Rhinemaidens
The Rhinemaidens are the three
.The key concepts associated with the Rhinemaidens in the Ring operas—their flawed guardianship of the
The Rhinemaidens are the first and the last characters seen in the four-opera cycle, appearing both in the opening scene of
The various musical themes associated with the Rhinemaidens are regarded as among the most lyrical in the entire Ring cycle, bringing to it rare instances of comparative relaxation and charm. The music contains important melodies and phrases which are reprised and developed elsewhere in the operas to characterise other individuals and circumstances, and to relate plot developments to the source of the narrative. It is reported that Wagner played the Rhinemaidens' lament at the piano, on the night before he died in Venice, in 1883.[1]
Origins
Alone of the Ring's characters, the Rhinemaidens do not originate from the Poetic Edda or Prose Edda, the Icelandic sources for most of Norse mythology.[2] Water-sprites (German: Nixen) appear in many European myths and legends, often but not invariably in a form of disguised malevolence. Wagner drew widely and loosely from those legends when compiling his Ring narrative, and the probable origin of his Rhinemaidens is in the German Nibelungenlied.[3] In one part of the Nibelungenlied narrative Hagen and Gunther encounter certain mermaids or water sprites (Middle High German: merwîp;[4] mod. Ger.: Meerweib) bathing themselves in the waters of the Danube. Hagen steals their clothes, and seeking their return, the mermaid called Hadeburg gives false prophecy that Hagen and Gunther will find honor and glory when they enter Etzel's kingdom. But afterwards another mermaid, Sigelinde (a name Wagner would adopt again for use elsewhere), tells Hagen her aunt has lied. If they go to Etzel's land, they will die there.[a][5][6]
The placement of this scene has several possibilities, but according to
This story, itself unrelated to the Ring drama, is echoed by Wagner both in the opening
Wagner may also have been influenced by the Rhine River-based German legend of
Wagner's operas do not reveal where the Rhinemaidens came from, or whether they have any connection to other characters. Whereas most of the characters in the cycle are inter-related, through birth, marriage, or sometimes both,
Nature and attributes
The Rhinemaidens have been described as the drama's "most seductive but most elusive characters",[15] and in one analysis as representatives of "seduction by infantile fantasy".[17] They act essentially as a unity, with a composite yet elusive personality. Apart from Flosshilde's implied seniority, demonstrated by occasional light rebukes and illustrated musically by awarding the role to a deeper-voiced contralto or mezzo, their characters are undifferentiated.[15] In The Perfect Wagnerite, his 1886 analysis of the Ring drama as political allegory, George Bernard Shaw describes the Rhinemaidens as "thoughtless, elemental, only half-real things, very much like modern young ladies".[18] The attributes most apparent initially are charm and playfulness, combined with a natural innocence; their joy in the gold they guard derives from its beauty alone, even though they know its latent power.[19] The veneer of childlike simplicity is misleading; aside from proving themselves irresponsible as guardians, they are also provocative, sarcastic and cruel in their interaction with Alberich.[20] When the demigod Loge reports that the Rhinemaidens need Wotan's help to regain the gold, Fricka, the goddess of marriage, calls them a "watery brood" (Wassergezücht) and complains about the many men they have lured away with their "treacherous bathing".[21] They are beguiling and flirtatious with Siegfried,[22] but finally wise as revealed by the undisclosed counsel which they give to Brünnhilde.[23] Sabor sees the personality of the Rhinemaidens as a blend of the "good hearted nature" of the Oceanids and the "austerity" (including the willingness to drown people) of the daughters of Ægir.[13]
The first lines sung by Woglinde in the Ring are dominated by wordless vocalisations. Weia! Waga! ... Wagala weia! Wallala weiala weia! This attracted comment both at the 1869 premiere of Rheingold and the 1876 premiere of the entire Ring, with Wagner's work being dismissed as "Wigalaweia-Musik".
