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diff --git a/16840.txt b/16840.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..74fa0c6 --- /dev/null +++ b/16840.txt @@ -0,0 +1,4825 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Stories of the Wagner Opera, by H. A. Guerber + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Stories of the Wagner Opera + +Author: H. A. Guerber + +Release Date: October 9, 2005 [EBook #16840] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK STORIES OF THE WAGNER OPERA *** + + + + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Daniel Emerson Griffith and +the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + +[Illustration: RICHARD WAGNER.] + + + + +STORIES OF THE WAGNER OPERA. + +BY + +H.A. GUERBER, + +Author of + +"MYTHS OF GREECE AND ROME," "MYTHS OF NORTHERN LANDS," +"CONTES ET LEGENDS," etc. + + +NEW YORK: +DODD, MEAD, AND COMPANY. +1905. + + +_Copyright 1895_, +BY DODD, MEAD AND COMPANY. + +University Press: +JOHN WILSON AND SON, CAMBRIDGE, U.S.A. + + +Dedicated to my Friend, +M.A. McC. + + + + +PREFACE. + + +These short sketches, which can be read in a few moments' time, +are intended to give the reader as clear as possible an outline +of the great dramatist-composer's work. + +The author is deeply indebted to Professor G.T. Dippold, to +Messrs. Forman, Jackman, and Corder, and to the Oliver Ditson +Company, for the poetical quotations scattered throughout +the text. + + + + +CONTENTS. + Page + + Rienzi, the Last of the Tribunes 7 + The Flying Dutchman 23 + Tannhaeuser 38 + Lohengrin 56 + Tristan and Ysolde 72 + The Master-Singers of Nuremberg 88 + The Nibelung's Ring.--Rheingold 105 + The Walkyrie 120 + Siegfried 138 + Dusk of the Gods 154 + Parsifal 172 + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS. + Page + + Richard Wagner Frontispiece + Banishment of Rienzi 7 + Senta 23 + Tannhaeuser and Venus 38 + Ortrud kneeling before Elsa 56 + Tristan's Death 72 + Walther crowned by Eva 88 + The Rhine Maidens 105 + Brunhilde discovering Siegmund and Sieglinde 120 + Siegfried and Mime 138 + Siegfried and the Rhine Maidens 154 + Parsifal in the Enchanted Garden 172 + + + + +[Illustration: BANISHMENT OF RIENZI.] + + +RIENZI, + +THE LAST OF THE TRIBUNES. + + +Wagner was greatly troubled in the beginning of his career about +the choice of subjects for his operas. His first famous work, +'Rienzi,' is founded upon the same historical basis as Bulwer's +novel bearing the same name, and is a tragic opera in five +acts. The composer wrote the poem and the first two acts of +the score in 1838, during his residence at Riga, and from there +carried it with him to Boulogne. There he had an interview with +Meyerbeer, after his memorable sea journey. Wagner submitted +his libretto and the score for the first acts to that famous +composer, who is reported to have said, 'Rienzi is the best +opera-book extant,' and who gave him introductions to musical +directors and publishers in Paris. In spite of this encouraging +verdict on Meyerbeer's part, Wagner soon discovered that there +was no chance of success for 'Rienzi' in France, and, after +completing the score while dwelling at Meudon, he forwarded +it in 1841 to Dresden. Here the opera found friends in the +tenor Tichatscheck and the chorus-master Fisher, and when it +was produced in 1842 it was received with great enthusiasm. The +opera, which gave ample opportunity for great scenic display, +was so long, however, that the first representation lasted +from six o'clock to midnight. But when Wagner would fain have +made excisions, the artists themselves strenuously opposed him, +and preferred to give the opera in two successive evenings. At +the third representation Wagner himself conducted with such +success that 'he was the hero of the day.' This great triumph +was reviewed with envy by the admirers of the Italian school of +music, and some critics went so far in their partisanship as to +denounce the score as 'blatant, and at times almost vulgar.' +Notwithstanding these adverse criticisms, the opera continued +to be played with much success at Dresden, and was produced at +Berlin some years later, and at Vienna in 1871. + +As Wagner's subsequent efforts have greatly surpassed this first +work, 'Rienzi' is not often played, and has seldom been produced +in America, I believe owing principally to its great length. +The scene of 'Rienzi' is laid entirely in the streets and Capitol +of Rome, in the middle of the fourteenth century, when the city +was rendered unsafe by the constant dissensions and brawls among +the noble families. Foremost among these conflicting elements +were the rival houses of Colonna and Orsini, and, as in those +days each nobleman kept an armed retinue within a fortified +enclosure in town, he soon became a despot. Fearing no one, +consulting only his own pleasure and convenience, he daily +sallied forth to plunder, kidnap, and murder at his will. +Such being the state of affairs, the streets daily flowed +with blood; the merchants no longer dared open their shops and +expose their wares lest they should be summarily carried away, +and young and pretty women scarcely dared venture out of their +houses even at noonday, lest they should be seen and carried +away by noblemen. + +Terrified by the lawlessness of the barons, whom he could no +longer control, the Pope left Rome and took refuge at Avignon, +leaving the ancient city a helpless prey to the various political +factions which were engaged in continual strife. This state of +affairs was so heart-rending that Rienzi, an unusually clever man +of the people and an enthusiast, resolved to try and rouse the +old patriotic spirit in the breast of the degenerate Romans, +and to induce them to rise up against their oppressors and +shake off their hated yoke. + +Naturally a scholar and a dreamer, Rienzi would probably never +have seen the necessity of such a thing, or ventured to attempt +it, had he not seen his own little brother wantonly slain +during one of the usual frays between the Orsini and Colonna +factions. The murderer, a scion of the Colonna family, considered +the matter as so trivial that he never even condescended to +excuse himself, or to offer any redress to the injured parties, +thus filling Rienzi's heart with a bitter hatred against all the +patrician race. Secretly and in silence the young enthusiast +matured his revolutionary plans, winning many adherents by his +irresistible eloquence, and patiently bided his time until a +suitable opportunity occurred to rally his partisans, openly +defy the all-powerful barons, and restore the old freedom and +prosperity to Rome. + +The opera opens at nightfall, with one of the scenes so common +in those days, an attempt on the part of the Orsini to carry off +by force a beautiful girl from the presumably safe shelter of +her own home. The street is silent and deserted, the armed band +steal noiselessly along, place their scaling ladder under the +fair one's casement, and the head of the Orsini, climbing up, +seizes her and tries to carry her off in spite of her frantic +cries and entreaties. + +The noise attracts the attention of Adrian, heir of the Colonna +family, and when he perceives that the would-be kidnappers wear +the arms and livery of the Orsini, his hereditary foes, he seizes +with joyful alacrity the opportunity to fight, and pounces upon +them with all his escort. A confused street skirmish ensues, +in the course of which Adrian rescues the beautiful maiden, +whom he recognises as Irene, Rienzi's only sister. Attracted by +the brawl, the people crowd around the combatants, cheering and +deriding them with discordant cries, and becoming so excited +that they refuse to disperse when the Pope's Legate appears +and timidly implores them to keep the peace. + +The tumult has reached a climax when Rienzi suddenly comes +upon the scene, and authoritatively reminds his adherents that +they have sworn to respect the law and the Church, and bids +them withdraw. His words, received with enthusiastic cries +of approbation by the people, are, however, scorned by the +barons, who would fain continue the strife, but are forced +to desist. Anxious to renew hostilities as soon as possible, +and to decide the question of supremacy by the force of arms, +the irate noblemen then and there appoint a time and place +for a general encounter outside the city gates on the morrow, +when they reluctantly disperse. + +The appointment has been overheard by Rienzi, who, urged by the +Legate of the Pope and by the clamours of the people to strike +a decisive blow, decides to close the gates upon the nobles on +the morrow, and to allow none to re-enter the city until they +have taken a solemn oath to keep the peace and respect the +law. In an impassioned discourse Rienzi then urges the people +to uphold him now that the decisive moment has come, and to +rally promptly around him at the sound of his trumpet, which +will peal forth on the morrow to proclaim the freedom of Rome. + +When they have all gone in obedience to his command, the Tribune, +for such is the dignity which the people have conferred upon +their champion Rienzi, turns toward the girl, the innocent cause +of all the uproar, and perceives for the first time that it +is his own sister Irene. Adrian is bending anxiously over her +fainting form; but as soon as she recovers her senses she hastens +to inform her brother that he saved her from Orsini's shameful +attempt, and bespeaks his fervent thanks for her young protector. + +It is then only that the Tribune realises that a Colonna, +one of his bitterest foes, and one of the most influential +among the hated barons, has overheard his instructions to his +adherents, and can defeat his most secret and long cherished +plans. Suddenly, however, he remembers that in youth he and +Adrian often played together, and, counting upon the young +nobleman's deep sense of honour, which he had frequently tested +in the past, he passionately adjures him to show himself a +true Roman and help him to save his unhappy country. Irene +fervently joins in this appeal, and such is the influence of +her beauty and distress that Adrian, who is very patriotic and +who has long wished to see the city resume its former splendour, +gladly consents to lend his aid. + +This oath of allegiance received, Rienzi, whom matters of state +call elsewhere, asks Adrian to remain in his house during his +absence, to protect his sister against a renewal of the evening's +outrage. Adrian joyfully accepts this charge, and the lovers, +for they have been such from the very first glance exchanged, +remain alone together and unite in a touching duet of faith and +love, whose beautiful, peaceful strains contrast oddly with +the preceding discordant strife. In spite of his transport +at finding his affections returned, and in the very midst of +his rapturous joy at embracing his beloved, Adrian, tortured +by premonitory fears, warns Irene that her brother is far too +sanguine of success, and that his hopes will surely be deceived. +He also declares that he fears lest the proverbially fickle +people may waver in their promised allegiance, and lest Rienzi +may be the victim of the cruel barons whom he has now openly +defied. The lovers' conversation is interrupted at sunrise by +the ringing of the Capitol bell, proclaiming that the revolution +has begun, and the triumphant chorus of priests and people is +heard without, bidding all the Romans rejoice as their freedom +is now assured. Riding ahead of the procession, Rienzi slowly +passes by in the glittering armour and array of a Tribune, +and from time to time pauses to address the crowd, telling them +that the ancient city is once more free, and that he, as chief +magistrate, will severely punish any and every infringement of +the law. At the news of this welcome proclamation the enthusiasm +of the people reaches such an exalted pitch that they all loudly +swear to obey their Tribune implicitly, and loyally help him +to uphold the might and dignity of the Holy City:-- + + 'We swear to thee that great and free + Our Rome shall be as once of yore; + To protect it from tyranny + We'll shed the last drop of our gore. + Shame and destruction now we vow + To all the enemies of Rome; + A new free people are we now, + And we'll defend our hearth and home.' + +The scene of the second act is laid in the Capitol, where the +barons, who had been forced to take the oath of allegiance ere +they were allowed to re-enter the city, are present, as well +as the numerous emissaries from foreign courts. Heralds and +messengers from all parts of the land crowd eagerly around +the Tribune, anxious to do him homage, and to assure him that, +thanks to his decrees, order and peace are now restored. + +Amid the general silence the heralds make their reports, +declaring that the roads are safe, all brigandage suppressed, +commerce and agriculture more flourishing than ever before, +a statement which Rienzi and the people receive with every +demonstration of great joy. To the barons, however, these are +very unwelcome tidings, and, knowing that the people could +soon be cowed were they only deprived of their powerful leader, +they gather together in one corner of the hall and plot how to +put Rienzi to death. + +Adrian accidentally discovers this conspiracy, and indignantly +remonstrates with the barons, threatening even to denounce +them, since they are about to break their word and resort +to such dishonourable means. But his own father, Colonna, +is one of the instigators of the conspiracy, and he dares him +to carry out his threat, which would only result in branding +him as a parricide. Then, without waiting to hear his son's +decision, the old baron, accompanied by the other conspirators, +joins Rienzi on the balcony, whence he has just addressed the +assembled people. They have been listening to his last proposal, +that the Romans should shake off the galling yoke of the German +Empire and make their city a republic once more, and now loud +and enthusiastic acclamations rend the air. + +The speech ended, Adrian, stealing softly behind the Tribune, +bids him be on the watch as treachery is lurking near. He has +scarcely ended his warning and slipped away ere the conspirators +suddenly surround the Tribune, and there, in the presence of +the assembled people, they simultaneously draw their daggers, +and strike him repeatedly. This dastardly attempt at murder +utterly fails, however, as the Tribune wears a corselet of mail +beneath the robes of state, and his guards quickly disarm and +secure the conspirators while the people loudly clamour for +their execution by the axe, a burly blacksmith, Cecco, acting +as their principal spokesman. + +Rienzi, who is principally incensed by their attack upon Roman +liberties, and by their utter lack of faith, is about to yield to +their demand, when Irene and Adrian suddenly fall at his feet, +imploring the pardon of the condemned, and entreating him to +show mercy rather than justice. Once more Rienzi addresses the +people, but it requires all his persuasive eloquence to induce +them, at last, to forgive the barons' attempt. Then the culprits +are summoned into the Tribune's august presence, where, instead +of being executed as they fully expect, they are pardoned and +set free, after they have once more solemnly pledged themselves +to respect the new government and its chosen representatives. +This promise is wrung from them by the force of circumstances; +they have no intention of keeping it, and they are no sooner +released than they utter dark threats of revenge, which fill +the people's hearts with ominous fear, and make them regret +the clemency they have just shown. + +The next act is played on one of the public squares of Rome, +where the people are tumultuously assembled to discuss the secret +flight of the barons. They have fled from the city during the +night, and, in spite of their recently renewed oaths, are even +now preparing to re-enter the city with fire and sword, and to +resume their former supremacy. In frantic terror, the people +call upon Rienzi to deliver them, declaring that, had he only +been firm and executed the nobles, Rome would now have no need +to fear their wrath. Adrian, coming upon the spot as they march +off toward the Capitol, anxiously deliberates what course he +shall pursue, and bitterly reviles fate, which forces him either +to bear arms against his own father and kin, or to turn traitor +and slay the Tribune, the brother of his fair beloved. While he +thus soliloquises in his despair, Rienzi appears on horseback, +escorted by the Roman troops, all loudly chanting a battle song, +of which the constant refrain is the Tribune's rallying cry, +'Santo Spirito Cavaliere!' They are on their way to the city +gates, where the assembled forces of the barons await them, and +Adrian, in a last frantic attempt to prevent bloodshed, throws +himself in front of Rienzi's horse, imploring the Tribune to +allow him to try once more to conciliate the rebel nobles. But +Rienzi utterly refuses to yield again to his entreaties, and +marches calmly on, accompanied by the people chanting the last +verse of their solemn war-song. + +The fourth act is played in front of the Lateran church. The +battle has taken place. The barons have been repulsed at the +cost of great slaughter. But notwithstanding their losses +and the death of their leader, the elder Colonna, the nobles +have not relinquished all hope of success. What they failed to +secure by the force of arms, they now hope to win by intrigue, +for they have artfully won not only the Pope, but the Emperor +also, to uphold their cause and side with them. The people, who +have just learned that the Pope and Emperor have recalled their +legates and ambassadors, are awed and frightened. Baroncelli and +Cecco, two demagogues, seize this occasion to poison their fickle +minds, and blame Rienzi openly for all that has occurred. Their +specious reasoning that the Tribune must be very wicked indeed, +since the spiritual and temporal authorities alike disapprove +of him, is strengthened by the sudden appearance of Adrian, +who, wild with grief at his father's death, publicly declares +he has vowed to slay the Tribune. The people--who, lacking the +strength to uphold their convictions, now hate their leader +as vehemently as they once loved and admired him--are about +to join Adrian in his passionate cry of 'Down with Rienzi!' +when the cardinal and his train suddenly appear, and march into +the church, where a grand 'Te Deum' is to be sung to celebrate +the victory over the barons. + +While the Romans are wavering, and wondering whether they have +not made a mistake, and whether the Pope really disapproves +of their chief magistrate, Rienzi marches toward the church, +accompanied by Irene and his body guard. Adrian, at the sight +of his pale beloved, has no longer the courage to execute his +purpose and slay her only brother. Just as they are about to +enter the church, where they expect to hear the joyful strains +of thanksgiving, the cardinal appears at the church door, +barring their entrance, and solemnly pronounces the Church's +anathema upon the horror-struck Rienzi. + +The people all start back and withdraw from him as from one +accursed, while Adrian, seizing Irene's hand, seeks to lead +her away from her brother. But the brave girl resists her +lover's offers and entreaties, and, clinging closely to the +unhappy Tribune, she declares she will never forsake him, +while he vows he will never relinquish his hope that Rome may +eventually recover her wonted freedom, and again shake off the +tyrant's yoke. + +The fifth and last act is begun in the Capitol, where Rienzi, +the enthusiast, is wrapped in prayer, and forgetting himself +entirely, fervently implores Divine protection for his misguided +people and unhappy city. He has scarcely ended this beautiful +prayer when Irene joins him, and, when he once more beseeches +her to leave him, she declares she will never forsake him, +even though by clinging to him she must renounce her love,--a +passion which he has never known. At this declaration, Rienzi in +a passionate outburst tells how deeply he has loved and still +loves his mistress, Rome, fallen and degraded though she may +be. He loves her, although she has broken faith with him, has +turned to listen to the blandishments of another, and basely +deserted him at the time of his utmost need. + +Irene, touched by his grief, bids him not give way to +despair, but adjures him to make a last attempt to regain +his old ascendency over the minds of the fickle people. As +he leaves her to follow her advice, Adrian enters the hall, +wildly imploring her to escape while there is yet time, for +the infuriated Romans are coming, not only to slay Rienzi, +but to burn down the Capitol which has sheltered him. + +As she utterly refuses to listen to his entreaties, he vainly +seeks to drag her away. It is only when the lurid light of +the devouring flames illumines the hall, and when she sinks +unconscious to the floor, that he can bear her away from a +place fraught with so much danger for them all. Rienzi, in the +mean while, has stepped out on the balcony, whence he has made +repeated but futile attempts to address the mob. Baroncelli and +Cecco, fearing lest he should yet succeed in turning the tide by +his marvellous eloquence, drown his voice by discordant cries, +fling stones which fall all around his motionless figure like +hail, and clamour for more fuel to burn down the Capitol, which +they have sworn shall be his funeral pyre. Calmly now Rienzi +contemplates their fury and his unavoidable death, and solemnly +predicts that they will regret their precipitancy, as the Capitol +falls into ruins over the noble head of the Last of the Tribunes. + + + + +[Illustration: SENTA.] + + +THE FLYING DUTCHMAN. + + +After leaving Riga, where he had accepted the position of +Music Director, which he filled acceptably for some time, +Wagner went to Pillau, where he embarked on a sailing vessel +bound for London. He was accompanied by his wife and by a huge +Newfoundland dog, and during this journey learned to know +the sea, and became familiar with the sound of the sailors' +songs, the creaking of the rigging, the whistling of the wind, +and the roar and crash of the waves. This journey made a deep +impression upon his imagination. He had read Heine's version of +the legend of the Flying Dutchman, and questioned the sailors, +who told him many similar yarns. He himself subsequently said: +'I shall never forget that voyage; it lasted three weeks and a +half, and was rich in disasters. Three times we suffered from +the effects of heavy storms. The passage through the Narrows +made a wondrous impression on my fancy. The legend of the Flying +Dutchman was confirmed by the sailors, and the circumstances +gave it a distinct and characteristic colour in my mind.' + +One year later, when in Paris, Wagner submitted detailed sketches +for this work to the Director of the Opera, to whom Meyerbeer +had introduced him. The sketches were accepted, and shortly +after the Director expressed a wish to purchase them. Wagner +utterly refused at first to give up his claim to the plot, +which he had secured from Heine; but, finding that he could +not obtain possession of the sketches, which had already been +given to Foucher for versification, he accepted the miserable +sum of L20, which was all that was offered in compensation. +The stolen opera was produced in Paris under the title of 'Le +Vaisseau Fantome,' in 1842, but it was never very successful, +and has been entirely eclipsed by Wagner's version. Wagner +had not, however, relinquished the idea of writing an opera +upon this theme, and he finished the poem, which Spohr has +designated as 'a little masterpiece,' as quickly as possible. +The score was written at Meudon, near Paris, and completed, +with the exception of the overture, in the short space of seven +weeks. When offered in Munich and Leipsic the critics pronounced +it 'unfit for Germany,' but, upon Meyerbeer's recommendation, +it was accepted at Berlin, although no preparations were made +for its immediate representation. + +'The Flying Dutchman' was first brought out at Dresden in 1843, +four years after the idea of this work had first suggested +itself to the illustrious composer, who conducted the orchestra +in person, while Madame Schroeder-Devrient sang the part of +Senta. The audience did not receive it very enthusiastically, +and, while some of the hearers were deeply moved, the majority +were simply astonished. No one at first seemed to appreciate +the opera at its full value except Spohr, who in connection +with it wrote: 'Der Fliegende Hollaender interests me in the +highest degree. The opera is imaginative, of noble invention, +well written for the voices, immensely difficult, rather overdone +as regards instrumentation, but full of novel effects; at the +theatre it is sure to prove clear and intelligible.... I have +come to the conclusion that among composers for the stage, +_pro tem._, Wagner is the most gifted.' + +The legend upon which the whole opera is based is that a Dutch +captain once tried to double the Cape of Good Hope in the teeth +of a gale, swearing he would accomplish his purpose even if he +had to plough the main forever. This rash oath was overheard +by Satan, who condemned him to sail until the Judgment Day, +unless he could find a woman who would love him faithfully +until death. Once in every seven years only did the Devil allow +the Dutchman to land, in search of the maiden who might effect +his release. + +In the first act of the opera, the seven years have just ended, +and Daland, a Norwegian captain, has been forced by a tempest +to anchor his vessel in a sheltered bay within a few miles +of his peaceful home, where Senta, his only daughter, awaits +him. All on board are sleeping, and the steersman alone keeps +watch over the anchored vessel, singing of the maiden he loves +and of the gifts he is bringing her from foreign lands. In the +midst of his song, the Flying Dutchman's black-masted vessel +with its red sails enters the cove, and casts anchor beside +the Norwegian ship, although no one seems aware of its approach. + +The Dutchman, who has not noticed the vessel at anchor so near +him, springs eagerly ashore, breathing a sigh of relief at being +allowed to land once more, although he has but little hope of +finding the faithful woman who alone can release him from his +frightful doom:-- + + 'The term is past, + And once again are ended the seven long years! + The weary sea casts me upon the land. + Ha! haughty ocean, + A little while, and thou again wilt bear me. + Though thou art changeful, + Unchanging is my doom; + Release, which on the land I seek for, + Never shall I meet with.' + +The unhappy wanderer then tells how he has braved the dangers of +every sea, sought death on every rock, challenged every pirate, +and how vain all his efforts have been to find the death which +always eludes him. + +Daland, waking from his sound slumbers, suddenly perceives the +anchored vessel, and chides the drowsy steersman, who has not +warned him of its approach. He is about to signal to the ship +to ascertain its name, when he suddenly perceives the Dutchman, +whom he questions concerning his home and destination. + +The