this advice. Siegfried realizes that Mime wanted to use and kill him, and so kills Mime. Inspired by the forest bird, he sets out on a journey in search of the sleeping Brunhilde. Wotan wakes Erda, from whom he hopes to learn advice on how to stop the speeding wheel - he does not know what to do next. But Erda can give him no advice. The death of the gods seems inevitable.

Wotan meets Siegfried, hoping for a last chance to get the ring from him and thus avoid his death. He fails. Siegfried breaks Wotan's spear. Having retreated, Wotan returns to Valhalla.

Siegfried continues his journey in search of Brunhilde's rock. He rides through the fire, finds Brunhilde and becomes engaged to her. Siegfried, who was unable to know fear, who was not frightened by the forest animals and the dragon, finally knows fear in love for a woman and "forgets it forever."

PERFORMERS:

Wotan - Wolfgang Schöne

Siegfried - Jon Fredrik West

Brunnhilde - Lisa Gustin

Erda - Helen Ranada

Alberich - Björn Waag

Mime - Heinz Goehrig

Fafner - Attila Can

Forest Bird - Gabriela Herrera

State Orchestra Stuttgart

Conductor - Lothar Zagrosek

State Opera Stuttgart, Stuttgart, 2003