The Rhinemaidens' sorrow in the loss of the gold is deep and heartfelt. As the gods are crossing the rainbow bridge into Valhalla at the end of Das Rheingold, Loge ironically suggests that, in the absence of the gold, the maidens should "bask in the gods' new-found radiance".[24] The maidens' lament then becomes a stern reproof: "Tender and true are only the depths", they sing; "False and cowardly is all that rejoices up there".[25] In the final Götterdämmerung scene they show ruthlessness as, having recovered the ring, they drag the hapless Hagen down into the waters of the Rhine.[26]
The Rhinemaidens are the only prominent characters seen definitely alive at the end of the drama; the fates of a few others are ambiguous, but most have certainly perished.[27] Despite the relative brevity of their roles in the context of the four-opera cycle, they are key figures; their careless guardianship of the gold and their provocation of Alberich are the factors which determine all that follows. Wagner himself devised the "renunciation of love" provision whereby the gold could be stolen and then used to forge a ring with power to rule the world. Since the ring is made from the stolen gold, only its restoration to the Rhinemaidens' care in the waters of the Rhine will lift the curse on it. Hence, the return of the stolen property provides a unifying thematic consistency to Wagner's complex story.[2]
Role in the Ring Operas
Das Rheingold, Scene 1
As the musical prelude climaxes, Woglinde and Wellgunde are seen at play in the depths of the Rhine. Flosshilde joins them after a gentle reminder of their responsibilities as guardians of the gold. They are observed by the Nibelung dwarf Alberich who calls out to them: "I'd like to draw near if you would be kind to me".[28] The wary Flosshilde cries: "Guard the gold! Father warned us of such a foe".[29] When Alberich begins his rough wooing the maidens relax: "Now I laugh at my fears, our enemy is in love",[30] says Flosshilde, and a cruel teasing game ensues. First, Woglinde pretends to respond to the dwarf's advances but swims away as he tries to embrace her. Then Wellgunde takes over, and Alberich's hopes rise until her sharp retort: "Ugh, you hairy hunchbacked clown!"[31] Flosshilde pretends to chastise her sisters for their cruelty and feigns her own courtship, by which Alberich is quite taken in until she suddenly tears away to join the others in a mocking song. Tormented with lust, Alberich furiously chases the maidens over the rocks, slipping and sliding as they elude him, before he sinks down in impotent rage. At this point the mood changes: as a sudden brightness penetrates the depths, a magical golden light reveals, for the first time, the Rhinegold on its rock. The maidens sing their ecstatic greeting to the gold, which rouses Alberich's curiosity. In response to his question Woglinde and Wellgunde reveal the gold's secret: measureless power would belong to the one who could forge a ring from it. Flosshilde scolds them for giving this secret away, but her concerns are dismissed—only someone who has forsworn love can obtain the gold, and Alberich is clearly so besotted as to present no danger. But their confidence is misplaced; in his humiliation Alberich decides that world mastery is more desirable than love. As the maidens continue to jeer his antics he scrambles up the rock and, uttering a curse on love, seizes the gold and disappears, leaving the Rhinemaidens to dive after him bewailing their loss.[32]
Das Rheingold, Scene 4
As Wotan, Fricka and the other gods start to cross the rainbow bridge leading to Valhalla, they hear a melancholy song from the depths of the Rhine—the maidens, mourning the loss of the gold. Embarrassed and irritated, Wotan tells Loge to silence the maidens, but as the gods continue across the bridge the lament rises again, now with bitter words of reproach to the gods for their heartlessness.[33]
Götterdämmerung, Act 3 Scene 1
Some time has passed (at least two generations). In a remote wooded valley where the Rhine flows, the ageless Rhinemaidens continue to mourn for the gold, pleading with the "
Götterdämmerung, Act 3 Scene 3
In her final soliloquy,
Rhinemaidens' music
The music associated with the Rhinemaidens has been portrayed by the Wagner commentator James Holman as "some of the seminal music in the Ring";[38] other descriptions have noted its relative charm and relaxation.[39]
In Woglinde's opening song to the Rhine: "Weia! Waga! Woge, du Welle,..." (Das Rheingold, Scene 1) the melody is
