The Rhinegold & The Valkyrie. The Ring of the Niblung, part 1
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THE RHINEGOLD
GODS: WOTAN, DONNER, FROH, LOGE
NIBELUNGS: ALBERICH, MIME
GIANTS: FASOLT, FAFNER
GODDESSES: FRICKA, FREIA, ERDA
RHINE-MAIDENS: WOGLINDE, WELLGUNDE, FLOSSHILDE
SCENES OF ACTIONI. AT THE BOTTOM OF THE RHINE
II. OPEN SPACE ON A MOUNTAIN HEIGHT NEAR THE RHINE
III. THE SUBTERRANEAN CAVERNS OF NIBELHEIM
IV. OPEN SPACE AS IN SCENE II.
FIRST SCENE
A greenish twilight, lighter above than below. The upper part is filled with undulating water, which streams respectively from right to left. Towards the bottom the waves resolve themselves into a mist which grows finer as it descends, so that a space, as high as a mans body from the ground, appears to be quite free from the water, which floats like a train of clouds over the gloomy stretch below. Steep rocky peaks jut up everywhere from the depths, and enclose the entire stage. The ground is a wild confusion of jagged rocks, no part of it being quite level, and on every side deeper fisures are indicated by a still denser gloom. Woglinde circles with graceful swimming movements round the central rock.
WOGLINDE
Weia! Waga!Roll, O ye billows,Rock ye our cradle!Wagala weia!Wallala, weiala, weia!WELLGUNDE [From above.
Woglinde, watchest alone?WOGLINDE
If Wellgunde came we were two.WELLGUNDE [Dives down to the rock.
How keepest thou watch?WOGLINDE [Swimming off, eludes her.
Wary of thee.[They playfully tease and chase one another.
FLOSSHILDE [From above.
Heiaha weia!Ho! ye wild sisters!WELLGUNDE
Flosshilde, swim!Woglinde flies:Help me to hinder her flying.FLOSSHILDE [Dives down between the two at play.
The sleeping goldBadly ye guard;Watch with more zealThe slumberer's bed,Or dear you'll pay for your sport
The frolic of the Rhine-Maidens.
FLOSSHILDE [Swimming up quickly.
Look to the gold!Father warned usOf such a foe.[Both the others follow her, and all three gather quickly round the central rock.
ALBERICH
You above there!THE THREE RHINE-MAIDENS
What wouldst thou below there?ALBERICH
Do I spoil sportBy standing and gazing here?Dived ye but deeper,Fain the NiblungWould join in your frolic and play.WELLGUNDE
He wishes to join us?WOGLINDE
Is he in jest?ALBERICH
Ye gleam above meSo glad and fair!If one would onlyGlide down, how close in my armsFondly clasped she would be!FLOSSHILDE
I laugh at my fears:The foe is in love.WELLGUNDE
The amorous imp!WOGLINDE
Let us approach him.[She sinks down to the top of the rock, whose base Alberich has reached.
ALBERICH
Lo! one of them comes!WOGLINDE
Climb up to me here!ALBERICH
[Climbs with gnome-like agility, though with repeated checks, to the summit of the rock. Irritably.
Horrid rock,So slippery, slimy!I slide and slip!My hands and feet vainlyAttempt to hold onTo the slithery surface!Vapour dampFills up my nostrils—Accursed sneezing
The Rhine-Maidens teasing Alberich.
ALBERICH
Fiercely within mePassionate firesConsume and flame!Love and fury,Wild, resistless,Lash me to frenzy!So laugh and lie your fill—One of you I desire,And one must yield to my yearning
"Mock away! Mock away!
The Niblung makes for your toy!"
WELLGUNDE
A brimstone brandIn the surging waves,In lovesick frenzyHissing loud.THE THREE RHINE-MAIDENS [Together.
Wallala! Wallaleia la la!Join in our laughter,Lovable elf!In the golden gloryHow gallant thy sheen!O come, lovely one, laugh as we laugh!Heia jaheia!Heia jaheia!Wallala la la la leia jahei
"Seize the despoiler!
