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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/1487-h.zip b/1487-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..bd0447e --- /dev/null +++ b/1487-h.zip diff --git a/1487-h/1487-h.htm b/1487-h/1487-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..72df5b0 --- /dev/null +++ b/1487-h/1487-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,4675 @@ +<?xml version="1.0" encoding="us-ascii"?> + +<!DOCTYPE html + PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd" > + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" lang="en"> + <head> + <title> + The Perfect Wagnerite: a Commentary on the Niblung's Ring, by Bernard Shaw + </title> + <style type="text/css" xml:space="preserve"> + + body { margin:5%; background:#faebd0; text-align:justify} + P { text-indent: 1em; margin-top: .25em; margin-bottom: .25em; } + H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; } + hr { width: 50%; text-align: center;} + .foot { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; text-indent: -3em; font-size: 90%; } + blockquote {font-size: 97%; font-style: italic; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + .mynote {background-color: #DDE; color: #000; padding: .5em; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 95%;} + .toc { margin-left: 10%; margin-bottom: .75em;} + .toc2 { margin-left: 20%;} + div.fig { display:block; margin:0 auto; text-align:center; } + div.middle { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; } + .figleft {float: left; margin-left: 0%; margin-right: 1%;} + .figright {float: right; margin-right: 0%; margin-left: 1%;} + .pagenum {display:inline; font-size: 70%; font-style:normal; + margin: 0; padding: 0; position: absolute; right: 1%; + text-align: right;} + pre { font-style: italic; font-size: 90%; margin-left: 10%;} + +</style> + </head> + <body> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Perfect Wagnerite, by George Bernard Shaw + +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: The Perfect Wagnerite + A Commentary on the Niblung's Ring + +Author: George Bernard Shaw + +Release Date: September 14, 2008 [EBook #1487] +[Last updated: March 26, 2017] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PERFECT WAGNERITE *** + + + + +Produced by Dianne Bean, and David Widger + + + + + +</pre> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <h1> + THE PERFECT WAGNERITE<br /><br /> A COMMENTARY ON<br /> THE NIBLUNG'S RING + </h1> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <h2> + by Bernard Shaw + </h2> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <blockquote> + <p class="toc"> + <big><b>CONTENTS</b></big> + </p> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_PREF"> Preface to the First German Edition </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_PREF2"> PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_PREF3"> Preface to the First Edition </a> + </p> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0004"> <b>THE PERFECT WAGNERITE</b> </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0005"> PRELIMINARY ENCOURAGEMENTS </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0006"> THE RING OF THE NIBLUNGS </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0007"> THE RHINE GOLD </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0008"> WAGNER AS REVOLUTIONIST </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0009"> THE VALKYRIES </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0010"> SIEGFRIED </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0011"> BACK TO OPERA AGAIN </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0012"> SIEGFRIED AS PROTESTANT </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0013"> PANACEA QUACKERY, OTHERWISE IDEALISM </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0014"> DRAMATIC ORIGIN OF WOTAN </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0015"> THE LOVE PANACEA </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0016"> NOT LOVE, BUT LIFE </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0017"> ANARCHISM NO PANACEA </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0018"> SIEGFRIED CONCLUDED </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0019"> NIGHT FALLS ON THE GODS </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_PROL"> PROLOGUE </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0021"> A WAGNERIAN NEWSPAPER CONTROVERSY </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0022"> FORGOTTEN ERE FINISHED </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0023"> WHY HE CHANGED HIS MIND </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0024"> WAGNER'S OWN EXPLANATION </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0025"> THE PESSIMIST AS AMORIST </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0026"> THE MUSIC OF THE RING </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0027"> THE CHARACTERIZATION </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0028"> THE OLD AND THE NEW MUSIC </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0029"> THE NINETEENTH CENTURY </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0030"> THE MUSIC OF THE FUTURE </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0031"> BAYREUTH </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0032"> BAYREUTH IN ENGLAND </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0033"> WAGNERIAN SINGERS </a> + </p> + </blockquote> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> <a name="link2H_PREF" id="link2H_PREF"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <h2> + Preface to the First German Edition + </h2> + <p> + In reading through this German version of my book in the Manuscript of my + friend Siegfried Trebitsch, I was struck by the inadequacy of the merely + negative explanation given by me of the irrelevance of Night Falls On The + Gods to the general philosophic scheme of The Ring. That explanation is + correct as far as it goes; but, put as I put it, it now seems to me to + suggest that the operatic character of Night Falls On The Gods was the + result of indifference or forgetfulness produced by the lapse of + twenty-five years between the first projection of the work and its + completion. Now it is clear that in whatever other ways Wagner may have + changed, he never became careless and he never became indifferent. I have + therefore inserted a new section in which I show how the revolutionary + history of Western Europe from the Liberal explosion of 1848 to the + confused attempt at a socialist, military, and municipal administration in + Paris in 1871 (that is to say, from the beginning of The Niblung's Ring by + Wagner to the long-delayed completion of Night Falls On The Gods), + demonstrated practically that the passing away of the present order was + going to be a much more complicated business than it appears in Wagner's + Siegfried. I have therefore interpolated a new chapter which will perhaps + induce some readers of the original English text to read the book again in + German. + </p> + <p> + For some time to come, indeed, I shall have to refer English readers to + this German edition as the most complete in existence. + </p> + <p> + My obligation to Herr Trebitsch for making me a living German author + instead of merely a translated English one is so great that I am bound to + point out that he is not responsible for my views or Wagner's, and that it + is as an artist and a man of letters, and not as a propagandist, that he + is conveying to the German speaking peoples political criticisms which + occasionally reflect on contemporary authorities with a European + reputation for sensitiveness. And as the very sympathy which makes his + translations so excellent may be regarded with suspicion, let me hasten to + declare I am bound to Germany by the ties that hold my nature most + strongly. Not that I like the average German: nobody does, even in his own + country. But then the average man is not popular anywhere; and as no + German considers himself an average one, each reader will, as an + exceptional man, sympathize with my dislike of the common herd. And if I + cannot love the typical modern German, I can at least pity and understand + him. His worst fault is that he cannot see that it is possible to have too + much of a good thing. Being convinced that duty, industry, education, + loyalty, patriotism and respectability are good things (and I am + magnanimous enough to admit that they are not altogether bad things when + taken in strict moderation at the right time and in the right place), he + indulges in them on all occasions shamelessly and excessively. He commits + hideous crimes when crime is presented to him as part of his duty; his + craze for work is more ruinous than the craze for drink; when he can + afford secondary education for his sons you find three out of every five + of them with their minds lamed for life by examinations which only a + thoroughly wooden head could go through with impunity; and if a king is + patriotic and respectable (few kings are) he puts up statues to him and + exalts him above Charlemagne and Henry the Fowler. And when he meets a man + of genius, he instinctively insults him, starves him, and, if possible, + imprisons and kills him. + </p> + <p> + Now I do not pretend to be perfect myself. Heaven knows I have to struggle + hard enough every day with what the Germans call my higher impulses. I + know too well the temptation to be moral, to be self-sacrificing, to be + loyal and patriotic, to be respectable and well-spoken of. But I wrestle + with it and—as far as human fraility will allow—conquer it, + whereas the German abandons himself to it without scruple or reflection, + and is actually proud of his pious intemperance and self-indulgence. + Nothing will cure him of this mania. It may end in starvation, crushing + taxation, suppression of all freedom to try new social experiments and + reform obsolete institutions, in snobbery, jobbery, idolatry, and an + omnipresent tyranny in which his doctor and his schoolmaster, his lawyer + and his priest, coerce him worse than any official or drill sergeant: no + matter: it is respectable, says the German, therefore it must be good, and + cannot be carried too far; and everybody who rebels against it must be a + rascal. Even the Social-Democrats in Germany differ from the rest only in + carrying academic orthodoxy beyond human endurance—beyond even + German endurance. I am a Socialist and a Democrat myself, the hero of a + hundred platforms, one of the leaders of the most notable Socialist + organizations in England. I am as conspicuous in English Socialism as + Bebel is in German Socialism; but do you suppose that the German + Social-Democrats tolerate me? Not a bit of it. I have begged again and + again to be taken to the bosom of my German comrades. I have pleaded that + the Super-Proletarians of all lands should unite. I have pointed out that + the German Social-Democratic party has done nothing at its Congresses for + the last ten years except the things I told them to do ten years before, + and that its path is white with the bones of the Socialist superstitions I + and my fellow Fabians have slain. Useless. They do not care a rap whether + I am a Socialist or not. All they want to know is; Am I orthodox? Am I + correct in my revolutionary views? Am I reverent to the revolutionary + authorities? Because I am a genuine free-thinker they look at me as a + policeman looks at a midnight prowler or as a Berlin bourgeois looks at a + suspicious foreigner. They ask "Do you believe that Marx was omniscient + and infallible; that Engels was his prophet; that Bebel and Singer are his + inspired apostles; and that Das Kapital is the Bible?" Hastening in my + innocence to clear myself of what I regard as an accusation of credulity + and ignorance, I assure them earnestly that I know ten times as much of + economics and a hundred times as much of practical administration as Marx + did; that I knew Engels personally and rather liked him as a witty and + amiable old 1848 veteran who despised modern Socialism; that I regard + Bebel and Singer as men of like passions with myself, but considerably + less advanced; and that I read Das Kapital in the year 1882 or + thereabouts, and still consider it one of the most important books of the + nineteenth century because of its power of changing the minds of those who + read it, in spite of its unsound capitalist economics, its parade of + quotations from books which the author had either not read or not + understood, its affectation of algebraic formulas, and its general attempt + to disguise a masterpiece of propagandist journalism and prophetic + invective as a drily scientific treatise of the sort that used to impose + on people in 1860, when any book that pretended to be scientific was + accepted as a Bible. In those days Darwin and Helmholtz were the real + fathers of the Church; and nobody would listen to religion, poetry or + rhetoric; so that even Socialism had to call itself "scientific," and + predict the date of the revolution, as if it were a comet, by calculations + founded on "historic laws." + </p> + <p> + To my amazement these reasonable remarks were received as hideous + blasphemies; none of the party papers were allowed to print any word of + mine; the very Revisionists themselves found that the scandal of my heresy + damaged them more than my support aided them; and I found myself an + outcast from German Social-Democracy at the moment when, thanks to + Trebitsch, the German bourgeoisie and nobility began to smile on me, + seduced by the pleasure of playing with fire, and perhaps by Agnes Sorma's + acting as Candida. + </p> + <p> + Thus you may see that when a German, by becoming a Social-Democrat, throws + off all the bonds of convention, and stands free from all allegiance to + established religion, law, order, patriotism, and learning, he promptly + uses his freedom to put on a headier set of chains; expels + anti-militarists with the blood-thirstiest martial anti-foreign ardor; and + gives the Kaiser reason to thank heaven that he was born in the + comparative freedom and Laodicean tolerance of Kingship, and not in the + Calvinistic bigotry and pedantry of Marxism. + </p> + <p> + Why, then, you may ask, do I say that I am bound to Germany by the ties + that hold my nature most strongly? Very simply because I should have + perished of despair in my youth but for the world created for me by that + great German dynasty which began with Bach and will perhaps not end with + Richard Strauss. Do not suppose for a moment that I learnt my art from + English men of letters. True, they showed me how to handle English words; + but if I had known no more than that, my works would never have crossed + the Channel. My masters were the masters of a universal language: they + were, to go from summit to summit, Bach, Handel, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven + and Wagner. Had the Germans understood any of these men, they would have + hanged them. Fortunately they did not understand them, and therefore only + neglected them until they were dead, after which they learnt to dance to + their tunes with an easy conscience. For their sakes Germany stands + consecrated as the Holy Land of the capitalist age, just as Italy, for its + painters' sakes, is the Holy Land of the early unvulgarized Renascence; + France, for its builders' sakes, of the age of Christian chivalry and + faith; and Greece, for its sculptors' sakes, of the Periclean age. + </p> + <p> + These Holy Lands are my fatherlands: in them alone am I truly at home: all + my work is but to bring the whole world under this sanctification. + </p> + <p> + And so, O worthy, respectable, dutiful, patriotic, brave, industrious + German reader, you who used to fear only God and your own conscience, and + now fear nothing at all, here is my book for you; and—in all + sincerity—much good may it do you! + </p> + <p> + London, 23rd. October 1907. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_PREF2" id="link2H_PREF2"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION + </h2> + <p> + The preparation of a Second Edition of this booklet is quite the most + unexpected literary task that has ever been set me. When it first appeared + I was ungrateful enough to remonstrate with its publisher for printing, as + I thought, more copies than the most sanguine Wagnerite could ever hope to + sell. But the result proved that exactly one person buys a copy on every + day in the year, including Sundays; and so, in the process of the suns, a + reprint has become necessary. + </p> + <p> + Save a few verbal slips of no importance, I have found nothing to alter in + this edition. As usual, the only protests the book has elicited are + protests, not against the opinions it expresses, but against the facts it + records. There are people who cannot bear to be told that their hero was + associated with a famous Anarchist in a rebellion; that he was proclaimed + as "wanted" by the police; that he wrote revolutionary pamphlets; and that + his picture of Niblunghome under the reign of Alberic is a poetic vision + of unregulated industrial capitalism as it was made known in Germany in + the middle of the nineteenth century by Engels's Condition of the Laboring + classes in England. They frantically deny these facts, and then declare + that I have connected them with Wagner in a paroxysm of senseless + perversity. I am sorry I have hurt them; and I appeal to charitable + publishers to bring out a new life of Wagner, which shall describe him as + a court musician of unquestioned fashion and orthodoxy, and a pillar of + the most exclusive Dresden circles. Such a work, would, I believe, have a + large sale, and be read with satisfaction and reassurance by many lovers + of Wagner's music. + </p> + <p> + As to my much demurred-to relegation of Night Falls On The Gods to the + category of grand opera, I have nothing to add or withdraw. Such a + classification is to me as much a matter of fact as the Dresden rising or + the police proclamation; but I shall not pretend that it is a matter of + such fact as everybody's judgment can grapple with. People who prefer + grand opera to serious music-drama naturally resent my placing a very + grand opera below a very serious music-drama. The ordinary lover of + Shakespeare would equally demur to my placing his popular catchpenny + plays, of which As You Like It is an avowed type, below true Shakespearean + plays like Measure for Measure. I cannot help that. Popular dramas and + operas may have overwhelming merits as enchanting make-believes; but a + poet's sincerest vision of the world must always take precedence of his + prettiest fool's paradise. + </p> + <p> + As many English Wagnerites seem to be still under the impression that + Wagner composed Rienzi in his youth, Tannhauser and Lohengrin in his + middle age, and The Ring in his later years, may I again remind them that + The Ring was the result of a political convulsion which occurred when + Wagner was only thirty-six, and that the poem was completed when he was + forty, with thirty more years of work before him? It is as much a first + essay in political philosophy as Die Feen is a first essay in romantic + opera. The attempt to recover its spirit twenty years later, when the + music of Night Falls On The Gods was added, was an attempt to revive the + barricades of Dresden in the Temple of the Grail. Only those who have + never had any political enthusiasms to survive can believe that such an + attempt could succeed. G. B. S. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + London, 1901 +</pre> + <p> + <a name="link2H_PREF3" id="link2H_PREF3"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Preface to the First Edition + </h2> + <p> + This book is a commentary on The Ring of the Niblungs, Wagner's chief + work. I offer it to those enthusiastic admirers of Wagner who are unable + to follow his ideas, and do not in the least understand the dilemma of + Wotan, though they are filled with indignation at the irreverence of the + Philistines who frankly avow that they find the remarks of the god too + often tedious and nonsensical. Now to be devoted to Wagner merely as a dog + is devoted to his master, sharing a few elementary ideas, appetites and + emotions with him, and, for the rest, reverencing his superiority without + understanding it, is no true Wagnerism. Yet nothing better is possible + without a stock of ideas common to master and disciple. Unfortunately, the + ideas of the revolutionary Wagner of 1848 are taught neither by the + education nor the experience of English and American gentlemen-amateurs, + who are almost always political mugwumps, and hardly ever associate with + revolutionists. The earlier attempts to translate his numerous pamphlets + and essays into English, resulted in ludicrous mixtures of pure nonsense + with the absurdest distorsions of his ideas into the ideas of the + translators. We now have a translation which is a masterpiece of + interpretation and an eminent addition to our literature; but that is not + because its author, Mr. Ashton Ellis, knows the German dictionary better + than his predecessors. He is simply in possession of Wagner's ideas, which + were to them inconceivable. + </p> + <p> + All I pretend to do in this book is to impart the ideas which are most + likely to be lacking in the conventional Englishman's equipment. I came by + them myself much as Wagner did, having learnt more about music than about + anything else in my youth, and sown my political wild oats subsequently in + the revolutionary school. This combination is not common in England; and + as I seem, so far, to be the only publicly articulate result of it, I + venture to add my commentary to what has already been written by musicians + who are no revolutionists, and revolutionists who are no musicians. G. B. + S. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + Preliminary Encouragements + The Ring of the Niblungs + The Rhine Gold + Wagner as Revolutionist + The Valkyries + Siegfried + Siegfried as Protestant + Night Falls On The Gods + Why He Changed His Mind + Wagner's Own Explanation + The Music of The Ring + The Old and the New Music + The Nineteenth Century + The Music of the Future + Bayreuth +</pre> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0004" id="link2H_4_0004"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + THE PERFECT WAGNERITE + </h2> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0005" id="link2H_4_0005"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + PRELIMINARY ENCOURAGEMENTS + </h2> + <p> + A few of these will be welcome to the ordinary citizen visiting the + theatre to satisfy his curiosity, or his desire to be in the fashion, by + witnessing a representation of Richard Wagner's famous Ring of the + Niblungs. + </p> + <p> + First, The Ring, with all its gods and giants and dwarfs, its + water-maidens and Valkyries, its wishing-cap, magic ring, enchanted sword, + and miraculous treasure, is a drama of today, and not of a remote and + fabulous antiquity. It could not have been written before the second half + of the nineteenth century, because it deals with events which were only + then consummating themselves. Unless the spectator recognizes in it an + image of the life he is himself fighting his way through, it must needs + appear to him a monstrous development of the Christmas pantomimes, spun + out here and there into intolerable lengths of dull conversation by the + principal baritone. Fortunately, even from this point of view, The Ring is + full of extraordinarily attractive episodes, both orchestral and dramatic. + The nature music alone—music of river and rainbow, fire and forest—is + enough to bribe people with any love of the country in them to endure the + passages of political philosophy in the sure hope of a prettier page to + come. Everybody, too, can enjoy the love music, the hammer and anvil + music, the clumping of the giants, the tune of the young woodsman's horn, + the trilling of the bird, the dragon music and nightmare music and thunder + and lightning music, the profusion of simple melody, the sensuous charm of + the orchestration: in short, the vast extent of common ground between The + Ring and the ordinary music we use for play and pleasure. Hence it is that + the four separate music-plays of which it is built have become popular + throughout Europe as operas. We shall presently see that one of them, + Night Falls On The Gods, actually is an opera. + </p> + <p> + It is generally understood, however, that there is an inner ring of + superior persons to whom the whole work has a most urgent and searching + philosophic and social significance. I profess to be such a superior + person; and I write this pamphlet for the assistance of those who wish to + be introduced to the work on equal terms with that inner circle of adepts. + </p> + <p> + My second encouragement is addressed to modest citizens who may suppose + themselves to be disqualified from enjoying The Ring by their technical + ignorance of music. They may dismiss all such misgivings speedily and + confidently. If the sound of music has any power to move them, they will + find that Wagner exacts nothing further. There is not a single bar of + "classical music" in The Ring—not a note in it that has any other + point than the single direct point of giving musical expression to the + drama. In classical music there are, as the analytical programs tell us, + first subjects and second subjects, free fantasias, recapitulations, and + codas; there are fugues, with counter-subjects, strettos, and pedal + points; there are passacaglias on ground basses, canons ad hypodiapente, + and other ingenuities, which have, after all, stood or fallen by their + prettiness as much as the simplest folk-tune. Wagner is never driving at + anything of this sort any more than Shakespeare in his plays is driving at + such ingenuities of verse-making as sonnets, triolets, and the like. And + this is why he is so easy for the natural musician who has had no academic + teaching. The professors, when Wagner's music is played to them, exclaim + at once "What is this? Is it aria, or recitative? Is there no cabaletta to + it—not even a full close? Why was that discord not prepared; and why + does he not resolve it correctly? How dare he indulge in those scandalous + and illicit transitions into a key that has not one note in common with + the key he has just left? Listen to those false relations! What does he + want with six drums and eight horns when Mozart worked miracles with two + of each? The man is no musician." The layman neither knows nor cares about + any of these things. If Wagner were to turn aside from his straightforward + dramatic purpose to propitiate the professors with correct exercises in + sonata form, his music would at once become unintelligible to the + unsophisticated spectator, upon whom the familiar and dreaded "classical" + sensation would descend like the influenza. Nothing of the kind need be + dreaded. The unskilled, untaught musician may approach Wagner boldly; for + there is no possibility of a misunderstanding between them: The Ring music + is perfectly single and simple. It is the adept musician of the old school + who has everything to unlearn: and him I leave, unpitied, to his fate. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0006" id="link2H_4_0006"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + THE RING OF THE NIBLUNGS + </h2> + <p> + The Ring consists of four plays, intended to be performed on four + successive evenings, entitled The Rhine Gold (a prologue to the other + three), The Valkyries, Siegfried, and Night Falls On The Gods; or, in the + original German, Das Rheingold, Die Walkure, Siegfried, and Die + Gotterdammerung. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0007" id="link2H_4_0007"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + THE RHINE GOLD + </h2> + <p> + Let me assume for a moment that you are a young and good-looking woman. + Try to imagine yourself in that character at Klondyke five years ago. The + place is teeming with gold. If you are content to leave the gold alone, as + the wise leave flowers without plucking them, enjoying with perfect + naivete its color and glitter and preciousness, no human being will ever + be the worse for your knowledge of it; and whilst you remain in that frame + of mind the golden age will endure. + </p> + <p> + Now suppose a man comes along: a man who has no sense of the golden age, + nor any power of living in the present: a man with common desires, + cupidities, ambitions, just like most of the men you know. Suppose you + reveal to that man the fact that if he will only pluck this gold up, and + turn it into money, millions of men, driven by the invisible whip of + hunger, will toil underground and overground night and day to pile up more + and more gold for him until he is master of the world! You will find that + the prospect will not tempt him so much as you might imagine, because it + involves some distasteful trouble to himself to start with, and because + there is something else within his reach involving no distasteful toil, + which he desires more passionately; and that is yourself. So long as he is + preoccupied with love of you, the gold, and all that it implies, will + escape him: the golden age will endure. Not until he forswears love will + he stretch out his hand to the gold, and found the Plutonic empire for + himself. But the choice between love and gold may not rest altogether with + him. He may be an ugly, ungracious, unamiable person, whose affections may + seem merely ludicrous and despicable to you. In that case, you may repulse + him, and most bitterly humiliate and disappoint him. What is left to him + then but to curse the love he can never win, and turn remorselessly to the + gold? With that, he will make short work of your golden age, and leave you + lamenting its lost thoughtlessness and sweetness. + </p> + <p> + In due time the gold of Klondyke will find its way to the great cities of + the world. But the old dilemma will keep continually reproducing itself. + The man who will turn his back on love, and upon all the fruitful it, and + will set himself single-heartedly to gather gold in an exultant dream of + wielding its Plutonic powers, will find the treasure yielding quickly to + his touch. But few men will make this sacrifice voluntarily. Not until the + Plutonic power is so strongly set up that the higher human impulses are + suppressed as rebellious, and even the mere appetites are denied, starved, + and insulted when they cannot purchase their satisfaction with gold, are + the energetic spirits driven to build their lives upon riches. How + inevitable that course has become to us is plain enough to those who have + the power of understanding what they see as they look at the plutocratic + societies of our modern capitals. + </p> + <p> + First Scene + </p> + <p> + Here, then, is the subject of the first scene of The Rhine Gold. As you + sit waiting for the curtain to rise, you suddenly catch the booming + ground-tone of a mighty river. It becomes plainer, clearer: you get nearer + to the surface, and catch the green light and the flights of bubbles. Then + the curtain goes up and you see what you heard—the depths of the + Rhine, with three strange fairy fishes, half water-maidens, singing and + enjoying themselves exuberantly. They are not singing barcarolles or + ballads about the Lorely and her fated lovers, but simply trolling any + nonsense that comes into their heads in time to the dancing of the water + and the rhythm of their swimming. It is the golden age; and the attraction + of this spot for the Rhine maidens is a lump of the Rhine gold, which they + value, in an entirely uncommercial way, for its bodily beauty and + splendor. Just at present it is eclipsed, because the sun is not striking + down through the water. + </p> + <p> + Presently there comes a poor devil of a dwarf stealing along the slippery + rocks of the river bed, a creature with energy enough to make him strong + of body and fierce of passion, but with a brutish narrowness of + intelligence and selfishness of imagination: too stupid to see that his + own welfare can only be compassed as part of the welfare of the world, too + full of brute force not to grab vigorously at his own gain. Such dwarfs + are quite common in London. He comes now with a fruitful impulse in him, + in search of what he lacks in himself, beauty, lightness of heart, + imagination, music. The Rhine maidens, representing all these to him, fill + him with hope and longing; and he never considers that he has nothing to + offer that they could possibly desire, being by natural limitation + incapable of seeing anything from anyone else's point of view. With + perfect simplicity, he offers himself as a sweetheart to them. But they + are thoughtless, elemental, only half real things, much like modern young + ladies. That the poor dwarf is repulsive to their sense of physical beauty + and their romantic conception of heroism, that he is ugly and awkward, + greedy and ridiculous, disposes for them of his claim to live and love. + They mock him atrociously, pretending to fall in love with him at first + sight, and then slipping away and making game of him, heaping ridicule and + disgust on the poor wretch until he is beside himself with mortification + and rage. They forget him when the water begins to glitter in the sun, and + the gold to reflect its glory. They break into ecstatic worship of their + treasure; and though they know the parable of Klondyke quite well, they + have no fear that the gold will be wrenched away by the dwarf, since it + will yield to no one who has not forsworn love for it, and it is in + pursuit of love that he has come to them. They forget that they have + poisoned that desire in him by their mockery and denial of it, and that he + now knows that life will give him nothing that he cannot wrest from it by + the Plutonic power. It is just as if some poor, rough, vulgar, coarse + fellow were to offer to take his part in aristocratic society, and be + snubbed into the knowledge that only as a millionaire could he ever hope + to bring that society to his feet and buy himself a beautiful and refined + wife. His choice is forced on him. He forswears love as thousands of us + forswear it every day; and in a moment the gold is in his grasp, and he + disappears in the depths, leaving the water-fairies vainly screaming "Stop + thief!" whilst the river seems to plunge into darkness and sink from us as + we rise to the cloud regions above. + </p> + <p> + And now, what forces are there in the world to resist Alberic, our dwarf, + in his new character of sworn plutocrat? He is soon at work wielding the + power of the gold. For his gain, hordes of his fellow-creatures are + thenceforth condemned to slave miserably, overground and underground, + lashed to their work by the invisible whip of starvation. They never see + him, any more than the victims of our "dangerous trades" ever see the + shareholders whose power is nevertheless everywhere, driving them to + destruction. The very wealth they create with their labor becomes an + additional force to impoverish them; for as fast as they make it it slips + from their hands into the hands of their master, and makes him mightier + than ever. You can see the process for yourself in every civilized country + today, where millions of people toil in want and disease to heap up more + wealth for our Alberics, laying up nothing for themselves, except + sometimes horrible and agonizing disease and the certainty of premature + death. All this part of the story is frightfully real, frightfully + present, frightfully modern; and its effects on our social life are so + ghastly and ruinous that we no longer know enough of happiness to be + discomposed by it. It is only the poet, with his vision of what life might + be, to whom these things are unendurable. If we were a race of poets we + would make an end of them before the end of this miserable century. Being + a race of moral dwarfs instead, we think them highly respectable, + comfortable and proper, and allow them to breed and multiply their evil in + all directions. If there were no higher power in the world to work against + Alberic, the end of it would be utter destruction. + </p> + <p> + Such a force there is, however; and it is called Godhead. The mysterious + thing we call life organizes itself into all living shapes, bird, beast, + beetle and fish, rising to the human marvel in cunning dwarfs and in + laborious muscular giants, capable, these last, of enduring toil, willing + to buy love and life, not with suicidal curses and renunciations, but with + patient manual drudgery in the service of higher powers. And these higher + powers are called into existence by the same self-organization of life + still more wonderfully into rare persons who may by comparison be called + gods, creatures capable of thought, whose aims extend far beyond the + satisfaction of their bodily appetites and personal affections, since they + perceive that it is only by the establishment of a social order founded on + common bonds of moral faith that the world can rise from mere savagery. + But how is this order to be set up by Godhead in a world of stupid giants, + since these thoughtless ones pursue only their narrower personal ends and + can by no means understand the aims of a god? Godhead, face to face with + Stupidity, must compromise. Unable to enforce on the world the pure law of + thought, it must resort to a mechanical law of commandments to be enforced + by brute punishments and the destruction of the disobedient. And however + carefully these laws are framed to represent the highest thoughts of the + framers at the moment of their promulgation, before a day has elapsed that + thought has grown and widened by the ceaseless evolution of life; and lo! + yesterday's law already fallen out with today's thought. Yet if the high + givers of that law themselves set the example of breaking it before it is + a week old, they destroy all its authority with their subjects, and so + break the weapon they have forged to rule them for their own good. They + must therefore maintain at all costs the sanctity of the law, even when it + has ceased to represent their thought; so that at last they get entangled + in a network of ordinances which they no longer believe in, and yet have + made so sacred by custom and so terrible by punishment, that they cannot + themselves escape from them. Thus Godhead's resort to law finally costs it + half its integrity—as if a spiritual king, to gain temporal power, + had plucked out one of his eyes—and it finally begins secretly to + long for the advent of some power higher than itself which will destroy + its artificial empire of law, and establish a true republic of free + thought. + </p> + <p> + This is by no means the only difficulty in the dominion of Law. The brute + force for its execution must be purchased; and the mass of its subjects + must be persuaded to respect the authority which employs this force. But + how is such respect to be implanted in them if they are unable to + comprehend the thought of the lawgiver? Clearly, only by associating the + legislative power with such displays of splendor and majesty as will + impress their senses and awe their imaginations. The god turned lawgiver, + in short, must be crowned Pontiff and King. Since he cannot be known to + the common folk as their superior in wisdom, he must be known to them as + their superior in riches, as the dweller in castles, the wearer of gold + and purple, the eater of mighty feasts, the commander of armies, and the + wielder of powers of life and death, of salvation and damnation after + death. Something may be done in this way without corruption whilst the + golden age still endures. Your gods may not prevail with the dwarfs; but + they may go to these honest giants who will give a day's work for a day's + pay, and induce them to build for Godhead a mighty fortress, complete with + hall and chapel, tower and bell, for the sake of the homesteads that will + grow up in security round that church-castle. This only, however, whilst + the golden age lasts. The moment the Plutonic power is let loose, and the + loveless Alberic comes into the field with his corrupting millions, the + gods are face to face with destruction; since Alberic, able with invisible + hunger-whip to force the labor of the dwarfs and to buy the services of + the giants, can outshine all the temporal shows and splendors of the + golden age, and make himself master of the world, unless the gods, with + their bigger brains, can capture his gold. This, the dilemma of the Church + today, is the situation created by the exploit of Alberic in the depths of + the Rhine. + </p> + <p> + Second Scene + </p> + <p> + From the bed of the river we rise into cloudy regions, and finally come + out into the clear in a meadow, where Wotan, the god of gods, and his + consort Fricka lie sleeping. Wotan, you will observe, has lost one eye; + and you will presently learn that he plucked it out voluntarily as the + price to be paid for his alliance with Fricka, who in return has brought + to him as her dowry all the powers of Law. The meadow is on the brink of a + ravine, beyond which, towering on distant heights, stands Godhome, a + mighty castle, newly built as a house of state for the one-eyed god and + his all-ruling wife. Wotan has not yet seen this castle except in his + dreams: two giants have just built it for him whilst he slept; and the + reality is before him for the first time when Fricka wakes him. In that + majestic burg he is to rule with her and through her over the humble + giants, who have eyes to gape at the glorious castles their own hands have + built from his design, but no brains to design castles for themselves, or + to comprehend divinity. As a god, he is to be great, secure, and mighty; + but he is also to be passionless, affectionless, wholly impartial; for + Godhead, if it is to live with Law, must have no weaknesses, no respect + for persons. All such sweet littlenesses must be left to the humble stupid + giants to make their toil sweet to them; and the god must, after all, pay + for Olympian power the same price the dwarf has paid for Plutonic power. + </p> + <p> + Wotan has forgotten this in his dreams of greatness. Not so Fricka. What + she is thinking of is this price that Wotan has consented to pay, in token + whereof he has promised this day to hand over to the giants Fricka's + sister, the goddess Freia, with her golden love-apples. When Fricka + reproaches Wotan with having selfishly forgotten this, she finds that he, + like herself, is not prepared to go through with his bargain, and that he + is trusting to another great worldforce, the Lie (a European Power, as + Lassalle said), to help him to trick the giants out of their reward. But + this force does not dwell in Wotan himself, but in another, a god over + whom he has triumphed, one Loki, the god of Intellect, Argument, + Imagination, Illusion, and Reason. Loki has promised to deliver him from + his contract, and to cheat the giants for him; but he has not arrived to + keep his word: indeed, as Fricka bitterly points out, why should not the + Lie fail Wotan, since such failure is the very essence of him? + </p> + <p> + The giants come soon enough; and Freia flies to Wotan for protection + against them. Their purposes are quite honest; and they have no doubt of + the god's faith. There stands their part of the contract fulfilled, stone + on stone, port and pinnacle all faithfully finished from Wotan's design by + their mighty labor. They have come undoubtingly for their agreed wage. + Then there happens what is to them an incredible, inconceivable thing. The + god begins to shuffle. There are no moments in life more tragic than those + in which the humble common man, the manual worker, leaving with implicit + trust all high affairs to his betters, and reverencing them wholly as + worthy of that trust, even to the extent of accepting as his rightful + function the saving of them from all roughening and coarsening drudgeries, + first discovers that they are corrupt, greedy, unjust and treacherous. The + shock drives a ray of prophetic light into one giant's mind, and gives him + a momentary eloquence. In that moment he rises above his stupid gianthood, + and earnestly warns the Son of Light that all his power and eminence of + priesthood, godhood, and kingship must stand or fall with the unbearable + cold greatness of the incorruptible law-giver. But Wotan, whose assumed + character of law-giver is altogether false to his real passionate nature, + despises the rebuke; and the giant's ray of insight is lost in the murk of + his virtuous indignation. + </p> + <p> + In the midst of the wrangle, Loki comes at last, excusing himself for + being late on the ground that he has been detained by a matter of + importance which he has promised to lay before Wotan. When pressed to give + his mind to the business immediately in hand, and to extricate Wotan from + his dilemma, he has nothing to say except that the giants are evidently + altogether in the right. The castle has been duly built: he has tried + every stone of it, and found the work first-rate: there is nothing to be + done but pay the price agreed upon by handing over Freia to the giants. + The gods are furious; and Wotan passionately declares that he only + consented to the bargain on Loki's promise to find a way for him out of + it. But Loki says no: he has promised to find a way out if any such way + exist, but not to make a way if there is no way. He has wandered over the + whole earth in search of some treasure great enough to buy Freia back from + the giants; but in all the world he has found nothing for which Man will + give up Woman. And this, by the way, reminds him of the matter he had + promised to lay before Wotan. The Rhine maidens have complained to him of + Alberic's theft of their gold; and he mentions it as a curious exception + to his universal law of the unpurchasable preciousness of love, that this + gold-robber has forsworn love for the sake of the fabulous riches of the + Plutonic empire and the mastery of the world through its power. + </p> + <p> + No sooner is the tale told than the giants stoop lower than the dwarf. + Alberic forswore love only when it was denied to him and made the + instrument for cruelly murdering his self-respect. But the giants, with + love within their reach, with Freia and her golden apples in their hands, + offer to give her up for the treasure of Alberic. Observe, it is the + treasure alone that they desire. They have no fierce dreams of dominion + over their superiors, or of moulding the world to any conceptions of their + own. They are neither clever nor ambitious: they simply covet money. + Alberic's gold: that is their demand, or else Freia, as agreed upon, whom + they now carry off as hostage, leaving Wotan to consider their ultimatum. + </p> + <p> + Freia gone, the gods begin to wither and age: her golden apples, which + they so lightly bargained away, they now find to be a matter of life and + death to them; for not even the gods can live on Law and Godhead alone, be + their castles ever so splendid. Loki alone is unaffected: the Lie, with + all its cunning wonders, its glistenings and shiftings and mirages, is a + mere appearance: it has no body and needs no food. What is Wotan to do? + Loki sees the answer clearly enough: he must bluntly rob Alberic. There is + nothing to prevent him except moral scruple; for Alberic, after all, is a + poor, dim, dwarfed, credulous creature whom a god can outsee and a lie can + outwit. Down, then, Wotan and Loki plunge into the mine where Alberic's + slaves are piling up wealth for him under the invisible whip. + </p> + <p> + Third Scene + </p> + <p> + This gloomy place need not be a mine: it might just as well be a + match-factory, with yellow phosphorus, phossy jaw, a large dividend, and + plenty of clergymen shareholders. Or it might be a whitelead factory, or a + chemical works, or a pottery, or a railway shunting yard, or a tailoring + shop, or a little gin-sodden laundry, or a bakehouse, or a big shop, or + any other of the places where human life and welfare are daily sacrificed + in order that some greedy foolish creature may be able to hymn exultantly + to his Platonic idol: + </p> + <p> + Thou mak'st me eat whilst others starve, And sing while others do lament: + Such untome Thy blessings are, As if I were Thine only care. + </p> + <p> + In the mine, which resounds with the clinking anvils of the dwarfs toiling + miserably to heap up treasure for their master, Alberic has set his + brother Mime—more familiarly, Mimmy—to make him a helmet. + Mimmy dimly sees that there is some magic in this helmet, and tries to + keep it; but Alberic wrests it from him, and shows him, to his cost, that + it is the veil of the invisible whip, and that he who wears it can appear + in what shape he will, or disappear from view altogether. This helmet is a + very common article in our streets, where it generally takes the form of a + tall hat. It makes a man invisible as a shareholder, and changes him into + various shapes, such as a pious Christian, a subscriber to hospitals, a + benefactor of the poor, a model husband and father, a shrewd, practical + independent Englishman, and what not, when he is really a pitiful parasite + on the commonwealth, consuming a great deal, and producing nothing, + feeling nothing, knowing nothing, believing nothing, and doing nothing + except what all the rest do, and that only because he is afraid not to do + it, or at least pretend to do it. + </p> + <p> + When Wotan and Loki arrive, Loki claims Alberic as an old acquaintance. + But the dwarf has no faith in these civil strangers: Greed instinctively + mistrusts Intellect, even in the garb of Poetry and the company of + Godhead, whilst envying the brilliancy of the one and the dignity of the + other. Alberic breaks out at them with a terrible boast of the power now + within his grasp. He paints for them the world as it will be when his + dominion over it is complete, when the soft airs and green mosses of its + valleys shall be changed into smoke, slag, and filth; when slavery, + disease, and squalor, soothed by drunkenness and mastered by the + policeman's baton, shall become the foundation of society; and when + nothing shall escape ruin except such pretty places and pretty women as he + may like to buy for the slaking of his own lusts. In that kingdom of evil + he sees that there will be no power but his own. These gods, with their + moralities and legalities and intellectual subtlety, will go under and be + starved out of existence. He bids Wotan and Loki beware of it; and his + "Hab' Acht!" is hoarse, horrible, and sinister. Wotan is revolted to the + very depths of his being: he cannot stifle the execration that bursts from + him. But Loki is unaffected: he has no moral passion: indignation is as + absurd to him as enthusiasm. He finds it exquisitely amusing—having + a touch of the comic spirit in him—that the dwarf, in stirring up + the moral fervor of Wotan, has removed his last moral scruple about + becoming a thief. Wotan will now rob the dwarf without remorse; for is it + not positively his highest duty to take this power out of such evil hands + and use it himself in the interests of Godhead? On the loftiest moral + grounds, he lets Loki do his worst. + </p> + <p> + A little cunningly disguised flattery makes short work of Alberic. Loki + pretends to be afraid of him; and he swallows that bait unhesitatingly. + But how, enquires Loki, is he to guard against the hatred of his million + slaves? Will they not steal from him, whilst he sleeps, the magic ring, + the symbol of his power, which he has forged from the gold of the Rhine? + "You think yourself very clever," sneers Alberic, and then begins to boast + of the enchantments of the magic helmet. Loki refuses to believe in such + marvels without witnessing them. Alberic, only too glad to show off his + powers, puts on the helmet and transforms himself into a monstrous + serpent. Loki gratifies him by pretending to be frightened out of his + wits, but ventures to remark that it would be better still if the helmet + could transform its owner into some tiny creature that could hide and spy + in the smallest cranny. Alberic promptly transforms himself into a toad. + In an instant Wotan's foot is on him; Loki tears away the helmet; they + pinion him, and drag him away a prisoner up through the earth to the + meadow by the castle. + </p> + <p> + Fourth Scene + </p> + <p> + There, to pay for his freedom, he has to summon his slaves from the depths + to place all the treasure they have heaped up for him at the feet of + Wotan. Then he demands his liberty; but Wotan must have the ring as well. + And here the dwarf, like the giant before him, feels the very foundations + of the world shake beneath him at the discovery of his own base cupidity + in a higher power. That evil should, in its loveless desperation, create + malign powers which Godhead could not create, seems but natural justice to + him. But that Godhead should steal those malign powers from evil, and + wield them itself, is a monstrous perversion; and his appeal to Wotan to + forego it is almost terrible in its conviction of wrong. It is of no + avail. Wotan falls back again on virtuous indignation. He reminds Alberic + that he stole the gold from the Rhine maidens, and takes the attitude of + the just judge compelling a restitution of stolen goods. Alberic knowing + perfectly well that the judge is taking the goods to put them in his own + pocket, has the ring torn from his finger, and is once more as poor as he + was when he came slipping and stumbling among the slimy rocks in the bed + of the Rhine. + </p> + <p> + This is the way of the world. In older times, when the Christian laborer + was drained dry by the knightly spendthrift, and the spendthrift was + drained by the Jewish usurer, Church and State, religion and law, seized + on the Jew and drained him as a Christian duty. When the forces of + lovelessness and greed had built up our own sordid capitalist systems, + driven by invisible proprietorship, robbing the poor, defacing the earth, + and forcing themselves as a universal curse even on the generous and + humane, then religion and law and intellect, which would never themselves + have discovered such systems, their natural bent being towards welfare, + economy, and life instead of towards corruption, waste, and death, + nevertheless did not scruple to seize by fraud and force these powers of + evil on presence of using them for good. And it inevitably happens that + when the Church, the Law, and all the Talents have made common cause to + rob the people, the Church is far more vitally harmed by that + unfaithfulness to itself than its more mechanical confederates; so that + finally they turn on their discredited ally and rob the Church, with the + cheerful co-operation of Loki, as in France and Italy for instance. + </p> + <p> + The twin giants come back with their hostage, in whose presence Godhead + blooms again. The gold is ready for them; but now that the moment has come + for parting with Freia the gold does not seem so tempting; and they are + sorely loth to let her go. Not unless there is gold enough to utterly hide + her from them—not until the heap has grown so that they can see + nothing but gold—until money has come between them and every human + feeling, will they part with her. There is not gold enough to accomplish + this: however cunningly Loki spreads it, the glint of Freia's hair is + still visible to Giant Fafnir, and the magic helmet must go on the heap to + shut it out. Even then Fafnir's brother, Fasolt, can catch a beam from her + eye through a chink, and is rendered incapable thereby of forswearing her. + There is nothing to stop that chink but the ring; and Wotan is as greedily + bent on keeping that as Alberic himself was; nor can the other gods + persuade him that Freia is worth it, since for the highest god, love is + not the highest good, but only the universal delight that bribes all + living things to travail with renewed life. Life itself, with its + accomplished marvels and its infinite potentialities, is the only force + that Godhead can worship. Wotan does not yield until he is reached by the + voice of the fruitful earth that before he or the dwarfs or the giants or + the Law or the Lie or any of these things were, had the seed of them all + in her bosom, and the seed perhaps of something higher even than himself, + that shall one day supersede him and cut the tangles and alliances and + compromises that already have cost him one of his eyes. When Erda, the + First Mother of life, rises from her sleeping-place in the heart of the + earth, and warns him to yield the ring, he obeys her; the ring is added to + the heap of gold; and all sense of Freia is cut off from the giants. + </p> + <p> + But now what Law is left to these two poor stupid laborers whereby one + shall yield to the other any of the treasure for which they have each paid + the whole price in surrendering Freia? They look by mere habit to the god + to judge for them; but he, with his heart stirring towards higher forces + than himself, turns with disgust from these lower forces. They settle it + as two wolves might; and Fafnir batters his brother dead with his staff. + It is a horrible thing to see and hear, to anyone who knows how much blood + has been shed in the world in just that way by its brutalized toilers, + honest fellows enough until their betters betrayed them. Fafnir goes off + with his booty. It is quite useless to him. He has neither the cunning nor + the ambition to establish the Plutonic empire with it. Merely to prevent + others from getting it is the only purpose it brings him. He piles it in a + cave; transforms himself into a dragon by the helmet; and devotes his life + to guarding it, as much a slave to it as a jailor is to his prisoner. He + had much better have thrown it all back into the Rhine and transformed + himself into the shortest-lived animal that enjoys at least a brief run in + the sunshine. His case, however, is far too common to be surprising. The + world is overstocked with persons who sacrifice all their affections, and + madly trample and batter down their fellows to obtain riches of which, + when they get them, they are unable to make the smallest use, and to which + they become the most miserable slaves. + </p> + <p> + The gods soon forget Fafnir in their rejoicing over Freia. Donner, the + Thunder god, springs to a rocky summit and calls the clouds as a shepherd + calls his flocks. They come at his summons; and he and the castle are + hidden by their black legions. Froh, the Rainbow god, hastens to his side. + At the stroke of Donner's hammer the black murk is riven in all directions + by darting ribbons of lightning; and as the air clears, the castle is seen + in its fullest splendor, accessible now by the rainbow bridge which Froh + has cast across the ravine. In the glory of this moment Wotan has a great + thought. With all his aspirations to establish a reign of noble thought, + of righteousness, order, and justice, he has found that day that there is + no race yet in the world that quite spontaneously, naturally, and + unconsciously realizes his ideal. He himself has found how far short + Godhead falls of the thing it conceives. He, the greatest of gods, has + been unable to control his fate: he has been forced against his will to + choose between evils, to make disgraceful bargains, to break them still + more disgracefully, and even then to see the price of his disgrace slip + through his fingers. His consort has cost him half his vision; his castle + has cost him his affections; and the attempt to retain both has cost him + his honor. On every side he is shackled and bound, dependent on the laws + of Fricka and on the lies of Loki, forced to traffic with dwarfs for + handicraft and with giants for strength, and to pay them both in false + coin. After all, a god is a pitiful thing. But the fertility of the First + Mother is not yet exhausted. The life that came from her has ever climbed + up to a higher and higher organization. From toad and serpent to dwarf, + from bear and elephant to giant, from dwarf and giant to a god with + thoughts, with comprehension of the world, with ideals. Why should it stop + there? Why should it not rise from the god to the Hero? to the creature in + whom the god's unavailing thought shall have become effective will and + life, who shall make his way straight to truth and reality over the laws + of Fricka and the lies of Loki with a strength that overcomes giants and a + cunning that outwits dwarfs? Yes: Erda, the First Mother, must travail + again, and breed him a race of heroes to deliver the world and himself + from his limited powers and disgraceful bargains. This is the vision that + flashes on him as he turns to the rainbow bridge and calls his wife to + come and dwell with him in Valhalla, the home of the gods. + </p> + <p> + They are all overcome with Valhalla's glory except Loki. He is behind the + scenes of this joint reign of the Divine and the Legal. He despises these + gods with their ideals and their golden apples. "I am ashamed," he says, + "to have dealings with these futile creatures." And so he follows them to + the rainbow bridge. But as they set foot on it, from the river below rises + the wailing of the Rhine maidens for their lost gold. "You down there in + the water," cries Loki with brutal irony: "you used to bask in the glitter + of your gold: henceforth you shall bask in the splendor of the gods." And + they reply that the truth is in the depths and the darkness, and that what + blazes on high there is falsehood. And with that the gods pass into their + glorious stronghold. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0008" id="link2H_4_0008"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + WAGNER AS REVOLUTIONIST + </h2> + <p> + Before leaving this explanation of The Rhine Gold, I must have a word or + two about it with the reader. It is the least popular of the sections of + The Ring. The reason is that its dramatic moments lie quite outside the + consciousness of people whose joys and sorrows are all domestic and + personal, and whose religions and political ideas are purely conventional + and superstitious. To them it is a struggle between half a dozen fairytale + personages for a ring, involving hours of scolding and cheating, and one + long scene in a dark gruesome mine, with gloomy, ugly music, and not a + glimpse of a handsome young man or pretty woman. Only those of wider + consciousness can follow it breathlessly, seeing in it the whole tragedy + of human history and the whole horror of the dilemmas from which the world + is shrinking today. At Bayreuth I have seen a party of English tourists, + after enduring agonies of boredom from Alberic, rise in the middle of the + third scene, and almost force their way out of the dark theatre into the + sunlit pine-wood without. And I have seen people who were deeply affected + by the scene driven almost beside themselves by this disturbance. But it + was a very natural thing for the unfortunate tourists to do, since in this + Rhine Gold prologue there is no interval between the acts for escape. + Roughly speaking, people who have no general ideas, no touch of the + concern of the philosopher and statesman for the race, cannot enjoy The + Rhine Gold as a drama. They may find compensations in some exceedingly + pretty music, at times even grand and glorious, which will enable them to + escape occasionally from the struggle between Alberic and Wotan; but if + their capacity for music should be as limited as their comprehension of + the world, they had better stay away. + </p> + <p> + And now, attentive Reader, we have reached the point at which some foolish + person is sure to interrupt us by declaring that The Rhine Gold is what + they call "a work of art" pure and simple, and that Wagner never dreamt of + shareholders, tall hats, whitelead factories, and industrial and political + questions looked at from the socialistic and humanitarian points of view. + We need not discuss these impertinences: it is easier to silence them with + the facts of Wagner's life. In 1843 he obtained the position of conductor + of the Opera at Dresden at a salary of L225 a year, with a pension. This + was a first-rate permanent appointment in the service of the Saxon State, + carrying an assured professional position and livelihood with it In 1848, + the year of revolutions, the discontented middle class, unable to rouse + the Church-and-State governments of the day from their bondage to custom, + caste, and law by appeals to morality or constitutional agitation for + Liberal reforms, made common cause with the starving wage-working class, + and resorted to armed rebellion, which reached Dresden in 1849. Had Wagner + been the mere musical epicure and political mugwump that the term "artist" + seems to suggest to so many critics and amateurs—that is, a creature + in their own lazy likeness—he need have taken no more part in the + political struggles of his day than Bishop took in the English Reform + agitation of 1832, or Sterndale Bennett in the Chartist or Free Trade + movements. What he did do was first to make a desperate appeal to the King + to cast off his bonds and answer the need of the time by taking true + Kingship on himself and leading his people to the redress of their + intolerable wrongs (fancy the poor monarch's feelings!), and then, when + the crash came, to take his side with the right and the poor against the + rich and the wrong. When the insurrection was defeated, three leaders of + it were especially marked down for vengeance: August Roeckel, an old + friend of Wagner's to whom he wrote a well-known series of letters; + Michael Bakoonin, afterwards a famous apostle of revolutionary Anarchism; + and Wagner himself. Wagner escaped to Switzerland: Roeckel and Bakoonin + suffered long terms of imprisonment. Wagner was of course utterly ruined, + pecuniarily and socially (to his own intense relief and satisfaction); and + his exile lasted twelve years. His first idea was to get his Tannhauser + produced in Paris. With the notion of explaining himself to the Parisians + he wrote a pamphlet entitled Art and Revolution, a glance through which + will show how thoroughly the socialistic side of the revolution had his + sympathy, and how completely he had got free from the influence of the + established Churches of his day. For three years he kept pouring forth + pamphlets—some of them elaborate treatises in size and intellectual + rank, but still essentially the pamphlets and manifestoes of a born + agitator—on social evolution, religion, life, art and the influence + of riches. In 1853 the poem of The Ring was privately printed; and in + 1854, five years after the Dresden insurrection, The Rhine Gold score was + completed to the last drum tap. + </p> + <p> + These facts are on official record in Germany, where the proclamation + summing up Wagner as "a politically dangerous person" may be consulted to + this day. The pamphlets are now accessible to English readers in the + translation of Mr. Ashton Ellis. This being so, any person who, having + perhaps heard that I am a Socialist, attempts to persuade you that my + interpretation of The Rhine Gold is only "my socialism" read into the + works of a dilettantist who borrowed an idle tale from an old saga to make + an opera book with, may safely be dismissed from your consideration as an + ignoramus. + </p> + <p> + If you are now satisfied that The Rhine Gold is an allegory, do not forget + that an allegory is never quite consistent except when it is written by + someone without dramatic faculty, in which case it is unreadable. There is + only one way of dramatizing an idea; and that is by putting on the stage a + human being possessed by that idea, yet none the less a human being with + all the human impulses which make him akin and therefore interesting to + us. Bunyan, in his Pilgrim's Progress, does not, like his unread + imitators, attempt to personify Christianity and Valour: he dramatizes for + you the life of the Christian and the Valiant Man. Just so, though I have + shown that Wotan is Godhead and Kingship, and Loki Logic and Imagination + without living Will (Brain without Heart, to put it vulgarly); yet in the + drama Wotan is a religiously moral man, and Loki a witty, ingenious, + imaginative and cynical one. As to Fricka, who stands for State Law, she + does not assume her allegorical character in The Rhine Gold at all, but is + simply Wotan's wife and Freia's sister: nay, she contradicts her + allegorical self by conniving at all Wotan's rogueries. That, of course, + is just what State Law would do; but we must not save the credit of the + allegory by a quip. Not until she reappears in the next play (The + Valkyries) does her function in the allegorical scheme become plain. + </p> + <p> + One preconception will bewilder the spectator hopelessly unless he has + been warned against it or is naturally free from it. In the old-fashioned + orders of creation, the supernatural personages are invariably conceived + as greater than man, for good or evil. In the modern humanitarian order as + adopted by Wagner, Man is the highest. In The Rhine Gold, it is pretended + that there are as yet no men on the earth. There are dwarfs, giants, and + gods. The danger is that you will jump to the conclusion that the gods, at + least, are a higher order than the human order. On the contrary, the world + is waiting for Man to redeem it from the lame and cramped government of + the gods. Once grasp that; and the allegory becomes simple enough. Really, + of course, the dwarfs, giants, and gods are dramatizations of the three + main orders of men: to wit, the instinctive, predatory, lustful, greedy + people; the patient, toiling, stupid, respectful, money-worshipping + people; and the intellectual, moral, talented people who devise and + administer States and Churches. History shows us only one order higher + than the highest of these: namely, the order of Heroes. + </p> + <p> + Now it is quite clear—though you have perhaps never thought of it—that + if the next generation of Englishmen consisted wholly of Julius Caesars, + all our political, ecclesiastical, and moral institutions would vanish, + and the less perishable of their appurtenances be classed with Stonehenge + and the cromlechs and round towers as inexplicable relics of a bygone + social order. Julius Caesars would no more trouble themselves about such + contrivances as our codes and churches than a fellow of the Royal Society + will touch his hat to the squire and listen to the village curate's + sermons. This is precisely what must happen some day if life continues + thrusting towards higher and higher organization as it has hitherto done. + As most of our English professional men are to Australian bushmen, so, we + must suppose, will the average man of some future day be to Julius Caesar. + Let any man of middle age, pondering this prospect consider what has + happened within a single generation to the articles of faith his father + regarded as eternal nay, to the very scepticisms and blasphemies of his + youth (Bishop Colenso's criticism of the Pentateuch, for example!); and he + will begin to realize how much of our barbarous Theology and Law the man + of the future will do without. Bakoonin, the Dresden revolutionary leader + with whom Wagner went out in 1849, put forward later on a program, often + quoted with foolish horror, for the abolition of all institutions, + religious, political, juridical, financial, legal, academic, and so on, so + as to leave the will of man free to find its own way. All the loftiest + spirits of that time were burning to raise Man up, to give him + self-respect, to shake him out of his habit of grovelling before the + ideals created by his own imagination, of attributing the good that sprang + from the ceaseless energy of the life within himself to some superior + power in the clouds, and of making a fetish of self-sacrifice to justify + his own cowardice. + </p> + <p> + Farther on in The Ring we shall see the Hero arrive and make an end of + dwarfs, giants, and gods. Meanwhile, let us not forget that godhood means + to Wagner infirmity and compromise, and manhood strength and integrity. + Above all, we must understand—for it is the key to much that we are + to see—that the god, since his desire is toward a higher and fuller + life, must long in his inmost soul for the advent of that greater power + whose first work, though this he does not see as yet, must be his own + undoing. + </p> + <p> + In the midst of all these far-reaching ideas, it is amusing to find Wagner + still full of his ingrained theatrical professionalism, and introducing + effects which now seem old-fashioned and stagey with as much energy and + earnestness as if they were his loftiest inspirations. When Wotan wrests + the ring from Alberic, the dwarf delivers a lurid and bloodcurdling stage + curse, calling down on its every future possessor care, fear, and death. + The musical phrase accompanying this outburst was a veritable harmonic and + melodic bogey to mid-century ears, though time has now robbed it of its + terrors. It sounds again when Fafnir slays Fasolt, and on every subsequent + occasion when the ring brings death to its holder. This episode must + justify itself purely as a piece of stage sensationalism. On deeper ground + it is superfluous and confusing, as the ruin to which the pursuit of + riches leads needs no curse to explain it; nor is there any sense in + investing Alberic with providential powers in the matter. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0009" id="link2H_4_0009"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + THE VALKYRIES + </h2> + <p> + Before the curtain rises on the Valkyries, let us see what has happened + since it fell on The Rhine Gold. The persons of the drama will tell us + presently; but as we probably do not understand German, that may not help + us. + </p> + <p> + Wotan is still ruling the world in glory from his giant-built castle with + his wife Fricka. But he has no security for the continuance of his reign, + since Alberic may at any moment contrive to recover the ring, the full + power of which he can wield because he has forsworn love. Such forswearing + is not possible to Wotan: love, though not his highest need, is a higher + than gold: otherwise he would be no god. Besides, as we have seen, his + power has been established in the world by and as a system of laws + enforced by penalties. These he must consent to be bound by himself; for a + god who broke his own laws would betray the fact that legality and + conformity are not the highest rule of conduct—a discovery fatal to + his supremacy as Pontiff and Lawgiver. Hence he may not wrest the ring + unlawfully from Fafnir, even if he could bring himself to forswear love. + </p> + <p> + In this insecurity he has hit on the idea of forming a heroic bodyguard. + He has trained his love children as war-maidens (Valkyries) whose duty it + is to sweep through battle-fields and bear away to Valhalla the souls of + the bravest who fall there. Thus reinforced by a host of warriors, he has + thoroughly indoctrinated them, Loki helping him as dialectician-in-chief, + with the conventional system of law and duty, supernatural religion and + self-sacrificing idealism, which they believe to be the essence of his + godhood, but which is really only the machinery of the love of necessary + power which is his mortal weakness. This process secures their fanatical + devotion to his system of government, but he knows perfectly well that + such systems, in spite of their moral pretensions, serve selfish and + ambitious tyrants better than benevolent despots, and that, if once + Alberic gets the ring back, he will easily out-Valhalla Valhalla, if not + buy it over as a going concern. The only chance of permanent security, + then, is the appearance in the world of a hero who, without any illicit + prompting from Wotan, will destroy Alberic and wrest the ring from Fafnir. + There will then, he believes, be no further cause for anxiety, since he + does not yet conceive Heroism as a force hostile to Godhead. In his + longing for a rescuer, it does not occur to him that when the Hero comes, + his first exploit must be to sweep the gods and their ordinances from the + path of the heroic will. + </p> + <p> + Indeed, he feels that in his own Godhead is the germ of such Heroism, and + that from himself the Hero must spring. He takes to wandering, mostly in + search of love, from Fricka and Valhalla. He seeks the First Mother; and + through her womb, eternally fertile, the inner true thought that made him + first a god is reborn as his daughter, uncorrupted by his ambition, + unfettered by his machinery of power and his alliances with Fricka and + Loki. This daughter, the Valkyrie Brynhild, is his true will, his real + self, (as he thinks): to her he may say what he must not say to anyone, + since in speaking to her he but speaks to himself. "Was Keinem in Worten + unausgesprochen," he says to her, "bleib es ewig: mit mir nur rath' ich, + red' ich zu dir." + </p> + <p> + But from Brynhild no hero can spring until there is a man of Wotan's race + to breed with her. Wotan wanders further; and a mortal woman bears him + twins: a son and a daughter. He separates them by letting the girl fall + into the hands of a forest tribe which in due time gives her as a wife to + a fierce chief, one Hunding. With the son he himself leads the life of a + wolf, and teaches him the only power a god can teach, the power of doing + without happiness. When he has given him this terrible training, he + abandons him, and goes to the bridal feast of his daughter Sieglinda and + Hunding. In the blue cloak of the wanderer, wearing the broad hat that + flaps over the socket of his forfeited eye, he appears in Hunding's house, + the middle pillar of which is a mighty tree. Into that tree, without a + word, he strikes a sword up to the hilt, so that only the might of a hero + can withdraw it. Then he goes out as silently as he came, blind to the + truth that no weapon from the armory of Godhead can serve the turn of the + true Human Hero. Neither Hunding nor any of his guests can move the sword; + and there it stays awaiting the destined hand. That is the history of the + generations between The Rhine Gold and The Valkyries. + </p> + <p> + The First Act + </p> + <p> + This time, as we sit looking expectantly at the curtain, we hear, not the + deep booming of the Rhine, but the patter of a forest downpour, + accompanied by the mutter of a storm which soon gathers into a roar and + culminates in crashing thunderbolts. As it passes off, the curtain rises; + and there is no mistaking whose forest habitation we are in; for the + central pillar is a mighty tree, and the place fit for the dwelling of a + fierce chief. The door opens: and an exhausted man reels in: an adept from + the school of unhappiness. Sieglinda finds him lying on the hearth. He + explains that he has been in a fight; that his weapons not being as strong + as his arms, were broken; and that he had to fly. He desires some drink + and a moment's rest; then he will go; for he is an unlucky person, and + does not want to bring his ill-luck on the woman who is succoring him. But + she, it appears, is also unhappy; and a strong sympathy springs up between + them. When her husband arrives, he observes not only this sympathy, but a + resemblance between them, a gleam of the snake in their eyes. They sit + down to table; and the stranger tells them his unlucky story. He is the + son of Wotan, who is known to him only as Wolfing, of the race of the + Volsungs. The earliest thing he remembers is returning from a hunt with + his father to find their home destroyed, his mother murdered, and his + twin-sister carried off. This was the work of a tribe called the Neidings, + upon whom he and Wolfing thenceforth waged implacable war until the day + when his father disappeared, leaving no trace of himself but an empty + wolfskin. The young Volsung was thus cast alone upon the world, finding + most hands against him, and bringing no good luck even to his friends. His + latest exploit has been the slaying of certain brothers who were forcing + their sister to wed against her will. The result has been the slaughter of + the woman by her brothers' clansmen, and his own narrow escape by flight. + </p> + <p> + His luck on this occasion is even worse than he supposes; for Hunding, by + whose hearth he has taken refuge, is clansman to the slain brothers and is + bound to avenge them. He tells the Volsung that in the morning, weapons or + no weapons, he must fight for his life. Then he orders the woman to bed, + and follows her himself, taking his spear with him. + </p> + <p> + The unlucky stranger, left brooding by the hearth, has nothing to console + himself with but an old promise of his father's that he shall find a + weapon to his hand when he most needs one. The last flicker of the dying + fire strikes on the golden hilt of the sword that sticks in the tree; but + he does not see it; and the embers sink into blackness. Then the woman + returns. Hunding is safely asleep: she has drugged him. She tells the + story of the one-eyed man who appeared at her forced marriage, and of the + sword. She has always felt, she says, that her miseries will end in the + arms of the hero who shall succeed in drawing it forth. The stranger, + diffident as he is about his luck, has no misgivings as to his strength + and destiny. He gives her his affection at once, and abandons himself to + the charm of the night and the season; for it is the beginning of Spring. + They soon learn from their confidences that she is his stolen twin-sister. + He is transported to find that the heroic race of the Volsungs need + neither perish nor be corrupted by a lower strain. Hailing the sword by + the name of Nothung (or Needed), he plucks it from the tree as her + bride-gift, and then, crying "Both bride and sister be of thy brother; and + blossom the blood of the Volsungs!" clasps her as the mate the Spring has + brought him. + </p> + <p> + The Second Act + </p> + <p> + So far, Wotan's plan seems prospering. In the mountains he calls his + war-maiden Brynhild, the child borne to him by the First Mother, and bids + her see to it that Hunding shall fall in the approaching combat. But he is + reckoning without his consort, Fricka. What will she, the Law, say to the + lawless pair who have heaped incest on adultery? A hero may have defied + the law, and put his own will in its place; but can a god hold him + guiltless, when the whole power of the gods can enforce itself only by + law? Fricka, shuddering with horror, outraged in every instinct, comes + clamoring for punishment. Wotan pleads the general necessity of + encouraging heroism in order to keep up the Valhalla bodyguard; but his + remonstrances only bring upon him torrents of reproaches for his own + unfaithfulness to the law in roaming through the world and begetting + war-maidens, "wolf cubs," and the like. He is hopelessly beaten in the + argument. Fricka is absolutely right when she declares that the ending of + the gods began when he brought this wolf-hero into the world; and now, to + save their very existence, she pitilessly demands his destruction. Wotan + has no power to refuse: it is Fricka's mechanical force, and not his + thought, that really rules the world. He has to recall Brynhild; take back + his former instructions; and ordain that Hunding shall slay the Volsung. + </p> + <p> + But now comes another difficulty. Brynhild is the inner thought and will + of Godhead, the aspiration from the high life to the higher that is its + divine element, and only becomes separated from it when its resort to + kingship and priestcraft for the sake of temporal power has made it false + to itself. Hitherto, Brynhild, as Valkyrie or hero chooser, has obeyed + Wotan implicitly, taking her work as the holiest and bravest in his + kingdom; and now he tells her what he could not tell Fricka—what + indeed he could not tell to Brynhild, were she not, as she says, his own + will—the whole story of Alberic and of that inspiration about the + raising up of a hero. She thoroughly approves of the inspiration; but when + the story ends in the assumption that she too must obey Fricka, and help + Fricka's vassal, Hunding, to undo the great work and strike the hero down, + she for the first time hesitates to accept his command. In his fury and + despair he overawes her by the most terrible threats of his anger; and she + submits. + </p> + <p> + Then comes the Volsung Siegmund, following his sister bride, who has fled + into the mountains in a revulsion of horror at having allowed herself to + bring her hero to shame. Whilst she is lying exhausted and senseless in + his arms, Brynhild appears to him and solemnly warns him that he must + presently leave the earth with her. He asks whither he must follow her. To + Valhalla, to take his place there among the heroes. He asks, shall he find + his father there? Yes. Shall he find a wife there? Yes: he will be waited + on by beautiful wishmaidens. Shall he meet his sister there? No. Then, + says Siegmund, I will not come with you. + </p> + <p> + She tries to make him understand that he cannot help himself. Being a + hero, he will not be so persuaded: he has his father's sword, and does not + fear Hunding. But when she tells him that she comes from his father, and + that the sword of a god will not avail in the hands of a hero, he accepts + his fate, but will shape it with his own hand, both for himself and his + sister, by slaying her, and then killing himself with the last stroke of + the sword. And thereafter he will go to Hell, rather than to Valhalla. + </p> + <p> + How now can Brynhild, being what she is, choose her side freely in a + conflict between this hero and the vassal of Fricka? By instinct she at + once throws Wotan's command to the winds, and bids Siegmund nerve himself + for the combat with Hunding, in which she pledges him the protection of + her shield. The horn of Hunding is soon heard; and Siegmund's spirits rise + to fighting pitch at once. The two meet; and the Valkyrie's shield is held + before the hero. But when he delivers his sword-stroke at his foe, the + weapon shivers on the spear of Wotan, who suddenly appears between them; + and the first of the race of heroes falls with the weapon of the Law's + vassal through his breast. Brynhild snatches the fragments of the broken + sword, and flies, carrying off the woman with her on her war-horse; and + Wotan, in terrible wrath, slays Hunding with a wave of his hand, and + starts in pursuit of his disobedient daughter. + </p> + <p> + The Third Act + </p> + <p> + On a rocky peak, four of the Valkyries are waiting for the rest. The + absent ones soon arrive, galloping through the air with slain heroes, + gathered from the battle-field, hanging over their saddles. Only, + Brynhild, who comes last, has for her spoil a live woman. When her eight + sisters learn that she has defied Wotan, they dare not help her; and + Brynhild has to rouse Sieglinda to make an effort to save herself, by + reminding her that she bears in her the seed of a hero, and must face + everything, endure anything, sooner than let that seed miscarry. + Sieglinda, in a transport of exaltation, takes the fragments of the sword + and flies into the forest. Then Wotan comes; the sisters fly in terror at + his command; and he is left alone with Brynhild. + </p> + <p> + Here, then, we have the first of the inevitable moments which Wotan did + not foresee. Godhead has now established its dominion over the world by a + mighty Church, compelling obedience through its ally the Law, with its + formidable State organization of force of arms and cunning of brain. It + has submitted to this alliance to keep the Plutonic power in check—built + it up primarily for the sake of that soul in itself which cares only to + make the highest better and the best higher; and now here is that very + soul separated from it and working for the destruction of its + indispensable ally, the lawgiving State. How is the rebel to be disarmed? + Slain it cannot be by Godhead, since it is still Godhead's own very + dearest soul. But hidden, stifled, silenced it must be; or it will wreck + the State and leave the Church defenseless. Not until it passes completely + away from Godhead, and is reborn as the soul of the hero, can it work + anything but the confusion and destruction of the existing order. How is + the world to be protected against it in the meantime? Clearly Loki's help + is needed here: it is the Lie that must, on the highest principles, hide + the Truth. Let Loki surround this mountain top with the appearance of a + consuming fire; and who will dare penetrate to Brynhild? It is true that + if any man will walk boldly into that fire, he will discover it at once to + be a lie, an illusion, a mirage through which he might carry a sack of + gunpowder without being a penny the worse. Therefore let the fire seem so + terrible that only the hero, when in the fulness of time he appears upon + earth, will venture through it; and the problem is solved. Wotan, with a + breaking heart, takes leave of Brynhild; throws her into a deep sleep; + covers her with her long warshield; summons Loki, who comes in the shape + of a wall of fire surrounding the mountain peak; and turns his back on + Brynhild for ever. + </p> + <p> + The allegory here is happily not so glaringly obvious to the younger + generations of our educated classes as it was forty years ago. In those + days, any child who expressed a doubt as to the absolute truth of the + Church's teaching, even to the extent of asking why Joshua told the sun to + stand still instead of telling the earth to cease turning, or of pointing + out that a whale's throat would hardly have been large enough to swallow + Jonah, was unhesitatingly told that if it harboured such doubts it would + spend all eternity after its death in horrible torments in a lake of + burning brimstone. It is difficult to write or read this nowadays without + laughing; yet no doubt millions of ignorant and credulous people are still + teaching their children that. When Wagner himself was a little child, the + fact that hell was a fiction devised for the intimidation and subjection + of the masses, was a well-kept secret of the thinking and governing + classes. At that time the fires of Loki were a very real terror to all + except persons of exceptional force of character and intrepidity of + thought. Even thirty years after Wagner had printed the verses of The Ring + for private circulation, we find him excusing himself from perfectly + explicit denial of current superstitions, by reminding his readers that it + would expose him to prosecution. In England, so many of our respectable + voters are still grovelling in a gloomy devil worship, of which the fires + of Loki are the main bulwark, that no Government has yet had the + conscience or the courage to repeal our monstrous laws against + "blasphemy." + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0010" id="link2H_4_0010"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + SIEGFRIED + </h2> + <p> + Sieglinda, when she flies into the forest with the hero's son unborn in + her womb, and the broken pieces of his sword in her hand, finds shelter in + the smithy of a dwarf, where she brings forth her child and dies. This + dwarf is no other than Mimmy, the brother of Alberic, the same who made + for him the magic helmet. His aim in life is to gain possession of the + helmet, the ring, and the treasure, and through them to obtain that + Plutonic mastery of the world under the beginnings of which he himself + writhed during Alberic's brief reign. Mimmy is a blinking, shambling, + ancient creature, too weak and timid to dream of taking arms himself to + despoil Fafnir, who still, transformed to a monstrous serpent, broods on + the gold in a hole in the rocks. Mimmy needs the help of a hero for that; + and he has craft enough to know that it is quite possible, and indeed much + in the ordinary way of the world, for senile avarice and craft to set + youth and bravery to work to win empire for it. He knows the pedigree of + the child left on his hands, and nurses it to manhood with great care. + </p> + <p> + His pains are too well rewarded for his comfort. The boy Siegfried, having + no god to instruct him in the art of unhappiness, inherits none of his + father's ill luck, and all his father's hardihood. The fear against which + Siegmund set his face like flint, and the woe which he wore down, are + unknown to the son. The father was faithful and grateful: the son knows no + law but his own humor; detests the ugly dwarf who has nursed him; chafes + furiously under his claims for some return for his tender care; and is, in + short, a totally unmoral person, a born anarchist, the ideal of Bakoonin, + an anticipation of the "overman" of Nietzsche. He is enormously strong, + full of life and fun, dangerous and destructive to what he dislikes, and + affectionate to what he likes; so that it is fortunate that his likes and + dislikes are sane and healthy. Altogether an inspiriting young forester, a + son of the morning, in whom the heroic race has come out into the sunshine + from the clouds of his grandfather's majestic entanglements with law, and + the night of his father's tragic struggle with it. + </p> + <p> + The First Act + </p> + <p> + Mimmy's smithy is a cave, in which he hides from the light like the + eyeless fish of the American caverns. Before the curtain rises the music + already tells us that we are groping in darkness. When it does rise Mimmy + is in difficulties. He is trying to make a sword for his nursling, who is + now big enough to take the field against Fafnir. Mimmy can make + mischievous swords; but it is not with dwarf made weapons that heroic man + will hew the way of his own will through religions and governments and + plutocracies and all the other devices of the kingdom of the fears of the + unheroic. As fast as Mimmy makes swords, Siegfried Bakoonin smashes them, + and then takes the poor old swordsmith by the scruff of the neck and + chastises him wrathfully. The particular day on which the curtain rises + begins with one of these trying domestic incidents. Mimmy has just done + his best with a new sword of surpassing excellence. Siegfried returns home + in rare spirits with a wild bear, to the extreme terror of the wretched + dwarf. When the bear is dismissed, the new sword is produced. It is + promptly smashed, as usual, with, also, the usual effects on the temper of + Siegfried, who is quite boundless in his criticisms of the smith's boasted + skill, and declares that he would smash the sword's maker too if he were + not too disgusting to be handled. + </p> + <p> + Mimmy falls back on his stock defence: a string of maudlin reminders of + the care with which he has nursed the little boy into manhood. Siegfried + replies candidly that the strangest thing about all this care is that + instead of making him grateful, it inspires him with a lively desire to + wring the dwarf's neck. Only, he admits that he always comes back to his + Mimmy, though he loathes him more than any living thing in the forest. On + this admission the dwarf attempts to build a theory of filial instinct. He + explains that he is Siegfried's father, and that this is why Siegfried + cannot do without him. But Siegfried has learned from his forest + companions, the birds and foxes and wolves, that mothers as well as + fathers go to the making of children. Mimmy, on the desperate ground that + man is neither bird nor fox, declares that he is Siegfried's father and + mother both. He is promptly denounced as a filthy liar, because the birds + and foxes are exactly like their parents, whereas Siegfried, having often + watched his own image in the water, can testify that he is no more like + Mimmy than a toad is like a trout. Then, to place the conversation on a + plane of entire frankness, he throttles Mimmy until he is speechless. When + the dwarf recovers, he is so daunted that he tells Siegfried the truth + about his birth, and for testimony thereof produces the pieces of the + sword that broke upon Wotan's spear. Siegfried instantly orders him to + repair the sword on pain of an unmerciful thrashing, and rushes off into + the forest, rejoicing in the discovery that he is no kin of Mimmy's, and + need have no more to do with him when the sword is mended. + </p> + <p> + Poor Mimmy is now in a worse plight than ever; for he has long ago found + that the sword utterly defies his skill: the steel will yield neither to + his hammer nor to his furnace. Just then there walks into his cave a + Wanderer, in a blue mantle, spear in hand, with one eye concealed by the + brim of his wide hat. Mimmy, not by nature hospitable, tries to drive him + away; but the Wanderer announces himself as a wise man, who can tell his + host, in emergency, what it most concerns him to know. Mimmy, taking this + offer in high dudgeon, because it implies that his visitor's wits are + better than his own, offers to tell the wise one something that HE does + not know: to wit, the way to the door. The imperturbable Wanderer's reply + is to sit down and challenge the dwarf to a trial of wit. He wagers his + head against Mimmy's that he will answer any three questions the dwarf can + put to him. + </p> + <p> + Now here were Mimmy's opportunity, had he only the wit to ask what he + wants to know, instead of pretending to know everything already. It is + above all things needful to him at this moment to find out how that sword + can be mended; and there has just dropped in upon him in his need the one + person who can tell him. In such circumstances a wise man would hasten to + show to his visitor his three deepest ignorances, and ask him to dispel + them. The dwarf, being a crafty fool, desiring only to detect ignorance in + his guest, asks him for information on the three points on which he is + proudest of being thoroughly well instructed himself. His three questions + are, Who dwell under the earth? Who dwell on the earth? and Who dwell in + the cloudy heights above? The Wanderer, in reply, tells him of the dwarfs + and of Alberic; of the earth, and the giants Fasolt and Fafnir; of the + gods and of Wotan: himself, as Mimmy now recognizes with awe. + </p> + <p> + Next, it is Mimmy's turn to face three questions. What is that race, + dearest to Wotan, against which Wotan has nevertheless done his worst? + Mimmy can answer that: he knows the Volsungs, the race of heroes born of + Wotan's infidelities to Fricka, and can tell the Wanderer the whole story + of the twins and their son Siegfried. Wotan compliments him on his + knowledge, and asks further with what sword Siegfried will slay Fafnir? + Mimmy can answer that too: he has the whole history of the sword at his + fingers' ends. Wotan hails him as the knowingest of the knowing, and then + hurls at him the question he should himself have asked: Who will mend the + sword? Mimmy, his head forfeited, confesses with loud lamentations that he + cannot answer. The Wanderer reads him an appropriate little lecture on the + folly of being too clever to ask what he wants to know, and informs him + that a smith to whom fear is unknown will mend Nothung. To this smith he + leaves the forfeited head of his host, and wanders off into the forest. + Then Mimmy's nerves give way completely. He shakes like a man in delirium + tremens, and has a horrible nightmare, in the supreme convulsion of which + Siegfried, returning from the forest, presently finds him. + </p> + <p> + A curious and amusing conversation follows. Siegfried himself does not + know fear, and is impatient to acquire it as an accomplishment. Mimmy is + all fear: the world for him is a phantasmagoria of terrors. It is not that + he is afraid of being eaten by bears in the forest, or of burning his + fingers in the forge fire. A lively objection to being destroyed or maimed + does not make a man a coward: on the contrary, it is the beginning of a + brave man's wisdom. But in Mimmy, fear is not the effect of danger: it is + natural quality of him which no security can allay. He is like many a poor + newspaper editor, who dares not print the truth, however simple, even when + it is obvious to himself and all his readers. Not that anything unpleasant + would happen to him if he did—not, indeed that he could fail to + become a distinguished and influential leader of opinion by fearlessly + pursuing such a course, but solely because he lives in a world of + imaginary terrors, rooted in a modest and gentlemanly mistrust of his own + strength and worth, and consequently of the value of his opinion. Just so + is Mimmy afraid of anything that can do him any good, especially of the + light and the fresh air. He is also convinced that anybody who is not + sufficiently steeped in fear to be constantly on his guard, must perish + immediately on his first sally into the world. To preserve Siegfried for + the enterprise to which he has destined him he makes a grotesque attempt + to teach him fear. He appeals to his experience of the terrors of the + forest, of its dark places, of its threatening noises its stealthy + ambushes, its sinister flickering lights its heart-tightening ecstasies of + dread. + </p> + <p> + All this has no other effect than to fill Siegfried with wonder and + curiosity; for the forest is a place of delight for him. He is as eager to + experience Mimmy's terrors as a schoolboy to feel what an electric shock + is like. Then Mimmy has the happy idea of describing Fafnir to him as a + likely person to give him an exemplary fright. Siegfried jumps at the + idea, and, since Mimmy cannot mend the sword for him, proposes to set to + work then and there to mend it for himself. Mimmy shakes his head, and + bids him see now how his youthful laziness and frowardness have found him + out—how he would not learn the smith's craft from Professor Mimmy, + and therefore does not know how even to begin mending the sword. Siegfried + Bakoonin's retort is simple and crushing. He points out that the net + result of Mimmy's academic skill is that he can neither make a decent + sword himself nor even set one to rights when it is damaged. Reckless of + the remonstrances of the scandalized professor, he seizes a file, and in a + few moments utterly destroys the fragments of the sword by rasping them + into a heap of steel filings. Then he puts the filings into a crucible; + buries it in the coals; and sets to at the bellows with the shouting + exultation of the anarchist who destroys only to clear the ground for + creation. When the steel is melted he runs it into a mould; and lo! a + sword-blade in the rough. Mimmy, amazed at the success of this violation + of all the rules of his craft, hails Siegfried as the mightiest of smiths, + professing himself barely worthy to be his cook and scullion; and + forthwith proceeds to poison some soup for him so that he may murder him + safely when Fafnir is slain. Meanwhile Siegfried forges and tempers and + hammers and rivets, uproariously singing the while as nonsensically as the + Rhine maidens themselves. Finally he assails the anvil on which Mimmy's + swords have been shattered, and cleaves it with a mighty stroke of the + newly forged Nothung. + </p> + <p> + The Second Act + </p> + <p> + In the darkest hour before the dawn of that night, we find ourselves + before the cave of Fafnir, and there we find Alberic, who can find nothing + better to do with himself than to watch the haunt of the dragon, and eat + his heart out in vain longing for the gold and the ring. The wretched + Fafnir, once an honest giant, can only make himself terrible enough to + keep his gold by remaining a venomous reptile. Why he should not become an + honest giant again and clear out of his cavern, leaving the gold and the + ring and the rest of it for anyone fool enough to take them at such a + price, is the first question that would occur to anyone except a civilized + man, who would be too accustomed to that sort of mania to be at all + surprised at it. + </p> + <p> + To Alberic in the night comes the Wanderer, whom the dwarf, recognizing + his despoiler of old, abuses as a shameless thief, taunting him with the + helpless way in which all his boasted power is tied up with the laws and + bargains recorded on the heft of his spear, which, says Alberic truly, + would crumble like chaff in his hands if he dared use it for his own real + ends. Wotan, having already had to kill his own son with it, knows that + very well; but it troubles him no more; for he is now at last rising to + abhorrence of his own artificial power, and looking to the coming hero, + not for its consolidation but its destruction. When Alberic breaks out + again with his still unquenched hope of one day destroying the gods and + ruling the world through the ring, Wotan is no longer shocked. He tells + Alberic that Brother Mime approaches with a hero whom Godhead can neither + help nor hinder. Alberic may try his luck against him without disturbance + from Valhalla. Perhaps, he suggests, if Alberic warns Fafnir, and offers + to deal with the hero for him, Fafnir, may give him the ring. They + accordingly wake up the dragon, who condescends to enter into bellowing + conversation, but is proof against their proposition, strong in the magic + of property. "I have and hold," he says: "leave me to sleep." Wotan, with + a wise laugh, turns to Alberic. "That shot missed," he says: "no use + abusing me for it. And now let me tell you one thing. All things happen + according to their nature; and you can't alter them." And so he leaves him + Alberic, raging with the sense that his old enemy has been laughing at + him, and yet prophetically convinced that the last word will not be with + the god, hides himself as the day breaks, and his brother approaches with + Siegfried. + </p> + <p> + Mimmy makes a final attempt to frighten Siegfried by discoursing of the + dragon's terrible jaws, poisonous breath, corrosive spittle, and deadly, + stinging tail. Siegfried is not interested in the tail: he wants to know + whether the dragon has a heart, being confident of his ability to stick + Nothung into it if it exists. Reassured on this point, he drives Mimmy + away, and stretches himself under the trees, listening to the morning + chatter of the birds. One of them has a great deal to say to him; but he + cannot understand it; and after vainly trying to carry on the conversation + with a reed which he cuts, he takes to entertaining the bird with tunes on + his horn, asking it to send him a loving mate such as all the other + creatures of the forest have. His tunes wake up the dragon; and Siegfried + makes merry over the grim mate the bird has sent him. Fafnir is highly + scandalized by the irreverence of the young Bakoonin. He loses his temper; + fights; and is forthwith slain, to his own great astonishment. + </p> + <p> + In such conflicts one learns to interpret the messages of Nature a little. + When Siegfried, stung by the dragon's vitriolic blood, pops his finger + into his mouth and tastes it, he understands what the bird is saying to + him, and, instructed by it concerning the treasures within his reach, goes + into the cave to secure the gold, the ring and the wishing cap. Then Mimmy + returns, and is confronted by Alberic. The two quarrel furiously over the + sharing of the booty they have not yet secured, until Siegfried comes from + the cave with the ring and the helmet, not much impressed by the heap of + gold, and disappointed because he has not yet learned to fear. + </p> + <p> + He has, however, learnt to read the thoughts of such a creature as poor + Mimmy, who, intending to overwhelm him with flattery and fondness, only + succeeds in making such a self-revelation of murderous envy that Siegfried + smites him with Nothung and slays him, to the keen satisfaction of the + hidden Alberic. Caring nothing for the gold, which he leaves to the care + of the slain; disappointed in his fancy for learning fear; and longing for + a mate, he casts himself wearily down, and again appeals to his friend the + bird, who tells him of a woman sleeping on a mountain peak within a + fortress of fire that only the fearless can penetrate. Siegfried is up in + a moment with all the tumult of spring in his veins, and follows the + flight of the bird as it pilots him to the fiery mountain. + </p> + <p> + The Third Act + </p> + <p> + To the root of the mountain comes also the Wanderer, now nearing his doom. + He calls up the First Mother from the depths of the earth, and begs + counsel from her. She bids him confer with the Norns (the Fates). But they + are of no use to him: what he seeks is some foreknowledge of the way of + the Will in its perpetual strife with these helpless Fates who can only + spin the net of circumstance and environment round the feet of men. Why + not, says Erda then, go to the daughter I bore you, and take counsel with + her? He has to explain how he has cut himself off from her, and set the + fires of Loki between the world and her counsel. In that case the First + Mother cannot help him: such a separation is part of the bewilderment that + is ever the first outcome of her eternal work of thrusting the life energy + of the world to higher and higher organization. She can show him no way of + escape from the destruction he foresees. Then from the innermost of him + breaks the confession that he rejoices in his doom, and now himself exults + in passing away with all his ordinances and alliances, with the + spear-sceptre which he has only wielded on condition of slaying his + dearest children with it, with the kingdom, the power and the glory which + will never again boast themselves as "world without end." And so he + dismisses Erda to her sleep in the heart of the earth as the forest bird + draws near, piloting the slain son's son to his goal. + </p> + <p> + Now it is an excellent thing to triumph in the victory of the new order + and the passing away of the old; but if you happen to be part of the old + order yourself, you must none the less fight for your life. It seems + hardly possible that the British army at the battle of Waterloo did not + include at least one Englishman intelligent enough to hope, for the sake + of his country and humanity, that Napoleon might defeat the allied + sovereigns; but such an Englishman would kill a French cuirassier rather + than be killed by him just as energetically as the silliest soldier, ever + encouraged by people who ought to know better, to call his ignorance, + ferocity and folly, patriotism and duty. Outworn life may have become mere + error; but it still claims the right to die a natural death, and will + raise its hand against the millennium itself in self-defence if it tries + to come by the short cut of murder. Wotan finds this out when he comes + face to face with Siegfried, who is brought to a standstill at the foot of + the mountain by the disappearance of the bird. Meeting the Wanderer there, + he asks him the way to the mountain where a woman sleeps surrounded by + fire. The Wanderer questions him, and extracts his story from him, + breaking into fatherly delight when Siegfried, describing the mending of + the sword, remarks that all he knew about the business was that the broken + bits of Nothung would be of no use to him unless he made a new sword out + of them right over again from the beginning. But the Wanderer's interest + is by no means reciprocated by Siegfried. His majesty and elderly dignity + are thrown away on the young anarchist, who, unwilling to waste time + talking, bluntly bids him either show him the way to the mountain, or else + "shut his muzzle." Wotan is a little hurt. "Patience, my lad," he says: + "if you were an old man I should treat you with respect." "That would be a + precious notion," says Siegfried. "All my life long I was bothered and + hampered by an old man until I swept him out of my way. I will sweep you + in the same fashion if you don't let me pass. Why do you wear such a big + hat; and what has happened to one of your eyes? Was it knocked out by + somebody whose way you obstructed?" To which Wotan replies allegorically + that the eye that is gone—the eye that his marriage with Fricka cost + him—is now looking at him out of Siegfried's head. At this, + Siegfried gives up the Wanderer as a lunatic, and renews his threats of + personal violence. Then Wotan throws off the mask of the Wanderer; uplifts + the world-governing spear; and puts forth all his divine awe and grandeur + as the guardian of the mountain, round the crest of which the fires of + Loki now break into a red background for the majesty of the god. But all + this is lost on Siegfried Bakoonin. "Aha!" he cries, as the spear is + levelled against his breast: "I have found my father's foe"; and the spear + falls in two pieces under the stroke of Nothung. "Up then," says Wotan: "I + cannot withhold you," and disappears forever from the eye of man. The + fires roll down the mountain; but Siegfried goes at them as exultantly as + he went at the forging of the sword or the heart of the dragon, and + shoulders his way through them, joyously sounding his horn to the + accompaniment of their crackling and seething. And never a hair of his + head is singed. Those frightful flames which have scared mankind for + centuries from the Truth, have not heat enough in them to make a child + shut its eyes. They are mere phantasmagoria, highly creditable to Loki's + imaginative stage-management; but nothing ever has perished or will perish + eternally in them except the Churches which have been so poor and + faithless as to trade for their power on the lies of a romancer. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0011" id="link2H_4_0011"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + BACK TO OPERA AGAIN + </h2> + <p> + And now, O Nibelungen Spectator, pluck up; for all allegories come to an + end somewhere; and the hour of your release from these explanations is at + hand. The rest of what you are going to see is opera, and nothing but + opera. Before many bars have been played, Siegfried and the wakened + Brynhild, newly become tenor and soprano, will sing a concerted cadenza; + plunge on from that to a magnificent love duet; and end with a precipitous + allegro a capella, driven headlong to its end by the impetuous semiquaver + triplets of the famous finales to the first act of Don Giovanni or the + coda to the Leonore overture, with a specifically contrapuntal theme, + points d'orgue, and a high C for the soprano all complete. + </p> + <p> + What is more, the work which follows, entitled Night Falls On The Gods, is + a thorough grand opera. In it you shall see what you have so far missed, + the opera chorus in full parade on the stage, not presuming to interfere + with the prima donna as she sings her death song over the footlights. Nay, + that chorus will have its own chance when it first appears, with a good + roaring strain in C major, not, after all, so very different from, or at + all less absurd than the choruses of courtiers in La Favorita or "Per te + immenso giubilo" in Lucia. The harmony is no doubt a little developed, + Wagner augmenting his fifths with a G sharp where Donizetti would have put + his fingers in his ears and screamed for G natural. But it is an opera + chorus all the same; and along with it we have theatrical grandiosities + that recall Meyerbeer and Verdi: pezzi d'insieme for all the principals in + a row, vengeful conjurations for trios of them, romantic death song for + the tenor: in short, all manner of operatic conventions. + </p> + <p> + Now it is probable that some of us will have been so talked by the more + superstitious Bayreuth pilgrims into regarding Die Gotterdammerung as the + mighty climax to a mighty epic, more Wagnerian than all the other three + sections put together, as not to dare notice this startling atavism, + especially if we find the trio-conjurations more exhilarating than the + metaphysical discourses of Wotan in the three true music dramas of The + Ring. There is, however, no real atavism involved. Die Gotterdammerung, + though the last of The Ring dramas in order of performance, was the first + in order of conception and was indeed the root from which all the others + sprang. + </p> + <p> + The history of the matter is as follows. All Wagner's works prior to The + Ring are operas. The last of them, Lohengrin, is perhaps the best known of + modern operas. As performed in its entirety at Bayreuth, it is even more + operatic than it appears at Covent Garden, because it happens that its + most old-fashioned features, notably some of the big set concerted pieces + for principals and chorus (pezzi d'insieme as I have called them above), + are harder to perform than the more modern and characteristically + Wagnerian sections, and for that reason were cut out in preparing the + abbreviated fashionable version. Thus Lohengrin came upon the ordinary + operatic stage as a more advanced departure from current operatic models + than its composer had made it. Still, it is unmistakably an opera, with + chorus, concerted pieces, grand finales, and a heroine who, if she does + not sing florid variations with flute obbligato, is none the less a very + perceptible prima donna. In everything but musical technique the change + from Lohengrin to The Rhine Gold is quite revolutionary. + </p> + <p> + The explanation is that Night Falls On The Gods came in between them, + although its music was not finished until twenty years after that of The + Rhine Gold, and thus belongs to a later and more masterful phase of + Wagner's harmonic style. It first came into Wagner's head as an opera to + be entitled Siegfried's Death, founded on the old Niblung Sagas, which + offered to Wagner the same material for an effective theatrical tragedy as + they did to Ibsen. Ibsen's Vikings in Helgeland is, in kind, what + Siegfried's Death was originally intended to be: that is, a heroic piece + for the theatre, without the metaphysical or allegorical complications of + The Ring. Indeed, the ultimate catastrophe of the Saga cannot by any + perversion of ingenuity be adapted to the perfectly clear allegorical + design of The Rhine Gold, The Valkyries, and Siegfried. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0012" id="link2H_4_0012"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + SIEGFRIED AS PROTESTANT + </h2> + <p> + The philosophically fertile element in the original project of Siegfried's + Death was the conception of Siegfried himself as a type of the healthy man + raised to perfect confidence in his own impulses by an intense and joyous + vitality which is above fear, sickliness of conscience, malice, and the + makeshifts and moral crutches of law and order which accompany them. Such + a character appears extraordinarily fascinating and exhilarating to our + guilty and conscience-ridden generations, however little they may + understand him. The world has always delighted in the man who is delivered + from conscience. From Punch and Don Juan down to Robert Macaire, Jeremy + Diddler and the pantomime clown, he has always drawn large audiences; but + hitherto he has been decorously given to the devil at the end. Indeed + eternal punishment is sometimes deemed too high a compliment to his + nature. When the late Lord Lytton, in his Strange Story, introduced a + character personifying the joyousness of intense vitality, he felt bound + to deny him the immortal soul which was at that time conceded even to the + humblest characters in fiction, and to accept mischievousness, cruelty, + and utter incapacity for sympathy as the inevitable consequence of his + magnificent bodily and mental health. + </p> + <p> + In short, though men felt all the charm of abounding life and abandonment + to its impulses, they dared not, in their deep self-mistrust, conceive it + otherwise than as a force making for evil—one which must lead to + universal ruin unless checked and literally mortified by self-renunciation + in obedience to superhuman guidance, or at least to some reasoned system + of morals. When it became apparent to the cleverest of them that no such + superhuman guidance existed, and that their secularist systems had all the + fictitiousness of "revelation" without its poetry, there was no escaping + the conclusion that all the good that man had done must be put down to his + arbitrary will as well as all the evil he had done; and it was also + obvious that if progress were a reality, his beneficent impulses must be + gaining on his destructive ones. It was under the influence of these ideas + that we began to hear about the joy of life where we had formerly heard + about the grace of God or the Age of Reason, and that the boldest spirits + began to raise the question whether churches and laws and the like were + not doing a great deal more harm than good by their action in limiting the + freedom of the human will. Four hundred years ago, when belief in God and + in revelation was general throughout Europe, a similar wave of thought led + the strongest-hearted peoples to affirm that every man's private judgment + was a more trustworthy interpreter of God and revelation than the Church. + This was called Protestantism; and though the Protestants were not strong + enough for their creed, and soon set up a Church of their own, yet the + movement, on the whole, has justified the direction it took. Nowadays the + supernatural element in Protestantism has perished; and if every man's + private judgment is still to be justified as the most trustworthy + interpreter of the will of Humanity (which is not a more extreme + proposition than the old one about the will of God) Protestantism must + take a fresh step in advance, and become Anarchism. Which it has + accordingly done, Anarchism being one of the notable new creeds of the + eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. + </p> + <p> + The weak place which experience finds out in the Anarchist theory is its + reliance on the progress already achieved by "Man." There is no such thing + as Man in the world: what we have to deal with is a multitude of men, some + of them great rascals, some of them great statesmen, others both, with a + vast majority capable of managing their personal affairs, but not of + comprehending social organization, or grappling with the problems created + by their association in enormous numbers. If "Man" means this majority, + then "Man" has made no progress: he has, on the contrary, resisted it. He + will not even pay the cost of existing institutions: the requisite money + has to be filched from him by "indirect taxation." Such people, like + Wagner's giants, must be governed by laws; and their assent to such + government must be secured by deliberately filling them with prejudices + and practicing on their imaginations by pageantry and artificial eminences + and dignities. The government is of course established by the few who are + capable of government, though its mechanism once complete, it may be, and + generally is, carried on unintelligently by people who are incapable of it + the capable people repairing it from time to time when it gets too far + behind the continuous advance or decay of civilization. All these capable + people are thus in the position of Wotan, forced to maintain as sacred, + and themselves submit to, laws which they privately know to be obsolescent + makeshifts, and to affect the deepest veneration for creeds and ideals + which they ridicule among themselves with cynical scepticism. No + individual Siegfried can rescue them from this bondage and hypocrisy; in + fact, the individual Siegfried has come often enough, only to find himself + confronted with the alternative of governing those who are not Siegfrieds + or risking destruction at their hands. And this dilemma will persist until + Wotan's inspiration comes to our governors, and they see that their + business is not the devising of laws and institutions to prop up the + weaknesses of mobs and secure the survival of the unfittest, but the + breeding of men whose wills and intelligences may be depended on to + produce spontaneously the social well-being our clumsy laws now aim at and + miss. The majority of men at present in Europe have no business to be + alive; and no serious progress will be made until we address ourselves + earnestly and scientifically to the task of producing trustworthy human + material for society. In short, it is necessary to breed a race of men in + whom the life-giving impulses predominate, before the New Protestantism + becomes politically practicable. [*] + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + * The necessity for breeding the governing class from a + selected stock has always been recognized by Aristocrats, + however erroneous their methods of selection. We have + changed our system from Aristocracy to Democracy without + considering that we were at the same time changing, as + regards our governing class, from Selection to Promiscuity. + Those who have taken a practical part in modern politics + best know how farcical the result is. +</pre> + <p> + The most inevitable dramatic conception, then, of the nineteenth century, + is that of a perfectly naive hero upsetting religion, law and order in all + directions, and establishing in their place the unfettered action of + Humanity doing exactly what it likes, and producing order instead of + confusion thereby because it likes to do what is necessary for the good of + the race. This conception, already incipient in Adam Smith's Wealth of + Nations, was certain at last to reach some great artist, and be embodied + by him in a masterpiece. It was also certain that if that master happened + to be a German, he should take delight in describing his hero as the + Freewiller of Necessity, thereby beyond measure exasperating Englishmen + with a congenital incapacity for metaphysics. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0013" id="link2H_4_0013"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + PANACEA QUACKERY, OTHERWISE IDEALISM + </h2> + <p> + Unfortunately, human enlightenment does not progress by nicer and nicer + adjustments, but by violent corrective reactions which invariably send us + clean over our saddle and would bring us to the ground on the other side + if the next reaction did not send us back again with equally excessive + zeal. Ecclesiasticism and Constitutionalism send us one way, Protestantism + and Anarchism the other; Order rescues us from confusion and lands us in + Tyranny; Liberty then saves the situation and is presently found to be as + great a nuisance as Despotism. A scientifically balanced application of + these forces, theoretically possible, is practically incompatible with + human passion. Besides, we have the same weakness in morals as in + medicine: we cannot be cured of running after panaceas, or, as they are + called in the sphere of morals, ideals. One generation sets up duty, + renunciation, self-sacrifice as a panacea. The next generation, especially + the women, wake up at the age of forty or thereabouts to the fact that + their lives have been wasted in the worship of this ideal, and, what is + still more aggravating, that the elders who imposed it on them did so in a + fit of satiety with their own experiments in the other direction. Then + that defrauded generation foams at the mouth at the very mention of duty, + and sets up the alternative panacea of love, their deprivation of which + seems to them to have been the most cruel and mischievous feature of their + slavery to duty. It is useless to warn them that this reaction, if + prescribed as a panacea, will prove as great a failure as all the other + reactions have done; for they do not recognize its identity with any + reaction that ever occurred before. Take for instance the hackneyed + historic example of the austerity of the Commonwealth being followed by + the licence of the Restoration. You cannot persuade any moral enthusiast + to accept this as a pure oscillation from action to reaction. If he is a + Puritan he looks upon the Restoration as a national disaster: if he is an + artist he regards it as the salvation of the country from gloom, devil + worship and starvation of the affections. The Puritan is ready to try the + Commonwealth again with a few modern improvements: the Amateur is equally + ready to try the Restoration with modern enlightenments. And so for the + present we must be content to proceed by reactions, hoping that each will + establish some permanently practical and beneficial reform or moral habit + that will survive the correction of its excesses by the next reaction. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0014" id="link2H_4_0014"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + DRAMATIC ORIGIN OF WOTAN + </h2> + <p> + We can now see how a single drama in which Wotan does not appear, and of + which Siegfried is the hero, expanded itself into a great fourfold drama + of which Wotan is the hero. You cannot dramatize a reaction by + personifying the reacting force only, any more than Archimedes could lift + the world without a fulcrum for his lever. You must also personify the + established power against which the new force is reacting; and in the + conflict between them you get your drama, conflict being the essential + ingredient in all drama. Siegfried, as the hero of Die Gotterdammerung, is + only the primo tenore robusto of an opera book, deferring his death, after + he has been stabbed in the last act, to sing rapturous love strains to the + heroine exactly like Edgardo in Donizetti's Lucia. In order to make him + intelligible in the wider significance which his joyous, fearless, + conscienceless heroism soon assumed in Wagner's imagination, it was + necessary to provide him with a much vaster dramatic antagonist than the + operatic villain Hagen. Hence Wagner had to create Wotan as the anvil for + Siegfried's hammer; and since there was no room for Wotan in the original + opera book, Wagner had to work back to a preliminary drama reaching + primarily to the very beginnings of human society. And since, on this + world-embracing scale, it was clear that Siegfried must come into conflict + with many baser and stupider forces than those lofty ones of supernatural + religion and political constitutionalism typified by Wotan and his wife + Fricka, these minor antagonists had to be dramatized also in the persons + of Alberic, Mime, Fafnir, Loki, and the rest. None of these appear in + Night Falls On The Gods save Alberic, whose weird dream-colloquy with + Hagen, effective as it is, is as purely theatrical as the scene of the + Ghost in Hamlet, or the statue in Don Giovanni. Cut the conference of the + Norns and the visit of Valtrauta to Brynhild out of Night Falls On The + Gods, and the drama remains coherent and complete without them. Retain + them, and the play becomes connected by conversational references with the + three music dramas; but the connection establishes no philosophic + coherence, no real identity between the operatic Brynhild of the Gibichung + episode (presently to be related) and the daughter of Wotan and the First + Mother. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0015" id="link2H_4_0015"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + THE LOVE PANACEA + </h2> + <p> + We shall now find that at the point where The Ring changes from music + drama into opera, it also ceases to be philosophic, and becomes didactic. + The philosophic part is a dramatic symbol of the world as Wagner observed + it. In the didactic part the philosophy degenerates into the prescription + of a romantic nostrum for all human ills. Wagner, only mortal after all, + succumbed to the panacea mania when his philosophy was exhausted, like any + of the rest of us. + </p> + <p> + The panacea is by no means an original one. Wagner was anticipated in the + year 1819 by a young country gentleman from Sussex named Shelley, in a + work of extraordinary artistic power and splendor. Prometheus Unbound is + an English attempt at a Ring; and when it is taken into account that the + author was only 27 whereas Wagner was 40 when he completed the poem of The + Ring, our vulgar patriotism may find an envious satisfaction in insisting + upon the comparison. Both works set forth the same conflict between + humanity and its gods and governments, issuing in the redemption of man + from their tyranny by the growth of his will into perfect strength and + self-confidence; and both finish by a lapse into panacea-mongering + didacticism by the holding up of Love as the remedy for all evils and the + solvent of all social difficulties. + </p> + <p> + The differences between Prometheus Unbound and The Ring are as interesting + as the likenesses. Shelley, caught in the pugnacity of his youth and the + first impetuosity of his prodigious artistic power by the first fierce + attack of the New Reformation, gave no quarter to the antagonist of his + hero. His Wotan, whom he calls Jupiter, is the almighty fiend into whom + the Englishman's God had degenerated during two centuries of ignorant + Bible worship and shameless commercialism. He is Alberic, Fafnir Loki and + the ambitious side of Wotan all rolled into one melodramatic demon who is + finally torn from his throne and hurled shrieking into the abyss by a + spirit representing that conception of Eternal Law which has been replaced + since by the conception of Evolution. Wagner, an older, more experienced + man than the Shelley of 1819, understood Wotan and pardoned him, + separating him tenderly from all the compromising alliances to which + Shelley fiercely held him; making the truth and heroism which overthrow + him the children of his inmost heart; and representing him as finally + acquiescing in and working for his own supersession and annihilation. + Shelley, in his later works, is seen progressing towards the same + tolerance, justice, and humility of spirit, as he advanced towards the + middle age he never reached. But there is no progress from Shelley to + Wagner as regards the panacea, except that in Wagner there is a certain + shadow of night and death come on it: nay, even a clear opinion that the + supreme good of love is that it so completely satisfies the desire for + life, that after it the Will to Live ceases to trouble us, and we are at + last content to achieve the highest happiness of death. + </p> + <p> + This reduction of the panacea to absurdity was not forced upon Shelley, + because the love which acts as a universal solvent in his Prometheus + Unbound is a sentiment of affectionate benevolence which has nothing to do + with sexual passion. It might, and in fact does exist in the absence of + any sexual interest whatever. The words mercy and kindness connote it less + ambiguously than the word love. But Wagner sought always for some point of + contact between his ideas and the physical senses, so that people might + not only think or imagine them in the eighteenth century fashion, but see + them on the stage, hear them from the orchestra, and feel them through the + infection of passionate emotion. Dr. Johnson kicking the stone to confute + Berkeley is not more bent on common-sense concreteness than Wagner: on all + occasions he insists on the need for sensuous apprehension to give reality + to abstract comprehension, maintaining, in fact, that reality has no other + meaning. Now he could apply this process to poetic love only by following + it back to its alleged origin in sexual passion, the emotional phenomena + of which he has expressed in music with a frankness and forcible + naturalism which would possibly have scandalized Shelley. The love duet in + the first act of The Valkyries is brought to a point at which the + conventions of our society demand the precipitate fall of the curtain; + whilst the prelude to Tristan and Isolde is such an astonishingly intense + and faithful translation into music of the emotions which accompany the + union of a pair of lovers, that it is questionable whether the great + popularity of this piece at our orchestral concerts really means that our + audiences are entirely catholic in their respect for life in all its + beneficently creative functions, or whether they simply enjoy the music + without understanding it. + </p> + <p> + But however offensive and inhuman may be the superstition which brands + such exaltations of natural passion as shameful and indecorous, there is + at least as much common sense in disparaging love as in setting it up as a + panacea. Even the mercy and loving-kindness of Shelley do not hold good as + a universal law of conduct: Shelley himself makes extremely short work of + Jupiter, just as Siegfried does of Fafnir, Mime, and Wotan; and the fact + that Prometheus is saved from doing the destructive part of his work by + the intervention of that very nebulous personification of Eternity called + Demogorgon, does not in the least save the situation, because, flatly, + there is no such person as Demogorgon, and if Prometheus does not pull + down Jupiter himself, no one else will. It would be exasperating, if it + were not so funny, to see these poets leading their heroes through blood + and destruction to the conclusion that, as Browning's David puts it (David + of all people!), "All's Love; yet all's Law." + </p> + <p> + Certainly it is clear enough that such love as that implied by Siegfried's + first taste of fear as he cuts through the mailed coat of the sleeping + figure on the mountain, and discovers that it is a woman; by her fierce + revolt against being touched by him when his terror gives way to ardor; by + his manly transports of victory; and by the womanly mixture of rapture and + horror with which she abandons herself to the passion which has seized on + them both, is an experience which it is much better, like the vast + majority of us, never to have passed through, than to allow it to play + more than a recreative holiday part in our lives. It did not play a very + large part in Wagner's own laborious life, and does not occupy more than + two scenes of The Ring. Tristan and Isolde, wholly devoted to it, is a + poem of destruction and death. The Mastersingers, a work full of health, + fun and happiness, contains not a single bar of love music that can be + described as passionate: the hero of it is a widower who cobbles shoes, + writes verses, and contents himself with looking on at the sweetheartings + of his customers. Parsifal makes an end of it altogether. The truth is + that the love panacea in Night Falls On The Gods and in the last act of + Siegfried is a survival of the first crude operatic conception of the + story, modified by an anticipation of Wagner's later, though not latest, + conception of love as the fulfiller of our Will to Live and consequently + our reconciler to night and death. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0016" id="link2H_4_0016"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + NOT LOVE, BUT LIFE + </h2> + <p> + The only faith which any reasonable disciple can gain from The Ring is not + in love, but in life itself as a tireless power which is continually + driving onward and upward—not, please observe, being beckoned or + drawn by Das Ewig Weibliche or any other external sentimentality, but + growing from within, by its own inexplicable energy, into ever higher and + higher forms of organization, the strengths and the needs of which are + continually superseding the institutions which were made to fit our former + requirements. When your Bakoonins call out for the demolition of all these + venerable institutions, there is no need to fly into a panic and lock them + up in prison whilst your parliament is bit by bit doing exactly what they + advised you to do. When your Siegfrieds melt down the old weapons into new + ones, and with disrespectful words chop in twain the antiquated + constable's staves in the hands of their elders, the end of the world is + no nearer than it was before. If human nature, which is the highest + organization of life reached on this planet, is really degenerating, then + human society will decay; and no panic-begotten penal measures can + possibly save it: we must, like Prometheus, set to work to make new men + instead of vainly torturing old ones. On the other hand, if the energy of + life is still carrying human nature to higher and higher levels, then the + more young people shock their elders and deride and discard their pet + institutions the better for the hopes of the world, since the apparent + growth of anarchy is only the measure of the rate of improvement. History, + as far as we are capable of history (which is not saying much as yet), + shows that all changes from crudity of social organization to complexity, + and from mechanical agencies in government to living ones, seem anarchic + at first sight. No doubt it is natural to a snail to think that any + evolution which threatens to do away with shells will result in general + death from exposure. Nevertheless, the most elaborately housed beings + today are born not only without houses on their backs but without even fur + or feathers to clothe them. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0017" id="link2H_4_0017"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + ANARCHISM NO PANACEA + </h2> + <p> + One word of warning to those who may find themselves attracted by + Siegfried's Anarchism, or, if they prefer a term with more respectable + associations, his neo-Protestantism. Anarchism, as a panacea, is just as + hopeless as any other panacea, and will still be so even if we breed a + race of perfectly benevolent men. It is true that in the sphere of + thought, Anarchism is an inevitable condition of progressive evolution. A + nation without Freethinkers—that is, without intellectual Anarchists—will + share the fate of China. It is also true that our criminal law, based on a + conception of crime and punishment which is nothing but our vindictiveness + and cruelty in a virtuous disguise, is an unmitigated and abominable + nuisance, bound to be beaten out of us finally by the mere weight of our + experience of its evil and uselessness. But it will not be replaced by + anarchy. Applied to the industrial or political machinery of modern + society, anarchy must always reduce itself speedily to absurdity. Even the + modified form of anarchy on which modern civilization is based: that is, + the abandonment of industry, in the name of individual liberty, to the + upshot of competition for personal gain between private capitalists, is a + disastrous failure, and is, by the mere necessities of the case, giving + way to ordered Socialism. For the economic rationale of this, I must refer + disciples of Siegfried to a tract from my hand published by the Fabian + Society and entitled The Impossibilities of Anarchism, which explains why, + owing to the physical constitution of our globe, society cannot + effectively organize the production of its food, clothes and housing, nor + distribute them fairly and economically on any anarchic plan: nay, that + without concerting our social action to a much higher degree than we do at + present we can never get rid of the wasteful and iniquitous welter of a + little riches and a deal of poverty which current political humbug calls + our prosperity and civilization. Liberty is an excellent thing; but it + cannot begin until society has paid its daily debt to Nature by first + earning its living. There is no liberty before that except the liberty to + live at somebody else's expense, a liberty much sought after nowadays, + since it is the criterion of gentility, but not wholesome from the point + of view of the common weal. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0018" id="link2H_4_0018"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + SIEGFRIED CONCLUDED + </h2> + <p> + In returning now to the adventures of Siegfried there is little more to be + described except the finale of an opera. Siegfried, having passed unharmed + through the fire, wakes Brynhild and goes through all the fancies and + ecstasies of love at first sight in a duet which ends with an apostrophe + to "leuchtende Liebe, lachender Tod!", which has been romantically + translated into "Love that illumines, laughing at Death," whereas it + really identifies enlightening love and laughing death as involving each + other so closely as to be usually one and the same thing. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0019" id="link2H_4_0019"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + NIGHT FALLS ON THE GODS + </h2> + <p> + <a name="link2H_PROL" id="link2H_PROL"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + PROLOGUE + </h2> + <p> + Die Gotterdammerung begins with an elaborate prologue. The three Norns + sit in the night on Brynhild's mountain top spinning their thread of + destiny, and telling the story of Wotan's sacrifice of his eye, and of his + breaking off a bough from the World Ash to make a heft for his spear, also + how the tree withered after suffering that violence. They have also some + fresher news to discuss. Wotan, on the breaking of his spear by Siegfried, + has called all his heroes to cut down the withered World Ash and stack its + faggots in a mighty pyre about Valhalla. Then, with his broken spear in + his hand, he has seated himself in state in the great hall, with the Gods + and Heroes assembled about him as if in council, solemnly waiting for the + end. All this belongs to the old legendary materials with which Wagner + began The Ring. + </p> + <p> + The tale is broken by the thread snapping in the hands of the third Norn; + for the hour has arrived when man has taken his destiny in his own hands + to shape it for himself, and no longer bows to circumstance, environment, + necessity (which he now freely wills), and all the rest of the + inevitables. So the Norns recognize that the world has no further use for + them, and sink into the earth to return to the First Mother. Then the day + dawns; and Siegfried and Brynhild come, and have another duet. He gives + her his ring; and she gives him her horse. Away then he goes in search of + more adventures; and she watches him from her crag until he disappears. + The curtain falls; but we can still hear the trolling of his horn, and the + merry clatter of his horse's shoes trotting gaily down the valley. The + sound is lost in the grander rhythm of the Rhine as he reaches its banks. + We hear again an echo of the lament of the Rhine maidens for the ravished + gold; and then, finally, a new strain, which does not surge like the + mighty flood of the river, but has an unmistakable tramp of hardy men and + a strong land flavor about it. And on this the opera curtain at last goes + up—for please remember that all that has gone before is only the + overture. + </p> + <p> + The First Act + </p> + <p> + We now understand the new tramping strain. We are in the Rhineside hall of + the Gibichungs, in the presence of King Gunther, his sister Gutrune, and + Gunther's grim half brother Hagen, the villain of the piece. Gunther is a + fool, and has for Hagen's intelligence the respect a fool always has for + the brains of a scoundrel. Feebly fishing for compliments, he appeals to + Hagen to pronounce him a fine fellow and a glory to the race of Gibich. + Hagen declares that it is impossible to contemplate him without envy, but + thinks it a pity that he has not yet found a wife glorious enough for him. + Gunther doubts whether so extraordinary a person can possibly exist. Hagen + then tells him of Brynhild and her rampart of fire; also of Siegfried. + Gunther takes this rather in bad part, since not only is he afraid of the + fire, but Siegfried, according to Hagen, is not, and will therefore + achieve this desirable match himself. But Hagen points out that since + Siegfried is riding about in quest of adventures, he will certainly pay an + early visit to the renowned chief of the Gibichungs. They can then give + him a philtre which will make him fall in love with Gutrune and forget + every other woman he has yet seen. + </p> + <p> + Gunther is transported with admiration of Hagen's cunning when he takes in + this plan; and he has hardly assented to it when Siegfried, with operatic + opportuneness, drops in just as Hagen expected, and is duly drugged into + the heartiest love for Gutrune and total oblivion of Brynhild and his own + past. When Gunther declares his longing for the bride who lies + inaccessible within a palisade of flame, Siegfried at once offers to + undertake the adventure for him. Hagen then explains to both of them that + Siegfried can, after braving the fire, appear to Brynhild in the semblance + of Gunther through the magic of the wishing cap (or Tarnhelm, as it is + called throughout The Ring), the use of which Siegfried now learns for the + first time. It is of course part of the bargain that Gunther shall give + his sister to Siegfried in marriage. On that they swear blood-brotherhood; + and at this opportunity the old operatic leaven breaks out amusingly in + Wagner. With tremendous exordium of brass, the tenor and baritone go at it + with a will, showing off the power of their voices, following each other + in canonic imitation, singing together in thirds and sixths, and finishing + with a lurid unison, quite in the manner of Ruy Gomez and Ernani, or + Othello and Iago. Then without further ado Siegfried departs on his + expedition, taking Gunther with him to the foot of the mountain, and + leaving Hagen to guard the hall and sing a very fine solo which has often + figured in the programs of the Richter concerts, explaining that his + interest in the affair is that Siegfried will bring back the Ring, and + that he, Hagen, will presently contrive to possess himself of that Ring + and become Plutonic master of the world. + </p> + <p> + And now it will be asked how does Hagen know all about the Plutonic + empire; and why was he able to tell Gunther about Brynhild and Siegfried, + and to explain to Siegfried the trick of the Tarnhelm. The explanation is + that though Hagen's mother was the mother of Gunther, his father was not + the illustrious Gibich, but no less a person than our old friend Alberic, + who, like Wotan, has begotten a son to do for him what he cannot do for + himself. + </p> + <p> + In the above incidents, those gentle moralizers who find the serious + philosophy of the music dramas too terrifying for them, may allegorize + pleasingly on the philtre as the maddening chalice of passion which, once + tasted, causes the respectable man to forget his lawfully wedded wife and + plunge into adventures which eventually lead him headlong to destruction. + </p> + <p> + We now come upon a last relic of the tragedy of Wotan. Returning to + Brynhild's mountain, we find her visited by her sister Valkyrie Valtrauta, + who has witnessed Wotan's solemn preparations with terror. She repeats to + Brynhild the account already given by the Norns. Clinging in anguish to + Wotan's knees, she has heard him mutter that were the ring returned to the + daughters of the deep Rhine, both Gods and world would be redeemed from + that stage curse off Alberic's in The Rhine Gold. On this she has rushed + on her warhorse through the air to beg Brynhild to give the Rhine back its + ring. But this is asking Woman to give up love for the sake of Church and + State. She declares that she will see them both perish first; and + Valtrauta returns to Valhalla in despair. Whilst Brynhild is watching the + course of the black thundercloud that marks her sister's flight, the fires + of Loki again flame high round the mountain; and the horn of Siegfried is + heard as he makes his way through them. But the man who now appears wears + the Tarnhelm: his voice is a strange voice: his figure is the unknown one + of the king of the Gibichungs. He tears the ring from her finger, and, + claiming her as his wife, drives her into the cave without pity for her + agony of horror, and sets Nothung between them in token of his loyalty to + the friend he is impersonating. No explanation of this highway robbery of + the ring is offered. Clearly, this Siegfried is not the Siegfried of the + previous drama. + </p> + <p> + The Second Act + </p> + <p> + In the second act we return to the hall of Gibich, where Hagen, in the + last hours of that night, still sits, his spear in his hand, and his + shield beside him. At his knees crouches a dwarfish spectre, his father + Alberic, still full of his old grievances against Wotan, and urging his + son in his dreams to win back the ring for him. This Hagen swears to do; + and as the apparition of his father vanishes, the sun rises and Siegfried + suddenly comes from the river bank tucking into his belt the Tarnhelm, + which has transported him from the mountain like the enchanted carpet of + the Arabian tales. He describes his adventures to Gutrune until Gunther's + boat is seen approaching, when Hagen seizes a cowhorn and calls the + tribesmen to welcome their chief and his bride. It is most exhilarating, + this colloquy with the startled and hastily armed clan, ending with a + thundering chorus, the drums marking the time with mighty pulses from + dominant to tonic, much as Rossini would have made them do if he had been + a pupil of Beethoven's. + </p> + <p> + A terrible scene follows. Gunther leads his captive bride straight into + the presence of Siegfried, whom she claims as her husband by the ring, + which she is astonished to see on his finger: Gunther, as she supposes, + having torn it from her the night before. Turning on Gunther, she says + "Since you took that ring from me, and married me with it, tell him of + your right to it; and make him give it back to you." Gunther stammers, + "The ring! I gave him no ring—er—do you know him?" The + rejoinder is obvious. "Then where are you hiding the ring that you had + from me?" Gunther's confusion enlightens her; and she calls Siegfried + trickster and thief to his face. In vain he declares that he got the ring + from no woman, but from a dragon whom he slew; for he is manifestly + puzzled; and she, seizing her opportunity, accuses him before the clan of + having played Gunther false with her. + </p> + <p> + Hereupon we have another grandiose operatic oath, Siegfried attesting his + innocence on Hagen's spear, and Brynhild rushing to the footlights and + thrusting him aside to attest his guilt, whilst the clansmen call upon + their gods to send down lightnings and silence the perjured. The gods do + not respond; and Siegfried, after whispering to Gunther that the Tarnhelm + seems to have been only half effectual after all, laughs his way out of + the general embarrassment and goes off merrily to prepare for his wedding, + with his arm round Gutrune's waist, followed by the clan. Gunther, Hagen + and Brynhild are left together to plot operatic vengeance. Brynhild, it + appears, has enchanted Siegfried in such a fashion that no weapon can hurt + him. She has, however, omitted to protect his back, since it is impossible + that he should ever turn that to a foe. They agree accordingly that on the + morrow a great hunt shall take place, at which Hagen shall thrust his + spear into the hero's vulnerable back. The blame is to be laid on the tusk + of a wild boar. Gunther, being a fool, is remorseful about his oath of + blood-brotherhood and about his sister's bereavement, without having the + strength of mind to prevent the murder. The three burst into a herculean + trio, similar in conception to that of the three conspirators in Un Ballo + in Maschera; and the act concludes with a joyous strain heralding the + appearance of Siegfried's wedding procession, with strewing of flowers, + sacrificing to the gods, and carrying bride and bridegroom in triumph. + </p> + <p> + It will be seen that in this act we have lost all connection with the + earlier drama. Brynhild is not only not the Brynhild of The Valkyries, she + is the Hiordis of Ibsen, a majestically savage woman, in whom jealousy and + revenge are intensified to heroic proportions. That is the inevitable + theatrical treatment of the murderous heroine of the Saga. Ibsen's aim in + The Vikings was purely theatrical, and not, as in his later dramas, also + philosophically symbolic. Wagner's aim in Siegfried's Death was equally + theatrical, and not, as it afterwards became in the dramas of which + Siegfried's antagonist Wotan is the hero, likewise philosophically + symbolic. The two master-dramatists therefore produce practically the same + version of Brynhild. Thus on the second evening of The Ring we see + Brynhild in the character of the truth-divining instinct in religion, cast + into an enchanted slumber and surrounded by the fires of hell lest she + should overthrow a Church corrupted by its alliance with government. On + the fourth evening, we find her swearing a malicious lie to gratify her + personal jealousy, and then plotting a treacherous murder with a fool and + a scoundrel. In the original draft of Siegfried's Death, the incongruity + is carried still further by the conclusion, at which the dead Brynhild, + restored to her godhead by Wotan, and again a Valkyrie, carries the slain + Siegfried to Valhalla to live there happily ever after with its pious + heroes. + </p> + <p> + As to Siegfried himself, he talks of women, both in this second act and + the next, with the air of a man of the world. "Their tantrums," he says, + "are soon over." Such speeches do not belong to the novice of the + preceding drama, but to the original Siegfried's Tod, with its leading + characters sketched on the ordinary romantic lines from the old Sagas, and + not yet reminted as the original creations of Wagner's genius whose + acquaintance we have made on the two previous evenings. The very title + "Siegfried's Death" survives as a strong theatrical point in the following + passage. Gunther, in his rage and despair, cries, "Save me, Hagen: save my + honor and thy mother's who bore us both." "Nothing can save thee," replies + Hagen: "neither brain nor hand, but SIEGFRIED'S DEATH." And Gunther echoes + with a shudder, "SIEGFRIED'S DEATH!" + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0021" id="link2H_4_0021"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + A WAGNERIAN NEWSPAPER CONTROVERSY + </h2> + <p> + The devotion which Wagner's work inspires has been illustrated lately in a + public correspondence on this very point. A writer in The Daily Telegraph + having commented on the falsehood uttered by Brynhild in accusing + Siegfried of having betrayed Gunther with her, a correspondence in defence + of the beloved heroine was opened in The Daily Chronicle. The imputation + of falsehood to Brynhild was strongly resented and combated, in spite of + the unanswerable evidence of the text. It was contended that Brynhild's + statement must be taken as establishing the fact that she actually was + ravished by somebody whom she believed to be Siegfried, and that since + this somebody cannot have been Siegfried, he being as incapable of + treachery to Gunther as she of falsehood, it must have been Gunther + himself after a second exchange of personalities not mentioned in the + text. The reply to this—if so obviously desperate a hypothesis needs + a reply—is that the text is perfectly explicit as to Siegfried, + disguised as Gunther, passing the night with Brynhild with Nothung + dividing them, and in the morning bringing her down the mountain THROUGH + THE FIRE (an impassable obstacle to Gunther) and there transporting + himself in a single breath, by the Tarnhelm's magic, back to the hall of + the Gibichungs, leaving the real Gunther to bring Brynhild down the river + after him. One controversialist actually pleaded for the expedition + occupying two nights, on the second of which the alleged outrage might + have taken place. But the time is accounted for to the last minute: it all + takes place during the single night watch of Hagen. There is no possible + way out of the plain fact that Brynhild's accusation is to her own + knowledge false; and the impossible ways just cited are only interesting + as examples of the fanatical worship which Wagner and his creations have + been able to inspire in minds of exceptional power and culture. + </p> + <p> + More plausible was the line taken by those who admitted the falsehood. + Their contention was that when Wotan deprived Brynhild of her Godhead, he + also deprived her of her former high moral attributes; so that Siegfried's + kiss awakened an ordinary mortal jealous woman. But a goddess can become + mortal and jealous without plunging at once into perjury and murder. + Besides, this explanation involves the sacrifice of the whole significance + of the allegory, and the reduction of The Ring to the plane of a child's + conception of The Sleeping Beauty. Whoever does not understand that, in + terms of The Ring philosophy, a change from godhead to humanity is a step + higher and not a degradation, misses the whole point of The Ring. It is + precisely because the truthfulness of Brynhild is proof against Wotan's + spells that he has to contrive the fire palisade with Loki, to protect the + fictions and conventions of Valhalla against her. + </p> + <p> + The only tolerable view is the one supported by the known history of The + Ring, and also, for musicians of sufficiently fine judgment, by the + evidence of the scores; of which more anon. As a matter of fact Wagner + began, as I have said, with Siegfried's Death. Then, wanting to develop + the idea of Siegfried as neo-Protestant, he went on to The Young + Siegfried. As a Protestant cannot be dramatically projected without a + pontifical antagonist. The Young Siegfried led to The Valkyries, and that + again to its preface The Rhine Gold (the preface is always written after + the book is finished). Finally, of course, the whole was revised. The + revision, if carried out strictly, would have involved the cutting out of + Siegfried's Death, now become inconsistent and superfluous; and that would + have involved, in turn, the facing of the fact that The Ring was no longer + a Niblung epic, and really demanded modern costumes, tall hats for + Tarnhelms, factories for Nibelheims, villas for Valhallas, and so on—in + short, a complete confession of the extent to which the old Niblung epic + had become the merest pretext and name directory in the course of Wagner's + travail. But, as Wagner's most eminent English interpreter once put it to + me at Bayreuth between the acts of Night Falls On The Gods, the master + wanted to "Lohengrinize" again after his long abstention from opera; and + Siegfried's Death (first sketched in 1848, the year before the rising in + Dresden and the subsequent events which so deepened Wagner's sense of life + and the seriousness of art) gave him exactly the libretto he required for + that outbreak of the old operatic Adam in him. So he changed it into Die + Gotterdammerung, retaining the traditional plot of murder and jealousy, + and with it, necessarily, his original second act, in spite of the + incongruity of its Siegfried and Brynhild with the Siegfried and Brynhild + of the allegory. As to the legendary matter about the world-ash and the + destruction of Valhalla by Loki, it fitted in well enough; for though, + allegorically, the blow by which Siegfried breaks the god's spear is the + end of Wotan and of Valhalla, those who do not see the allegory, and take + the story literally, like children, are sure to ask what becomes of Wotan + after Siegfried gets past him up the mountain; and to this question the + old tale told in Night Falls On The Gods is as good an answer as another. + The very senselessness of the scenes of the Norns and of Valtrauta in + relation to the three foregoing dramas, gives them a highly effective air + of mystery; and no one ventures to challenge their consequentiality, + because we are all more apt to pretend to understand great works of art + than to confess that the meaning (if any) has escaped us. Valtrauta, + however, betrays her irrelevance by explaining that the gods can be saved + by the restoration of the ring to the Rhine maidens. This, considered as + part of the previous allegory, is nonsense; so that even this scene, which + has a more plausible air of organic connection with The Valkyries than any + other in Night Falls On The Gods, is as clearly part of a different and + earlier conception as the episode which concludes it, in which Siegfried + actually robs Brynhild of her ring, though he has no recollection of + having given it to her. Night Falls On The Gods, in fact, was not even + revised into any real coherence with the world-poem which sprang from it; + and that is the authentic solution of all the controversies which have + arisen over it. + </p> + <p> + The Third Act + </p> + <p> + The hunting party comes off duly. Siegfried strays from it and meets the + Rhine maidens, who almost succeed in coaxing the ring from him. He + pretends to be afraid of his wife; and they chaff him as to her beating + him and so forth; but when they add that the ring is accursed and will + bring death upon him, he discloses to them, as unconsciously as Julius + Caesar disclosed it long ago, that secret of heroism, never to let your + life be shaped by fear of its end. [*] So he keeps the ring; and they + leave him to his fate. The hunting party now finds him; and they all sit + down together to make a meal by the river side, Siegfried telling them + meanwhile the story of his adventures. When he approaches the subject of + Brynhild, as to whom his memory is a blank, Hagen pours an antidote to the + love philtre into his drinking horn, whereupon, his memory returning, he + proceeds to narrate the incident of the fiery mountain, to Gunther's + intense mortification. Hagen then plunges his spear into the back of + Siegfried, who falls dead on his shield, but gets up again, after the old + operatic custom, to sing about thirty bars to his love before allowing + himself to be finally carried off to the strains of the famous + Trauermarsch. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + * "We must learn to die, and to die in the fullest sense of + the word. The fear of the end is the source of all + lovelessness; and this fear is generated only when love + begins to wane. How came it that this loves the highest + blessedness to all things living, was so far lost sight of + by the human race that at last it came to this: all that + mankind did, ordered, and established, was conceived only in + fear of the end? My poem sets this forth."—Wagner to + Roeckel, 25th Jan. 1854. +</pre> + <p> + The scene then changes to the hall of the Gibichungs by the Rhine. It is + night; and Gutrune, unable to sleep, and haunted by all sorts of vague + terrors, is waiting for the return of her husband, and wondering whether a + ghostly figure she has seen gliding down to the river bank is Brynhild, + whose room is empty. Then comes the cry of Hagen, returning with the + hunting party to announce the death of Siegfried by the tusk of a wild + boar. But Gutrune divines the truth; and Hagen does not deny it. + Siegfried's body is brought in; Gunther claims the ring; Hagen will not + suffer him to take it; they fight; and Gunther is slain. Hagen then + attempts to take it; but the dead man's hand closes on it and raises + itself threateningly. Then Brynhild comes; and a funeral pyre is raised + whilst she declaims a prolonged scene, extremely moving and imposing, but + yielding nothing to resolute intellectual criticism except a very powerful + and elevated exploitation of theatrical pathos, psychologically identical + with the scene of Cleopatra and the dead Antony in Shakespeare's tragedy. + Finally she flings a torch into the pyre, and rides her war-horse into the + flames. The hall of the Gibichungs catches fire, as most halls would were + a cremation attempted in the middle of the floor (I permit myself this + gibe purposely to emphasize the excessive artificiality of the scene); but + the Rhine overflows its banks to allow the three Rhine maidens to take the + ring from Siegfried's finger, incidentally extinguishing the conflagration + as it does so. Hagen attempts to snatch the ring from the maidens, who + promptly drown him; and in the distant heavens the Gods and their castle + are seen perishing in the fires of Loki as the curtain falls. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0022" id="link2H_4_0022"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + FORGOTTEN ERE FINISHED + </h2> + <p> + In all this, it will be observed, there is nothing new. The musical fabric + is enormously elaborate and gorgeous; but you cannot say, as you must in + witnessing The Rhine Gold, The Valkyries, and the first two acts of + Siegfried, that you have never seen anything like it before, and that the + inspiration is entirely original. Not only the action, but most of the + poetry, might conceivably belong to an Elizabethan drama. The situation of + Cleopatra and Antony is unconsciously reproduced without being bettered, + or even equalled in point of majesty and musical expression. The loss of + all simplicity and dignity, the impossibility of any credible scenic + presentation of the incidents, and the extreme staginess of the + conventions by which these impossibilities are got over, are no doubt + covered from the popular eye by the overwhelming prestige of Die + Gotterdammerung as part of so great a work as The Ring, and by the + extraordinary storm of emotion and excitement which the music keeps up. + But the very qualities that intoxicate the novice in music enlighten the + adept. In spite of the fulness of the composer's technical accomplishment, + the finished style and effortless mastery of harmony and instrumentation + displayed, there is not a bar in the work which moves us as the same + themes moved us in The Valkyries, nor is anything but external splendor + added to the life and humor of Siegfried. + </p> + <p> + In the original poem, Brynhild delays her self-immolation on the pyre of + Siegfried to read the assembled choristers a homily on the efficacy of the + Love panacea. "My holiest wisdom's hoard," she says, "now I make known to + the world. I believe not in property, nor money, nor godliness, nor hearth + and high place, nor pomp and peerage, nor contract and custom, but in + Love. Let that only prevail; and ye shall be blest in weal or woe." Here + the repudiations still smack of Bakoonin; but the saviour is no longer the + volition of the full-grown spirit of Man, the Free Willer of Necessity, + sword in hand, but simply Love, and not even Shelleyan love, but vehement + sexual passion. It is highly significant of the extent to which this + uxorious commonplace lost its hold of Wagner (after disturbing his + conscience, as he confesses to Roeckel, for years) that it disappears in + the full score of Night Falls On The Gods, which was not completed until + he was on the verge of producing Parsifal, twenty years after the + publication of the poem. He cut the homily out, and composed the music of + the final scene with a flagrant recklessness of the old intention. The + rigorous logic with which representative musical themes are employed in + the earlier dramas is here abandoned without scruple; and for the main + theme at the conclusion he selects a rapturous passage sung by Sieglinda + in the third act of The Valkyries when Brynhild inspires her with a sense + of her high destiny as the mother of the unborn hero. There is no dramatic + logic whatever in the recurrence of this theme to express the transport in + which Brynhild immolates herself. There is of course an excuse for it, + inasmuch as both women have an impulse of self-sacrifice for the sake of + Siegfried; but this is really hardly more than an excuse; since the + Valhalla theme might be attached to Alberic on the no worse ground that + both he and Wotan are inspired by ambition, and that the ambition has the + same object, the possession of the ring. The common sense of the matter is + that the only themes which had fully retained their significance in + Wagner's memory at the period of the composition of Night Falls On The + Gods are those which are mere labels of external features, such as the + Dragon, the Fire, the Water and so on. This particular theme of + Sieglinda's is, in truth, of no great musical merit: it might easily be + the pet climax of a popular sentimental ballad: in fact, the gushing + effect which is its sole valuable quality is so cheaply attained that it + is hardly going too far to call it the most trumpery phrase in the entire + tetralogy. Yet, since it undoubtedly does gush very emphatically, Wagner + chose, for convenience' sake, to work up this final scene with it rather + than with the more distinguished, elaborate and beautiful themes connected + with the love of Brynhild and Siegfried. + </p> + <p> + He would certainly not have thought this a matter of no consequence had he + finished the whole work ten years earlier. It must always be borne in mind + that the poem of The Ring was complete and printed in 1853, and represents + the sociological ideas which, after germinating in the European atmosphere + for many years, had been brought home to Wagner, who was intensely + susceptible to such ideas, by the crash of 1849 at Dresden. Now no man + whose mind is alive and active, as Wagner's was to the day of his death, + can keep his political and spiritual opinions, much less his philosophic + consciousness, at a standstill for quarter of a century until he finishes + an orchestral score. When Wagner first sketched Night Falls On The Gods he + was 35. When he finished the score for the first Bayreuth festival in 1876 + he had turned 60. No wonder he had lost his old grip of it and left it + behind him. He even tampered with The Rhine Gold for the sake of + theatrical effect when stage-managing it, making Wotan pick up and + brandish a sword to give visible point to his sudden inspiration as to the + raising up of a hero. The sword had first to be discovered by Fafnir among + the Niblung treasures and thrown away by him as useless. There is no sense + in this device; and its adoption shows the same recklessness as to the + original intention which we find in the music of the last act of The Dusk + of the Gods. [*] + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + * Die Gotterdammerung means literally Godsgloaming. The + English versions of the opera are usually called The Dusk of + the Gods, or The Twilight of the Gods. I have purposely + introduced the ordinary title in the sentence above for the + reader's information. +</pre> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0023" id="link2H_4_0023"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + WHY HE CHANGED HIS MIND + </h2> + <p> + Wagner, however, was not the man to allow his grip of a great philosophic + theme to slacken even in twenty-five years if the theme still held good as + a theory of actual life. If the history of Germany from 1849 to 1876 had + been the history of Siegfried and Wotan transposed into the key of actual + life Night Falls On The Gods would have been the logical consummation of + Das Rheingold and The Valkyrie instead of the operatic anachronism it + actually is. + </p> + <p> + But, as a matter of fact, Siegfried did not succeed and Bismarck did. + Roeckel was a prisoner whose imprisonment made no difference; Bakoonin + broke up, not Walhall, but the International, which ended in an + undignified quarrel between him and Karl Marx. The Siegfrieds of 1848 were + hopeless political failures, whereas the Wotans and Alberics and Lokis + were conspicuous political successes. Even the Mimes held their own as + against Siegfried. With the single exception of Ferdinand Lassalle, there + was no revolutionary leader who was not an obvious impossibilist in + practical politics; and Lassalle got himself killed in a romantic and + quite indefensible duel after wrecking his health in a titanic oratorical + campaign which convinced him that the great majority of the working + classes were not ready to join him, and that the minority who were ready + did not understand him. The International, founded in 1861 by Karl Marx in + London, and mistaken for several years by nervous newspapers for a red + spectre, was really only a turnip ghost. It achieved some beginnings of + International Trade Unionism by inducing English workmen to send money to + support strikes on the continent, and recalling English workers who had + been taken across the North Sea to defeat such strikes; but on its + revolutionary socialistic side it was a romantic figment. The suppression + of the Paris Commune, one of the most tragic examples in history of the + pitilessness with which capable practical administrators and soldiers are + forced by the pressure of facts to destroy romantic amateurs and + theatrical dreamers, made an end of melodramatic Socialism. It was as easy + for Marx to hold up Thiers as the most execrable of living scoundrels and + to put upon Gallifet the brand that still makes him impossible in French + politics as it was for Victor Hugo to bombard Napoleon III from his paper + battery in Jersey. It was also easy to hold up Felix Pyat and Delescluze + as men of much loftier ideals than Thiers and Gallifet; but the one fact + that could not be denied was that when it came to actual shooting, it was + Gallifet who got Delescluze shot and not Delescluze who got Gallifet shot, + and that when it came to administering the affairs of France, Thiers could + in one way or another get it done, whilst Pyat could neither do it nor + stop talking and allow somebody else to do it. True, the penalty of + following Thiers was to be exploited by the landlord and capitalist; but + then the penalty of following Pyat was to get shot like a mad dog, or at + best get sent to New Caledonia, quite unnecessarily and uselessly. + </p> + <p> + To put it in terms of Wagner's allegory, Alberic had got the ring back + again and was marrying into the best Walhall families with it. He had + thought better of his old threat to dethrone Wotan and Loki. He had found + that Nibelheim was a very gloomy place and that if he wanted to live + handsomely and safely, he must not only allow Wotan and Loki to organize + society for him, but pay them very handsomely for doing it. He wanted + splendor, military glory, loyalty, enthusiasm, and patriotism; and his + greed and gluttony were wholly unable to create them, whereas Wotan and + Loki carried them all to a triumphant climax in Germany in 1871, when + Wagner himself celebrated the event with his Kaisermarsch, which sounded + much more convincing than the Marseillaise or the Carmagnole. + </p> + <p> + How, after the Kaisermarsch, could Wagner go back to his idealization of + Siegfried in 1853? How could he believe seriously in Siegfried slaying the + dragon and charging through the mountain fire, when the immediate + foreground was occupied by the Hotel de Ville with Felix Pyat endlessly + discussing the principles of Socialism whilst the shells of Thiers were + already battering the Arc de Triomphe, and ripping up the pavement of the + Champs Elysees? Is it not clear that things had taken an altogether + unexpected turn—that although the Ring may, like the famous + Communist Manifesto of Marx and Engels, be an inspired guest at the + historic laws and predestined end of our capitalistic-theocratic epoch, + yet Wagner, like Marx, was too inexperienced in technical government and + administration and too melodramatic in his hero-contra-villain conception + of the class struggle, to foresee the actual process by which his + generalization would work out, or the part to be played in it by the + classes involved? + </p> + <p> + Let us go back for a moment to the point at which the Niblung legend first + becomes irreconcilable with Wagner's allegory. Fafnir in the allegory + becomes a capitalist; but Fafnir in the legend is a mere hoarder. His gold + does not bring him in any revenue. It does not even support him: he has to + go out and forage for food and drink. In fact, he is on the way to his + drinking-pool when Siegfried kills him. And Siegfried himself has no more + use for gold than Fafnir: the only difference between them in this respect + is that Siegfried does not waste his time in watching a barren treasure + that is no use to him, whereas Fafnir sacrifices his humanity and his life + merely to prevent anybody else getting it. This contrast is true to human + nature; but it shunts The Ring drama off the economic lines of the + allegory. In real life, Fafnir is not a miser: he seeks dividends, + comfortable life, and admission to the circles of Wotan and Loki. His only + means of procuring these is to restore the gold to Alberic in exchange for + scrip in Alberic's enterprises. Thus fortified with capital, Alberic + exploits his fellow dwarfs as before, and also exploits Fafnir's fellow + giants who have no capital. What is more, the toil, forethought and + self-control which the exploitation involves, and the self-respect and + social esteem which its success wins, effect an improvement in Alberic's + own character which neither Marx nor Wagner appear to have foreseen. He + discovers that to be a dull, greedy, narrow-minded money-grubber is not + the way to make money on a large scale; for though greed may suffice to + turn tens into hundreds and even hundreds into thousands, to turn + thousands into hundreds of thousands requires magnanimity and a will to + power rather than to pelf. And to turn thousands into millions, Alberic + must make himself an earthly providence for masses of workmen: he must + create towns and govern markets. In the meantime, Fafnir, wallowing in + dividends which he has done nothing to earn, may rot, intellectually and + morally, from mere disuse of his energies and lack of incentive to excel; + but the more imbecile he becomes, the more dependent he is upon Alberic, + and the more the responsibility of keeping the world-machine in working + order falls upon Alberic. Consequently, though Alberic in 1850 may have + been merely the vulgar Manchester Factory-owner portrayed by Engels, in + 1876 he was well on the way towards becoming Krupp of Essen or Carnegie of + Homestead. + </p> + <p> + Now, without exaggerating the virtues of these gentlemen, it will be + conceded by everybody except perhaps those veteran German Social-Democrats + who have made a cult of obsolescence under the name of Marxism, that the + modern entrepreneur is not to be displaced and dismissed so lightly as + Alberic is dismissed in The Ring. They are really the masters of the whole + situation. Wotan is hardly less dependent on them than Fafnir; the + War-Lord visits their work, acclaims them in stirring speeches, and casts + down their enemies; whilst Loki makes commercial treaties for them and + subjects all his diplomacy to their approval. + </p> + <p> + The end cannot come until Siegfried learns Alberic's trade and shoulders + Alberic's burden. Not having as yet done so, he is still completely + mastered by Alberic. He does not even rebel against him except when he is + too stupid and ignorant, or too romantically impracticable, to see that + Alberic's work, like Wotan's work and Loki's work, is necessary work, and + that therefore Alberic can never be superseded by a warrior, but only by a + capable man of business who is prepared to continue his work without a + day's intermission. Even though the proletarians of all lands were to + become "class conscious," and obey the call of Marx by uniting to carry + the Class struggle to a proletarian victory in which all capital should + become common property, and all Monarchs, Millionaires, Landlords and + Capitalists become common citizens, the triumphant proletarians would have + either to starve in Anarchy the next day or else do the political and + industrial work which is now being done tant bien que mal by our + Romanoffs, our Hohenzollerns, our Krupps, Carnegies, Levers, Pierpont + Morgans, and their political retinues. And in the meantime these magnates + must defend their power and property with all their might against the + revolutionary forces until these forces become positive, executive, + administrative forces, instead of the conspiracies of protesting, + moralizing, virtuously indignant amateurs who mistook Marx for a man of + affairs and Thiers for a stage villain. But all this represents a + development of which one gathers no forecast from Wagner or Marx. Both of + them prophesied the end of our epoch, and, so far as one can guess, + prophesied it rightly. They also brought its industrial history up to the + year 1848 far more penetratingly than the academic historians of their + time. But they broke off there and left a void between 1848 and the end, + in which we, who have to live in that period, get no guidance from them. + The Marxists wandered for years in this void, striving, with fanatical + superstition, to suppress the Revisionists who, facing the fact that the + Social-Democratic party was lost, were trying to find the path by the + light of contemporary history instead of vainly consulting the oracle in + the pages of Das Kapital. Marx himself was too simpleminded a recluse and + too full of the validity of his remoter generalizations, and the way in + which the rapid integration of capital in Trusts and Kartels was + confirming them, to be conscious of the void himself. + </p> + <p> + Wagner, on the other hand, was comparatively a practical man. It is + possible to learn more of the world by producing a single opera, or even + conducting a single orchestral rehearsal, than by ten years reading in the + Library of the British Museum. Wagner must have learnt between Das + Rheingold and the Kaisermarsch that there are yet several dramas to be + interpolated in The Ring after The Valkyries before the allegory can tell + the whole story, and that the first of these interpolated dramas will be + much more like a revised Rienzi than like Siegfried. If anyone doubts the + extent to which Wagner's eyes had been opened to the + administrative-childishness and romantic conceit of the heroes of the + revolutionary generation that served its apprenticeship on the barricades + of 1848-9, and perished on those of 1870 under Thiers' mitrailleuses, let + him read Eine Kapitulation, that scandalous burlesque in which the poet + and composer of Siegfried, with the levity of a schoolboy, mocked the + French republicans who were doing in 1871 what he himself was exiled for + doing in 1849. He had set the enthusiasm of the Dresden Revolution to his + own greatest music; but he set the enthusiasm of twenty years later in + derision to the music of Rossini. There is no mistaking the tune he meant + to suggest by his doggerel of Republik, Republik, Republik-lik-lik. The + Overture to William Tell is there as plainly as if it were noted down in + full score. + </p> + <p> + In the case of such a man as Wagner, you cannot explain this volte-face as + mere jingoism produced by Germany's overwhelming victory in the + Franco-Prussian War, nor as personal spite against the Parisians for the + Tannhauser fiasco. Wagner had more cause for personal spite against his + own countrymen than he ever had against the French. No doubt his outburst + gratified the pettier feelings which great men have in common with small + ones; but he was not a man to indulge in such gratifications, or indeed to + feel them as gratifications, if he had not arrived at a profound + philosophical contempt for the inadequacy of the men who were trying to + wield Nothung, and who had done less work for Wagner's own art than a + single German King and he, too, only a mad one. Wagner had by that time + done too much himself not to know that the world is ruled by deeds, not by + good intentions, and that one efficient sinner is worth ten futile saints + and martyrs. + </p> + <p> + I need not elaborate the point further in these pages. Like all men of + genius, Wagner had exceptional sincerity, exceptional respect for facts, + exceptional freedom from the hypnotic influence of sensational popular + movements, exceptional sense of the realities of political power as + distinguished from the presences and idolatries behind which the real + masters of modern States pull their wires and train their guns. When he + scored Night Falls On The Gods, he had accepted the failure of Siegfried + and the triumph of the Wotan-Loki-Alberic-trinity as a fact. He had given + up dreaming of heroes, heroines, and final solutions, and had conceived a + new protagonist in Parsifal, whom he announced, not as a hero, but as a + fool; who was armed, not with a sword which cut irresistibly, but with a + spear which he held only on condition that he did not use it; and who + instead of exulting in the slaughter of a dragon was frightfully ashamed + of having shot a swan. The change in the conception of the Deliverer could + hardly be more complete. It reflects the change which took place in + Wagner's mind between the composition of The Rhine Gold and Night Falls On + The Gods; and it explains why he dropped The Ring allegory and fell back + on the status quo ante by Lohengrinizing. + </p> + <p> + If you ask why he did not throw Siegfried into the waste paper basket and + rewrite The Ring from The Valkyries onwards, one must reply that the time + had not come for such a feat. Neither Wagner nor anyone else then living + knew enough to achieve it. Besides, what he had already done had reached + the limit of even his immense energy and perseverance and so he did the + best he could with the unfinished and for ever unfinishable work, rounding + it off with an opera much as Rossini rounded off some of his religious + compositions with a galop. Only, Rossini on such occasions wrote in his + score "Excusez du peu," but Wagner left us to find out the change for + ourselves, perhaps to test how far we had really followed his meaning. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0024" id="link2H_4_0024"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + WAGNER'S OWN EXPLANATION + </h2> + <p> + And now, having given my explanation of The Ring, can I give Wagner's + explanation of it? If I could (and I can) I should not by any means accept + it as conclusive. Nearly half a century has passed since the tetralogy was + written; and in that time the purposes of many half instinctive acts of + genius have become clearer to the common man than they were to the doers. + Some years ago, in the course of an explanation of Ibsen's plays, I + pointed out that it was by no means certain or even likely that Ibsen was + as definitely conscious of his thesis as I. All the stupid people, and + some critics who, though not stupid, had not themselves written what the + Germans call "tendency" works, saw nothing in this but a fantastic + affectation of the extravagant self-conceit of knowing more about Ibsen + than Ibsen himself. Fortunately, in taking exactly the same position now + with regard to Wagner, I can claim his own authority to support me. "How," + he wrote to Roeckel on the 23rd. August 1856, "can an artist expect that + what he has felt intuitively should be perfectly realized by others, + seeing that he himself feels in the presence of his work, if it is true + Art, that he is confronted by a riddle, about which he, too, might have + illusions, just as another might?" + </p> + <p> + The truth is, we are apt to deify men of genius, exactly as we deify the + creative force of the universe, by attributing to logical design what is + the result of blind instinct. What Wagner meant by "true Art" is the + operation of the artist's instinct, which is just as blind as any other + instinct. Mozart, asked for an explanation of his works, said frankly "How + do I know?" Wagner, being a philosopher and critic as well as a composer, + was always looking for moral explanations of what he had created and he + hit on several very striking ones, all different. In the same way one can + conceive Henry the Eighth speculating very brilliantly about the + circulation of his own blood without getting as near the truth as Harvey + did long after his death. + </p> + <p> + None the less, Wagner's own explanations are of exceptional interest. To + begin with, there is a considerable portion of The Ring, especially the + portraiture of our capitalistic industrial system from the socialist's + point of view in the slavery of the Niblungs and the tyranny of Alberic, + which is unmistakable, as it dramatizes that portion of human activity + which lies well within the territory covered by our intellectual + consciousness. All this is concrete Home Office business, so to speak: its + meaning was as clear to Wagner as it is to us. Not so that part of the + work which deals with the destiny of Wotan. And here, as it happened, + Wagner's recollection of what he had been driving at was completely upset + by his discovery, soon after the completion of The Ring poem, of + Schopenhaur's famous treatise "The World as Will and Representation." So + obsessed did he become with this masterpiece of philosophic art that he + declared that it contained the intellectual demonstration of the conflict + of human forces which he himself had demonstrated artistically in his + great poem. "I must confess," he writes to Roeckel, "to having arrived at + a clear understanding of my own works of art through the help of another, + who has provided me with the reasoned conceptions corresponding to my + intuitive principles." + </p> + <p> + Schopenhaur, however, had done nothing of the sort. Wagner's determination + to prove that he had been a Schopenhaurite all along without knowing it + only shows how completely the fascination of the great treatise on The + Will had run away with his memory. It is easy to see how this happened. + Wagner says of himself that "seldom has there taken place in the soul of + one and the same man so profound a division and estrangement between the + intuitive or impulsive part of his nature and his consciously or + reasonably formed ideas." And since Schopenhaur's great contribution to + modern thought was to educate us into clear consciousness of this + distinction—a distinction familiar, in a fanciful way, to the Ages + of Faith and Art before the Renascence, but afterwards swamped in the + Rationalism of that movement—it was inevitable that Wagner should + jump at Schopenhaur's metaphysiology (I use a word less likely to be + mistaken than metaphysics) as the very thing for him. But metaphysiology + is one thing, political philosophy another. The political philosophy of + Siegfried is exactly contrary to the political philosophy of Schopenhaur, + although the same clear metaphysiological distinction between the + instinctive part of man (his Will) and his reasoning faculty (dramatized + in The Ring as Loki) is insisted on in both. The difference is that to + Schopenhaur the Will is the universal tormentor of man, the author of that + great evil, Life; whilst reason is the divine gift that is finally to + overcome this life-creating will and lead, through its abnegation, to + cessation and peace, annihilation and Nirvana. This is the doctrine of + Pessimism. Now Wagner was, when he wrote The Ring, a most sanguine + revolutionary Meliorist, contemptuous of the reasoning faculty, which he + typified in the shifty, unreal, delusive Loki, and full of faith in the + life-giving Will, which he typified in the glorious Siegfried. Not until + he read Schopenhaur did he become bent on proving that he had always been + a Pessimist at heart, and that Loki was the most sensible and worthy + adviser of Wotan in The Rhine Gold. + </p> + <p> + Sometimes he faces the change in his opinions frankly enough. "My Niblung + drama," he writes to Roeckel, "had taken form at a time when I had built + up with my reason an optimistic world on Hellenic principles, believing + that nothing was necessary for the realization of such a world but that + men should wish it. I ingeniously set aside-the problem why they did not + wish it. I remember that it was with this definite creative purpose that I + conceived the personality of Siegfried, with the intention of representing + an existence free from pain." But he appeals to his earlier works to show + that behind all these artificial optimistic ideas there was always with + him an intuition of "the sublime tragedy of renunciation, the negation of + the will." In trying to explain this, he is full of ideas philosophically, + and full of the most amusing contradictions personally. Optimism, as an + accidental excursion into the barren paths of reason on his own part, he + calls "Hellenic." In others he denounces it as rank Judaism, the Jew + having at that time become for him the whipping boy for all modern + humanity. In a letter from London he expounds Schopenhaur to Roeckel with + enthusiasm, preaching the renunciation of the Will to Live as the + redemption from all error and vain pursuits: in the next letter he resumes + the subject with unabated interest, and finishes by mentioning that on + leaving London he went to Geneva and underwent "a most beneficial course + of hydropathy." Seven months before this he had written as follows: + "Believe me, I too was once possessed by the idea of a country life. In + order to become a radically healthy human being, I went two years ago to a + Hydropathic Establishment, prepared to give up Art and everything if I + could once more become a child of Nature. But, my good friend, I was + obliged to laugh at my own naivete when I found myself almost going mad. + None of us will reach the promised land: we shall all die in the + wilderness. Intellect is, as some one has said, a sort of disease: it is + incurable." + </p> + <p> + Roeckel knew his man of old, and evidently pressed him for explanations of + the inconsistencies of The Ring with Night Falls On The Gods. Wagner + defended himself with unfailing cleverness and occasional petulances, + ranging from such pleas as "I believe a true instinct has kept me from a + too great definiteness; for it has been borne in on me that an absolute + disclosure of the intention disturbs true insight," to a volley of + explanations and commentaries on the explanations. He gets excited and + annoyed because Roeckel will not admire the Brynhild of Night Falls On The + Gods; re-invents the Tarnhelm scene; and finally, the case being + desperate, exclaims, "It is wrong of you to challenge me to explain it in + words: you must feel that something is being enacted that is not to be + expressed in mere words." + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0025" id="link2H_4_0025"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + THE PESSIMIST AS AMORIST + </h2> + <p> + Sometimes he gets very far away from Pessimism indeed, and recommends + Roeckel to solace his captivity, not by conquering the will to live at + liberty, but by "the inspiring influences of the Beautiful." The next + moment he throws over even Art for Life. "Where life ends," he says, very + wittily, "Art begins. In youth we turn to Art, we know not why; and only + when we have gone through with Art and come out on the other side, we + learn to our cost that we have missed Life itself." His only comfort is + that he is beloved. And on the subject of love he lets himself loose in a + manner that would have roused the bitterest scorn in Schopenhaur, though, + as we have seen (Love Panacea), it is highly characteristic of Wagner. + "Love in its most perfect reality," he says, "is only possible between the + sexes: it is only as man and woman that human beings can truly love. Every + other manifestation of love can be traced back to that one absorbingly + real feeling, of which all other affections are but an emanation, a + connection, or an imitation. It is an error to look on this as only one of + the forms in which love is revealed, as if there were other forms coequal + with it, or even superior to it. He who after the manner of metaphysicians + prefers UNREALITY to REALITY, and derives the concrete from the abstract—in + short, puts the word before the fact—may be right in esteeming the + idea of love as higher than the expression of love, and may affirm that + actual love made manifest in feeling is nothing but the outward and + visible sign of a pre-existent, non-sensuous, abstract love; and he will + do well to despise that sensuous function in general. In any case it were + safe to bet that such a man had never loved or been loved as human beings + can love, or he would have understood that in despising this feeling, what + he condemned was its sensual expression, the outcome of man's animal + nature, and not true human love. The highest satisfaction and expression + of the individual is only to be found in his complete absorption, and that + is only possible through love. Now a human being is both MAN and WOMAN: it + is only when these two are united that the real human being exists; and + thus it is only by love that man and woman attain to the full measure of + humanity. But when nowadays we talk of a human being, such heartless + blockheads are we that quite involuntarily we only think of man. It is + only in the union of man and woman by love (sensuous and supersensuous) + that the human being exists; and as the human being cannot rise to the + conception of anything higher than his own existence—his own being—so + the transcendent act of his life is this consummation of his humanity + through love." + </p> + <p> + It is clear after this utterance from the would-be Schopenhaurian, that + Wagner's explanations of his works for the most part explain nothing but + the mood in which he happened to be on the day he advanced them, or the + train of thought suggested to his very susceptible imagination and active + mind by the points raised by his questioner. Especially in his private + letters, where his outpourings are modified by his dramatic consciousness + of the personality of his correspondent, do we find him taking all manner + of positions, and putting forward all sorts of cases which must be taken + as clever and suggestive special pleadings, and not as serious and + permanent expositions of his works. These works must speak for themselves: + if The Ring says one thing, and a letter written afterwards says that it + said something else, The Ring must be taken to confute the letter just as + conclusively as if the two had been written by different hands. However, + nobody fairly well acquainted with Wagner's utterances as a whole will + find any unaccountable contradictions in them. As in all men of his type, + our manifold nature was so marked in him that he was like several + different men rolled into one. When he had exhausted himself in the + character of the most pugnacious, aggressive, and sanguine of reformers, + he rested himself as a Pessimist and Nirvanist. In The Ring the quietism + of Brynhild's "Rest, rest, thou God" is sublime in its deep conviction; + but you have only to turn back the pages to find the irrepressible bustle + of Siegfried and the revelry of the clansmen expressed with equal zest. + Wagner was not a Schopenhaurite every day in the week, nor even a + Wagnerite. His mind changes as often as his mood. On Monday nothing will + ever induce him to return to quilldriving: on Tuesday he begins a new + pamphlet. On Wednesday he is impatient of the misapprehensions of people + who cannot see how impossible it is for him to preside as a conductor over + platform performances of fragments of his works, which can only be + understood when presented strictly according to his intention on the + stage: on Thursday he gets up a concert of Wagnerian selections, and when + it is over writes to his friends describing how profoundly both bandsmen + and audience were impressed. On Friday he exults in the self-assertion of + Siegfried's will against all moral ordinances, and is full of a + revolutionary sense of "the universal law of change and renewal": on + Saturday he has an attack of holiness, and asks, "Can you conceive a moral + action of which the root idea is not renunciation?" In short, Wagner can + be quoted against himself almost without limit, much as Beethoven's + adagios could be quoted against his scherzos if a dispute arose between + two fools as to whether he was a melancholy man or a merry one. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0026" id="link2H_4_0026"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + THE MUSIC OF THE RING + </h2> + <h3> + THE REPRESENTATIVE THEMES + </h3> + <p> + To be able to follow the music of The Ring, all that is necessary is to + become familiar enough with the brief musical phrases out of which it is + built to recognize them and attach a certain definite significance to + them, exactly as any ordinary Englishman recognizes and attaches a + definite significance to the opening bars of God Save the King. There is + no difficulty here: every soldier is expected to learn and distinguish + between different bugle calls and trumpet calls; and anyone who can do + this can learn and distinguish between the representative themes or + "leading motives" (Leitmotifs) of The Ring. They are the easier to learn + because they are repeated again and again; and the main ones are so + emphatically impressed on the ear whilst the spectator is looking for the + first time at the objects, or witnessing the first strong dramatic + expression of the ideas they denote, that the requisite association is + formed unconsciously. The themes are neither long, nor complicated, nor + difficult. Whoever can pick up the flourish of a coach-horn, the note of a + bird, the rhythm of the postman's knock or of a horse's gallop, will be at + no loss in picking up the themes of The Ring. No doubt, when it comes to + forming the necessary mental association with the theme, it may happen + that the spectator may find his ear conquering the tune more easily than + his mind conquers the thought. But for the most part the themes do not + denote thoughts at all, but either emotions of a quite simple universal + kind, or the sights, sounds and fancies common enough to be familiar to + children. Indeed some of them are as frankly childish as any of the funny + little orchestral interludes which, in Haydn's Creation, introduce the + horse, the deer, or the worm. We have both the horse and the worm in The + Ring, treated exactly in Haydn's manner, and with an effect not a whit + less ridiculous to superior people who decline to take it good-humoredly. + Even the complaisance of good Wagnerites is occasionally rather + overstrained by the way in which Brynhild's allusions to her charger Grani + elicit from the band a little rum-ti-tum triplet which by itself is in no + way suggestive of a horse, although a continuous rush of such triplets + makes a very exciting musical gallop. + </p> + <p> + Other themes denote objects which cannot be imitatively suggested by + music: for instance, music cannot suggest a ring, and cannot suggest gold; + yet each of these has a representative theme which pervades the score in + all directions. In the case of the gold the association is established by + the very salient way in which the orchestra breaks into the pretty theme + in the first act of The Rhine Gold at the moment when the sunrays strike + down through the water and light up the glittering treasure, hitherto + invisible. The reference of the strange little theme of the wishing cap is + equally manifest from the first, since the spectator's attention is wholly + taken up with the Tarnhelm and its magic when the theme is first pointedly + uttered by the orchestra. The sword theme is introduced at the end of The + Rhine Gold to express Wotan's hero inspiration; and I have already + mentioned that Wagner, unable, when it came to practical stage management, + to forego the appeal to the eye as well as to the thought, here made Wotan + pick up a sword and brandish it, though no such instruction appears in the + printed score. When this sacrifice to Wagner's scepticism as to the + reality of any appeal to an audience that is not made through their bodily + sense is omitted, the association of the theme with the sword is not + formed until that point in the first act of The Valkyries at which + Siegmund is left alone by Hunding's hearth, weaponless, with the assurance + that he will have to fight for his life at dawn with his host. He recalls + then how his father promised him a sword for his hour of need; and as he + does so, a flicker from the dying fire is caught by the golden hilt of the + sword in the tree, when the theme immediately begins to gleam through the + quiver of sound from the orchestra, and only dies out as the fire sinks + and the sword is once more hidden by the darkness. Later on, this theme, + which is never silent whilst Sieglinda is dwelling on the story of the + sword, leaps out into the most dazzling splendor the band can give it when + Siegmund triumphantly draws the weapon from the tree. As it consists of + seven notes only, with a very marked measure, and a melody like a simple + flourish on a trumpet or post horn, nobody capable of catching a tune can + easily miss it. + </p> + <p> + The Valhalla theme, sounded with solemn grandeur as the home of the gods + first appears to us and to Wotan at the beginning of the second scene of + The Rhine Gold, also cannot be mistaken. It, too, has a memorable rhythm; + and its majestic harmonies, far from presenting those novel or curious + problems in polyphony of which Wagner still stands suspected by + superstitious people, are just those three simple chords which festive + students who vamp accompaniments to comic songs "by ear" soon find + sufficient for nearly all the popular tunes in the world. + </p> + <p> + On the other hand, the ring theme, when it begins to hurtle through the + third scene of The Rhine Gold, cannot possibly be referred to any special + feature in the general gloom and turmoil of the den of the dwarfs. It is + not a melody, but merely the displaced metric accent which musicians call + syncopation, rung on the notes of the familiar chord formed by piling + three minor thirds on top of one another (technically, the chord of the + minor ninth, ci-devant diminished seventh). One soon picks it up and + identifies it; but it does not get introduced in the unequivocally clear + fashion of the themes described above, or of that malignant monstrosity, + the theme which denotes the curse on the gold. Consequently it cannot be + said that the musical design of the work is perfectly clear at the first + hearing as regards all the themes; but it is so as regards most of them, + the main lines being laid down as emphatically and intelligibly as the + dramatic motives in a Shakespearean play. As to the coyer subtleties of + the score, their discovery provides fresh interest for repeated hearings, + giving The Ring a Beethovenian inexhaustibility and toughness of wear. + </p> + <p> + The themes associated with the individual characters get stamped on the + memory easily by the simple association of the sound of the theme with the + appearance of the person indicated. Its appropriateness is generally + pretty obvious. Thus, the entry of the giants is made to a vigorous + stumping, tramping measure. Mimmy, being a quaint, weird old creature, has + a quaint, weird theme of two thin chords that creep down eerily one to the + other. Gutrune's theme is pretty and caressing: Gunther's bold, rough, and + commonplace. It is a favorite trick of Wagner's, when one of his + characters is killed on the stage, to make the theme attached to that + character weaken, fail, and fade away with a broken echo into silence. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0027" id="link2H_4_0027"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + THE CHARACTERIZATION + </h2> + <p> + All this, however, is the mere child's play of theme work. The more + complex characters, instead of having a simple musical label attached to + them, have their characteristic ideas and aspirations identified with + special representative themes as they come into play in the drama; and the + chief merit of the thematic structure of The Ring is the mastery with + which the dramatic play of the ideas is reflected in the contrapuntal play + of the themes. We do not find Wotan, like the dragon or the horse, or, for + the matter of that, like the stage demon in Weber's Freischutz or + Meyerbeer's Robert the Devil, with one fixed theme attached to him like a + name plate to an umbrella, blaring unaltered from the orchestra whenever + he steps on the stage. Sometimes we have the Valhalla theme used to + express the greatness of the gods as an idea of Wotan's. Again, we have + his spear, the symbol of his power, identified with another theme, on + which Wagner finally exercises his favorite device by making it break and + fail, cut through, as it were, by the tearing sound of the theme + identified with the sword, when Siegfried shivers the spear with the + stroke of Nothung. Yet another theme connected with Wotan is the Wanderer + music which breaks with such a majestic reassurance on the nightmare + terror of Mimmy when Wotan appears at the mouth of his cave in the scene + of the three riddles. Thus not only are there several Wotan themes, but + each varies in its inflexions and shades of tone color according to its + dramatic circumstances. So, too, the merry ham tune of the young Siegfried + changes its measure, loads itself with massive harmonies, and becomes an + exordium of the most imposing splendor when it heralds his entry as + full-fledged hero in the prologue to Night Falls On The Gods. Even Mimmy + has his two or three themes: the weird one already described; the little + one in triple measure imitating the tap of his hammer, and fiercely mocked + in the savage laugh of Alberic at his death; and finally the crooning tune + in which he details all his motherly kindnesses to the little foundling + Siegfried. Besides this there are all manner of little musical blinkings + and shamblings and whinings, the least hint of which from the orchestra at + any moment instantly brings Mimmy to mind, whether he is on the stage at + the time or not. + </p> + <p> + In truth, dramatic characterization in music cannot be carried very far by + the use of representative themes. Mozart, the greatest of all masters of + this art, never dreamt of employing them; and, extensively as they are + used in The Ring, they do not enable Wagner to dispense with the Mozartian + method. Apart from the themes, Siegfried and Mimmy are still as sharply + distinguished from one another by the character of their music as Don + Giovanni from Leporello, Wotan from Gutrune as Sarastro from Papagena. It + is true that the themes attached to the characters have the same musical + appropriateness as the rest of the music: for example, neither the + Valhalla nor the spear themes could, without the most ludicrous + incongruity, be used for the forest bird or the unstable, delusive Loki; + but for all that the musical characterization must be regarded as + independent of the specific themes, since the entire elimination of the + thematic system from the score would leave the characters as well + distinguished musically as they are at present. + </p> + <p> + One more illustration of the way in which the thematic system is worked. + There are two themes connected with Loki. One is a rapid, sinuous, + twisting, shifty semiquaver figure suggested by the unsubstantial, elusive + logic-spinning of the clever one's braincraft. The other is the fire + theme. In the first act of Siegfried, Mimmy makes his unavailing attempt + to explain fear to Siegfried. With the horror fresh upon him of the sort + of nightmare into which he has fallen after the departure of the Wanderer, + and which has taken the form, at once fanciful and symbolic, of a + delirious dread of light, he asks Siegfried whether he has never, whilst + wandering in the forest, had his heart set hammering in frantic dread by + the mysterious lights of the gloaming. To this, Siegfried, greatly + astonished, replies that on such occasions his heart is altogether healthy + and his sensations perfectly normal. Here Mimmy's question is accompanied + by the tremulous sounding of the fire theme with its harmonies most + oppressively disturbed and troubled; whereas with Siegfried's reply they + become quite clear and straightforward, making the theme sound bold, + brilliant, and serene. This is a typical instance of the way in which the + themes are used. + </p> + <p> + The thematic system gives symphonic interest, reasonableness, and unity to + the music, enabling the composer to exhaust every aspect and quality of + his melodic material, and, in Beethoven's manner, to work miracles of + beauty, expression and significance with the briefest phrases. As a + set-off against this, it has led Wagner to indulge in repetitions that + would be intolerable in a purely dramatic work. Almost the first thing + that a dramatist has to learn in constructing a play is that the persons + must not come on the stage in the second act and tell one another at great + length what the audience has already seen pass before its eyes in the + first act. The extent to which Wagner has been seduced into violating this + rule by his affection for his themes is startling to a practiced + playwright. Siegfried inherits from Wotan a mania for autobiography which + leads him to inflict on every one he meets the story of Mimmy and the + dragon, although the audience have spent a whole evening witnessing the + events he is narrating. Hagen tells the story to Gunther; and that same + night Alberic's ghost tells it over again to Hagen, who knows it already + as well as the audience. Siegfried tells the Rhine maidens as much of it + as they will listen to, and then keeps telling it to his hunting + companions until they kill him. Wotan's autobiography on the second + evening becomes his biography in the mouths of the Norns on the fourth. + The little that the Norns add to it is repeated an hour later by + Valtrauta. How far all this repetition is tolerable is a matter of + individual taste. A good story will bear repetition; and if it has woven + into it such pretty tunes as the Rhine maidens' yodel, Mimmy's tinkling + anvil beat, the note of the forest bird, the call of Siegfried's horn, and + so on, it will bear a good deal of rehearing. Those who have but newly + learnt their way through The Ring will not readily admit that there is a + bar too much repetition. + </p> + <p> + But how if you find some anti-Wagnerite raising the question whether the + thematic system does not enable the composer to produce a music drama with + much less musical fertility than was required from his predecessors for + the composition of operas under the old system! + </p> + <p> + Such discussions are not within the scope of this little book. But as the + book is now finished (for really nothing more need be said about The + Ring), I am quite willing to add a few pages of ordinary musical + criticism, partly to please the amateurs who enjoy that sort of reading, + and partly for the guidance of those who wish to obtain some hints to help + them through such critical small talk about Wagner and Bayreuth as may be + forced upon them at the dinner table or between the acts. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0028" id="link2H_4_0028"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + THE OLD AND THE NEW MUSIC + </h2> + <p> + In the old-fashioned opera every separate number involved the composition + of a fresh melody; but it is quite a mistake to suppose that this + creative-effort extended continuously throughout the number from the first + to the last bar. When a musician composes according to a set metrical + pattern, the selection of the pattern and the composition of the first + stave (a stave in music corresponds to a line in verse) generally + completes the creative effort. All the rest follows more or less + mechanically to fill up the pattern, an air being very like a wall-paper + design in this respect. Thus the second stave is usually a perfectly + obvious consequence of the first; and the third and fourth an exact or + very slightly varied repetition of the first and second. For example, + given the first line of Pop Goes the Weasel or Yankee Doodle, any musical + cobbler could supply the remaining three. There is very little tune + turning of this kind in The Ring; and it is noteworthy that where it does + occur, as in Siegmund's spring song and Mimmy's croon, "Ein zullendes + Kind," the effect of the symmetrical staves, recurring as a mere matter of + form, is perceptibly poor and platitudinous compared with the free flow of + melody which prevails elsewhere. + </p> + <p> + The other and harder way of composing is to take a strain of free melody, + and ring every variety of change of mood upon it as if it were a thought + that sometimes brought hope, sometimes melancholy, sometimes exultation, + sometimes raging despair and so on. To take several themes of this kind, + and weave them together into a rich musical fabric passing panoramically + before the ear with a continually varying flow of sentiment, is the + highest feat of the musician: it is in this way that we get the fugue of + Bach and the symphony of Beethoven. The admittedly inferior musician is + the one who, like Auber and Offenbach, not to mention our purveyors of + drawing-room ballads, can produce an unlimited quantity of symmetrical + tunes, but cannot weave themes symphonically. + </p> + <p> + When this is taken into account, it will be seen that the fact that there + is a great deal of repetition in The Ring does not distinguish it from the + old-fashioned operas. The real difference is that in them the repetition + was used for the mechanical completion of conventional metric patterns, + whereas in The Ring the recurrence of the theme is an intelligent and + interesting consequence of the recurrence of the dramatic phenomenon which + it denotes. It should be remembered also that the substitution of + symphonically treated themes for tunes with symmetrical eight-bar staves + and the like, has always been the rule in the highest forms of music. To + describe it, or be affected by it, as an abandonment of melody, is to + confess oneself an ignoramus conversant only with dance tunes and ballads. + </p> + <p> + The sort of stuff a purely dramatic musician produces when he hampers + himself with metric patterns in composition is not unlike what might have + resulted in literature if Carlyle (for example) had been compelled by + convention to write his historical stories in rhymed stanzas. That is to + say, it limits his fertility to an occasional phrase, and three quarters + of the time exercises only his barren ingenuity in fitting rhymes and + measures to it. In literature the great masters of the art have long + emancipated themselves from metric patterns. Nobody claims that the + hierarchy of modern impassioned prose writers, from Bunyan to Ruskin, + should be placed below the writers of pretty lyrics, from Herrick to Mr. + Austin Dobson. Only in dramatic literature do we find the devastating + tradition of blank verse still lingering, giving factitious prestige to + the platitudes of dullards, and robbing the dramatic style of the genuine + poet of its full natural endowment of variety, force and simplicity. + </p> + <p> + This state of things, as we have seen, finds its parallel in musical art, + since music can be written in prose themes or in versified tunes; only + here nobody dreams of disputing the greater difficulty of the prose forms, + and the comparative triviality of versification. Yet in dramatic music, as + in dramatic literature, the tradition of versification clings with the + same pernicious results; and the opera, like the tragedy, is + conventionally made like a wall paper. The theatre seems doomed to be in + all things the last refuge of the hankering after cheap prettiness in art. + </p> + <p> + Unfortunately this confusion of the decorative with the dramatic element + in both literature and music is maintained by the example of great masters + in both arts. Very touching dramatic expression can be combined with + decorative symmetry of versification when the artist happens to possess + both the decorative and dramatic gifts, and to have cultivated both hand + in hand. Shakespeare and Shelley, for instance, far from being hampered by + the conventional obligation to write their dramas in verse, found it much + the easiest and cheapest way of producing them. But if Shakespeare had + been compelled by custom to write entirely in prose, all his ordinary + dialogue might have been as good as the first scene of As You Like It; and + all his lofty passages as fine as "What a piece of work is Man!", thus + sparing us a great deal of blank verse in which the thought is + commonplace, and the expression, though catchingly turned, absurdly + pompous. The Cent might either have been a serious drama or might never + have been written at all if Shelley had not been allowed to carry off its + unreality by Elizabethan versification. Still, both poets have achieved + many passages in which the decorative and dramatic qualities are not only + reconciled, but seem to enhance one another to a pitch otherwise + unattainable. + </p> + <p> + Just so in music. When we find, as in the case of Mozart, a prodigiously + gifted and arduously trained musician who is also, by a happy accident, a + dramatist comparable to Moliere, the obligation to compose operas in + versified numbers not only does not embarrass him, but actually saves him + trouble and thought. No matter what his dramatic mood may be, he expresses + it in exquisite musical verses more easily than a dramatist of ordinary + singleness of talent can express it in prose. Accordingly, he too, like + Shakespeare and Shelley, leaves versified airs, like Dalla sua pace, or + Gluck's Che fare senza Euridice, or Weber's Leise, leise, which are as + dramatic from the first note to the last as the untrammelled themes of The + Ring. In consequence, it used to be professorially demanded that all + dramatic music should present the same double aspect. The demand was + unreasonable, since symmetrical versification is no merit in dramatic + music: one might as well stipulate that a dinner fork should be + constructed so as to serve also as a tablecloth. It was an ignorant demand + too, because it is not true that the composers of these exceptional + examples were always, or even often, able to combine dramatic expression + with symmetrical versification. Side by side with Dalla sua pace we have + Il mio tesoro and Non mi dir, in which exquisitely expressive opening + phrases lead to decorative passages which are as grotesque from the + dramatic point of view as the music which Alberic sings when he is + slipping and sneezing in the Rhine mud is from the decorative point of + view. Further, there is to be considered the mass of shapeless "dry + recitative" which separates these symmetrical numbers, and which might + have been raised to considerable dramatic and musical importance had it + been incorporated into a continuous musical fabric by thematic treatment. + Finally, Mozart's most dramatic finales and concerted numbers are more or + less in sonata form, like symphonic movements, and must therefore be + classed as musical prose. And sonata form dictates repetitions and + recapitulations from which the perfectly unconventional form adopted by + Wagner is free. On the whole, there is more scope for both repetition and + convention in the old form than in the new; and the poorer a composer's + musical gift is, the surer he is to resort to the eighteenth century + patterns to eke out his invention. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0029" id="link2H_4_0029"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + THE NINETEENTH CENTURY + </h2> + <p> + When Wagner was born in 1813, music had newly become the most astonishing, + the most fascinating, the most miraculous art in the world. Mozart's Don + Giovanni had made all musical Europe conscious of the enchantments of the + modern orchestra and of the perfect adaptability of music to the subtlest + needs of the dramatist. Beethoven had shown how those inarticulate + mood-poems which surge through men who have, like himself, no exceptional + command of words, can be written down in music as symphonies. Not that + Mozart and Beethoven invented these applications of their art; but they + were the first whose works made it clear that the dramatic and subjective + powers of sound were enthralling enough to stand by themselves quite apart + from the decorative musical structures of which they had hitherto been a + mere feature. After the finales in Figaro and Don Giovanni, the + possibility of the modern music drama lay bare. After the symphonies of + Beethoven it was certain that the poetry that lies too deep for words does + not lie too deep for music, and that the vicissitudes of the soul, from + the roughest fun to the loftiest aspiration, can make symphonies without + the aid of dance tunes. As much, perhaps, will be claimed for the preludes + and fugues of Bach; but Bach's method was unattainable: his compositions + were wonderful webs of exquisitely beautiful Gothic traceries in sound, + quite beyond all ordinary human talent. Beethoven's far blunter craft was + thoroughly popular and practicable: not to save his soul could he have + drawn one long Gothic line in sound as Bach could, much less have woven + several of them together with so apt a harmony that even when the composer + is unmoved its progressions saturate themselves with the emotion which (as + modern critics are a little apt to forget) springs as warmly from our + delicately touched admiration as from our sympathies, and sometimes makes + us give a composer credit for pathetic intentions which he does not + entertain, just as a boy imagines a treasure of tenderness and noble + wisdom in the beauty of a woman. Besides, Bach set comic dialogue to music + exactly as he set the recitatives of the Passion, there being for him, + apparently, only one recitative possible, and that the musically best. He + reserved the expression of his merry mood for the regular set numbers in + which he could make one of his wonderful contrapuntal traceries of pure + ornament with the requisite gaiety of line and movement. Beethoven bowed + to no ideal of beauty: he only sought the expression for his feeling. To + him a joke was a joke; and if it sounded funny in music he was satisfied. + Until the old habit of judging all music by its decorative symmetry had + worn out, musicians were shocked by his symphonies, and, misunderstanding + his integrity, openly questioned his sanity. But to those who were not + looking for pretty new sound patterns, but were longing for the expression + of their moods in music, he achieved revelation, because, being single in + his aim to express his own moods, he anticipated with revolutionary + courage and frankness all the moods of the rising generations of the + nineteenth century. + </p> + <p> + The result was inevitable. In the nineteenth century it was no longer + necessary to be a born pattern designer in sound to be a composer. One had + but to be a dramatist or a poet completely susceptible to the dramatic and + descriptive powers of sound. A race of literary and theatrical musicians + appeared; and Meyerbeer, the first of them, made an extraordinary + impression. The frankly delirious description of his Robert the Devil in + Balzac's short story entitled Gambra, and Goethe's astonishingly mistaken + notion that he could have composed music for Faust, show how completely + the enchantments of the new dramatic music upset the judgment of artists + of eminent discernment. Meyerbeer was, people said (old gentlemen still + say so in Paris), the successor of Beethoven: he was, if a less perfect + musician than Mozart, a profounder genius. Above all, he was original and + daring. Wagner himself raved about the duet in the fourth act of Les + Huguenots as wildly as anyone. + </p> + <p> + Yet all this effect of originality and profundity was produced by a quite + limited talent for turning striking phrases, exploiting certain curious + and rather catching rhythms and modulations, and devising suggestive or + eccentric instrumentation. On its decorative side, it was the same + phenomenon in music as the Baroque school in architecture: an energetic + struggle to enliven organic decay by mechanical oddities and novelties. + Meyerbeer was no symphonist. He could not apply the thematic system to his + striking phrases, and so had to cobble them into metric patterns in the + old style; and as he was no "absolute musician" either, he hardly got his + metric patterns beyond mere quadrille tunes, which were either wholly + undistinguished, or else made remarkable by certain brusqueries which, in + the true rococo manner, owed their singularity to their senselessness. He + could produce neither a thorough music drama nor a charming opera. But + with all this, and worse, Meyerbeer had some genuine dramatic energy, and + even passion; and sometimes rose to the occasion in a manner which, whilst + the imagination of his contemporaries remained on fire with the novelties + of dramatic music, led them to overrate him with an extravagance which + provoked Wagner to conduct a long critical campaign against his + leadership. Thirty years ago this campaign was mentably ascribed to the + professional jealousy of a disappointed rival. Nowadays young people + cannot understand how anyone could ever have taken Meyerbeer's influence + seriously. Those who remember how his reputation stood half a century ago, + and who realize what a nothoroughfare the path he opened proved to be, + even to himself, know how inevitable and how impersonal Wagner's attack + was. + </p> + <p> + Wagner was the literary musician par excellence. He could not, like Mozart + and Beethoven, produce decorative tone structures independently of any + dramatic or poetic subject matter, because, that craft being no longer + necessary for his purpose, he did not cultivate it. As Shakespeare, + compared with Tennyson, appears to have an exclusively dramatic talent, so + exactly does Wagner compared with Mendelssohn. On the other hand, he had + not to go to third rate literary hacks for "librettos" to set to music: he + produced his own dramatic poems, thus giving dramatic integrity to opera, + and making symphony articulate. A Beethoven symphony (except the + articulate part of the ninth) expresses noble feeling, but not thought: it + has moods, but no ideas. Wagner added thought and produced the music + drama. Mozart's loftiest opera, his Ring, so to speak, The Magic Flute, + has a libretto which, though none the worse for seeming, like The Rhine + Gold, the merest Christmas tomfoolery to shallow spectators, is the + product of a talent immeasurably inferior to Mozart's own. The libretto of + Don Giovanni is coarse and trivial: its transfiguration by Mozart's music + may be a marvel; but nobody will venture to contend that such + transfigurations, however seductive, can be as satisfactory as tone poetry + or drama in which the musician and the poet are at the same level. Here, + then, we have the simple secret of Wagner's preemminence as a dramatic + musician. He wrote the poems as well as composed the music of his "stage + festival plays," as he called them. + </p> + <p> + Up to a certain point in his career Wagner paid the penalty of undertaking + two arts instead of one. Mozart had his trade as a musician at his + fingers' ends when he was twenty, because he had served an arduous + apprenticeship to that trade and no other. Wagner was very far from having + attained equal mastery at thirty-five: indeed he himself has told us that + not until he had passed the age at which Mozart died did he compose with + that complete spontaneity of musical expression which can only be attained + by winning entire freedom from all preoccupation with the difficulties of + technical processes. But when that time came, he was not only a consummate + musician, like Mozart, but a dramatic poet and a critical and + philosophical essayist, exercising a considerable influence on his + century. The sign of this consummation was his ability at last to play + with his art, and thus to add to his already famous achievements in + sentimental drama that lighthearted art of comedy of which the greatest + masters, like Moliere and Mozart, are so much rarer than the tragedians + and sentimentalists. It was then that he composed the first two acts of + Siegfried, and later on The Mastersingers, a professedly comedic work, and + a quite Mozartian garden of melody, hardly credible as the work of the + straining artifices of Tanehauser. Only, as no man ever learns to do one + thing by doing something else, however closely allied the two things may + be, Wagner still produced no music independently of his poems. The + overture to The Mastersingers is delightful when you know what it is all + about; but only those to whom it came as a concert piece without any such + clue, and who judged its reckless counterpoint by the standard of Bach and + of Mozart's Magic Flute overture, can realize how atrocious it used to + sound to musicians of the old school. When I first heard it, with the + clear march of the polyphony in Bach's B minor Mass fresh in my memory, I + confess I thought that the parts had got dislocated, and that some of the + band were half a bar behind the others. Perhaps they were; but now that I + am familiar with the work, and with Wagner's harmony, I can still quite + understand certain passages producing that effect organ admirer of Bach + even when performed with perfect accuracy. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0030" id="link2H_4_0030"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + THE MUSIC OF THE FUTURE + </h2> + <p> + The success of Wagner has been so prodigious that to his dazzled disciples + it seems that the age of what he called "absolute" music must be at an + end, and the musical future destined to be an exclusively Wagnerian one + inaugurated at Bayreuth. All great geniuses produce this illusion. Wagner + did not begin a movement: he consummated it. He was the summit of the + nineteenth century school of dramatic music in the same sense as Mozart + was the summit (the word is Gounod's) of the eighteenth century school. + And those who attempt to carry on his Bayreuth tradition will assuredly + share the fate of the forgotten purveyors of second-hand Mozart a hundred + years ago. As to the expected supersession of absolute music, it is + sufficient to point to the fact that Germany produced two absolute + musicians of the first class during Wagner's lifetime: one, the greatly + gifted Goetz, who died young; the other, Brahms, whose absolute musical + endowment was as extraordinary as his thought was commonplace. Wagner had + for him the contempt of the original thinker for the man of second-hand + ideas, and of the strenuously dramatic musician for mere brute musical + faculty; but though his contempt was perhaps deserved by the Triumphlieds, + and Schicksalslieds, and Elegies and Requiems in which Brahms took his + brains so seriously, nobody can listen to Brahms' natural utterance of the + richest absolute music, especially in his chamber compositions, without + rejoicing in his amazing gift. A reaction to absolute music, starting + partly from Brahms, and partly from such revivals of medieval music as + those of De Lange in Holland and Mr. Arnold Dolmetsch in England, is both + likely and promising; whereas there is no more hope in attempts to + out-Wagner Wagner in music drama than there was in the old attempts—or + for the matter of that, the new ones—to make Handel the starting + point of a great school of oratorio. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0031" id="link2H_4_0031"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + BAYREUTH + </h2> + <p> + When the Bayreuth Festival Playhouse was at last completed, and opened in + 1876 with the first performance of The Ring, European society was + compelled to admit that Wagner was "a success." Royal personages, + detesting his music, sat out the performances in the row of boxes set + apart for princes. They all complimented him on the astonishing "push" + with which, in the teeth of all obstacles, he had turned a fabulous and + visionary project into a concrete commercial reality, patronized by the + public at a pound a head. It is as well to know that these congratulations + had no other effect upon Wagner than to open his eyes to the fact that the + Bayreuth experiment, as an attempt to evade the ordinary social and + commercial conditions of theatrical enterprise, was a failure. His own + account of it contrasts the reality with his intentions in a vein which + would be bitter if it were not so humorous. The precautions taken to keep + the seats out of the hands of the frivolous public and in the hands of + earnest disciples, banded together in little Wagner Societies throughout + Europe, had ended in their forestalling by ticket speculators and their + sale to just the sort of idle globe-trotting tourists against whom the + temple was to have been strictly closed. The money, supposed to be + contributed by the faithful, was begged by energetic subscription-hunting + ladies from people who must have had the most grotesque misconceptions of + the composer's aims—among others, the Khedive of Egypt and the + Sultan of Turkey! + </p> + <p> + The only change that has occurred since then is that subscriptions are no + longer needed; for the Festival Playhouse apparently pays its own way now, + and is commercially on the same footing as any other theatre. The only + qualification required from the visitor is money. A Londoner spends twenty + pounds on a visit: a native Bayreuther spends one pound. In either case + "the Folk," on whose behalf Wagner turned out in 1849, are effectually + excluded; and the Festival Playhouse must therefore be classed as + infinitely less Wagnerian in its character than Hampton Court Palace. + Nobody knew this better than Wagner; and nothing can be further off the + mark than to chatter about Bayreuth as if it had succeeded in escaping + from the conditions of our modern civilization any more than the Grand + Opera in Paris or London. + </p> + <p> + Within these conditions, however, it effected a new departure in that + excellent German institution, the summer theatre. Unlike our opera houses, + which are constructed so that the audience may present a splendid pageant + to the delighted manager, it is designed to secure an uninterrupted view + of the stage, and an undisturbed hearing of the music, to the audience. + The dramatic purpose of the performances is taken with entire and + elaborate seriousness as the sole purpose of them; and the management is + jealous for the reputation of Wagner. The commercial success which has + followed this policy shows that the public wants summer theatres of the + highest class. There is no reason why the experiment should not be tried + in England. If our enthusiasm for Handel can support Handel Festivals, + laughably dull, stupid and anti-Handelian as these choral monstrosities + are, as well as annual provincial festivals on the same model, there is no + likelihood of a Wagner Festival failing. Suppose, for instance, a Wagner + theatre were built at Hampton Court or on Richmond Hill, not to say + Margate pier, so that we could have a delightful summer evening holiday, + Bayreuth fashion, passing the hours between the acts in the park or on the + river before sunset, is it seriously contended that there would be any + lack of visitors? If a little of the money that is wasted on grand stands, + Eiffel towers, and dismal Halls by the Sea, all as much tied to brief + annual seasons as Bayreuth, were applied in this way, the profit would be + far more certain and the social utility prodigiously greater. Any English + enthusiasm for Bayreuth that does not take the form of clamor for a + Festival Playhouse in England may be set aside as mere pilgrimage mania. + </p> + <p> + Those who go to Bayreuth never repent it, although the performances there + are often far from delectable. The singing is sometimes tolerable, and + sometimes abominable. Some of the singers are mere animated beer casks, + too lazy and conceited to practise the self-control and physical training + that is expected as a matter of course from an acrobat, a jockey or a + pugilist. The women's dresses are prudish and absurd. It is true that + Kundry no longer wears an early Victorian ball dress with "ruchings," and + that Fresh has been provided with a quaintly modish copy of the flowered + gown of Spring in Botticelli's famous picture; but the mailclad Brynhild + still climbs the mountains with her legs carefully hidden in a long white + skirt, and looks so exactly like Mrs. Leo Hunter as Minerva that it is + quite impossible to feel a ray of illusion whilst looking at her. The + ideal of womanly beauty aimed at reminds Englishmen of the barmaids of the + seventies, when the craze for golden hair was at its worst. Further, + whilst Wagner's stage directions are sometimes disregarded as + unintelligently as at Covent Garden, an intolerably old-fashioned + tradition of half rhetorical, half historical-pictorial attitude and + gesture prevails. The most striking moments of the drama are conceived as + tableaux vivants with posed models, instead of as passages of action, + motion and life. + </p> + <p> + I need hardly add that the supernatural powers of control attributed by + credulous pilgrims to Madame Wagner do not exist. Prima donnas and tenors + are as unmanageable at Bayreuth as anywhere else. Casts are capriciously + changed; stage business is insufficiently rehearsed; the public are + compelled to listen to a Brynhild or Siegfried of fifty when they have + carefully arranged to see one of twenty-five, much as in any ordinary + opera house. Even the conductors upset the arrangements occasionally. On + the other hand, if we leave the vagaries of the stars out of account, we + may safely expect always that in thoroughness of preparation of the chief + work of the season, in strenuous artistic pretentiousness, in pious + conviction that the work is of such enormous importance as to be worth + doing well at all costs, the Bayreuth performances will deserve their + reputation. The band is placed out of sight of the audience, with the more + formidable instruments beneath the stage, so that the singers have not to + sing THROUGH the brass. The effect is quite perfect. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0032" id="link2H_4_0032"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + BAYREUTH IN ENGLAND + </h2> + <p> + I purposely dwell on the faults of Bayreuth in order to show that there is + no reason in the world why as good and better performances of The Ring + should not be given in England. Wagner's scores are now before the world; + and neither his widow nor his son can pretend to handle them with greater + authority than any artist who feels the impulse to interpret them. Nobody + will ever know what Wagner himself thought of the artists who established + the Bayreuth tradition: he was obviously not in a position to criticize + them. For instance, had Rubini survived to create Siegmund, it is quite + certain that we should not have had from Wagner's pen so amusing and vivid + a description as we have of his Ottavio in the old Paris days. Wagner was + under great obligations to the heroes and heroines of 1876; and he + naturally said nothing to disparage their triumphs; but there is no reason + to believe that all or indeed any of them satisfied him as Schnorr of + Carolsfeld satisfied him as Tristan, or Schroder Devrient as Fidelio. It + is just as likely as not that the next Schnorr or Schroder may arise in + England. If that should actually happen, neither of them will need any + further authority than their own genius and Wagner's scores for their + guidance. Certainly the less their spontaneous impulses are sophisticated + by the very stagey traditions which Bayreuth is handing down from the age + of Crummles, the better. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0033" id="link2H_4_0033"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + WAGNERIAN SINGERS + </h2> + <p> + No nation need have much difficulty in producing a race of Wagnerian + singers. With the single exception of Handel, no composer has written + music so well calculated to make its singers vocal athletes as Wagner. + Abominably as the Germans sing, it is astonishing how they thrive + physically on his leading parts. His secret is the Handelian secret. + Instead of specializing his vocal parts after the manner of Verdi and + Gounod for high sopranos, screaming tenors, and high baritones with an + effective compass of about a fifth at the extreme tiptop of their ranges, + and for contraltos with chest registers forced all over their compass in + the manner of music hall singers, he employs the entire range of the human + voice freely, demanding from everybody very nearly two effective octaves, + so that the voice is well exercised all over, and one part of it relieves + the other healthily and continually. He uses extremely high notes very + sparingly, and is especially considerate in the matter of instrumental + accompaniment. Even when the singer appears to have all the thunders of + the full orchestra raging against him, a glance at the score will show + that he is well heard, not because of any exceptionally stentorian power + in his voice, but because Wagner meant him to be heard and took the + greatest care not to overwhelm him. Such brutal opacities of accompaniment + as we find in Rossini's Stabat or Verdi's Trovatore, where the strings + play a rum-tum accompaniment whilst the entire wind band blares away, + fortissimo, in unison with the unfortunate singer, are never to be found + in Wagner's work. Even in an ordinary opera house, with the orchestra + ranged directly between the singers and the audience, his instrumentation + is more transparent to the human voice than that of any other composer + since Mozart. At the Bayreuth Buhnenfestspielhaus, with the brass under + the stage, it is perfectly so. + </p> + <p> + On every point, then, a Wagner theatre and Wagner festivals are much more + generally practicable than the older and more artificial forms of dramatic + music. A presentable performance of The Ring is a big undertaking only in + the sense in which the construction of a railway is a big undertaking: + that is, it requires plenty of work and plenty of professional skill; but + it does not, like the old operas and oratorios, require those + extraordinary vocal gifts which only a few individuals scattered here and + there throughout Europe are born with. Singers who could never execute the + roulades of Semiramis, Assur, and Arsaces in Rossini's Semiramide, could + sing the parts of Brynhild, Wotan and Erda without missing a note. Any + Englishman can understand this if he considers for a moment the difference + between a Cathedral service and an Italian opera at Covent Garden. The + service is a much more serious matter than the opera. Yet provincial + talent is sufficient for it, if the requisite industry and devotion are + forthcoming. Let us admit that geniuses of European celebrity are + indispensable at the Opera (though I know better, having seen lusty + troopers and porters, without art or manners, accepted by fashion as + principal tenors at that institution during the long interval between + Mario and Jean de Reszke); but let us remember that Bayreuth has recruited + its Parsifals from the peasantry, and that the artisans of a village in + the Bavarian Alps are capable of a famous and elaborate Passion Play, and + then consider whether England is so poor in talent that its amateurs must + journey to the centre of Europe to witness a Wagner Festival. + </p> + <p> + The truth is, there is nothing wrong with England except the wealth which + attracts teachers of singing to her shores in sufficient numbers to + extinguish the voices of all natives who have any talent as singers. Our + salvation must come from the class that is too poor to have lessons. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Perfect Wagnerite, by George Bernard Shaw + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PERFECT WAGNERITE *** + +***** This file should be named 1487-h.htm or 1487-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/4/8/1487/ + +Produced by Dianne Bean, and David Widger + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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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: The Perfect Wagnerite + A Commentary on the Niblung's Ring + +Author: George Bernard Shaw + +Posting Date: September 14, 2008 [EBook #1487] +Release Date: October, 1998 +[Last updated: March 26, 2017] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PERFECT WAGNERITE *** + + + + +Produced by Dianne Bean + + + + + +THE PERFECT WAGNERITE: A COMMENTARY ON THE NIBLUNG'S RING + +by Bernard Shaw + + + + +Preface to the First German Edition + +In reading through this German version of my book in the Manuscript of +my friend Siegfried Trebitsch, I was struck by the inadequacy of the +merely negative explanation given by me of the irrelevance of Night +Falls On The Gods to the general philosophic scheme of The Ring. That +explanation is correct as far as it goes; but, put as I put it, it now +seems to me to suggest that the operatic character of Night Falls On +The Gods was the result of indifference or forgetfulness produced by the +lapse of twenty-five years between the first projection of the work and +its completion. Now it is clear that in whatever other ways Wagner may +have changed, he never became careless and he never became indifferent. +I have therefore inserted a new section in which I show how the +revolutionary history of Western Europe from the Liberal explosion of +1848 to the confused attempt at a socialist, military, and municipal +administration in Paris in 1871 (that is to say, from the beginning of +The Niblung's Ring by Wagner to the long-delayed completion of Night +Falls On The Gods), demonstrated practically that the passing away of +the present order was going to be a much more complicated business than +it appears in Wagner's Siegfried. I have therefore interpolated a new +chapter which will perhaps induce some readers of the original English +text to read the book again in German. + +For some time to come, indeed, I shall have to refer English readers to +this German edition as the most complete in existence. + +My obligation to Herr Trebitsch for making me a living German author +instead of merely a translated English one is so great that I am bound +to point out that he is not responsible for my views or Wagner's, and +that it is as an artist and a man of letters, and not as a propagandist, +that he is conveying to the German speaking peoples political criticisms +which occasionally reflect on contemporary authorities with a European +reputation for sensitiveness. And as the very sympathy which makes his +translations so excellent may be regarded with suspicion, let me hasten +to declare I am bound to Germany by the ties that hold my nature most +strongly. Not that I like the average German: nobody does, even in his +own country. But then the average man is not popular anywhere; and as +no German considers himself an average one, each reader will, as an +exceptional man, sympathize with my dislike of the common herd. And if +I cannot love the typical modern German, I can at least pity and +understand him. His worst fault is that he cannot see that it is +possible to have too much of a good thing. Being convinced that duty, +industry, education, loyalty, patriotism and respectability are +good things (and I am magnanimous enough to admit that they are not +altogether bad things when taken in strict moderation at the right +time and in the right place), he indulges in them on all occasions +shamelessly and excessively. He commits hideous crimes when crime is +presented to him as part of his duty; his craze for work is more ruinous +than the craze for drink; when he can afford secondary education for his +sons you find three out of every five of them with their minds lamed +for life by examinations which only a thoroughly wooden head could go +through with impunity; and if a king is patriotic and respectable (few +kings are) he puts up statues to him and exalts him above Charlemagne +and Henry the Fowler. And when he meets a man of genius, he +instinctively insults him, starves him, and, if possible, imprisons and +kills him. + +Now I do not pretend to be perfect myself. Heaven knows I have to +struggle hard enough every day with what the Germans call my +higher impulses. I know too well the temptation to be moral, to be +self-sacrificing, to be loyal and patriotic, to be respectable and +well-spoken of. But I wrestle with it and--as far as human fraility will +allow--conquer it, whereas the German abandons himself to it without +scruple or reflection, and is actually proud of his pious intemperance +and self-indulgence. Nothing will cure him of this mania. It may end +in starvation, crushing taxation, suppression of all freedom to try +new social experiments and reform obsolete institutions, in snobbery, +jobbery, idolatry, and an omnipresent tyranny in which his doctor and +his schoolmaster, his lawyer and his priest, coerce him worse than +any official or drill sergeant: no matter: it is respectable, says the +German, therefore it must be good, and cannot be carried too far; +and everybody who rebels against it must be a rascal. Even the +Social-Democrats in Germany differ from the rest only in carrying +academic orthodoxy beyond human endurance--beyond even German endurance. +I am a Socialist and a Democrat myself, the hero of a hundred platforms, +one of the leaders of the most notable Socialist organizations in +England. I am as conspicuous in English Socialism as Bebel is in German +Socialism; but do you suppose that the German Social-Democrats tolerate +me? Not a bit of it. I have begged again and again to be taken to the +bosom of my German comrades. I have pleaded that the Super-Proletarians +of all lands should unite. I have pointed out that the German +Social-Democratic party has done nothing at its Congresses for the last +ten years except the things I told them to do ten years before, and that +its path is white with the bones of the Socialist superstitions I and my +fellow Fabians have slain. Useless. They do not care a rap whether I +am a Socialist or not. All they want to know is; Am I orthodox? Am I +correct in my revolutionary views? Am I reverent to the revolutionary +authorities? Because I am a genuine free-thinker they look at me as a +policeman looks at a midnight prowler or as a Berlin bourgeois looks +at a suspicious foreigner. They ask "Do you believe that Marx was +omniscient and infallible; that Engels was his prophet; that Bebel and +Singer are his inspired apostles; and that Das Kapital is the Bible?" +Hastening in my innocence to clear myself of what I regard as an +accusation of credulity and ignorance, I assure them earnestly that +I know ten times as much of economics and a hundred times as much of +practical administration as Marx did; that I knew Engels personally and +rather liked him as a witty and amiable old 1848 veteran who despised +modern Socialism; that I regard Bebel and Singer as men of like passions +with myself, but considerably less advanced; and that I read Das Kapital +in the year 1882 or thereabouts, and still consider it one of the +most important books of the nineteenth century because of its power +of changing the minds of those who read it, in spite of its unsound +capitalist economics, its parade of quotations from books which the +author had either not read or not understood, its affectation of +algebraic formulas, and its general attempt to disguise a masterpiece +of propagandist journalism and prophetic invective as a drily scientific +treatise of the sort that used to impose on people in 1860, when any +book that pretended to be scientific was accepted as a Bible. In those +days Darwin and Helmholtz were the real fathers of the Church; and +nobody would listen to religion, poetry or rhetoric; so that even +Socialism had to call itself "scientific," and predict the date of the +revolution, as if it were a comet, by calculations founded on "historic +laws." + +To my amazement these reasonable remarks were received as hideous +blasphemies; none of the party papers were allowed to print any word +of mine; the very Revisionists themselves found that the scandal of my +heresy damaged them more than my support aided them; and I found myself +an outcast from German Social-Democracy at the moment when, thanks to +Trebitsch, the German bourgeoisie and nobility began to smile on me, +seduced by the pleasure of playing with fire, and perhaps by Agnes +Sorma's acting as Candida. + +Thus you may see that when a German, by becoming a Social-Democrat, +throws off all the bonds of convention, and stands free from all +allegiance to established religion, law, order, patriotism, and +learning, he promptly uses his freedom to put on a headier set of +chains; expels anti-militarists with the blood-thirstiest martial +anti-foreign ardor; and gives the Kaiser reason to thank heaven that he +was born in the comparative freedom and Laodicean tolerance of Kingship, +and not in the Calvinistic bigotry and pedantry of Marxism. + +Why, then, you may ask, do I say that I am bound to Germany by the ties +that hold my nature most strongly? Very simply because I should have +perished of despair in my youth but for the world created for me by that +great German dynasty which began with Bach and will perhaps not end with +Richard Strauss. Do not suppose for a moment that I learnt my art from +English men of letters. True, they showed me how to handle English +words; but if I had known no more than that, my works would never +have crossed the Channel. My masters were the masters of a universal +language: they were, to go from summit to summit, Bach, Handel, Haydn, +Mozart, Beethoven and Wagner. Had the Germans understood any of these +men, they would have hanged them. Fortunately they did not understand +them, and therefore only neglected them until they were dead, after +which they learnt to dance to their tunes with an easy conscience. +For their sakes Germany stands consecrated as the Holy Land of the +capitalist age, just as Italy, for its painters' sakes, is the Holy Land +of the early unvulgarized Renascence; France, for its builders' +sakes, of the age of Christian chivalry and faith; and Greece, for its +sculptors' sakes, of the Periclean age. + +These Holy Lands are my fatherlands: in them alone am I truly at home: +all my work is but to bring the whole world under this sanctification. + +And so, O worthy, respectable, dutiful, patriotic, brave, industrious +German reader, you who used to fear only God and your own conscience, +and now fear nothing at all, here is my book for you; and--in all +sincerity--much good may it do you! + +London, 23rd. October 1907. + + + + +PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION + +The preparation of a Second Edition of this booklet is quite the most +unexpected literary task that has ever been set me. When it first +appeared I was ungrateful enough to remonstrate with its publisher for +printing, as I thought, more copies than the most sanguine Wagnerite +could ever hope to sell. But the result proved that exactly one person +buys a copy on every day in the year, including Sundays; and so, in the +process of the suns, a reprint has become necessary. + +Save a few verbal slips of no importance, I have found nothing to alter +in this edition. As usual, the only protests the book has elicited are +protests, not against the opinions it expresses, but against the facts +it records. There are people who cannot bear to be told that their +hero was associated with a famous Anarchist in a rebellion; that he +was proclaimed as "wanted" by the police; that he wrote revolutionary +pamphlets; and that his picture of Niblunghome under the reign of +Alberic is a poetic vision of unregulated industrial capitalism as it +was made known in Germany in the middle of the nineteenth century by +Engels's Condition of the Laboring classes in England. They frantically +deny these facts, and then declare that I have connected them with +Wagner in a paroxysm of senseless perversity. I am sorry I have hurt +them; and I appeal to charitable publishers to bring out a new life of +Wagner, which shall describe him as a court musician of unquestioned +fashion and orthodoxy, and a pillar of the most exclusive Dresden +circles. Such a work, would, I believe, have a large sale, and be read +with satisfaction and reassurance by many lovers of Wagner's music. + +As to my much demurred-to relegation of Night Falls On The Gods to +the category of grand opera, I have nothing to add or withdraw. Such a +classification is to me as much a matter of fact as the Dresden rising +or the police proclamation; but I shall not pretend that it is a matter +of such fact as everybody's judgment can grapple with. People who prefer +grand opera to serious music-drama naturally resent my placing a very +grand opera below a very serious music-drama. The ordinary lover of +Shakespeare would equally demur to my placing his popular catchpenny +plays, of which As You Like It is an avowed type, below true +Shakespearean plays like Measure for Measure. I cannot help that. +Popular dramas and operas may have overwhelming merits as enchanting +make-believes; but a poet's sincerest vision of the world must always +take precedence of his prettiest fool's paradise. + +As many English Wagnerites seem to be still under the impression that +Wagner composed Rienzi in his youth, Tannhauser and Lohengrin in his +middle age, and The Ring in his later years, may I again remind them +that The Ring was the result of a political convulsion which occurred +when Wagner was only thirty-six, and that the poem was completed when +he was forty, with thirty more years of work before him? It is as much +a first essay in political philosophy as Die Feen is a first essay in +romantic opera. The attempt to recover its spirit twenty years later, +when the music of Night Falls On The Gods was added, was an attempt to +revive the barricades of Dresden in the Temple of the Grail. Only those +who have never had any political enthusiasms to survive can believe that +such an attempt could succeed. G. B. S. + + London, 1901 + + + + +Preface to the First Edition + +This book is a commentary on The Ring of the Niblungs, Wagner's chief +work. I offer it to those enthusiastic admirers of Wagner who are unable +to follow his ideas, and do not in the least understand the dilemma of +Wotan, though they are filled with indignation at the irreverence of the +Philistines who frankly avow that they find the remarks of the god too +often tedious and nonsensical. Now to be devoted to Wagner merely as a +dog is devoted to his master, sharing a few elementary ideas, appetites +and emotions with him, and, for the rest, reverencing his superiority +without understanding it, is no true Wagnerism. Yet nothing better +is possible without a stock of ideas common to master and disciple. +Unfortunately, the ideas of the revolutionary Wagner of 1848 are taught +neither by the education nor the experience of English and American +gentlemen-amateurs, who are almost always political mugwumps, and hardly +ever associate with revolutionists. The earlier attempts to translate +his numerous pamphlets and essays into English, resulted in ludicrous +mixtures of pure nonsense with the absurdest distorsions of his ideas +into the ideas of the translators. We now have a translation which is a +masterpiece of interpretation and an eminent addition to our literature; +but that is not because its author, Mr. Ashton Ellis, knows the German +dictionary better than his predecessors. He is simply in possession of +Wagner's ideas, which were to them inconceivable. + +All I pretend to do in this book is to impart the ideas which are most +likely to be lacking in the conventional Englishman's equipment. I came +by them myself much as Wagner did, having learnt more about music +than about anything else in my youth, and sown my political wild oats +subsequently in the revolutionary school. This combination is not common +in England; and as I seem, so far, to be the only publicly articulate +result of it, I venture to add my commentary to what has already been +written by musicians who are no revolutionists, and revolutionists who +are no musicians. G. B. S. + + + + + Preliminary Encouragements + The Ring of the Niblungs + The Rhine Gold + Wagner as Revolutionist + The Valkyries + Siegfried + Siegfried as Protestant + Night Falls On The Gods + Why He Changed His Mind + Wagner's Own Explanation + The Music of The Ring + The Old and the New Music + The Nineteenth Century + The Music of the Future + Bayreuth + + + + +THE PERFECT WAGNERITE + + + + +PRELIMINARY ENCOURAGEMENTS + +A few of these will be welcome to the ordinary citizen visiting the +theatre to satisfy his curiosity, or his desire to be in the fashion, +by witnessing a representation of Richard Wagner's famous Ring of the +Niblungs. + +First, The Ring, with all its gods and giants and dwarfs, its +water-maidens and Valkyries, its wishing-cap, magic ring, enchanted +sword, and miraculous treasure, is a drama of today, and not of a remote +and fabulous antiquity. It could not have been written before the second +half of the nineteenth century, because it deals with events which were +only then consummating themselves. Unless the spectator recognizes in +it an image of the life he is himself fighting his way through, it must +needs appear to him a monstrous development of the Christmas pantomimes, +spun out here and there into intolerable lengths of dull conversation by +the principal baritone. Fortunately, even from this point of view, The +Ring is full of extraordinarily attractive episodes, both orchestral and +dramatic. The nature music alone--music of river and rainbow, fire and +forest--is enough to bribe people with any love of the country in them +to endure the passages of political philosophy in the sure hope of a +prettier page to come. Everybody, too, can enjoy the love music, the +hammer and anvil music, the clumping of the giants, the tune of the +young woodsman's horn, the trilling of the bird, the dragon music and +nightmare music and thunder and lightning music, the profusion of simple +melody, the sensuous charm of the orchestration: in short, the vast +extent of common ground between The Ring and the ordinary music we use +for play and pleasure. Hence it is that the four separate music-plays +of which it is built have become popular throughout Europe as operas. We +shall presently see that one of them, Night Falls On The Gods, actually +is an opera. + +It is generally understood, however, that there is an inner ring of +superior persons to whom the whole work has a most urgent and searching +philosophic and social significance. I profess to be such a superior +person; and I write this pamphlet for the assistance of those who wish +to be introduced to the work on equal terms with that inner circle of +adepts. + +My second encouragement is addressed to modest citizens who may suppose +themselves to be disqualified from enjoying The Ring by their technical +ignorance of music. They may dismiss all such misgivings speedily and +confidently. If the sound of music has any power to move them, they will +find that Wagner exacts nothing further. There is not a single bar of +"classical music" in The Ring--not a note in it that has any other point +than the single direct point of giving musical expression to the drama. +In classical music there are, as the analytical programs tell us, first +subjects and second subjects, free fantasias, recapitulations, and +codas; there are fugues, with counter-subjects, strettos, and pedal +points; there are passacaglias on ground basses, canons ad hypodiapente, +and other ingenuities, which have, after all, stood or fallen by their +prettiness as much as the simplest folk-tune. Wagner is never driving at +anything of this sort any more than Shakespeare in his plays is driving +at such ingenuities of verse-making as sonnets, triolets, and the like. +And this is why he is so easy for the natural musician who has had no +academic teaching. The professors, when Wagner's music is played to +them, exclaim at once "What is this? Is it aria, or recitative? Is there +no cabaletta to it--not even a full close? Why was that discord not +prepared; and why does he not resolve it correctly? How dare he indulge +in those scandalous and illicit transitions into a key that has not +one note in common with the key he has just left? Listen to those false +relations! What does he want with six drums and eight horns when Mozart +worked miracles with two of each? The man is no musician." The layman +neither knows nor cares about any of these things. If Wagner were to +turn aside from his straightforward dramatic purpose to propitiate the +professors with correct exercises in sonata form, his music would at +once become unintelligible to the unsophisticated spectator, upon whom +the familiar and dreaded "classical" sensation would descend like the +influenza. Nothing of the kind need be dreaded. The unskilled, untaught +musician may approach Wagner boldly; for there is no possibility of a +misunderstanding between them: The Ring music is perfectly single and +simple. It is the adept musician of the old school who has everything to +unlearn: and him I leave, unpitied, to his fate. + + + + +THE RING OF THE NIBLUNGS + +The Ring consists of four plays, intended to be performed on four +successive evenings, entitled The Rhine Gold (a prologue to the other +three), The Valkyries, Siegfried, and Night Falls On The Gods; or, in +the original German, Das Rheingold, Die Walkure, Siegfried, and Die +Gotterdammerung. + + + + +THE RHINE GOLD + +Let me assume for a moment that you are a young and good-looking woman. +Try to imagine yourself in that character at Klondyke five years ago. +The place is teeming with gold. If you are content to leave the gold +alone, as the wise leave flowers without plucking them, enjoying with +perfect naivete its color and glitter and preciousness, no human being +will ever be the worse for your knowledge of it; and whilst you remain +in that frame of mind the golden age will endure. + +Now suppose a man comes along: a man who has no sense of the golden +age, nor any power of living in the present: a man with common desires, +cupidities, ambitions, just like most of the men you know. Suppose you +reveal to that man the fact that if he will only pluck this gold up, +and turn it into money, millions of men, driven by the invisible whip +of hunger, will toil underground and overground night and day to pile +up more and more gold for him until he is master of the world! You will +find that the prospect will not tempt him so much as you might imagine, +because it involves some distasteful trouble to himself to start with, +and because there is something else within his reach involving no +distasteful toil, which he desires more passionately; and that is +yourself. So long as he is preoccupied with love of you, the gold, and +all that it implies, will escape him: the golden age will endure. Not +until he forswears love will he stretch out his hand to the gold, and +found the Plutonic empire for himself. But the choice between love and +gold may not rest altogether with him. He may be an ugly, ungracious, +unamiable person, whose affections may seem merely ludicrous and +despicable to you. In that case, you may repulse him, and most bitterly +humiliate and disappoint him. What is left to him then but to curse the +love he can never win, and turn remorselessly to the gold? With that, +he will make short work of your golden age, and leave you lamenting its +lost thoughtlessness and sweetness. + +In due time the gold of Klondyke will find its way to the great cities +of the world. But the old dilemma will keep continually reproducing +itself. The man who will turn his back on love, and upon all the +fruitful it, and will set himself single-heartedly to gather gold in an +exultant dream of wielding its Plutonic powers, will find the treasure +yielding quickly to his touch. But few men will make this sacrifice +voluntarily. Not until the Plutonic power is so strongly set up that the +higher human impulses are suppressed as rebellious, and even the mere +appetites are denied, starved, and insulted when they cannot purchase +their satisfaction with gold, are the energetic spirits driven to build +their lives upon riches. How inevitable that course has become to us is +plain enough to those who have the power of understanding what they see +as they look at the plutocratic societies of our modern capitals. + +First Scene + +Here, then, is the subject of the first scene of The Rhine Gold. As +you sit waiting for the curtain to rise, you suddenly catch the booming +ground-tone of a mighty river. It becomes plainer, clearer: you get +nearer to the surface, and catch the green light and the flights of +bubbles. Then the curtain goes up and you see what you heard--the depths +of the Rhine, with three strange fairy fishes, half water-maidens, +singing and enjoying themselves exuberantly. They are not singing +barcarolles or ballads about the Lorely and her fated lovers, but simply +trolling any nonsense that comes into their heads in time to the dancing +of the water and the rhythm of their swimming. It is the golden age; and +the attraction of this spot for the Rhine maidens is a lump of the Rhine +gold, which they value, in an entirely uncommercial way, for its bodily +beauty and splendor. Just at present it is eclipsed, because the sun is +not striking down through the water. + +Presently there comes a poor devil of a dwarf stealing along the +slippery rocks of the river bed, a creature with energy enough to make +him strong of body and fierce of passion, but with a brutish narrowness +of intelligence and selfishness of imagination: too stupid to see that +his own welfare can only be compassed as part of the welfare of the +world, too full of brute force not to grab vigorously at his own gain. +Such dwarfs are quite common in London. He comes now with a fruitful +impulse in him, in search of what he lacks in himself, beauty, lightness +of heart, imagination, music. The Rhine maidens, representing all these +to him, fill him with hope and longing; and he never considers that he +has nothing to offer that they could possibly desire, being by natural +limitation incapable of seeing anything from anyone else's point of +view. With perfect simplicity, he offers himself as a sweetheart to +them. But they are thoughtless, elemental, only half real things, much +like modern young ladies. That the poor dwarf is repulsive to their +sense of physical beauty and their romantic conception of heroism, that +he is ugly and awkward, greedy and ridiculous, disposes for them of his +claim to live and love. They mock him atrociously, pretending to fall in +love with him at first sight, and then slipping away and making game of +him, heaping ridicule and disgust on the poor wretch until he is beside +himself with mortification and rage. They forget him when the water +begins to glitter in the sun, and the gold to reflect its glory. They +break into ecstatic worship of their treasure; and though they know the +parable of Klondyke quite well, they have no fear that the gold will be +wrenched away by the dwarf, since it will yield to no one who has not +forsworn love for it, and it is in pursuit of love that he has come to +them. They forget that they have poisoned that desire in him by their +mockery and denial of it, and that he now knows that life will give him +nothing that he cannot wrest from it by the Plutonic power. It is just +as if some poor, rough, vulgar, coarse fellow were to offer to take his +part in aristocratic society, and be snubbed into the knowledge that +only as a millionaire could he ever hope to bring that society to his +feet and buy himself a beautiful and refined wife. His choice is forced +on him. He forswears love as thousands of us forswear it every day; and +in a moment the gold is in his grasp, and he disappears in the depths, +leaving the water-fairies vainly screaming "Stop thief!" whilst the +river seems to plunge into darkness and sink from us as we rise to the +cloud regions above. + +And now, what forces are there in the world to resist Alberic, our +dwarf, in his new character of sworn plutocrat? He is soon at +work wielding the power of the gold. For his gain, hordes of his +fellow-creatures are thenceforth condemned to slave miserably, +overground and underground, lashed to their work by the invisible whip +of starvation. They never see him, any more than the victims of our +"dangerous trades" ever see the shareholders whose power is nevertheless +everywhere, driving them to destruction. The very wealth they create +with their labor becomes an additional force to impoverish them; for as +fast as they make it it slips from their hands into the hands of their +master, and makes him mightier than ever. You can see the process for +yourself in every civilized country today, where millions of people toil +in want and disease to heap up more wealth for our Alberics, laying up +nothing for themselves, except sometimes horrible and agonizing disease +and the certainty of premature death. All this part of the story is +frightfully real, frightfully present, frightfully modern; and its +effects on our social life are so ghastly and ruinous that we no longer +know enough of happiness to be discomposed by it. It is only the +poet, with his vision of what life might be, to whom these things are +unendurable. If we were a race of poets we would make an end of them +before the end of this miserable century. Being a race of moral dwarfs +instead, we think them highly respectable, comfortable and proper, and +allow them to breed and multiply their evil in all directions. If there +were no higher power in the world to work against Alberic, the end of it +would be utter destruction. + +Such a force there is, however; and it is called Godhead. The mysterious +thing we call life organizes itself into all living shapes, bird, beast, +beetle and fish, rising to the human marvel in cunning dwarfs and +in laborious muscular giants, capable, these last, of enduring +toil, willing to buy love and life, not with suicidal curses and +renunciations, but with patient manual drudgery in the service of higher +powers. And these higher powers are called into existence by the same +self-organization of life still more wonderfully into rare persons who +may by comparison be called gods, creatures capable of thought, whose +aims extend far beyond the satisfaction of their bodily appetites +and personal affections, since they perceive that it is only by the +establishment of a social order founded on common bonds of moral faith +that the world can rise from mere savagery. But how is this order to be +set up by Godhead in a world of stupid giants, since these thoughtless +ones pursue only their narrower personal ends and can by no means +understand the aims of a god? Godhead, face to face with Stupidity, must +compromise. Unable to enforce on the world the pure law of thought, it +must resort to a mechanical law of commandments to be enforced by +brute punishments and the destruction of the disobedient. And however +carefully these laws are framed to represent the highest thoughts of the +framers at the moment of their promulgation, before a day has elapsed +that thought has grown and widened by the ceaseless evolution of life; +and lo! yesterday's law already fallen out with today's thought. Yet if +the high givers of that law themselves set the example of breaking +it before it is a week old, they destroy all its authority with their +subjects, and so break the weapon they have forged to rule them for +their own good. They must therefore maintain at all costs the sanctity +of the law, even when it has ceased to represent their thought; so that +at last they get entangled in a network of ordinances which they no +longer believe in, and yet have made so sacred by custom and so terrible +by punishment, that they cannot themselves escape from them. Thus +Godhead's resort to law finally costs it half its integrity--as if +a spiritual king, to gain temporal power, had plucked out one of his +eyes--and it finally begins secretly to long for the advent of some +power higher than itself which will destroy its artificial empire of +law, and establish a true republic of free thought. + +This is by no means the only difficulty in the dominion of Law. The +brute force for its execution must be purchased; and the mass of its +subjects must be persuaded to respect the authority which employs this +force. But how is such respect to be implanted in them if they are +unable to comprehend the thought of the lawgiver? Clearly, only by +associating the legislative power with such displays of splendor and +majesty as will impress their senses and awe their imaginations. The god +turned lawgiver, in short, must be crowned Pontiff and King. Since he +cannot be known to the common folk as their superior in wisdom, he must +be known to them as their superior in riches, as the dweller in castles, +the wearer of gold and purple, the eater of mighty feasts, the commander +of armies, and the wielder of powers of life and death, of salvation +and damnation after death. Something may be done in this way without +corruption whilst the golden age still endures. Your gods may not +prevail with the dwarfs; but they may go to these honest giants who will +give a day's work for a day's pay, and induce them to build for Godhead +a mighty fortress, complete with hall and chapel, tower and bell, for +the sake of the homesteads that will grow up in security round that +church-castle. This only, however, whilst the golden age lasts. The +moment the Plutonic power is let loose, and the loveless Alberic comes +into the field with his corrupting millions, the gods are face to face +with destruction; since Alberic, able with invisible hunger-whip to +force the labor of the dwarfs and to buy the services of the giants, +can outshine all the temporal shows and splendors of the golden age, +and make himself master of the world, unless the gods, with their bigger +brains, can capture his gold. This, the dilemma of the Church today, +is the situation created by the exploit of Alberic in the depths of the +Rhine. + +Second Scene + +From the bed of the river we rise into cloudy regions, and finally come +out into the clear in a meadow, where Wotan, the god of gods, and his +consort Fricka lie sleeping. Wotan, you will observe, has lost one eye; +and you will presently learn that he plucked it out voluntarily as the +price to be paid for his alliance with Fricka, who in return has brought +to him as her dowry all the powers of Law. The meadow is on the brink of +a ravine, beyond which, towering on distant heights, stands Godhome, a +mighty castle, newly built as a house of state for the one-eyed god and +his all-ruling wife. Wotan has not yet seen this castle except in his +dreams: two giants have just built it for him whilst he slept; and the +reality is before him for the first time when Fricka wakes him. In that +majestic burg he is to rule with her and through her over the humble +giants, who have eyes to gape at the glorious castles their own +hands have built from his design, but no brains to design castles for +themselves, or to comprehend divinity. As a god, he is to be great, +secure, and mighty; but he is also to be passionless, affectionless, +wholly impartial; for Godhead, if it is to live with Law, must have no +weaknesses, no respect for persons. All such sweet littlenesses must be +left to the humble stupid giants to make their toil sweet to them; and +the god must, after all, pay for Olympian power the same price the dwarf +has paid for Plutonic power. + +Wotan has forgotten this in his dreams of greatness. Not so Fricka. What +she is thinking of is this price that Wotan has consented to pay, +in token whereof he has promised this day to hand over to the giants +Fricka's sister, the goddess Freia, with her golden love-apples. When +Fricka reproaches Wotan with having selfishly forgotten this, she finds +that he, like herself, is not prepared to go through with his bargain, +and that he is trusting to another great worldforce, the Lie (a European +Power, as Lassalle said), to help him to trick the giants out of their +reward. But this force does not dwell in Wotan himself, but in another, +a god over whom he has triumphed, one Loki, the god of Intellect, +Argument, Imagination, Illusion, and Reason. Loki has promised to +deliver him from his contract, and to cheat the giants for him; but he +has not arrived to keep his word: indeed, as Fricka bitterly points +out, why should not the Lie fail Wotan, since such failure is the very +essence of him? + +The giants come soon enough; and Freia flies to Wotan for protection +against them. Their purposes are quite honest; and they have no doubt +of the god's faith. There stands their part of the contract fulfilled, +stone on stone, port and pinnacle all faithfully finished from Wotan's +design by their mighty labor. They have come undoubtingly for their +agreed wage. Then there happens what is to them an incredible, +inconceivable thing. The god begins to shuffle. There are no moments in +life more tragic than those in which the humble common man, the manual +worker, leaving with implicit trust all high affairs to his betters, and +reverencing them wholly as worthy of that trust, even to the extent +of accepting as his rightful function the saving of them from all +roughening and coarsening drudgeries, first discovers that they are +corrupt, greedy, unjust and treacherous. The shock drives a ray of +prophetic light into one giant's mind, and gives him a momentary +eloquence. In that moment he rises above his stupid gianthood, and +earnestly warns the Son of Light that all his power and eminence of +priesthood, godhood, and kingship must stand or fall with the unbearable +cold greatness of the incorruptible law-giver. But Wotan, whose assumed +character of law-giver is altogether false to his real passionate +nature, despises the rebuke; and the giant's ray of insight is lost in +the murk of his virtuous indignation. + +In the midst of the wrangle, Loki comes at last, excusing himself +for being late on the ground that he has been detained by a matter of +importance which he has promised to lay before Wotan. When pressed to +give his mind to the business immediately in hand, and to extricate +Wotan from his dilemma, he has nothing to say except that the giants are +evidently altogether in the right. The castle has been duly built: he +has tried every stone of it, and found the work first-rate: there is +nothing to be done but pay the price agreed upon by handing over Freia +to the giants. The gods are furious; and Wotan passionately declares +that he only consented to the bargain on Loki's promise to find a way +for him out of it. But Loki says no: he has promised to find a way out +if any such way exist, but not to make a way if there is no way. He has +wandered over the whole earth in search of some treasure great enough +to buy Freia back from the giants; but in all the world he has found +nothing for which Man will give up Woman. And this, by the way, reminds +him of the matter he had promised to lay before Wotan. The Rhine maidens +have complained to him of Alberic's theft of their gold; and he mentions +it as a curious exception to his universal law of the unpurchasable +preciousness of love, that this gold-robber has forsworn love for the +sake of the fabulous riches of the Plutonic empire and the mastery of +the world through its power. + +No sooner is the tale told than the giants stoop lower than the dwarf. +Alberic forswore love only when it was denied to him and made the +instrument for cruelly murdering his self-respect. But the giants, +with love within their reach, with Freia and her golden apples in their +hands, offer to give her up for the treasure of Alberic. Observe, it +is the treasure alone that they desire. They have no fierce dreams +of dominion over their superiors, or of moulding the world to any +conceptions of their own. They are neither clever nor ambitious: they +simply covet money. Alberic's gold: that is their demand, or else Freia, +as agreed upon, whom they now carry off as hostage, leaving Wotan to +consider their ultimatum. + +Freia gone, the gods begin to wither and age: her golden apples, which +they so lightly bargained away, they now find to be a matter of life and +death to them; for not even the gods can live on Law and Godhead alone, +be their castles ever so splendid. Loki alone is unaffected: the Lie, +with all its cunning wonders, its glistenings and shiftings and mirages, +is a mere appearance: it has no body and needs no food. What is Wotan +to do? Loki sees the answer clearly enough: he must bluntly rob Alberic. +There is nothing to prevent him except moral scruple; for Alberic, after +all, is a poor, dim, dwarfed, credulous creature whom a god can outsee +and a lie can outwit. Down, then, Wotan and Loki plunge into the mine +where Alberic's slaves are piling up wealth for him under the invisible +whip. + +Third Scene + +This gloomy place need not be a mine: it might just as well be a +match-factory, with yellow phosphorus, phossy jaw, a large dividend, and +plenty of clergymen shareholders. Or it might be a whitelead factory, +or a chemical works, or a pottery, or a railway shunting yard, or a +tailoring shop, or a little gin-sodden laundry, or a bakehouse, or a big +shop, or any other of the places where human life and welfare are daily +sacrificed in order that some greedy foolish creature may be able to +hymn exultantly to his Platonic idol: + +Thou mak'st me eat whilst others starve, And sing while others do +lament: Such untome Thy blessings are, As if I were Thine only care. + +In the mine, which resounds with the clinking anvils of the dwarfs +toiling miserably to heap up treasure for their master, Alberic has set +his brother Mime--more familiarly, Mimmy--to make him a helmet. Mimmy +dimly sees that there is some magic in this helmet, and tries to keep +it; but Alberic wrests it from him, and shows him, to his cost, that it +is the veil of the invisible whip, and that he who wears it can appear +in what shape he will, or disappear from view altogether. This helmet is +a very common article in our streets, where it generally takes the form +of a tall hat. It makes a man invisible as a shareholder, and changes +him into various shapes, such as a pious Christian, a subscriber to +hospitals, a benefactor of the poor, a model husband and father, a +shrewd, practical independent Englishman, and what not, when he is +really a pitiful parasite on the commonwealth, consuming a great deal, +and producing nothing, feeling nothing, knowing nothing, believing +nothing, and doing nothing except what all the rest do, and that only +because he is afraid not to do it, or at least pretend to do it. + +When Wotan and Loki arrive, Loki claims Alberic as an old acquaintance. +But the dwarf has no faith in these civil strangers: Greed instinctively +mistrusts Intellect, even in the garb of Poetry and the company of +Godhead, whilst envying the brilliancy of the one and the dignity of the +other. Alberic breaks out at them with a terrible boast of the power now +within his grasp. He paints for them the world as it will be when his +dominion over it is complete, when the soft airs and green mosses of +its valleys shall be changed into smoke, slag, and filth; when slavery, +disease, and squalor, soothed by drunkenness and mastered by the +policeman's baton, shall become the foundation of society; and when +nothing shall escape ruin except such pretty places and pretty women as +he may like to buy for the slaking of his own lusts. In that kingdom of +evil he sees that there will be no power but his own. These gods, with +their moralities and legalities and intellectual subtlety, will go under +and be starved out of existence. He bids Wotan and Loki beware of +it; and his "Hab' Acht!" is hoarse, horrible, and sinister. Wotan +is revolted to the very depths of his being: he cannot stifle the +execration that bursts from him. But Loki is unaffected: he has no moral +passion: indignation is as absurd to him as enthusiasm. He finds it +exquisitely amusing--having a touch of the comic spirit in him--that the +dwarf, in stirring up the moral fervor of Wotan, has removed his last +moral scruple about becoming a thief. Wotan will now rob the dwarf +without remorse; for is it not