Siegfried (opera)
Shortly afterwards he wrote to Uhlig that he was now planning to tell the Siegfried story in the form of "three dramas, plus a prologue in three acts"—a clear prefiguring of the Ring cycle.He has raised the human boy Siegfried as a foster child, to kill Fafner, who obtained the ring and other treasures in the opera Das Rheingold and has since transformed himself from a giant to a dragon.Siegfried returns from his wanderings in the forest driving before him a large bear that terrifies Mime, and immediately breaks the new sword.Siegfried departs, leaving Mime in despair ("Aus dem Wald fort in die Welt zieh’n").[5] Scene 2 An old man (Wotan in disguise) arrives at the door and introduces himself as the Wanderer ("Heil dir, weiser Schmied!").Mime can answer only the first two questions: the Wälsungs (Siegmund and Sieglinde whose tale is told in the opera Die Walküre) and the sword Nothung.[6] Scene 3 Mime despairs as he imagines the ferocity of the dragon Fafner, while "the orchestra paints a dazzling picture of flickering lights and roaring flames"[1] ("Verfluchtes Licht!").The Wanderer arrives at the entrance to Fafner's cave, near which Alberich secretly keeps vigil by a rocky cliff ("Im Wald und Nacht").When Siegfried withdraws his sword from Fafner's body, his hands are burned by the dragon's hot blood and he puts his finger in his mouth.[9] Scene 3 Outside the cave, Alberich and Mime meet and quarrel over the treasure ("Wohin schleichst du eilig und schlau").Siegfried contemplates the ring but doesn't know what could be its use, viewing it just innocently as a valueless object of nature ("Was ihr mir nützt, weiß ich nicht"); nevertheless, on the forest bird's advice he decides to keep it.The Wanderer blocks his path, but Siegfried mocks him, laughing at his floppy hat and his missing eye, and breaks his spear (the symbol and source of Wotan's authority and power) with a blow from Nothung.[12] Orchestral Interlude Scene 3 Thanks to his fearlessness Siegfried passes through the ring of fire, emerging on Brünnhilde's rock ("Selige Öde auf sonniger Höh’!").In a letter to Uhlig, Wagner recounted The Story of the Youth Who Went Forth to Learn What Fear Was, based on a fairy-tale of the Brothers Grimm.[14] Siegfried's ability in Act Two to see through Mime's deceitful words seems to have been derived from a 19th-century street theatre version of the story of Faust.Scene 1 of Act III (between The Wanderer and Erda) has a parallel in the Eddic poem Baldrs draumar, in which Odin questions a völva about the future of the gods.
Music dramaRichard WagnerJean de ReszkeBayreuth Festspielhausmusic dramasDer Ring des NibelungenRichard Wagner FoundationDas RheingoldDie WalküreGötterdämmerunglibrettoTheodor UhligstavesTristan und IsoldeDie MeistersingerHans RichterSiegfriedGeorg UngerMax Schlosserbass-baritoneFranz BetzAlberichbaritoneKarl HillFafnercoloratura sopranoMarie HauptcontraltoLuise JaideBrünnhildehigh dramatic sopranoAmalie MaternaleitmotifsNibelungNothungRackhamTarnhelmend of the godsThe Story of the Youth Who Went Forth to Learn What Fear WasBrothers Grimmstreet theatreSigurdVölsunga sagaEddic poemBaldrs draumarvölvaSiegfried discographyGrove Music OnlineList of works for the stageList of compositionsList of prose worksDie FeenDas LiebesverbotRienziDer fliegende HolländerTannhäuserLohengrinDie Meistersinger von NürnbergParsifalSymphony in C majorPolonia OvertureDas Liebesmahl der ApostelFaust OvertureWesendonck LiederSiegfried IdyllKaisermarschArt and RevolutionThe Artwork of the FutureAutobiographic SketchA Communication to My FriendsDas Judenthum in der Musik (Jewishness in Music)LeubaldMein LebenMusic of the FutureOpera and DramaBridal ChorusRide of the ValkyriesLiebestodDie Laune des VerliebtenDie HochzeitMännerlist größer als FrauenlistWieland der SchmiedDie SiegerHolztrompeteWagner tubaBayreuther BlätterBayreuth canonBayreuth CircleBayreuth FestivalBayreuth Festival OrchestraJahrhundertringWagner familyIsolde BeidlerEva ChamberlainHouston Stewart ChamberlainLudwig GeyerCosima WagnerKatharina WagnerMinna WagnerNike WagnerSiegfried WagnerWieland WagnerWinifred WagnerWolfgang WagnerEva Wagner-PasquierWagner DreamWagnerWagner's DreamWahnfried (1986 film)Parsifal (1904 film)Parsifal (1982 film)Richard Wagner MonumentRichard Wagner MemorialBust of Richard WagnerWagner (crater)Wagner Ice Piedmont3992 WagnerThe Case of WagnerGesamtkunstwerkInternational Association of Wagner SocietiesLeitmotifList of films using the music of Richard WagnerMusikdramaNietzsche contra WagnerParsifal bellsThe Perfect Wagnerite