Dutchman answers his questions very briefly, and, upon +hearing that Daland's home is very near, eagerly offers untold +wealth for permission to linger a few hours by his fireside, +and to taste the joys of home. + +Amazed at the sight of the treasures spread out before him, +Daland not only consents to show hospitality to this strange +homeless guest, but even promises, after a little persuasion, +to allow him to woo and to win, if he can, the affections of +his only daughter, Senta:-- + + 'I give thee here my word. + I mourn thy lot. As thou art bountiful, + Thou showest me thy good and noble heart. + My son I wish thou wert; + And were thy wealth not half as great, + I would not choose another.' + +Transported with joy at the mere prospect of winning the love +which may compass his salvation, the Flying Dutchman proclaims +in song his mingled rapture and relief, and while he sings the +storm clouds break, and the sun again shines forth over the +mysteriously calmed sea. The opportunity is immediately seized +by the Norwegian captain, who, bidding the Dutchman follow him +closely, bids the sailors raise the anchor, and sails out of the +little harbour to the merry accompaniment of a nautical chorus:-- + + 'Through thunder and storm from distant seas, + My maiden, come I near; + Over towering waves, with southern breeze, + My maiden, am I here. + My maiden, were there no south wind, + I never could come to thee: + O fair south wind, to me be kind! + My maiden, she longs for me. + Hoho! Halloho!' + +The next scene represents a room in Daland's house. The rough +walls are covered with maps and charts, and on the farther +partition there is a striking portrait of a pale, melancholy +looking man, who wears a dark beard and a foreign dress. + +The air is resonant with the continual hum of the whirling +spinning-wheels, for the maidens are all working diligently +under the direction of Maria, the housekeeper, and soon begin +their usual spinning chorus. Their hands and feet work busily +while two verses of the song are sung, and all are remarkably +diligent except Senta, who sits with her hands in her lap, +gazing in rapt attention at the portrait of the Flying Dutchman, +whose mournful fate has touched her tender heart, and whose +haunting eyes have made her indulge in many a long day-dream. +Roused from her abstraction by the chiding voice of Mary, and by +her companions, who twit her with having fallen in love with a +shadow instead of thinking only of her lover Erik, the hunter, +Senta resumes her work, and to still their chatter sings them +the ballad of the Flying Dutchman. When she has described his +aimless wanderings and his mournful doom, which naught can change +until he finds a maiden who will pledge him her entire faith, the +girls mockingly interrupt her to inquire whether she would have +the courage to love an outcast and to follow a spectral wooer. +But when Senta passionately declares she would do it gladly, and +ends by fervently praying that he may soon appear to put her love +and faith to the test, they are almost as much alarmed as Erik, +who enters the room in time to hear this enthusiastic outburst. + +Turning to Mary, the housekeeper, he informs her that Daland's +ship has just sailed into the harbour in company with another +vessel, whose captain and crew he doubtless means to entertain. +At these tidings the wheels are all set aside, and the maidens +hasten to help prepare the food for the customary feast. Senta +alone remains seated by her wheel, and Erik, placing himself +beside her, implores her not to leave him for another, but to +put an end to his sorrows by promising to become his wife. His +eloquent pleading has no effect upon her, however, and when +he tries to deride her fancy for the pictured face, and to +awaken her pity for him by describing his own sufferings, +she scornfully compares them to the Dutchman's unhappy fate:-- + + 'Oh, vaunt it not! + What can thy sorrow be? + Know'st thou the fate of that unhappy man? + Look, canst thou feel the pain, the grief, + With which his gaze on me he bends? + Ah! when I think he has ne'er found relief, + How sharp a pang my bosom rends!' + +Erik, beside himself with jealousy, finally tells her that +he has had an ominous dream, in which he saw her greet the +dark stranger, embrace him tenderly, and even follow him out +to sea, where she was lost. But all this pleading only makes +Senta more obstinate in her refusal of his attentions, and +more eager to behold the object of her romantic attachment, +who at that very moment enters the house, following her father, +who greets her tenderly. The sudden apparition of the stranger, +whose resemblance to the portrait is very striking, robs Senta +of all composure, and it is only when her father has gently +reproved her for her cold behaviour that she bids him welcome. + +Daland then explains to his daughter that his guest is a wanderer +and an exile, although well provided with this world's goods, and +asks her whether she would be willing to listen to his wooing, +and would consent to ratify his conditional promise by giving +the stranger her hand:-- + + 'Wilt thou, my child, accord our guest a friendly welcome, + And wilt thou also let him share thy kindly heart? + Give him thy hand, for bridegroom it is thine to call him, + If thou but give consent, to-morrow his thou art.' + +Wholly uninfluenced by the description of the stranger's +wealth which her father gives her, but entirely won by the +Flying Dutchman's timidly expressed hope that she will not +refuse him the blessing he has so long and so vainly sought, +Senta hesitates no longer, but generously promises to become +his wife, whatever fate may await her:-- + + 'Whoe'er thou art, where'er thy curse may lead thee, + And me, when I thy lot mine own have made,-- + Whate'er the fate which I with thee may share in, + My father's will by me shall be obeyed.' + +This promise at first fills the heart of the Flying Dutchman +with the utmost rapture, for he is thinking only of himself, +and of his release from the curse, but soon he begins to love +the innocent maiden through whom alone he can find rest. Then he +also remembers that, if she fail, she too will be accursed, and, +instead of urging her as before, he now tries to dissuade her +from becoming his wife by depicting life at his side in the most +unenticing colours, and by warning her that she must die if her +faith should waver. Senta, undeterred by all these statements, +and eager if necessary to sacrifice herself for her beloved, +again offers to follow him, and once more a rapturous thrill +passes through his heart:-- + + 'SENTA. + + Here is my hand! I will not rue, + But e'en to death will I be true. + + THE DUTCHMAN. + + She gives her hand! I conquer you, + Dread powers of Hell, while she is true.' + +Daland returns into the room in time to see that they have +agreed to marry, and proposes that their wedding should take +place immediately, and be celebrated at the same time as the +feast which he generally gives all his sailors at the end of +a happy journey. + +The third act of this opera represents both ships riding at +anchor in a rocky bay, near which rises Daland's picturesque +Norwegian cottage. All is life and animation on board the +Norwegian vessel, where the sailors are dancing and singing in +chorus, but the black-masted ship appears deserted, and is as +quiet as the tomb. + +When the sailors have ended their chorus, the pretty peasant +girls come trooping down to the shore, bringing food and drink +for both crews, which they hail from the shore. The Norwegian +sailors promptly respond to their call, and, hastening ashore, +they receive their share of the feast; but the phantom vessel +remains as lifeless as before. In vain the girls offer the +provisions they have brought, in vain the other crew taunt +the sleepers, there is no answer given. The provisions are +then all bestowed upon the Norwegians, who eat and drink +most heartily ere they resume their merry chorus. Suddenly, +however, the Dutch sailors rouse themselves, appear on deck, +and prepare to depart, while singing about their captain, who +has once more gone ashore in search of the faithful wife who +alone can save him. Blue flames hover over the phantom ship, +and the sound of a coming storm is borne upon the breeze. The +Norwegian sailors sing louder than ever to drown this ominous +sound, but they are soon too alarmed to sing, and hasten into +their cabins making the sign of the cross, which evokes a burst +of demoniac laughter from the phantom crew. + +The storm and lights subside as quickly and mysteriously as +they appeared, and all is quiet once more as Senta comes down +to the shore. Erik, meeting her, implores her to listen to his +wooing, which once found favour, and to forget the stranger whom +her father has induced her to accept on such short notice. Senta +listens patiently to his plea, which does not in the least shake +her faith in her new lover, or change her resolution to live +and die for him alone. But the Dutchman, appearing suddenly, +mistakes her patience for regret, and, almost frantic with love +and despair, he bids her a passionate farewell and rushes off +toward his ship. + + 'To sea! To sea till time is ended! + Thy sacred promise be forgot, + Thy sacred promise and my fate! + Farewell! I wish not to destroy thee!' + +But Senta has not ceased to love him. She runs after him, +imploring him to remain with her, protesting her fidelity +and renewing her vows in spite of Erik's passionate efforts +to prevent her from doing so. The Flying Dutchman at first +refuses to listen to her words, and rapidly gives his orders +for departure. She is about to embark, when he suddenly turns +toward her and declares that he is accursed, and that she has +saved herself, by timely withdrawal, from the doom which awaits +all those who fail to keep their troth:-- + + 'Now hear, and learn the fate from which thou wilt be saved: + Condemned am I to bear a frightful fortune,-- + Ten times would death appear a brighter lot. + A woman's hand alone the curse can lighten, + If she will love me, and till death be true. + Still to be faithful thou hast vowed, + Yet has not God thy promise? + This rescues thee; for know, unhappy, what a fate is theirs + Who break the troth which they to me have plighted: + Endless damnation is their doom! + Victims untold have fallen 'neath this curse through me. + Yet, Senta, thou shalt escape. + Farewell! All hope is fled forevermore.' + +But Senta has known from the very beginning who this dark wooer +was, and is so intent upon saving him from his fate that she +fears no danger for herself. Passionately she clings to him, +protesting her affection, and when he looses her, and Erik +would fain detain her by force, she struggles frantically to +follow him. + +Erik's cry brings Daland, Mary, and the Chorus to the rescue, and +they too strive to restrain Senta, when they hear the stranger +proclaim from the deck of his phantom ship that he is the Scourge +of the Sea,--the Flying Dutchman. The vessel sails away from +the harbour. Senta escapes from her friends, and rushes to a +projecting cliff, whence she casts herself recklessly into the +seething waves, intent only upon showing her love and saving him, +and thereby proving herself faithful unto death:-- + + 'Praise thou thine angel for what he saith; + Here stand I, faithful, yea, till death!' + +As Senta sinks beneath the waves the phantom vessel vanishes +also, and as the storm abates and the rosy evening clouds +appear in the west the transfigured forms of Senta and the +Flying Dutchman hover for a moment over the wreck, and, rising +slowly, float upward and out of sight, embracing each other, +for her faithful love has indeed accomplished his salvation, +and his spirit, may now be at rest. + + + + +[Illustration: TANNHAeUSER AND VENUS.] + + +TANNHAeUSER. + + +In 1829, when Wagner was only sixteen years of age, he first +became acquainted, through Hoffmann's novels, with the story of +the mastersingers of Nuernberg, and with the mediaeval legend of +Tannhaeuser, as versified by Ludwig Tieck. The 'mystical coquetry +and frivolous catholicism' of this modern poem repelled him, +and it was not until twelve years later, when he chanced upon +a popular version of the same story, that he was struck by its +dramatic possibilities. A chance mention of the Saengerkrieg of +the Wartburg in this version made him trace the legend as far +back as possible, and in doing so he came across an old poem +of Lohengrin, and read Eschenbach's 'Titurel' and 'Parzival,' +which were to serve as basis for two other great operas. The +sketch of the opera of 'Tannhaeuser' was completed in 1842, at +Teplitz, during an excursion in the Bohemian mountains; but the +whole score was not finished until three years later. Wagner +had gone over it all so carefully that it was printed without +much revision, and he had even written the piano score, which +was sent to Berlin in 1845 and appeared in the same year that +the opera was produced at Dresden. + +Madame Schroeder-Devrient, whom Wagner had in his mind in writing +the part of Venus, sang that role, but, in spite of all her +talent, the first performance was not a success. She wrote +to Wagner concerning it, and said, 'You are a man of genius, +but you write such eccentric stuff it is hardly possible to sing +it.' The public in general, accustomed to light operas with happy +endings, was dismayed at the sad and tragical termination, and, +while some of the best musical authorities of the day applauded, +others criticised the work unsparingly. Schumann alone seems +to have realised the force of the author's new style, for he +wrote, 'On the whole, Wagner may become of great importance and +significance to the stage,'--a doubtful prediction which was +only triumphantly verified many years afterward. Like many of +the mediaeval legends, the story of Tannhaeuser is connected with +the ancient Teutonic religion, which declared that Holda, the +Northern Venus, had set up her enchanted abode in the hollow +mountain known as the Hoerselberg, where she entertained her +devotees with all the pleasures of love. When the missionaries +came preaching Christianity, they diligently taught the people +that all these heathen divinities were demons, and although +Holda and her court were not forgotten, she became a type of +sensual love. Tannhaeuser, a minstrel of note, who has won many +prizes for his songs, hearing of the wondrous underground palace +and of its manifold charm, voluntarily enters the mountain, and +abandons himself to the fair goddess's wiles. Here he spends +a whole year in her company, surrounded by her train of loves +and nymphs, yielding to all her enchantments, which at first +intoxicate his poetic and beauty loving soul. + +But at last the sensual pleasures in which he has been steeped +begin to pall upon his jaded senses. He longs to tear himself +away from the enchantress, and to return to the mingled pleasure +and pain of earth. + +The first scene of the opera represents the charmed grotto where +Venus gently seeks to beguile the discontented knight, while +nymphs, loves, bacchantes, and lovers whirl about in the graceful +mazes of the dance, or pose in charming attitudes. Seeing +Tannhaeuser's abstraction and evident sadness, Venus artfully +questions him, and when he confesses his homesickness, and his +intense longing to revisit the earth, she again tries to dazzle +him, and cast a glamour over all his senses, so as to make him +utterly oblivious of all but her. + +Temporarily intoxicated by her charms, Tannhaeuser, when called +upon to tune his lyre, bursts forth into a song extolling her +beauty and fascination; but even before the lay is ended the +longing to depart again seizes him, and he passionately entreats +her to release him from her thrall:-- + + ''Tis freedom I must win or die,-- + For freedom I can all defy; + To strife or glory forth I go, + Come life or death, come joy or woe, + No more in bondage will I sigh! + O queen, beloved goddess, let me fly!' + +Thus adjured, and seeing her power is temporarily ended, Venus +haughtily dismisses her slave, warning him that he returns to +earth in vain, as he has forfeited all chance of salvation by +lingering with her, and bidding him return without fear when +the intolerance of man has made him weary of life upon earth. + +A sudden change of scene occurs. At a sign from Venus, the +grotto and its voluptuous figures disappear; the roseate light +makes way for the glaring sunshine, and Tannhaeuser, who has +not moved, suddenly finds himself upon the hillside, near the +highroad and the shrine of the Virgin, and within sight of +the Wartburg castle, where he formerly dwelt and won many a +prize for his beautiful songs. The summer silence is at first +broken only by the soft notes of a shepherd singing a popular +ballad about Holda, the Northern Venus, who issues yearly from +the mountain to herald the spring, but as he ceases a band of +pilgrims slowly comes into view. These holy wanderers are all +clad in penitential robes, and, as they slowly wend their way +down the hill and past the shrine, they chant a psalm praying +for the forgiveness of their sins. The shepherd calls to them +asking them to pray for him in Rome, and, as they pass out of +sight, still singing, Tannhaeuser, overcome with remorse for +his misspent years, sinks down on his knees before the Virgin's +shrine, humbly imploring forgiveness for his sins:-- + + 'Oh, see my heart by grief oppressed! + I faint, I sink beneath the burden! + Nor will I cease, nor will I rest, + Till heavenly mercy grants me pardon.' + +While he is still kneeling there, absorbed in prayer, +the Landgrave and his minstrel knights appear in hunting +costume. Their attention is attracted by the bowed figure of the +knight, and when he raises his head they recognise him as their +former companion. Some of the minstrels, jealous of his past +triumphs, would fain regard him as their foe, but, influenced by +one of their number, Wolfram von Eschenbach, they welcome him +kindly and ask him where he has been. Tannhaeuser, only partly +roused from his half lethargic state, dreamily answers that he +has long been tarrying in a land where he found neither peace +nor rest, and in answer to their invitation to join them in the +Wartburg declares he cannot stay, but must wander on forever. +Wolfram, seeing him about to depart once more, then reminds him +of Elizabeth, the fair chatelaine of the Wartburg, and when he +sees that, although Tannhaeuser trembles at the mere sound of the +name of the maiden he once loved, he will nevertheless depart, +he asks and obtains the Landgrave's permission to reveal a long +kept secret. + +Wolfram himself has long loved the fair Elizabeth, but such is +his unselfish devotion that he would fain see her happy even with +a rival. To win the light back to her eyes and the smile to her +lips, he now tells Tannhaeuser how she has drooped ever since he +went away, and generously confesses that she took pleasure in +his music only, and has persistently avoided the minstrel hall +since his departure. His eloquent pleading touches Tannhaeuser's +reawakening heart, and he finally consents to accompany the +Landgrave and his minstrels back to the Wartburg. Hither +they now make their way on foot and on horseback, singing a +triumphal chorus:-- + + 'He doth return, no more to wander; + Our loved and lost is ours again. + All praise and thanks to those we render + Who could persuade, and not in vain. + Now let your harps indite a measure + Of all that hero's hand may dare, + Of all that poet's heart can pleasure, + Before the fairest of the fair.' + +The second act is played in the great hall of the Wartburg +castle, which is festively decorated, for the minstrels are +again to contend for the prize of song, a laurel wreath which +will again be bestowed as of yore by the fair hands of the +beloved Princess Elizabeth. As the curtain rises she is alone in +the hall, no longer pale and wan, but radiant with happiness, +for she knows that Tannhaeuser, her lover, has returned, and +she momentarily expects him to appear. While she is greeting +the well known hall, the scene of her lover's former triumphs, +with a rapturous little outburst of song, the door suddenly +opens and Wolfram appears, leading the penitent Tannhaeuser, +who rushes forward and falls at Elizabeth's feet, while his +friend discreetly withdraws. Elizabeth would fain raise the +knight, telling him it is unbecoming for him to assume so +humble an attitude beneath the roof where he has triumphed +over all rivals, and she tenderly asks where he has lingered +so long. Tannhaeuser, ashamed of the past, and absorbed in the +present, declares that he has been far away, in the land of +oblivion, where he has forgotten all save her alone:-- + + 'Far away in strange and distant regions, + And between yesterday and to-day oblivion's veil hath fallen. + Every remembrance hath forever vanished, + Save one thing only, rising from the darkness,-- + That I then dared not hope I should behold thee, + Nor ever raise mine eyes to thy perfection.' + +Elizabeth is so happy to see him once more, so ready to forgive +him at the very first word of repentance, that Tannhaeuser cannot +but see how dearly she loves him, and they soon unite in a +duet of complete bliss, rejoicing openly over their reunion, +and vowing to love each other forever, and never to part again. + +The Landgrave appears just as their song is ended, to +congratulate Elizabeth upon having at last left her seclusion +and honoured the minstrels with her presence. In conclusion, +he declares that, as all the contestants know she will be there +to bestow the prize, the rivalry will be greater than ever. He +is interrupted in this speech, however, by the entrance of +knights and nobles, who file in singing a chorus in praise of +the noble hall, and of Hermann, Landgrave of Thuringia, the +patron of song, whom they repeatedly cheer. When they have all +taken their appointed places, the Landgrave, rising in his seat, +addresses them, bidding them welcome, reminding them of the high +aims of their art, and telling them that, while the theme he is +about to propose for their lays is love, the princess herself +will bestow as prize whatever the winner may ask:-- + + 'Therefore hear now the theme you all shall sing. + Say, what is love? by what signs shall we know it? + This be your theme. Whoso most nobly this can tell, + Him shall the princess give the prize. + He may demand the fairest guerdon: + I vouch that whatsoe'er he ask is granted. + Up, then, arouse ye! sing, O gallant minstrels! + Attune your harps to love. Great is the prize,' + +At the summons of the heralds, Wolfram von Eschenbach first takes +up the strain, and as for him love is an ardent desire to see +the loved one happy, a longing to sacrifice himself if need be, +and an attitude of worshipful devotion, he naturally sings an +exalted strain. It finds favour with all his hearers,--with all +except Tannhaeuser, who, having tasted of the passionate joys +of unholy love, cannot understand the purity of Wolfram's lay, +which he stigmatises as cold and unsatisfactory. + +In his turn, he now attunes his harp to love, and sings +a voluptuous strain, which not only contrasts oddly with +Wolfram's performance, but shows love merely as a passion, +a gratification of the senses. The minstrels, jealous for +their art, indignantly interrupt him, and one even challenges +Tannhaeuser to mortal combat:-- + + 'To mortal combat I defy thee! + Shameless blasphemer, draw thy sword! + As brother henceforth we deny thee: + Thy words profane too long we've heard! + If I of love divine have spoken, + Its glorious spell shall be unbroken + Strength'ning in valour, sword and heart, + Altho' from life this hour I part. + For womanhood and noble honour + Through death and danger I would go; + But for the cheap delights that won thee + I scorn them as worth not one blow!' + +This minstrel's sentiments are loudly echoed by all the knights +present, who, having been trained in the school of chivalry, +have an exalted conception of love, hold all women in high +honour, and deeply resent the attempt just made to degrade +them. Tannhaeuser, whose once pure and noble nature has been +perverted and degraded by the year spent with Venus, cannot +longer understand the exalted pleasures of true love, even +though he has just won the heart of a peerless and spotless +maiden, and when Wolfram, hoping to allay the strife, again +resumes his former strain, he impatiently interrupts him. + +Recklessly now, and entirely wrapped up in the recollection of +the unholy pleasures of the past, Tannhaeuser exalts the goddess +of Love, with whom he has revelled in bliss, and boldly reveals +the fact that he has been tarrying with her in her subterranean +grove. + +This confession fills the hearts of all present with nameless +terror, for the priests have taught them that the heathen +deities are demons disguised. The minstrels one and all fall +upon Tannhaeuser, who is saved from immediate death at their +hands only by the prompt intervention of Elizabeth. + +Broken-hearted, for now she knows the utter unworthiness of the +man to whom she has given her heart, yet loving him still and +hoping he may in time win forgiveness for his sin, she pleads +so eloquently for him that all fall back. The Landgrave, +addressing him, then solemnly bids him repent, and join the +pilgrims on their way to Rome, where perchance the Pope may +grant him absolution for his sin:-- + + 'One path alone can save thee from perdition, + From everlasting woe,--by earth abandon'd, + One way is left: that way thou now shalt know. + A band of pilgrims now assembled + From every part of my domain; + This morn the elders went before them, + The rest yet in the vale remain. + 'Tis not for crimes like thine they tremble, + And leave their country, friends and home,-- + Desire for heav'nly grace is o'er them: + They seek the sacred shrine at Rome.' + +Urged to depart by the Landgrave, knights, nobles, and even by +the pale and sorrowful Elizabeth, Tannhaeuser eagerly acquiesces, +for now that the sudden spell of sensuous love has departed, +he ardently longs to free his soul from the burden of sin. The +pilgrims' chant again falls upon his ear, and, sobered and +repentant, Tannhaeuser joins them to journey on foot to Rome, +kneeling at every shrine by the way, and devoutly praying for +the forgiveness and ultimate absolution of his sins. + +When the curtain rises upon the third and last act of this opera, +one whole year has slowly passed, during which no tidings of the +pilgrims have been received. It is now time for their return, +and they are daily expected by their friends, who have ardently +been praying that they may come home, shrived and happy, to +spend the remainder of their lives at home in peace. No one has +prayed as fervently as the fair Elizabeth, who, forgetting her +wonted splendour, has daily wended her way down the hillside, +to kneel on the rude stones in front of the Virgin's wayside +shrine. There she has daily prayed for Tannhaeuser's happy return, +and there she kneels absorbed in prayer when Wolfram comes +down the path as usual. He has not forgotten his love for her, +which is as deep and self-sacrificing as ever, so