positively his highest duty to take this +power out of such evil hands and use it himself in the interests of +Godhead? On the loftiest moral grounds, he lets Loki do his worst. + +A little cunningly disguised flattery makes short work of Alberic. Loki +pretends to be afraid of him; and he swallows that bait unhesitatingly. +But how, enquires Loki, is he to guard against the hatred of his million +slaves? Will they not steal from him, whilst he sleeps, the magic ring, +the symbol of his power, which he has forged from the gold of the Rhine? +"You think yourself very clever," sneers Alberic, and then begins to +boast of the enchantments of the magic helmet. Loki refuses to believe +in such marvels without witnessing them. Alberic, only too glad to +show off his powers, puts on the helmet and transforms himself into a +monstrous serpent. Loki gratifies him by pretending to be frightened out +of his wits, but ventures to remark that it would be better still if the +helmet could transform its owner into some tiny creature that could hide +and spy in the smallest cranny. Alberic promptly transforms himself +into a toad. In an instant Wotan's foot is on him; Loki tears away the +helmet; they pinion him, and drag him away a prisoner up through the +earth to the meadow by the castle. + +Fourth Scene + +There, to pay for his freedom, he has to summon his slaves from the +depths to place all the treasure they have heaped up for him at the feet +of Wotan. Then he demands his liberty; but Wotan must have the ring +as well. And here the dwarf, like the giant before him, feels the very +foundations of the world shake beneath him at the discovery of his +own base cupidity in a higher power. That evil should, in its loveless +desperation, create malign powers which Godhead could not create, seems +but natural justice to him. But that Godhead should steal those malign +powers from evil, and wield them itself, is a monstrous perversion; and +his appeal to Wotan to forego it is almost terrible in its conviction +of wrong. It is of no avail. Wotan falls back again on virtuous +indignation. He reminds Alberic that he stole the gold from the +Rhine maidens, and takes the attitude of the just judge compelling a +restitution of stolen goods. Alberic knowing perfectly well that the +judge is taking the goods to put them in his own pocket, has the ring +torn from his finger, and is once more as poor as he was when he came +slipping and stumbling among the slimy rocks in the bed of the Rhine. + +This is the way of the world. In older times, when the Christian laborer +was drained dry by the knightly spendthrift, and the spendthrift was +drained by the Jewish usurer, Church and State, religion and law, seized +on the Jew and drained him as a Christian duty. When the forces of +lovelessness and greed had built up our own sordid capitalist systems, +driven by invisible proprietorship, robbing the poor, defacing the +earth, and forcing themselves as a universal curse even on the generous +and humane, then religion and law and intellect, which would never +themselves have discovered such systems, their natural bent being +towards welfare, economy, and life instead of towards corruption, waste, +and death, nevertheless did not scruple to seize by fraud and force +these powers of evil on presence of using them for good. And it +inevitably happens that when the Church, the Law, and all the Talents +have made common cause to rob the people, the Church is far more +vitally harmed by that unfaithfulness to itself than its more mechanical +confederates; so that finally they turn on their discredited ally and +rob the Church, with the cheerful co-operation of Loki, as in France and +Italy for instance. + +The twin giants come back with their hostage, in whose presence Godhead +blooms again. The gold is ready for them; but now that the moment has +come for parting with Freia the gold does not seem so tempting; and +they are sorely loth to let her go. Not unless there is gold enough to +utterly hide her from them--not until the heap has grown so that they +can see nothing but gold--until money has come between them and every +human feeling, will they part with her. There is not gold enough to +accomplish this: however cunningly Loki spreads it, the glint of Freia's +hair is still visible to Giant Fafnir, and the magic helmet must go on +the heap to shut it out. Even then Fafnir's brother, Fasolt, can catch a +beam from her eye through a chink, and is rendered incapable thereby of +forswearing her. There is nothing to stop that chink but the ring; and +Wotan is as greedily bent on keeping that as Alberic himself was; nor +can the other gods persuade him that Freia is worth it, since for +the highest god, love is not the highest good, but only the universal +delight that bribes all living things to travail with renewed life. Life +itself, with its accomplished marvels and its infinite potentialities, +is the only force that Godhead can worship. Wotan does not yield until +he is reached by the voice of the fruitful earth that before he or the +dwarfs or the giants or the Law or the Lie or any of these things were, +had the seed of them all in her bosom, and the seed perhaps of something +higher even than himself, that shall one day supersede him and cut the +tangles and alliances and compromises that already have cost him one +of his eyes. When Erda, the First Mother of life, rises from her +sleeping-place in the heart of the earth, and warns him to yield the +ring, he obeys her; the ring is added to the heap of gold; and all sense +of Freia is cut off from the giants. + +But now what Law is left to these two poor stupid laborers whereby one +shall yield to the other any of the treasure for which they have each +paid the whole price in surrendering Freia? They look by mere habit +to the god to judge for them; but he, with his heart stirring towards +higher forces than himself, turns with disgust from these lower forces. +They settle it as two wolves might; and Fafnir batters his brother dead +with his staff. It is a horrible thing to see and hear, to anyone who +knows how much blood has been shed in the world in just that way by its +brutalized toilers, honest fellows enough until their betters betrayed +them. Fafnir goes off with his booty. It is quite useless to him. He has +neither the cunning nor the ambition to establish the Plutonic empire +with it. Merely to prevent others from getting it is the only purpose it +brings him. He piles it in a cave; transforms himself into a dragon by +the helmet; and devotes his life to guarding it, as much a slave to it +as a jailor is to his prisoner. He had much better have thrown it all +back into the Rhine and transformed himself into the shortest-lived +animal that enjoys at least a brief run in the sunshine. His case, +however, is far too common to be surprising. The world is overstocked +with persons who sacrifice all their affections, and madly trample and +batter down their fellows to obtain riches of which, when they get them, +they are unable to make the smallest use, and to which they become the +most miserable slaves. + +The gods soon forget Fafnir in their rejoicing over Freia. Donner, +the Thunder god, springs to a rocky summit and calls the clouds as a +shepherd calls his flocks. They come at his summons; and he and the +castle are hidden by their black legions. Froh, the Rainbow god, hastens +to his side. At the stroke of Donner's hammer the black murk is riven in +all directions by darting ribbons of lightning; and as the air clears, +the castle is seen in its fullest splendor, accessible now by the +rainbow bridge which Froh has cast across the ravine. In the glory +of this moment Wotan has a great thought. With all his aspirations +to establish a reign of noble thought, of righteousness, order, and +justice, he has found that day that there is no race yet in the world +that quite spontaneously, naturally, and unconsciously realizes his +ideal. He himself has found how far short Godhead falls of the thing +it conceives. He, the greatest of gods, has been unable to control his +fate: he has been forced against his will to choose between evils, to +make disgraceful bargains, to break them still more disgracefully, and +even then to see the price of his disgrace slip through his fingers. +His consort has cost him half his vision; his castle has cost him his +affections; and the attempt to retain both has cost him his honor. On +every side he is shackled and bound, dependent on the laws of Fricka and +on the lies of Loki, forced to traffic with dwarfs for handicraft and +with giants for strength, and to pay them both in false coin. After all, +a god is a pitiful thing. But the fertility of the First Mother is not +yet exhausted. The life that came from her has ever climbed up to a +higher and higher organization. From toad and serpent to dwarf, from +bear and elephant to giant, from dwarf and giant to a god with thoughts, +with comprehension of the world, with ideals. Why should it stop there? +Why should it not rise from the god to the Hero? to the creature in whom +the god's unavailing thought shall have become effective will and life, +who shall make his way straight to truth and reality over the laws of +Fricka and the lies of Loki with a strength that overcomes giants and a +cunning that outwits dwarfs? Yes: Erda, the First Mother, must travail +again, and breed him a race of heroes to deliver the world and himself +from his limited powers and disgraceful bargains. This is the vision +that flashes on him as he turns to the rainbow bridge and calls his wife +to come and dwell with him in Valhalla, the home of the gods. + +They are all overcome with Valhalla's glory except Loki. He is behind +the scenes of this joint reign of the Divine and the Legal. He despises +these gods with their ideals and their golden apples. "I am ashamed," he +says, "to have dealings with these futile creatures." And so he follows +them to the rainbow bridge. But as they set foot on it, from the river +below rises the wailing of the Rhine maidens for their lost gold. "You +down there in the water," cries Loki with brutal irony: "you used to +bask in the glitter of your gold: henceforth you shall bask in the +splendor of the gods." And they reply that the truth is in the depths +and the darkness, and that what blazes on high there is falsehood. And +with that the gods pass into their glorious stronghold. + + + + +WAGNER AS REVOLUTIONIST + +Before leaving this explanation of The Rhine Gold, I must have a word or +two about it with the reader. It is the least popular of the sections of +The Ring. The reason is that its dramatic moments lie quite outside +the consciousness of people whose joys and sorrows are all domestic +and personal, and whose religions and political ideas are purely +conventional and superstitious. To them it is a struggle between half a +dozen fairytale personages for a ring, involving hours of scolding and +cheating, and one long scene in a dark gruesome mine, with gloomy, ugly +music, and not a glimpse of a handsome young man or pretty woman. Only +those of wider consciousness can follow it breathlessly, seeing in it +the whole tragedy of human history and the whole horror of the dilemmas +from which the world is shrinking today. At Bayreuth I have seen a party +of English tourists, after enduring agonies of boredom from Alberic, +rise in the middle of the third scene, and almost force their way out +of the dark theatre into the sunlit pine-wood without. And I have +seen people who were deeply affected by the scene driven almost beside +themselves by this disturbance. But it was a very natural thing for the +unfortunate tourists to do, since in this Rhine Gold prologue there is +no interval between the acts for escape. Roughly speaking, people who +have no general ideas, no touch of the concern of the philosopher and +statesman for the race, cannot enjoy The Rhine Gold as a drama. They may +find compensations in some exceedingly pretty music, at times even grand +and glorious, which will enable them to escape occasionally from the +struggle between Alberic and Wotan; but if their capacity for music +should be as limited as their comprehension of the world, they had +better stay away. + +And now, attentive Reader, we have reached the point at which some +foolish person is sure to interrupt us by declaring that The Rhine Gold +is what they call "a work of art" pure and simple, and that Wagner never +dreamt of shareholders, tall hats, whitelead factories, and industrial +and political questions looked at from the socialistic and humanitarian +points of view. We need not discuss these impertinences: it is easier +to silence them with the facts of Wagner's life. In 1843 he obtained +the position of conductor of the Opera at Dresden at a salary of L225 a +year, with a pension. This was a first-rate permanent appointment in the +service of the Saxon State, carrying an assured professional +position and livelihood with it In 1848, the year of revolutions, +the discontented middle class, unable to rouse the Church-and-State +governments of the day from their bondage to custom, caste, and law by +appeals to morality or constitutional agitation for Liberal reforms, +made common cause with the starving wage-working class, and resorted to +armed rebellion, which reached Dresden in 1849. Had Wagner been the mere +musical epicure and political mugwump that the term "artist" seems to +suggest to so many critics and amateurs--that is, a creature in their +own lazy likeness--he need have taken no more part in the political +struggles of his day than Bishop took in the English Reform agitation of +1832, or Sterndale Bennett in the Chartist or Free Trade movements. What +he did do was first to make a desperate appeal to the King to cast off +his bonds and answer the need of the time by taking true Kingship on +himself and leading his people to the redress of their intolerable +wrongs (fancy the poor monarch's feelings!), and then, when the crash +came, to take his side with the right and the poor against the rich and +the wrong. When the insurrection was defeated, three leaders of it were +especially marked down for vengeance: August Roeckel, an old friend +of Wagner's to whom he wrote a well-known series of letters; Michael +Bakoonin, afterwards a famous apostle of revolutionary Anarchism; and +Wagner himself. Wagner escaped to Switzerland: Roeckel and Bakoonin +suffered long terms of imprisonment. Wagner was of course utterly +ruined, pecuniarily and socially (to his own intense relief and +satisfaction); and his exile lasted twelve years. His first idea was +to get his Tannhauser produced in Paris. With the notion of explaining +himself to the Parisians he wrote a pamphlet entitled Art and +Revolution, a glance through which will show how thoroughly the +socialistic side of the revolution had his sympathy, and how completely +he had got free from the influence of the established Churches of his +day. For three years he kept pouring forth pamphlets--some of them +elaborate treatises in size and intellectual rank, but still essentially +the pamphlets and manifestoes of a born agitator--on social evolution, +religion, life, art and the influence of riches. In 1853 the poem of The +Ring was privately printed; and in 1854, five years after the Dresden +insurrection, The Rhine Gold score was completed to the last drum tap. + +These facts are on official record in Germany, where the proclamation +summing up Wagner as "a politically dangerous person" may be consulted +to this day. The pamphlets are now accessible to English readers in the +translation of Mr. Ashton Ellis. This being so, any person who, having +perhaps heard that I am a Socialist, attempts to persuade you that my +interpretation of The Rhine Gold is only "my socialism" read into the +works of a dilettantist who borrowed an idle tale from an old saga to +make an opera book with, may safely be dismissed from your consideration +as an ignoramus. + +If you are now satisfied that The Rhine Gold is an allegory, do not +forget that an allegory is never quite consistent except when it +is written by someone without dramatic faculty, in which case it is +unreadable. There is only one way of dramatizing an idea; and that is by +putting on the stage a human being possessed by that idea, yet none the +less a human being with all the human impulses which make him akin and +therefore interesting to us. Bunyan, in his Pilgrim's Progress, does +not, like his unread imitators, attempt to personify Christianity and +Valour: he dramatizes for you the life of the Christian and the Valiant +Man. Just so, though I have shown that Wotan is Godhead and Kingship, +and Loki Logic and Imagination without living Will (Brain without Heart, +to put it vulgarly); yet in the drama Wotan is a religiously moral man, +and Loki a witty, ingenious, imaginative and cynical one. As to Fricka, +who stands for State Law, she does not assume her allegorical character +in The Rhine Gold at all, but is simply Wotan's wife and Freia's sister: +nay, she contradicts her allegorical self by conniving at all Wotan's +rogueries. That, of course, is just what State Law would do; but we must +not save the credit of the allegory by a quip. Not until she reappears +in the next play (The Valkyries) does her function in the allegorical +scheme become plain. + +One preconception will bewilder the spectator hopelessly unless he +has been warned against it or is naturally free from it. In the +old-fashioned orders of creation, the supernatural personages are +invariably conceived as greater than man, for good or evil. In the +modern humanitarian order as adopted by Wagner, Man is the highest. +In The Rhine Gold, it is pretended that there are as yet no men on the +earth. There are dwarfs, giants, and gods. The danger is that you will +jump to the conclusion that the gods, at least, are a higher order than +the human order. On the contrary, the world is waiting for Man to redeem +it from the lame and cramped government of the gods. Once grasp that; +and the allegory becomes simple enough. Really, of course, the dwarfs, +giants, and gods are dramatizations of the three main orders of men: to +wit, the instinctive, predatory, lustful, greedy people; the patient, +toiling, stupid, respectful, money-worshipping people; and the +intellectual, moral, talented people who devise and administer States +and Churches. History shows us only one order higher than the highest of +these: namely, the order of Heroes. + +Now it is quite clear--though you have perhaps never thought of it--that +if the next generation of Englishmen consisted wholly of Julius Caesars, +all our political, ecclesiastical, and moral institutions would +vanish, and the less perishable of their appurtenances be classed with +Stonehenge and the cromlechs and round towers as inexplicable relics of +a bygone social order. Julius Caesars would no more trouble themselves +about such contrivances as our codes and churches than a fellow of the +Royal Society will touch his hat to the squire and listen to the village +curate's sermons. This is precisely what must happen some day if life +continues thrusting towards higher and higher organization as it has +hitherto done. As most of our English professional men are to Australian +bushmen, so, we must suppose, will the average man of some future day +be to Julius Caesar. Let any man of middle age, pondering this prospect +consider what has happened within a single generation to the articles +of faith his father regarded as eternal nay, to the very scepticisms and +blasphemies of his youth (Bishop Colenso's criticism of the Pentateuch, +for example!); and he will begin to realize how much of our barbarous +Theology and Law the man of the future will do without. Bakoonin, the +Dresden revolutionary leader with whom Wagner went out in 1849, put +forward later on a program, often quoted with foolish horror, for +the abolition of all institutions, religious, political, juridical, +financial, legal, academic, and so on, so as to leave the will of man +free to find its own way. All the loftiest spirits of that time were +burning to raise Man up, to give him self-respect, to shake him out +of his habit of grovelling before the ideals created by his own +imagination, of attributing the good that sprang from the ceaseless +energy of the life within himself to some superior power in the clouds, +and of making a fetish of self-sacrifice to justify his own cowardice. + +Farther on in The Ring we shall see the Hero arrive and make an end +of dwarfs, giants, and gods. Meanwhile, let us not forget that godhood +means to Wagner infirmity and compromise, and manhood strength and +integrity. Above all, we must understand--for it is the key to much that +we are to see--that the god, since his desire is toward a higher and +fuller life, must long in his inmost soul for the advent of that greater +power whose first work, though this he does not see as yet, must be his +own undoing. + +In the midst of all these far-reaching ideas, it is amusing to find +Wagner still full of his ingrained theatrical professionalism, and +introducing effects which now seem old-fashioned and stagey with as much +energy and earnestness as if they were his loftiest inspirations. When +Wotan wrests the ring from Alberic, the dwarf delivers a lurid and +bloodcurdling stage curse, calling down on its every future possessor +care, fear, and death. The musical phrase accompanying this outburst was +a veritable harmonic and melodic bogey to mid-century ears, though time +has now robbed it of its terrors. It sounds again when Fafnir slays +Fasolt, and on every subsequent occasion when the ring brings death to +its holder. This episode must justify itself purely as a piece of stage +sensationalism. On deeper ground it is superfluous and confusing, as the +ruin to which the pursuit of riches leads needs no curse to explain it; +nor is there any sense in investing Alberic with providential powers in +the matter. + + + + +THE VALKYRIES + +Before the curtain rises on the Valkyries, let us see what has happened +since it fell on The Rhine Gold. The persons of the drama will tell us +presently; but as we probably do not understand German, that may not +help us. + +Wotan is still ruling the world in glory from his giant-built castle +with his wife Fricka. But he has no security for the continuance of his +reign, since Alberic may at any moment contrive to recover the ring, +the full power of which he can wield because he has forsworn love. Such +forswearing is not possible to Wotan: love, though not his highest need, +is a higher than gold: otherwise he would be no god. Besides, as we have +seen, his power has been established in the world by and as a system +of laws enforced by penalties. These he must consent to be bound by +himself; for a god who broke his own laws would betray the fact that +legality and conformity are not the highest rule of conduct--a discovery +fatal to his supremacy as Pontiff and Lawgiver. Hence he may not wrest +the ring unlawfully from Fafnir, even if he could bring himself to +forswear love. + +In this insecurity he has hit on the idea of forming a heroic bodyguard. +He has trained his love children as war-maidens (Valkyries) whose duty +it is to sweep through battle-fields and bear away to Valhalla the souls +of the bravest who fall there. Thus reinforced by a host of warriors, +he has thoroughly indoctrinated them, Loki helping him as +dialectician-in-chief, with the conventional system of law and duty, +supernatural religion and self-sacrificing idealism, which they believe +to be the essence of his godhood, but which is really only the machinery +of the love of necessary power which is his mortal weakness. This +process secures their fanatical devotion to his system of government, +but he knows perfectly well that such systems, in spite of their moral +pretensions, serve selfish and ambitious tyrants better than benevolent +despots, and that, if once Alberic gets the ring back, he will easily +out-Valhalla Valhalla, if not buy it over as a going concern. The only +chance of permanent security, then, is the appearance in the world of a +hero who, without any illicit prompting from Wotan, will destroy Alberic +and wrest the ring from Fafnir. There will then, he believes, be no +further cause for anxiety, since he does not yet conceive Heroism as +a force hostile to Godhead. In his longing for a rescuer, it does not +occur to him that when the Hero comes, his first exploit must be to +sweep the gods and their ordinances from the path of the heroic will. + +Indeed, he feels that in his own Godhead is the germ of such Heroism, +and that from himself the Hero must spring. He takes to wandering, +mostly in search of love, from Fricka and Valhalla. He seeks the First +Mother; and through her womb, eternally fertile, the inner true thought +that made him first a god is reborn as his daughter, uncorrupted by his +ambition, unfettered by his machinery of power and his alliances with +Fricka and Loki. This daughter, the Valkyrie Brynhild, is his true will, +his real self, (as he thinks): to her he may say what he must not say to +anyone, since in speaking to her he but speaks to himself. "Was Keinem +in Worten unausgesprochen," he says to her, "bleib es ewig: mit mir nur +rath' ich, red' ich zu dir." + +But from Brynhild no hero can spring until there is a man of Wotan's +race to breed with her. Wotan wanders further; and a mortal woman bears +him twins: a son and a daughter. He separates them by letting the girl +fall into the hands of a forest tribe which in due time gives her as a +wife to a fierce chief, one Hunding. With the son he himself leads the +life of a wolf, and teaches him the only power a god can teach, the +power of doing without happiness. When he has given him this terrible +training, he abandons him, and goes to the bridal feast of his daughter +Sieglinda and Hunding. In the blue cloak of the wanderer, wearing the +broad hat that flaps over the socket of his forfeited eye, he appears in +Hunding's house, the middle pillar of which is a mighty tree. Into that +tree, without a word, he strikes a sword up to the hilt, so that only +the might of a hero can withdraw it. Then he goes out as silently as he +came, blind to the truth that no weapon from the armory of Godhead can +serve the turn of the true Human Hero. Neither Hunding nor any of his +guests can move the sword; and there it stays awaiting the destined +hand. That is the history of the generations between The Rhine Gold and +The Valkyries. + +The First Act + +This time, as we sit looking expectantly at the curtain, we hear, not +the deep booming of the Rhine, but the patter of a forest downpour, +accompanied by the mutter of a storm which soon gathers into a roar +and culminates in crashing thunderbolts. As it passes off, the curtain +rises; and there is no mistaking whose forest habitation we are in; for +the central pillar is a mighty tree, and the place fit for the dwelling +of a fierce chief. The door opens: and an exhausted man reels in: an +adept from the school of unhappiness. Sieglinda finds him lying on the +hearth. He explains that he has been in a fight; that his weapons not +being as strong as his arms, were broken; and that he had to fly. He +desires some drink and a moment's rest; then he will go; for he is an +unlucky person, and does not want to bring his ill-luck on the woman +who is succoring him. But she, it appears, is also unhappy; and a strong +sympathy springs up between them. When her husband arrives, he observes +not only this sympathy, but a resemblance between them, a gleam of the +snake in their eyes. They sit down to table; and the stranger tells them +his unlucky story. He is the son of Wotan, who is known to him only as +Wolfing, of the race of the Volsungs. The earliest thing he remembers is +returning from a hunt with his father to find their home destroyed, his +mother murdered, and his twin-sister carried off. This was the work of +a tribe called the Neidings, upon whom he and Wolfing thenceforth waged +implacable war until the day when his father disappeared, leaving no +trace of himself but an empty wolfskin. The young Volsung was thus cast +alone upon the world, finding most hands against him, and bringing no +good luck even to his friends. His latest exploit has been the slaying +of certain brothers who were forcing their sister to wed against her +will. The result has been the slaughter of the woman by her brothers' +clansmen, and his own narrow escape by flight. + +His luck on this occasion is even worse than he supposes; for Hunding, +by whose hearth he has taken refuge, is clansman to the slain brothers +and is bound to avenge them. He tells the Volsung that in the morning, +weapons or no weapons, he must fight for his life. Then he orders the +woman to bed, and follows her himself, taking his spear with him. + +The unlucky stranger, left brooding by the hearth, has nothing to +console himself with but an old promise of his father's that he shall +find a weapon to his hand when he most needs one. The last flicker of +the dying fire strikes on the golden hilt of the sword that sticks in +the tree; but he does not see it; and the embers sink into blackness. +Then the woman returns. Hunding is safely asleep: she has drugged him. +She tells the story of the one-eyed man who appeared at her forced +marriage, and of the sword. She has always felt, she says, that her +miseries will end in the arms of the hero who shall succeed in drawing +it forth. The stranger, diffident as he is about his luck, has no +misgivings as to his strength and destiny. He gives her his affection at +once, and abandons himself to the charm of the night and the season; for +it is the beginning of Spring. They soon learn from their confidences +that she is his stolen twin-sister. He is transported to find that the +heroic race of the Volsungs need neither perish nor be corrupted by a +lower strain. Hailing the sword by the name of Nothung (or Needed), he +plucks it from the tree as her bride-gift, and then, crying "Both bride +and sister be of thy brother; and blossom the blood of the Volsungs!" +clasps her as the mate the Spring has brought him. + +The Second Act + +So far, Wotan's plan seems prospering. In the mountains he calls his +war-maiden Brynhild, the child borne to him by the First Mother, and +bids her see to it that Hunding shall fall in the approaching combat. +But he is reckoning without his consort, Fricka. What will she, the Law, +say to the lawless pair who have heaped incest on adultery? A hero may +have defied the law, and put his own will in its place; but can a god +hold him guiltless, when the whole power of the gods can enforce itself +only by law? Fricka, shuddering with horror, outraged in every instinct, +comes clamoring for punishment. Wotan pleads the general necessity of +encouraging heroism in order to keep up the Valhalla bodyguard; but his +remonstrances only bring upon him torrents of reproaches for his own +unfaithfulness to the law in roaming through the world and begetting +war-maidens, "wolf cubs," and the like. He is hopelessly beaten in the +argument. Fricka is absolutely right when she declares that the ending +of the gods began when he brought this wolf-hero into the world; +and now, to save their very existence, she pitilessly demands his +destruction. Wotan has no power to refuse: it is Fricka's mechanical +force, and not his thought, that really rules the world. He has to +recall Brynhild; take back his former instructions; and ordain that +Hunding shall slay the Volsung. + +But now comes another difficulty. Brynhild is the inner thought and will +of Godhead, the aspiration from the high life to the higher that is its +divine element, and only becomes separated from it when its resort to +kingship and priestcraft for the sake of temporal power has made it +false to itself. Hitherto, Brynhild, as Valkyrie or hero chooser, has +obeyed Wotan implicitly, taking her work as the holiest and bravest in +his kingdom; and now he tells her what he could not tell Fricka--what +indeed he could not tell to Brynhild, were she not, as she says, his +own will--the whole story of Alberic and of that inspiration about the +raising up of a hero. She thoroughly approves of the inspiration; but +when the story ends in the assumption that she too must obey Fricka, +and help Fricka's vassal, Hunding, to undo the great work and strike the +hero down, she for the first time hesitates to accept his command. In +his fury and despair he overawes her by the most terrible threats of his +anger; and she submits. + +Then comes the Volsung Siegmund, following his sister bride, who has +fled into the mountains in a revulsion of horror at having allowed +herself to bring her hero to shame. Whilst she is lying exhausted and +senseless in his arms, Brynhild appears to him and solemnly warns him +that he must presently leave the earth with her. He asks whither he must +follow her. To Valhalla, to take his place there among the heroes. He +asks, shall he find his father there? Yes. Shall he find a wife there? +Yes: he will be waited on by beautiful wishmaidens. Shall he meet his +sister there? No. Then, says Siegmund, I will not come with you. + +She tries to make him understand that he cannot help himself. Being a +hero, he will not be so persuaded: he has his father's sword, and does +not fear Hunding. But when she tells him that she comes from his father, +and that the sword of a god will not avail in the hands of a hero, he +accepts his fate, but will shape it with his own hand, both for himself +and his sister, by slaying her, and then killing himself with the last +stroke of the sword. And thereafter he will go to Hell, rather than to +Valhalla. + +How now can Brynhild, being what she is, choose her side freely in a +conflict between this hero and the vassal of Fricka? By instinct she +at once throws Wotan's command to the winds, and bids Siegmund nerve +himself for the combat with Hunding, in which she pledges him the +protection of her shield. The horn of Hunding is soon heard; and +Siegmund's spirits rise to fighting pitch at once. The two meet; and +the Valkyrie's shield is held before the hero. But when he delivers his +sword-stroke at his foe, the weapon shivers on the spear of Wotan, who +suddenly appears between them; and the first of the race of heroes +falls with the weapon of the Law's vassal through his breast. Brynhild +snatches the fragments of the broken sword, and flies, carrying off the +woman with her on her war-horse; and Wotan, in terrible wrath, +slays Hunding with a wave of his hand, and starts in pursuit of his +disobedient daughter. + +The Third Act + +On a rocky peak, four of the Valkyries are waiting for the rest. The +absent ones soon arrive, galloping through the air with slain heroes, +gathered from the battle-field, hanging over their saddles. Only, +Brynhild, who comes last, has for her spoil a live woman. When her eight +sisters learn that she has defied Wotan, they dare not help her; and +Brynhild has to rouse Sieglinda to make an effort to save herself, by +reminding her that she bears in her the seed of a hero, and must +face everything, endure anything, sooner than let that seed miscarry. +Sieglinda, in a transport of exaltation, takes the fragments of the +sword and flies into the forest. Then Wotan comes; the sisters fly in +terror at his command; and he is left alone with Brynhild. + +Here, then, we have the first of the inevitable moments which Wotan did +not foresee. Godhead has now established its dominion over the world by +a mighty Church, compelling obedience through its ally the Law, with its +formidable State organization of force of arms and cunning of brain. +It has submitted to this alliance to keep the Plutonic power in +check--built it up primarily for the sake of that soul in itself which +cares only to make the highest better and the best higher; and now here +is that very soul separated from it and working for the destruction +of its indispensable ally, the lawgiving State. How is the rebel to be +disarmed? Slain it cannot be by Godhead, since it is still Godhead's own +very dearest soul. But hidden, stifled, silenced it must be; or it will +wreck the State and leave the Church defenseless. Not until it passes +completely away from Godhead, and is reborn as the soul of the hero, +can it work anything but the confusion and destruction of the existing +order. How is the world to be protected against it in the meantime? +Clearly Loki's help is needed here: it is the Lie that must, on the +highest principles, hide the Truth. Let Loki surround this mountain top +with the appearance of a consuming fire; and who will dare penetrate to +Brynhild? It is true that if any man will walk boldly into that fire, +he will discover it at once to be a lie, an illusion, a mirage through +which he might carry a sack of gunpowder without being a penny the +worse. Therefore let the fire seem so terrible that only the hero, when +in the fulness of time he appears upon earth, will venture through it; +and the problem is solved. Wotan, with a breaking heart, takes leave +of Brynhild; throws her into a deep sleep; covers her with her long +warshield; summons Loki, who comes in the shape of a wall of fire +surrounding the mountain peak; and turns his back on Brynhild for ever. + +The allegory here is happily not so glaringly obvious to the younger +generations of our educated classes as it was forty years ago. In those +days, any child who expressed a doubt as to the absolute truth of the +Church's teaching, even to the extent of asking why Joshua told the +sun to stand still instead of telling the earth to cease turning, or of +pointing out that a whale's throat would hardly have been large enough +to swallow Jonah, was unhesitatingly told that if it harboured such +doubts it would spend all eternity after its death in horrible torments +in a lake of burning brimstone. It is difficult to write or read +this nowadays without laughing; yet no doubt millions of ignorant and +credulous people are still teaching their children that. When Wagner +himself was a little child, the fact that hell was a fiction devised for +the intimidation and subjection of the masses, was a well-kept secret of +the thinking and governing classes. At that time the fires of Loki +were a very real terror to all except persons of exceptional force of +character and intrepidity of thought. Even thirty years after Wagner +had printed the verses of The Ring for private circulation, we find +him excusing himself from perfectly explicit denial of current +superstitions, by reminding his readers that it would expose him to +prosecution. In England, so many of our respectable voters are still +grovelling in a gloomy devil worship, of which the fires of Loki are +the main bulwark, that no Government has yet had the conscience or the +courage to repeal our monstrous laws against "blasphemy." + + + + +SIEGFRIED + +Sieglinda, when she flies into the forest with the hero's son unborn in +her womb, and the broken pieces of his sword in her hand, finds shelter +in the smithy of a dwarf, where she brings forth her child and dies. +This dwarf is no other than Mimmy, the brother of Alberic, the same who +made for him the magic helmet. His aim in life is to gain possession of +the helmet, the ring, and the treasure, and through them to obtain that +Plutonic mastery of the world under the beginnings of which he himself +writhed during Alberic's brief reign. Mimmy is a blinking, shambling, +ancient creature, too weak and timid to dream of taking arms himself to +despoil Fafnir, who still, transformed to a monstrous serpent, broods +on the gold in a hole in the rocks. Mimmy needs the help of a hero for +that; and he has craft enough to know that it is quite possible, and +indeed much in the ordinary way of the world, for senile avarice and +craft to set youth and bravery to work to win empire for it. He knows +the pedigree of the child left on his hands, and nurses it to manhood +with great care. + +His pains are too well rewarded for his comfort. The boy Siegfried, +having no god to instruct him in the art of unhappiness, inherits none +of his father's ill luck, and all his father's hardihood. The fear +against which Siegmund set his face like flint, and the woe which he +wore down, are unknown to the son. The father was faithful and grateful: +the son knows no law but his own humor; detests the ugly dwarf who has +nursed him; chafes furiously under his claims for some return for +his tender care; and is, in short, a totally unmoral person, a born +anarchist, the ideal of Bakoonin, an anticipation of the "overman" of +Nietzsche. He is enormously strong, full of life and fun, dangerous and +destructive to what he dislikes, and affectionate to what he likes; so +that it is fortunate that his likes and dislikes are sane and healthy. +Altogether an inspiriting young forester, a son of the morning, in whom +the heroic race has come out into the sunshine from the clouds of his +grandfather's majestic entanglements with law, and the night of his +father's tragic struggle with it. + +The First Act + +Mimmy's smithy is a cave, in which he hides from the light like the +eyeless fish of the American caverns. Before the curtain rises the music +already tells us that we are groping in darkness. When it does rise +Mimmy is in difficulties. He is trying to make a sword for his nursling, +who is now big enough to take the field against Fafnir. Mimmy can make +mischievous swords; but it is not with dwarf made weapons that heroic +man will hew the way of his own will through religions and governments +and plutocracies and all the other devices of the kingdom of the fears +of the unheroic. As fast as Mimmy makes swords, Siegfried Bakoonin +smashes them, and then takes the poor old swordsmith by the scruff of +the neck and chastises him wrathfully. The particular day on which the +curtain rises begins with one of these trying domestic incidents. +Mimmy has just done his best with a new sword of surpassing excellence. +Siegfried returns home in rare spirits with a wild bear, to the extreme +terror of the wretched dwarf. When the bear is dismissed, the new sword +is produced. It is promptly smashed, as usual, with, also, the usual +effects on the temper of Siegfried, who is quite boundless in his +criticisms of the smith's boasted skill, and declares that he would +smash the sword's maker too if he were not too disgusting to be handled. + +Mimmy falls back on his stock defence: a string of maudlin reminders of +the care with which he has nursed the little boy into manhood. Siegfried +replies candidly that the strangest thing about all this care is that +instead of making him grateful, it inspires him with a lively desire to +wring the dwarf's neck. Only, he admits that he always comes back to his +Mimmy, though he loathes him more than any living thing in the forest. +On this admission the dwarf attempts to build a theory of filial +instinct. He explains that he is Siegfried's father, and that this is +why Siegfried cannot do without him. But Siegfried has learned from his +forest companions, the birds and foxes and wolves, that mothers as well +as fathers go to the making of children. Mimmy, on the desperate ground +that man is neither bird nor fox, declares that he is Siegfried's father +and mother both. He is promptly denounced as a filthy liar, because +the birds and foxes are exactly like their parents, whereas Siegfried, +having often watched his own image in the water, can testify that he +is no more like Mimmy than a toad is like a trout. Then, to place the +conversation on a plane of entire frankness, he throttles Mimmy until he +is speechless. When the dwarf recovers, he is so daunted that he tells +Siegfried the truth about his birth, and for testimony thereof produces +the pieces of the sword that broke upon Wotan's spear. Siegfried +instantly orders him to repair the sword on pain of an unmerciful +thrashing, and rushes off into the forest, rejoicing in the discovery +that he is no kin of Mimmy's, and need have no more to do with him when +the sword is mended. + +Poor Mimmy is now in a worse plight than ever; for he has long ago found +that the sword utterly defies his skill: the steel will yield neither +to his hammer nor to his furnace. Just then there walks into his cave a +Wanderer, in a blue mantle, spear in hand, with one eye concealed by the +brim of his wide hat. Mimmy, not by nature hospitable, tries to drive +him away; but the Wanderer announces himself as a wise man, who can tell +his host, in emergency, what it most concerns him to know. Mimmy, taking +this offer in high dudgeon, because it implies that his visitor's wits +are better than his own, offers to tell the wise one something that HE +does not know: to wit, the way to the door. The imperturbable Wanderer's +reply is to sit down and challenge the dwarf to a trial of wit. He +wagers his head against Mimmy's that he will answer any three questions +the dwarf can put to him. + +Now here were Mimmy's opportunity, had he only the wit to ask what he +wants to know, instead of pretending to know everything already. It +is above all things needful to him at this moment to find out how that +sword can be mended; and there has just dropped in upon him in his need +the one person who can tell him. In such circumstances a wise man would +hasten to show to his visitor his three deepest ignorances, and ask him +to dispel them. The dwarf, being a crafty fool, desiring only to detect +ignorance in his guest, asks him for information on the three points on +which he is proudest of being thoroughly well instructed himself. His +three questions are, Who dwell under the earth? Who dwell on the earth? +and Who dwell in the cloudy heights above? The Wanderer, in reply, tells +him of the dwarfs and of Alberic; of the earth, and the giants Fasolt +and Fafnir; of the gods and of Wotan: himself, as Mimmy now recognizes +with awe. + +Next, it is Mimmy's turn to face three questions. What is that race, +dearest to Wotan, against which Wotan has nevertheless done his worst? +Mimmy can answer that: he knows the Volsungs, the race of heroes born +of Wotan's infidelities to Fricka, and can tell the Wanderer the whole +story of the twins and their son Siegfried. Wotan compliments him on his +knowledge, and asks further with what sword Siegfried will slay Fafnir? +Mimmy can answer that too: he has the whole history of the sword at his +fingers' ends. Wotan hails him as the knowingest of the knowing, and +then hurls at him the question he should himself have asked: Who +will mend the sword? Mimmy, his head forfeited, confesses with +loud lamentations that he cannot answer. The Wanderer reads him an +appropriate little lecture on the folly of being too clever to ask what +he wants to know, and informs him that a smith to whom fear is unknown +will mend Nothung. To this smith he leaves the forfeited head of his +host, and wanders off into the forest. Then Mimmy's nerves give way +completely. He shakes like a man in delirium tremens, and has a horrible +nightmare, in the supreme convulsion of which Siegfried, returning from +the forest, presently finds him. + +A curious and amusing conversation follows. Siegfried himself does not +know fear, and is impatient to acquire it as an accomplishment. Mimmy +is all fear: the world for him is a phantasmagoria of terrors. It is not +that he is afraid of being eaten by bears in the forest, or of burning +his fingers in the forge fire. A lively objection to being destroyed +or maimed does not make a man a coward: on the contrary, it is the +beginning of a brave man's wisdom. But in Mimmy, fear is not the effect +of danger: it is natural quality of him which no security can allay. +He is like many a poor newspaper editor, who dares not print the truth, +however simple, even when it is obvious to himself and all his readers. +Not that anything unpleasant would happen to him if he did--not, indeed +that he could fail to become a distinguished and influential leader +of opinion by fearlessly pursuing such a course, but solely because +he lives in a world of imaginary terrors, rooted in a modest and +gentlemanly mistrust of his own strength and worth, and consequently of +the value of his opinion. Just so is Mimmy afraid of anything that can +do him any good, especially of the light and the fresh air. He is also +convinced that anybody who is not sufficiently steeped in fear to be +constantly on his guard, must perish immediately on his first sally +into the world. To preserve Siegfried for the enterprise to which he has +destined him he makes a grotesque attempt to teach him fear. He appeals +to his experience of the terrors of the forest, of its dark places, of +its threatening noises its stealthy ambushes, its sinister flickering +lights its heart-tightening ecstasies of dread. + +All this has no other effect than to fill Siegfried with wonder and +curiosity; for the forest is a place of delight for him. He is as eager +to experience Mimmy's terrors as a schoolboy to feel what an electric +shock is like. Then Mimmy has the happy idea of describing Fafnir to him +as a likely person to give him an exemplary fright. Siegfried jumps at +the idea, and, since Mimmy cannot mend the sword for him, proposes to +set to work then and there to mend it for himself. Mimmy shakes his +head, and bids him see now how his youthful laziness and frowardness +have found him out--how he would not learn the smith's craft from +Professor Mimmy, and therefore does not know how even to begin mending +the sword. Siegfried Bakoonin's retort is simple and crushing. He points +out that the net result of Mimmy's academic skill is that he can neither +make a decent sword himself nor even set one to rights when it is +damaged. Reckless of the remonstrances of the scandalized professor, he +seizes a file, and in a few moments utterly destroys the fragments of +the sword by rasping them into a heap of steel filings. Then he puts +the filings into a crucible; buries it in the coals; and sets to at the +bellows with the shouting exultation of the anarchist who destroys only +to clear the ground for creation. When the steel is melted he runs it +into a mould; and lo! a sword-blade in the rough. Mimmy, amazed at the +success of this violation of all the rules of his craft, hails Siegfried +as the mightiest of smiths, professing himself barely worthy to be his +cook and scullion; and forthwith proceeds to poison some soup for him so +that he may murder him safely when Fafnir is slain. Meanwhile Siegfried +forges and tempers and hammers and rivets, uproariously singing the +while as nonsensically as the Rhine maidens themselves. Finally he +assails the anvil on which Mimmy's swords have been shattered, and +cleaves it with a mighty stroke of the newly forged Nothung. + +The Second Act + +In the darkest hour before the dawn of that night, we find ourselves +before the cave of Fafnir, and there we find Alberic, who can find +nothing better to do with himself than to watch the haunt of the dragon, +and eat his heart out in vain longing for the gold and the ring. The +wretched Fafnir, once an honest giant, can only make himself terrible +enough to keep his gold by remaining a venomous reptile. Why he should +not become an honest giant again and clear out of his cavern, leaving +the gold and the ring and the rest of it for anyone fool enough to take +them at such a price, is the first question that would occur to anyone +except a civilized man, who would be too accustomed to that sort of +mania to be at all surprised at it. + +To Alberic in the night comes the Wanderer, whom the dwarf, recognizing +his despoiler of old, abuses as a shameless thief, taunting him with the +helpless way in which all his boasted power is tied up with the laws and +bargains recorded on the heft of his spear, which, says Alberic truly, +would crumble like chaff in his hands if he dared use it for his own +real ends. Wotan, having already had to kill his own son with it, knows +that very well; but it troubles him no more; for he is now at last +rising to abhorrence of his own artificial power, and looking to the +coming hero, not for its consolidation but its destruction. When Alberic +breaks out again with his still unquenched hope of one day destroying +the gods and ruling the world through the ring, Wotan is no longer +shocked. He tells Alberic that Brother Mime approaches with a hero whom +Godhead can neither help nor hinder. Alberic may try his luck against +him without disturbance from Valhalla. Perhaps, he suggests, if Alberic +warns Fafnir, and offers to deal with the hero for him, Fafnir, may give +him the ring. They accordingly wake up the dragon, who condescends +to enter into bellowing conversation, but is proof against their +proposition, strong in the magic of property. "I have and hold," he +says: "leave me to sleep." Wotan, with a wise laugh, turns to Alberic. +"That shot missed," he says: "no use abusing me for it. And now let me +tell you one thing. All things happen according to their nature; and you +can't alter them." And so he leaves him Alberic, raging with the sense +that his old enemy has been laughing at him, and yet prophetically +convinced that the last word will not be with the god, hides himself as +the day breaks, and his brother approaches with Siegfried. + +Mimmy makes a final attempt to frighten Siegfried by discoursing of the +dragon's terrible jaws, poisonous breath, corrosive spittle, and deadly, +stinging tail. Siegfried is not interested in the tail: he wants to know +whether the dragon has a heart, being confident of his ability to stick +Nothung into it if it exists. Reassured on this point, he drives Mimmy +away, and stretches himself under the trees, listening to the morning +chatter of the birds. One of them has a great deal to say to him; but +he cannot understand it; and after vainly trying to carry on the +conversation with a reed which he cuts, he takes to entertaining the +bird with tunes on his horn, asking it to send him a loving mate such +as all the other creatures of the forest have. His tunes wake up the +dragon; and Siegfried makes merry over the grim mate the bird has +sent him. Fafnir is highly scandalized by the irreverence of the young +Bakoonin. He loses his temper; fights; and is forthwith slain, to his +own great astonishment. + +In such conflicts one learns to interpret the messages of Nature a +little. When Siegfried, stung by the dragon's vitriolic blood, pops his +finger into his mouth and tastes it, he understands what the bird is +saying to him, and, instructed by it concerning the treasures within his +reach, goes into the cave to secure the gold, the ring and the wishing +cap. Then Mimmy returns, and is confronted by Alberic. The two quarrel +furiously over the sharing of the booty they have not yet secured, until +Siegfried comes from the cave with the ring and the helmet, not much +impressed by the heap of gold, and disappointed because he has not yet +learned to fear. + +He has, however, learnt to read the thoughts of such a creature as poor +Mimmy, who, intending to overwhelm him with flattery and fondness, +only succeeds in making such a self-revelation of murderous envy +that Siegfried smites him with Nothung and slays him, to the keen +satisfaction of the hidden Alberic. Caring nothing for the gold, which +he leaves to the care of the slain; disappointed in his fancy for +learning fear; and longing for a mate, he casts himself wearily down, +and again appeals to his friend the bird, who tells him of a woman +sleeping on a mountain peak within a fortress of fire that only the +fearless can penetrate. Siegfried is up in a moment with all the tumult +of spring in his veins, and follows the flight of the bird as it pilots +him to the fiery mountain. + +The Third Act + +To the root of the mountain comes also the Wanderer, now nearing his +doom. He calls up the First Mother from the depths of the earth, and +begs counsel from her. She bids him confer with the Norns (the Fates). +But they are of no use to him: what he seeks is some foreknowledge of +the way of the Will in its perpetual strife with these helpless Fates +who can only spin the net of circumstance and environment round the feet +of men. Why not, says Erda then, go to the daughter I bore you, and take +counsel with her? He has to explain how he has cut himself off from her, +and set the fires of Loki between the world and her counsel. In that +case the First Mother cannot help him: such a separation is part of +the bewilderment that is ever the first outcome of her eternal work +of thrusting the life energy of the world to higher and higher +organization. She can show him no way of escape from the destruction he +foresees. Then from the innermost of him breaks the confession that he +rejoices in his doom, and now himself exults in passing away with all +his ordinances and alliances, with the spear-sceptre which he has only +wielded on condition of slaying his dearest children with it, with the +kingdom, the power and the glory which will never again boast themselves +as "world without end." And so he dismisses Erda to her sleep in the +heart of the earth as the forest bird draws near, piloting the slain +son's son to his goal. + +Now it is an excellent thing to triumph in the victory of the new order +and the passing away of the old; but if you happen to be part of the +old order yourself, you must none the less fight for your life. It seems +hardly possible that the British army at the battle of Waterloo did not +include at least one Englishman intelligent enough to hope, for the +sake of his country and humanity, that Napoleon might defeat the allied +sovereigns; but such an Englishman would kill a French cuirassier rather +than be killed by him just as energetically as the silliest soldier, +ever encouraged by people who ought to know better, to call his +ignorance, ferocity and folly, patriotism and duty. Outworn life may +have become mere error; but it still claims the right to die a natural +death, and will raise its hand against the millennium itself in +self-defence if it tries to come by the short cut of murder. Wotan finds +this out when he comes face to face with Siegfried, who is brought to a +standstill at the foot of the mountain by the disappearance of the bird. +Meeting the Wanderer there, he asks him the way to the mountain where +a woman sleeps surrounded by fire. The Wanderer questions him, and +extracts his story from him, breaking into fatherly delight when +Siegfried, describing the mending of the sword, remarks that all he knew +about the business was that the broken bits of Nothung would be of no +use to him unless he made a new sword out of them right over again from +the beginning. But the Wanderer's interest is by no means reciprocated +by Siegfried. His majesty and elderly dignity are thrown away on the +young anarchist, who, unwilling to waste time talking, bluntly bids +him either show him the way to the mountain, or else "shut his muzzle." +Wotan is a little hurt. "Patience, my lad," he says: "if you were an old +man I should treat you with respect." "That would be a precious notion," +says Siegfried. "All my life long I was bothered and hampered by an +old man until I swept him out of my way. I will sweep you in the same +fashion if you don't let me pass. Why do you wear such a big hat; and +what has happened to one of your eyes? Was it knocked out by somebody +whose way you obstructed?" To which Wotan replies allegorically that the +eye that is gone--the eye that his marriage with Fricka cost him--is now +looking at him out of Siegfried's head. At this, Siegfried gives up the +Wanderer as a lunatic, and renews his threats of personal violence. Then +Wotan throws off the mask of the Wanderer; uplifts the world-governing +spear; and puts forth all his divine awe and grandeur as the guardian of +the mountain, round the crest of which the fires of Loki now break into +a red background for the majesty of the god. But all this is lost on +Siegfried Bakoonin. "Aha!" he cries, as the spear is levelled against +his breast: "I have found my father's foe"; and the spear falls in two +pieces under the stroke of Nothung. "Up then," says Wotan: "I cannot +withhold you," and disappears forever from the eye of man. The fires +roll down the mountain; but Siegfried goes at them as exultantly as +he went at the forging of the sword or the heart of the dragon, and +shoulders his way through them, joyously sounding his horn to the +accompaniment of their crackling and seething. And never a hair of his +head is singed. Those frightful flames which have scared mankind for +centuries from the Truth, have not heat enough in them to make a child +shut its eyes. They are mere phantasmagoria, highly creditable to Loki's +imaginative stage-management; but nothing ever has perished or will +perish eternally in them except the Churches which have been so poor and +faithless as to trade for their power on the lies of a romancer. + + + + +BACK TO OPERA AGAIN + +And now, O Nibelungen Spectator, pluck up; for all allegories come to an +end somewhere; and the hour of your release from these explanations is +at hand. The rest of what you are going to see is opera, and nothing +but opera. Before many bars have been played, Siegfried and the wakened +Brynhild, newly become tenor and soprano, will sing a concerted +cadenza; plunge on from that to a magnificent love duet; and end with +a precipitous allegro a capella, driven headlong to its end by the +impetuous semiquaver triplets of the famous finales to the first act of +Don Giovanni or the coda to the Leonore overture, with a specifically +contrapuntal theme, points d'orgue, and a high C for the soprano all +complete. + +What is more, the work which follows, entitled Night Falls On The Gods, +is a thorough grand opera. In it you shall see what you have so far +missed, the opera chorus in full parade on the stage, not presuming +to interfere with the prima donna as she sings her death song over the +footlights. Nay, that chorus will have its own chance when it first +appears, with a good roaring strain in C major, not, after all, so very +different from, or at all less absurd than the choruses of courtiers +in La Favorita or "Per te immenso giubilo" in Lucia. The harmony is no +doubt a little developed, Wagner augmenting his fifths with a G sharp +where Donizetti would have put his fingers in his ears and screamed for +G natural. But it is an opera chorus all the same; and along with it +we have theatrical grandiosities that recall Meyerbeer and Verdi: pezzi +d'insieme for all the principals in a row, vengeful conjurations for +trios of them, romantic death song for the tenor: in short, all manner +of operatic conventions. + +Now it is probable that some of us will have been so talked by the more +superstitious Bayreuth pilgrims into regarding Die Gotterdammerung as +the mighty climax to a mighty epic, more Wagnerian than all the other +three sections put together, as not to dare notice this startling +atavism, especially if we find the trio-conjurations more exhilarating +than the metaphysical discourses of Wotan in the three true music +dramas of The Ring. There is, however, no real atavism involved. +Die Gotterdammerung, though the last of The Ring dramas in order of +performance, was the first in order of conception and was indeed the +root from which all the others sprang. + +The history of the matter is as follows. All Wagner's works prior to The +Ring are operas. The last of them, Lohengrin, is perhaps the best known +of modern operas. As performed in its entirety at Bayreuth, it is even +more operatic than it appears at Covent Garden, because it happens that +its most old-fashioned features, notably some of the big set concerted +pieces for principals and chorus (pezzi d'insieme as I have called +them above), are harder to perform than the more modern and +characteristically Wagnerian sections, and for that reason were cut out +in preparing the abbreviated fashionable version. Thus Lohengrin came +upon the ordinary operatic stage as a more advanced departure from +current operatic models than its composer had made it. Still, it is +unmistakably an opera, with chorus, concerted pieces, grand finales, +and a heroine who, if she does not sing florid variations with +flute obbligato, is none the less a very perceptible prima donna. In +everything but musical technique the change from Lohengrin to The Rhine +Gold is quite revolutionary. + +The explanation is that Night Falls On The Gods came in between them, +although its music was not finished until twenty years after that of +The Rhine Gold, and thus belongs to a later and more masterful phase of +Wagner's harmonic style. It first came into Wagner's head as an opera +to be entitled Siegfried's Death, founded on the old Niblung Sagas, which +offered to Wagner the same material for an effective theatrical tragedy +as they did to Ibsen. Ibsen's Vikings in Helgeland is, in kind, what +Siegfried's Death was originally intended to be: that is, a heroic piece +for the theatre, without the metaphysical or allegorical complications +of The Ring. Indeed, the ultimate catastrophe of the Saga cannot by any +perversion of ingenuity be adapted to the perfectly clear allegorical +design of The Rhine Gold, The Valkyries, and Siegfried. + + + + +SIEGFRIED AS PROTESTANT + +The philosophically fertile element in the original project of +Siegfried's Death was the conception of Siegfried himself as a type of +the healthy man raised to perfect confidence in his own impulses by +an intense and joyous vitality which is above fear, sickliness of +conscience, malice, and the makeshifts and moral crutches of law and +order which accompany them. Such a character appears extraordinarily +fascinating and exhilarating to our guilty and conscience-ridden +generations, however little they may understand him. The world has +always delighted in the man who is delivered from conscience. From Punch +and Don Juan down to Robert Macaire, Jeremy Diddler and the pantomime +clown, he has always drawn large audiences; but hitherto he has been +decorously given to the devil at the end. Indeed eternal punishment is +sometimes deemed too high a compliment to his nature. When the late Lord +Lytton, in his Strange Story, introduced a character personifying the +joyousness of intense vitality, he felt bound to deny him the immortal +soul which was at that time conceded even to the humblest characters in +fiction, and to accept mischievousness, cruelty, and utter incapacity +for sympathy as the inevitable consequence of his magnificent bodily and +mental health. + +In short, though men felt all the charm of abounding life and +abandonment to its impulses, they dared not, in their deep +self-mistrust, conceive it otherwise than as a force making for +evil--one which must lead to universal ruin unless checked and literally +mortified by self-renunciation in obedience to superhuman guidance, or +at least to some reasoned system of morals. When it became apparent to +the cleverest of them that no such superhuman guidance existed, and +that their secularist systems had all the fictitiousness of "revelation" +without its poetry, there was no escaping the conclusion that all the +good that man had done must be put down to his arbitrary will as well as +all the evil he had done; and it was also obvious that if progress were +a reality, his beneficent impulses must be gaining on his destructive +ones. It was under the influence of these ideas that we began to hear +about the joy of life where we had formerly heard about the grace of God +or the Age of Reason, and that the boldest spirits began to raise the +question whether churches and laws and the like were not doing a great +deal more harm than good by their action in limiting the freedom of the +human will. Four hundred years ago, when belief in God and in revelation +was general throughout Europe, a similar wave of thought led the +strongest-hearted peoples to affirm that every man's private judgment +was a more trustworthy interpreter of God and revelation than the +Church. This was called Protestantism; and though the Protestants were +not strong enough for their creed, and soon set up a Church of their +own, yet the movement, on the whole, has justified the direction it +took. Nowadays the supernatural element in Protestantism has perished; +and if every man's private judgment is still to be justified as the most +trustworthy interpreter of the will of Humanity (which is not a +more extreme proposition than the old one about the will of God) +Protestantism must take a fresh step in advance, and become Anarchism. +Which it has accordingly done, Anarchism being one of the notable new +creeds of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. + +The weak place which experience finds out in the Anarchist theory is +its reliance on the progress already achieved by "Man." There is no such +thing as Man in the world: what we have to deal with is a multitude of +men, some of them great rascals, some of them great statesmen, others +both, with a vast majority capable of managing their personal affairs, +but not of comprehending social organization, or grappling with the +problems created by their association in enormous numbers. If "Man" +means this majority, then "Man" has made no progress: he has, on +the contrary, resisted it. He will not even pay the cost of existing +institutions: the requisite money has to be filched from him by +"indirect taxation." Such people, like Wagner's giants, must be +governed by laws; and their assent to such government must be secured +by deliberately filling them with prejudices and practicing on their +imaginations by pageantry and artificial eminences and dignities. +The government is of course established by the few who are capable of +government, though its mechanism once complete, it may be, and generally +is, carried on unintelligently by people who are incapable of it the +capable people repairing it from time to time when it gets too far +behind the continuous advance or decay of civilization. All these +capable people are thus in the position of Wotan, forced to maintain as +sacred, and themselves submit to, laws which they privately know to be +obsolescent makeshifts, and to affect the deepest veneration for creeds +and ideals which they ridicule among themselves with cynical scepticism. +No individual Siegfried can rescue them from this bondage and hypocrisy; +in fact, the individual Siegfried has come often enough, only to find +himself confronted with the alternative of governing those who are not +Siegfrieds or risking destruction at their hands. And this dilemma will +persist until Wotan's inspiration comes to our governors, and they see +that their business is not the devising of laws and institutions to prop +up the weaknesses of mobs and secure the survival of the unfittest, but +the breeding of men whose wills and intelligences may be depended on to +produce spontaneously the social well-being our clumsy laws now aim at +and miss. The majority of men at present in Europe have no business +to be alive; and no serious progress will be made until we address +ourselves earnestly and scientifically to the task of producing +trustworthy human material for society. In short, it is necessary to +breed a race of men in whom the life-giving impulses predominate, before +the New Protestantism becomes politically practicable. [*] + + * The necessity for breeding the governing class from a + selected stock has always been recognized by Aristocrats, + however erroneous their methods of selection. We have + changed our system from Aristocracy to Democracy without + considering that we were at the same time changing, as + regards our governing class, from Selection to Promiscuity. + Those who have taken a practical part in modern politics + best know how farcical the result is. + + +The most inevitable dramatic conception, then, of the nineteenth +century, is that of a perfectly naive hero upsetting religion, law and +order in all directions, and establishing in their place the unfettered +action of Humanity doing exactly what it likes, and producing order +instead of confusion thereby because it likes to do what is necessary +for the good of the race. This conception, already incipient in Adam +Smith's Wealth of Nations, was certain at last to reach some great +artist, and be embodied by him in a masterpiece. It was also certain +that if that master happened to be a German, he should take delight +in describing his hero as the Freewiller of Necessity, thereby beyond +measure exasperating Englishmen with a congenital incapacity for +metaphysics. + + + + +PANACEA QUACKERY, OTHERWISE IDEALISM + +Unfortunately, human enlightenment does not progress by nicer and nicer +adjustments, but by violent corrective reactions which invariably send +us clean over our saddle and would bring us to the ground on the other +side if the next reaction did not send us back again with equally +excessive zeal. Ecclesiasticism and Constitutionalism send us one way, +Protestantism and Anarchism the other; Order rescues us from confusion +and lands us in Tyranny; Liberty then saves the situation and is +presently found to be as great a nuisance as Despotism. A scientifically +balanced application of these forces, theoretically possible, is +practically incompatible with human passion. Besides, we have the same +weakness in morals as in medicine: we cannot be cured of running after +panaceas, or, as they are called in the sphere of morals, ideals. One +generation sets up duty, renunciation, self-sacrifice as a panacea. The +next generation, especially the women, wake up at the age of forty or +thereabouts to the fact that their lives have been wasted in the worship +of this ideal, and, what is still more aggravating, that the elders who +imposed it on them did so in a fit of satiety with their own experiments +in the other direction. Then that defrauded generation foams at the +mouth at the very mention of duty, and sets up the alternative panacea +of love, their deprivation of which seems to them to have been the most +cruel and mischievous feature of their slavery to duty. It is useless to +warn them that this reaction, if prescribed as a panacea, will prove as +great a failure as all the other reactions have done; for they do not +recognize its identity with any reaction that ever occurred before. +Take for