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Background Information

These background notes are primarily intended for the benefit of members of the Siegfried production team who may not be completely conversant with the complex drama. They include descriptions of the plot, the characters, and the setting as originally prescribed, although the latter cannot and will not be followed in detail.

Note that I have translated some words and names from German into their common English equivalents, where those exist. In particular, the following names have been translated from what you will hear or read:

Context

Siegfried is the third part of a four-opera cycle, The Nibelung's Ring, the operas meant to be performed successively in near proximity. (Performing demands dictate that a production of the full cycle normally stretches over at least a week.) Each of the four operas is (easily) long enough and contains enough material to justify its independant performance, and the action of each is sufficiently self-contained to be at least comprehensible on its own. They are often given individually, the second (The Valkyrie) certainly most frequently, Siegfried perhaps least so.

Time and Place

No specific historical time is given in the text. The characters and events are taken from several medieval (c. 13th century) Germanic and Norse epics, in turn based on oral traditions of historical events that would presumably have taken place in northwestern Europe, around the Rhineland, some 700 years earlier (if ever), along with an overlay of Norse mythology handed down from about the 10th century. Original stagings were based on an imagined early medieval setting, with Viking-inspired costume and artifacts (although much of our popular perception of that milieu actually derives largely from those opera stagings themselves!). Because of the mythic nature of the story, modern stagings place the action in a wide variety of times and places, historical (particularly 19th century, the time of writing), contemporary, futuristic, and thoroughly abstract or fantastic.

The locations are described with some detail, but not geographically, although the Rhine is specified as the locale for the first scene of the prologue opera The Rhinegold and most of the sequel opera Twilight of the Gods. Here are Wagner's stage descriptions of the sets for the four tableaux of Siegfried (including two in Act III), not all of which have been included in the Schirmer score:

I.

A forest. The foreground pictures a part of a rocky cavern, that on the left* stretching far back, while that on the right takes up about three-fourths of the stage. Two naturally formed entrances open onto the woods: one on the right far in the background, the other, also in the background, wider and opening sideways. Against the left wall stands a large smith's forge, formed of natural rock; only the great bellows are artificial: a rough chimney, also natural, goes up through the roof. A very large anvil and other smith's tools and implements.

*German conventions for description of stage right and left are from the audience perspective, opposite to the American ones.

II.

Deep in a forest. Far upstage the entrance to a cave. The ground rises up toward the middle of the stage, where it forms a little knoll; from there it sinks down again to the cave, so that only the upper part of the cave entrance is visible to the audience. On the left, seen through trees, is a fissured cliff. Dark night, the gloom deepest in the background, where at first the audience can distinguish nothing.

III.1

A wild place at the foot of a rocky mountain, rising steeply up toward the back on the left. — Night, storm and lightning and violent thunder, the latter ceasing after a while, while the lightning continues to flash for a time through the clouds. ... a vault-like cavernous opening in a rock in the foreground. [later] ... the cavernous opening has become dark. Rising moonlight illuminates the stage; the storm has ceased. [later] a lightning flash darts toward the rocky heights, where what has been a dull glow up till now gradually becomes bright flames. [later] ... the waves of fire have swept down from the heights and are spreading over the foreground.

[an a vista scene change is contemplated, with instructions]: From the point at which the glow is at its brightest it begins to fade, gradually dissolving itself into a fine mist, lit up by the red of the dawn.

III.2

The ever softening clouds have dissolved into a fine rose mist which now divides, so that the upper part disappears completely, at last revealing a blue sky of day, illuminating a rocky height (the same scene as that of the 3rd act of the Valkyrie), on the edge of which a veil of reddish morning mist still hangs, suggesting the magic fire below. — The arrangement of the scene is exactly as at the end of the Valkyrie: in the foreground, under a wide-spreading fir tree, lies Brünnhilde...