he too prays +that her lover may soon return from Rome, entirely absolved, and +wipe away her constant tears. Elizabeth is suddenly roused from +her devotions by the distant chant of the returning pilgrims. +They sing of sins forgiven, and of the peace won by their long, +painful journey to Rome. Singing thus they slowly file past +Wolfram and Elizabeth, who eagerly scan every face in search +of one whom they cannot discover. + +When all have passed by, Elizabeth, realising that she will +see her beloved no more, sinks slowly down on her knees, and, +raising her despairing eyes to the image of the Virgin. Then she +solemnly dedicates the remainder of her life to her exclusive +service, in the hope that Tannhaeuser may yet be forgiven, and +prays that death may soon come to ease her pain and bring her +heart eternal peace:-- + + 'O blessed Virgin, hear my prayer! + Thou star of glory, look on me! + Here in the dust I bend before thee, + Now from this earth oh set me free! + Let me, a maiden, pure and white, + Enter into thy kingdom bright! + If vain desires and earthly longing + Have turn'd my heart from thee away, + The sinful hopes within me thronging + Before thy blessed feet I lay. + I'll wrestle with the love I cherish'd, + Until in death its flame hath perish'd. + If of my sin thou wilt not shrive me, + Yet in this hour, oh grant thy aid! + Till thy eternal peace thou give me, + I vow to live and die thy maid. + And on thy bounty I will call, + That heav'nly grace on him may fall.' + +This prayer ended, the broken-hearted Elizabeth slowly totters +away, while Wolfram von Eschenbach, who has seen by her pallid +face and wasted frame that the death she prays for will not +tarry long, sorrowfully realises at last that all his love can +save her no pang. + +When the evening shadows have fallen, and the stars illumine the +sky, he is still lingering by the holy shrine where Elizabeth +has breathed her last prayer. The silence of the night is +suddenly broken by the sound of his harp, as he gives vent +to his sorrow by an invocation to the stars, among which his +lady-love is going to dwell ere-long, and as he sings the last +notes a pilgrim slowly draws near. Wolfram does not at first +recognise his old friend and rival Tannhaeuser in this dejected, +foot-sore traveller; but when he sees the worn face he anxiously +inquires whether he has been absolved, and warns him against +venturing within the precincts of the Wartburg unless he has +received Papal pardon for his sins. + +Tannhaeuser, instead of answering this query, merely asks him +to point out the path, which he once found so easily, the path +leading to the Venus hill, and only when Wolfram renews his +questions does he vouchsafe him a brief account of his journey +to Rome. He tells how he trod the roughest roads barefooted, +how he journeyed through heat and cold, eschewing all comforts +and alleviation of his hard lot, how he knelt penitently before +every shrine, and how fervently he prayed for the forgiveness +of the sin which had darkened not only his life but that of +his beloved. Then, in faltering tones, he relates how the Pope +shrank from him upon hearing that he had sojourned for a year +in the Venus hill, and how sternly he declared there could be +no more hope of pardon for such a sin than to see his withered +staff blossom and bear leaves:-- + + 'If thou hast shar'd the joys of Hell, + If thou unholy flames hast nurs'd + That in the hill of Venus dwell, + Thou art for evermore accurs'd! + And as this barren staff I hold + Ne'er will put forth a flower or leaf, + Thus shalt thou never more behold + Salvation or thy sin's relief.' + +Tannhaeuser now passionately describes his utter despair, after +hearing this awful verdict, his weary homeward journey, and +his firm determination, since he is utterly debarred from ever +seeing Elizabeth again, either in this world or in the next, to +hasten back to the hill of Venus, where he can at least deaden +his remorse with pleasure, and steep his sinful soul in sensual +love. In vain Wolfram pleads with him not to give up all hope +of ultimate salvation, and still to repent of his former sin; +he insists upon returning to the enchantress who warned him +of the intolerance of man, and whom he now calls upon to guide +his steps to the entrance of her abode. + +This invocation does not remain unheard by the fair goddess of +beauty. She appears in the distance with her shadowy train, +singing her old alluring song, and welcoming him back to +her realm. Tannhaeuser is about to obey her beckoning hand, +and to hasten after her in the direction of the Hoerselberg, +when the sound of a funeral chant falls upon his ear. A long +procession is slowly winding down the hill. The mourners are +carrying the body of the fair Elizabeth, who has died of grief, +to its last resting place. + +While Tannhaeuser, forgetting all else, is gazing spellbound +at the waxen features of his beloved, thus slowly borne down +the hill, Wolfram tells him how the pure maiden interceded for +him in her last prayer on earth, and declares that he knows +her innocent soul is now pleading for his forgiveness at the +foot of the heavenly throne. This hope of salvation brings +such relief to Tannhaeuser's tormented heart, that he turns his +back upon Venus, who, realising her prey has escaped, suddenly +vanishes in the Hoerselberg with all her demon train. + +Kneeling by Elizabeth's bier, Tannhaeuser fervently prays for +forgiveness, until the bystanders, touched by his remorse, assure +him that he will be forgiven,--an assurance which is confirmed as +he breathes his last, by the arrival of the Pope's messenger. He +appears, bearing the withered staff, which has miraculously +budded and has burst forth into blossoms and leaves:-- + + 'The Lord himself now thy bondage hath riven. + Go, enter in with the blest in His heaven.' + + + + +[Illustration: ORTRUD KNEELING BEFORE ELSA.] + + +LOHENGRIN. + + +During a summer vacation at Teplitz in Bohemia, in 1845, Wagner +wrote the first sketch of the opera of 'Lohengrin.' The poem +was written at Dresden in 1845, but the score was finished +only in 1848. The opera was first performed at Weimar in 1850, +under the leadership of Liszt, who was greatly interested in it, +and determined to make it a success. + +The poet composer had taken the idea for this poem from a +mediaeval legend, based upon the old Greek myth of Cupid and +Psyche. Its poetical and musical possibilities immediately +struck him, and when the opera was first played to an audience +composed of musical and literary people from all parts of Europe, +whom Liszt had invited to be present, it produced 'a powerful +impression.' From the memorable night of its first performance +'dates the success of the Wagner movement in Germany.' During +the next nine years this opera was given in fourteen different +cities, and Wagner, who was then a political exile, is reported +to have sadly remarked, 'I shall soon be the only German who +has not heard Lohengrin.' It was in 1861, eleven years after +its first performance, that he finally heard it for the first +time in Vienna. + +This opera won for Wagner not only lasting fame, but also the +enthusiastic admiration of the young Ludwig of Bavaria. Such +was the impression this work made upon the young prince, who +first heard it when he was only sixteen, that he resolved to +do all in his power to help the composer. Three years later he +succeeded to the throne of Bavaria as Ludwig II., and one of the +first independent acts of his reign was to send a messenger to +invite the master to come and dwell at his court, and to assure +him a yearly pension from his private purse. The young king +was so infatuated with the story of 'Lohengrin' that he not +only had his residence decorated with paintings and statues +representing different episodes of the opera, but used also +to sail about his lake, dressed in the Swan Knight's costume, +in a boat drawn by ingeniously contrived mechanical swans. The +story of this opera is as follows:-- + +Henry I., the Fowler, Emperor of Germany, about to make war +against the Hungarians who threaten to invade his realm, comes +to Antwerp to collect his troops, and to remind all the noblemen +of Brabant of their allegiance to him. + +The opera opens with the trumpet call of the heralds, and by +Henry's speech to the assembled noblemen, who enthusiastically +promise him the support of their oft-tried arms. The king, who +is pleased with their readiness to serve him, then informs them +that he has heard rumours of trouble in their midst, and that +by right of his office as high justice of the realm he would +fain bring peace among them. He therefore summons Frederick of +Telramund, the guardian of the dukedom of Brabant, to state the +cause of dissension. This nobleman relates how the dying Duke +of Brabant confided his children, Elsa and Godfrey, to his care, +how tenderly he watched over them, and how much sorrow he felt +when the young heir, having gone out in the forest to walk with +his sister one day, failed to return. Frederick of Telramund +then goes on, and tells how he could not but suspect Elsa of her +brother's murder. He had therefore renounced her hand, which he +had once hoped to win, had married Ortrud, daughter of Radbod, +the heathen king and former possessor of all this tract of land, +which he now claims as his own by right of inheritance. + +The people at first refuse to believe his dark accusation against +Elsa; but when Frederick declares she murdered her brother +so as to become sole mistress of the duchy, and to bestow it +upon some unworthy lover, the king sends for the maiden, and, +hanging his shield upon an oak, declares he will not depart +until he has tried this cause:-- + + 'HERALD. + + Now shall the cause be tried as ancient use requires. + + KING. + + Never again my shield to wear + Till judgment is pronounced, I swear.' + +The people receive this decree with joy, and the men, drawing +their swords, thrust them into the ground as they form a +circle around the king. These preparations for a solemn court +of justice are scarcely ended when Elsa appears, all in white, +and attended by her ladies, who stand in the background while +she timidly advances and stands before the king. Her youth, +beauty, and apparent innocence produce a great effect, not only +upon the bystanders, but also upon the king, who gently begins +to question her. + +But, instead of answering him, the fair maiden merely bows +and wrings her hands, exclaiming, 'My hapless brother!' until +the king implores her to confide in him. Suddenly her tongue +is loosened, and she begins to sing, as if in a trance, of a +vision with which she has been favoured, wherein a handsome +knight had been sent by Heaven to become her champion:-- + + 'I saw in splendour shining + A knight of glorious mien, + On me his eye inclining + With tranquil gaze serene; + A horn of gold beside him, + He leant upon his sword. + Thus when I erst espied him + 'Mid clouds of light he soared; + His words so low and tender + Brought life renewed to me. + My guardian, my defender, + Thou shalt my guardian be.' + +These words and the maiden's rapt and innocent look are so +impressive, that the king and people utterly refuse to believe +the maiden guilty of crime, until Frederick of Telramund boldly +offers to prove the truth of his assertion by fighting against +any champion whom she may choose. Elsa accepts this proposal +gladly, for she hopes her heaven-sent champion may appear. +The lists are immediately prepared, while the herald calls +aloud:-- + + 'He who in right of Heaven comes here to fight + For Elsa of Brabant, step forth at once.' + +The first call remains unanswered; but, at Elsa's request, the +king commands a second to be made, while she sinks on her +knees and ardently begins praying for her champion's appearance. +Her prayer is scarcely ended when the men along the bank become +aware of the approach of a snowy swan, drawing a little skiff, +in which a handsome young knight in full armour stands erect. + +Amid the general silence of the amazed spectators, Lohengrin, the +Swan Knight, springs ashore, and, turning to his swan, dismisses +it in a beautiful song, one of the gems of this opera:-- + + 'I give thee thanks, my faithful swan. + Turn thee again and breast the tide; + Return unto that land of dawn + Where joyous we did long abide. + Well thy appointed task is done. + Farewell, my trusty swan.' + +Then, while the swan slowly sails down the river and out of +sight, the Swan Knight announces to the king that he has come +as Elsa's champion, and, turning to her, asks whether she will +be his wife if he proves victorious. Elsa gladly promises him +her hand, nor does she even offer to withdraw this promise when +he tells her that she must trust him entirely, and never ask +who he is or whence he comes:-- + + 'Say, dost thou understand me? + Never, as thou dost love me, + Aught shall to question move thee + From whence to thee I came, + Or what my race and name.' + +Elsa faithfully promises to remember all these injunctions, and +bids him do battle for her, whereupon he challenges Telramund, +with whom he begins fighting at a given signal. The Swan Knight +soon defeats his enemy, who is thus convicted of perjury by the +judgment of God, but he magnanimously refuses to take his life. + +Then, turning to Elsa, who thanks him passionately for saving +her, he clasps her in his arms, while Telramund and Ortrud, +his wife, bewail their disgrace, for, according to the law of +the land, they are doomed to poverty and exile. Their sorrow, +however, is quite unheeded by the enthusiastic spectators, who +set Elsa and Lohengrin upon their shields, and then bear them +off in triumph, to the glad accompaniment of martial strains:-- + + 'CHORUS. + + We sing to thee,--we praise thee, + To highest honour raise thee. + Stranger, we here greet thee delighted. + Wrong thou hast righted; + We gladly greet thee here. + Thee, thee we sing alone. Thy name shall live in story. + Oh, never will be one to rival thee in glory!' + +It is night when the curtain rises upon the second act; the +knights are still revelling in the part of the palace they +occupy, while the women's apartments are dark and still. The +street is deserted, and on the steps of the cathedral sit +Frederick and Ortrud, who have been despoiled of their rich +garments, and are now clad like beggars. + +Frederick, who feels his disgrace, bitterly reproaches his wife +for having blasted his career, and seeks to induce her to depart +with him ere day breaks; but Ortrud refuses to go. She is not yet +conquered, and passionately bids him rouse himself, and listen to +her plan, if he would recover his honour, retrieve his fortunes, +and avenge himself for his public defeat. She first persuades +him that the Swan Knight won the victory by magic arts only, +which was an unpardonable offence, and then declares that, if +Elsa could only be prevailed upon to disobey her champion's +injunctions and ask his name, the spell which protects him +would soon be broken, and he would soon become their prey. + +Telramund, overjoyed at the prospect of wiping out his disgrace, +acquiesces eagerly, and as Elsa just then appears at her window +and softly apostrophises the evening breeze, Ortrud creeps out +of the shadow and timidly addresses her, simulating a distress +she is far from feeling. + +Moved by compassion at the sight of the haughty woman thus laid +low, and touched by the pretended repentance she shows, Elsa, +whom happiness has made even more tender than usual, eagerly +hastens down with two of her attendants, and, opening the door, +bids her come in, promising to intercede in her behalf on the +morrow. During the subsequent brief conversation Ortrud artfully +manages to make Elsa vaguely uneasy, and to sow in her innocent +mind the first seeds of suspicion. + +Frederick of Telramund, in the mean while, has watched his wife +disappear with Elsa, and, hiding in a niche of the old church, +he sees the gradual approach of day, and hears the herald +proclaiming through the streets the Emperor's ban upon him:-- + + 'Our king's august decree through all the lands + I here make known,--mark well what he commands: + Beneath a ban he lays Count Telramund + For tempting Heaven with traitorous intent. + Whoe'er shall harbour or companion him + By right shall share his doom with life and limb.' + +The unhappy man also hears the herald announce Elsa's coming +marriage with the heaven-sent Swan Knight, and grimly tells the +bystanders he will soon unmask the traitor. A few minutes later, +when he has returned to his hiding place, he sees Elsa appear in +bridal array, followed by her women, and by Ortrud, who is very +richly clad. But at the church door Ortrud insolently presses +in front of Elsa, claiming the right of precedence as her due, +and taunting her for marrying a man who has won her by magic +arts only, and whose name and origin she does not even know. + +This altercation is interrupted by the appearance of the king +and his attendants, among whom is the Swan Knight. He hastens +to Elsa's side, while the monarch imperiously demands the cause +of strife. Lohengrin tenderly questions Elsa, who tells him +all. As Ortrud's venomous insinuations have had no apparent +effect upon her, he is about to lead her into the church, +when Telramund suddenly steps forward, loudly declaring that +the Swan Knight overcame him by sorcery, and imploring Elsa +not to believe a word he says. + +These accusations are, however, dismissed by the king and his +men, since Elsa passionately refuses to credit them, and the +wedding procession sweeps into the church, followed by the +vindictive glances of Telramund and Ortrud,--glances which the +trembling Elsa alone seems to perceive. + +The third act takes place on that selfsame evening. The +festivities are nearly ended, and through opposite doors +the wedding procession enters the nuptial chamber to the +accompaniment of the well known Bridal Chorus. The attendants +soon depart, however, leaving Elsa and Lohengrin to join in a +duet of happy married love. Now that they are alone together +for the first time, Elsa softly begins chiding her lover for not +showing more confidence in her, and revealing who he is. In spite +of his tender attempts to turn aside the conversation into a +less dangerous channel, she gradually becomes more importunate:-- + + 'Oh, make me glad with thy reliance, + Humble me not that bend so low. + Ne'er shalt thou rue thy dear affiance: + Him that I love, oh let me know!' + +Seeing her husband does not yield to her tender pleading, Elsa +then redoubles her caresses. Her faint suspicions have taken +such firm root, and grow with such rapidity, that she is soon +almost wild with suspense. All his attempts to soothe her only +seem to excite her more, and suddenly, fancying that she hears +the swan boat coming to bear him away from her, she determines to +break the magic spell at any cost, as Ortrud cunningly advised +her, and demands his name. Just as Lohengrin is gazing upon her +in heart-rending but mute reproach, Telramund bursts into the +room, with a band of hired assassins, to take his life. A quick +motion from Elsa, whose trust returns when she sees her beloved +in danger, permits Lohengrin to parry the first blow with his +sword, and Frederick of Telramund soon lies dead upon the floor, +while his accomplices cringe at Lohengrin's feet imploring his +pardon. Day is dawning, and Lohengrin, after caring tenderly +for the half-fainting Elsa, bids the would-be assassins bear +the corpse into the presence of the king, where he promises to +meet Elsa and satisfy all her demands:-- + + 'Bear hence the corpse into the king's judgment hall. + Into the royal presence lead her. + Arrayed as fits so fair a bride; + There all she asks I will concede her, + Nor from her knowledge aught will hide.' + +At the last scene the king is again near the river, on his +judgment throne, whence he watches the mustering of the +troops which are to accompany him to the war, and makes a +patriotic speech, to which they gladly respond. Suddenly, +however, the four men appear with the corpse of Frederick of +Telramund, which they lay at the king's feet, declaring they +are obeying the orders of the new lord of Brabant, who will +soon come to explain all. Before the king can question further, +Elsa appears, pale and drooping, in spite of her bridal array, +and just as the king is rallying her at wearing so mournful an +expression when her bridegroom is only leaving her for a short +time to lead his troops to the fray, the Swan Knight appears, +and is enthusiastically welcomed by his men. Sadly he informs +them he can no longer lead them on to victory, and declares +that he slew Frederick of Telramund in self-defence, a crime +for which he is unanimously acquitted. + +Then he sadly goes on to relate that Elsa has already broken +her promise, and asked the fatal question concerning his name +and origin. Proudly he tells them that he has no cause to be +ashamed of his lineage, as he is Lohengrin, son of Parsifal, +the guardian of the Holy Grail, sent from the temple on Mount +Salvatch to save and defend Elsa. The only magic he had used was +the power with which the Holy Grail endowed all its defenders, +and which never forsook them until they revealed their name:-- + + 'He whom the Grail to be its servant chooses + Is armed henceforth by high invincible might; + All evil craft its power before him loses, + The spirit of the darkness where he dwells takes flight. + Nor will he lose the awful charm it lendeth, + Although he should to distant lands, + When the high cause of virtue he defendeth: + While he's unknown, its spells he still commands.' + +Now, he adds, the sacred spell is broken, he can no longer +remain, but is forced to return immediately to the Holy Grail, +and in confirmation of his word the swan and skiff again appear, +sailing up the river. Tenderly the Swan Knight now bids the +repentant Elsa farewell, gently resisting her passionate attempts +to detain him, and giving her his sword, horn, and ring, which +he bids her bestow upon her brother when he returns to protect +her. This boon is denied him, because she could not keep faith +with him for one short year, at the end of which time he would +have been free to reveal his name, and her missing brother +would have been restored to her by the power of the Holy Grail. + +Placing the fainting Elsa in her women's arms, Lohengrin then +goes down toward the swan boat, amid the loud lamentations of all +the people, One person only is glad to see him depart, Ortrud, +the wife of Telramund, and, thinking he can no longer interfere, +she cruelly taunts Elsa with her lack of faith, and confesses +that her magic arts and heathen spells have turned the heir +of Brabant into the snowy swan which is even now drawing the +tiny skiff. + +These words, which fill the hearts of Elsa and all the spectators +with horror and dismay, are however overheard by Lohengrin, who, +accustomed to rely upon Divine aid in every need, sinks upon his +knees, and is rapt in silent prayer. Suddenly a beam of heavenly +light streams down upon his upturned face, and the white dove +of the Holy Grail is seen hovering over his head. Lohengrin, +perceiving it, springs to his feet, looses the golden chain +which binds the swan to the skiff, and as the snowy bird sinks +out of sight a fair young knight in silver armour rises out of +the stream. Then all perceive that he is in truth, as Lohengrin +proclaims, the missing Godfrey of Brabant, released from bondage +by the power of the Holy Grail. Elsa embraces her brother with +joy, the king and nobles gladly welcome him, and Ortrud sinks +fainting to the ground. Lohengrin, seeing that his beloved has +now a protector, springs into the skiff, whose chain is caught +by the dove, and rapidly drawn out of sight. As it vanishes, +Elsa sinks lifeless to the ground with a last passionate cry of +'My husband!' and all gaze mournfully after him, for they know +they will never see Lohengrin, the Swan Knight, again. + + + + +[Illustration: TRISTAN'S DEATH.] + + +TRISTAN AND YSOLDE. + + +It was in 1854, when still an exile from his native land, that +Wagner, weary of his long work, 'The Ring of the Niblungs,' +of which only the first two parts were completed, conceived +the idea of using the legend of Tristan as basis for a popular +opera. Three years later the poem was finished, but the opera +was played in Munich only in 1865 for the first time. + +The libretto is based on an ancient Celtic myth or legend, +which was very popular during the Middle Ages. It was already +known in the seventh century, but whether it originally came +from Wales or Brittany is a disputed point. It was very widely +known, however, and, thanks to the wandering minstrels, it +was translated into all the Continental idioms, and became +the theme of many poets, even of later times. Since the days +when Godfried of Strasburgh wrote his version of the story it +has been versified by many others, among whom, in our days, +are Matthew Arnold and Swinburne. While the general outline +of these various versions remains the same, the legend has +undergone many transformations, but Wagner has preserved many +of the fundamental ideas of the myth, which is intended to +illustrate the overpowering force of passion. The scene was +originally laid in Ireland, Cornwall, and French Brittany. + +Blanchefleur, sister of King Mark of Cornwall, falls in love +with Rivalin, who dies shortly after their union. Withdrawing to +her husband's castle in Brittany, Blanchefleur gives birth to +a child whom she calls Tristan, as he is the child of sorrow, +and, feeling that she cannot live much longer, she intrusts +him to the care of her faithful steward, Kurvenal. When the +young hero has reached the age of fifteen, his guardian takes +him over to Cornwall, where King Mark not only recognises him +as his nephew, but also designates him as his heir. + +Tristan has been carefully trained, and is so expert in the +use of his arms that he soon excites the envy of the courtiers, +who are watching for an opportunity to do him harm. The King of +Cornwall, having been defeated in battle by the King of Ireland, +is obliged to pay him a yearly tribute, which is collected +by Morold, a huge giant and a relative of the Irish king. +Morold, coming as usual to collect the tribute money, behaves +so insolently that Tristan resolves to free the country from +thraldom by slaying him. A challenge is given and accepted, +and after a terrible combat, such as the mediaeval poets love +to describe with minute care, the giant falls, after wounding +Tristan with his poisoned spear. + +The King of Cornwall, instead of sending the wonted tribute to +Ireland, now forwards Morold's head, which is piously preserved +by Ysolde, the Irish princess, who finds in the wound a fragment +of sword by which she hopes to identify the murderer, and avenge +her kinsman's death. + +Tristan, finding that the skill of all the Cornwall leeches can +give him no relief, decides to go to Ireland and claim the help +of Ysolde the princess, who, like her mother, is skilled in the +art of healing, and knows the antidote for every poison. Fearing, +however, lest she may seek to avenge Morold's death, he goes +alone, disguised