The "Rhinemaidens' joy and greeting to the gold": "Heiajaheia, Heiajaheia! Wallalallalala leiajahei! Rheingold! Rheingold!..." (Das Rheingold Scene 1) is a triumphant greeting song based on two elements, which are developed and transformed later in the Ring and put to many uses. For example, the joyful "heiajaheia" cries are converted, in Rheingold Scene 2, into a dark minor version as Loge reports the theft of the gold to the gods and the consequent rising power of the Nibelungen.[44] The "Rheingold!" repetition is sung by the Rhinemaidens to the same falling step that marked the start of Woglinde's song. This figure recurs constantly in the later stages of the drama; in Das Rheingold Scene 3 a minor key version is used as a motive for the evil power of the ring that Alberich has forged from the gold.[45] It comes to represent the theme of servitude to the ring; in Götterdämmerung, enslaved to the ring by his desire for it, Hagen utters his "Hoi-ho" call to his vassals using the same minor two-note figure.[46]
The lament "Rheingold! Rheingold! Reines Gold!..." (Das Rheingold Scene 4) is sung by the maidens at the end of Das Rheingold, as the gods begin to cross the Rainbow Bridge into Valhalla. It begins with the music from the greeting, but develops into what
Newman describes the Rhinemaidens' scene with Siegfried": Frau Sonne..." and "Weilalala leia..." (Götterdämmerung, Act 3 Scene 1), as a "gracious woodland idyll".[50] The musical elements associated with the Rhinemaidens in this scene have not previously been heard; Holman describes them as alluding to the maidens' seductive nature, as well as conveying a sense of nostalgia and detachment, as the drama approaches its conclusion.[38]
On stage
From the first complete production of the Ring, at the
In the original 1876 production, the Rhinemaidens were wheeled around on stands behind semi-transparent screens. The stage machinery and the lighting effects were designed by Carl Brandt, who was the foremost stage technician of the time.[54] One innovation which Cosima did eventually approve was the replacement of the wheeled stands with giant, invisible "fishing rods" on which the Rhinemaidens were dangled.[55] Wires continued to be used in the Bayreuth productions of Siegfried Wagner and, later, those of his widow Winifred, who ran the Bayreuth Festival until the end of the Second World War. Similar techniques have been used in more modern productions. In the 1996 Lyric Opera of Chicago Ring cycle, repeated in 2004–05, the Rhinemaidens were suspended on bungee cords anchored in the fly space above the stage, enabling them to dive up and down, as intended by Wagner. The Rhinemaidens were played on-stage by gymnasts, mouthing words sung by singers standing in a corner of the stage.[56][57]
The 1951 Festival production, by Siegfried's and Winifred's son Wieland, broke with tradition and featured an austere staging which replaced scenery and props with skilful lighting effects. The Rhinemaidens, along with all the other characters, were plainly dressed in simple robes, and sang their roles without histrionics. Thus the music and the words became the main focus of attention.[53] Wieland was influenced by Adolphe Appia, whose Notes sur l'Anneau du Nibelungen (1924–25) had been dismissed by Cosima: "Appia seems to be unaware that the Ring was performed here in 1876. It follows that the staging is definitive and sacrosanct."[55] Wieland and his brother Wolfgang praised Appia: "the stylised stage, inspired by the music and the realisation of three-dimensional space – constitute the initial impulses for a reform of operatic stagings which led quite logically to the 'New Bayreuth' style."[58]
The innovative centenary Bayreuth Ring, directed by
Although the roles of the Rhinemaidens are relatively small, they have been sung by notable singers better known for performing major roles in Wagnerian and other repertoire. The first person to sing the part of Woglinde in full was Lilli Lehmann at Bayreuth in 1876.[65] In 1951, when the Bayreuth Festival re-opened after the Second World War, the same part was taken by Elisabeth Schwarzkopf.[66] Other Bayreuth Rhinemaidens include Helga Dernesch who sang Wellgunde there between 1965 and 1967.[67] Lotte Lehmann played Wellgunde at the Hamburg State Opera between 1912 and 1914 and the Vienna State Opera in 1916.[68] Recorded Rhinemaidens have included Sena Jurinac for Furtwängler and RAI,[69] Lucia Popp and Gwyneth Jones for Georg Solti,[70] and Helen Donath and Edda Moser for Karajan.[71]
See also
- Nine Daughters of Ægir and Rán, wave maidens and daughters of the personified sea in Norse myth
Explanatory notes
- ^ Mowatt renders "my sister lied" but the original text has MHG muome,[4] mod. German Muhme which means "aunt (on the mother's side).
- ^ The number of sprites in the Nibelungenlied plot is not specified. Two are named, and the text suggests the possibility of a third.