The Characters

(in order of appearance)
Mime [tenor]
A Nibelung and master smith, brother of Alberich, appeared in Rhinegold, in which he had, following Alberich's instructions, created the Tarnhelm, a helmet whose wearer could magically disappear or assume any form at will. Alberich seized the Tarnhelm from him, invoking its magic spell, of which Mime was ignorant. Greedy to recover the Tarnhelm and gain the Ring, he has raised Siegfried from infancy in order to further his plans.
Siegfried [tenor]
The son of the Volsung twins Siegmund and Sieglinde, who appeared in the Valkyrie. The Volsungs were secretly fathered by Wotan as part of his plan to have the Ring seized by a hero in order to prevent Alberich from recovering it, being barred by his own law from taking it himself. Siegmund was killed in the Valkyrie, the magic sword Nothung created for him by Wotan being broken. Sieglinde fled with the splinters of the sword to give birth, dying, to Siegfried, placing the infant and the sword fragments in Mime's care. Siegfried has been raised to adulthood, or at least late adolescence, in ignorance of his ancestry. His age (plus nine months) is the amount of time that has elapsed between the two operas.
A Wanderer [bass]
Wotan, the chief of the Gods, wandering the earth in disguise, though he makes no attempt to conceal or deny his identity from the other characters. Appeared previously, as Wotan, in both the Rhinegold and the Valkyrie. He stole the Nibelung treasure amassed by Alberich, including the Ring and the Tarnhelm, in order to pay the Giants Fasolt and Fafner for their construction of Valhalla, a home for the gods. The payment included the Tarnhelm and the Ring, which he was very unwillingly compelled to yield. Since that time he has been consumed by care over a doom foretold for the gods and his thwarted schemes to avert it by preventing the Ring from falling again into Alberich's hands.
Alberich [bass]
A Nibelung, appeared in the Rhinegold. Frustrated by the teasing of the Daughters of the Rhine, he took an oath forswearing love, allowing him to seize the gold they were guarding and forge it into a Ring which would confer world domination on its bearer. Through its power he enslaved the Nibelungs, compelling them to pile up a vast treasure for him, and Mime to craft the Tarnhelm, whose magic Alberich alone knew. Tricked by Wotan, he was captured and compelled to yield up the entire treasure, including the Tarnhelm and the Ring. He placed a curse on the Ring, that all would covet it, and its possessor be consumed by fear of inevitable murder, until it should be restored to its rightful owner (himself).
Fafner [bass]
One of the two Giants in Rhinegold who built Valhalla for the Gods and were paid for it with the Nibelung treasure. Quarreling over its division, his brother Fasolt claimed the cursed Ring, and was promptly slain by Fafner. Taking the entire hoard, Fafner retired to a cave in the forest, Neidhöhle, where he has, with the magic of the Tarnhelm, assumed the form of a dragon in order to guard it ever since.
A Woodbird [listed as a boy's voice, but usually if not always a soprano]
Having accidentally tasted the dragon's blood, Siegfried becomes capable of understanding the language of birds, one of whom converses with him in sung German.
Erda [contralto]
The Earth Goddess, also called the Wala, who appeared in Rhinegold to warn Wotan of a doom awaiting the Gods, and to counsel him to yield up the Ring to the Giants and escape its curse. Older than the Gods and all-knowing, she bore Wotan three daughters, the Norns, with knowledge of all things past, present, and future, to counsel Wotan. Fearing the doom awaiting the Gods, Wotan got from her nine other daughters, the Valkyries, to direct the course of warfare among Men and bring the bravest heroes slain in battle to Valhalla, where they are to fight for and defend the Gods.
Brünnhilde [soprano]
One of the nine Valkyries and Wotan's favorite and confidante, in the Valkyrie she defied his instruction to have Siegmund fall in combat. Overcome by Wotan's direct intercession in the fight, she nevertheless managed to recover the fragments of Nothung for Sieglinde and allow her to escape. As punishment, she was banished from the Gods and put to sleep until a man should awaken her and claim her as his wife. Relenting somewhat and beginning to foresee a future deliverance from the curse of the Ring, Wotan arranged for the mountaintop where she lay sleeping to be surrounded by a magic fire that only the bravest of heroes might penetrate, one fearless of even the Gods.

The Action

A good deal of the monologues and dialogues, of which the text is exclusively composed, is exposition of the backgrounds and motives of the characters, as discussed above. These were not originally intended to make the drama more comprehensible as a stand-alone work, although they certainly do have that effect. Rather, they survive from the original plan of the opera, whose text was written before its two "prequels" were even contemplated. Seemingly superfluous from the dramatic standpoint in a performance of the entire Ring Cycle, they actually provide the vital framework whereby the four operas are tied musically into an organic whole.

Act I

Mime struggles futilely to weld together the fragments of Nothung, knowing that only with it will Siegfried be able to slay Fafner and thereby allow him to gain the Nibelung Ring for himself. Siegfried bursts in on him, boisterously leading a wild beast he has captured in the forest in order to terrify Mime and demand the sword he has been promised. Mime offers him a sword, but Siegfried snaps it in pieces, as he has all other such weapons. Angrily, Siegfried compels Mime to reveal to him the story of his birth by Sieglinde, and the existence of the fragments of his dead father's sword. Siegfried insists that Mime shall forge his rightful sword for him, after which he will depart and never again see the hated Nibelung, and runs off exultantly into the woods.