as a harper, and presents himself before her +as Tantris, a wandering minstrel. + +His precarious condition touches Ysolde's compassionate heart, +and she soon uses all her medical science to accomplish his +cure, tenderly nursing him back to health. While sitting beside +him one day, she idly draws his sword from the scabbard, and +her sharp eyes perceive that a piece is missing. Comparing +the break in the sword with the fragment in her possession, +she is soon convinced that Morold's murderer is at her mercy, +and she is about to slay her helpless foe when an imploring +glance allays her wrath. + +Tristan, having entirely recovered under her care, takes leave +of the fair Ysolde, who has entirely lost her heart to him, +and returns to Cornwall, where he relates his adventures, and +speaks in such glowing terms of Ysolde's beauty and goodness that +the courtiers finally prevail upon the king to sue for her hand. + +As the courtiers have tried to make the king believe that his +nephew would fain keep him single lest he should have an heir, +Tristan reluctantly accepts the commission to bear the king's +proposals and escort the bride to Cornwall. Ysolde is of course +overjoyed at his return, for she fancies he reciprocates her +love; but when he makes his errand known, she proudly conceals +her grief, and prepares to accompany the embassy to Cornwall, +taking with her her faithful nurse, Brangeane. + +The Queen of Ireland, another Ysolde, well versed in every +magic art, then brews a mighty love potion, which she intrusts +to Brangeane's care, bidding her conceal it in her daughter's +medicine chest, and administer it to the royal bride and groom +on their wedding night, to insure their future happiness by +deep mutual love. + +Wagner's opera opens on shipboard, where Ysolde lies sullen and +motionless under a tent, brooding over her sorrow and nursing +her wrath against Tristan, who has further embittered her by +treating her with the utmost reserve, and never once approaching +her during the whole journey. The call of the pilot floats +over the sea, and Ysolde, roused from her abstraction, asks +Brangeane where they are. When she learns that the vessel is +already within sight of Cornwall, where a new love awaits her, +Ysolde gives vent to her despair, and openly regrets that she +does not possess her mother's power over the elements, as she +would gladly conjure a storm which would engulf the vessel and +set her free from a life she abhors. + +Brangeane, alarmed at this outburst, vainly tries to comfort her, +and as the vessel draws near the land she obeys Ysolde's command +and goes to summon Tristan into her presence. Approaching the +young hero, who is at the helm, the maid delivers her message, +but Tristan refuses to comply, under pretext of best fulfilling +his trust by steering the vessel safe to land:-- + + 'In every station + Where I stand + I serve with life and blood + The pearl of womanhood:-- + If I the rudder + Rashly left, + Who steer'd then safely the ship + To good King Mark's fair land?' + +He further feigns to misunderstand the purport of her message, +by assuring her that the discomforts of the journey will +soon be over. Kurvenal, his companion, incensed by Brangeane's +persistency, then makes a taunting speech to the effect that his +master Tristan, the slayer of Morold, is not the vassal of any +queen, and the nurse returns to the tent to report her failure. +Ysolde, however, has overheard Kurvenal's speech, and when she +learns that Tristan refuses to obey her summons, she comments +bitterly upon his lack of gratitude for all her tender care, +and confides to Brangeane how she spared him when he was ill +and at her mercy. + +Brangeane vainly tries to make her believe that Tristan has shown +his appreciation by wooing her for the king rather than for +himself, and when Ysolde murmurs against a loveless marriage, +she shows her the magic potion intrusted to her care, which +will insure her becoming a loving and beloved wife. + +The sight of the medicine chest in which it is secreted +unfortunately reminds Ysolde that she too knows the secret of +brewing draughts of all kinds, so she prepares a deadly potion, +trying all the while to make Brangeane believe that it is a +perfectly harmless drug, which will merely make her forget the +unhappy past. + +While she is thus occupied, Kurvenal suddenly appears to announce +that they are about to land, and to bid her prepare to meet the +king, who has seen their coming and is wending his way down to +the shore to bid her welcome. Ysolde haughtily replies that she +will not stir a step until Tristan proffers an apology for his +rude behaviour and obeys her summons. After conferring together +for a few moments, Tristan and Kurvenal agree that it will be +wiser to appease the irate beauty by yielding to her wishes, +than to have an _esclandre_, and Tristan prepares to appear +before her. Ysolde, in the mean while, has passionately flung +herself into Brangeane's arms, fondly bidding her farewell, +and telling her to have the magic draught she has prepared all +ready to give to Tristan, with whom she means to drink atonement. + +While Brangeane, who mistrusts her young mistress, is still +pleading with her to forget the past, Tristan respectfully +approaches the princess, and when she haughtily reproves him +for slighting her commands, he informs her, with much dignity, +that he deemed it his duty to keep his distance:-- + + 'Good breeding taught, + Where I was upbrought, + That he who brings + The bride to her lord + Should stay afar from his trust.' + +Ysolde retorts, that, as he is such a rigid observer of +etiquette, it would best behoove him to remember that as yet +he has not even proffered the usual atonement for shedding +the blood of her kin, and that his life is therefore at her +disposal. Tristan, seeing she is bent upon revenge, haughtily +hands her his sword, telling her that, since Morold was so +dear to her, she had better avenge him. Under pretext that King +Mark might resent such treatment of his nephew and ambassador, +Ysolde refuses to take advantage of his defencelessness, and +declares she will consider herself satisfied if he will only +pledge her in the usual cup of atonement, which she motions to +Brangeane to bring. + +The bewildered handmaiden hastily pours a drug into the cup. This +she tremblingly brings to her mistress, who, hearing the vessel +grate on the pebbly shore, tells Tristan his loathsome task +will soon be over, and that he will soon be able to relinquish +her to the care of his uncle. + +Tristan, suspecting that the contents of the cup are poisonous, +nevertheless calmly takes it from her hand and puts it to his +lips. But ere he has drunk half the potion, Ysolde snatches +it from his grasp and greedily drains the rest. Instead of the +ice-cold chill of death which they both expected, Tristan and +Ysolde suddenly feel the electric tingle of love rushing madly +through all their veins, and, forgetting all else, fall into +each other's arms, exchanging passionate vows of undying love. + +Brangeane, the only witness of this scene, views with terror +the effect of her subterfuge, for, fearing lest her mistress +should injure Tristan or herself, she had hastily substituted +the love potion intrusted to her care for the poison Ysolde +had prepared. While the lovers, clasped in each other's arms, +unite in a duet of passionate love, the vessel is made fast +to the shore, where the royal bridegroom is waiting, and it +is only when Brangeane throws the royal mantle over Ysolde's +shoulders, and when Kurvenal bids them step ashore, that the +lovers suddenly realise that their brief dream of love is over. + +The sudden revulsion from great joy to overwhelming despair +proves too much for Ysolde's delicate frame, and she sinks +fainting to the deck, just as King Mark appears and the curtain +falls upon the first act. + +Several days are supposed to have elapsed, when the second act +begins. Ysolde after her fainting fit has been conveyed to the +king's palace, where she is to dwell alone until her marriage +takes place, and where she forgets everything except the passion +which she feels for Tristan, who now shares all her feelings. +In a hurried private interview the lovers have arranged a +code of signals, and it is agreed that as soon as the light +in Ysolde's window is extinguished her lover will join her as +speedily as possible. + +It is a beautiful summer night, and the last echoes of +the hunting horn are dying away on the evening breeze, when +Ysolde turns to Brangeane, and impatiently bids her put out the +light. The terrified nurse refuses to do so, and implores Ysolde +not to summon her lover, declaring that she is sure that Melot, +one of the king's courtiers, noted her pallor and Tristan's +strange embarrassment. In vain she adds that she knows his +suspicions have been aroused, and that he is keeping close watch +over them both to denounce them should they do anything amiss. +Ysolde refuses to believe her. + +The princess is so happy that she makes fun of her attendant's +forebodings, and, after praising the tender passion she feels, +she again bids her put out the light. As Brangeane will not +obey this command, Ysolde, too much in love to wait any longer, +finally extinguishes the light with her own hand, and bids her +nurse go up in the watch-tower and keep a sharp lookout. + +Ysolde then hastens to the open door, and gazes anxiously out +into the twilighted forest, frantically waving her veil to +hasten the coming of her lover, and runs to meet and embrace +him when at last he appears. + +Blissful in each other's company, Tristan and Ysolde now forget +all else, while they exchange passionate vows and declarations +of love, bewailing the length of the days which keep them apart, +and the shortness of the nights during which they can see each +other. In a passionate duet of mutual love and admiration, +they also rejoice that, instead of dying together, as Ysolde +had planned, they are still able to live and love. + +Brangeane, posted in the watch-tower above, repeatedly warns them +that they had better part, but her wise advice proves useless, +and it is only when she utters a loud cry of alarm that Tristan +and Ysolde start apart. Simultaneously almost with Brangeane's +cry, Kurvenal rushes upon the scene with drawn sword, imploring +his master to fly; but ere this advice can be followed King +Mark and the traitor Melot appear, closely followed by all +the royal hunting party. Ysolde, overcome with shame at being +thus detected with her lover, sinks fainting to the ground, +while Tristan, wishing to shield her as much as possible from +the scornful glances of these men, stands in front of her with +his mantle outspread. He, too, is overwhelmed with shame, +and silently bows his head when his uncle bitterly reproves him +for betraying him, and robbing him of the bride he had already +learned to love. Even the sentence of banishment pronounced upon +him seems none too severe, and Tristan, almost broken-hearted +at the sight of his uncle's grief, sadly turns to ask Ysolde +whether she will share his lot. Shame and discovery have in no +wise diminished her affection for him, and when she promises to +follow him even to the end of the earth he cannot restrain his +joy, and notwithstanding the king's presence he passionately +clasps her in his arms: + + 'Wherever Tristan's home may be, + That will Ysolde share with thee: + That she may follow + And to thee hold, + The way now shown to Ysold'!' + +Melot, enraged at this sight, rushes upon Tristan with drawn +sword, and wounds him so sorely that he falls back unconscious +in Kurvenal's arms, while Ysolde, clinging to him, faints away +as the curtain falls on the second act. + +The third act is played in Tristan's ancestral home in Brittany, +whither he has been conveyed by Kurvenal, who vainly tries to +nurse his wounded master back to health and strength. The sick +man is lying under a great linden tree, in death-like lethargy, +while Kurvenal anxiously watches for the vessel which he trusts +will bring Ysolde from Cornwall. She alone can cure his master's +grievous wound, and her presence only can woo him back from +the grave into which he seems rapidly sinking. + +From time to time Kurvenal interrupts his sad watch beside the +pallid sleeper to call to a shepherd piping on the hillside, and +to inquire of him whether he descries any signs of the coming +sail. Slowly and feebly Tristan at last opens his eyes, gazes +dreamily at his attendant and surroundings, and wonderingly +inquires how he came thither. Kurvenal gently tells him that +he bore him away from Cornwall while wounded and unconscious, +and brought him home to recover his health amid the peaceful +scenes of his happy youth; but Tristan sadly declares that life +has lost all its charms since he has parted from Ysolde. In a +sudden return of delirium the wounded hero then fancies he is +again in the forest, watching for the light to go out, until +Kurvenal tells him that Ysolde will soon be here, as he has +sent a ship to Cornwall to bring her safely over the seas. + +These tidings fill Tristan's heart with such rapture that +he embraces Kurvenal, thanking him brokenly for his lifelong +devotion, and bidding him climb up into the watch-tower that he +may catch the first glimpse of the coming sail. While Kurvenal +is hesitating whether he shall obey this order and leave his +helpless patient alone, the shepherd joyfully announces the +appearance of the ship. Kurvenal, ascending the tower, reports +to his master how it rounds the point, steers past the dangerous +rocks, touches the shore, and permits Ysolde to land. + +Tristan has feverishly listened to all these reports, and bids +Kurvenal hasten down to bring Ysolde to him; then, left alone, +he bursts forth into rapturous praise of the happy day which +brings his beloved to him once more, and of the deep love which +has called him back from the gates of the tomb. His impatience +to see Ysolde soon gets the better of his weakness, however, +and he struggles to rise from his couch, although the exertion +causes his wounds to bleed afresh. Painfully he staggers half +across the stage to meet Ysolde, who appears only in time to +hear his last passionate utterance of her beloved name, and to +catch his dying form in her arms. She does not realise that he +has breathed his last, however, and gently tries to woo him back +to life, and make him open his eyes. But when all her efforts +have failed, and she finds his heart no longer beats beneath her +hand, she reproaches him tenderly for leaving her thus alone, +and sinks unconscious upon his breast. Kurvenal, standing beside +the lovers, speechless with grief, is roused to sudden action +by the shepherd's hurried announcement that a second ship has +arrived, and that King Mark, Melot, and all his train, are about +to appear. Frenzied with grief, and thinking that they have come +once more to injure his master, Kurvenal seizes his sword, and, +springing to the gate, fights desperately until he has slain +Melot, and falls mortally wounded at Tristan's feet. + +While the fight is taking place, King Mark and Brangeane, +standing without the castle wall, vainly call to him to stay +his hand, as they have come with friendly intentions only, +and now that he can resist them no longer they all come +rushing in. They are horror-struck at the sight of Tristan +and Ysolde, both apparently dead; but Brangeane, having +discovered that her mistress has only swooned, soon restores +her to consciousness. King Mark hastens to assure Ysolde +that she and Tristan are both forgiven; for Brangeane having +penitently revealed to him the secret of the love potion which +she administered, he realises that they could not but yield to +its might. Ysolde, however, pays no heed to his words, but, +gazing fixedly at Tristan, she mournfully extols his charms +and love, until her heart breaks with grief, and she too sinks +lifeless to the ground. No restoratives can now avail to recall +the life which has flown forever, and King Mark blesses the +corpses of the lovers, and of the faithful servant who has +expired at their feet, as the curtain falls. + + + + +[Illustration: WALTHER CROWNED BY EVA.] + + +THE MASTER SINGERS OF NUREMBERG. + + +When Richard Wagner was only sixteen years of age he read with +great enthusiasm one of Hoffmann's novels entitled 'Saengerkrieg,' +giving a romantic account of the ancient musical contests at +the Wartburg in Bavaria. The impression made upon him by this +account was first utilised in his opera of 'Tannhaeuser,' when +his attention was attracted also to the picturesque possibilities +of the guilds formed by the burghers. + +It was not until 1845, however, that he made definite use +of this material, and began the sketch for his only comic +opera. The first outline was drawn during a sojourn in the +Bohemian mountains, when he felt in an unusually light and +festive mood. But the work was soon set aside, and was not +resumed until 1862, when it was finished in Paris. The score +was then begun, and written almost entirely at Biberich on the +Rhine, and Wagner himself conducted the overture for the first +time at a concert in Leipzig. + +This fragment was very well received and there was an +'enthusiastic demand for a repetition, in which the members +of the orchestra took part as much as the audience.' The opera +itself, however, was first performed under Von Buelow, in 1868, at +Munich. The best singers of the day took the principal parts, and +the result of their united efforts was 'a perfect performance; +the best that had hitherto been given of any work of the master.' + +The opera, at first intended as a comical pendant to +'Tannhaeuser,' is, as we have already stated, Wagner's first +and only attempt to write in the comic vein, and the text +is full of witty and cutting allusions to the thick-headed +critics (at whose hands Wagner had suffered so sorely), who +sweepingly condemn everything that does not conform to their +fixed standard. During all the Middle Ages, and more especially +in the middle of the thirteenth century, the quaint old city of +Nuremberg was the seat of one of the most noted musical guilds, +or German training schools for poets and musicians. The members +of this fraternity were all burghers, instead of knights like +the Minnesingers, and held different ranks according to their +degree of proficiency. They were therefore called singers when +they had mastered a certain number of tunes; poets when they +could compose verses to a given air; and Master Singers when +they could write both words and music on an appointed theme. +The musical by-laws of this guild were called 'Tabulatur,' +and every candidate was forced to pass an examination, seven +mistakes being the maximum allowed by the chief examiner, +who bore the title of Marker. + +The opera opens in the interior of St. Catharine's church in +Nuremberg, where a closing hymn in honour of St. John is being +sung. Eva Pogner and her maid, Magdalena, have been present +at the service, and are still standing in their pew. But, +in spite of her handmaiden's energetic signs and nudges, the +young lady pays but little heed to the closing hymn, and turns +all her attention upon a handsome young knight, Walther von +Stolzenfels, who, as the last note dies away, presses eagerly +forward and enters into conversation with her. + +To secure a few moments' private interview Eva sends her maid +back to the pew, first for her forgotten kerchief, next for a +pin which she has lost, and lastly for her prayer-book. During +these temporary absences the deeply enamoured youth implores Eva +to tell him whether she is still free, and whether her heart +and hand are still at her own disposal. Before the agitated +girl can answer, the servant comes up, and, overhearing the +question, declares that her mistress's hand has already been +promised,--a statement which Eva modifies by adding that her +future bridegroom is yet to be chosen. As these contradictory +answers greatly puzzle Walther, she hurriedly explains that +her father, the wealthiest burgher of the town, wishing to +show his veneration for music, has promised his fortune and her +hand to a Master Singer, the preference being given to the one +who will win the prize on the morrow. The only proviso made is +that the girl may remain free if the bridegroom does not win +her approval, and Eva timidly confesses that she will either +marry Walther or remain single all her life. Magdalena, who +has been carrying on a lively flirtation of her own with David, +the sexton, now suddenly hurries her young mistress off, bidding +the knight apply to David if he would learn any more concerning +the musical test about to take place, and in the same breath +she promises her lover some choice dainties if he will only do +all in his power to enlighten and favour her mistress's suitor. + + 'Let David supply all + The facts of the trial.-- + David, my dear, just heed what I say! + You must induce Sir Walther to stay. + The larder I'll sweep, + The best for you keep; + To-morrow rewards shall fall faster + If this young knight is made Master.' + +Walther, who has just passionately declared to Eva that he +knows he could become both poet and musician for her sweet +sake, since her father has vowed never to allow her to marry +any but a Master, now listens attentively to David's exposition +of the school's rules and regulations. In the mean while the +apprentices come filing in, prepare the benches and chairs, +arrange the Marker's curtained box, and gayly chaff each other +as they join in an impromptu dance. + +They only subside when Pogner, Eva's father, enters with +Beckmesser, an old widower, the Marker of the guild, who flatters +himself he can easily win the prize on the morrow, and would +fain make Pogner promise that the victor should receive the +maiden's hand without her consent being asked. He fears lest +the capricious fair one may yet refuse to marry him, and decides +to make sure of her by singing a serenade under her window that +very night. But when he sees the handsome young candidate step +forward and receive the support of Pogner, (who has already made +his acquaintance, and who evidently is inclined to favour him,) +the widower looks very glum indeed, and vindictively resolves +to prevent his entrance into the guild by fair means or by foul. + +Hans Sachs, the poet shoemaker of Nuremberg, and all the other +members of the guild, having now appeared, Beckmesser calls +the roll, and Pogner repeats his offer to give his fortune +and daughter to the winner of the prize on the morrow, and +charges the guild to select their candidates for the contest. Of +course the very first thing to be done is to examine the new +candidate. Walther, when questioned concerning his teachers +and method, boldly declares he has learned his art from nature +alone, chooses love as his theme for a trial song, and bursts +forth into an impassioned and beautiful strain. But as his +words and music are strictly original, and therefore cannot +be judged by the usual canons, Beckmesser savagely marks down +mistake after mistake, and brusquely interrupts the song to +declare the singer is 'outsung and outdone.' In proof of this +assertion he exhibits his slate, which is covered with bad +marks. Hans Sachs, the only member present who has understood +the beauty of this original lay, vainly tries to interfere in +Walther's behalf, but his efforts only call forth a rude attack +on Beckmesser's part, who advises him to reserve his opinions, +stick to his last, and finish the pair of shoes which he has +promised him for the morrow. Walther is finally allowed to +finish his song, but the prejudiced and intolerant citizens of +Nuremberg utterly refuse to receive him in their guild, and he +rushes out of the hall in despair, for he has lost his best +chance to win the hand of his lady love by competing for the +prize on the morrow. His departure is a signal for a tumultuous +breaking up of the meeting, the apprentices dancing as before, +as soon as their masters have departed. + +The second act represents one of the tortuous alleys and a +long straight street of the quaint old city of Nuremberg. On +one side is Hans Sachs's modest shoemaker's shop, on the other +the entrance to Pogner's stately dwelling. It is evening, and +David, the shoemaker's apprentice, is leisurely putting up the +shutters, when his attention is suddenly attracted by Magdalena, +who appears with a basket of dainties. She however refuses to +give them to him until he tells her the result of the musical +examination. When she hears that Walther has failed and has +been refused admittance to the guild, she pettishly snatches the +basket from his grasp and flounces off in great displeasure. The +other apprentices, who in the mean while have slyly drawn near, +now make unmerciful fun of David, who stands stupidly in the +middle of the street gazing regretfully after her. + +This rough play is soon ended by the appearance of Hans +Sachs. He orders all the apprentices to bed, and, by a judicious +application of his strap, drives David into the house. Quiet has +just been restored once more, when Pogner and Eva come sauntering +down the street, returning from their customary evening walk, +and sit down side by side on the bench in front of their door. + +Here Pogner tries to sound his daughter's feelings, and to +discover whether she has any preference among the morrow's +candidates, reiterating his decision, however, that he will +never allow her to marry any one except a man who has publicly +won the title of Master Singer. As he cannot ascertain his +daughter's feelings, he soon enters the house, while Eva lingers +outside watching for Walther's promised visit. She is soon +joined by Magdalena, who sorrowfully tells her that Walther +has been rejected; but, as she can give no details about the +examination, Eva timidly approaches Hans Sachs's window hoping +to learn more from him. The cobbler is sitting at work near his +window, singing a song of his own composition, and the maiden +soon enters into a bantering conversation with her old friend. + +In answer to Hans Sachs's questions, she soon confides to him +that she cannot endure Beckmesser, and to flatter him into a +good humour she archly suggests that, as he too is a widower, +he ought to compete for her hand. Hans Sachs, who is far too +shrewd not to see through her girlish fencing, now resolves +to discover whether she is as indifferent to the young knight, +and in order to do so he drops a few careless and contemptuous +remarks about him, which drive the young lady away in a very +bad temper. + +Smiling maliciously at the success of his ruse, the cobbler +cheerfully continues his work, while Eva rejoins Magdalena, +who informs her that Beckmesser has signified his intention +to serenade her that very night. Eva cares naught for the +widower's music, and, only intent upon securing a private +interview with the handsome young knight, refuses to re-enter +the house; so Magdalena leaves her to answer Pogner's call. + +A few moments later Walther himself comes slowly down the street; +but, in spite of Eva's rapturous welcome, he remains plunged in +melancholy, for he has forfeited all hope of winning her on the +morrow. The sound