Rescue the gold!
Help us! Help us!
Woe! Woe!"
SECOND SCENE
The waves have gradually changed into clouds which, becoming lighter and lighter by degrees, finally disperse in a fine mist. As the mist vanishes upwards in light little clouds an open space on a mountain height becomes visible in the dim light which precedes dawn. At one side Wotan with Fricka beside him both asleep, lie on a flowery bank. The dawning day illumines with increasing brightness a castle with glittering pinnacles which stands on the summit of a cliff in the background. Between this and the foreground a deep valley is visible through which the Rhine flows.
FRICKA
[Awakes; her gaze falls on the castle, which has become plainly visible; alarmed.
Wotan! My lord! Awaken!WOTAN [Continuing to dream.
The happy hall of delightIs guarded by gate and door:Manhood's honour,Power for aye,Rise to my lasting renown!FRICKA [Shakes him.
Up from deceitfulBliss of a dream!My husband, wake and consider!WOTAN
[Awakes and raises himself slightly. His glance is immediately arrested by the view of the castle.
The walls everlasting are built!On yonder summitThe Gods' abodeProudly rearsIts radiant strength!As I nursed it in dreamAnd desired it to be,Strong it stands,Fair to behold,Brave and beautiful pile!FRICKA
While thou rejoicest,Joyless am I.Thou hast thy hall;My heart fears for Freia.Heedless one, hast thou forgottenThe price that was to be paid?The work is finished,And forfeit the pledge:Hast thou then no care for the cost?WOTAN
My bargain well I rememberWith them who built the abode.'Twas a pact tamed them,The obstinate race,So that this hallowedHall they have built me.It stands—the strong ones' doing:—Fret not thou, counting the cost.FRICKA
O laughing, insolent lightness!Mirth how cruel and callous!Had I but known of thy pact,The trick had never been played;But far from your counselsYe men kept the women,That, deaf to us and in peace,Alone ye might deal with the giants.So without shameYe promised them Freia,Freia, my beautiful sister,Proud of playing the thief.What remains holyOr precious to menOnce grown greedy of might?WOTAN [Calmly.
From such greedWas Fricka then freeHerself when the castle she craved?FRICKA
I was forced to ponder some meansTo keep my husband faithful,True to me when his fancyTempted him far from his home.Halls high and stately,Decked to delight thee,Were to constrain theeTo peaceful repose.But thou hadst the work designedIntent on war alone;It was to addMore to thy might still,To stir up to tumult still fiercerThat built were the towering wallsWOTAN
Wouldst thou, O Wife!In the castle confine me,To me, the god, must be granted,Faithful at home,The right to wage warAnd conquer the world from without.Ranging and changingAll men love:That sport at least thou must leave me.FRICKA
Cold, hard-hearted,Merciless man!For the idle baubles,Empire and sway,Thou stakest in insolent scornLove and a woman's worth!WOTAN
When I went wooing, to win theeI staked ungrudging,Gladly one of my eyes:What folly now then to scold!Women I honourBeyond thy desire!I will not abandonFrei, the fair:Such never was my intent.FRICKA
[ Anxiously looking towards a point not on the stage.
Then succour her now:Defenceless, in fear,Hither she hastens for help!FREIA
[Enters as if flying from someone.
Help me, sister!Shield me, o brother!From yonder mountainMenaces Fasolt:He comes to bear me off captive.WOTAN
Let him come!Sawest thou Loge?FRICKA
To this tricky deceiverO why wilt thou trust?He always snares thee anew,Though from his snares thou hast suffered.WOTAN
I ask for no aidWhere simple truth suffices;But to turn the spiteOf foes to profit,Craft and cunning aloneCan teach, as by Loge employed.He whose advice I obeyedHas promised ransom for Freia:On him my faith I have fixed.FRICKA
And art left in the lurch.The giants come.Lo! hither they stride:Where lingers now thine ally?FREIA
Where tarry ye, my brothers,When help ye should bring me,Weak and bartered away by my kin?O help me, Donner!Hither! Hither!Rescue Freia, my Froh!FRICKA
Now the knaves who plotted and tricked theeAbandon thee in thy need.[Fasolt and Fafner, both of gigantic stature, enter, armed with stout clubs.