instance the hackneyed historic example of the austerity of +the Commonwealth being followed by the licence of the Restoration. +You cannot persuade any moral enthusiast to accept this as a pure +oscillation from action to reaction. If he is a Puritan he looks upon +the Restoration as a national disaster: if he is an artist he regards it +as the salvation of the country from gloom, devil worship and starvation +of the affections. The Puritan is ready to try the Commonwealth again +with a few modern improvements: the Amateur is equally ready to try the +Restoration with modern enlightenments. And so for the present we must +be content to proceed by reactions, hoping that each will establish some +permanently practical and beneficial reform or moral habit that will +survive the correction of its excesses by the next reaction. + + + + +DRAMATIC ORIGIN OF WOTAN + +We can now see how a single drama in which Wotan does not appear, and of +which Siegfried is the hero, expanded itself into a great fourfold +drama of which Wotan is the hero. You cannot dramatize a reaction by +personifying the reacting force only, any more than Archimedes could +lift the world without a fulcrum for his lever. You must also personify +the established power against which the new force is reacting; and +in the conflict between them you get your drama, conflict being the +essential ingredient in all drama. Siegfried, as the hero of Die +Gotterdammerung, is only the primo tenore robusto of an opera book, +deferring his death, after he has been stabbed in the last act, to +sing rapturous love strains to the heroine exactly like Edgardo in +Donizetti's Lucia. In order to make him intelligible in the wider +significance which his joyous, fearless, conscienceless heroism soon +assumed in Wagner's imagination, it was necessary to provide him with a +much vaster dramatic antagonist than the operatic villain Hagen. Hence +Wagner had to create Wotan as the anvil for Siegfried's hammer; and +since there was no room for Wotan in the original opera book, Wagner +had to work back to a preliminary drama reaching primarily to the very +beginnings of human society. And since, on this world-embracing scale, +it was clear that Siegfried must come into conflict with many baser +and stupider forces than those lofty ones of supernatural religion and +political constitutionalism typified by Wotan and his wife Fricka, these +minor antagonists had to be dramatized also in the persons of Alberic, +Mime, Fafnir, Loki, and the rest. None of these appear in Night Falls On +The Gods save Alberic, whose weird dream-colloquy with Hagen, effective +as it is, is as purely theatrical as the scene of the Ghost in Hamlet, +or the statue in Don Giovanni. Cut the conference of the Norns and the +visit of Valtrauta to Brynhild out of Night Falls On The Gods, and the +drama remains coherent and complete without them. Retain them, and the +play becomes connected by conversational references with the three music +dramas; but the connection establishes no philosophic coherence, no +real identity between the operatic Brynhild of the Gibichung episode +(presently to be related) and the daughter of Wotan and the First +Mother. + + + + +THE LOVE PANACEA + +We shall now find that at the point where The Ring changes from +music drama into opera, it also ceases to be philosophic, and becomes +didactic. The philosophic part is a dramatic symbol of the world as +Wagner observed it. In the didactic part the philosophy degenerates into +the prescription of a romantic nostrum for all human ills. Wagner, only +mortal after all, succumbed to the panacea mania when his philosophy was +exhausted, like any of the rest of us. + +The panacea is by no means an original one. Wagner was anticipated in +the year 1819 by a young country gentleman from Sussex named Shelley, in +a work of extraordinary artistic power and splendor. Prometheus Unbound +is an English attempt at a Ring; and when it is taken into account that +the author was only 27 whereas Wagner was 40 when he completed the poem +of The Ring, our vulgar patriotism may find an envious satisfaction in +insisting upon the comparison. Both works set forth the same conflict +between humanity and its gods and governments, issuing in the redemption +of man from their tyranny by the growth of his will into perfect +strength and self-confidence; and both finish by a lapse into +panacea-mongering didacticism by the holding up of Love as the remedy +for all evils and the solvent of all social difficulties. + +The differences between Prometheus Unbound and The Ring are as +interesting as the likenesses. Shelley, caught in the pugnacity of his +youth and the first impetuosity of his prodigious artistic power by +the first fierce attack of the New Reformation, gave no quarter to +the antagonist of his hero. His Wotan, whom he calls Jupiter, is the +almighty fiend into whom the Englishman's God had degenerated during two +centuries of ignorant Bible worship and shameless commercialism. He is +Alberic, Fafnir Loki and the ambitious side of Wotan all rolled into +one melodramatic demon who is finally torn from his throne and hurled +shrieking into the abyss by a spirit representing that conception +of Eternal Law which has been replaced since by the conception of +Evolution. Wagner, an older, more experienced man than the Shelley of +1819, understood Wotan and pardoned him, separating him tenderly from +all the compromising alliances to which Shelley fiercely held him; +making the truth and heroism which overthrow him the children of his +inmost heart; and representing him as finally acquiescing in and working +for his own supersession and annihilation. Shelley, in his later works, +is seen progressing towards the same tolerance, justice, and humility +of spirit, as he advanced towards the middle age he never reached. But +there is no progress from Shelley to Wagner as regards the panacea, +except that in Wagner there is a certain shadow of night and death come +on it: nay, even a clear opinion that the supreme good of love is that +it so completely satisfies the desire for life, that after it the Will +to Live ceases to trouble us, and we are at last content to achieve the +highest happiness of death. + +This reduction of the panacea to absurdity was not forced upon Shelley, +because the love which acts as a universal solvent in his Prometheus +Unbound is a sentiment of affectionate benevolence which has nothing to +do with sexual passion. It might, and in fact does exist in the absence +of any sexual interest whatever. The words mercy and kindness connote it +less ambiguously than the word love. But Wagner sought always for some +point of contact between his ideas and the physical senses, so that +people might not only think or imagine them in the eighteenth century +fashion, but see them on the stage, hear them from the orchestra, and +feel them through the infection of passionate emotion. Dr. Johnson +kicking the stone to confute Berkeley is not more bent on common-sense +concreteness than Wagner: on all occasions he insists on the need +for sensuous apprehension to give reality to abstract comprehension, +maintaining, in fact, that reality has no other meaning. Now he could +apply this process to poetic love only by following it back to its +alleged origin in sexual passion, the emotional phenomena of which he +has expressed in music with a frankness and forcible naturalism which +would possibly have scandalized Shelley. The love duet in the first act +of The Valkyries is brought to a point at which the conventions of our +society demand the precipitate fall of the curtain; whilst the prelude +to Tristan and Isolde is such an astonishingly intense and faithful +translation into music of the emotions which accompany the union of a +pair of lovers, that it is questionable whether the great popularity of +this piece at our orchestral concerts really means that our audiences +are entirely catholic in their respect for life in all its beneficently +creative functions, or whether they simply enjoy the music without +understanding it. + +But however offensive and inhuman may be the superstition which brands +such exaltations of natural passion as shameful and indecorous, there is +at least as much common sense in disparaging love as in setting it up as +a panacea. Even the mercy and loving-kindness of Shelley do not hold good +as a universal law of conduct: Shelley himself makes extremely short +work of Jupiter, just as Siegfried does of Fafnir, Mime, and Wotan; and +the fact that Prometheus is saved from doing the destructive part of +his work by the intervention of that very nebulous personification of +Eternity called Demogorgon, does not in the least save the situation, +because, flatly, there is no such person as Demogorgon, and if +Prometheus does not pull down Jupiter himself, no one else will. It +would be exasperating, if it were not so funny, to see these poets +leading their heroes through blood and destruction to the conclusion +that, as Browning's David puts it (David of all people!), "All's Love; +yet all's Law." + +Certainly it is clear enough that such love as that implied by +Siegfried's first taste of fear as he cuts through the mailed coat of +the sleeping figure on the mountain, and discovers that it is a woman; +by her fierce revolt against being touched by him when his terror gives +way to ardor; by his manly transports of victory; and by the womanly +mixture of rapture and horror with which she abandons herself to the +passion which has seized on them both, is an experience which it is much +better, like the vast majority of us, never to have passed through, than +to allow it to play more than a recreative holiday part in our lives. It +did not play a very large part in Wagner's own laborious life, and does +not occupy more than two scenes of The Ring. Tristan and Isolde, wholly +devoted to it, is a poem of destruction and death. The Mastersingers, +a work full of health, fun and happiness, contains not a single bar +of love music that can be described as passionate: the hero of it is +a widower who cobbles shoes, writes verses, and contents himself with +looking on at the sweetheartings of his customers. Parsifal makes an end +of it altogether. The truth is that the love panacea in Night Falls On +The Gods and in the last act of Siegfried is a survival of the first +crude operatic conception of the story, modified by an anticipation of +Wagner's later, though not latest, conception of love as the fulfiller +of our Will to Live and consequently our reconciler to night and death. + + + + +NOT LOVE, BUT LIFE + +The only faith which any reasonable disciple can gain from The Ring is +not in love, but in life itself as a tireless power which is continually +driving onward and upward--not, please observe, being beckoned or drawn +by Das Ewig Weibliche or any other external sentimentality, but growing +from within, by its own inexplicable energy, into ever higher and +higher forms of organization, the strengths and the needs of which are +continually superseding the institutions which were made to fit our +former requirements. When your Bakoonins call out for the demolition of +all these venerable institutions, there is no need to fly into a panic +and lock them up in prison whilst your parliament is bit by bit doing +exactly what they advised you to do. When your Siegfrieds melt down the +old weapons into new ones, and with disrespectful words chop in twain +the antiquated constable's staves in the hands of their elders, the end +of the world is no nearer than it was before. If human nature, which +is the highest organization of life reached on this planet, is really +degenerating, then human society will decay; and no panic-begotten penal +measures can possibly save it: we must, like Prometheus, set to work to +make new men instead of vainly torturing old ones. On the other hand, if +the energy of life is still carrying human nature to higher and higher +levels, then the more young people shock their elders and deride and +discard their pet institutions the better for the hopes of the world, +since the apparent growth of anarchy is only the measure of the rate of +improvement. History, as far as we are capable of history (which is +not saying much as yet), shows that all changes from crudity of social +organization to complexity, and from mechanical agencies in government +to living ones, seem anarchic at first sight. No doubt it is natural +to a snail to think that any evolution which threatens to do away with +shells will result in general death from exposure. Nevertheless, the +most elaborately housed beings today are born not only without houses on +their backs but without even fur or feathers to clothe them. + + + + +ANARCHISM NO PANACEA + +One word of warning to those who may find themselves attracted by +Siegfried's Anarchism, or, if they prefer a term with more respectable +associations, his neo-Protestantism. Anarchism, as a panacea, is just as +hopeless as any other panacea, and will still be so even if we breed +a race of perfectly benevolent men. It is true that in the sphere of +thought, Anarchism is an inevitable condition of progressive +evolution. A nation without Freethinkers--that is, without intellectual +Anarchists--will share the fate of China. It is also true that our +criminal law, based on a conception of crime and punishment which is +nothing but our vindictiveness and cruelty in a virtuous disguise, is +an unmitigated and abominable nuisance, bound to be beaten out of +us finally by the mere weight of our experience of its evil and +uselessness. But it will not be replaced by anarchy. Applied to the +industrial or political machinery of modern society, anarchy must always +reduce itself speedily to absurdity. Even the modified form of anarchy +on which modern civilization is based: that is, the abandonment +of industry, in the name of individual liberty, to the upshot of +competition for personal gain between private capitalists, is a +disastrous failure, and is, by the mere necessities of the case, giving +way to ordered Socialism. For the economic rationale of this, I must +refer disciples of Siegfried to a tract from my hand published by the +Fabian Society and entitled The Impossibilities of Anarchism, which +explains why, owing to the physical constitution of our globe, society +cannot effectively organize the production of its food, clothes and +housing, nor distribute them fairly and economically on any anarchic +plan: nay, that without concerting our social action to a much higher +degree than we do at present we can never get rid of the wasteful and +iniquitous welter of a little riches and a deal of poverty which current +political humbug calls our prosperity and civilization. Liberty is an +excellent thing; but it cannot begin until society has paid its daily +debt to Nature by first earning its living. There is no liberty before +that except the liberty to live at somebody else's expense, a liberty +much sought after nowadays, since it is the criterion of gentility, but +not wholesome from the point of view of the common weal. + + + + +SIEGFRIED CONCLUDED + +In returning now to the adventures of Siegfried there is little more +to be described except the finale of an opera. Siegfried, having passed +unharmed through the fire, wakes Brynhild and goes through all the +fancies and ecstasies of love at first sight in a duet which ends with +an apostrophe to "leuchtende Liebe, lachender Tod!", which has been +romantically translated into "Love that illumines, laughing at Death," +whereas it really identifies enlightening love and laughing death as +involving each other so closely as to be usually one and the same thing. + + + + +NIGHT FALLS ON THE GODS + +PROLOGUE + +Die Gotterdammerung begins with an elaborate prologue. The three Norns +sit in the night on Brynhild's mountain top spinning their thread of +destiny, and telling the story of Wotan's sacrifice of his eye, and +of his breaking off a bough from the World Ash to make a heft for his +spear, also how the tree withered after suffering that violence. They +have also some fresher news to discuss. Wotan, on the breaking of his +spear by Siegfried, has called all his heroes to cut down the withered +World Ash and stack its faggots in a mighty pyre about Valhalla. Then, +with his broken spear in his hand, he has seated himself in state in +the great hall, with the Gods and Heroes assembled about him as if +in council, solemnly waiting for the end. All this belongs to the old +legendary materials with which Wagner began The Ring. + +The tale is broken by the thread snapping in the hands of the third +Norn; for the hour has arrived when man has taken his destiny in his +own hands to shape it for himself, and no longer bows to circumstance, +environment, necessity (which he now freely wills), and all the rest of +the inevitables. So the Norns recognize that the world has no further +use for them, and sink into the earth to return to the First Mother. +Then the day dawns; and Siegfried and Brynhild come, and have another +duet. He gives her his ring; and she gives him her horse. Away then he +goes in search of more adventures; and she watches him from her crag +until he disappears. The curtain falls; but we can still hear the +trolling of his horn, and the merry clatter of his horse's shoes +trotting gaily down the valley. The sound is lost in the grander rhythm +of the Rhine as he reaches its banks. We hear again an echo of the +lament of the Rhine maidens for the ravished gold; and then, finally, a +new strain, which does not surge like the mighty flood of the river, but +has an unmistakable tramp of hardy men and a strong land flavor about +it. And on this the opera curtain at last goes up--for please remember +that all that has gone before is only the overture. + +The First Act + +We now understand the new tramping strain. We are in the Rhineside hall +of the Gibichungs, in the presence of King Gunther, his sister Gutrune, +and Gunther's grim half brother Hagen, the villain of the piece. Gunther +is a fool, and has for Hagen's intelligence the respect a fool always +has for the brains of a scoundrel. Feebly fishing for compliments, he +appeals to Hagen to pronounce him a fine fellow and a glory to the +race of Gibich. Hagen declares that it is impossible to contemplate +him without envy, but thinks it a pity that he has not yet found a +wife glorious enough for him. Gunther doubts whether so extraordinary +a person can possibly exist. Hagen then tells him of Brynhild and her +rampart of fire; also of Siegfried. Gunther takes this rather in bad +part, since not only is he afraid of the fire, but Siegfried, according +to Hagen, is not, and will therefore achieve this desirable match +himself. But Hagen points out that since Siegfried is riding about +in quest of adventures, he will certainly pay an early visit to the +renowned chief of the Gibichungs. They can then give him a philtre which +will make him fall in love with Gutrune and forget every other woman he +has yet seen. + +Gunther is transported with admiration of Hagen's cunning when he takes +in this plan; and he has hardly assented to it when Siegfried, with +operatic opportuneness, drops in just as Hagen expected, and is duly +drugged into the heartiest love for Gutrune and total oblivion of +Brynhild and his own past. When Gunther declares his longing for the +bride who lies inaccessible within a palisade of flame, Siegfried at +once offers to undertake the adventure for him. Hagen then explains +to both of them that Siegfried can, after braving the fire, appear to +Brynhild in the semblance of Gunther through the magic of the wishing +cap (or Tarnhelm, as it is called throughout The Ring), the use of which +Siegfried now learns for the first time. It is of course part of the +bargain that Gunther shall give his sister to Siegfried in marriage. +On that they swear blood-brotherhood; and at this opportunity the old +operatic leaven breaks out amusingly in Wagner. With tremendous exordium +of brass, the tenor and baritone go at it with a will, showing off +the power of their voices, following each other in canonic imitation, +singing together in thirds and sixths, and finishing with a lurid +unison, quite in the manner of Ruy Gomez and Ernani, or Othello and +Iago. Then without further ado Siegfried departs on his expedition, +taking Gunther with him to the foot of the mountain, and leaving Hagen +to guard the hall and sing a very fine solo which has often figured in +the programs of the Richter concerts, explaining that his interest in +the affair is that Siegfried will bring back the Ring, and that he, +Hagen, will presently contrive to possess himself of that Ring and +become Plutonic master of the world. + +And now it will be asked how does Hagen know all about the Plutonic +empire; and why was he able to tell Gunther about Brynhild and +Siegfried, and to explain to Siegfried the trick of the Tarnhelm. The +explanation is that though Hagen's mother was the mother of Gunther, his +father was not the illustrious Gibich, but no less a person than our old +friend Alberic, who, like Wotan, has begotten a son to do for him what +he cannot do for himself. + +In the above incidents, those gentle moralizers who find the serious +philosophy of the music dramas too terrifying for them, may allegorize +pleasingly on the philtre as the maddening chalice of passion which, +once tasted, causes the respectable man to forget his lawfully wedded +wife and plunge into adventures which eventually lead him headlong to +destruction. + +We now come upon a last relic of the tragedy of Wotan. Returning +to Brynhild's mountain, we find her visited by her sister Valkyrie +Valtrauta, who has witnessed Wotan's solemn preparations with terror. +She repeats to Brynhild the account already given by the Norns. Clinging +in anguish to Wotan's knees, she has heard him mutter that were the ring +returned to the daughters of the deep Rhine, both Gods and world would +be redeemed from that stage curse off Alberic's in The Rhine Gold. On +this she has rushed on her warhorse through the air to beg Brynhild to +give the Rhine back its ring. But this is asking Woman to give up love +for the sake of Church and State. She declares that she will see them +both perish first; and Valtrauta returns to Valhalla in despair. Whilst +Brynhild is watching the course of the black thundercloud that marks her +sister's flight, the fires of Loki again flame high round the mountain; +and the horn of Siegfried is heard as he makes his way through them. +But the man who now appears wears the Tarnhelm: his voice is a strange +voice: his figure is the unknown one of the king of the Gibichungs. He +tears the ring from her finger, and, claiming her as his wife, drives +her into the cave without pity for her agony of horror, and sets Nothung +between them in token of his loyalty to the friend he is impersonating. +No explanation of this highway robbery of the ring is offered. Clearly, +this Siegfried is not the Siegfried of the previous drama. + +The Second Act + +In the second act we return to the hall of Gibich, where Hagen, in the +last hours of that night, still sits, his spear in his hand, and his +shield beside him. At his knees crouches a dwarfish spectre, his father +Alberic, still full of his old grievances against Wotan, and urging his +son in his dreams to win back the ring for him. This Hagen swears to +do; and as the apparition of his father vanishes, the sun rises and +Siegfried suddenly comes from the river bank tucking into his belt the +Tarnhelm, which has transported him from the mountain like the enchanted +carpet of the Arabian tales. He describes his adventures to Gutrune +until Gunther's boat is seen approaching, when Hagen seizes a cowhorn +and calls the tribesmen to welcome their chief and his bride. It is most +exhilarating, this colloquy with the startled and hastily armed clan, +ending with a thundering chorus, the drums marking the time with mighty +pulses from dominant to tonic, much as Rossini would have made them do +if he had been a pupil of Beethoven's. + +A terrible scene follows. Gunther leads his captive bride straight into +the presence of Siegfried, whom she claims as her husband by the ring, +which she is astonished to see on his finger: Gunther, as she supposes, +having torn it from her the night before. Turning on Gunther, she says +"Since you took that ring from me, and married me with it, tell him of +your right to it; and make him give it back to you." Gunther stammers, +"The ring! I gave him no ring--er--do you know him?" The rejoinder is +obvious. "Then where are you hiding the ring that you had from me?" +Gunther's confusion enlightens her; and she calls Siegfried trickster +and thief to his face. In vain he declares that he got the ring from no +woman, but from a dragon whom he slew; for he is manifestly puzzled; +and she, seizing her opportunity, accuses him before the clan of having +played Gunther false with her. + +Hereupon we have another grandiose operatic oath, Siegfried attesting +his innocence on Hagen's spear, and Brynhild rushing to the footlights +and thrusting him aside to attest his guilt, whilst the clansmen call +upon their gods to send down lightnings and silence the perjured. The +gods do not respond; and Siegfried, after whispering to Gunther that the +Tarnhelm seems to have been only half effectual after all, laughs his +way out of the general embarrassment and goes off merrily to prepare for +his wedding, with his arm round Gutrune's waist, followed by the +clan. Gunther, Hagen and Brynhild are left together to plot operatic +vengeance. Brynhild, it appears, has enchanted Siegfried in such a +fashion that no weapon can hurt him. She has, however, omitted to +protect his back, since it is impossible that he should ever turn that +to a foe. They agree accordingly that on the morrow a great hunt shall +take place, at which Hagen shall thrust his spear into the hero's +vulnerable back. The blame is to be laid on the tusk of a wild boar. +Gunther, being a fool, is remorseful about his oath of blood-brotherhood +and about his sister's bereavement, without having the strength of mind +to prevent the murder. The three burst into a herculean trio, similar +in conception to that of the three conspirators in Un Ballo in Maschera; +and the act concludes with a joyous strain heralding the appearance of +Siegfried's wedding procession, with strewing of flowers, sacrificing to +the gods, and carrying bride and bridegroom in triumph. + +It will be seen that in this act we have lost all connection with the +earlier drama. Brynhild is not only not the Brynhild of The Valkyries, +she is the Hiordis of Ibsen, a majestically savage woman, in whom +jealousy and revenge are intensified to heroic proportions. That is the +inevitable theatrical treatment of the murderous heroine of the Saga. +Ibsen's aim in The Vikings was purely theatrical, and not, as in his +later dramas, also philosophically symbolic. Wagner's aim in Siegfried's +Death was equally theatrical, and not, as it afterwards became in the +dramas of which Siegfried's antagonist Wotan is the hero, likewise +philosophically symbolic. The two master-dramatists therefore produce +practically the same version of Brynhild. Thus on the second evening of +The Ring we see Brynhild in the character of the truth-divining instinct +in religion, cast into an enchanted slumber and surrounded by the fires +of hell lest she should overthrow a Church corrupted by its alliance +with government. On the fourth evening, we find her swearing a malicious +lie to gratify her personal jealousy, and then plotting a treacherous +murder with a fool and a scoundrel. In the original draft of Siegfried's +Death, the incongruity is carried still further by the conclusion, at +which the dead Brynhild, restored to her godhead by Wotan, and again a +Valkyrie, carries the slain Siegfried to Valhalla to live there happily +ever after with its pious heroes. + +As to Siegfried himself, he talks of women, both in this second act and +the next, with the air of a man of the world. "Their tantrums," he +says, "are soon over." Such speeches do not belong to the novice of the +preceding drama, but to the original Siegfried's Tod, with its leading +characters sketched on the ordinary romantic lines from the old Sagas, +and not yet reminted as the original creations of Wagner's genius whose +acquaintance we have made on the two previous evenings. The very +title "Siegfried's Death" survives as a strong theatrical point in the +following passage. Gunther, in his rage and despair, cries, "Save me, +Hagen: save my honor and thy mother's who bore us both." "Nothing can +save thee," replies Hagen: "neither brain nor hand, but SIEGFRIED'S +DEATH." And Gunther echoes with a shudder, "SIEGFRIED'S DEATH!" + + + + +A WAGNERIAN NEWSPAPER CONTROVERSY + +The devotion which Wagner's work inspires has been illustrated lately +in a public correspondence on this very point. A writer in The Daily +Telegraph having commented on the falsehood uttered by Brynhild in +accusing Siegfried of having betrayed Gunther with her, a correspondence +in defence of the beloved heroine was opened in The Daily Chronicle. The +imputation of falsehood to Brynhild was strongly resented and combated, +in spite of the unanswerable evidence of the text. It was contended that +Brynhild's statement must be taken as establishing the fact that she +actually was ravished by somebody whom she believed to be Siegfried, +and that since this somebody cannot have been Siegfried, he being as +incapable of treachery to Gunther as she of falsehood, it must have been +Gunther himself after a second exchange of personalities not mentioned +in the text. The reply to this--if so obviously desperate a hypothesis +needs a reply--is that the text is perfectly explicit as to Siegfried, +disguised as Gunther, passing the night with Brynhild with Nothung +dividing them, and in the morning bringing her down the mountain THROUGH +THE FIRE (an impassable obstacle to Gunther) and there transporting +himself in a single breath, by the Tarnhelm's magic, back to the hall +of the Gibichungs, leaving the real Gunther to bring Brynhild down +the river after him. One controversialist actually pleaded for the +expedition occupying two nights, on the second of which the alleged +outrage might have taken place. But the time is accounted for to the +last minute: it all takes place during the single night watch of +Hagen. There is no possible way out of the plain fact that Brynhild's +accusation is to her own knowledge false; and the impossible ways just +cited are only interesting as examples of the fanatical worship +which Wagner and his creations have been able to inspire in minds of +exceptional power and culture. + +More plausible was the line taken by those who admitted the falsehood. +Their contention was that when Wotan deprived Brynhild of her Godhead, +he also deprived her of her former high moral attributes; so that +Siegfried's kiss awakened an ordinary mortal jealous woman. But a +goddess can become mortal and jealous without plunging at once into +perjury and murder. Besides, this explanation involves the sacrifice of +the whole significance of the allegory, and the reduction of The Ring to +the plane of a child's conception of The Sleeping Beauty. Whoever does +not understand that, in terms of The Ring philosophy, a change from +godhead to humanity is a step higher and not a degradation, misses the +whole point of The Ring. It is precisely because the truthfulness of +Brynhild is proof against Wotan's spells that he has to contrive the +fire palisade with Loki, to protect the fictions and conventions of +Valhalla against her. + +The only tolerable view is the one supported by the known history of +The Ring, and also, for musicians of sufficiently fine judgment, by the +evidence of the scores; of which more anon. As a matter of fact Wagner +began, as I have said, with Siegfried's Death. Then, wanting to develop +the idea of Siegfried as neo-Protestant, he went on to The Young +Siegfried. As a Protestant cannot be dramatically projected without a +pontifical antagonist. The Young Siegfried led to The Valkyries, and +that again to its preface The Rhine Gold (the preface is always written +after the book is finished). Finally, of course, the whole was revised. +The revision, if carried out strictly, would have involved the cutting +out of Siegfried's Death, now become inconsistent and superfluous; and +that would have involved, in turn, the facing of the fact that The Ring +was no longer a Niblung epic, and really demanded modern costumes, tall +hats for Tarnhelms, factories for Nibelheims, villas for Valhallas, and +so on--in short, a complete confession of the extent to which the old +Niblung epic had become the merest pretext and name directory in the +course of Wagner's travail. But, as Wagner's most eminent English +interpreter once put it to me at Bayreuth between the acts of Night +Falls On The Gods, the master wanted to "Lohengrinize" again after his +long abstention from opera; and Siegfried's Death (first sketched in +1848, the year before the rising in Dresden and the subsequent events +which so deepened Wagner's sense of life and the seriousness of art) +gave him exactly the libretto he required for that outbreak of the +old operatic Adam in him. So he changed it into Die Gotterdammerung, +retaining the traditional plot of murder and jealousy, and with it, +necessarily, his original second act, in spite of the incongruity of its +Siegfried and Brynhild with the Siegfried and Brynhild of the allegory. +As to the legendary matter about the world-ash and the destruction of +Valhalla by Loki, it fitted in well enough; for though, allegorically, +the blow by which Siegfried breaks the god's spear is the end of Wotan +and of Valhalla, those who do not see the allegory, and take the story +literally, like children, are sure to ask what becomes of Wotan after +Siegfried gets past him up the mountain; and to this question the old +tale told in Night Falls On The Gods is as good an answer as another. +The very senselessness of the scenes of the Norns and of Valtrauta in +relation to the three foregoing dramas, gives them a highly effective +air of mystery; and no one ventures to challenge their consequentiality, +because we are all more apt to pretend to understand great works of art +than to confess that the meaning (if any) has escaped us. Valtrauta, +however, betrays her irrelevance by explaining that the gods can +be saved by the restoration of the ring to the Rhine maidens. This, +considered as part of the previous allegory, is nonsense; so that even +this scene, which has a more plausible air of organic connection with +The Valkyries than any other in Night Falls On The Gods, is as clearly +part of a different and earlier conception as the episode which +concludes it, in which Siegfried actually robs Brynhild of her ring, +though he has no recollection of having given it to her. Night Falls On +The Gods, in fact, was not even revised into any real coherence with the +world-poem which sprang from it; and that is the authentic solution of +all the controversies which have arisen over it. + +The Third Act + +The hunting party comes off duly. Siegfried strays from it and meets +the Rhine maidens, who almost succeed in coaxing the ring from him. He +pretends to be afraid of his wife; and they chaff him as to her beating +him and so forth; but when they add that the ring is accursed and will +bring death upon him, he discloses to them, as unconsciously as Julius +Caesar disclosed it long ago, that secret of heroism, never to let your +life be shaped by fear of its end. [*] So he keeps the ring; and they leave +him to his fate. The hunting party now finds him; and they all sit +down together to make a meal by the river side, Siegfried telling them +meanwhile the story of his adventures. When he approaches the subject of +Brynhild, as to whom his memory is a blank, Hagen pours an antidote +to the love philtre into his drinking horn, whereupon, his memory +returning, he proceeds to narrate the incident of the fiery mountain, to +Gunther's intense mortification. Hagen then plunges his spear into the +back of Siegfried, who falls dead on his shield, but gets up again, +after the old operatic custom, to sing about thirty bars to his love +before allowing himself to be finally carried off to the strains of the +famous Trauermarsch. + + * "We must learn to die, and to die in the fullest sense of + the word. The fear of the end is the source of all + lovelessness; and this fear is generated only when love + begins to wane. How came it that this loves the highest + blessedness to all things living, was so far lost sight of + by the human race that at last it came to this: all that + mankind did, ordered, and established, was conceived only in + fear of the end? My poem sets this forth."--Wagner to + Roeckel, 25th Jan. 1854. + + +The scene then changes to the hall of the Gibichungs by the Rhine. It is +night; and Gutrune, unable to sleep, and haunted by all sorts of vague +terrors, is waiting for the return of her husband, and wondering +whether a ghostly figure she has seen gliding down to the river bank is +Brynhild, whose room is empty. Then comes the cry of Hagen, returning +with the hunting party to announce the death of Siegfried by the tusk of +a wild boar. But Gutrune divines the truth; and Hagen does not deny it. +Siegfried's body is brought in; Gunther claims the ring; Hagen will +not suffer him to take it; they fight; and Gunther is slain. Hagen then +attempts to take it; but the dead man's hand closes on it and raises +itself threateningly. Then Brynhild comes; and a funeral pyre is raised +whilst she declaims a prolonged scene, extremely moving and imposing, +but yielding nothing to resolute intellectual criticism except a very +powerful and elevated exploitation of theatrical pathos, psychologically +identical with the scene of Cleopatra and the dead Antony in +Shakespeare's tragedy. Finally she flings a torch into the pyre, and +rides her war-horse into the flames. The hall of the Gibichungs catches +fire, as most halls would were a cremation attempted in the middle +of the floor (I permit myself this gibe purposely to emphasize the +excessive artificiality of the scene); but the Rhine overflows its +banks to allow the three Rhine maidens to take the ring from Siegfried's +finger, incidentally extinguishing the conflagration as it does so. +Hagen attempts to snatch the ring from the maidens, who promptly drown +him; and in the distant heavens the Gods and their castle are seen +perishing in the fires of Loki as the curtain falls. + + + + +FORGOTTEN ERE FINISHED + +In all this, it will be observed, there is nothing new. The musical +fabric is enormously elaborate and gorgeous; but you cannot say, as you +must in witnessing The Rhine Gold, The Valkyries, and the first two acts +of Siegfried, that you have never seen anything like it before, and that +the inspiration is entirely original. Not only the action, but most +of the poetry, might conceivably belong to an Elizabethan drama. The +situation of Cleopatra and Antony is unconsciously reproduced without +being bettered, or even equalled in point of majesty and musical +expression. The loss of all simplicity and dignity, the impossibility +of any credible scenic presentation of the incidents, and the extreme +staginess of the conventions by which these impossibilities are got +over, are no doubt covered from the popular eye by the overwhelming +prestige of Die Gotterdammerung as part of so great a work as The Ring, +and by the extraordinary storm of emotion and excitement which the music +keeps up. But the very qualities that intoxicate the novice in music +enlighten the adept. In spite of the fulness of the composer's technical +accomplishment, the finished style and effortless mastery of harmony and +instrumentation displayed, there is not a bar in the work which moves +us as the same themes moved us in The Valkyries, nor is anything but +external splendor added to the life and humor of Siegfried. + +In the original poem, Brynhild delays her self-immolation on the pyre of +Siegfried to read the assembled choristers a homily on the efficacy of +the Love panacea. "My holiest wisdom's hoard," she says, "now I make +known to the world. I believe not in property, nor money, nor godliness, +nor hearth and high place, nor pomp and peerage, nor contract and +custom, but in Love. Let that only prevail; and ye shall be blest in +weal or woe." Here the repudiations still smack of Bakoonin; but the +saviour is no longer the volition of the full-grown spirit of Man, the +Free Willer of Necessity, sword in hand, but simply Love, and not even +Shelleyan love, but vehement sexual passion. It is highly significant +of the extent to which this uxorious commonplace lost its hold of Wagner +(after disturbing his conscience, as he confesses to Roeckel, for years) +that it disappears in the full score of Night Falls On The Gods, which +was not completed until he was on the verge of producing Parsifal, +twenty years after the publication of the poem. He cut the homily out, +and composed the music of the final scene with a flagrant recklessness +of the old intention. The rigorous logic with which representative +musical themes are employed in the earlier dramas is here abandoned +without scruple; and for the main theme at the conclusion he selects a +rapturous passage sung by Sieglinda in the third act of The Valkyries +when Brynhild inspires her with a sense of her high destiny as the +mother of the unborn hero. There is no dramatic logic whatever in the +recurrence of this theme to express the transport in which Brynhild +immolates herself. There is of course an excuse for it, inasmuch as both +women have an impulse of self-sacrifice for the sake of Siegfried; but +this is really hardly more than an excuse; since the Valhalla theme +might be attached to Alberic on the no worse ground that both he and +Wotan are inspired by ambition, and that the ambition has the same +object, the possession of the ring. The common sense of the matter is +that the only themes which had fully retained their significance in +Wagner's memory at the period of the composition of Night Falls On The +Gods are those which are mere labels of external features, such as +the Dragon, the Fire, the Water and so on. This particular theme of +Sieglinda's is, in truth, of no great musical merit: it might easily +be the pet climax of a popular sentimental ballad: in fact, the gushing +effect which is its sole valuable quality is so cheaply attained that +it is hardly going too far to call it the most trumpery phrase in the +entire tetralogy. Yet, since it undoubtedly does gush very emphatically, +Wagner chose, for convenience' sake, to work up this final scene with it +rather than with the more distinguished, elaborate and beautiful themes +connected with the love of Brynhild and Siegfried. + +He would certainly not have thought this a matter of no consequence had +he finished the whole work ten years earlier. It must always be borne +in mind that the poem of The Ring was complete and printed in 1853, +and represents the sociological ideas which, after germinating in the +European atmosphere for many years, had been brought home to Wagner, +who was intensely susceptible to such ideas, by the crash of 1849 at +Dresden. Now no man whose mind is alive and active, as Wagner's was to +the day of his death, can keep his political and spiritual opinions, +much less his philosophic consciousness, at a standstill for quarter +of a century until he finishes an orchestral score. When Wagner first +sketched Night Falls On The Gods he was 35. When he finished the score +for the first Bayreuth festival in 1876 he had turned 60. No wonder he +had lost his old grip of it and left it behind him. He even +tampered with The Rhine Gold for the sake of theatrical effect when +stage-managing it, making Wotan pick up and brandish a sword to give +visible point to his sudden inspiration as to the raising up of a +hero. The sword had first to be discovered by Fafnir among the Niblung +treasures and thrown away by him as useless. There is no sense in this +device; and its adoption shows the same recklessness as to the original +intention which we find in the music of the last act of The Dusk of the +Gods. [*] + + * Die Gotterdammerung means literally Godsgloaming. The + English versions of the opera are usually called The Dusk of + the Gods, or The Twilight of the Gods. I have purposely + introduced the ordinary title in the sentence above for the + reader's information. + + + + +WHY HE CHANGED HIS MIND + +Wagner, however, was not the man to allow his grip of a great +philosophic theme to slacken even in twenty-five years if the theme +still held good as a theory of actual life. If the history of Germany +from 1849 to 1876 had been the history of Siegfried and Wotan transposed +into the key of actual life Night Falls On The Gods would have been the +logical consummation of Das Rheingold and The Valkyrie instead of the +operatic anachronism it actually is. + +But, as a matter of fact, Siegfried did not succeed and Bismarck did. +Roeckel was a prisoner whose imprisonment made no difference; Bakoonin +broke up, not Walhall, but the International, which ended in an +undignified quarrel between him and Karl Marx. The Siegfrieds of 1848 +were hopeless political failures, whereas the Wotans and Alberics and +Lokis were conspicuous political successes. Even the Mimes held their own +as against Siegfried. With the single exception of Ferdinand Lassalle, +there was no revolutionary leader who was not an obvious impossibilist +in practical politics; and Lassalle got himself killed in a romantic +and quite indefensible duel after wrecking his health in a titanic +oratorical campaign which convinced him that the great majority of the +working classes were not ready to join him, and that the minority who +were ready did not understand him. The International, founded in 1861 +by Karl Marx in London, and mistaken for several years by nervous +newspapers for a red spectre, was really only a turnip ghost. It +achieved some beginnings of International Trade Unionism by inducing +English workmen to send money to support strikes on the continent, and +recalling English workers who had been taken across the North Sea to +defeat such strikes; but on its revolutionary socialistic side it was a +romantic figment. The suppression of the Paris Commune, one of the +most tragic examples in history of the pitilessness with which capable +practical administrators and soldiers are forced by the pressure of +facts to destroy romantic amateurs and theatrical dreamers, made an end +of melodramatic Socialism. It was as easy for Marx to hold up Thiers +as the most execrable of living scoundrels and to put upon Gallifet the +brand that still makes him impossible in French politics as it was for +Victor Hugo to bombard Napoleon III from his paper battery in Jersey. +It was also easy to hold up Felix Pyat and Delescluze as men of much +loftier ideals than Thiers and Gallifet; but the one fact that could not +be denied was that when it came to actual shooting, it was Gallifet who +got Delescluze shot and not Delescluze who got Gallifet shot, and that +when it came to administering the affairs of France, Thiers could in +one way or another get it done, whilst Pyat could neither do it nor stop +talking and allow somebody else to do it. True, the penalty of following +Thiers was to be exploited by the landlord and capitalist; but then the +penalty of following Pyat was to get shot like a mad dog, or at best get +sent to New Caledonia, quite unnecessarily and uselessly. + +To put it in terms of Wagner's allegory, Alberic had got the ring back +again and was marrying into the best Walhall families with it. He had +thought better of his old threat to dethrone Wotan and Loki. He had +found that Nibelheim was a very gloomy place and that if he wanted to +live handsomely and safely, he must not only allow Wotan and Loki to +organize society for him, but pay them very handsomely for doing it. He +wanted splendor, military glory, loyalty, enthusiasm, and patriotism; +and his greed and gluttony were wholly unable to create them, whereas +Wotan and Loki carried them all to a triumphant climax in Germany in +1871, when Wagner himself celebrated the event with his Kaisermarsch, +which sounded much more convincing than the Marseillaise or the +Carmagnole. + +How, after the Kaisermarsch, could Wagner go back to his idealization of +Siegfried in 1853? How could he believe seriously in Siegfried slaying +the dragon and charging through the mountain fire, when the immediate +foreground was occupied by the Hotel de Ville with Felix Pyat endlessly +discussing the principles of Socialism whilst the shells of Thiers were +already battering the Arc de Triomphe, and ripping up the pavement of +the Champs Elysees? Is it not clear that things had taken an altogether +unexpected turn--that although the Ring may, like the famous Communist +Manifesto of Marx and Engels, be an inspired guest at the historic laws +and predestined end of our capitalistic-theocratic epoch, yet +Wagner, like Marx, was too inexperienced in technical government +and administration and too melodramatic in his hero-contra-villain +conception of the class struggle, to foresee the actual process by which +his generalization would work out, or the part to be played in it by the +classes involved? + +Let us go back for a moment to the point at which the Niblung legend +first becomes irreconcilable with Wagner's allegory. Fafnir in the +allegory becomes a capitalist; but Fafnir in the legend is a mere +hoarder. His gold does not bring him in any revenue. It does not even +support him: he has to go out and forage for food and drink. In fact, +he is on the way to his drinking-pool when Siegfried kills him. And +Siegfried himself has no more use for gold than Fafnir: the only +difference between them in this respect is that Siegfried does not waste +his time in watching a barren treasure that is no use to him, whereas +Fafnir sacrifices his humanity and his life merely to prevent anybody +else getting it. This contrast is true to human nature; but it shunts +The Ring drama off the economic lines of the allegory. In real life, +Fafnir is not a miser: he seeks dividends, comfortable life, and +admission to the circles of Wotan and Loki. His only means of procuring +these is to restore the gold to Alberic in exchange for scrip in +Alberic's enterprises. Thus fortified with capital, Alberic exploits his +fellow dwarfs as before, and also exploits Fafnir's fellow giants who +have no capital. What is more, the toil, forethought and self-control +which the exploitation involves, and the self-respect and social esteem +which its success wins, effect an improvement in Alberic's own character +which neither Marx nor Wagner appear to have foreseen. He discovers that +to be a dull, greedy, narrow-minded money-grubber is not the way to make +money on a large scale; for though greed may suffice to turn tens +into hundreds and even hundreds into thousands, to turn thousands into +hundreds of thousands requires magnanimity and a will to power rather +than to pelf. And to turn thousands into millions, Alberic must make +himself an earthly providence for masses of workmen: he must create +towns and govern markets. In the meantime, Fafnir, wallowing in +dividends which he has done nothing to earn, may rot, intellectually +and morally, from mere disuse of his energies and lack of incentive to +excel; but the more imbecile he becomes, the more dependent he is upon +Alberic, and the more the responsibility of keeping the world-machine in +working order falls upon Alberic. Consequently, though Alberic in 1850 +may have been merely the vulgar Manchester Factory-owner portrayed by +Engels, in 1876 he was well on the way towards becoming Krupp of Essen +or Carnegie of Homestead. + +Now, without exaggerating the virtues of these gentlemen, it will +be conceded by everybody except perhaps those veteran German +Social-Democrats who have made a cult of obsolescence under the name +of Marxism, that the modern entrepreneur is not to be displaced and +dismissed so lightly as Alberic is dismissed in The Ring. They are +really the masters of the whole situation. Wotan is hardly less +dependent on them than Fafnir; the War-Lord visits their work, acclaims +them in stirring speeches, and casts down their enemies; whilst Loki +makes commercial treaties for them and subjects all his diplomacy to +their approval. + +The end cannot come until Siegfried learns Alberic's trade and shoulders +Alberic's burden. Not having as yet done so, he is still completely +mastered by Alberic. He does not even rebel against him except when he +is too stupid and ignorant, or too romantically impracticable, to see +that Alberic's work, like Wotan's work and Loki's work, is necessary +work, and that therefore Alberic can never be superseded by a warrior, +but only by a capable man of business who is prepared to continue his +work without a day's intermission. Even though the proletarians of all +lands were to become "class conscious," and obey the call of Marx by +uniting to carry the Class struggle to a proletarian victory in +which all capital should become common property, and all Monarchs, +Millionaires, Landlords and Capitalists become common citizens, the +triumphant proletarians would have either to starve in Anarchy the next +day or else do the political and industrial work which is now being +done tant bien que mal by our Romanoffs, our Hohenzollerns, our Krupps, +Carnegies, Levers, Pierpont Morgans, and their political retinues. And +in the meantime these magnates must defend their power and property +with all their might against the revolutionary forces until these +forces become positive, executive, administrative forces, instead of the +conspiracies of protesting, moralizing, virtuously indignant amateurs +who mistook Marx for a man of affairs and Thiers for a stage villain. +But all this represents a development of which one gathers no forecast +from Wagner or Marx. Both of them prophesied the end of our epoch, and, +so far as one can guess, prophesied it rightly. They also brought its +industrial history up to the year 1848 far more penetratingly than the +academic historians of their time. But they broke off there and left +a void between 1848 and the end, in which we, who have to live in that +period, get no guidance from them. The Marxists wandered for years +in this void, striving, with fanatical superstition, to suppress the +Revisionists who, facing the fact that the Social-Democratic party was +lost, were trying to find the path by the light of contemporary history +instead of vainly consulting the oracle in the pages of Das Kapital. +Marx himself was too simpleminded a recluse and too full of the +validity of his remoter generalizations, and the way in which the rapid +integration of capital in Trusts and Kartels was confirming them, to be +conscious of the void himself. + +Wagner, on the other hand, was comparatively a practical man. It is +possible to learn more of the world by producing a single opera, or even +conducting a single orchestral rehearsal, than by ten years reading in +the Library of the British Museum. Wagner must have learnt between Das +Rheingold and the Kaisermarsch that there are yet several dramas to be +interpolated in The Ring after The Valkyries before the allegory can +tell the whole story, and that the first of these interpolated dramas +will be much more like a revised Rienzi than like Siegfried. If +anyone doubts the extent to which Wagner's eyes had been opened to the +administrative-childishness and romantic conceit of the heroes of +the revolutionary generation that served its apprenticeship on the +barricades of 1848-9, and perished on those of 1870 under Thiers' +mitrailleuses, let him read Eine Kapitulation, that scandalous burlesque +in which the poet and composer of Siegfried, with the levity of a +schoolboy, mocked the French republicans who were doing in 1871 what he +himself was exiled for doing in 1849. He had set the enthusiasm of the +Dresden Revolution to his own greatest music; but he set the enthusiasm +of twenty years later in derision to the music of Rossini. There is +no mistaking the tune he meant to suggest by his doggerel of Republik, +Republik, Republik-lik-lik. The Overture to William Tell is there as +plainly as if it were noted down in full score. + +In the case of such a man as Wagner, you cannot explain this volte-face +as mere jingoism produced by Germany's overwhelming victory in the +Franco-Prussian War, nor as personal spite against the Parisians for the +Tannhauser fiasco. Wagner had more cause for personal spite against +his own countrymen than he ever had against the French. No doubt his +outburst gratified the pettier feelings which great men have in common +with small ones; but he was not a man to indulge in such gratifications, +or indeed to feel them as gratifications, if he had not arrived at a +profound philosophical contempt for the inadequacy of the men who were +trying to wield Nothung, and who had done less work for Wagner's own +art than a single German King and he, too, only a mad one. Wagner had by +that time done too much himself not to know that the world is ruled by +deeds, not by good intentions, and that one efficient sinner is worth +ten futile saints and martyrs. + +I need not elaborate the point further in these pages. Like all men of +genius, Wagner had exceptional sincerity, exceptional respect for facts, +exceptional freedom from the hypnotic influence of sensational popular +movements, exceptional sense of the realities of political power as +distinguished from the presences and idolatries behind which the real +masters of modern States pull their wires and train their guns. When he +scored Night Falls On The Gods, he had accepted the failure of Siegfried +and the triumph of the Wotan-Loki-Alberic-trinity as a fact. He had +given up dreaming of heroes, heroines, and final solutions, and had +conceived a new protagonist in Parsifal, whom he announced, not as +a hero, but as a fool; who was armed, not with a sword which cut +irresistibly, but with a spear which he held only on condition that he +did not use it; and who instead of exulting in the slaughter of a +dragon was frightfully ashamed of having shot a swan. The change in the +conception of the Deliverer could hardly be more complete. It reflects +the change which took place in Wagner's mind between the composition +of The Rhine Gold and Night Falls On The Gods; and it explains why +he dropped The Ring allegory and fell back on the status quo ante by +Lohengrinizing. + +If you ask why he did not throw Siegfried into the waste paper basket +and rewrite The Ring from The Valkyries onwards, one must reply that the +time had not come for such a feat. Neither Wagner nor anyone else then +living knew enough to achieve it. Besides, what he had already done had +reached the limit of even his immense energy and perseverance and so +he did the best he could with the unfinished and for ever unfinishable +work, rounding it off with an opera much as Rossini rounded off some of +his religious compositions with a galop. Only, Rossini on such occasions +wrote in his score "Excusez du peu," but Wagner left us to find out the +change for ourselves, perhaps to test how far we had really followed his +meaning. + + + + +WAGNER'S OWN EXPLANATION + +And now, having given my explanation of The Ring, can I give Wagner's +explanation of it? If I could (and I can) I should not by any means +accept it as conclusive. Nearly half a century has passed since the +tetralogy was written; and in that time the purposes of many half +instinctive acts of genius have become clearer to the common man than +they were to the doers. Some years ago, in the course of an explanation +of Ibsen's plays, I pointed out that it was by no means certain or even +likely that Ibsen was as definitely conscious of his thesis as I. All +the stupid people, and some critics who, though not stupid, had not +themselves written what the Germans call "tendency" works, saw nothing +in this but a fantastic affectation of the extravagant self-conceit +of knowing more about Ibsen than Ibsen himself. Fortunately, in taking +exactly the same position now with regard to Wagner, I can claim his own +authority to support me. "How," he wrote to Roeckel on the 23rd. August +1856, "can an artist expect that what he has felt intuitively should +be perfectly realized by others, seeing that he himself feels in the +presence of his work, if it is true Art, that he is confronted by a +riddle, about which he, too, might have illusions, just as another +might?" + +The truth is, we are apt to deify men of genius, exactly as we deify the +creative force of the universe, by attributing to logical design what +is the result of blind instinct. What Wagner meant by "true Art" is the +operation of the artist's instinct, which is just as blind as any other +instinct. Mozart, asked for an explanation of his works, said frankly +"How do I know?" Wagner, being a philosopher and critic as well as +a composer, was always looking for moral explanations of what he had +created and he hit on several very striking ones, all different. In the +same way one can conceive Henry the Eighth speculating very brilliantly +about the circulation of his own blood without getting as near the truth +as Harvey did long after his death. + +None the less, Wagner's own explanations are of exceptional interest. To +begin with, there is a considerable portion of The Ring, especially the +portraiture of our capitalistic industrial system from the socialist's +point of view in the slavery of the Niblungs and the tyranny of Alberic, +which is unmistakable, as it dramatizes that portion of human activity +which lies well within the territory covered by our intellectual +consciousness. All this is concrete Home Office business, so to speak: +its meaning was as clear to Wagner as it is to us. Not so that part +of the work which deals with the destiny of Wotan. And here, as it +happened, Wagner's recollection of what he had been driving at was +completely upset by his discovery, soon after the completion of The +Ring poem, of Schopenhaur's famous treatise "The World as Will and +Representation." So obsessed did he become with this masterpiece of +philosophic art that he declared that it contained the intellectual +demonstration of the conflict of human forces which he himself had +demonstrated artistically in his great poem. "I must confess," he writes +to Roeckel, "to having arrived at a clear understanding of my own +works of art through the help of another, who has provided me with the +reasoned conceptions corresponding to my intuitive principles." + +Schopenhaur, however, had done nothing of the sort. Wagner's +determination to prove that he had been a Schopenhaurite all along +without knowing it only shows how completely the fascination of the +great treatise on The Will had run away with his memory. It is easy to +see how this happened. Wagner says of himself that "seldom has there +taken place in the soul of one and the same man so profound a division +and estrangement between the intuitive or impulsive part of his nature +and his consciously or reasonably formed ideas." And since Schopenhaur's +great contribution to modern thought was to educate us into clear +consciousness of this distinction--a distinction familiar, in a fanciful +way, to the Ages of Faith and Art before the Renascence, but afterwards +swamped in the Rationalism of that movement--it was inevitable that +Wagner should jump at Schopenhaur's metaphysiology (I use a word less +likely to be mistaken than metaphysics) as the very thing for him. But +metaphysiology is one thing, political philosophy another. The political +philosophy of Siegfried is exactly contrary to the political philosophy +of Schopenhaur, although the same clear metaphysiological distinction +between the instinctive part of man (his Will) and his reasoning faculty +(dramatized in The Ring as Loki) is insisted on in both. The difference +is that to Schopenhaur the Will is the universal tormentor of man, the +author of that great evil, Life; whilst reason is the divine gift that +is finally to overcome this life-creating will and lead, through its +abnegation, to cessation and peace, annihilation and Nirvana. This is +the doctrine of Pessimism. Now Wagner was, when he wrote The Ring, a +most sanguine revolutionary Meliorist, contemptuous of the reasoning +faculty, which he typified in the shifty, unreal, delusive Loki, and +full of faith in the life-giving Will, which he typified in the glorious +Siegfried. Not until he read Schopenhaur did he become bent on proving +that he had always been a Pessimist at heart, and that Loki was the most +sensible and worthy adviser of Wotan in The Rhine Gold. + +Sometimes he faces the change in his opinions frankly enough. "My +Niblung drama," he writes to Roeckel, "had taken form at a time when I +had built up with my reason an optimistic world on Hellenic principles, +believing that nothing was necessary for the realization of such a world +but that men should wish it. I ingeniously set aside-the problem why +they did not wish it. I remember that it was with this definite +creative purpose that I conceived the personality of Siegfried, with the +intention of representing an existence free from pain." But he appeals +to his earlier works to show that behind all these artificial optimistic +ideas there was always with him an intuition of "the sublime tragedy of +renunciation, the negation of the will." In trying to explain this, he +is full of ideas philosophically, and full of the most amusing +contradictions personally. Optimism, as an accidental excursion into the +barren paths of reason on his own part, he calls "Hellenic." In others +he denounces it as rank Judaism, the Jew having at that time become for +him the whipping boy for all modern humanity. In a letter from London +he expounds Schopenhaur to Roeckel with enthusiasm, preaching the +renunciation of the Will to Live as the redemption from all error and +vain pursuits: in the next letter he resumes the subject with unabated +interest, and finishes by mentioning that on leaving London he went to +Geneva and underwent "a most beneficial course of hydropathy." Seven +months before this he had written as follows: "Believe me, I too was +once possessed by the idea of a country life. In order to become a +radically healthy human being, I went two years ago to a Hydropathic +Establishment, prepared to give up Art and everything if I could once +more become a child of Nature. But, my good friend, I was obliged to +laugh at my own naivete when I found myself almost going mad. None of +us will reach the promised land: we shall all die in the wilderness. +Intellect is, as some one has said, a sort of disease: it is incurable." + +Roeckel knew his man of old, and evidently pressed him for explanations +of the inconsistencies of The Ring with Night Falls On The Gods. Wagner +defended himself with unfailing cleverness and occasional petulances, +ranging from such pleas as "I believe a true instinct has kept me from a +too great definiteness; for it has been borne in on me that an absolute +disclosure of the intention disturbs true insight," to a volley of +explanations and commentaries on the explanations. He gets excited and +annoyed because Roeckel will not admire the Brynhild of Night Falls On +The Gods; re-invents the Tarnhelm scene; and finally, the case being +desperate, exclaims, "It is wrong of you to challenge me to explain it +in words: you must feel that something is being enacted that is not to +be expressed in mere words." + + + + +THE PESSIMIST AS AMORIST + +Sometimes he gets very far away from Pessimism indeed, and recommends +Roeckel to solace his captivity, not by conquering the will to live at +liberty, but by "the inspiring influences of the Beautiful." The next +moment he throws over even Art for Life. "Where life ends," he says, +very wittily, "Art begins. In youth we turn to Art, we know not why; and +only when we have gone through with Art and come out on the other side, +we learn to our cost that we have missed Life itself." His only comfort +is that he is beloved. And on the subject of love he lets himself loose +in a manner that would have roused the bitterest scorn in Schopenhaur, +though, as we have seen (Love Panacea), it is highly characteristic of +Wagner. "Love in its most perfect reality," he says, "is only possible +between the sexes: it is only as man and woman that human beings can +truly love. Every other manifestation of love can be traced back to that +one absorbingly real feeling, of which all other affections are but an +emanation, a connection, or an imitation. It is an error to look on this +as only one of the forms in which love is revealed, as if there were +other forms coequal with it, or even superior to it. He who after the +manner of metaphysicians prefers UNREALITY to REALITY, and derives the +concrete from the abstract--in short, puts the word before the fact--may +be right in esteeming the idea of love as higher than the expression +of love, and may affirm that actual love made manifest in feeling +is nothing but the outward and visible sign of a pre-existent, +non-sensuous, abstract love; and he will do well to despise that +sensuous function in general. In any case it were safe to bet that such +a man had never loved or been loved as human beings can love, or he +would have understood that in despising this feeling, what he condemned +was its sensual expression, the outcome of man's animal nature, and +not true human love. The highest satisfaction and expression of the +individual is only to be found in his complete absorption, and that is +only possible through love. Now a human being is both MAN and WOMAN: it +is only when these two are united that the real human being exists; and +thus it is only by love that man and woman attain to the full measure +of humanity. But when nowadays we talk of a human being, such heartless +blockheads are we that quite involuntarily we only think of man. It is +only in the union of man and woman by love (sensuous and supersensuous) +that the human being exists; and as the human being cannot rise to the +conception of anything higher than his own existence--his own being--so +the transcendent act of his life is this consummation of his humanity +through love." + +It is clear after this utterance from the would-be Schopenhaurian, that +Wagner's explanations of his works for the most part explain nothing but +the mood in which he happened to be on the day he advanced them, or +the train of thought suggested to his very susceptible imagination and +active mind by the points raised by his questioner. Especially in his +private letters, where his outpourings are modified by his dramatic +consciousness of the personality of his correspondent, do we find him +taking all manner of positions, and putting forward all sorts of cases +which must be taken as clever and suggestive special pleadings, and +not as serious and permanent expositions of his works. These works must +speak for themselves: if The Ring says one thing, and a letter written +afterwards says that it said something else, The Ring must be taken to +confute the letter just as conclusively as if the two had been written +by different hands. However, nobody fairly well acquainted with Wagner's +utterances as a whole will find any unaccountable contradictions in +them. As in all men of his type, our manifold nature was so marked in +him that he was like several different men rolled into one. When he had +exhausted himself in the character of the most pugnacious, aggressive, +and sanguine of reformers, he rested himself as a Pessimist and +Nirvanist. In The Ring the quietism of Brynhild's "Rest, rest, thou God" +is sublime in its deep conviction; but you have only to turn back the +pages to find the irrepressible bustle of Siegfried and the revelry of +the clansmen expressed with equal zest. Wagner was not a Schopenhaurite +every day in the week, nor even a Wagnerite. His mind changes as +often as his mood. On Monday nothing will ever induce him to return to +quilldriving: on Tuesday he begins a new pamphlet. On Wednesday he +is impatient of the misapprehensions of people who cannot see how +impossible it is for him to preside as a conductor over platform +performances of fragments of his works, which can only be understood +when presented strictly according to his intention on the stage: on +Thursday he gets up a concert of Wagnerian selections, and when it is +over writes to his friends describing how profoundly both bandsmen and +audience were impressed. On Friday he exults in the self-assertion +of Siegfried's will against all moral ordinances, and is full of a +revolutionary sense of "the universal law of change and renewal": on +Saturday he has an attack of holiness, and asks, "Can you conceive a +moral action of which the root idea is not renunciation?" In short, +Wagner can be quoted against himself almost without limit, much as +Beethoven's adagios could be quoted against his scherzos if a dispute +arose between two fools as to whether he was a melancholy man or a merry +one. + + + + +THE MUSIC OF THE RING + +THE REPRESENTATIVE THEMES + +To be able to follow the music of The Ring, all that is necessary is to +become familiar enough with the brief musical phrases out of which it +is built to recognize them and attach a certain definite significance +to them, exactly as any ordinary Englishman recognizes and attaches a +definite significance to the opening bars of God Save the King. There is +no difficulty here: every soldier is expected to learn and distinguish +between different bugle calls and trumpet calls; and anyone who can +do this can learn and distinguish between the representative themes or +"leading motives" (Leitmotifs) of The Ring. They are the easier to learn +because they are repeated again and again; and the main ones are so +emphatically impressed on the ear whilst the spectator is looking for +the first time at the objects, or witnessing the first strong dramatic +expression of the ideas they denote, that the requisite association is +formed unconsciously. The themes are neither long, nor