of the watchman's horn drives the young people +apart, and while Eva vanishes into the house, Walther hides under +the shadow of the great linden tree in front of Sachs's house. + +His presence has been detected by the shoemaker, who makes no +sign, and when the night watchman has gone by, singing the hour +and admonishing all good people to go to bed, he perceives +a female form glide softly out of the house and join the +knight. This female is Eva, who has exchanged garments with +Magdalena, and has prevailed upon her to pose at her window +during the serenade, while she tries to comfort her beloved. + +Crouching in the shade, the lovers now plan to elope that very +night, but Hans Sachs overhears their conversation, and when +they are about to leave their hiding-place and depart, he flings +open his shutter so that a broad beam of light streams across +the old street. It makes such a brilliant illumination that +it is impossible for any one to pass unseen. This ruse, which +proves such a hindrance to the lovers, is equally distasteful +to Beckmesser, who has come down the street and has taken his +stand near them to tune his lute and begin his serenade. Before +he can utter the first note, Hans Sachs, having become aware of +his presence also, and maliciously anxious to defeat his plans, +lustily entones a noisy ditty about Adam and Eve, hammering +his shoes to beat time. + +Beckmesser, who has seen Eva's window open, and longs to make +himself heard, steps up to the shoemaker's window. In answer +to his testy questions why he is at his bench at such an hour, +Hans Sachs good-humouredly replies that he must work late to +finish the shoes about which he has been twitted in public. +At his wit's end to silence the shoemaker and sing his serenade, +Beckmesser artfully pretends that he would like to have Sachs's +opinion of the song he intends to sing on the morrow, and +proposes to let him hear it then. After a little demur the +shoemaker consents, upon condition that he may give a tap with +his hammer every time he hears a mistake, and thus carry on the +double office of marker and of cobbler. + +Beckmesser is, however, so angry and agitated that his song is +utterly spoiled, and he makes so many mistakes that the cobbler's +hammer keeps up an incessant clatter. These irritating sounds +make the singer more nervous still, and he sings so loudly and +so badly that he rouses the whole neighbourhood, and heads pop +out of every window to bid him be still. + +David also ventures to peer forth, and, seeing that the serenade +is directed to Magdalena, whom he recognises at the window above, +his jealous anger knows no bounds. He springs out of the window, +and begins belabouring his unlucky rival with a stout cudgel. The +Nuremberg apprentices, who are divided up into numerous rival +guilds, and who are always quarrelling, seize this occasion to +bandy words, which soon result in bringing them all out into +the street, where a free fight takes place between the rival +factions of journeymen and apprentices. + +Magdalena, seeing her beloved David in peril screams aloud, +until Pogner, deceived by her apparel, pulls her into the room +and closes the window, declaring he must go and see that all +is safe. Sachs, who has closed his shutter at the first sounds +of the fight, steals out into the street, approaches the young +lovers, and, pretending to take Eva for Magdalena, he thrusts +her quickly into Pogner's house, and drags Walther into his +own dwelling just as the sound of the approaching night watch +is heard. As if by magic the brawlers suddenly disappear, +the windows close, the lights are extinguished, and as the +watchman turns the corner the street has resumed its wonted +peaceful aspect. + +The third act opens on the morrow, in Hans Sachs's shop, where +the cobbler is absorbed in reading and oblivious of the presence +of his apprentice David, who comes sneaking in with a basket +which he has just received from Magdalena. Taking advantage of +his master's absorption, David examines the ribbons, flowers, +cakes, and sausages with which it is stocked, starting guiltily +at his master's every movement, and finally seeking to disarm +the anger he must feel at the evening's brawl by offering him +the gifts he has just received. + +Hans Sachs, however, good-naturedly refuses to receive them, +and after making his apprentice sing the song for the day he +dismisses him to don his festive attire, for he has decided to +take him with him to the festival. Left alone, Sachs soliloquises +on the follies of mankind, until Walther appears. In reply to his +host's polite inquiry how he spent the night, Walther declares +he has been visited by a wonderful dream, which he goes on to +relate. At the very first words the cobbler discovers that it is +part of a beautiful song, conforming to all the Master Singers' +rigid rules, and he hastily jots down the words, bidding the +young knight be careful to retain the tune. + +As they both leave the room to don their festive apparel, +Beckmesser comes limping in. He soon discovers the verses on the +bench, and pockets them, intending to substitute them for his own +in the coming contest. Sachs, coming in, denies all intention of +taking part in the day's programme, and when Beckmesser jealously +asks why he has been inditing a love song if he does not intend +to sue for Eva's hand, he discovers the larceny. He, however, +good-naturedly allows Beckmesser to retain the copy of verses, +and even promises him that he will never claim the authorship +of the song, a promise which Beckmesser intends to make use of +so as to pass it off as his own. + +Triumphant now and sure of victory, Beckmesser departs as +Eva enters in bridal attire. She is of course devoured by +curiosity to know what has become of her lover, but, as excuse +for her presence, she petulantly complains that her shoe pinches. +Kneeling in front of her, Sachs investigates the matter, greatly +puzzled at first by her confused and contradictory statements +and by her senseless replies to his questions. He is turning +his back to the inner door, through which Walther has also +entered the shop, but, soon becoming aware of the cause of +her perturbation, he deftly draws the shoe from her foot, +and going to his last pretends to be very busy over it, while +he is in reality listening intently to discover whether Eva's +presence will inspire Walther with the third and last verse +of his song. His expectations are not disappointed, for the +knight, approaching the maiden softly, declares his love in a +beautiful song. + +As the last notes die away, the cobbler joyfully exclaims that +Walther has composed a Master Song, calls Eva and David (who has +just entered) as witnesses that he composed it, foretells that, +if Walther will only yield to his guidance he will yet enable +him to win the prize, and, patting Eva in a truly paternal +fashion, he bids her be happy, for she will yet be able to +marry the man she loves. David, who has been made journeyman +so that he can bear witness for Walther, greets the happy +Magdalena with the tidings that they no longer need delay, +but can marry immediately. + +After the four happy young people and Hans Sachs have given +vent to their rapture in a beautiful quintette, they adjourn +to the meadow outside of the town, where the musical contest is +to take place. The peasants and apprentices are merrily dancing +on the green, and cease their mirthful gyrations only when the +Master Singers appear. Hans Sachs addresses the crowd, reads +the conditions of the test, proclaims what the prize shall be, +and concludes by inviting Beckmesser to come forth and begin his +song. The young people assembled hail this elderly candidate +with veiled scorn, and Beckmesser, painfully clambering to +the eminence where the candidates are requested to stand, +hesitatingly begins his lay. The words, with which he has had +no time to become familiar, are entirely unadapted to his tune, +so he draws them out, clips them, loses the thread of the verses, +and fails in every sense. + +In his chagrin at having made himself ridiculous, and in +anger because his colleagues declare the words of his song +have no sense, he suddenly turns upon Hans Sachs, and, hoping +to humiliate him publicly, accuses him of having written the +song. Hans Sachs, of course, disowns the authorship, but stoutly +declares the song is a masterpiece, and that he is sure every +one present will agree with him if they hear it properly rendered +to its appropriate tune. As he is a general favourite among his +townsmen, he soon prevails upon them to listen to the author +and composer and decide whether he or Beckmesser is at fault. + +Walther then springs lightly up the turfy throne, and, +inspired by love, he sings with all his heart. The beautiful +words, married to an equally beautiful strain, win for him the +unanimous plaudits of the crowd, who hail him as victor, while +the blushing Eva places the laurel crown upon his head. Pogner, +openly delighted with the favourable turn of affairs, gives him +the badge of the guild, and heartily promises him the hand of +his only daughter. As for Hans Sachs, having publicly proved +that his judgment was not at fault, and that he had been keen +enough to detect genius even when it revealed itself in a new +form, he is heartily cheered by all the Nurembergers, who are +prouder than ever of the cobbler poet who has brought about a +happy marriage:-- + + 'Hail Sachs! Hans Sachs! + Hail Nuremberg's darling Sachs!' + + + + +[Illustration: THE RHINE MAIDENS.] + + +THE NIBELUNG'S RING.--RHEINGOLD. + + +It was in 1848, after the completion of Tannhaeuser, that Wagner +looked about for a subject for a new opera. Then 'for the last +time the conflicting claims of History and Legend presented +themselves.' He had studied the story of Barbarossa, intending +to make use of it, but discarded it in favour of the Nibelungen +Myths, which he decided to dramatise.[1] His first effort was +an alliterative poem entitled 'The Death of Siegfried,' which, +however, was soon set aside, a part of it only being incorporated +in 'The Twilight [or Dusk] of the Gods.' + +Wagner was then dwelling in Dresden, and planning the +organisation of a national theatre; but the political troubles +of 1849, which resulted in his banishment, soon defeated all +these hopes. After a short sojourn in Paris, Wagner took up +his abode in Zurich, where he became a naturalised citizen, and +where he first turned all his attention to the principal work +of his life,--'The Nibelungen Ring.' In connection with this +work Wagner himself wrote: 'When I tried to dramatise the most +important moment of the mythos of the Nibelungen in Siegfried's +Tod, I found it necessary to indicate a vast number of antecedent +facts, so as to put the main incidents in the proper light. But +I could only _narrate_ these subordinate matters, whereas I felt +it imperative that they should be embodied in the action. Thus +I came to write Siegfried. But here again the same difficulty +troubled me. Finally I wrote "Die Walkuere" and "Das Rheingold," +and thus contrived to incorporate all that was needful to make +the action tell its own tale.' The completed poem was privately +printed in 1853, and published 'as a literary product' ten +years later, when the author was in his fiftieth year. + +As for the score, it was begun in 1853, and Wagner says: +'During a sleepless night at an inn at Spezzia, the music of +"Das Rheingold" occurred to me; straightway I turned homeward +and set to work.' Such was the energy with which he laboured +that the complete score of the Rheingold was finished in +1854. Two years later the music to the Walkyrie was all done, +and Siegfried begun. But pecuniary difficulties now forced +the master to undertake more immediately remunerative work, +and, 'tired of heaping one silent score upon another,' he +undertook and finished 'Tristan and Ysolde.' He then thought +he would never be able to finish his grand work, and wrote: +'I can hardly expect to find leisure to complete the music, and +I have dismissed all hope that I may live to see it performed.' + +Fortunately for him, however, Ludwig II. of Bavaria had heard +'Lohengrin' when only sixteen, and, a passionate lover of +music and art, he had become an enthusiastic admirer of the +great composer. One of the very first acts of his reign was, +therefore, to despatch his own private secretary to Wagner with +the message, 'Come here and finish your work.' + +As this message was backed by a small pension which would enable +the musician to keep the wolf from the door, he hopefully went +to Munich. But, in spite of the sovereign's continued favour, +Wagner found so many enemies that the sojourn there became +very unpleasant. It was then that the architect Semper made +the first plans for a theatre, in which the king intended that +'The Nibelungen Ring' should be played, as he had formally +commissioned Wagner to complete the work. + +Driven away from his native land once more by the bitterness of +his enemies, Wagner, who still enjoyed Ludwig's entire favour, +withdrew in 1865 to Triebschen, where the 'Ring' progressed +steadily. It was there, in 1869, that he completed the Siegfried +score, and began that of 'The Twilight of the Gods,' which was +finished only some time later. As the King's plan for building a +national theatre for the representation of 'The Nibelungen Ring' +had to be abandoned, the scheme was taken up by the municipality +of the little town of Bayreuth. Wagner was cordially invited +to take up his residence there, and settled in his new home in +1872, when he was already sixty years of age. + +Thanks to munificent private subscriptions secured in great +part by the Wagner societies in various parts of the world, +the long planned theatre was finally begun. It was finished in +1876, and the entire 'Nibelungen Ring' was performed there in +the month of August, the very best singers of the day taking +all the principal parts, which they rendered to the best of +their abilities. The result was a magnificent performance, +a musical triumph; but as the venture was not a financial +success, the performances were not repeated in the following +summer. Several new ventures, however, were made, and another +Wagner festival has just taken place, of which the real result +is yet unknown, although the attendance was very large, the +audience being composed of people from all parts of the world. +Thus Wagner completed and rendered the series of operas, which +include plays 'for three days and a fore evening,' whence the +series is generally called a 'trilogy,' although it is really +composed of four whole operas. + +Away down in the translucent depths of the Rhine, three beautiful +nymphs, Woglinde, Wellgunde, and Flosshilde, daughters of the +river-god, dart in and out among the jagged rocks. They have +been stationed there to guard the Rhinegold, the priceless +treasure of the deep, whence comes all the warm golden light +which illumines the utmost recesses of their dark and damp abode. + +The nymphs suddenly pause in their merry game, for the wily +dwarf Alberich has emerged from one of the sombre chasms. He +is a Nibelung, a spirit of night and darkness, and slowly +gropes his way to one of the upper ridges, whence he can see +the graceful forms of the nymphs, watch their merry evolutions, +and overhear them repeatedly admonish each other to keep watch +over the gleaming treasure, which their father, the Rhinegod, +has intrusted to their keeping, warning them that just such a +dark and misshapen creature as the dwarf would try to wrest it +from their grasp:-- + + 'Guard the gold! + Father said + That such was the foe.' + +But all Alberich's senses are fascinated by the water-nymphs' +beauty, and he soon falls madly in love with them, and makes +almost superhuman efforts to overtake the mocking fair. Hotly he +pursues them from ridge to ridge, yielding to the blandishments +of one after another, and is beside himself with rage as they +deftly escape from his clasp just as he fancies he has at +last caught them. The fair nymphs, who know they have nothing +to fear from so infatuated a lover, swim hither and thither, +tantalising him by their nearness, and lure him up and down +the rocky river-bed. + +They have just exhausted his patience, and driven him wild with +impotent rage, when the green waters are suddenly illumined +by the phosphorescent glow of the Rhinegold, the treasure +whose presence they hail with a rapturous outburst of song, +and whose secret power they extol:-- + + 'The realm of the world + By him shall be won + Who from the Rhinegold + Hath wrought the ring + Imparting measureless power.'[2] + +The dwarf, attracted by the brilliant light, hears their words +at first without paying any attention to them; but when they +repeat that he who is willing to forego love can fashion a ring +from this gold which will make him master of all the world, +he starts with surprise. Fascinated at last by the glow of +the treasure, and forgetting all thoughts of love in greed, he +suddenly grasps the carelessly guarded gold and plunges with +it down into the depths, leaving the three nymphs to bewail +its loss in utter darkness. + +Little by little the gloom lightens, however, and instead of +the river bed the scene represents the green valley through +which the Rhine is flowing. In the gray dawn one can descry the +high hills on either side, and as the light increases Wotan +and Fricka, the principal deities of Northern mythology, are +seen lying on the flowery slopes. + +As they gently awaken from their peaceful slumbers, the +morning mists entirely disappear, revealing in the background +the fairy-like beauty of a wondrous palace which has just been +completed for their abode. This sight startles Fricka, for she +knows that the assembled gods have promised that Fasolt and +Fafnir, the gigantic builders, should have sun and moon and the +fair Freya as fee. To lose the bright luminaries of the world +were bad enough, but Fricka's dismay is still greater at the +prospect of parting forever with the fair goddess of beauty +and youth. In her sorrow she bitterly regrets that the promise +has been made and rendered inviolable by being inscribed on +her husband's spear, and reproves him for the joy he shows in +viewing the completion of his future abode:-- + + 'In delight thou revel'st + When I am alarmed? + Thou 'rt glad of the fortress, + For Freya I fear. + Bethink thee, thou thoughtless god, + Of the guerdon now to be given! + The castle is finished, + And forfeit the pledge. + Forgettest thou what is engaged?' + +Thus suddenly brought to his senses, Wotan, king of the Northern +gods, protests that he never really intended to part with the +beauty, light, and sweetness of life, and seeks to excuse himself +by urging that Loge, the god of fire and the arch-deceiver, +overpersuaded him by promising to find some way of escape from +the fatal bargain:-- + + 'He whom I hearkened to swore + To find a safety for Freya; + On him my hope have I set.' + +They are still discussing the matter, and eagerly wondering +why Loge does not appear, when Freya comes rushing wildly +upon the stage, with fear-blanched face and trembling limbs, +breathlessly imploring the father of the gods to save her from +the two huge giants in close pursuit. In her terror she also +summons her devoted brothers, Donner and Fro. But, in spite of +the strength of these potent gods of the sunshine and thunder, +the giants boldly advance, boasting aloud of their achievement, +and demanding the fulfilment of the stipulated contract. + +The gods are almost at their wits' end with anxiety, when Loge, +god of fire, appears. They loudly clamour to him to keep his word +and release them from the consequences of their rash bargain. In +reply to this summons, Loge declares he has wandered everywhere +in search of something more precious than youth and love, +and that he has utterly failed to find it. No one, he says, +is ready to relinquish these blessed gifts,--no one except +Alberich, who has bartered love for the gleaming treasure which +he has just stolen from the Rhine nymphs. Loge concludes his +speech by delivering to Wotan an imploring message from the +defrauded maidens, who summon him to avenge their wrongs and +help them to recover the stolen gold. The description of the +gleaming treasure, of the power of the ring which Alberich has +fashioned out of it, and especially of the immense hoard which +he has amassed by the unlimited sway which the ring enables +him to wield over all the underground folk, has so greatly +fascinated the giants, that, after a few moments' consultation, +they step forward, offering to relinquish all claim to the +previously promised reward, providing the hoard is theirs ere +nightfall. This said, they bear the shrieking and reluctant +Freya away as a hostage, and vanish in the distance. + +As they depart, the light suddenly grows wan and dim. The goddess +who has just departed is the dispenser of the golden apples +of perennial youth according to Wagner, and, as she vanishes, +the gods, deprived of the substance which keeps them ever young, +suddenly lose all their vigour and bloom, and grow visibly old +and gray, to their openly expressed dismay:-- + + 'Without the apples, + Old and hoar-- + Hoarse and helpless-- + Worth not a dread to the world, + The dying gods must grow.' + +This sudden change, especially in his beloved wife Fricka, +determines Wotan to secure the gold at any price, and he bids +Loge lead the way to Alberich's realm, following him bravely +down through a deep cleft in the rock, whence rises a dense mist, +which soon blots the whole scene from view. + +In the mean while, the dwarf Alberich has conveyed the gleaming +Rhinegold to his underground dwelling, where, mindful of the +nymphs' words, he has forced his brother and slave, the smith +Mime, to fashion a ring. No sooner has Alberich put on this +trinket than he finds himself endowed with unlimited power, which +he uses to oppress all his race, and to pile up a mighty hoard, +for the greed of gold has now filled all his thoughts. Fearful +lest any one should wrest the precious ring from him, he next +directs Mime to make a helmet of gold, the magic tarn-helm, +which will render the wearer invisible. Mime is at work at his +underground forge, and has just finished the helmet which he +intends to appropriate to his own use to escape thraldom, when +Alberich suddenly appears, snatches it from his trembling hand, +and, placing it upon his head, becomes invisible to all. The +malicious dwarf misuses this power to torture Mime with his whip, +and rushes off to lash the dwarfs in the rear of the cave as +Wotan and Loge suddenly appear. Of course their first impulse +is to inquire the cause of Mime's writhing and bitter cries, and +from him they hear how Alberich has become lord of the Nibelungs +by the might of his ring and magic helmet. In corroboration +of this statement, the gods soon behold a long train of dwarfs +toiling across the cave, bending beneath their burdens of gold +and precious stones, and driven incessantly onward by Alberich's +whip, which he plies with merciless vigour. He is visible now, +for he has hung the magic helmet to his belt; but he no sooner +becomes aware of the gods' presence than he strides up to them, +and haughtily demands their name and business. Disarmed a little +by Wotan's answer, that they have heard of his new might and have +come to ascertain whether the accounts were true, Alberich boasts +of his power to compel all to bow before his will, and says he +can even change his form, thanks to his magic helmet. At Loge's +urgent request, the dwarf then gives them an exhibition of his +power by changing himself first into a huge loathsome dragon, +and next into a repulsive toad. While in this shape he is made +captive by the gods, deprived of his tarn-helm, and compelled +to surrender his hoard as the price of his liberty. Before +departing, Wotan even wrests from his grasp the golden ring, +to which he desperately clings, for he knows that as long as +it remains in his possession he will have the power to collect +more gold. In his rage at being deprived of it, Alberich hurls +his curse after the gods, declaring the ring will ever bring +death and destruction to the possessor:-- + + 'As by curse I found it first, + A curse rest on the ring! + Gave its gold + To me measureless might, + Now deal its wonder + Death where it is worn!' + +This curse uttered, he disappears, and while mist invades the +place the scene changes, and Loge and Wotan stand once more +on the grassy slopes, where Fricka, Donner, and Fro hasten to +welcome them, and to inquire concerning the success of their +enterprise. Almost at the same moment, the giants Fasolt and +Fafnir also appear, leading Freya, whom Fricka would fain +embrace, but who is withheld from her longing arms. The grim +giants vow that no one shall even touch their fair captive until +they have received a pile of gold as high as their staffs, +which they drive into the ground, and wide enough to screen +the goddess entirely. Thus admonished, Loge and Fro pile up the +gleaming treasure, which is surmounted by the glittering helmet, +whose power the giants do not know. Freya is entirely hidden, +and only a chink remains through which the giants can catch a +glimpse of her golden hair. They insist upon having this chink +closed up ere they will relinquish Freya, so Wotan is forced to +give up the magic ring. But he draws it from his finger only +when Erda, the shadowy earth goddess, half rises out of the +ground to command the sacrifice of the treasure which Alberich +stole from the Rhine maidens. + +As the stipulated ransom has all been paid, the giants release +Freya. She joyfully embraces her kin, and under her caresses +they recover all their former youth and bloom. In the mean +while the giants produce their bags, but soon begin quarrelling +together about the division of the hoard, and appeal to the +gods to decide their dispute. The gods are all too busy to +pay any heed to this request, all except the malicious Loge, +who slyly advises Fafnir to seize the ring and pay no heed to +the rest. As the ring is accursed, Fafnir remorselessly slays +his brother to obtain it; then, packing up all the treasure in +his great bag, he triumphantly departs. To disperse the shadow +hovering over Wotan's brow ever since he has been obliged to +sacrifice the ring, Thor now beats the rocks with his magic +hammer, and conjures a brief storm. The long roll of thunder +soon dies away, and when the fitful play of the lightning +is ended Thor shows the assembled gods a glittering rainbow +bridge of quivering, changing hues, which stretches from the +valley where they are standing to the beautiful portals of the +wondrous palace Walhalla, the home of the gods! + +Fascinated by this sight, Wotan invites the gods to follow him +over its lightly swung arch, and as they trip over the rainbow +bridge, the lament of the Rhine-maidens mourning their treasure +falls in slow, pitiful cadences upon their ears:-- + + 'Rhinegold! + Purest gold! + O would that thy light + Waved in the waters below! + Unfailing faith + Is found in the deep, + While above, in delight, + Faintness and falsehood abide!' + + +[1] See the author's 'Myths of