- ^ Exceptions are Fasolt and Fafner who are only related to each other, and the Woodbird who is alone.
References
Citations
- ^ Gutman, p. 634
- ^ a b Holman, p. 174
- ^ a b Cooke (1979), p. 139
- ^ a b Lachmann, p. 179
- ^ Stanzas 1524–48, Ryder, pp. 286–289
- ^ Stanzas 1528–54, Mowatt, pp. 142–143
- ^ Magee, p. 66
- ^ Edwards, p. 235, note 146.
- ^ a b Newman, p. 464
- ^ Cooke (1979), pp. 138–40
- ^ Cooke (1979), p. 138
- ^ Cooke (1979), p. 140
- ^ a b c Sabor pp. 91–2
- ^ "Father ... ordered us cleverly to guard the bright treasure...": Flosshilde in Das Rheingold, Scene 1 (p. 26)
- ^ a b c Holman, pp. 173–75
- ^ a b c Spencer p. 31
- ^ Cooke (1979), p. 7
- ^ Shaw, p. 11
- ^ Holman, p. 175
- ^ Das Rheingold, Scene I
- ^ Mann, Das Rheingold p. 44
- ^ Götterdämmerung, Act III Scene I
- ^ Götterdämmerung, Act III Scene III
- ^ Cooke (1979), p. 244
- ^ Mann, Das Rheingold, p. 85
- ^ Götterdämmerung, Act III Scene III finale
- ^ Holman, pp. 399–402
- ^ Mann, Das Rheingold p. 16
- ^ Mann. Das Rheingold p. 17
- ^ Mann, Das Rheingold p. 18
- ^ Mann, Das Rheingold p. 20
- ^ Holman, p. 49
- ^ Holman, p. 56
- ^ a b Mann, Götterdämmerung, p. 75
- ^ Holman, p. 98
- ^ a b Mann, Götterdämmerung, p. 91
- ^ Holman, p. 102
- ^ a b c Holman, p. 176
- ^ Osborne, p. 253
- ^ North p.16
- ^ Cooke (1967 audio) Ex.25
- ^ Cooke (1967 audio) Ex. 23
- ^ Holman, p. 229
- ^ Cooke (1967 audio), Ex. 30
- ^ Cooke (1967 audio) Ex. 34–35
- ^ Cooke (1967 audio), Ex. 37–38
- ^ Newman, pp. 518–59
- ^ Cooke (1967 audio), Ex. 27–28
- ^ Newman, p. 629
- ^ Newman, p. 655
- ^ Das Rheingold, Scene 1
- ^ See libretto, Das Rheingold, Scene 1, Götterdämmerung, Act III Scene I
- ^ a b c d Holman, pp. 373–76
- ^ Sabor p.167
- ^ a b Sabor p. 172
- ^ Holman, p. 390
- ^ Weber, W (2 October 2004). "Rhinemaidens Turn Bungee Jumpers". New York Times. Retrieved 29 April 2008.
- ^ Programme for 1955 Bayreuth Festival quoted Sabor p.201
- ^ Holman, p. 381
- ^ Schürman, Hans (1980), An Annotated Synopsis based on Patrice Chéreau's production of Götterdämmerung, Bayreuth Festival. Published by Phillips as a programme note to 1980 recording of the Festival production.
- ^ Sabor p.204
- ^ Henahan, D (27 July 1983). "Opera: Das Rheingold at festival in Bayreuth". The New York Times. Retrieved 29 April 2008.
- ^ Alleyne, R (18 December 2004). "Rhinemaidens in the nude make Wagner a sell-out at the ROH". Daily Telegraph. London. Retrieved 9 April 2008.
- ^ Sabor p.192
- ^ Newman, p. 474
- ^ "Wagner Society Library Information". The Wagner Society. Archived from the original on 9 May 2008. Retrieved 9 October 2008.
- ^ Randel, p. 210
- ^ Gary Hickling. "The Lotte Lehmann Chronology". Lotte Lehmann Foundation. Archived from the original on 25 April 2010. Retrieved 5 June 2010.
- ^ Sabor, pp. 228–29
- ^ Sabor, p. 230
- ^ CD recording DG 457 781 2 1998
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