As Mime is left to bewail his inability to forge Nothung, the Wanderer appears and asks for shelter. Mime wants nothing to do with him and tries to send him away, but the Wanderer is insistent. He offers to answer any three questions that Mime may ask: if he succeeds he may remain, if he fails Mime may have his head. Hoping to get rid of the unwelcome guest, Mime poses three questions, the answers to which enable the Wanderer to explicate the history of the Ring and the struggle for its possession, and incidentally reveal his own identity: who live in the Earth (the Nibelungs); on the Earth (the Giants), and above the Earth (the Gods)? Having saved himself, the Wanderer now insists that, as punishment for having denied him shelter, Mime be subjected to the same terms, to answer any three questions, on pain of forfeiting his own head. He first asks what heroic race Wotan has treated most harshly, but loves best, and Mime has no trouble describing the Volsungs and their history from the "Valkyrie", revealing that he actually knows rather more than he has told Siegfried. The Wanderer then describes how Siegfried is being cared for in order that he may kill Fafner and win the Ring for his caregiver, and asks what sword Siegfried must wield to slay the dragon. Mime, enthusuastically warming to the subject, unhestitatingly answers "Nothung", further describing how it was given to Siegmund and then destroyed in the "Valkyrie". Mockingly complimenting Mime on his wit, The Wanderer then asks him who will refashion the sword from its splinters, and Mime is suddenly brought to the realization that he has no idea. Chastising Mime for having wasted an opportunity to gain vital knowledge from him when his life depended on providing the answers, the Wanderer informs him that the sword will be reforged only by someone who knows no fear. Reminding Mime that his life is now forfeit, he lightly says that he leaves Mime's head to the fearless one, and departs.

Left alone, Mime ponders his dilemma in terror. When Siegfried returns for his sword, Mime tries to interest him in learning about fear, describing its physical symptoms, as he himself has just experienced them, to his uncomprehending but fascinated pupil. He then hits on the idea of using Siegfried's eagerness to learn fear to lead him to Fafner's lair, where he will surely experience it. When Siegfried demands that he forge the sword so that he can set off at once, Mime confesses that it is beyond his power, that only one who knows no fear can do it. Dismissing Mime as a bungler, Siegfried sets about to forge the sword himself in his own fashion, not by welding the fragments together as Mime has tried to do, but instead filing them down to powder in order to melt and recast the steel. Mime, realizing that Siegfried will succeed in forging the sword and slaying the dragon, now hits on the idea of both saving his life and winning the Ring, by drugging Siegfried with a drink after he has fought the dragon, then killing him in his sleep, Delighted with this plan, Mime gaily sets about cooking up the necessary potion as Siegfried hammers the blade into shape. Siegfried, triumphantly wielding newly forged Nothung, strikes the anvil with it, splitting the massive anvil in two.

Act II

Outside Neidhöhle, the dragon's lair, Alberich keeps watch by night, waiting for the day when Fafner will fall victim to the curse and the Ring will be his again. The Wanderer appears and, after some furious recriminations, informs Alberich that Mime is bringing Siegfried to kill Fafner, that Siegfried knows nothing of the hoard, and that Mime intends to win the Ring for himself. The Wanderer assures the incredulous Alberich that he is indifferent to the outcome, and to prove it urges Alberich to warn Fafner. He calls out to awaken the sleeping dragon, and Alberich urges Fafner to give up the Ring before it is too late. Fafner will have none of it. The Wanderer mockingly departs, leaving Alberich to continue to brood angrily on the certainty of his eventual triumph over the Gods, before he too disappears into his hiding place.

Mime and Siegfried arrive on the scene. Mime again attempts unsuccesfully to frighten Siegfried with his description of the dragon; Siegfried peremptorily dismisses him. Lying alone in the now sunny forest glade, Siegfried tries to imagine what his real parents were like. Hearing the birds in the trees above him, he recalls that Mime once told him that one might learn to speak the language of the birds and so come to understand them. He cuts and whittles a reed and blows on it, but with embarrassing results. Giving up, he takes up his hunting horn and blows lustily on it. His horn call arouses the sleeping dragon, who emerges from his cave and threatens to eat Siegfried. They fight, and Siegfried manages to plunge his sword into the dragon's heart. Dying, Fafner seeks to know who has slain him, the last of the Giants, and who set him on to the murderous deed. Siegfried, anxious to learn something more about his parents, tells him who he is, but Fafner dies with Siegfried's name on his jaws. Siegfried draws his sword from out of the dragon's heart; as he does so, hot blood spurts out on him, and Siegfried involuntarily puts his burning hand to his mouth. He suddenly discovers that he now understands the birds. A woodbird [the original saga specifies it as a nuthatch] tells him of the treasure that lies in the cave, and of the special powers of the Tarnhelm and the Ring.