Northern Lands' and 'Legends of + the Rhine.' + +[2] All the quotations in the 'Ring' have been taken either + from Dippold's or Forman's admirable translations. + + + + +[Illustration: BRUNHILDE DISCOVERING SIEGMUND AND SIEGLINDE.] + + +THE WALKYRIE. + + +Wotan--made secretly uneasy by Erda's dark prediction that + + 'Nothing that is ends not; + A day of gloom + Dawns for the gods;-- + Be ruled and waive from the ring'-- + +relinquishes the ring which he had wrested from Alberich, as +has been seen. His restlessness however daily increases, until +at last he penetrates in disguise into the dark underground +world and woos the fair earth goddess. So successfully does +he plead his cause, that she receives him as her spouse and +bears him eight lovely daughters. She also reveals to him the +secrets of the future, when Walhalla's strong walls shall fall, +and the gods shall perish, because they have resorted to fraud +and lent a willing ear to Loge, prince of evil. + +Notwithstanding this fatal prediction Wotan remains +undismayed. Instead of yielding passively to whatever fate may +befall him, he resolves to prepare for a future conflict, and to +defend Walhalla against every foe. As the gods are few in number, +he soon decides to summon mortals to his abode, and in order +to have men trained to every hardship and accustomed to war, +he flings his spear over the world, and kindles unending strife +between all the nations. His eight daughters, the Walkyries, +are next deputed to ride down to earth every day and bear away +the bravest among the slain. These warriors are entertained +at his table with heavenly mead, and encouraged to keep up +their strength and skill by cutting and hewing each other, +their wounds healing magically as soon as made. + +But, in spite of these preparations, Wotan is not yet +satisfied. He still remembers the all-powerful ring which he has +given to the giants, and which is still in the keeping of Fafnir. +In case this ring again falls into the hands of the revengeful +Alberich, he knows the gods cannot hope to escape from his +wrath. He himself cannot snatch back a gift once given, so he +decides to beget a son, who will unconsciously be his emissary, +and who will, moreover, oppose the offspring which Erda has +predicted that Alberich will raise merely to help him avenge +his wrongs. Disguised as a mortal named Waelse, or Volsung, Wotan +takes up his abode upon earth, and marries a mortal woman, who +bears him twin children, Siegmund and Sieglinde. These children +are still very young when Hunding, a hunter and lover of strife, +comes upon their hut in the woods, and burns it to the ground, +after slaying the elder woman and carrying off the younger as +his captive. + +On their return from the forest, Waelse and Siegmund behold +with dismay the destruction of their dwelling, and vow constant +warfare against their foes. This vow they faithfully keep until +Siegmund grows up and his father suddenly and mysteriously +disappears, leaving behind him nothing but the wolf-skin garment +to which he owes his name. + +Hunding, in the mean while, has carried Sieglinde off to his +dwelling, which is built around the stem of a mighty oak, and +when she attains a marriageable age he compels her to become +his wife, although she very reluctantly submits to his wish. The +opening scene of this opera represents Hunding's hall,--in the +midst of which stands the mighty oak whose branches overshadow +the whole house,--which is dimly illumined by the fire burning +on the hearth. Suddenly the door is flung wide open, and a +stranger rushes in. He is dusty and dishevelled, and examines the +apartment with a wild glance. When he has ascertained that it is +quite empty, he comes in, closes the door behind him, and sinks +exhausted in front of the fire, where he soon falls asleep. A +moment later Sieglinde, Hunding's forced wife, appears. When she +sees a stranger in front of the fire, instead of her expected +lord and master, she starts back in sudden fear. But, reassured +by the motionless attitude of the stranger, she soon draws near, +and, bending over him, discovers that he has fallen asleep:-- + + 'His heart still heaves, + Though his lids be lowered, + Warlike and manful I deem him + Though wearied down he sunk.' + +As she has only a very dim recollection of her past, she fails +to recognise her brother in the sleeper. He soon stirs uneasily, +and, wakening, tries to utter a few words, which his parched +lips almost refuse to articulate, until she compassionately +gives him a drink. + +Gazing at Sieglinde as if fascinated by some celestial vision, +Siegmund, in answer to her questions, informs her that he is an +unhappy wight, whose footsteps misfortune constantly dogs. He +then goes on to inform her that even now he has escaped from +his enemies with nothing but his life, and makes a movement +to leave her for fear lest he should bring ill-luck upon her +too. Sieglinde, however, implores him to remain and await the +return of her husband. Almost as she speaks Hunding enters +the house, and, allowing her to divest him of his weapons, +seems dumbly to inquire the reason of the stranger's presence +at his hearth. + +Sieglinde rapidly explains how she found him faint and weary +before the fire, and Hunding, mindful of the laws of hospitality, +bids the stranger welcome, and invites him to partake of the +food which Sieglinde now sets before them. As Siegmund takes +his place at the rude board, Hunding first becomes aware +of the strange resemblance he bears to his wife, and after +commenting upon it _sotto voce_, he inquires his guest's name and +antecedents. Siegmund then mournfully relates his happy youth, +the tragic loss of his mother and sister, his roaming life +with his father, and the latter's mysterious disappearance. +Only then does Hunding recognize in him the foe whom he has +long been seeking to slay. + +Unconscious of all this, Siegmund goes on to relate how on that +very day he had fought single-handed against countless foes to +defend a helpless maiden, running away only when his weapons had +failed him and the maiden had been slain at his feet. Sieglinde +listens breathless to the story of his sad life and of his brave +defence of helpless virtue, while Hunding suddenly declares that, +were it not that the sacred rights of hospitality restrained him, +he would then and there slay the man who had made so many of his +kinsmen bite the dust. He however contents himself with making +an appointment for a hostile encounter early on the morrow, +promising to supply Siegmund with a good sword, since he has +no weapons of his own:-- + + 'My doors ward thee, + Woelfing, to-day; + Till the dawn shelter they show; + A flawless sword + Will befit thee at sunrise, + By day be ready for fight, + And pay thy debt for the dead.' + +Then Hunding angrily withdraws with his wife, taking his weapons +with him, and muttering dark threats, which fill his guest's +heart with nameless fear. Left alone, Siegmund bitterly mourns +his lack of weapons, for he fears lest he may be treacherously +attacked by his foe, and in his sorrow he reproaches his father, +who had repeatedly told him that he would find a sword ready +to his hand in case of direst need. + + 'A sword,--so promised my father-- + In sorest need I should find-- + Weaponless falling + In the house of the foe, + Here in pledge + To his wrath I am held.' + +While he is brooding thus over his misfortunes, the flames +on the hearth flicker and burn brighter. Suddenly their light +glints upon the hilt of a sword driven deep in the bole of the +mighty oak, and, reassured by the thought that he has a weapon +within reach, Siegmund disposes himself to sleep. + +The night wears on. The fire flickers and dies out. The deep +silence is broken only by Siegmund's peaceful breathing, when +the door noiselessly opens, and Sieglinde, all dressed in white, +steals into the room. She glides up to the sleeping guest and +gently rouses him, bidding him escape while her husband is +still sound asleep under the influence of an opiate which she +has secretly administered:-- + + 'It is I; behold what I say! + In heedless sleep is Hunding, + I set him a drink for his dreams, + The night for thy safety thou needest.' + +Leading him to the oak, she then points out the sword, telling +him it was driven into the very heart of the tree by a one-eyed +stranger. He had come into the hall on her wedding day, and had +declared that none but the mortal for whom the gods intended +the weapon would ever be able to pull it out. She then goes +on to describe how many strong men have tried to withdraw it, +and warmly declares it must have been intended for him who had +so generously striven to protect a helpless maiden. Her tender +solicitude fills the poor outcast's famished heart with such +love and joy that he clasps her to his breast, and, the door +swinging noiselessly open to admit a flood of silvery moonbeams, +they join in the marvellous duet known as the 'Spring Song.' + +As they gaze enraptured upon each other, they too perceive the +strong resemblance which has so struck Hunding, but still fail to +recognize each other as near of kin. To save Sieglinde from her +distasteful compulsory marriage, Siegmund now consents to fly, +providing she will accompany him, vowing to protect her till +death with the sword which he easily draws from the oak, and +which he declares he knows his father must have placed there, +as he recognizes him in the description which Sieglinde had +given of the stranger:-- + + 'Siegmund the Volsung, + Seest thou beside thee! + For bridal gift + He brings thee this sword. + He woos with the blade + The blissfullest wife. + From the house of the foe + He hies with thee. + Forth from here + Follow him far, + Hence to the laughing + House of the Spring, + Where Nothung the sword defends thee, + Where Siegmund infolds thee in love!' + +This passionate appeal entirely sweeps away Sieglinde's last +scruples; she yields rapturously to his wooing, and they steal +away softly, hand in hand, to go and seek their happiness +out in the wide world. Hunding, upon awaking on the morrow, +discovers the treachery of his guest and the desertion of his +wife. Almost beside himself with fury, he prepares to overtake +and punish the guilty pair. + +As a fight is now imminent between Siegmund, his mortal son, +and Hunding, Wotan, who is up on a rocky mountain overlooking +the earth, summons Brunhilde the Walkyrie to his side, bidding +her saddle her steed and so direct the battle that Siegmund +may remain victor and Hunding only fall. Chanting her Walkyrie +war-cry, Brunhilde departs, laughingly calling out to Wotan +that he had best be prepared for a call from his wife, who is +hastening toward him as fast as her rams can draw her brazen +chariot. Brunhilde has scarcely passed out of sight when Fricka +comes upon the scene. After upbraiding Wotan for forsaking her +to woo the goddess Erda and a mortal maiden, she says that, +as father of the gods and ruler of the world, he is bound to +uphold religion and morality. She then dwells angrily upon +the immorality of the just consummated union between Siegmund +and Sieglinde, who are brother and sister, and finally forces +her husband, much against his will, to promise he will revoke +his decree, give the victory to the injured husband, Hunding, +and punish Siegmund, the seducer, by immediate death. + +Wotan therefore summons Brunhilde once more, and sadly bids her +to shield Hunding in the coming fight. Brunhilde, who realizes +that the second command has been dictated by Fricka, implores +him to confide his troubles to her. She then hears with dismay +an account of the way in which Wotan has been beguiled into +wrongdoing by Loge, of his attempts to gather an army large +enough to oppose to his foes when the last day should come, +and of his long cherished hope that Siegmund would recover the +fatal ring which he feared would again fall into the revengeful +Alberich's hands. Finally, however, Wotan repeats his order to +her to befriend Hunding, and Brunhilde, awed by his despair, +slowly departs to fulfil his commands. + +The god has just vanished amid the mutterings of thunder, +expressive of his wrath if any one dare to disobey his behests, +when Siegmund and Sieglinde suddenly appear upon the mountain +side. They are fleeing from Hunding, and Sieglinde, who has +discovered when too late that Siegmund is her brother, is so +torn by remorse, love, and fear that she soon sinks fainting +to the ground. Siegmund, alarmed, bends over her, but, having +ascertained that she has only fainted, makes no effort to revive +her, deeming it better that she should remain unconscious during +the encounter which must soon take place, for the horn of the +pursuing Hunding is already heard in the distance. + +Siegmund has just pressed a tender kiss upon Sieglinde's fair +forehead, when Brunhilde, the Walkyrie, suddenly appears before +him, and solemnly warns him of his coming defeat and death. He +proudly tells her of his matchless sword, but she informs him +that his reliance upon it is quite misplaced, for it will be +wrenched from his grasp when his need is greatest. Then she +tries to comfort him by describing the glory which awaits him +in Walhalla, whither she will convey him after death. + +Siegmund eagerly questions her, but, learning that Sieglinde +can never be admitted within its shining portals, passionately +declares he cannot leave her. He next proposes to kill her and +himself, so that they may be together in Hela's dark abode, +for he will accept no joys which she cannot share:-- + + 'Then greet for me Valhall, + Greet for me Wotan; + Hail unto Waelse, + And all the heroes! + Greet, too, the graceful + Warlike mist-maidens: + For now I follow thee not.' + +Brunhilde's heart is so touched by his love for and utter +devotion to Sieglinde, and she is so anxious at the same time +to fulfil Wotan's real wish, in defiance of his orders, that +she finally allows compassion to get the better of her reason, +and impulsively promises Siegmund that she will protect him in +the coming fray. At the same moment Hunding's horn is heard, +and Brunhilde disappears, while the scene darkens with the rapid +approach of a thunderstorm. Such is the darkness that Siegmund, +who has sprung down the path in his eagerness to meet his foe, +misses his way, while Sieglinde slowly rouses from her swoon, +muttering of the days of her happy childhood when she dwelt with +her family in the great wood. Suddenly, the lightning flashes, +and Hunding and Siegmund, meeting upon a ridge, begin fighting, +in spite of Sieglinde's frantic cries. + +As the struggle begins, Brunhilde, true to her promise, hovers +over the combatants, holding her shield over Siegmund and warding +off every dangerous blow, while Sieglinde gazes in speechless +terror upon the combatants. + +But in the very midst of the fray, when Siegmund is about +to pierce Hunding's heart with his glittering sword, Wotan +suddenly appears, and, extending his sacred spear to parry the +blow, he shivers the sword Nothung to pieces. Hunding basely +takes advantage of this accident to slay his defenceless foe, +while Brunhilde, fearing Wotan's wrath and Hunding's cruelty, +catches up the fainting Sieglinde and bears her rapidly away +upon her fleet-footed steed. + +After gazing for a moment in speechless sorrow at his lifeless +favourite, Wotan turns a wrathful glance upon the treacherous +Hunding, who, unable to endure the divine accusation of his +unflinching gaze, falls lifeless to the ground. Then the god +mounts his steed, and rides off on the wings of the storm in +pursuit of the disobedient Walkyrie, whom he is obliged to +punish severely for his oath's sake. + +The next scene represents an elevated plateau, the trysting +spot of the eight Walkyries, on Hindarfiall, or Walkuerenfels, +whither they all come hastening, bearing the bodies of the +slain across their fleet steeds. Brunhilde appears last of all, +carrying Sieglinde. She breathlessly pours out the story of +the day's adventures, and implores her sisters to devise some +means of hiding Sieglinde, and to protect her from Wotan's +dreaded wrath:-- + + 'The raging hunter + Behind me who rides, + He nears, he nears from the North! + Save me, sisters! + Ward this woman.' + +The sound of the tempest has been growing louder and louder +while she is speaking, and as she ends her narrative Sieglinde +recovers consciousness, but only to upbraid her for having +saved her life. She wildly proposes suicide, until Brunhilde +bids her live for the sake of Siegmund's son whom she will bring +into the world, and tells her to treasure the fragments of the +sword Nothung, which she had carried away. Sieglinde, anxious +now to live for her child's sake, hides the broken fragments in +her bosom, and, in obedience to Brunhilde's advice, speeds into +the dense forest where Fafnir has his lair, and where Wotan will +never venture lest the curse of the ring should fall upon him. + + 'Save for thy son + The broken sword! + Where his father fell + On the field I found it. + Who welds it anew + And waves it again, + His name he gains from me now-- + "Siegfried" the hero be hailed.' + +The noise of the storm and rushing wind has become greater +and greater, the Walkyries have anxiously been noting Wotan's +approach. As Sieglinde vanishes in the dim recesses of the +primeval forest, the wrathful god comes striding upon the +stage in search of Brunhilde, who cowers tremblingly behind +her sisters. After a scathing rebuke to the Walkyries, who +would fain shelter a culprit from his all-seeing eye, Wotan +bids Brunhilde step forth. Solemnly he then pronounces her +sentence, declaring she shall serve him as Walkyrie no longer, +but shall be banished to earth, where she will have to live as +a mere mortal, and, marrying, to know naught beyond the joys +and sorrows of other women:-- + + 'Heard you not how + Her fate I have fixed? + Far from your side + Shall the faithless sister be sundered; + Her horse no more + In your midst through the breezes shall haste her; + Her flower of maidenhood + Will falter and fade; + A husband will win + Her womanly heart, + She meekly will bend + To the mastering man + The hearth she'll heed, as she spins, + And to laughers is left for their sport.' + +Brunhilde, hearing this terrible decree, which degrades her +from the rank of a goddess to that of a mere mortal, sinks to +her knees and utters a great cry of despair. This is echoed +by the Walkyries, who, however, depart at Wotan's command, +leaving their unhappy sister alone with him. + +Passionately now Brunhilde pleads with her father, declaring +she had meant to serve him best by disobeying his commands, +and imploring him not to banish her forever from his beloved +presence. But, although Wotan still loves her dearly, he cannot +revoke his decree, and repeats to her that he will leave her +on the mountain, bound in the fetters of sleep, a prey to the +first man who comes to awaken her and claim her as his bride. + +All Brunhilde's tears and passionate pleadings only wring from +him a promise that she will be hedged in by a barrier of living +flames, so that none but the very bravest among men can ever +come near her to claim her as his own. + +Wotan, holding his beloved daughter in a close embrace, then +gently seals her eyes in slumber with tender kisses, lays her +softly down upon the green mound, and draws down the visor of +her helmet. Then, after covering her with her shield to protect +her from all harm, he begins a powerful incantation, summoning +Loge to surround her with an impassable barrier of flames. As +this incantation proceeds, small flickering tongues of fire +start forth on every side; they soon rise higher and higher, +roaring and crackling until, as Wotan disappears, they form a +fiery barrier all around the sleeping Walkyrie:-- + + 'Loge, hear! + Hitherward listen! + As I found thee at first-- + In arrowy flame + As thereafter thou fleddest-- + In fluttering fire; + As I dealt with thee once, + I wield thee to-day! + Arise, billowing blaze, + And fold in thy fire the rock! + Loge! Loge! Aloft! + Who fears the spike + Of my spear to face, + He will pierce not the planted fire.' + + + + +[Illustration: SIEGFRIED AND MIME.] + + +SIEGFRIED. + + +Sieglinde, having dragged herself into the depths of the +great untrodden forest, dwelt there in utter solitude until +the time came for her son Siegfried to come into the world. +Sick and alone, the poor woman went about in search of aid, +and finally came to Mime's cavern, where, after giving birth +to her child and intrusting him to the care of the dwarf, +she gently breathed her last. + +Here, in the grand old forest, young Siegfried grew up to +manhood, knowing nothing of his parentage except the lie which +Mime, the wily dwarf, chose to tell him, that he was his own +son. Strong, fearless, and unruly, the youth soon felt the utmost +contempt for the cringing dwarf, and, instead of bending over +the anvil and swinging the heavy hammer, he preferred to range +the forest, hunting the wild beasts, climbing the tallest trees, +and scaling the steepest rocks. + +As the opera opens, the curtain rises upon a sooty cave, where +the dwarf Mime is alone at work, hammering a sword upon his +anvil and complaining bitterly of the strength and violence of +young Siegfried, who shatters every weapon he makes. In spite of +repeated disappointments, however, Mime the Nibelung works on. +His sole aim is to weld a sword which in the bold youth's hands +will avail to slay his enemy, the giant Fafnir, the owner of the +ring and magic helm, and the possessor of all the mighty hoard. + +While busy in his forge, Mime tells how the giant fled with his +treasure far away from the haunts of men, concealed his gold +in the Neidhole, a grewsome den. There, thanks to the magic +helmet, he has assumed the loathsome shape of a great dragon, +whose fiery breath and lashing tail none dares to encounter. + +As Mime finishes the sword he has been fashioning, Siegfried, +singing his merry hunting song, dashes into the cave, holding +a bear in leash. After some rough play, which nearly drives +the unhappy Mime mad with terror, Siegfried sets the beast +free, grasps the sword, and with one single blow shatters +it to pieces on the anvil, to Mime's great chagrin. Another +weapon has failed to satisfy his needs, and the youth, after +harshly upbraiding the unhappy smith, throws himself sullenly +down in front of the fire. Mime then cringingly approaches him +with servile offers of food and drink, continually vaunting +his love and devotion. These protests of simulated affection +greatly disgust Siegfried, who is well aware of the fact that +they are nothing but the merest pretence. + +In his anger against this constant deceit, he finally resorts +to violence to wring the truth from Mime, who, with many +interruptions and many attempts to resume his old whining tone, +finally reveals to him the secret of his birth and the name of +his mother. He also tells him all he gleaned about his father, +who fell in battle, and, in proof of the veracity of his words, +produces the fragments of Siegmund's sword, which the dying +Sieglinde had left for her son:-- + + 'Lo! what thy mother had left me! + For my pains and worry together + She gave me this poor reward. + See! a broken sword, + Brandished, she said, by thy father, + When foiled in the last of his fights.' + +Siegfried, who has listened to all this tale with breathless +attention, interrupting the dwarf only to silence his recurring +attempts at self-praise, now declares he will fare forth into +the wild world as soon as Mime has welded together the precious +fragments of the sword. In the mean while, finding the dwarf's +hated presence too unbearable, he rushes out and vanishes in +the green forest depths. Left alone once more, Mime wistfully +gazes after him, thinking how he may detain the youth until +the dragon has been slain. At last he slowly begins to hammer +the fragments of the sword, which will not yield to his skill +and resume their former shape. + +While the dwarf Mime is abandoning himself to moody despair, +Wotan has been walking through the forest. He is disguised as +a Wanderer, according to his wont, and suddenly enters Mime's +cave. The dwarf starts up in alarm at the sight of a stranger, +but after asking him who he may be, and learning that he prides +himself upon his wisdom, he bids him begone. Wotan, however, +who has come hither to ascertain whether there is any prospect +of discovering anything new, now proposes a contest of wit, in +which the loser's head shall be at the winner's disposal. Mime +reluctantly assents, and begins by asking a question concerning +the dwarfs and their treasures. This Wotan answers by describing +the Nibelungs' gold, and the power wielded by Alberich as long +as he was owner of the magic ring. + +Mime's second inquiry is relative to the inhabitants of earth, +and Wotan describes the great stature of the giants, who, +however, were no match for the dwarfs, until they obtained +possession not only of the ring, but also of the great hoard +over which Fafnir now broods in the guise of a dragon. + +Then Mime questions him concerning the gods, but only to be told +that Wotan, the most powerful of them all, holds an invincible +spear upon whose shaft are engraved powerful runes. In speaking +thus the disguised god strikes the ground with his spear, +and a long roll of thunder falls upon the terrified Mime's ear. + +The three questions have been asked and successfully answered, +and it is now Mime's turn to submit to an interrogatory, +from which he evidently shrinks, but to which he must yield. +Wotan now proceeds to ask him which race, beloved by Wotan, is +yet visited by his wrath, which sword is the most invincible +of weapons, and who will weld its broken pieces together. +Mime triumphantly answers the first two questions by naming +the Volsung race and Siegmund's blade, Nothung; but as he has +failed to weld the sword anew, and has no idea who will be able +to achieve the feat, he is forced to acknowledge himself beaten +by the third. + +Scorning to take any advantage of so puny a rival, Wotan refuses +to take the forfeited head, and departs, after telling the +Nibelung that the sword can only be restored to its pristine +glory by the hand of a man who knows no fear, and that the +same man will claim it as his lawful prize and dispose of +Mime's head:-- + + 'Hark thou forfeited dwarf; + None but he + Who never feared, + Nothung forges anew. + Henceforth beware! + Thy wily head + Is forfeit to him + Whose heart is free from fear.' + +When Siegfried returns and finds the fire low, the dwarf idle, +and the sword unfinished, he angrily demands an explanation. Mime +then reveals to him that none but a fearless man can ever +accomplish the task. As Siegfried does not even know the meaning +of the word, Mime graphically describes all the various phases +of terror to enlighten him. + +Siegfried listens to his explanations, but when they have come to +an end and he has ascertained that such a feeling has never been +harboured in his breast, he springs up and seizes the pieces of +the broken sword. He files them to dust, melts the metal on the +fire, which he blows into an intense glow, and after moulding +tempers the sword. While hammering lustily Siegfried gaily sings +the Song of the Sword. The blade, when finished, flashes in his +hand like a streak of lightning, and possesses so keen an edge +that he cleaves the huge anvil in two with a single stroke. + +While Siegfried is thus busily employed, Mime, dreading the +man who knows no fear, and to whom he has been told his head +was forfeit, concocts a poisonous draught. This he intends to +administer to the young hero as soon as the frightful dragon +is slain, for he has artfully incited the youth to go forth and +attack the monster, in hope of learning the peculiar sensation +of fear, which he has never yet known. + +In another cave, in the depths of the selfsame dense forest, +is Alberich the dwarf, Mime's brother and former master. He +mounts guard night and day over the Neidhole, where Fafnir, +the giant dragon, gloats over his gold. It is night and the +darkness is so great that the entrance to the Neidhole only dimly +appears. The storm wind rises and sweeps through the woods, +rustling all the forest leaves. It subsides however almost as +soon as it has risen, and Wotan, still disguised as a Wanderer, +appears in the moonlight, to the great alarm of the wily dwarf. +A moment's examination suffices to enable him to recognise his +quondam foe, whom he maliciously taunts with the loss of the +ring, for well he knows the god cannot take back what he has +once given away. + +Wotan, however, seems in no wise inclined to resent this taunting +speech, but warns Alberich of the approach of Mime, accompanied +by a youth who knows no fear, and whose keen blade will slay +the monster. He adds that the youth will appropriate the hoard, +ere he rouses Fafnir to foretell the enemy's coming. Then he +disappears with the usual accompaniment of rushing winds and +rumbling thunder. + +The warning which Alberich would fain disbelieve is verified, +as soon as the morning breaks, by the appearance of Siegfried and +Mime. The latter is acting as guide, and eagerly points out the +mighty dragon's lair. But even then the youth still refuses to +tremble, and when Mime describes Fafnir's fiery breath, coiling +tail, and impenetrable hide, he good-naturedly declares he will +save his most telling blow until the monster's side is exposed, +and he can plunge Nothung deep into his gigantic breast. + +Thus forewarned against the dragon's various modes of attack, +Siegfried advances boldly, while Mime prudently retires to a +place of safety. He is closely watched by Alberich, who crouches +unseen in his cave. Siegfried seats himself on the bank to wait +for the dragon's awakening, and beguiles the time by trying to +imitate the songs of the birds, which he would fain understand +quite clearly. As all his efforts result in failure, Siegfried +soon casts aside the reed with which he had tried to reproduce +their liquid notes, and, winding his horn, boldly summons Fafnir +to come forth and encounter him in single fight. + +This challenge immediately brings forth the frightful dragon. To +Siegfried's surprise he can still talk like a man. After a +few of the usual amenities, the fight begins. Mindful of his +boast, Siegfried skilfully parries every blow, evades the fiery +breath, lashing tail, and dangerous claws, and, biding his time, +thrusts his sword up to the very hilt in the giant's heart. + +With his dying breath, the monster tells the youth of the +curse which accompanies his hoard, and, rolling over, dies +in terrible convulsions. The young hero, seeing the monster +is dead, withdraws his sword from the wound; but as he does +so a drop of the fiery blood falls upon his naked hand. The +intolerable smarting sensation it produces causes him to put +it to his lips to allay the pain. No sooner has he done so +than he suddenly becomes aware that a miracle has happened, +for he can understand the songs of all the forest birds. + +Listening wonderingly, Siegfried soon hears a bird overhead +warning him to possess himself of the tarn-helmet and magic ring, +and proclaiming that the treasure of the Nibelungs is now his +own. He immediately thanks the bird for its advice, and vanishes +into the gaping Neidhole in search of the promised treasures:-- + + 'Hi! Siegfried shall have now + The Nibelungs' hoard, + For here in the hole + It awaits his hand! + Let him not turn from the tarn-helm, + It leads to tasks of delight; + But finds he a ring for his finger, + The world he will rule with his will.' + +Alberich and Mime, who have been trembling with fear as long as +the conflict raged, now timidly venture out of their respective +hiding places. Then only they become aware of each other's +intention to hasten into the cave and appropriate the treasure, +and begin a violent quarrel. It is brought to a speedy close, +however, by the reappearance of Siegfried wearing the glittering +helmet, armour, and magic ring. + +The mere appearance of this martial young figure causes both +dwarfs to slink back to their hiding places, while the birds +resume their song. They warn Siegfried to distrust Mime, +who is even then approaching with the poisonous draught. This +the dwarf urges upon him with such persistency that Siegfried, +disgusted with his fawning hypocrisy, finally draws his sword +and kills him with one blow:-- + + 'Taste of my sword, + Sickening talker! + Meed for hate + Nothung makes; + Work for which he was mended.' + +Then, while Alberich is laughing in malicious glee over +the downfall of his rival, Siegfried flings his body into +the Neidhole, and rolls the dragon's carcass in front of the +opening to protect the gold. He next pauses again to listen +to the bird in the lime tree, which sings of a lovely maiden +surrounded by flames, who can be won as bride only by the man +who knows no fear:-- + + 'Ha! Siegfried has slain + The slanderous dwarf. + O, would that the fairest + Wife he might find! + On lofty heights she sleeps, + A fire embraces her hall; + If he strides through the blaze, + And wakens the bride, + Brunhilde he wins to wife.' + +This new quest sounds so alluring to Siegfried, that he +immediately sets out upon it, following the road which the +Wanderer has previously taken. The latter has gone on to the +very foot of the mountain, upon which the flickering flames +which surrounded Brunhilde are burning brightly. There he +pauses to conjure the goddess Erda to appear and reveal future +events. Slowly and reluctantly the Earth goddess arises from her +prolonged sleep. Her face is pallid as the newly fallen snow, +her head crowned with glittering icicles, and her form enveloped +in a great white winding-sheet. In answer to the god's inquiries +about the future, she bids him question the Norns and Brunhilde. +After a few obscure prophecies he allows her to sink down into +her grave once more, for he now knows that one of the Volsung +race has won the magic ring, and is even now on his way up the +mountain to awaken Brunhilde. + +In corroboration of these words, Siegfried appears a few moments +after the prophetess or Wala has again sunk into rest. Challenged +by Wotan the Wanderer, he declares he is on the way to rouse the +sleeping maiden. In answer to a few questions, he rapidly adds +that he has slain Mime and the dragon, has tasted its blood, +and brandishes aloft the glittering sword which has done him +good service and which he has welded himself. + +Wotan, wishing to test his courage, and at the same time to +fulfil his promise to Brunhilde that none should attempt to pass +the flames except the one who feared not even his magic spear, +now declares that he has slain his father, Siegmund. Siegfried, +the avenger, boldly draws his gleaming sword, which, instead of +shattering as once before against the divine spear, cuts it to +pieces. In the same instant the Wanderer disappears, amid thunder +and lightning. Siegfried, looking about him to find Brunhilde, +becomes aware of the flickering flames of a great fire, which +rise higher and higher as he rushes joyfully into their very +midst, blowing his horn and singing his merry hunting lay. + +The flames, which now invade the whole stage, soon flicker +and die out, and, as the scene becomes visible once more, +Brunhilde is seen fast asleep upon a grassy mound. Siegfried +comes, and, after commenting upon the drowsing steed, draws +nearer still. Then he perceives the sleeping figure in armour, +and bends solicitously over it. Gently he removes the shield +and helmet, cuts open the armour, and starts back in surprise +when he sees a flood of bright golden hair fall rippling all +around the fair form of a sleeping woman:-- + + 'No man it is! + Hallowed rapture + Thrills through my heart; + Fiery anguish + Enfolds my eyes. + My senses wander + And waver. + Whom shall I summon + Hither to help me? + Mother! Mother! + Be mindful of me.' + +His head suddenly sinks down upon her bosom, but, as her +immobility continues, he experiences for the first time a faint +sensation of fear. This is born of his love for her, and, in a +frantic endeavour to recall her to life, he bends down and kisses +her passionately. At the magic touch of his lips, Brunhilde +opens her eyes, and, overjoyed at the sight of the rising sun, +greets it with a burst of rapturous song ere she turns to thank +her deliverer. The first glimpse of the hero in his glittering +mail is enough to fill her heart with love, and recognizing in +him Siegfried, the hero whose coming she herself has foretold, +she welcomes him with joy. Siegfried then relates how he found +her, how he delivered her from the fetters of sleep, and, +impetuously declaring his passion, claims her love in return. + +The scene between the young lovers, the personifications of +the Sun and of Spring, is one of indescribable passion and +beauty, and when they have joined in a duet of unalterable +love, Brunhilde no longer regrets past glories, but declares +the world well lost for the love she has won. + + 'Away Walhall's + Lightening world! + In dust with thy seeming, + Towers lie down! + Farewell greatness + And gift of the gods! + End in bliss + Thou unwithering breed! + You, Norns, unravel + The rope of runes! + Darken upwards + Dusk of the gods! + Night of annulment, + Near in thy cloud!-- + I stand in sight + Of Siegfried's star; + For me he was + And for me he will be, + Ever and always, + One and all + Lighting love + And laughing death.' + +These sentiments are more than echoed by the enamoured Siegfried, +who is beside himself with rapture at the mere thought of +possessing the glorious creature, who has forgotten all her +divine state to become naught but a loving and lovable woman. + + + + +[Illustration: SIEGFRIED AND THE RHINE MAIDENS.] + + +DUSK OF THE GODS. + + +The Norns, or Northern goddesses of fate, are seen in the dim +light before dawn, busily weaving the web of destiny on the +rocky hillside where the Walkyries formerly held their tryst. As +they twist their rope, which is stretched from north to south, +they sing of the age of gold. Then they sat beneath the great +world-ash, near the limpid well, where Wotan had left an eye +in pledge to win a daily draught of wisdom. + +They also sing how the god tore from the mighty ash a limb +which he fashioned into an invincible spear. This caused the +death of the tree, which withered and died in spite of all their +care. The third Norn then continues the tale her sisters have +begun, and tells how Wotan came home with a shivered spear one +day, and bade the gods cut down the tree. Its limbs were piled +like fuel all around Walhalla, the castle which the giants had +built, and since then Wotan has sat there in moody silence, +awaiting the predicted end, which can no longer be far distant. + +While they are singing, the barrier of flame in the background +burns brightly, and its light grows pale only as dawn breaks +slowly over the scene. The rope which the Norns are weaving +then suddenly parts beneath their fingers; so they bind the +fragments about them and sink slowly into the ground, to join +their mother Erda, wailing a prophecy concerning the end of +the old heathen world:-- + + 'Away now is our knowledge! + The world meets + From wisdom no more; + Below to Mother, below!' + +As they vanish, the day slowly breaks, and Siegfried and +Brunhilde come out of the cave. The former is in full armour +and bears a jewelled shield, the latter leads her horse, Grane, +by the bridle. Tenderly Brunhilde bids her lover farewell, +telling him that she will not restrain his ardour, for she knows +it is a hero's part to journey out into the world and perform +the noble tasks which await him. But her strength and martial +fury have entirely departed since she has learned to love, and +she repeatedly adjures him not to forget her, promising to await +his homecoming behind her flickering barrier of flame, and to +think constantly of him while he is away. Siegfried reminds her +that she need not fear he will forget her as long as she wears +the Nibelung ring, the seal of their troth, and gladly accepts +from her in exchange the steed Grane. Although it can no longer +scurry along the paths of air, this horse is afraid of nothing, +and is ready to rush through water and fire at his command. + +As Siegfried goes down the hill leading his steed, Brunhilde +watches him out of sight, and it is only when the last echoes of +his hunting horn die away in the distance that the curtain falls. + +The next scene is played at Worms on the Rhine. Gunther and +his sister Gutrune are sitting in their ancestral hall, with +their half-brother Hagen. He is the son of Alberich, and has +been begotten with the sole hope that he will once help his +father to recover the Nibelung ring. Hagen advises Gunther to +remember the duty he owes his race, and to marry as soon as +possible, and recommends as suitable mate the fair Brunhilde, +who is fenced in by a huge barrier of living flame. + +Gunther is not at all averse to matrimony, and is anxious to +secure the peerless bride proposed, yet he knows he can never +pass through the flames, and asks how Brunhilde is to be won. +Hagen, who as a Nibelung knows the future, foretells that +Siegfried, the dauntless hero, will soon be there, and adds +that, if they can only efface from his memory all recollection +of past love by means of a magic potion, they can soon induce +him to promise his aid in exchange for the hand of Gutrune. + +As he speaks, the sound of a horn is heard, and Hagen, looking +out, sees Siegfried crossing the river in a boat, and goes +down to the landing with Gunther to bid the hero welcome. +Hagen leads the horse away, but soon returns, while Gunther +ushers Siegfried into the hall of the Gibichungs, and enters +into conversation with him. As Siegfried's curiosity has been +roused by the strangers calling him by name, he soon inquires +how they knew him, and Hagen declares that the mere sight of +the tarn-cap had been enough. He then reveals to Siegfried +its magical properties, and asks him what he has done with the +hoard, and especially with the ring, which he vainly seeks on +his hand. Siegfried carelessly replies that the gold is still in +the Neidhole, guarded by the body of the dragon, while the ring +now adorns a woman's fair hand. As he finishes this statement, +Gutrune timidly draws near, and offers him a drinking horn, +the draught of welcome, in which, however, the magic potion of +forgetfulness has been mixed. + +Siegfried drains it eagerly, remarking to himself that he drinks +to Brunhilde alone. But no sooner has he partaken of it than +her memory leaves him, and he finds himself gazing admiringly +upon Gutrune. Gunther then proceeds to tell Siegfried the story +of Brunhilde, whom he would fain woo to wife. Although the hero +dreamily repeats his words, and seems to be struggling hard to +recall some past memory, he does not succeed in doing so. Finally +he shakes off his abstraction, and ardently proposes to pass +through the fire and win Brunhilde for Gunther in exchange for +Gutrune's hand:-- + + 'Me frights not her fire; + I'll woo for thee the maid; + For with might and mind + Am I thy man-- + A wife in Gutrun' to win.' + +The two heroes now decide upon swearing blood brotherhood +according to Northern custom,--an inviolable oath,--and, +charging Hagen to guard the hall of the Gibichungs, they +immediately sally forth on their quest. + +Brunhilde, in the mean while, has remained on the Walkuerenfels +anxiously watching for Siegfried's return, and spending long +hours in contemplating the magic ring, her lover husband's last +gift. Her solitude is, however, soon invaded by Waltraute, one +of her sister Walkyries. She informs her that Wotan has been +plunged in melancholy thought ever since he returned home from +his wanderings with a shattered spear, and bade the gods pile +the wood of the withered world-ash all around Walhalla. This +he has decided shall be his funeral pyre, when the predicted +doom of the gods overtakes him. + +Waltraute adds also that she alone has found the clue to his +sorrow, for she has overheard him mutter that, if the ring +were given back to the Rhine-daughters, the curse spoken by +Alberich would be annulled, and the gods could yet be saved +from their doom:-- + + 'The day the River's daughters + Find from her finger the ring, + Will the curse's weight + Be cast from the god and the world.' + +Brunhilde pays but indifferent attention to all this account, +and it is only when Waltraute informs her that it is in her +power to avert the gods' doom by restoring the ring she wears +to the mourning Rhine-daughters, that she starts angrily from +her abstraction, swearing she will never part with Siegfried's +gift, the emblem and seal of their plighted troth. + +Waltraute, seeing no prayers will avail to win the ring, then +rides sadly away, while the twilight gradually settles down, +and the barrier of flames burns on with a redder glow. At +the sound of a hunting horn, Brunhilde rushes joyously to the +back of the scene, with a rapturous cry of 'Siegfried!' but +shrinks suddenly back in fear and dismay when, instead of the +bright beloved form, a dark man appears through the flickering +flames. It is Siegfried, who, by virtue of the tarn-helmet, has +assumed Gunther's form and voice, and boldly claims Brunhilde +as his bride, in reward for having made his way through the +barrier of fire. Brunhilde indignantly refuses to recognize +him as her master. Passionately kissing her ring, she loudly +declares that as long as it graces her finger she will have +the strength to repulse every attack and keep her troth to the +giver. This declaration so incenses Siegfried--who, owing to the +magic potion, has entirely forgotten her and her love--that he +rushes towards her, and after a violent struggle wrenches the +ring from her finger, and places it upon his own. + +Cowed by the violence of this rude wooer, and deprived of her +ring, Brunhilde no longer resists, but tacitly yields when +he claims her as wife, and both soon disappear in the cave. +There Siegfried, mindful of his oath to marry her by proxy only, +lays his unsheathed sword between him and his friend's bride:-- + + 'Now, Nothung, witness well + That faithfully I wooed; + Lest I wane in truth to my brother, + Bar me away from his bride!' + +Hagen, left alone at Worms to guard the hall of the Gibichungs, +is favored in his sleep by a visit from his father, Alberich. The +dwarf informs him that ever since the gods touched the fatal +ring their power has waned, and that he must do all in his +power to recover it from Siegfried, who again holds it, and +who little suspects its magic power. As Alberich disappears, +carrying with him Hagen's promise to do all he can, the latter +awakens just in time to welcome the returning Siegfried. The +young hero joyfully announces the success of their expedition, +and rapturously claims Gutrune as his bride. After hearing +her lover's account of his night's adventures, the maiden +leads him into the hall in search of rest and refreshment, +while Hagen, summoning the people with repeated blasts of his +horn, admonishes them to deck the altars of Wotan, Freya, and +Donner, and to prepare to receive their master and mistress +with every demonstration of joy. The festive preparations are +barely completed, when Gunther and Brunhilde arrive. The bride +is pale and reluctant, and advances with downcast eyes, which +she raises only when she stands opposite Gutrune and Siegfried, +and hears the latter's name. Dropping Gunther's hand, she rushes +forward impetuously to throw herself in Siegfried's arms, but, +arrested by his cold unrecognising glance, she tremblingly +inquires how he came there, and why he stands by Gutrune's +side? Calmly then Siegfried announces his coming marriage:-- + + 'Gunther's winsome sister + She that I wed + As Gunther thee.' + +Brunhilde indignantly denies her marriage to Gunther, and almost +swoons, but Siegfried supports her, and, although Brunhilde +softly and passionately asks him if he does not know her, the +young hero indifferently hands her over to Gunther, bidding +him look after his wife. + +At a motion of his hand, Brunhilde's attention is attracted to +the ring, and she angrily demands how he dare wear the token +which Gunther wrested from her hand. + +Bewildered by this question, Siegfried denies ever having +received the ring from Gunther, and declares he won it from the +dragon in the Neidhole; but Hagen, anxious to stir up strife, +interferes, and elicits from Brunhilde an assurance that the +hero can have won the ring only by guile. + +A misunderstanding now ensues, for while Brunhilde in speaking +refers to their first meeting, and swears that Siegfried had +wooed and treated her as his wife, he, recollecting only the +second encounter, during which he acted only as Gunther's proxy, +denies her assertions. + +Both solemnly swear to the truth of their statement upon Hagen's +spear, calling the vengeance of Heaven down upon them in case of +perjury. Then the interrupted wedding festivities are resumed, +for Gunther knows only too well by what fraud his bride was +obtained, and thinks the transformation has not been complete +enough to blind the wise Brunhilde. + +As Siegfried gently leads Gutrune away into the hall, whither +all but Hagen, Gunther, and Brunhilde follow him, the latter +gives way to her extravagant grief. Hagen approaches her, +offering to avenge all her wrongs, and even slay Siegfried if +nothing else will satisfy her, and wipe away the foul stain +upon her honour. But Brunhilde tells him it is quite useless to +challenge the hero, for she herself had made him invulnerable +to every blow by blessing every part of his body except his +back. This she deemed useless to protect, as Siegfried, the +bravest of men, never fled from any foe:-- + + 'HAGEN. + + So wounds him nowhere a weapon? + + BRUNHILDE. + + In battle none:--but still + Bare to the stroke is his back + Never--I felt-- + In flight he would find + A foe to be harmful behind him, + So spared I his back from the blessing.' + +Her resentment against Siegfried has reached such a pitch, +however, that she finally hails with fierce joy Hagen's proposal +to slay him in the forest on the morrow. Even Gunther acquiesces +in this crime, which will leave his sister a widow, and they +soon agree that it shall be explained to Gutrune as a hunting +casualty. + +At noon on the next day Siegfried arrives alone on the banks of +the Rhine, in search of a quarry which has escaped him. The Rhine +daughters, who concealed it purposely in hopes of recovering +their ring, rise up out of the water, and swimming gracefully +around promise to help him recover his game if he will only +give them his ring. Siegfried, who attaches no value whatever +to the trinket, but wishes to tease them, refuses it at first; +but when they change their bantering into a prophetic tone and +try to frighten him by telling him the ring will prove his bane +unless he intrust it to their care, he proudly answers that he +has never yet learned to fear, and declares he will keep it, +and see whether their prediction will be fulfilled:-- + + 'My sword once splintered a spear;-- + The endless coil + Of counsel of old, + Wove they with wasting + Curses its web; + Norns shall not cover from Nothung! + One warned me beware + Of the curse a Worm; + But he failed to make me to fear,-- + The World's riches + I won with a ring, + That for love's delight + Swiftly I'd leave; + I'll yield it for sweetness to you; + But for safety of limbs and of life,-- + Were it not worth + Of a finger's weight,-- + No ring from me you will reach!' + +The Rhine maidens then bid him farewell, and swim away repeating +their ominous prophecy. After they have gone, the hunting +party appear, heralded by the merry music of their horns. All +sit down to partake of the refreshments that have been +brought, and as Siegfried has provided no game, he tries to do +his share by entertaining them with tales of his early youth. + +After telling them of his childhood spent in Mime's forge, of +the welding of Nothung and the slaying of Fafnir, he describes +how a mere taste of the dragon's blood enabled him to understand +the songs of the birds. Encouraged by Hagen, he next relates +the capture of the tarn-helm and ring, and then, draining his +horn in which Hagen has secretly poured an antidote to the +draught of forgetfulness administered by Gutrune, he describes +his departure in quest of the sleeping Walkyrie and his first +meeting with Brunhilde. At the mere mention of her name, all +the past returns to his mind. He suddenly remembers all her +beauty and love, and starts wildly to his feet, but only to be +pierced by the spear of the treacherous Hagen, who had stolen +behind him to drive it into his heart. + +The dying hero makes one last vain effort to avenge himself, +then sinks feebly to the earth, while Hagen slips away, declaring +that the perjurer had fully deserved to be slain by the weapon +upon which he had sworn his false oath. Gunther, sorry now +that it is too late, bends sadly over the prostrate hero, +who, released from the fatal effects of Gutrune's draught, +speaks once more of his beloved Brunhilde, and fancies he is +once more clasped in her arms as of old. + +Then, when he has breathed his last, the hunters place his +body upon a shield and bear it away in the rapidly falling +dusk, to the slow, mournful accompaniment of a funeral march, +whose muffled notes fall like a knell on the listener's ear. + +Gutrune, who has found the day very long indeed without +her beloved Siegfried, comes out of her room at nightfall, +and listens intently for the sound of the hunting horn which +will proclaim his welcome return. She is not the only watcher, +however, for Brunhilde has stolen down to the river, and her +apartment is quite empty. + +Suddenly Hagen comes in, and Gutrune, terrified at his unexpected +appearance, anxiously inquires why she has not heard her +husband's horn. Without any preparation, roughly, brutally, +Hagen informs her the hero is dead, just as the bearers enter +and deposit his lifeless body at her feet. + +Gutrune faints, but when she recovers consciousness she +indignantly refuses to credit Hagen's story, that her husband was +slain by a boar. She wildly accuses Gunther, who frees himself +from suspicion by denouncing Hagen. Without showing the least +sign of remorse, the dark son of Alberich then acknowledges +the deed, and, seeing that Gunther is about to appropriate the +fatal ring, draws his sword and slays him also. Wildly now Hagen +snatches at the ring, that long coveted treasure; but he starts +back in dismay without having secured it, for the dead hand is +threateningly raised, to the horror of all the spectators. + +Next Brunhilde comes upon the scene, singing a song of vengeance; +and when Gutrune wildly accuses her of being the cause of her +husband's murder, she declares that she alone was Siegfried's +lawful wife, and that he would always have been true to her had +not Gutrune won him by the ruse of a magic draught. Sadly Gutrune +acknowledges the truth of this statement, and, feeling that she +has no right to mourn over the husband of another woman, she +creeps over to Gunther's corpse and bends motionless over him. + +Brunhilde's anger is all forgotten now that the hero is dead, +and, after caressing him tenderly for a while, she directs +the bystanders to erect a huge funeral pyre. While they are +thus occupied she sings the hero's dirge, and draws the ring +unhindered from his dead hand. Then she announces her decision +to perish in the flames beside him, and declares the Rhine +maidens can come and reclaim their stolen treasure from their +mingled ashes:-- + + 'Thou guilty ring! + Running gold! + My hand gathers, + And gives thee again. + You wisely seeing + Water sisters, + The Rhine's unresting daughters, + I deem your word was of weight! + All that you ask + Now is your own; + Here from my ashes' + Heap you may have it!