FASOLT
Soft sleepSealed thine eyesWhile we, both sleepless,Built the castle walls:Working hardWearied not,Heaping, heavingHeavy stones.Tower steep,Door and gateKeep and guardThy goodly castle halls.[Pointing to the castle.
There standsWhat we builded,Shining fairBeneath the sun.Enter inAnd pay the price!WOTAN
Name, Workers, your wage.What payment will appease you?FASOLT
We made the termsThat seemed to us meet.Hast thou forgot so soon?Freia, the fair one,Holda, the free one—The bargain isWe bear her away.WOTAN [Quickly.
Ye must be madTo moot such a thing!Ask some other wage;Freia I will not grant.FASOLT
Stands for a space speechless with angry surprise.
What is this? Ha!Wouldest deceive?—Go back on thy bond?What thy spear wardsAre they but sport,All the runes of solemn bargain?FAFNER
O trusty brother!Fool, dost now see the trick?FASOLT
Son of light,Light, unstable,Hearken! Have a care!In treaties keep thou troth!What thou artThou art only by treaties,For, built on bonds,There are bounds to thy might.Though cunning thou,More clever than we:Though we once freemen,Are pledged to peace,Cursèd be all thy wisdom;—Peaceful promises perish!—Wilt thou not open,Honest and frankStand fast by a bargain once fixed.A stupid giantTells thee this:O wise one, take it from him!
Freia, the fair one
WOTAN
How sly to judge us seriousWhen plainly we were but jesting!The beautiful GoddessLight and bright—For churls what charm could she have?FASOLT
Jeerest thou?Ha! how unjust!Ye who by beauty rule,Proud and radiant race!How foolish, strivingFor towers of stone,Woman's love to pledge—Price of walls and of halls!We dolts, despising ease,Sweating with toil-hardened hands,Have worked, that a womanWith gentle delightIn our midst might sojournAnd ye call the pact a jest?FAFNER
Cease thy childish chatter;No gain look we to get.Freia's charmsMean little;But it means much,If from the Gods we remove her.Golden applesRipen within her garden;She aloneGrows the apples and tends them.The goodly fruitGives to her kinsfolk,Who eat thereof,Youth everlasting.Sick and pale,Their beauty would perish,Old and weak,Wasting away,Were not Freia among them.[Roughly.
From their midst, therefore, Freia must forth!WOTAN [Aside.
Loge lingers long!FASOLT
We wait for thy word!WOTAN
Ask some other wage!FASOLT
No other: Freia alone!FAFNER
Thou there, follow us![Fafner and Fasolt press towards Freia. Froh and Donner enter in haste.
FREIA
Help! Help from the harsh ones!FROH [Clasping Freia in his arms.
To me, Freia![To Fafner.
Back, overbold one!Froh shields the fair one!DONNER [Confronting the giants.
Fasolt and Fafner,Have ye not feltWith what weight my hammer falls?FAFNER
What means thy threat?FASOLT
What wouldst thou here?No strife we desire;We want but our due reward.DONNER
Oft I've doled outGiants their due:Come, your reward is hereWaiting, full measure and more![He swings his hammer.
WOTAN
[Stretching out his spear between the combatants.
Hold, thou fierce one!Nothing by force!All bonds and treatiesMy spear protects;Spare then thy hammer's haft!FREIA
Woe's me! Woe's me!Wotan forsakes me!FRICKA
Can such be thy thought,Merciless man?WOTAN
[Turns away and sees Loge coming.
There comes Loge!Hot is thy hasteSmoothly to settleThy sorry, badly-made bargain!LOGE