As Siegfried disappears into the cave, Mime steals back, but is immediately confronted by Alberich who has come out from his hiding place. Assuming that Siegfried will take only worthless baubles, they squabble furiously over their rights to the Ring and Tarnhelm, but are confounded when Siegfried emerges with both himself, though professing ignorance of their use. As Alberich disappears, the bird now warns Siegfried to be wary of Mime, informing him that having tasted the dragon's blood he will now understand the real intent behind the words Mime actually speaks. Mime approaches, and in a friendly tone offers refreshment to Siegfried, professing love and solicitude for his welfare, but his actual words tell of his plan to drug Siegfried. Mime cannot understand how Siegfried seems to so misunderstand him, and takes special care to couch his words in the friendliest possible manner. When those words reveal that he hates Siegfried and plans to chop off his head, Siegfried calmly kills Mime and tosses his body into the cave, which he then seals up with the dragon's body.

Now left alone in the world, Siegfried calls on the woodbird to tell him where he might find a companion. The woodbird tells him of Brünnhilde who lies sleeping on a rock, surrounded by a fire that only one who has never learned fear may penetrate. Excitedly, Siegfried exclaims that he is the foolish lucky boy, asks the bird to show him the way, and rushes off after it.

Act III

Amidst a violent night thunderstorm, the Wanderer calls on the Wala (Erda) to appear. Rising up from the rocks Erda asks who has disturbed her slumber. When the Wanderer tells her that he seeks knowledge, she asks why he does not ask the Norns. He says that the Norns are captive to ordained fate; he seeks to change it. Erda asks why he does not ask counsel of their daughter Brünnhilde. When he explains her revolt and punishment (in "The Valkyrie") Erda berates him, and tells him that he is not the God he thinks he is. He tells her that she is not the all-wise one she thinks she is, and reveals his expectation of resigning the rule of the Gods in favor of a world-redeeming deed of Siegfried and Brünnhilde. Erda is allowed to sink back into the Earth to an eternal sleep.

As dawn breaks and the storm subsides, Siegfried comes on the scene, following his guidebird. Catching sight of the Wanderer, the bird takes fright and flies off. Adopting a friendly, paternal attitude, the Wanderer engages Siegfried in conversation, asking him of his purpose and how he came to know about Brünnhilde. Siegfried is anxious and impatient to be on his way and tells the Wanderer to get out of his way if he cannot help him reach her. The Wanderer becomes increasingly angered with Siegfried's arrogance and insolence, and finally bars his way with his spear, telling him that it is the spear on which Nothung was shattered once before, and that none who fears it shall win Brünnhilde. Siegfried, excited to have met his father's supposed foe, hacks the spear in two with his sword. Quietly, the Wanderer gathers up the pieces of the broken spear, disclaims any further resistance, and disappears, to Siegfried's annoyance. Putting his horn to his lips, Siegfried begins to ascend the rocks over which the flames of the magic fire have now spread.

Arriving on the mountaintop, Siegfried marvels at the scene of serene beauty. Catching sight of the sleeping Valkyrie, fully armoured and covered with her shield, he takes her for a warrior. He removes the shield, and trying to be of assistance and ease the discomfort of the armour, removes first her helmet, and then her breastplate. Discovering that she is not a man at all, he falls back in confusion and alarm, not knowing what to do. Feeling the symptoms of arousal Mime had described, of what he supposes to be fear, in desperation Siegfried thinks to conquer his fear by wakening the maiden. As there is no response to his shouted entreaties, he resolves to kiss her, drawing either new life or death from her lips.

Slowly awakening from her long slumber, Brünnhilde solemnly greets the glorious light of day and the hero Siegfried. She exclaims that he is the one she has loved even from before his birth. Wonderingly, he asks if this is then his mother, who did not die, but only lay bound in sleep. Charmed, Brünnhilde gently tells him no, and somewhat cryptically tries to explain the history of her love for him and his race. Siegfried, though entranced by her voice and presence, confesses that he has no idea what she is talking about. [This is not surprising; in the original text, she had at this point to narrate virtually the entire plot of what came to be "The Valkyrie"!]. Siegfried becomes increasingly aroused, and tries to embrace her. Suddenly becoming terrified at the realization of the loss of her inviolability and at the sense of a hitherto unknown vulnerability, Brünnhilde pulls away from him, asking him only to love her, but to leave her untouched. Siegfried only becomes more insistent. Brünnhilde finally reveals her passion for him, but asking if he does not fear her wild love frenzy? At this, Siegfried suddenly remembers about the fear that he had longed to learn, thought he might have realized, but has now completely forgotten, fool that he is. Brünnhilde can no longer resist. Joining together, they vow to laughingly submit to fate ("radiant love, laughing death"), and throw themselves rapturously into one another's arms.