-- + The flame as it clasps me round + Free from the curse of the ring!-- + Back to its gold + Unbind it again, + And far in the flood + Withhold its fire, + The Rhine's unslumbering sun, + That for harm from him was reft.' + +The curse of the ring is at an end. The ravens of Wotan, perching +aloft, fly heavily off to announce the tidings in Walhalla, +while Brunhilde, after seeing Siegfried's body carefully +deposited on the pyre with all his weapons, kindles the fire +with her own hand. Then, springing upon Grane, she rides into +the very midst of the flames, which soon rise so high that they +swallow her up and entirely hide her from the spectators' sight. + +After a short time the flames die down, the bright light fades, +the stage darkens, and the river rises and overflows its banks, +until its waves come dashing over the funeral pyre. They +bear upon their swelling crests the Rhine maidens who have +come to recover their ring, Hagen, standing gloomily in the +background, becomes suddenly aware of their intention, wildly +flings his weapons aside, and rushes forward, crying, 'Unhand +the ring!' But he is caught in the twining arms of two of the +Rhine maidens, who draw him down under the water, and drown +him, while the third, having secured the Nibelung ring, returns +in triumph on the ebbing waves to her native depths, chanting +the Rhinegold strain. As she disappears, a reddish glow like +the Aurora Borealis appears in the sky. It grows brighter and +brighter, until one can discern the shining abode of Walhalla, +enveloped in lurid flames from the burning world-ash, and in +the centre the assembled gods calmly seated upon their thrones, +to submit to their long predicted doom, the 'Goetterdaemmerung.'[3] + +[3] See Prof. G.T. Dippold's 'Ring of the Nibelung.' + + + + +[Illustration: PARSIFAL IN THE ENCHANTED GARDEN.] + + +PARSIFAL. + + +It was while he was searching for the material for Tannhaeuser, +that Wagner came across Wolfram von Eschenbach's poems of +'Parsifal' and 'Titurel,'[4] and, as he reports, 'an entirely +new world of poetical matter suddenly opened before me.' Wagner +made no use of this idea, however, until 1857, some fifteen +years later, when he drew up the first sketch of his Parsifal, +during his residence at Zurich; twenty years later he finished +the poem at Bayreuth. He then immediately began the music, +although he was sixty-five years of age. That same year, while +he was making a concert tour in London, he read the poem to a +select audience of friends, by whose advice it was published. + +Although the music for this opera, which is designated as 'a +solemn work destined to hallow the stage,' was finished in 1879, +the instrumentation was completed only in 1882, at Palermo, +a few months before its first production at Bayreuth. + +This opera, which Wagner himself called a religious drama, is +intended as the 'Song of Songs of Divine Love, as Tristan and +Ysolde is the Song of Songs of Terrestrial Love.' The performance +was repeated sixteen times at Bayreuth, where many people had +come from all parts of the world to hear and see it, and has +since been revived a number of times. It is the most difficult +and least easily understood of the master's intricate works, +and bears the imprint not only of his philosophical studies, but +also of the spirit of Oriental mysticism, in which he delighted, +and which he at one time intended to make use of for the stage. + +The opera opens in the forest, where Gurnemanz, an old servant +of Amfortas, guardian of the Holy Grail, is lying asleep with +two squires. Suddenly, reveille sounds from the top of Mount +Salvat, the sacred hill upon which the temple stands. Gurnemanz, +springing to his feet, rouses the squires, and bids them prepare +the bath for their ailing master, who will soon appear as is +his daily custom. + +This Amfortas, whose coming they momentarily expect, is the +son of Titurel, the founder of the temple erected on Mount +Salvat for the reception of the Holy Grail, a vessel in which +Joseph of Arimathea caught a few drops of blood from the dying +Redeemer's side, after it had served as chalice during the +Last Supper. Titurel, feeling too old to continue his office +as guardian of the Grail, appointed Amfortas as his successor, +giving him the sacred lance which pierced the Saviour's side, +and told him that none could resist him as long as he wielded +it and kept himself perfectly pure. + +During many years Amfortas led a stainless life, defending the +Holy Grail from every foe, performing all his sacred offices +with exemplary piety, and teaching the Knights of the Grail to +fight for the right, and rescue the feeble and oppressed. He +also sent out messengers to all parts of the world to right +the wrong, whenever called upon to do so, by the words which +suddenly appeared and glowed like fire around the edge of +the mystic vase. All the knights who served the Holy Grail +were not only fed with celestial viands by its power alone, +but were endowed with resistless might, which assured their +victory everywhere as long as they remained unknown. They +had moreover the privilege of recovering, as if by magic, +from every wound. Of course, many knights were desirous of +being admitted into the temple, but none except those whose +lives were pure and whose purposes lofty were ever accepted. +When Klingsor, the magician, attempted to enter, therefore, +he was repulsed. In his anger he established himself upon the +other side of the mountain, where, summoning all the arts of +magic to his aid, he called up delusions of every kind. Thus +he beguiled many of the knights in search of the Holy Grail, +caught them in his toils and led them on to sin, until they +were unfit for the holy life to which they had once aspired. + +Amfortas, hearing of this, and too confident in his own +strength, sallied forth one day, armed with the sacred lance, +determined to destroy Klingsor, and put an end to his magic. +But alas! he had no sooner entered the magician's garden, +where roamed a host of lovely maidens trained to lure all men +to sin, than he yielded to the blandishments of the fairest +among them. Carelessly flinging his sacred lance aside, he gave +himself up to the delights of passion. Such was his bewitched +condition that he never even noticed the stealthy approach +of the magician, who seized the lance and thrust it into his +side. This deep wound, which had refused to heal ever since, +caused him incessant tortures, which were increased rather than +diminished whenever he uncovered the Holy Grail. + +Although no remedy could allay this torture, the Holy Grail +decreed that it should be stilled by a guileless fool, who, +enlightened by pity, would find the only cure. But, as he +tarried, many knights travelled all over the world in search +of simples, and Kundry, a wild, witch-like woman, also sought +in vain to relieve him. + +While the squires, in obedience to Gurnemanz's orders, prepare +the bath, Kundry comes riding wildly on the scene. In breathless +haste she thrusts a curious little flask into Gurnemanz's +hand, telling him it is a precious balsam she has brought +from a great distance to alleviate Amfortas's suffering. She +is so exhausted by her long ride that she flings herself upon +the ground, where she remains while a little procession comes +down the hill. It is composed of knights bearing the wounded +Amfortas, and they set the litter down for a moment, as the +king gives vent to heart-rending groans. To soothe him, his +attendants remind him that there are many more remedies to try, +and Gurnemanz adds that, failing all others, they can always +rely upon the promise of the Holy Grail, and await the coming +of the guileless fool. When Amfortas learns that Kundry has +made another attempt to help him, he thanks her kindly, but +his gentle words only seem to increase her distress, for she +writhes uneasily on the ground and refuses all thanks. + +When the king and his bearers have gone down the hill, and +have passed out of sight, the squires begin chaffing poor +Kundry. She gazes upon them with the wild eyes of an animal +at bay, until Gurnemanz comes to her rescue, and chides the +youths. He tells them that although she may once have been, +as they declare, under a curse, she has repented of her sins, +and serves the Holy Grail with a humility and singleness of +purpose which they would do well to imitate rather than deride. + +In answer to their questions, he then goes on to describe +how Amfortas received the grievous wound which causes him such +intolerable pain, and lost the sacred spear, which only enhances +Klingsor's power for evil, and which none but a stainless +knight can ever recover. Their quiet conversation is brusquely +interrupted by the heavy fall of a swan, which lies dead at their +feet. This arouses their keenest indignation, for the rules of +the order forbid any deed of violence within sight or hearing of +the sacred edifice containing the Holy Grail. Gazing around in +search of the culprit, they soon behold the youth Parsifal, clad +in the rough and motley garments of a fool, and when Gurnemanz +angrily reproves him, and questions him concerning his name +and origin, he is amazed by the ignorance the lad displays. + +By the help of Kundry, however, who, having travelled everywhere, +knows everything, Gurnemanz finally ascertains that the youth +is a descendant of the royal family, his father, Gamuret, +having died when he was born. His mother, Herzeloide (Heart's +Affliction), has brought him up in utter solitude and ignorance, +to prevent his becoming a knight and leave her perchance to +fall in battle:-- + + 'Bereft of father his mother bore him. + For in battle perished Gamuret: + From like untimely hero's death + To save her offspring, strange to arms + She reared him a witless fool in deserts.' + +The youth, however, pays no heed to Kundry's explanations, +but goes on to tell Gurnemanz that he saw some men riding +through the forest in glittering array, and followed them +through the world with no other weapon than the bow he had +manufactured. But when Kundry again interrupts him, declaring +that his sudden disappearance has caused his mother's death, +he shows the greatest sensibility, and even faints with grief. + +While the squires gently bathe his face and hands to bring +him back to life, Kundry, feeling the sudden and overpowering +desire for sleep which often mysteriously overpowers her, +creeps reluctantly into a neighbouring thicket, where she +immediately sinks into a comatose state. In the mean while, +the king's procession comes up from the bath, and slowly passes +across the stage and up the hill. Gurnemanz, whose heart has +been filled with a sudden hope that the youth before him may +be the promised guileless fool who alone can cure the king, +puts an arm around him, gently raises him, and, supporting his +feeble footsteps, leads him up the hill. They walk along dark +passages, and finally come into the great hall on the top of +Mount Salvat, which is empty now, and where only the sound of +the bells in the dome is heard as Gurnemanz says to Parsifal:-- + + 'Now give good heed, and let me see, + If thou 'rt a Fool and pure + What wisdom thou presently canst secure.' + +Parsifal, the unsophisticated youth, stands spellbound at the +marvels he beholds, nor does he move when the great doors open, +and the Knights of the Grail come marching in, singing of the +mystic vessel and of its magic properties. This strain is +taken up not only by the youths who follow them, but also by +a boy choir in the dome which is intended to represent the +angels. When the knights have all taken their places, the +doors open again to admit the bearers of the sacred vessel, +which is kept in a shrine. They are followed by Amfortas, in +his litter, and when he has been carefully laid upon a couch, +and the vessel has been placed upon the altar before him, all +bow down in silent prayer. Suddenly the silence is broken by +the voice of the aged Titurel. He is lying in a niche in the +rear of the hall, and calls solemnly upon his son to uncover +the Holy Grail, and give him a sight of the glorious vessel, +which alone can renew his failing strength. The boys are +about to remove the veil when Amfortas suddenly detains them, +and begins a passionate protest, relating how his sufferings +increase every time he beholds the Grail. He implores his +father to resume the sacred office, and wildly asks how long +his sufferings must endure. To this appeal the angels' voices +respond by repeating the prophecy made by the Holy Grail:-- + + 'By pity 'lightened + The guileless Fool-- + Wait for him + My chosen tool.' + +Strengthened by this reminder of ultimate relief, and by the +voice of the knights and of Titurel again calling for the +uncovering of the Grail, Amfortas takes the crystal cup from +its shrine, bends over it in devout prayer, while the angel +voices above chant a sort of communion service, and the hall is +gradually darkened. Suddenly a beam of blinding light shoots +down through the dome and falls upon the cup, which 'glows with +an increased purple lustre,' while Amfortas holds it above his +head, and gently waves it to and fro, so that its mystic light +can be seen by all the knights and squires, who have sunk to +their knees. + +Titurel hails the sight with a pious ejaculation, and when +Amfortas has replaced the vessel in the shrine the beam of +light disappears, daylight again fills the hall, and knights +and squires begin to partake of the bread and wine before +them, a feast to which Gurnemanz invites the amazed Parsifal +by a mute gesture. The youth is too astonished to accept; +he remains spellbound, while the invisible choir resume their +chant, which is taken up first by the youths' voices, and then +by the knights, and ends only as the meal draws to a close, and +Amfortas is borne out, preceded by the Holy Grail and followed +by the long train of knights and squires. + +Gurnemanz and Parsifal alone remain. The Fool, though guileless, +has not been enlightened by pity to inquire the cause of +Amfortas's wound. He has thus missed his opportunity to cure +him, and Gurnemanz, indignant at his boundless stupidity, opens +a side door, and thrusts him out into the forest, uttering a +contemptuous dismissal. + + 'Thou art then nothing but a Fool! + Come away, on thy road be gone + And put my rede to use: + Leave all our swans for the future alone + And seek thyself, gander, a goose.' + +The second act represents the inner keep of Klingsor's castle, +the magician himself being seated on the battlement. He is +gazing intently into the magic mirror, wherein all the world +may be seen, and comments with malicious glee upon Parsifal's +ejection from the temple of the Holy Grail and his approach to +his enchanted ground. + +Laying aside his magic mirror, Klingsor then begins one of +his uncanny spells, and in the midst of a bluish vapor calls up +Kundry from the enchanted sleep into which his art has bound her. +He tells her that, although she has succeeded in escaping his +power for a short time, and has gone over to the enemy whom +she has done all in her power to serve, he now requires her to +exercise all her fascinations to beguile Parsifal away from +the path of virtue, as she once lured Amfortas, the king and +guardian of the Holy Grail. + +In vain the half awakened Kundry struggles and tries to resist +his power, Klingsor has her again in his toils, and once more +compels her, much against her wishes, to execute his will. +Just as Parsifal, overcoming all resistance, drives away +the guards of the castle and springs up on the ramparts, +the magician waves his wand. He and his tower sink from view, +and a beautiful garden appears, in which lovely damsels flit +excitedly about in very scanty attire. After a few moments +spent in motionless admiration of the scene before him, Parsifal +springs down into the garden, where he is immediately surrounded +by the fair nymphs. They pull him this way and that, tease and +cajole him, and use all their wiles to attract his attention +and win his admiration. Seeing him very indifferent to their +unadorned charms, a few of them hastily retire into a bower, +where they don gay flower costumes, in which they soon appear +before him, winding in and out in the gay mazes of the dance. + +Their youthful companions immediately follow their example, +and also try to beguile Parsifal by their flower hues, their +kisses and caresses, but he stands stolidly by until Kundry, +who is now no longer a terrible and haggard witch, but a fair +enchantress reclining upon a bed of roses, calls him to her side. + +As in a dream, Parsifal obeys her summons, while the flower +nymphs flit away to their respective bowers. Wonderingly he now +inquires how Kundry knows his name, and again hears her relate +how she was present at his birth, watched over his childhood, +and witnessed the death of his mother. At this mention the +youth is again overcome with grief. To comfort him, Kundry, +the enchantress, tenderly embraces him, and lavishes soft +words upon him, but all her caresses have no effect, except to +awaken in his heart a sudden miraculous comprehension of all +he has seen. Love is suddenly born in his heart, but it is not +the evil passion which Kundry had striven to bring to life, +but the pure, unselfish feeling which enables one human being +to understand and sympathise with another. He now knows that +Amfortas yielded to passion's spell, and in punishment suffered +the spear wound in his side, and realizes that he alone could +have given him relief. Moved to sudden indignation by his +compassion, he flings Kundry's caressing arms aside, promising, +however, to help her win her own redemption, if she will only +tell him how to save Amfortas, and will reveal who wielded the +spear which dealt the fatal wound. But Kundry, who is acting +now entirely under Klingsor's influence, and not by her own +volition, seeing she cannot lure him to sin, and that he is +about to escape forever, shrieks frantically for help, cursing +him vehemently, and declaring that he will have to wander long +ere he can again find a way to the realm of the Holy Grail. +Her piercing screams bring the flower damsels and Klingsor +upon the scene, and the latter, standing upon the rampart, +flings the holy spear at Parsifal, expecting to wound him as +grievously as Amfortas. But the youth has committed no sin, +he is quite pure; so the spear remains poised above his head, +until he stretches out his hand, and, seizing it, makes a sign +of the cross, adjuring the magic to cease:-- + + 'This sign I make, and ban thy cursed magic: + As the wound shall be closed + Which thou with this once clovest,-- + To wrack and to ruin + Falls thy unreal display!' + +At the holy sign, the enchanter's delusions vanish, maidens and +gardens disappear, and Kundry sinks motionless upon the arid +soil, while Parsifal springs over the broken wall, calling out +that they shall meet again. + +The third act is played also upon the slopes of the mountain, +upon which the temple stands. Many years have elapsed, however, +and Gurnemanz, bent with age, slowly comes out of his hut at +the sound of a groan in a neighbouring thicket. The sounds are +repeated until the good old man, who has assumed the garb of +a hermit, searches in the thicket, and, tearing the brambles +aside, finds the witch Kundry in one of her lethargic states. He +has seen her so before in days gone by, and, dragging her +rigid form out from the thicket, he proceeds to restore her +to life. Wildly as of old her eyes roll about, but she has no +sooner come to her senses than she clamours for some work to +do for the Holy Grail, and proceeds to draw water and perform +sundry menial tasks. Gurnemanz, watching her closely, comments +upon her altered behaviour, and expresses a conviction that she +will ultimately be saved, since she has returned to the Grail +after many years on the morning of Good Friday. + +He is so occupied in examining her that he does not notice +the approach of Parsifal, clad in black armour, with closed +helmet and lowered spear, and it is only when Kundry calls his +attention to the stranger that he welcomes him, but without +recognizing him in the least. + +Parsifal, however, has not forgotten the old man whom he has +sought so long in vain, and is, so overcome by emotion that +he cannot speak. He obeys Gurnemanz's injunctions to remove +his arms, as none dare enter the holy precincts of the Holy +Grail in martial array, and, planting the spear he recovered +from Klingsor into the ground, he bends the knee before it, +and returns silent thanks that his quest is ended, and he may +at last be vouchsafed to quiet the pain which Amfortas still +endures. While he is wrapt in prayer, Gurnemanz, staring at +him, suddenly recognizes him as the Guileless Fool who came +so long ago, and imparts his knowledge to Kundry, who confirms +it. Parsifal, having finished his prayer, and recovered the power +of speech, now greets Gurnemanz, and in answer to his question +says that he has wandered long, and expresses a fervent hope +that he has not come too late to retrieve his former fault:-- + + 'Through error and through suffering lay my pathway; + May I believe that I have freed me from it, + Now that this forest's murmur + Falls upon my senses, + And worthy voice of age doth welcome? + Or yet--is 't new error? + All's altered here meseemeth.' + +Gurnemanz is almost overcome with joy when he hears the young man +declare that he has brought back the sacred lance undefiled, +although he has suffered much to defend it from countless +foes who would fain have wrested it from him. As Parsifal now +begins eagerly to question him, he mournfully relates that times +have changed indeed. Amfortas still lives, and suffers untold +tortures from his unhealed wound, but Titurel, the aged king, +no longer quickened by the sight of the Holy Grail, (which has +never again been unveiled since his unhappy visit,) has slowly +passed away, and has closed his eyes in a last sleep. At these +sad tidings Parsifal faints with remorse, and Gurnemanz and +Kundry restore him with water from the holy spring, with which +they also wash away all the soil of travel. As he comes to life +again, inquiring whether he will be allowed to see Amfortas, +Gurnemanz tells him that the knights are to assemble once more +in the temple, as of old, to celebrate Titurel's obsequies, +and that Amfortas has solemnly promised to unveil the Holy +Grail, although at the cost of suffering to himself. He wishes +to comfort the knights, who have lost all their courage and +strength, and are no longer called upon to go forth and battle +for the right in the name of the Grail. + +To enable Parsifal to appear in the temple, Gurnemanz now +baptises him with water from the spring, and Kundry, anointing +his feet with a costly perfume, wipes them with her hair. +Parsifal rewards her for this humble office by baptising her +in his turn. Then Gurnemanz anoints Parsifal's head with the +same ointment, for it is decreed he shall be king, and after +he and Kundry have helped him to don the usual habit of the +servants of the Holy Grail they proceed, as in the first act, +to the temple, and once more enter the great hall. + +As they appear, the doors open, and two processions enter, +chanting a mournful refrain. Ten knights bear the bier containing +Titurel's corpse, the others carry the wasted form of the wounded +king. The chorus ended, the coffin is opened, and at the sight +of the dead Titurel all the assistants cry out in distress. No +wail is so bitter, however, as that of Amfortas, who mournfully +addresses his dead father, imploring him to intercede for him +before the heavenly throne, and to obtain for him the long hoped +for and long expected release. + +Then he bids the knights uncover the Holy Grail; but ere they +can do so he bursts out into a paroxysm of grief, exposing +his bleeding and throbbing wound, and declaring he has not +the courage to endure the sacred beam of light from the Holy +Grail. But, unnoticed by all, Parsifal, Gurnemanz, and Kundry +have drawn near. Suddenly the youth extends the sacred spear, +and, touching Amfortas with its point, declares that its +power alone can stanch the blood and heal the wounded side, +and pronounces the absolution of his sin:-- + + 'Be whole, unsullied and absolved, + For I now govern in thy place. + Oh blessed be thy sorrows, + For Pity's potent might + And Knowledge's purest power + They taught a timid Fool.' + +No sooner has the sacred point touched the wound than it is +indeed healed, and while Amfortas sinks tottering with emotion +into the arms of Gurnemanz, all the knights gaze enraptured +at the spear. Then Parsifal announces that he is commanded by +Divine decree to become the guardian of the Grail, which he +unveils and reverently receives into his hands. + +Once more the hall is darkened, once more the beam of refulgent +light illumines the gloom, and, as Parsifal slowly waves the +vessel to and fro, a snowy dove, the emblem of the Holy Grail, +hovers lightly over his head. + +Suddenly the beam of light falls across the face of the dead +Titurel, who, coming to life again in its radiance, raises +his hand in fervent blessing ere he sinks back once more to +peaceful rest. Kundry, too, has seen the Holy Grail before +her eyes closed in death, and Amfortas, cured and forgiven, +joins the knights and invisible choir in praising God for his +great mercy, which endures forever. + + +[4] See the author's 'Legends of the Middle Ages,' in press. + + + + +THE END. + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Stories of the Wagner Opera, by H. A. 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