complicated, nor +difficult. Whoever can pick up the flourish of a coach-horn, the note of +a bird, the rhythm of the postman's knock or of a horse's gallop, will +be at no loss in picking up the themes of The Ring. No doubt, when it +comes to forming the necessary mental association with the theme, it +may happen that the spectator may find his ear conquering the tune more +easily than his mind conquers the thought. But for the most part the +themes do not denote thoughts at all, but either emotions of a quite +simple universal kind, or the sights, sounds and fancies common enough +to be familiar to children. Indeed some of them are as frankly childish +as any of the funny little orchestral interludes which, in Haydn's +Creation, introduce the horse, the deer, or the worm. We have both the +horse and the worm in The Ring, treated exactly in Haydn's manner, and +with an effect not a whit less ridiculous to superior people who decline +to take it good-humoredly. Even the complaisance of good Wagnerites +is occasionally rather overstrained by the way in which Brynhild's +allusions to her charger Grani elicit from the band a little rum-ti-tum +triplet which by itself is in no way suggestive of a horse, although a +continuous rush of such triplets makes a very exciting musical gallop. + +Other themes denote objects which cannot be imitatively suggested by +music: for instance, music cannot suggest a ring, and cannot suggest +gold; yet each of these has a representative theme which pervades the +score in all directions. In the case of the gold the association is +established by the very salient way in which the orchestra breaks into +the pretty theme in the first act of The Rhine Gold at the moment when +the sunrays strike down through the water and light up the glittering +treasure, hitherto invisible. The reference of the strange little +theme of the wishing cap is equally manifest from the first, since the +spectator's attention is wholly taken up with the Tarnhelm and its magic +when the theme is first pointedly uttered by the orchestra. The sword +theme is introduced at the end of The Rhine Gold to express Wotan's hero +inspiration; and I have already mentioned that Wagner, unable, when it +came to practical stage management, to forego the appeal to the eye as +well as to the thought, here made Wotan pick up a sword and brandish +it, though no such instruction appears in the printed score. When this +sacrifice to Wagner's scepticism as to the reality of any appeal to an +audience that is not made through their bodily sense is omitted, the +association of the theme with the sword is not formed until that point +in the first act of The Valkyries at which Siegmund is left alone by +Hunding's hearth, weaponless, with the assurance that he will have to +fight for his life at dawn with his host. He recalls then how his father +promised him a sword for his hour of need; and as he does so, a flicker +from the dying fire is caught by the golden hilt of the sword in the +tree, when the theme immediately begins to gleam through the quiver of +sound from the orchestra, and only dies out as the fire sinks and the +sword is once more hidden by the darkness. Later on, this theme, which +is never silent whilst Sieglinda is dwelling on the story of the sword, +leaps out into the most dazzling splendor the band can give it when +Siegmund triumphantly draws the weapon from the tree. As it consists of +seven notes only, with a very marked measure, and a melody like a simple +flourish on a trumpet or post horn, nobody capable of catching a tune +can easily miss it. + +The Valhalla theme, sounded with solemn grandeur as the home of the gods +first appears to us and to Wotan at the beginning of the second scene +of The Rhine Gold, also cannot be mistaken. It, too, has a memorable +rhythm; and its majestic harmonies, far from presenting those novel or +curious problems in polyphony of which Wagner still stands suspected by +superstitious people, are just those three simple chords which festive +students who vamp accompaniments to comic songs "by ear" soon find +sufficient for nearly all the popular tunes in the world. + +On the other hand, the ring theme, when it begins to hurtle through +the third scene of The Rhine Gold, cannot possibly be referred to any +special feature in the general gloom and turmoil of the den of the +dwarfs. It is not a melody, but merely the displaced metric accent which +musicians call syncopation, rung on the notes of the familiar chord +formed by piling three minor thirds on top of one another (technically, +the chord of the minor ninth, ci-devant diminished seventh). One soon +picks it up and identifies it; but it does not get introduced in the +unequivocally clear fashion of the themes described above, or of that +malignant monstrosity, the theme which denotes the curse on the gold. +Consequently it cannot be said that the musical design of the work is +perfectly clear at the first hearing as regards all the themes; but +it is so as regards most of them, the main lines being laid down as +emphatically and intelligibly as the dramatic motives in a Shakespearean +play. As to the coyer subtleties of the score, their discovery provides +fresh interest for repeated hearings, giving The Ring a Beethovenian +inexhaustibility and toughness of wear. + +The themes associated with the individual characters get stamped on the +memory easily by the simple association of the sound of the theme with +the appearance of the person indicated. Its appropriateness is generally +pretty obvious. Thus, the entry of the giants is made to a vigorous +stumping, tramping measure. Mimmy, being a quaint, weird old creature, +has a quaint, weird theme of two thin chords that creep down eerily one +to the other. Gutrune's theme is pretty and caressing: Gunther's bold, +rough, and commonplace. It is a favorite trick of Wagner's, when one +of his characters is killed on the stage, to make the theme attached +to that character weaken, fail, and fade away with a broken echo into +silence. + + + + +THE CHARACTERIZATION + +All this, however, is the mere child's play of theme work. The more +complex characters, instead of having a simple musical label attached +to them, have their characteristic ideas and aspirations identified with +special representative themes as they come into play in the drama; and +the chief merit of the thematic structure of The Ring is the mastery +with which the dramatic play of the ideas is reflected in the +contrapuntal play of the themes. We do not find Wotan, like the dragon +or the horse, or, for the matter of that, like the stage demon in +Weber's Freischutz or Meyerbeer's Robert the Devil, with one fixed theme +attached to him like a name plate to an umbrella, blaring unaltered +from the orchestra whenever he steps on the stage. Sometimes we have the +Valhalla theme used to express the greatness of the gods as an idea of +Wotan's. Again, we have his spear, the symbol of his power, identified +with another theme, on which Wagner finally exercises his favorite +device by making it break and fail, cut through, as it were, by the +tearing sound of the theme identified with the sword, when Siegfried +shivers the spear with the stroke of Nothung. Yet another theme +connected with Wotan is the Wanderer music which breaks with such a +majestic reassurance on the nightmare terror of Mimmy when Wotan appears +at the mouth of his cave in the scene of the three riddles. Thus not +only are there several Wotan themes, but each varies in its inflexions +and shades of tone color according to its dramatic circumstances. So, +too, the merry ham tune of the young Siegfried changes its measure, +loads itself with massive harmonies, and becomes an exordium of the most +imposing splendor when it heralds his entry as full-fledged hero in the +prologue to Night Falls On The Gods. Even Mimmy has his two or three +themes: the weird one already described; the little one in triple +measure imitating the tap of his hammer, and fiercely mocked in the +savage laugh of Alberic at his death; and finally the crooning tune in +which he details all his motherly kindnesses to the little foundling +Siegfried. Besides this there are all manner of little musical blinkings +and shamblings and whinings, the least hint of which from the orchestra +at any moment instantly brings Mimmy to mind, whether he is on the stage +at the time or not. + +In truth, dramatic characterization in music cannot be carried very far +by the use of representative themes. Mozart, the greatest of all masters +of this art, never dreamt of employing them; and, extensively as they +are used in The Ring, they do not enable Wagner to dispense with the +Mozartian method. Apart from the themes, Siegfried and Mimmy are still +as sharply distinguished from one another by the character of their +music as Don Giovanni from Leporello, Wotan from Gutrune as Sarastro +from Papagena. It is true that the themes attached to the characters +have the same musical appropriateness as the rest of the music: for +example, neither the Valhalla nor the spear themes could, without the +most ludicrous incongruity, be used for the forest bird or the unstable, +delusive Loki; but for all that the musical characterization must +be regarded as independent of the specific themes, since the entire +elimination of the thematic system from the score would leave the +characters as well distinguished musically as they are at present. + +One more illustration of the way in which the thematic system is worked. +There are two themes connected with Loki. One is a rapid, sinuous, +twisting, shifty semiquaver figure suggested by the unsubstantial, +elusive logic-spinning of the clever one's braincraft. The other is the +fire theme. In the first act of Siegfried, Mimmy makes his unavailing +attempt to explain fear to Siegfried. With the horror fresh upon him of +the sort of nightmare into which he has fallen after the departure +of the Wanderer, and which has taken the form, at once fanciful and +symbolic, of a delirious dread of light, he asks Siegfried whether he +has never, whilst wandering in the forest, had his heart set hammering +in frantic dread by the mysterious lights of the gloaming. To this, +Siegfried, greatly astonished, replies that on such occasions his heart +is altogether healthy and his sensations perfectly normal. Here Mimmy's +question is accompanied by the tremulous sounding of the fire theme with +its harmonies most oppressively disturbed and troubled; whereas with +Siegfried's reply they become quite clear and straightforward, making +the theme sound bold, brilliant, and serene. This is a typical instance +of the way in which the themes are used. + +The thematic system gives symphonic interest, reasonableness, and unity +to the music, enabling the composer to exhaust every aspect and quality +of his melodic material, and, in Beethoven's manner, to work miracles +of beauty, expression and significance with the briefest phrases. As a +set-off against this, it has led Wagner to indulge in repetitions that +would be intolerable in a purely dramatic work. Almost the first thing +that a dramatist has to learn in constructing a play is that the persons +must not come on the stage in the second act and tell one another at +great length what the audience has already seen pass before its eyes +in the first act. The extent to which Wagner has been seduced into +violating this rule by his affection for his themes is startling to +a practiced playwright. Siegfried inherits from Wotan a mania for +autobiography which leads him to inflict on every one he meets the +story of Mimmy and the dragon, although the audience have spent a whole +evening witnessing the events he is narrating. Hagen tells the story +to Gunther; and that same night Alberic's ghost tells it over again to +Hagen, who knows it already as well as the audience. Siegfried tells +the Rhine maidens as much of it as they will listen to, and then keeps +telling it to his hunting companions until they kill him. Wotan's +autobiography on the second evening becomes his biography in the mouths +of the Norns on the fourth. The little that the Norns add to it is +repeated an hour later by Valtrauta. How far all this repetition is +tolerable is a matter of individual taste. A good story will bear +repetition; and if it has woven into it such pretty tunes as the Rhine +maidens' yodel, Mimmy's tinkling anvil beat, the note of the forest +bird, the call of Siegfried's horn, and so on, it will bear a good deal +of rehearing. Those who have but newly learnt their way through The Ring +will not readily admit that there is a bar too much repetition. + +But how if you find some anti-Wagnerite raising the question whether the +thematic system does not enable the composer to produce a music drama +with much less musical fertility than was required from his predecessors +for the composition of operas under the old system! + +Such discussions are not within the scope of this little book. But as +the book is now finished (for really nothing more need be said about +The Ring), I am quite willing to add a few pages of ordinary musical +criticism, partly to please the amateurs who enjoy that sort of reading, +and partly for the guidance of those who wish to obtain some hints to +help them through such critical small talk about Wagner and Bayreuth as +may be forced upon them at the dinner table or between the acts. + + + + +THE OLD AND THE NEW MUSIC + +In the old-fashioned opera every separate number involved the +composition of a fresh melody; but it is quite a mistake to suppose that +this creative-effort extended continuously throughout the number from +the first to the last bar. When a musician composes according to a set +metrical pattern, the selection of the pattern and the composition +of the first stave (a stave in music corresponds to a line in verse) +generally completes the creative effort. All the rest follows more +or less mechanically to fill up the pattern, an air being very like a +wall-paper design in this respect. Thus the second stave is usually a +perfectly obvious consequence of the first; and the third and fourth an +exact or very slightly varied repetition of the first and second. For +example, given the first line of Pop Goes the Weasel or Yankee Doodle, +any musical cobbler could supply the remaining three. There is very +little tune turning of this kind in The Ring; and it is noteworthy that +where it does occur, as in Siegmund's spring song and Mimmy's croon, +"Ein zullendes Kind," the effect of the symmetrical staves, recurring +as a mere matter of form, is perceptibly poor and platitudinous compared +with the free flow of melody which prevails elsewhere. + +The other and harder way of composing is to take a strain of free +melody, and ring every variety of change of mood upon it as if it were +a thought that sometimes brought hope, sometimes melancholy, sometimes +exultation, sometimes raging despair and so on. To take several themes +of this kind, and weave them together into a rich musical fabric +passing panoramically before the ear with a continually varying flow of +sentiment, is the highest feat of the musician: it is in this way that +we get the fugue of Bach and the symphony of Beethoven. The admittedly +inferior musician is the one who, like Auber and Offenbach, not to +mention our purveyors of drawing-room ballads, can produce an unlimited +quantity of symmetrical tunes, but cannot weave themes symphonically. + +When this is taken into account, it will be seen that the fact that +there is a great deal of repetition in The Ring does not distinguish it +from the old-fashioned operas. The real difference is that in them the +repetition was used for the mechanical completion of conventional +metric patterns, whereas in The Ring the recurrence of the theme is +an intelligent and interesting consequence of the recurrence of the +dramatic phenomenon which it denotes. It should be remembered also +that the substitution of symphonically treated themes for tunes with +symmetrical eight-bar staves and the like, has always been the rule in +the highest forms of music. To describe it, or be affected by it, as +an abandonment of melody, is to confess oneself an ignoramus conversant +only with dance tunes and ballads. + +The sort of stuff a purely dramatic musician produces when he hampers +himself with metric patterns in composition is not unlike what might +have resulted in literature if Carlyle (for example) had been compelled +by convention to write his historical stories in rhymed stanzas. That +is to say, it limits his fertility to an occasional phrase, and three +quarters of the time exercises only his barren ingenuity in fitting +rhymes and measures to it. In literature the great masters of the art +have long emancipated themselves from metric patterns. Nobody claims +that the hierarchy of modern impassioned prose writers, from Bunyan +to Ruskin, should be placed below the writers of pretty lyrics, from +Herrick to Mr. Austin Dobson. Only in dramatic literature do we find the +devastating tradition of blank verse still lingering, giving factitious +prestige to the platitudes of dullards, and robbing the dramatic style +of the genuine poet of its full natural endowment of variety, force and +simplicity. + +This state of things, as we have seen, finds its parallel in musical +art, since music can be written in prose themes or in versified tunes; +only here nobody dreams of disputing the greater difficulty of the prose +forms, and the comparative triviality of versification. Yet in dramatic +music, as in dramatic literature, the tradition of versification clings +with the same pernicious results; and the opera, like the tragedy, is +conventionally made like a wall paper. The theatre seems doomed to be +in all things the last refuge of the hankering after cheap prettiness in +art. + +Unfortunately this confusion of the decorative with the dramatic element +in both literature and music is maintained by the example of great +masters in both arts. Very touching dramatic expression can be combined +with decorative symmetry of versification when the artist happens to +possess both the decorative and dramatic gifts, and to have cultivated +both hand in hand. Shakespeare and Shelley, for instance, far from being +hampered by the conventional obligation to write their dramas in verse, +found it much the easiest and cheapest way of producing them. But if +Shakespeare had been compelled by custom to write entirely in prose, all +his ordinary dialogue might have been as good as the first scene of As +You Like It; and all his lofty passages as fine as "What a piece of +work is Man!", thus sparing us a great deal of blank verse in which the +thought is commonplace, and the expression, though catchingly turned, +absurdly pompous. The Cent might either have been a serious drama or +might never have been written at all if Shelley had not been allowed to +carry off its unreality by Elizabethan versification. Still, both +poets have achieved many passages in which the decorative and dramatic +qualities are not only reconciled, but seem to enhance one another to a +pitch otherwise unattainable. + +Just so in music. When we find, as in the case of Mozart, a prodigiously +gifted and arduously trained musician who is also, by a happy accident, +a dramatist comparable to Moliere, the obligation to compose operas in +versified numbers not only does not embarrass him, but actually saves +him trouble and thought. No matter what his dramatic mood may be, he +expresses it in exquisite musical verses more easily than a dramatist of +ordinary singleness of talent can express it in prose. Accordingly, he +too, like Shakespeare and Shelley, leaves versified airs, like Dalla sua +pace, or Gluck's Che fare senza Euridice, or Weber's Leise, leise, which +are as dramatic from the first note to the last as the untrammelled +themes of The Ring. In consequence, it used to be professorially +demanded that all dramatic music should present the same double aspect. +The demand was unreasonable, since symmetrical versification is no merit +in dramatic music: one might as well stipulate that a dinner fork should +be constructed so as to serve also as a tablecloth. It was an ignorant +demand too, because it is not true that the composers of these +exceptional examples were always, or even often, able to combine +dramatic expression with symmetrical versification. Side by side +with Dalla sua pace we have Il mio tesoro and Non mi dir, in which +exquisitely expressive opening phrases lead to decorative passages which +are as grotesque from the dramatic point of view as the music which +Alberic sings when he is slipping and sneezing in the Rhine mud is from +the decorative point of view. Further, there is to be considered the +mass of shapeless "dry recitative" which separates these symmetrical +numbers, and which might have been raised to considerable dramatic and +musical importance had it been incorporated into a continuous musical +fabric by thematic treatment. Finally, Mozart's most dramatic finales +and concerted numbers are more or less in sonata form, like symphonic +movements, and must therefore be classed as musical prose. And sonata +form dictates repetitions and recapitulations from which the perfectly +unconventional form adopted by Wagner is free. On the whole, there is +more scope for both repetition and convention in the old form than in +the new; and the poorer a composer's musical gift is, the surer he is to +resort to the eighteenth century patterns to eke out his invention. + + + + +THE NINETEENTH CENTURY + +When Wagner was born in 1813, music had newly become the most +astonishing, the most fascinating, the most miraculous art in the world. +Mozart's Don Giovanni had made all musical Europe conscious of the +enchantments of the modern orchestra and of the perfect adaptability of +music to the subtlest needs of the dramatist. Beethoven had shown how +those inarticulate mood-poems which surge through men who have, like +himself, no exceptional command of words, can be written down in music +as symphonies. Not that Mozart and Beethoven invented these applications +of their art; but they were the first whose works made it clear that the +dramatic and subjective powers of sound were enthralling enough to stand +by themselves quite apart from the decorative musical structures of +which they had hitherto been a mere feature. After the finales in Figaro +and Don Giovanni, the possibility of the modern music drama lay bare. +After the symphonies of Beethoven it was certain that the poetry that +lies too deep for words does not lie too deep for music, and that +the vicissitudes of the soul, from the roughest fun to the loftiest +aspiration, can make symphonies without the aid of dance tunes. As much, +perhaps, will be claimed for the preludes and fugues of Bach; but +Bach's method was unattainable: his compositions were wonderful webs +of exquisitely beautiful Gothic traceries in sound, quite beyond all +ordinary human talent. Beethoven's far blunter craft was thoroughly +popular and practicable: not to save his soul could he have drawn one +long Gothic line in sound as Bach could, much less have woven several +of them together with so apt a harmony that even when the composer is +unmoved its progressions saturate themselves with the emotion which (as +modern critics are a little apt to forget) springs as warmly from our +delicately touched admiration as from our sympathies, and sometimes +makes us give a composer credit for pathetic intentions which he does +not entertain, just as a boy imagines a treasure of tenderness and noble +wisdom in the beauty of a woman. Besides, Bach set comic dialogue to +music exactly as he set the recitatives of the Passion, there being for +him, apparently, only one recitative possible, and that the musically +best. He reserved the expression of his merry mood for the regular +set numbers in which he could make one of his wonderful contrapuntal +traceries of pure ornament with the requisite gaiety of line and +movement. Beethoven bowed to no ideal of beauty: he only sought the +expression for his feeling. To him a joke was a joke; and if it sounded +funny in music he was satisfied. Until the old habit of judging all +music by its decorative symmetry had worn out, musicians were shocked by +his symphonies, and, misunderstanding his integrity, openly questioned +his sanity. But to those who were not looking for pretty new sound +patterns, but were longing for the expression of their moods in music, +he achieved revelation, because, being single in his aim to express his +own moods, he anticipated with revolutionary courage and frankness all +the moods of the rising generations of the nineteenth century. + +The result was inevitable. In the nineteenth century it was no longer +necessary to be a born pattern designer in sound to be a composer. +One had but to be a dramatist or a poet completely susceptible to +the dramatic and descriptive powers of sound. A race of literary and +theatrical musicians appeared; and Meyerbeer, the first of them, made +an extraordinary impression. The frankly delirious description of his +Robert the Devil in Balzac's short story entitled Gambra, and Goethe's +astonishingly mistaken notion that he could have composed music for +Faust, show how completely the enchantments of the new dramatic music +upset the judgment of artists of eminent discernment. Meyerbeer was, +people said (old gentlemen still say so in Paris), the successor of +Beethoven: he was, if a less perfect musician than Mozart, a profounder +genius. Above all, he was original and daring. Wagner himself raved +about the duet in the fourth act of Les Huguenots as wildly as anyone. + +Yet all this effect of originality and profundity was produced by a +quite limited talent for turning striking phrases, exploiting certain +curious and rather catching rhythms and modulations, and devising +suggestive or eccentric instrumentation. On its decorative side, it was +the same phenomenon in music as the Baroque school in architecture: an +energetic struggle to enliven organic decay by mechanical oddities and +novelties. Meyerbeer was no symphonist. He could not apply the thematic +system to his striking phrases, and so had to cobble them into metric +patterns in the old style; and as he was no "absolute musician" either, +he hardly got his metric patterns beyond mere quadrille tunes, which +were either wholly undistinguished, or else made remarkable by certain +brusqueries which, in the true rococo manner, owed their singularity to +their senselessness. He could produce neither a thorough music drama +nor a charming opera. But with all this, and worse, Meyerbeer had some +genuine dramatic energy, and even passion; and sometimes rose to the +occasion in a manner which, whilst the imagination of his contemporaries +remained on fire with the novelties of dramatic music, led them to +overrate him with an extravagance which provoked Wagner to conduct a +long critical campaign against his leadership. Thirty years ago this +campaign was mentably ascribed to the professional jealousy of a +disappointed rival. Nowadays young people cannot understand how anyone +could ever have taken Meyerbeer's influence seriously. Those who +remember how his reputation stood half a century ago, and who realize +what a nothoroughfare the path he opened proved to be, even to himself, +know how inevitable and how impersonal Wagner's attack was. + +Wagner was the literary musician par excellence. He could not, like +Mozart and Beethoven, produce decorative tone structures independently +of any dramatic or poetic subject matter, because, that craft being +no longer necessary for his purpose, he did not cultivate it. As +Shakespeare, compared with Tennyson, appears to have an exclusively +dramatic talent, so exactly does Wagner compared with Mendelssohn. +On the other hand, he had not to go to third rate literary hacks for +"librettos" to set to music: he produced his own dramatic poems, thus +giving dramatic integrity to opera, and making symphony articulate. A +Beethoven symphony (except the articulate part of the ninth) expresses +noble feeling, but not thought: it has moods, but no ideas. Wagner added +thought and produced the music drama. Mozart's loftiest opera, his Ring, +so to speak, The Magic Flute, has a libretto which, though none the +worse for seeming, like The Rhine Gold, the merest Christmas tomfoolery +to shallow spectators, is the product of a talent immeasurably inferior +to Mozart's own. The libretto of Don Giovanni is coarse and trivial: +its transfiguration by Mozart's music may be a marvel; but nobody will +venture to contend that such transfigurations, however seductive, can +be as satisfactory as tone poetry or drama in which the musician and +the poet are at the same level. Here, then, we have the simple secret of +Wagner's preemminence as a dramatic musician. He wrote the poems as well +as composed the music of his "stage festival plays," as he called them. + +Up to a certain point in his career Wagner paid the penalty of +undertaking two arts instead of one. Mozart had his trade as a musician +at his fingers' ends when he was twenty, because he had served an +arduous apprenticeship to that trade and no other. Wagner was very far +from having attained equal mastery at thirty-five: indeed he himself has +told us that not until he had passed the age at which Mozart died did he +compose with that complete spontaneity of musical expression which can +only be attained by winning entire freedom from all preoccupation with +the difficulties of technical processes. But when that time came, he was +not only a consummate musician, like Mozart, but a dramatic poet and a +critical and philosophical essayist, exercising a considerable influence +on his century. The sign of this consummation was his ability at last to +play with his art, and thus to add to his already famous achievements in +sentimental drama that lighthearted art of comedy of which the greatest +masters, like Moliere and Mozart, are so much rarer than the tragedians +and sentimentalists. It was then that he composed the first two acts of +Siegfried, and later on The Mastersingers, a professedly comedic work, +and a quite Mozartian garden of melody, hardly credible as the work of +the straining artifices of Tanehauser. Only, as no man ever learns to do +one thing by doing something else, however closely allied the two things +may be, Wagner still produced no music independently of his poems. The +overture to The Mastersingers is delightful when you know what it is +all about; but only those to whom it came as a concert piece without any +such clue, and who judged its reckless counterpoint by the standard of +Bach and of Mozart's Magic Flute overture, can realize how atrocious +it used to sound to musicians of the old school. When I first heard it, +with the clear march of the polyphony in Bach's B minor Mass fresh in my +memory, I confess I thought that the parts had got dislocated, and that +some of the band were half a bar behind the others. Perhaps they were; +but now that I am familiar with the work, and with Wagner's harmony, I +can still quite understand certain passages producing that effect organ +admirer of Bach even when performed with perfect accuracy. + + + + +THE MUSIC OF THE FUTURE + +The success of Wagner has been so prodigious that to his dazzled +disciples it seems that the age of what he called "absolute" music +must be at an end, and the musical future destined to be an exclusively +Wagnerian one inaugurated at Bayreuth. All great geniuses produce this +illusion. Wagner did not begin a movement: he consummated it. He was the +summit of the nineteenth century school of dramatic music in the same +sense as Mozart was the summit (the word is Gounod's) of the eighteenth +century school. And those who attempt to carry on his Bayreuth tradition +will assuredly share the fate of the forgotten purveyors of second-hand +Mozart a hundred years ago. As to the expected supersession of absolute +music, it is sufficient to point to the fact that Germany produced two +absolute musicians of the first class during Wagner's lifetime: one, the +greatly gifted Goetz, who died young; the other, Brahms, whose absolute +musical endowment was as extraordinary as his thought was commonplace. +Wagner had for him the contempt of the original thinker for the man of +second-hand ideas, and of the strenuously dramatic musician for mere +brute musical faculty; but though his contempt was perhaps deserved by +the Triumphlieds, and Schicksalslieds, and Elegies and Requiems in +which Brahms took his brains so seriously, nobody can listen to Brahms' +natural utterance of the richest absolute music, especially in his +chamber compositions, without rejoicing in his amazing gift. A reaction +to absolute music, starting partly from Brahms, and partly from such +revivals of medieval music as those of De Lange in Holland and Mr. +Arnold Dolmetsch in England, is both likely and promising; whereas there +is no more hope in attempts to out-Wagner Wagner in music drama than +there was in the old attempts--or for the matter of that, the new +ones--to make Handel the starting point of a great school of oratorio. + + + + +BAYREUTH + +When the Bayreuth Festival Playhouse was at last completed, and opened +in 1876 with the first performance of The Ring, European society was +compelled to admit that Wagner was "a success." Royal personages, +detesting his music, sat out the performances in the row of boxes set +apart for princes. They all complimented him on the astonishing "push" +with which, in the teeth of all obstacles, he had turned a fabulous and +visionary project into a concrete commercial reality, patronized by +the public at a pound a head. It is as well to know that these +congratulations had no other effect upon Wagner than to open his eyes +to the fact that the Bayreuth experiment, as an attempt to evade the +ordinary social and commercial conditions of theatrical enterprise, +was a failure. His own account of it contrasts the reality with his +intentions in a vein which would be bitter if it were not so humorous. +The precautions taken to keep the seats out of the hands of the +frivolous public and in the hands of earnest disciples, banded together +in little Wagner Societies throughout Europe, had ended in their +forestalling by ticket speculators and their sale to just the sort of +idle globe-trotting tourists against whom the temple was to have been +strictly closed. The money, supposed to be contributed by the faithful, +was begged by energetic subscription-hunting ladies from people who must +have had the most grotesque misconceptions of the composer's aims--among +others, the Khedive of Egypt and the Sultan of Turkey! + +The only change that has occurred since then is that subscriptions are +no longer needed; for the Festival Playhouse apparently pays its own way +now, and is commercially on the same footing as any other theatre. The +only qualification required from the visitor is money. A Londoner spends +twenty pounds on a visit: a native Bayreuther spends one pound. In +either case "the Folk," on whose behalf Wagner turned out in 1849, +are effectually excluded; and the Festival Playhouse must therefore be +classed as infinitely less Wagnerian in its character than Hampton Court +Palace. Nobody knew this better than Wagner; and nothing can be further +off the mark than to chatter about Bayreuth as if it had succeeded in +escaping from the conditions of our modern civilization any more than +the Grand Opera in Paris or London. + +Within these conditions, however, it effected a new departure in that +excellent German institution, the summer theatre. Unlike our opera +houses, which are constructed so that the audience may present a +splendid pageant to the delighted manager, it is designed to secure +an uninterrupted view of the stage, and an undisturbed hearing of the +music, to the audience. The dramatic purpose of the performances is +taken with entire and elaborate seriousness as the sole purpose of +them; and the management is jealous for the reputation of Wagner. The +commercial success which has followed this policy shows that the public +wants summer theatres of the highest class. There is no reason why the +experiment should not be tried in England. If our enthusiasm for Handel +can support Handel Festivals, laughably dull, stupid and anti-Handelian +as these choral monstrosities are, as well as annual provincial +festivals on the same model, there is no likelihood of a Wagner Festival +failing. Suppose, for instance, a Wagner theatre were built at Hampton +Court or on Richmond Hill, not to say Margate pier, so that we could +have a delightful summer evening holiday, Bayreuth fashion, passing the +hours between the acts in the park or on the river before sunset, is +it seriously contended that there would be any lack of visitors? If a +little of the money that is wasted on grand stands, Eiffel towers, and +dismal Halls by the Sea, all as much tied to brief annual seasons as +Bayreuth, were applied in this way, the profit would be far more certain +and the social utility prodigiously greater. Any English enthusiasm for +Bayreuth that does not take the form of clamor for a Festival Playhouse +in England may be set aside as mere pilgrimage mania. + +Those who go to Bayreuth never repent it, although the performances +there are often far from delectable. The singing is sometimes tolerable, +and sometimes abominable. Some of the singers are mere animated beer +casks, too lazy and conceited to practise the self-control and physical +training that is expected as a matter of course from an acrobat, a +jockey or a pugilist. The women's dresses are prudish and absurd. It +is true that Kundry no longer wears an early Victorian ball dress with +"ruchings," and that Fresh has been provided with a quaintly modish copy +of the flowered gown of Spring in Botticelli's famous picture; but the +mailclad Brynhild still climbs the mountains with her legs carefully +hidden in a long white skirt, and looks so exactly like Mrs. Leo Hunter +as Minerva that it is quite impossible to feel a ray of illusion whilst +looking at her. The ideal of womanly beauty aimed at reminds Englishmen +of the barmaids of the seventies, when the craze for golden hair was +at its worst. Further, whilst Wagner's stage directions are sometimes +disregarded as unintelligently as at Covent Garden, an intolerably +old-fashioned tradition of half rhetorical, half historical-pictorial +attitude and gesture prevails. The most striking moments of the drama +are conceived as tableaux vivants with posed models, instead of as +passages of action, motion and life. + +I need hardly add that the supernatural powers of control attributed +by credulous pilgrims to Madame Wagner do not exist. Prima donnas and +tenors are as unmanageable at Bayreuth as anywhere else. Casts are +capriciously changed; stage business is insufficiently rehearsed; the +public are compelled to listen to a Brynhild or Siegfried of fifty when +they have carefully arranged to see one of twenty-five, much as in +any ordinary opera house. Even the conductors upset the arrangements +occasionally. On the other hand, if we leave the vagaries of the stars +out of account, we may safely expect always that in thoroughness of +preparation of the chief work of the season, in strenuous artistic +pretentiousness, in pious conviction that the work is of such enormous +importance as to be worth doing well at all costs, the Bayreuth +performances will deserve their reputation. The band is placed out of +sight of the audience, with the more formidable instruments beneath +the stage, so that the singers have not to sing THROUGH the brass. The +effect is quite perfect. + + + + +BAYREUTH IN ENGLAND + +I purposely dwell on the faults of Bayreuth in order to show that there +is no reason in the world why as good and better performances of The +Ring should not be given in England. Wagner's scores are now before the +world; and neither his widow nor his son can pretend to handle them with +greater authority than any artist who feels the impulse to interpret +them. Nobody will ever know what Wagner himself thought of the artists +who established the Bayreuth tradition: he was obviously not in a +position to criticize them. For instance, had Rubini survived to create +Siegmund, it is quite certain that we should not have had from Wagner's +pen so amusing and vivid a description as we have of his Ottavio in the +old Paris days. Wagner was under great obligations to the heroes and +heroines of 1876; and he naturally said nothing to disparage their +triumphs; but there is no reason to believe that all or indeed any of +them satisfied him as Schnorr of Carolsfeld satisfied him as Tristan, or +Schroder Devrient as Fidelio. It is just as likely as not that the +next Schnorr or Schroder may arise in England. If that should actually +happen, neither of them will need any further authority than their own +genius and Wagner's scores for their guidance. Certainly the less their +spontaneous impulses are sophisticated by the very stagey traditions +which Bayreuth is handing down from the age of Crummles, the better. + + + + +WAGNERIAN SINGERS + +No nation need have much difficulty in producing a race of Wagnerian +singers. With the single exception of Handel, no composer has written +music so well calculated to make its singers vocal athletes as Wagner. +Abominably as the Germans sing, it is astonishing how they thrive +physically on his leading parts. His secret is the Handelian secret. +Instead of specializing his vocal parts after the manner of Verdi and +Gounod for high sopranos, screaming tenors, and high baritones with +an effective compass of about a fifth at the extreme tiptop of their +ranges, and for contraltos with chest registers forced all over their +compass in the manner of music hall singers, he employs the entire range +of the human voice freely, demanding from everybody very nearly two +effective octaves, so that the voice is well exercised all over, and +one part of it relieves the other healthily and continually. He uses +extremely high notes very sparingly, and is especially considerate in +the matter of instrumental accompaniment. Even when the singer appears +to have all the thunders of the full orchestra raging against him, a +glance at the score will show that he is well heard, not because of any +exceptionally stentorian power in his voice, but because Wagner meant +him to be heard and took the greatest care not to overwhelm him. Such +brutal opacities of accompaniment as we find in Rossini's Stabat or +Verdi's Trovatore, where the strings play a rum-tum accompaniment +whilst the entire wind band blares away, fortissimo, in unison with the +unfortunate singer, are never to be found in Wagner's work. Even in an +ordinary opera house, with the orchestra ranged directly between the +singers and the audience, his instrumentation is more transparent to +the human voice than that of any other composer since Mozart. At the +Bayreuth Buhnenfestspielhaus, with the brass under the stage, it is +perfectly so. + +On every point, then, a Wagner theatre and Wagner festivals are much +more generally practicable than the older and more artificial forms +of dramatic music. A presentable performance of The Ring is a big +undertaking only in the sense in which the construction of a railway +is a big undertaking: that is, it requires plenty of work and plenty of +professional skill; but it does not, like the old operas and oratorios, +require those extraordinary vocal gifts which only a few individuals +scattered here and there throughout Europe are born with. Singers who +could never execute the roulades of Semiramis, Assur, and Arsaces in +Rossini's Semiramide, could sing the parts of Brynhild, Wotan and +Erda without missing a note. Any Englishman can understand this if he +considers for a moment the difference between a Cathedral service and +an Italian opera at Covent Garden. The service is a much more serious +matter than the opera. Yet provincial talent is sufficient for it, if +the requisite industry and devotion are forthcoming. Let us admit that +geniuses of European celebrity are indispensable at the Opera (though +I know better, having seen lusty troopers and porters, without art or +manners, accepted by fashion as principal tenors at that institution +during the long interval between Mario and Jean de Reszke); but let us +remember that Bayreuth has recruited its Parsifals from the peasantry, +and that the artisans of a village in the Bavarian Alps are capable of a +famous and elaborate Passion Play, and then consider whether England is +so poor in talent that its amateurs must journey to the centre of Europe +to witness a Wagner Festival. + +The truth is, there is nothing wrong with England except the wealth +which attracts teachers of singing to her shores in sufficient numbers +to extinguish the voices of all natives who have any talent as singers. +Our salvation must come from the class that is too poor to have lessons. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Perfect Wagnerite, by George Bernard Shaw + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PERFECT WAGNERITE *** + +***** This file should be named 1487.txt or 1487.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/4/8/1487/ + +Produced by Dianne Bean + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.04.29.93*END* + + + + + +Scanned by Dianne Bean of Phoenix, AZ; OmniPage Pro software +donated by Caere + + + + + +The Perfect Wagnerite: A Commentary on the Niblung's Ring by +by Bernard Shaw + + + + +Preface to the First German Edition + +In reading through this German version of my book in the +Manuscript of my friend Siegfried Trebitsch, I was struck by the +inadequacy of the merely negative explanation given by me of the +irrelevance of Night Falls On The Gods to the general philosophic +scheme of The Ring. That explanation is correct as far as it +goes; but, put as I put it, it now seems to me to suggest that +the operatic character of Night Falls On The Gods was the result +of indifference or forgetfulness produced by the lapse of +twenty-five years between the first projection of the work and +its completion. Now it is clear that in whatever other ways +Wagner may have changed, he never became careless and he never +became indifferent. I have therefore inserted a new section in +which I show how the revolutionary history of Western Europe from +the Liberal explosion of 1848 to the confused attempt at a +socialist, military, and municipal administration in Paris in +1871 (that is to say, from the beginning of The Niblung's Ring by +Wagner to the long-delayed completion of Night Falls On The +Gods), demonstrated practically that the passing away of the +present order was going to be a much more complicated business +than it appears in Wagner's Siegfried. I have therefore +interpolated a new chapter which will perhaps induce some readers +of the original English text to read the book again in German. + +For some time to come, indeed, I shall have to refer English +readers to this German edition as the most complete in +existence. + +My obligation to Herr Trebitsch for making me a living German +author instead of merely a translated English one is so great +that I am bound to point out that he is not responsible for my +views or Wagner's, and that it is as an artist and a man of +letters, and not as a propagandist, that he is conveying to the +German speaking peoples political criticisms which occasionally +reflect on contemporary authorities with a European reputation +for sensitiveness. And as the very sympathy which makes his +translations so excellent may be regarded with suspicion, let me +hasten to declare I am bound to Germany by the ties that hold my +nature most strongly. Not that I like the average German: nobody +does, even in his own country. But then the average man is not +popular anywhere; and as no German considers himself an average +one, each reader will, as an exceptional man, sympathize with my +dislike of the common herd. And if I cannot love the typical +modern German, I can at least pity and understand him. His worst +fault is that he cannot see that it is possible to have too much +of a good thing. Being convinced that duty, industry, education, +loyalty, patriotism and respectability are good things (and I am +magnanimous enough to admit that they are not altogether bad +things when taken in strict moderation at the right time and in +the right place), he indulges in them on all occasions +shamelessly and excessively. He commits hideous crimes when crime +is presented to him as part of his duty; his craze for work is +more ruinous than the craze for drink; when he can afford +secondary education for his sons you find three out of every five +of them with their minds lamed for life by examinations which +only a thoroughly wooden head could go through with impunity; and +if a king is patriotic and respectable (few kings are) he puts up +statues to him and exalts him above Charlemagne and Henry the +Fowler. And when he meets a man of genius, he instinctively +insults him, starves him, and, if possible, imprisons and kills +him. + +Now I do not pretend to be perfect myself. Heaven knows I have to +struggle hard enough every day with what the Germans call my +higher impulses. I know too well the temptation to be moral, to +be self-sacrificing, to be loyal and patriotic, to be respectable +and well-spoken of. But I wrestle with it and--as far as human +fraility will allow--conquer it, whereas the German abandons +himself to it without scruple or reflection, and is actually +proud of his pious intemperance and self-indulgence. Nothing will +cure him of this mania. It may end in starvation, crushing +taxation, suppression of all freedom to try new social +experiments and reform obsolete institutions, in snobbery, +jobbery, idolatry, and an omnipresent tyranny in which his doctor +and his schoolmaster, his lawyer and his priest, coerce him worse +than any official or drill sergeant: no matter: it is +respectable, says the German, therefore it must be good, and +cannot be carried too far; and everybody who rebels against it +must be a rascal. Even the Social-Democrats in Germany differ +from the rest only in carrying academic orthodoxy beyond human +endurance--beyond even German endurance. I am a Socialist and a +Democrat myself, the hero of a hundred platforms, one of the +leaders of the most notable Socialist organizations in England. I +am as conspicuous in English Socialism as Bebel is in German +Socialism; but do you suppose that the German Social-Democrats +tolerate me? Not a bit of it. I have begged again and again to be +taken to the bosom of my German comrades. I have pleaded that the +Super-Proletarians of all lands should unite. I have pointed out +that the German Social-Democratic party has done nothing at its +Congresses for the last ten years except the things I told them +to do ten years before, and that its path is white with the bones +of the Socialist superstitions I and my fellow Fabians have +slain. Useless. They do not care a rap whether I am a Socialist +or not. All they want to know is; Am I orthodox? Am I correct in +my revolutionary views? Am I reverent to the revolutionary +authorities? Because I am a genuine free-thinker they look at me +as a policeman looks at a midnight prowler or as a Berlin +bourgeois looks at a suspicious foreigner. They ask "Do you +believe that Marx was omniscient and infallible; that Engels was +his prophet; that Bebel and Singer are his inspired apostles; and +that Das Kapital is the Bible?" Hastening in my innocence to +clear myself of what I regard as an accusation of credulity and +ignorance, I assure them earnestly that I know ten times as much +of economics and a hundred times as much of practical +administration as Marx did; that I knew Engels personally and +rather liked him as a witty and amiable old 1848 veteran who +despised modern Socialism; that I regard Bebel and Singer as men +of like passions with myself, but considerably less advanced; and +that I read Das Kapital in the year 1882 or thereabouts, and +still consider it one of the most important books of the +nineteenth century because of its power of changing the minds of +those who read it, in spite of its unsound capitalist economics, +its parade of quotations from books which the author had either +not read or not understood, its affectation of algebraic +formulas, and its general attempt to disguise a masterpiece of +propagandist journalism and prophetic invective as a drily +scientific treatise of the sort that used to impose on people in +1860, when any book that pretended to be scientific was accepted +as a Bible. In those days Darwin and Helmholtz were the real +fathers of the Church; and nobody would listen to religion, +poetry or rhetoric; so that even Socialism had to call itself +"scientific," and predict the date of the revolution, as if it +were a comet, by calculations founded on "historic laws." + +To my amazement these reasonable remarks were received as hideous +blasphemies; none of the party papers were allowed to print any +word of mine; the very Revisionists themselves found that the +scandal of my heresy damaged them more than my support aided +them; and I found myself an outcast from German Social-Democracy +at the moment when, thanks to Trebitsch, the German bourgeoisie +and nobility began to smile on me, seduced by the pleasure of +playing with fire, and perhaps by Agnes Sorma's acting as +Candida. + +Thus you may see that when a German, by becoming a +Social-Democrat, throws off all the bonds of convention, and +stands free from all allegiance to established religion, law, +order, patriotism, and learning, he promptly uses his freedom to +put on a headier set of chains; expels anti-militarists with the +blood-thirstiest martial anti-foreign ardor; and gives the Kaiser +reason to thank heaven that he was born in the comparative +freedom and Laodicean tolerance of Kingship, and not in the +Calvinistic bigotry and pedantry of Marxism. + +Why, then, you may ask, do I say that I am bound to Germany by +the ties that hold my nature most strongly? Very simply because I +should have perished of despair in my youth but for the world +created for me by that great German dynasty which began with Bach +and will perhaps not end with Richard Strauss. Do not suppose for +a moment that I learnt my art from English men of letters. True, +they showed me how to handle English words; but if I had known no +more than that, my works would never have crossed the Channel. My +masters were the masters of a universal language: they were, to +go from summit to summit, Bach, Handel, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven +and Wagner. Had the Germans understood any of these men, they +would have hanged them. Fortunately they did not understand them, +and therefore only neglected them until they were dead, after +which they learnt to dance to their tunes with an easy +conscience. For their sakes Germany stands consecrated as the +Holy Land of the capitalist age, just as Italy, for its painters' +sakes, is the Holy Land of the early unvulgarized Renascence; +France, for its builders' sakes, of the age of Christian chivalry +and faith; and Greece, for its sculptors' sakes, of the Periclean +age. + +These Holy Lands are my fatherlands: in them alone am I truly at +home: all my work is but to bring the whole world under this +sanctification. + +And so, O worthy, respectable, dutiful, patriotic, brave, +industrious German reader, you who used to fear only God and your +own conscience, and now fear nothing at all, here is my book for +you; and--in all sincerity--much good may it do you! + +London, 23rd. October 1907. + + + +PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION + +The preparation of a Second Edition of this booklet is quite the +most unexpected literary task that has ever been set me. When it +first appeared I was ungrateful enough to remonstrate with its +publisher for printing, as I thought, more copies than the most +sanguine Wagnerite could ever hope to sell. But the result proved +that exactly one person buys a copy on every day in the year, +including Sundays; and so, in the process of the suns, a reprint +has become necessary. + +Save a few verbal slips of no importance, I have found nothing to +alter in this edition. As usual, the only protests the book has +elicited are protests, not against the opinions it expresses, but +against the facts it records. There are people who cannot bear to +be told that their hero was associated with a famous Anarchist in +a rebellion; that he was proclaimed as "wanted" by the police; +that he wrote revolutionary pamphlets; and that his picture of +Niblunghome under the reign of Alberic is a poetic vision of +unregulated industrial capitalism as it was made known in Germany +in the middle of the nineteenth century by Engels's Condition of +the Laboring classes in England. They frantically deny these +facts, and then declare that I have connected them with Wagner in +a paroxysm of senseless perversity. I am sorry I have hurt them; +and I appeal to charitable publishers to bring out a new life of +Wagner, which shall describe him as a court musician of +unquestioned fashion and orthodoxy, and a pillar of the most +exclusive Dresden circles. Such a work, would, I believe, have a +large sale, and be read with satisfaction and reassurance by many +lovers of Wagner's music. + +As to my much demurred-to relegation of Night Falls On The Gods +to the category of grand opera, I have nothing to add or +withdraw. Such a classification is to me as much a matter of fact +as the Dresden rising or the police proclamation; but I shall not +pretend that it is a matter of such fact as everybody's judgment +can grapple with. People who prefer grand opera to serious +music-drama naturally resent my placing a very grand opera below +a very serious music-drama. The ordinary lover of Shakespeare +would equally demur to my placing his popular catchpenny plays, +of which As You Like It is an avowed type, below true +Shakespearean plays like Measure for Measure. I cannot help that. +Popular dramas and operas may have overwhelming merits as +enchanting make-believes; but a poet's sincerest vision of the +world must always take precedence of his prettiest fool's +paradise. + +As many English Wagnerites seem to be still under the impression +that Wagner composed Rienzi in his youth, Tannhauser and +Lohengrin in his middle age, and The Ring in his later years, may +I again remind them that The Ring was the result of a political +convulsion which occurred when Wagner was only thirty-six, and +that the poem was completed when he was forty, with thirty more +years of work before him? It is as much a first essay in +political philosophy as Die Feen is a first essay in romantic +opera. The attempt to recover its spirit twenty years later, when +the music of Night Falls On The Gods was added, was an attempt to +revive the barricades of Dresden in the Temple of the Grail. Only +those who have never had any political enthusiasms to survive can +believe that such an attempt could succeed. G. B. S. + + London, 1901 + + + +Preface to the First Edition + +This book is a commentary on The Ring of the Niblungs, Wagner's +chief work. I offer it to those enthusiastic admirers of Wagner +who are unable to follow his ideas, and do not in the least +understand the dilemma of Wotan, though they are filled with +indignation at the irreverence of the Philistines who frankly +avow that they find the remarks of the god too often tedious and +nonsensical. Now to be devoted to Wagner merely as a dog is +devoted to his master, sharing a few elementary ideas, appetites +and emotions with him, and, for the rest, reverencing his +superiority without understanding it, is no true Wagnerism. Yet +nothing better is possible without a stock of ideas common to +master and disciple. Unfortunately, the ideas of the +revolutionary Wagner of 1848 are taught neither by the education +nor the experience of English and American gentlemen-amateurs, +who are almost always political mugwumps, and hardly ever +associate with revolutionists. The earlier attempts to translate +his numerous pamphlets and essays into English, resulted in +ludicrous mixtures of pure nonsense with the absurdest +distorsions of his ideas into the ideas of the translators. We +now have a translation which is a masterpiece of interpretation +and an eminent addition to our literature; but that is not +because its author, Mr. Ashton Ellis, knows the German dictionary +better than his predecessors. He is simply in possession of +Wagner's ideas, which were to them inconceivable. + +All I pretend to do in this book is to impart the ideas which are +most likely to be lacking in the conventional Englishman's +equipment. I came by them myself much as Wagner did, having +learnt more about music than about anything else in my youth, and +sown my political wild oats subsequently in the revolutionary +school. This combination is not common in England; and as I seem, +so far, to be the only publicly articulate result of it, I +venture to add my commentary to what has already been written by +musicians who are no revolutionists, and revolutionists who are +no musicians. G. B. S. + + + +Preliminary Encouragements +The Ring of the Niblungs +The Rhine Gold +Wagner as Revolutionist +The Valkyries +Siegfried +Siegfried as Protestant +Night Falls On The Gods +Why He Changed His Mind +Wagner's Own Explanation +The Music of The Ring +The Old and the New Music +The Nineteenth Century +The Music of the Future +Bayreuth + + + +THE PERFECT WAGNERITE + + + +PRELIMINARY ENCOURAGEMENTS + +A few of these will be welcome to the ordinary citizen visiting +the theatre to satisfy his curiosity, or his desire to be in the +fashion, by witnessing a representation of Richard Wagner's +famous Ring of the Niblungs. + +First, The Ring, with all its gods and giants and dwarfs, its +water-maidens and Valkyries, its wishing-cap, magic ring, +enchanted sword, and miraculous treasure, is a drama of today, +and not of a remote and fabulous antiquity. It could not have +been written before the second half of the nineteenth century, +because it deals with events which were only then consummating +themselves. Unless the spectator recognizes in it an image of the +life he is himself fighting his way through, it must needs appear +to him a monstrous development of the Christmas pantomimes, spun +out here and there into intolerable lengths of dull conversation +by the principal baritone. Fortunately, even from this point of +view, The Ring is full of extraordinarily attractive episodes, +both orchestral and dramatic. The nature music alone--music of +river and rainbow, fire and forest--is enough to bribe people +with any love of the country in them to endure the passages of +political philosophy in the sure hope of a prettier page to come. +Everybody, too, can enjoy the love music, the hammer and anvil +music, the clumping of the giants, the tune of the young +woodsman's horn, the trilling of the bird, the dragon music and +nightmare music and thunder and lightning music, the profusion of +simple melody, the sensuous charm of the orchestration: in short, +the vast extent of common ground between The Ring and the +ordinary music we use for play and pleasure. Hence it is that the +four separate music-plays of which it is built have become +popular throughout Europe as operas. We shall presently see that +one of them, Night Falls On The Gods, actually is an opera. + +It is generally understood, however, that there is an inner ring +of superior persons to whom the whole work has a most urgent and +searching philosophic and social significance. I profess to be +such a superior person; and I write this pamphlet for the +assistance of those who wish to be introduced to the work on +equal terms with that inner circle of adepts. + +My second encouragement is addressed to modest citizens who may +suppose themselves to be disqualified from enjoying The Ring by +their technical ignorance of music. They may dismiss all such +misgivings speedily and confidently. If the sound of music has +any power to move them, they will find that Wagner exacts nothing +further. There is not a single bar of "classical music" in The +Ring--not a note in it that has any other point than the single +direct point of giving musical expression to the drama. In +classical music there are, as the analytical programs tell us, +first subjects and second subjects, free fantasias, +recapitulations, and codas; there are fugues, with +counter-subjects, strettos, and pedal points; there are +passacaglias on ground basses, canons ad hypodiapente, and other +ingenuities, which have, after all, stood or fallen by their +prettiness as much as the simplest folk-tune. Wagner is never +driving at anything of this sort any more than Shakespeare in his +plays is driving at such ingenuities of verse-making as sonnets, +triolets, and the like. And this is why he is so easy for the +natural musician who has had no academic teaching. The +professors, when Wagner's music is played to them, exclaim at +once "What is this? Is it aria, or recitative? Is there no +cabaletta to it--not even a full close? Why was that discord not +prepared; and why does he not resolve it correctly? How dare he +indulge in those scandalous and illicit transitions into a key +that has not one note in common with the key he has just left? +Listen to those false relations! What does he want with six drums +and eight horns when Mozart worked miracles with two of each? The +man is no musician." The layman neither knows nor cares about any +of these things. If Wagner were to turn aside from his +straightforward dramatic purpose to propitiate the professors +with correct exercises in sonata form, his music would at once +become unintelligible to the unsophisticated spectator, upon whom +the familiar and dreaded "classical" sensation would descend like +the influenza. Nothing of the kind need be dreaded. The +unskilled, untaught musician may approach Wagner boldly; for +there is no possibility of a misunderstanding between them: The +Ring music is perfectly single and simple. It is the adept +musician of the old school who has everything to unlearn: and him +I leave, unpitied, to his fate. + + + +THE RING OF THE NIBLUNGS + +The Ring consists of four plays, intended to be performed on four +successive evenings, entitled The Rhine Gold (a prologue to the +other three), The Valkyries, Siegfried, and Night Falls On The +Gods; or, in the original German, Das Rheingold, Die Walkure, +Siegfried, and Die Gotterdammerung. + + +THE RHINE GOLD + +Let me assume for a moment that you are a young and good-looking +woman. Try to imagine yourself in that character at Klondyke five +years ago. The place is teeming with gold. If you are content to +leave the gold alone, as the wise leave flowers without plucking +them, enjoying with perfect naivete its color and glitter and +preciousness, no human being will ever be the worse for your +knowledge of it; and whilst you remain in that frame of mind the +golden age will endure. + +Now suppose a man comes along: a man who has no sense of the +golden age, nor any power of living in the present: a man with +common desires, cupidities, ambitions, just like most of the men +you know. Suppose you reveal to that man the fact that if he will +only pluck this gold up, and turn it into money, millions of men, +driven by the invisible whip of hunger, will toil underground and +overground night and day to pile up more and more gold for him +until he is master of the world! You will find that the prospect +will not tempt him so much as you might imagine, because it +involves some distasteful trouble to himself to start with, and +because there is something else within his reach involving no +distasteful toil, which he desires more passionately; and that is +yourself. So long as he is preoccupied with love of you, the +gold, and all that it implies, will escape him: the golden age +will endure. Not until he forswears love will he stretch out his +hand to the gold, and found the Plutonic empire for himself. But +the choice between love and gold may not rest altogether with +him. He may be an ugly, ungracious, unamiable person, whose +affections may seem merely ludicrous and despicable to you. In +that case, you may repulse him, and most bitterly humiliate and +disappoint him. What is left to him then but to curse the love he +can never win, and turn remorselessly to the gold? With that, he +will make short work of your golden age, and leave you lamenting +its lost thoughtlessness and sweetness. + +In due time the gold of Klondyke will find its way to the great +cities of the world. But the old dilemma will keep continually +reproducing itself. The man who will turn his back on love, and +upon all the fruitful it, and will set himself single-heartedly +to gather gold in an exultant dream of wielding its Plutonic +powers, will find the treasure yielding quickly to his touch. But +few men will make this sacrifice voluntarily. Not until the +Plutonic power is so strongly set up that the higher human +impulses are suppressed as rebellious, and even the mere +appetites are denied, starved, and insulted when they cannot +purchase their satisfaction with gold, are the energetic spirits +driven to build their lives upon riches. How inevitable that +course has become to us is plain enough to those who have the +power of understanding what they see as they look at the +plutocratic societies of our modern capitals. + +First Scene + +Here, then, is the subject of the first scene of The Rhine Gold. +As you sit waiting for the curtain to rise, you suddenly catch +the booming ground-tone of a mighty river. It becomes plainer, +clearer: you get nearer to the surface, and catch the green light +and the flights of bubbles. Then the curtain goes up and you see +what you heard--the depths of the Rhine, with three strange fairy +fishes, half water-maidens, singing and enjoying themselves +exuberantly. They are not singing barcarolles or ballads about +the Lorely and her fated lovers, but simply trolling any nonsense +that comes into their heads in time to the dancing of the water +and the rhythm of their swimming. It is the golden age; and the +attraction of this spot for the Rhine maidens is a lump of the +Rhine gold, which they value, in an entirely uncommercial way, +for its bodily beauty and splendor. Just at present it is +eclipsed, because the sun is not striking down through the +water. + +Presently there comes a poor devil of a dwarf stealing along the +slippery rocks of the river bed, a creature with energy enough to +make him strong of body and fierce of passion, but with a brutish +narrowness of intelligence and selfishness of imagination: too +stupid to see that his own welfare can only be compassed as part +of the welfare of the world, too full of brute force not to grab +vigorously at his own gain. Such dwarfs are quite common in +London. He comes now with a fruitful impulse in him, in search of +what he lacks in himself, beauty, lightness of heart, +imagination, music. The Rhine maidens, representing all these to +him, fill him with hope and longing; and he never considers that +he has nothing to offer that they could possibly desire, being +by natural limitation incapable of seeing anything from anyone +else's point of view. With perfect simplicity, he offers himself +as a sweetheart to them. But they are thoughtless, elemental, +only half real things, much like modern young ladies. That the +poor dwarf is repulsive to their sense of physical beauty and +their romantic conception of heroism, that he is ugly and +awkward, greedy and ridiculous, disposes for them of his claim to +live and love. They mock him atrociously, pretending to fall in +love with him at first sight, and then slipping away and making +game of him, heaping ridicule and disgust on the poor wretch +until he is beside himself with mortification and rage. They +forget him when the water begins to glitter in the sun, and the +gold to reflect its glory. They break into ecstatic worship of +their treasure; and though they know the parable of Klondyke +quite well, they have no fear that the gold will be wrenched away +by the dwarf, since it will yield to no one who has not forsworn +love for it, and it is in pursuit of love that he has come to +them. They forget that they have poisoned that desire in him by +their mockery and denial of it, and that he now knows that life +will give him nothing that he cannot wrest from it by the +Plutonic power. It is just as if some poor, rough, vulgar, coarse +fellow were to offer to take his part in aristocratic society, +and be snubbed into the knowledge that only as a millionaire +could he ever hope to bring that society to his feet and buy +himself a beautiful and refined wife. His choice is forced on +him. He forswears love as thousands of us forswear it every day; +and in a moment the gold is in his grasp, and he disappears in +the depths, leaving the water-fairies vainly screaming "Stop +thief!" whilst the river seems to plunge into darkness and sink +from us as we rise to the cloud regions above. + +And now, what forces are there in the world to resist Alberic, +our dwarf, in his new character of sworn plutocrat? He is soon at +work wielding the power of the gold. For his gain, hordes of his +fellow-creatures are thenceforth condemned to slave miserably, +overground and underground, lashed to their work by the invisible +whip of starvation. They never see him, any more than the victims +of our "dangerous trades" ever see the shareholders whose power +is nevertheless everywhere, driving them to destruction. The very +wealth they create with their labor becomes an additional force +to impoverish them; for as fast as they make it it slips from +their hands into the hands of their master, and makes him +mightier than ever. You can see the process for yourself in every +civilized country today, where millions of people toil in want +and disease to heap up more wealth for our Alberics, laying up +nothing for themselves, except sometimes horrible and agonizing +disease and the certainty of premature death. All this part of +the story is frightfully real, frightfully present, frightfully +modern; and its effects on our social life are so ghastly and +ruinous that we no longer know enough of happiness to be +discomposed by it. It is only the poet, with his vision of what +life might be, to whom these things are unendurable. If we were a +race of poets we would make an end of them before the end of this +miserable century. Being a race of moral dwarfs instead, we think +them highly respectable, comfortable and proper, and allow them +to breed and multiply their evil in all directions. If there were +no higher power in the world to work against Alberic, the end of +it would be utter destruction. + +Such a force there is, however; and it is called Godhead. The +mysterious thing we call life organizes itself into all living +shapes, bird, beast, beetle and fish, rising to the human marvel +in cunning dwarfs and in laborious muscular giants, capable, +these last, of enduring toil, willing to buy love and life, not +with suicidal curses and renunciations, but with patient manual +drudgery in the service of higher powers. And these higher powers +are called into existence by the same selforganization of life +still more wonderfully into rare persons who may by comparison be +called gods, creatures capable of thought, whose aims extend far +beyond the satisfaction of their bodily appetites and personal +affections, since they perceive that it is only by the +establishment of a social order founded on common bonds of moral +faith that the world can rise from mere savagery. But how is this +order to be set up by Godhead in a world of stupid giants, since +these thoughtless ones pursue only their narrower personal ends +and can by no means understand the aims of a god? Godhead, face +to face with Stupidity, must compromise. Unable to enforce on the +world the pure law of thought, it must resort to a mechanical law +of commandments to be enforced by brute punishments and the +destruction of the disobedient. And however carefully these laws +are framed to represent the highest thoughts of the framers at +the moment of their promulgation, before a day has elapsed that +thought has grown and widened by the ceaseless evolution of life; +and lo! yesterday's law already fallen out with today's thought. +Yet if the high givers of that law themselves set the example of +breaking it before it is a week old, they destroy all its +authority with their subjects, and so break the weapon they have +forged to rule them for their own good. They must therefore +maintain at all costs the sanctity of the law, even when it has +ceased to represent their thought; so that at last they get +entangled in a network of ordinances which they no longer believe +in, and yet have made so sacred by custom and so terrible by +punishment, that they cannot themselves escape from them. Thus +Godhead's resort to law finally costs it half its integrity--as +if a spiritual king, to gain temporal power, had plucked out one +of his eyes--and it finally begins secretly to long for the +advent of some power higher than itself which will destroy its +artificial empire of law, and establish a true republic of free +thought. + +This is by no means the only difficulty in the dominion of Law. +The brute force for its execution must be purchased; and the mass +of its subjects must be persuaded to respect the authority which +employs this force. But how is such respect to be implanted in +them if they are unable to comprehend the thought of the +lawgiver? Clearly, only by associating the legislative power with +such displays of splendor and majesty as will impress their +senses and awe their imaginations. The god turned lawgiver, in +short, must be crowned Pontiff and King. Since he cannot be known +to the common folk as their superior in wisdom, he must be known +to them as their superior in riches, as the dweller in castles, +the wearer of gold and purple, the eater of mighty feasts, the +commander of armies, and the wielder of powers of life and death, +of salvation and damnation after death. Something may be done in +this way without corruption whilst the golden age still endures. +Your gods may not prevail with the dwarfs; but they may go to +these honest giants who will give a day's work for a day's pay, +and induce them to build for Godhead a mighty fortress, complete +with hall and chapel, tower and bell, for the sake of the +homesteads that will grow up in security round that +church-castle. This only, however, whilst the golden age lasts. +The moment the Plutonic power is let loose, and the loveless +Alberic comes into the field with his corrupting millions, the +gods are face to face with destruction; since Alberic, able with +invisible hunger-whip to force the labor of the dwarfs and to buy +the services of the giants, can outshine all the temporal shows +and splendors of the golden age, and make himself master of the +world, unless the gods, with their bigger brains, can capture his +gold. This, the dilemma of the Church today, is the situation +created by the exploit of Alberic in the depths of the Rhine. + +Second Scene + +From the bed of the river we rise into cloudy regions, and +finally come out into the clear in a meadow, where Wotan, the god +of gods, and his consort Fricka lie sleeping. Wotan, you will +observe, has lost one eye; and you will presently learn that he +plucked it out voluntarily as the price to be paid for his +alliance with Fricka, who in return has brought to him as her +dowry all the powers of Law. The meadow is on the brink of a +ravine, beyond which, towering on distant heights, stands +Godhome, a mighty castle, newly built as a house of state for the +one-eyed god and his all-ruling wife. Wotan has not yet seen this +castle except in his dreams: two giants have just built it for +him whilst he slept; and the reality is before him for the first +time when Fricka wakes him. In that majestic burg he is to rule +with her and through her over the humble giants, who have eyes to +gape at the glorious castles their own hands have built from his +design, but no brains to design castles for themselves, or to +comprehend divinity. As a god, he is to be great, secure, and +mighty; but he is also to be passionless, affectionless, wholly +impartial; for Godhead, if it is to live with Law, must have no +weaknesses, no respect for persons. All such sweet littlenesses +must be left to the humble stupid giants to make their toil sweet +to them; and the god must, after all, pay for Olympian power the +same price the dwarf has paid for Plutonic power. + +Wotan has forgotten this in his dreams of greatness. Not so +Fricka. What she is thinking of is this price that Wotan has +consented to pay, in token whereof he has promised this day to +hand over to the giants Fricka's sister, the goddess Freia, with +her golden love-apples. When Fricka reproaches Wotan with having +selfishly forgotten this, she finds that he, like herself, is not +prepared to go through with his bargain, and that he is trusting +to another great worldforce, the Lie (a European Power, as +Lassalle said), to help him to trick the giants out of their +reward. But this force does not dwell in Wotan himself, but in +another, a god over whom he has triumphed, one Loki, the god of +Intellect, Argument, Imagination, Illusion, and Reason. Loki has +promised to deliver him from his contract, and to cheat the +giants for him; but he has not arrived to keep his word: indeed, +as Fricka bitterly points out, why should not the Lie fail Wotan, +since such failure is the very essence of him? + +The giants come soon enough; and Freia flies to Wotan for +protection against them. Their purposes are quite honest; and +they have no doubt of the god's faith. There stands their part of +the contract fulfilled, stone on stone, port and pinnacle all +faithfully finished from Wotan's design by their mighty labor. +They have come undoubtingly for their agreed wage. Then there +happens what is to them an incredible, inconceivable thing. The +god begins to shuffle. There are no moments in life more tragic +than those in which the humble common man, the manual worker, +leaving with implicit trust all high affairs to his betters, and +reverencing them wholly as worthy of that trust, even to the +extent of accepting as his rightful function the saving of them +from all roughening and coarsening drudgeries, first discovers +that they are corrupt, greedy, unjust and treacherous. The shock +drives a ray of prophetic light into one giant's mind, and gives +him a momentary eloquence. In that moment he rises above his +stupid gianthood, and earnestly warns the Son of Light that all +his power and eminence of priesthood, godhood, and kingship must +stand or fall with the unbearable cold greatness of the +incorruptible law-giver. But Wotan, whose assumed character of +law-giver is altogether false to his real passionate nature, +despises the rebuke; and the giant's ray of insight is lost in +the murk of his virtuous indignation. + +In the midst of the wrangle, Loki comes at last, excusing himself +for being late on the ground that he has been detained by a +matter of importance which he has promised to lay before Wotan. +When pressed to give his mind to the business immediately in +hand, and to extricate Wotan from his dilemma, he has nothing to +say except that the giants are evidently altogether in the right. +The castle has been duly built: he has tried every stone of it, +and found the work first-rate: there is nothing to be done but +pay the price agreed upon by handing over Freia to the giants. +The gods are furious; and Wotan passionately declares that he +only consented to the bargain on Loki's promise to find a way for +him out of it. But Loki says no: he has promised to find a way +out if any such way exist, but not to make a way if there is no +way. He has wandered over the whole earth in search of some +treasure great enough to buy Freia back from the giants; but in +all the world he has found nothing for which Man will give up +Woman. And this, by the way, reminds him of the matter he had +promised to lay before Wotan. The Rhine maidens have complained +to him of Alberic's theft of their gold; and he mentions it as a +curious exception to his universal law of the unpurchasable +preciousness of love, that this gold-robber has forsworn love for +the sake of the fabulous riches of the Plutonic empire and the +mastery of the world through its power. + +No sooner is the tale told than the giants stoop lower than the +dwarf. Alberic forswore love only when it was denied to him and +made the instrument for cruelly murdering his self-respect. But +the giants, with love within their reach, with Freia and her +golden apples in their hands, offer to give her up for the +treasure of Alberic. Observe, it is the treasure alone that they +desire. They have no fierce dreams of dominion over their +superiors, or of moulding the world to any conceptions of their +own. They are neither clever nor ambitious: they simply covet +money. Alberic's gold: that is their demand, or else Freia, as +agreed upon, whom they now carry off as hostage, leaving Wotan to +consider their ultimatum. + +Freia gone, the gods begin to wither and age: her golden apples, +which they so lightly bargained away, they now find to be a +matter of life and death to them; for not even the gods can live +on Law and Godhead alone, be their castles ever so splendid. Loki +alone is unaffected: the Lie, with all its cunning wonders, its +glistenings and shiftings and mirages, is a mere appearance: it +has no body and needs no food. What is Wotan to do? Loki sees the +answer clearly enough: he must bluntly rob Alberic. There is +nothing to prevent him except moral scruple; for Alberic, after +all, is a poor, dim, dwarfed, credulous creature whom a god can +outsee and a lie can outwit. Down, then, Wotan and Loki plunge +into the mine where Alberic's slaves are piling up wealth for him +under the invisible whip. + +Third Scene + +This gloomy place need not be a mine: it might just as well be a +match-factory, with yellow phosphorus, phossy jaw, a large +dividend, and plenty of clergymen shareholders. Or it might be a +whitelead factory, or a chemical works, or a pottery, or a +railway shunting yard, or a tailoring shop, or a little +gin-sodden laundry, or a bakehouse, or a big shop, or any other +of the places where human life and welfare are daily sacrificed +in order that some greedy foolish creature may be able to hymn +exultantly to his Platonic idol: + +Thou mak'st me eat whilst others starve, +And sing while others do lament: +Such untome Thy blessings are, +As if I were Thine only care. + +In the mine, which resounds with the clinking anvils of the +dwarfs toiling miserably to heap up treasure for their master, +Alberic has set his brother Mime--more familiarly, Mimmy--to make +him a helmet. Mimmy dimly sees that there is some magic in this +helmet, and tries to keep it; but Alberic wrests it from him, and +shows him, to his cost, that it is the veil of the invisible +whip, and that he who wears it can appear in what shape he will, +or disappear from view altogether. This helmet is a very common +article in our streets, where it generally takes the form of a +tall hat. It makes a man invisible as a shareholder, and changes +him into various shapes, such as a pious Christian, a subscriber +to hospitals, a benefactor of the poor, a model husband and +father, a shrewd, practical independent Englishman, and what not, +when he is really a pitiful parasite on the commonwealth, +consuming a great deal, and producing nothing, feeling nothing, +knowing nothing, believing nothing, and doing nothing except what +all the rest do, and that only because he is afraid not to do it, +or at least pretend to do it. + +When Wotan and Loki arrive, Loki claims Alberic as an old +acquaintance. But the dwarf has no faith in these civil +strangers: Greed instinctively mistrusts Intellect, even in the +garb of Poetry and the company of Godhead, whilst envying the +brilliancy of the one and the dignity of the other. Alberic +breaks out at them with a terrible boast of the power now within +his grasp. He paints for them the world as it will be when his +dominion over it is complete, when the soft airs and green mosses +of its valleys shall be changed into smoke, slag, and filth; when +slavery, disease, and squalor, soothed by drunkenness and +mastered by the policeman's baton, shall become the foundation of +society; and when nothing shall escape ruin except such pretty +places and pretty women as he may like to buy for the slaking of +his own lusts. In that kingdom of evil he sees that there will be +no power but his own. These gods, with their moralities and +legalities and intellectual subtlety, will go under and be +starved out of existence. He bids Wotan and Loki beware of it; +and his "Hab' Acht!" is hoarse, horrible, and sinister. Wotan +is revolted to the very depths of his being: he cannot stifle the +execration that bursts from him. But Loki is unaffected: he has +no moral passion: indignation is as absurd to him as enthusiasm. +He finds it exquisitely amusing--having a touch of the comic +spirit in him--that the dwarf, in stirring up the moral fervor of +Wotan, has removed his last moral scruple about becoming a thief. +Wotan will now rob the dwarf without remorse; for is it not +positively his highest duty to take this power out of such evil +hands and use it himself in the interests of Godhead? On the +loftiest moral grounds, he lets Loki do his worst. + +A little cunningly disguised flattery makes short work of +Alberic. Loki pretends to be afraid of him; and he swallows that +bait unhesitatingly. But how, enquires Loki, is he to guard +against the hatred of his million slaves? Will they not steal +from him, whilst he sleeps, the magic ring, the symbol of his +power, which he has forged from the gold of the Rhine? "You think +yourself very clever," sneers Alberic, and then begins to boast +of the enchantments of the magic helmet. Loki refuses to believe +in such marvels without witnessing them. Alberic, only too glad +to show off his powers, puts on the helmet and transforms himself +into a monstrous serpent. Loki gratifies him by pretending to be +frightened out of his wits, but ventures to remark that it would +be better still if the helmet could transform its owner into some +tiny creature that could hide and spy in the smallest cranny. +Alberic promptly transforms himself into a toad. In an instant +Wotan's foot is on him; Loki tears away the helmet; they pinion +him, and drag him away a prisoner up through the earth to the +meadow by the castle. + +Fourth Scene + +There, to pay for his freedom, he has to summon his slaves from +the depths to place all the treasure they have heaped up for him +at the feet of Wotan. Then he demands his liberty; but Wotan must +have the ring as well. And here the dwarf, like the giant before +him, feels the very foundations of the world shake beneath him at +the discovery of his own base cupidity in a higher power. That +evil should, in its loveless desperation, create malign powers +which Godhead could not create, seems but natural justice to him. +But that Godhead should steal those malign powers from evil, and +wield them itself, is a monstrous perversion; and his appeal to +Wotan to forego it is almost terrible in its conviction of wrong. +It is of no avail. Wotan falls back again on virtuous +indignation. He reminds Alberic that he stole the gold from the +Rhine maidens, and takes the attitude of the just judge +compelling a restitution of stolen goods. Alberic knowing +perfectly well that the judge is taking the goods to put them m +his own pocket, has the ring torn from his finger, and is once +more as poor as he was when he came slipping and stumbling among +the slimy rocks in the bed of the Rhine. + +This is the way of the world. In older times, when the Christian +laborer was drained dry by the knightly spendthrift, and the +spendthrift was drained by the Jewish usurer, Church and State, +religion and law, seized on the Jew and drained him as a +Christian duty. When the forces of lovelessness and greed had +built up our own sordid capitalist systems, driven by invisible +proprietorship, robbing the poor, defacing the earth, and forcing +themselves as a universal curse even on the generous and humane, +then religion and law and intellect, which would never themselves +have discovered such systems, their natural bent being towards +welfare, economy, and life instead of towards corruption, waste, +and death, nevertheless did not scruple to seize by fraud and +force these powers of evil on presence of using them for good. +And it inevitably happens that when the Church, the Law, and all +the Talents have made common cause to rob the people, the Church +is far more vitally harmed by that unfaithfulness to itself than +its more mechanical confederates; so that finally they turn on +their discredited ally and rob the Church, with the cheerful +co-operation of Loki, as in France and Italy for instance. + +The twin giants come back with their hostage, in whose presence +Godhead blooms again. The gold is ready for them; but now that +the moment has come for parting with Freia the gold +does not seem so tempting; and they are sorely loth to let her +go. Not unless there is gold enough to utterly hide her from +them--not until the heap has grown so that they can see nothing +but gold--until money has come between them and every human +feeling, will they part with her. There is not gold enough to +accomplish this: however cunningly Loki spreads it, the glint of +Freia's hair is still visible to Giant Fafnir, and the magic +helmet must go on the heap to shut it out. Even then Fafnir's +brother, Fasolt, can catch a beam from her eye through a chink, +and is rendered incapable thereby of forswearing her. There is +nothing to stop that chink but the ring; and Wotan is as greedily +bent on keeping that as Alberic himself was; nor can the other +gods persuade him that Freia is worth it, since for the highest +god, love is not the highest good, but only the universal delight +that bribes all living things to travail with renewed life. Life +itself, with its accomplished marvels and its infinite +potentialities, is the only force that Godhead can worship. Wotan +does not yield until he is reached by the voice of the fruitful +earth that before he or the dwarfs or the giants or the Law or +the Lie or any of these things were, had the seed of them all in +her bosom, and the seed perhaps of something higher even than +himself, that shall one day supersede him and cut the tangles and +alliances and compromises that already have cost him one of his +eyes. When Erda, the First Mother of life, rises from her +sleeping-place in the heart of the earth, and warns him to yield +the ring, he obeys her; the ring is added to the heap of gold; +and all sense of Freia is cut off from the giants. + +But now what Law is left to these two poor stupid laborers +whereby one shall yield to the other any of the treasure for +which they have each paid the whole price in surrendering Freia? +They look by mere habit to the god to judge for them; but he, +with his heart stirring towards higher forces than himself, turns +with disgust from these lower forces. They settle it as two +wolves might; and Fafnir batters his brother dead with his staff. +It is a horrible thing to see and hear, to anyone who knows how +much blood has been shed in the world in just that way by its +brutalized toilers, honest fellows enough until their betters +betrayed them. Fafnir goes off with his booty. It is quite +useless to him. He has neither the cunning nor the ambition to +establish the Plutonic empire with it. Merely to prevent others +from getting it is the only purpose it brings him. He piles it in +a cave; transforms himself into a dragon by the helmet; and +devotes his life to guarding it, as much a slave to it as a +jailor is to his prisoner. He had much better have thrown it all +back into the Rhine and transformed himself into the +shortest-lived animal that enjoys at least a brief run in the +sunshine. His case, however, is far too common to be surprising. +The world is overstocked with persons who sacrifice all their +affections, and madly trample and batter down their fellows to +obtain riches of which, when they get them, they are unable to +make the smallest use, and to which they become the most +miserable slaves. + +The gods soon forget Fafnir in their rejoicing over Freia. +Donner, the Thunder god, springs to a rocky summit and calls the +clouds as a shepherd calls his flocks. They come at his summons; +and he and the castle are hidden by their black legions. Froh, +the Rainbow god, hastens to his side. At the stroke of Donner's +hammer the black murk is riven in all directions by darting +ribbons of lightning; and as the air clears, the castle is seen m +its fullest splendor, accessible now by the rainbow bridge which +Froh has cast across the ravine. In the glory of this moment +Wotan has a great thought. With all his aspirations to establish +a reign of noble thought, of righteousness, order, and justice, +he has found that day that there is no race yet in the world that +quite spontaneously, naturally, and unconsciously realizes his +ideal. He himself has found how far short Godhead falls of the +thing it conceives. He, the greatest of gods, has been unable to +control his fate: he has been forced against his will to choose +between evils, to make disgraceful bargains, to break them still +more disgracefully, and even then to see the price of his +disgrace slip through his fingers. His consort has cost him half +his vision; his castle has cost him his affections; and the +attempt to retain both has cost him his honor. On every side he +is shackled and bound, dependent on the laws of Fricka and on the +lies of Loki, forced to traffic with dwarfs for handicraft and +with giants for strength, and to pay them both in false coin. +After all, a god is a pitiful thing. But the fertility of the +First Mother is not yet exhausted. The life that came from her +has ever climbed up to a higher and higher organization. From +toad and serpent to dwarf, from bear and elephant to giant, from +dwarf and giant to a god with thoughts, with comprehension of the +world, with ideals. Why should it stop there? Why should it not +rise from the god to the Hero? to the creature in whom the god's +unavailing thought shall have become effective will and life, who +shall make his way straight to truth and reality over the laws of +Fricka and the lies of Loki with a strength that overcomes giants +and a cunning that outwits dwarfs? Yes: Erda, the First Mother, +must travail again, and breed him a race of heroes to deliver the +world and himself from his limited powers and disgraceful +bargains. This is the vision that flashes on him as he turns to +the rainbow bridge and calls his wife to come and dwell with him +in Valhalla, the home of the gods. + +They are all overcome with Valhalla's glory except Loki. He is +behind the scenes of this joint reign of the Divine and the +Legal. He despises these gods with their ideals and their golden +apples. "I am ashamed," he says, "to have dealings with these +futile creatures." And so he follows them to the rainbow bridge. +But as they set foot on it, from the river below rises the +wailing of the Rhine maidens for their lost gold. "You down there +in the water," cries Loki with brutal irony: "you used to bask in +the glitter of your gold: henceforth you shall bask in the +splendor of the gods." And they reply that the truth is in the +depths and the darkness, and that what blazes on high there is +falsehood. And with that the gods pass into their glorious +stronghold. + + + +WAGNER AS REVOLUTIONIST + +Before leaving this explanation of The Rhine Gold, I must have a +word or two about it with the reader. It is the least popular of +the sections of The Ring. The reason is that its dramatic moments +lie quite outside the consciousness of people whose joys and +sorrows are all domestic and personal, and whose religions and +political ideas are purely conventional and superstitious. To +them it is a struggle between half a dozen fairytale personages +for a ring, involving hours of scolding and cheating, and one +long scene in a dark gruesome mine, with gloomy, ugly music, and +not a glimpse of a handsome young man or pretty woman. Only those +of wider consciousness can follow it breathlessly, seeing in it +the whole tragedy of human history and the whole horror of the +dilemmas from which the world is shrinking today. At Bayreuth I +have seen a party of English tourists, after enduring agonies of +boredom from Alberic, rise in the middle of the third scene, and +almost force their way out of the dark theatre into the sunlit +pine-wood without. And I have seen people who were deeply +affected by the scene driven almost beside themselves by this +disturbance. But it was a very natural thing for the unfortunate +tourists to do, since in this Rhine Gold prologue there is no +interval between the acts for escape. Roughly speaking, people +who have no general ideas, no touch of the concern of the +philosopher and statesman for the race, cannot enjoy The Rhine +Gold as a drama. They may find compensations in some exceedingly +pretty music, at times even grand and glorious, which will enable +them to escape occasionally from the struggle between Alberic and +Wotan; but if their capacity for music should be as limited as +their comprehension of the world, they had better stay away. + +And now, attentive Reader, we have reached the point at which +some foolish person is sure to interrupt us by declaring that The +Rhine Gold is what they call "a work of art" pure and simple, and +that Wagner never dreamt of shareholders, tall hats, whitelead +factories, and industrial and political questions looked at from +the socialistic and humanitarian points of view. We need not +discuss these impertinences: it is easier to silence them with +the facts of Wagner's life. In 1843 he obtained the position of +conductor of the Opera at Dresden at a salary of L225 a year, +with a pension. This was a first-rate permanent appointment in +the service of the Saxon State, carrying an assured professional +position and livelihood with it In 1848, the year of revolutions, +the discontented middle class, unable to rouse the +Churchand-State governments of the day from their bondage to +custom, caste, and law by appeals to morality or constitutional +agitation for Liberal reforms, made common cause with the +starving wage-working class, and resorted to armed rebellion, +which reached Dresden in 1849. Had Wagner been the mere musical +epicure and political mugwump that the term "artist" seems to +suggest to so many critics and amateurs--that is, a creature in +their own lazy likeness--he need have taken no more part in the +political struggles of his day than Bishop took in the English +Reform agitation of 1832, or Sterndale Bennett in the Chartist or +Free Trade movements. What he did do was first to make a +desperate appeal to the King to cast off his bonds and answer the +need of the time by taking true Kingship on himself and leading +his people to the redress of their intolerable wrongs (fancy the +poor monarch's feelings!), and then, when the crash came, to take +his side with the right and the poor against the rich and the +wrong. When the insurrection was defeated, three leaders of it +were especially marked down for vengeance: August Roeckel, an old +friend of Wagner's to whom he wrote a well-known series of +letters; Michael Bakoonin, afterwards a famous apostle of +revolutionary Anarchism; and Wagner himself. Wagner escaped to +Switzerland: Roeckel and Bakoonin suffered long terms of +imprisonment. Wagner was of course utterly ruined, pecuniarily +and socially (to his own intense relief and satisfaction); and +his exile lasted twelve years. His first idea was to get his +Tannhauser produced in Paris. With the notion of explaining +himself to the Parisians he wrote a pamphlet entitled Art and +Revolution, a glance through which will show how thoroughly the +socialistic side of the revolution had his sympathy, and how +completely he had got free from the influence of the established +Churches of his day. For three years he kept pouring forth +pamphlets--some of them elaborate treatises in size and +intellectual rank, but still essentially the pamphlets and +manifestoes of a born agitator--on social evolution, religion, +life, art and the influence of riches. In 1853 the poem of The +Ring was privately printed; and in 1854, five years after the +Dresden insurrection, The Rhine Gold score was completed to the +last drum tap. + +These facts are on official record in Germany, where the +proclamation summing up Wagner as "a politically dangerous +person" may be consulted to this day. The pamphlets are now +accessible to English readers in the translation of Mr. Ashton +Ellis. This being so, any person who, having perhaps heard that I +am a Socialist, attempts to persuade you that my interpretation +of The Rhine Gold is only "my socialism" read into the works of a +dilettantist who borrowed an idle tale from an old saga to make +an opera book with, may safely be dismissed from your +consideration as an ignoramus. + +If you are now satisfied that The Rhine Gold is an allegory, do +not forget that an allegory is never quite consistent except when +it is written by someone without dramatic faculty, in which case +it is unreadable. There is only one way of dramatizing an idea; +and that is by puttmg on the stage a human being possessed +by that idea, yet none the less a human being with all the human +impulses which make him akin and therefore interesting to us. +Bunyan, in his Pilgrim's Progress, does not, like his unread +imitators, attempt to personify Christianity and Valour: he +dramatizes for you the life of the Christian and the Valiant Man. +Just so, though I have shown that Wotan is Godhead and Kingship, +and Loki Logic and Imagination without living Will (Brain without +Heart, to put it vulgarly); yet in the drama Wotan is a +religiously moral man, and Loki a witty, ingenious, imaginative +and cynical one. As to Fricka, who stands for State Law, she does +not assume her allegorical character in The Rhine Gold at all, +but is simply Wotan's wife and Freia's sister: nay, she +contradicts her allegorical self by conniving at all Wotan's +rogueries. That, of course, is just what State Law would do; but +we must not save the credit of the allegory by a quip. Not until +she reappears in the next play (The Valkyries) does her function +in the allegorical scheme become plain. + +One preconception will bewilder the spectator hopelessly unless +he has been warned against it or is naturally free from it. In +the old-fashioned orders of creation, the supernatural personages +are invariably conceived as greater than man, for good or evil. +In the modern humanitarian order as adopted by Wagner, Man is the +highest. In The Rhine Gold, it is pretended that there are as yet +no men on the earth. There are dwarfs, giants, and gods. The +danger is that you will jump to the conclusion that the gods, at +least, are a higher order than the human order. On the contrary, +the world is waiting for Man to redeem it from the lame and +cramped government of the gods. Once grasp that; and the allegory +becomes simple enough. Really, of course, the dwarfs, giants, and +gods are dramatizations of the three main orders of men: to wit, +the instinctive, predatory, lustful, greedy people; the patient, +toiling, stupid, respectful, money-worshipping people; and the +intellectual, moral, talented people who devise and administer +States and Churches. History shows us only one order higher than +the highest of these: namely, the order of Heroes. + +Now it is quite clear--though you have perhaps never thought of +it--that if the next generation of Englishmen consisted wholly of +Julius Caesars, all our political, ecclesiastical, and moral +institutions would vanish, and the less perishable of their +appurtenances be classed with Stonehenge and the cromlechs and +round towers as inexplicable relics of a bygone social order. +Julius Caesars would no more trouble themselves about such +contrivances as our codes and churches than a fellow of the Royal +Society will touch his hat to the squire and listen to the +village curate's sermons. This is precisely what must happen some +day if life continues thrusting towards higher and higher +organization as it has hitherto done. As most of our English +professional men are to Australian bushmen, so, we must suppose, +will the average man of some future day be to Julius Caesar. Let +any man of middle age, pondering this prospect consider what has +happened within a single generation to the articles of faith his +father regarded as eternal nay, to the very scepticisms and +blasphemies of his youth (Bishop Colenso's criticism of the +Pentateuch, for example!); and he will begin to realize how much +of our barbarous Theology and Law the man of the future will do +without. Bakoonin, the Dresden revolutionary leader with whom +Wagner went out in 1849, put forward later on a program, often +quoted with foolish horror, for the abolition of all +institutions, religious, political, juridical, financial, legal, +academic, and so on, so as to leave the will of man free to find +its own way. All the loftiest spirits of that time were burning +to raise Man up, to give him self-respect, to shake him out of +his habit of grovelling before the ideals created by his own +imagination, of attributmg the good that sprang from the +ceaseless energy of the life within himself to some superior +power in the clouds, and of making a fetish of self-sacrifice to +justify his own cowardice. + +Farther on in The Ring we shall see the Hero arrive and make an +end of dwarfs, giants, and gods. Meanwhile, let us not forget +that godhood means to Wagner infirmity and compromise, and +manhood strength and integrity. Above all, we must understand-- +for it is the key to much that we are to see--that the god, since +his desire is toward a higher and fuller life, must long in his +inmost soul for the advent of that greater power whose first +work, though this he does not see as yet, must be his own +undoing. + +In the midst of all these far-reaching ideas, it is amusing to +find Wagner still full of his ingrained theatrical +professionalism, and introducing effects which now seem +old-fashioned and stagey with as much energy and earnestness as +if they were his loftiest inspirations. When Wotan wrests the +ring from Alberic, the dwarf delivers a lurid and bloodcurdling +stage curse, calling down on its every future possessor care, +fear, and death. The musical phrase accompanying this outburst +was a veritable harmonic and melodic bogey to mid-century ears, +though time has now robbed it of its terrors. It sounds again +when Fafnir slays Fasolt, and on every subsequent occasion when +the ring brings death to its holder. This episode must justify +itself purely as a piece of stage sensationalism. On deeper +ground it is superfluous and confusing, as the ruin to which the +pursuit of riches leads needs no curse to explain it; nor is +there any sense in investing Alberic with providential powers in +the matter. + + + +THE VALKYRIES + +Before the curtain rises on the Valkyries, let us see what has +happened since it fell on The Rhine Gold. The persons of the +drama will tell us presently; but as we probably do not +understand German, that may not help us. + +Wotan is still ruling the world in glory from his giantbuilt +castle with his wife Fricka. But he has no security for the +continuance of his reign, since Alberic may at any moment +contrive to recover the ring, the full power of which he can +wield because he has forsworn love. Such forswearing is not +possible to Wotan: love, though not his highest need, is a higher +than gold: otherwise he would be no god. Besides, as we have +seen, his power has been established in the world by and as a +system of laws enforced by penalties. These he must consent to be +bound by himself; for a god who broke his own laws would betray +the fact that legality and conformity are not the highest rule of +conduct--a discovery fatal to his supremacy as Pontiff and +Lawgiver. Hence "he may not wrest the ring unlawfully from +Fafnir, even if he could bring himself to forswear love. + +In this insecurity he has hit on the idea of forming a heroic +bodyguard. He has trained his love children as war-maidens +(Valkyries) whose duty it is to sweep through battle-fields and +bear away to Valhalla the souls of the bravest who fall there. +Thus reinforced by a host of warriors, he has thoroughly +indoctrinated them, Loki helping him as dialectician-in-chief, +with the conventional system of law and duty, supernatural +religion and self-sacrificing idealism, which they believe to be +the essence of his godhood, but which is really only the +machinery of the love of necessary power which is his mortal +weakness. This process secures their fanatical devotion to his +system of government, but he knows perfectly well that such +systems, in spite of their moral pretensions, serve selfish and +ambitious tyrants better than benevolent despots, and that, if +once Alberic gets the ring back, he will easily out-Valhalla +Valhalla, if not buy it over as a going concern. The only chance +of permanent security, then, is the appearance in the world of a +hero who, without any illicit prompting from Wotan, will destroy +Alberic and wrest the ring from Fafnir. There will then, he +believes, be no further cause for anxiety, since he does not yet +conceive Heroism as a force hostile to Godhead. In his longing +for a rescuer, it does not occur to him that when the Hero comes, +his first exploit must be to sweep the gods and their ordinances +from the path of the heroic will. + +Indeed, he feels that in his own Godhead is the germ of such +Heroism, and that from himself the Hero must spring. He takes to +wandering, mostly in search of love, from Fricka and Valhalla. He +seeks the First Mother; and through her womb, eternally fertile, +the inner true thought that made him first a god is reborn as his +daughter, uncorrupted by his ambition, unfettered by his +machinery of power and his alliances with Fricka and Loki. This +daughter, the Valkyrie Brynhild, is his true will, his real +self, (as he thinks): to her he may say what he must not say to +anyone, since in speaking to her he but speaks to himself. "Was +Keinem in Worten unausgesprochen," he says to her, "bleib es +ewig: mit mir nur rath' ich, red' ich zu dir." + +But from Brynhild no hero can spring until there is a man of +Wotan's race to breed with her. Wotan wanders further; and a +mortal woman bears him twins: a son and a daughter. He separates +them by letting the girl fall into the hands of a forest tribe +which in due time gives her as a wife to a fierce chief, one +Hunding. With the son he himself leads the life of a wolf, and +teaches him the only power a god can teach, the power of doing +without happiness. When he has given him this terrible training, +he abandons him, and goes to the bridal feast of his daughter +Sieglinda and Hunding. In the blue cloak of the wanderer, wearing +the broad hat that flaps over the socket of his forfeited eye, he +appears in Hunding's house, the middle pillar of which is a +mighty tree. Into that tree, without a word, he strikes a sword +up to the hilt, so that only the might of a hero can withdraw +it. Then he goes out as silently as he came, blind to the truth +that no weapon from the armory of Godhead can serve the turn of +the true Human Hero. Neither Hunding nor any of his guests can +move the sword; and there it stays awaiting the destined hand. +That is the history of the generations between The Rhine Gold and +The Valkyries. + +The First Act + +This time, as we sit looking expectantly at the curtain, we hear, +not the deep booming of the Rhine, but the patter of a forest +downpour, accompanied by the mutter of a storm which soon gathers +into a roar and culminates in crashing thunderbolts. As it +passes off, the curtain rises; and there is no mistaking whose +forest habitation we are in; for the central pillar is a mighty +tree, and the place fit for the dwelling of a fierce chief. The +door opens: and an exhausted man reels in: an adept from the +school of unhappiness. Sieglinda finds him lying on the hearth. +He explains that he has been in a fight; that his weapons not +being as strong as his arms, were broken; and that he had to fly. +He desires some drink and a moment's rest; then he will go; for +he is an unlucky person, and does not want to bring his ill-luck +on the woman who is succoring him. But she, it appears, is also +unhappy; and a strong sympathy springs up between them. When her +husband arrives, he observes not only this sympathy, but a +resemblance between them, a gleam of the snake in their eyes. +They sit down to table; and the stranger tells them his unlucky +story. He is the son of Wotan, who is known to him only as +Wolfing, of the race of the Volsungs. The earliest thing he +remembers is returning from a hunt with his father to find their +home destroyed, his mother murdered, and his twin-sister carried +off. This was the work of a tribe called the Neidings, upon whom +he and Wolfing thenceforth waged implacable war until the day +when his father disappeared, leaving no trace of himself but an +empty wolfskin. The young Volsung was thus cast alone upon the +world, finding most hands against him, and bringing no good luck +even to his friends. His latest exploit has been the slaying of +certain brothers who were forcing their sister to wed against her +will. The result has been the slaughter of the woman by her +brothers' clansmen, and his own narrow escape by flight. + +His luck on this occasion is even worse than he supposes; for +Hunding, by whose hearth he has taken refuge, is clansman to the +slain brothers and is bound to avenge them. He tells the Volsung +that in the morning, weapons or no weapons, he must fight for his +life. Then he orders the woman to bed, and follows her himself, +taking his spear with him. + +The unlucky stranger, left brooding by the hearth, has nothing to +console himself with but an old promise of his father's that he +shall find a weapon to his hand when he most needs one. The last +flicker of the dying fire strikes on the golden hilt of the sword +that sticks in the tree; but he does not see it; and the embers +sink into blackness. Then the woman returns. Hunding is safely +asleep: she has drugged him. She tells the story of the one-eyed +man who appeared at her forced marriage, and of the sword. She +has always felt, she says, that her miseries will end in the arms +of the hero who shall succeed in drawing it forth. The stranger, +diffident as he is about his luck, has no misgivings as to his +strength and destiny. He gives her his affection at once, and +abandons himself to the charm of the night and the season; for it +is the beginning of Spring. They soon learn from their +confidences that she is his stolen twin-sister. He is transported +to find that the heroic race of the Volsungs need neither perish +nor be corrupted by a lower strain. Hailing the sword by the name +of Nothung (or Needed), he plucks it from the tree as her +bride-gift, and then, crying "Both bride and sister be of thy +brother; and blossom the blood of the Volsungs!" clasps her as +the mate the Spring has brought him. + +The Second Act + +So far, Wotan's plan seems prospering. In the mountains he calls +his war-maiden Brynhild, the child borne to him by the First +Mother, and bids her see to it that Hunding shall fall in the +approaching combat. But he is reckoning without his consort, +Fricka. What will she, the Law, say to the lawless pair who have +heaped incest on adultery? A hero may have defied the law, and +put his own will in its place; but can a god hold him guiltless, +when the whole power of the gods can enforce itself only by law? +Fricka, shuddering with horror, outraged in every instinct, comes +clamoring for punishment. Wotan pleads the general necessity of +encouraging heroism in order to keep up the Valhalla bodyguard; +but his remonstrances only bring upon him torrents of reproaches +for his own unfaithfulness to the law in roaming through the +world and begetting war-maidens, "wolf cubs," and the like. He is +hopelessly beaten in the argument. Fricka is absolutely right +when she declares that the ending of the gods began when he +brought this wolf-hero into the world; and now, to save their +very existence, she pitilessly demands his destruction. Wotan has +no power to refuse: it is Fricka's mechanical force, and not his +thought, that really rules the world. He has to recall Brynhild; +take back his former instructions; and ordain that Hunding shall +slay the Volsung. + +But now comes another difficulty. Brynhild is the inner thought +and will of Godhead, the aspiration from the high life to the +higher that is its divine element, and only becomes separated +from it when its resort to kingship and priestcraft for the sake +of temporal power has made it false to itself. Hitherto, +Brynhild, as Valkyrie or hero chooser, has obeyed Wotan +implicitly, taking her work as the holiest and bravest in his +kingdom; and now he tells her what he could not tell Fricka--what +indeed he could not tell to Brynhild, were she not, as she says, +his own will--the whole story of Alberic and of that inspiration +about the raising up of a hero. She thoroughly approves of the +inspiration; but when the story ends in the assumption that she +too must obey Fricka, and help Fricka's vassal, Hunding, to undo +the great work and strike the hero down, she for the first time +hesitates to accept his command. In his fury and despair he +overawes her by the most terrible threats of his anger; and she +submits. + +Then comes the Volsung Siegmund, following his sister bride, who +has fled into the mountains in a revulsion of horror at having +allowed herself to bring her hero to shame. Whilst she is lying +exhausted and senseless in his arms, Brynhild appears to him and +solemnly warns him that he must presently leave the earth with +her. He asks whither he must follow her. To Valhalla, to take his +place there among the heroes. He asks, shall he find his father +there? Yes. Shall he find a wife there? Yes: he will be waited on +by beautiful wishmaidens. Shall he meet his sister there? No. +Then, says Siegmund, I will not come with you. + +She tries to make him understand that he cannot help himself. +Being a hero, he will not be so persuaded: he has his father's +sword, and does not fear Hunding. But when she tells him that she +comes from his father, and that the sword of a god will not avail +in the hands of a hero, he accepts his fate, but will shape it +with his own hand, both for himself and his sister, by slaying +her, and then killing himself with the last stroke of the sword. +And thereafter he will go to Hell, rather than to Valhalla. + +How now can Brynhild, being what she is, choose her side freely +in a conflict between this hero and the vassal of Fricka? By +instinct she at once throws Wotan's command to the winds, and +bids Siegmund nerve himself for the combat with Hunding, in which +she pledges him the protection of her shield. The horn of Hunding +is soon heard; and Siegmund's spirits rise to fighting pitch at +once. The two meet; and the Valkyrie's shield is held before the +hero. But when he delivers his sword-stroke at his foe, the +weapon shivers on the spear of Wotan, who suddenly appears +between them; and the first of the race of heroes falls with the +weapon of the Law's vassal through his breast. Brynhild snatches +the fragments of the broken sword, and flies, carrying off the +woman with her on her war-horse; and Wotan, in terrible wrath, +slays Hunding with a wave of his hand, and starts in pursuit of +his disobedient daughter. + +The Third Act + +On a rocky peak, four of the Valkyries are waiting for the rest. +The absent ones soon arrive, galloping through the air with slain +heroes, gathered from the battle-field, hanging over their +saddles. Only, Brynhild, who comes last, has for her spoil a live +woman. When her eight sisters learn that she has defied Wotan, +they dare not help her; and Brynhild has to rouse Sieglinda to +make an effort to save herself, by reminding her that she bears +in her the seed of a hero, and must face everything, endure +anything, sooner than let that seed miscarry. Sieglinda, in a +transport of exaltation, takes the fragments of the sword and +flies into the forest. Then Wotan comes; the sisters fly in +terror at his command; and he is left alone with Brynhild. + +Here, then, we have the first of the inevitable moments which +Wotan did not foresee. Godhead has now established its dominion +over the world by a mighty Church, compelling obedience through +its ally the Law, with its formidable State organization of force +of arms and cunning of brain. It has submitted to this alliance +to keep the Plutonic power in check--built it up primarily for +the sake of that soul in itself which cares only to make the +highest better and the best higher; and now here is that very +soul separated from it and working for the destruction of its +indispensable ally, the lawgiving State. How is the rebel to be +disarmed? Slain it cannot be by Godhead, since it is still +Godhead's own very dearest soul. But hidden, stifled, silenced it +must be; or it will wreck the State and leave the Church +defenseless. Not until it passes completely away from Godhead, +and is reborn as the soul of the hero, can it work anything but +the confusion and destruction of the existing order. How is the +world to be protected against it in the meantime? Clearly Loki's +help is needed here: it is the Lie that must, on the highest +principles, hide the Truth. Let Loki surround this mountain top +with the appearance of a consuming fire; and who will dare +penetrate to Brynhild? It is true that if any man will walk +boldly into that fire, he will discover it at once to be a lie, +an illusion, a mirage through which he might carry a sack of +gunpowder without being a penny the worse. Therefore let the fire +seem so terrible that only the hero, when in the fulness of time +he appears upon earth, will venture through it; and the problem +is solved. Wotan, with a breaking heart, takes leave of Brynhild; +throws her into a deep sleep; covers her with her long warshield; +summons Loki, who comes in the shape of a wall of fire +surrounding the mountain peak; and turns his back on Brynhild for +ever. + +The allegory here is happily not so glaringly obvious to the +younger generations of our educated classes as it was forty years +ago. In those days, any child who expressed a doubt as to the +absolute truth of the Church's teaching, even to the extent of +asking why Joshua told the sun to stand still instead of telling +the earth to cease turning, or of pointing out that a whale's +throat would hardly have been large enough to swallow Jonah, was +unhesitatingly told that if it harboured such doubts it would +spend all eternity after its death in horrible torments in a lake +of burning brimstone. It is difficult to write or read this +nowadays without laughing; yet no doubt millions of ignorant and +credulous people are still teaching their children that. When +Wagner himself was a little child, the fact that hell was a +fiction devised for the intimidation and subjection of the +masses, was a well-kept secret of the thinking and governing +classes. At that time the fires of Loki were a very real terror +to all except persons of exceptional force of character and +intrepidity of thought. Even thirty years after Wagner had +printed the verses of The Ring for private circulation, we find +him excusing himself from perfectly explicit denial of current +superstitions, by reminding his readers that it would expose him +to prosecution. In England, so many of our respectable voters are +still grovelling in a gloomy devil worship, of which the fires of +Loki are the main bulwark, that no Government has yet had the +conscience or the courage to repeal our monstrous laws against +"blasphemy." + + + +SIEGFRIED + +Sieglinda, when she flies into the forest with the hero's son +unborn in her womb, and the broken pieces of his sword in her +hand, finds shelter in the smithy of a dwarf, where she brings +forth her child and dies. This dwarf is no other than Mimmy, the +brother of Alberic, the same who made for him the magic helmet. +His aim in life is to gain possession of the helmet, the ring, +and the treasure, and through them to obtain that Plutonic +mastery of the world under the beginnings of which he himself +writhed during Alberic's brief reign. Mimmy is a blinking, +shambling, ancient creature, too weak and timid to dream of +taking arms himself to despoil Fafnir, who still, transformed to +a monstrous serpent, broods on the gold in a hole in the rocks. +Mimmy needs the help of a hero for that; and he has craft enough +to know that it is quite possible, and indeed much in the +ordinary way of the world, for senile avarice and craft to set +youth and bravery to work to win empire for it. He knows the +pedigree of the child left on his hands, and nurses it to manhood +with great care. + +His pains are too well rewarded for his comfort. The boy +Siegfried, having no god to instruct him in the art of +unhappiness, inherits none of his father's ill luck, and all his +father's hardihood. The fear against which Siegmund set his face +like flint, and the woe which he wore down, are unknown to the +son. The father was faithful and grateful: the son knows no law +but his own humor; detests the ugly dwarf ho has nursed him; +chafes furiously under his claims some return for his tender +care; and is, in short, a totally unmoral person, a born +anarchist, the ideal of Bakoonin, an anticipation of the +"overman" of Nietzsche. He is enormously strong, full of life and +fun, dangerous and destructive to what he dislikes, and +affectionate to what he likes; so that it is fortunate that his +likes and dislikes are sane and healthy. Altogether an +inspiriting young forester, a son of the morning, in whom the +heroic race has come out into the sunshine from the clouds of his +grandfather's majestic entanglements with law, and the night of +his father's tragic struggle with it. + +The First Act + +Mimmy's smithy is a cave, in which he hides from the light like +the eyeless fish of the American caverns. Before the curtain +rises the music already tells us that we are groping in darkness. +When it does rise Mimmy is in difficulties. He is trying to make +a sword for his nursling, who is now big enough to take the field +against Fafnir. Mimmy can make mischievous swords; but it is not +with dwarf made weapons that heroic man will hew the way of his +own will through religions and governments and plutocracies and +all the other devices of the kingdom of the fears of the +unheroic. As fast as Mimmy makes swords, Siegfried Bakoonin +smashes them, and then takes the poor old swordsmith by the +scruff of the neck and chastises him wrathfully. The particular +day on which the curtain rises begins with one of these trying +domestic incidents. Mimmy has just done his best with a new sword +of surpassing excellence. Siegfried returns home in rare spirits +with a wild bear, to the extreme terror of the wretched dwarf. +When the bear is dismissed, the new sword is produced. It is +promptly smashed, as usual, with, also, the usual effects on the +temper of Siegfried, who is quite boundless in his criticisms of +the smith's boasted skill, and declares that he would smash the +sword's maker too if he were not too disgusting to be handled. + +Mimmy falls back on his stock defence: a string of maudlin +reminders of the care with which he has nursed the little boy +into manhood. Siegfried replies candidly that the strangest thing +about all this care is that instead of making him grateful, it +inspires him with a lively desire to wring the dwarf's neck. +Only, he admits that he always comes back to his Mimmy, though he +loathes him more than any living thing in the forest. On this +admission the dwarf attempts to build a theory of filial +instinct. He explains that he is Siegfried's father, and that +this is why Siegfried cannot do without him. But Siegfried has +learned from his forest companions, the birds and foxes and +wolves, that mothers as well as fathers go to the making of +children. Mimmy, on the desperate ground that man is neither bird +nor fox, declares that he is Siegfried's father and mother both. +He is promptly denounced as a filthy liar, because the birds and +foxes are exactly like their parents, whereas Siegfried, having +often watched his own image in the water, can testify that he is +no more like Mimmy than a toad is like a trout. Then, to place +the conversation on a plane of entire frankness, he throttles +Mimmy until he is speechless. When the dwarf recovers, he is so +daunted that he tells Siegfried the truth about his birth, and +for testimony thereof produces the pieces of the sword that broke +upon Wotan's spear. Siegfried instantly orders him to repair the +sword on pain of an unmerciful thrashing, and rushes off into the +forest, rejoicing in the discovery that he is no kin of Mimmy's, +and need have no more to do with him when the sword is mended. + +Poor Mimmy is now in a worse plight than ever; for he has long +ago found that the sword utterly defies his skill: the steel will +yield neither to his hammer nor to his furnace. Just then there +walks into his cave a Wanderer, in a blue mantle, spear in hand, +with one eye concealed by the brim of his wide hat. Mimmy, not by +nature hospitable, tries to drive him away; but the Wanderer +announces himself as a wise man, who can tell his host, in +emergency, what it most concerns him to know. Mimmy, taking this +offer in high dudgeon, because it implies that his visitor's wits +are better than his own, offers to tell the wise one something +that HE does not know: to wit, the way to the door. The +imperturbable Wanderer's reply is to sit down and challenge the +dwarf to a trial of wit. He wagers his head against Mimmy's that +he will answer any three questions the dwarf can put to him. + +Now here were Mimmy's opportunity, had he only the wit to ask +what he wants to know, instead of pretending to know everything +already. It is above all things needful to him at this moment to +find out how that sword can be mended; and there has just dropped +in upon him in his need the one person who can tell him. In such +circumstances a wise man would hasten to show to his visitor his +three deepest ignorances, and ask him to dispel them. The dwarf, +being a crafty fool, desiring only to detect ignorance in his +guest, asks him for information on the three points on which he +is proudest of being thoroughly well instructed himself. His +three questions are, Who dwell under the earth? Who dwell on the +earth? and Who dwell in the cloudy heights above? The Wanderer, +in reply, tells him of the dwarfs and of Alberic; of the earth, +and the giants Fasolt and Fafnir; of the gods and of Wotan: +himself, as Mimmy now recognizes with awe. + +Next, it is Mimmy's turn to face three questions. What is that +race, dearest to Wotan, against which Wotan has nevertheless done +his worst? Mimmy can answer that: he knows the Volsungs, the race +of heroes born of Wotan's infidelities to Fricka, and can tell +the Wanderer the whole story of the twins and their son +Siegfried. Wotan compliments him on his knowledge, and asks +further with what sword Siegfried will slay Fafnir? Mimmy can +answer that too: he has the whole history of the sword at his +fingers' ends. Wotan hails him as the knowingest of the knowing, +and then hurls at him the question he should himself have asked: +Who will mend the sword? Mimmy, his head forfeited, confesses +with loud lamentations that he cannot answer. The Wanderer reads +him an appropriate little lecture on the folly of being too +clever to ask what he wants to know, and informs him that a smith +to whom fear is unknown will mend Nothung. To this smith he +leaves the forfeited head of his host, and wanders off into the +forest. Then Mimmy's nerves give way completely. He shakes like a +man in delirium tremens, and has a horrible nightmare, in the +supreme convulsion of which Siegfried, returning from the forest, +presently finds him. + +A curious and amusing conversation follows. Siegfried himself +does not know fear, and is impatient to acquire it as an +accomplishment. Mimmy is all fear: the world for him is a +phantasmagoria of terrors. It is not that he is afraid of being +eaten by bears in the forest, or of burning his fingers in the +forge fire. A lively objection to being destroyed or maimed does +not make a man a coward: on the contrary, it is the beginning of +a brave man's wisdom. But in Mimmy, fear is not the effect of +danger: it is natural quality of him which no security can allay. +He is like many a poor newspaper editor, who dares not print the +truth, however simple, even when it is obvious to himself and all +his readers. Not that anything unpleasant would happen to him if +he did--not, indeed that he could fail to become a distinguished +and influential leader of opinion by fearlessly pursuing such a +course, but solely because he lives in a world of imaginary +terrors, rooted in a modest and gentlemanly mistrust of his own +strength and worth, and consequently of the value of his opinion. +Just so is Mimmy afraid of anything that can do him any good, +especially of the light and the fresh air. He is also convinced +that anybody who is not sufficiently steeped in fear to be +constantly on his guard, must perish immediately on his first +sally into the world. To preserve Siegfried for the enterprise to +which he has destined him he makes a grotesque attempt to teach +him fear. He appeals to his experience of the terrors of the +forest, of its dark places, of its threatening noises its +stealthy ambushes, its sinister flickering lights its +heart-tightening ecstasies of dread. + +All this has no other effect than to fill Siegfried with wonder +and curiosity; for the forest is a place of delight for him. He +is as eager to experience Mimmy's terrors as a schoolboy to feel +what an electric shock is like. Then Mimmy has the happy idea of +describing Fafnir to him as a likely person to give him an +exemplary fright. Siegfried jumps at the idea, and, since Mimmy +cannot mend the sword for him, proposes to set to work then and +there to mend it for himself. Mimmy shakes his head, and bids him +see now how his youthful laziness and frowardness have found him +out--how he would not learn the smith's craft from Professor +Mimmy, and therefore does not know how even to begin mending the +sword. Siegfried Bakoonin's retort is simple and crushing. He +points out that the net result of Mimmy's academic skill is that +he can neither make a decent sword himself nor even set one to +rights when it is damaged. Reckless of the remonstrances of the +scandalized professor, he seizes a file, and in a few moments +utterly destroys the fragments of the sword by rasping them into +a heap of steel filings. Then he puts the filings into a +crucible; buries it in the coals; and sets to at the bellows with +the shouting exultation of the anarchist who destroys only to +clear the ground for creation. When the steel is melted he runs +it into a mould; and lo! a sword-blade in the rough. Mimmy, +amazed at the success of this violation of all the rules of his +craft, hails Siegfried as the mightiest of smiths, professing +himself barely worthy to be his cook and scullion; and forthwith +proceeds to poison some soup for him so that he may murder him +safely when Fafnir is slain. Meanwhile Siegfned forges and +tempers and hammers and rivets, uproariously singing the while as +nonsensically as the Rhine maidens themselves. Finally he assails +the anvil on which Mimmy's swords have been shattered, and +cleaves it with a mighty stroke of the newly forged Nothung. + +The Second Act + +In the darkest hour before the dawn of that night, we find +ourselves before the cave of Fafnir, and there we find Alberic, +who can find nothing better to do with himself than to watch the +haunt of the dragon, and eat his heart out in vain longing for +the gold and the ring. The wretched Fafnir, once an honest giant, +can only make himself terrible enough to keep his gold by +remaining a venomous reptile. Why he should not become an honest +giant again and clear out of his cavern, leaving the gold and the +ring and the rest of it for anyone fool enough to take them at +such a price, is the first question that would occur to anyone +except a civilized man, who would be too accustomed to that sort +of mania to be at all surprised at it. + +To Alberic in the night comes the Wanderer, whom the dwarf, +recognizing his despoiler of old, abuses as a shameless thief, +taunting him with the helpless way in which all his boasted power +is tied up with the laws and bargains recorded on the heft of his +spear, which, says Alberic truly, would crumble like chaff in his +hands if he dared use it for his own real ends. Wotan, having +already had to kill his own son with it, knows that very well; +but it troubles him no more; for he is now at last rising to +abhorrence of his own artificial power, and looking to the coming +hero, not for its consolidation but its destruction. When Alberic +breaks out again with his still unquenched hope of one day +destroying the gods and ruling the world through the ring, Wotan +is no longer shocked. He tells Alberic that Brother Mime +approaches with a hero whom Godhead can neither help nor hinder. +Alberic may try his luck against him without disturbance from +Valhalla. Perhaps, he suggests, if Alberic warns Fafnir, and +offers to deal with the hero for him, Fafnir, may give him the +ring. They accordingly wake up the dragon, who condescends to +enter into bellowing conversation, but is proof against their +proposition, strong in the magic of property. "I have and hold," +he says: "leave me to sleep." Wotan, with a wise laugh, turns to +Alberic. "That shot missed," he says: "no use abusing me for it. +And now let me tell you one thing. All things happen according to +their nature; and you can't alter them." And so he leaves him +Alberic, raging with the sense that his old enemy has been +laughing at him, and yet prophetically convinced that the last +word will not be with the god, hides himself as the day breaks, +and his brother approaches with Siegfried. + +Mimmy makes a final attempt to frighten Siegfried by discoursing +of the dragon's terrible jaws, poisonous breath, corrosive +spittle, and deadly, stinging tail. Siegfried is not interested +in the tail: he wants to know whether the dragon has a heart, +being confident of his ability to stick Nothung into it if it +exists. Reassured on this point, he drives Mimmy away, and +stretches himself under the trees, listening to the morning +chatter of the birds. One of them has a great deal to say to him; +but he cannot understand it; and after vainly trying to carry on +the conversation with a reed which he cuts, he takes to +entertaining the bird with tunes on his horn, asking it to send +him a loving mate such as all the other creatures of the forest +have. His tunes wake up the dragon; and Siegfried makes merry +over the grim mate the bird has sent him. Fafnir is highly +scandalized by the irreverence of the young Bakoonin. He loses +his temper; fights; and is forthwith slain, to his own great +astonishment. + +In such conflicts one learns to interpret the messages of Nature +a little. When Siegfried, stung by the dragon's vitriolic blood, +pops his finger into his mouth and tastes it, he understands what +the bird is saying to him, and, instructed by it concerning the +treasures within his reach, goes into the cave to secure the +gold, the ring and the wishing cap. Then Mimmy returns, and is +confronted by Alberic. The two quarrel furiously over the sharing +of the booty they have not yet secured, until Siegfried comes +from the cave with the ring and the helmet, not much impressed by +the heap of gold, and disappointed because he has not yet learned +to fear. + +He has, however, learnt to read the thoughts of such a creature +as poor Mimmy, who, intending to overwhelm him with flattery and +fondness, only succeeds in making such a self-revelation of +murderous envy that Siegfried smites him with Nothung and slays +him, to the keen satisfaction of the hidden Alberic. Caring +nothing for the gold, which he leaves to the care of the slain; +disappointed in his fancy for learning fear; and longing for a +mate, he casts himself wearily down, and again appeals to his +friend the bird, who tells him of a woman sleeping on a mountain +peak within a fortress of fire that only the fearless can +penetrate. Siegfried is up in a moment with all the tumult of +spring in his veins, and follows the flight of the bird as it +pilots him to the fiery mountain. + +The Third Act + +To the root of the mountain comes also the Wanderer, now nearing +his doom. He calls up the First Mother from the depths of the +earth, and begs counsel from her. She bids him confer with the +Norns (the Fates). But they are of no use to him: what he seeks +is some foreknowledge of the way of the Will in its perpetual +strife with these helpless Fates who can only spin the net of +circumstance and environment round the feet of men. Why not, says +Erda then, go to the daughter I bore you, and take counsel with +her? He has to explain how he has cut himself off from her, and +set the fires of Loki between the world and her counsel. In that +case the First Mother cannot help him: such a separation is part +of the bewilderment that is ever the first outcome of her eternal +work of thrusting the life energy of the world to higher and +higher organization. She can show him no way of escape from the +destruction he foresees. Then from the innermost of him breaks +the confession that he rejoices in his doom, and now himself +exults in passing away with all his ordinances and alliances, +with the spear-sceptre which he has only wielded on condition of +slaying his dearest children with it, with the kingdom, the power +and the glory which will never again boast themselves as "world +without end." And so he dismisses Erda to her sleep in the heart +of the earth as the forest bird draws near, piloting the slain +son's son to his goal. + +Now it is an excellent thing to triumph in the victory of the new +order and the passing away of the old; but if you happen to be +part of the old order yourself, you must none the less fight for +your life. It seems hardly possible that the British army at the +battle of Waterloo did not include at least one Englishman +intelligent enough to hope, for the sake of his country and +humanity, that Napoleon might defeat the allied sovereigns; but +such an Englishman would kill a French cuirassier rather than be +killed by him just as energetically as the silliest soldier, ever +encouraged by people who ought to know better, to call his +ignorance, ferocity and folly, patriotism and duty. Outworn life +may have become mere error; but it still claims the right to die +a natural death, and will raise its hand against the millennium +itself in self-defence if it tries to come by the short cut of +murder. Wotan finds this out when he comes face to face with +Siegfried, who is brought to a standstill at the foot of the +mountain by the disappearance of the bird. Meeting the Wanderer +there, he asks him the way to the mountain where a woman sleeps +surrounded by fire. The Wanderer questions him, and extracts his +story from him, breaking into fatherly delight when Siegfried, +describing the mending of the sword remarks, that all he knew +about the business was that the broken bits of Nothung would be +of no use to him unless he made a new sword out of them right +over again from the beginning. But the Wanderer's interest is by +no means reciprocated by Siegfried. His majesty and elderly +dignity are thrown away on the young anarchist, who, unwilling to +waste time talking, bluntly bids him either show him the way to +the mountain, or else "shut his muzzle." Wotan is a little hurt. +"Patience, my lad," he says: "if you were an old man I should +treat you with respect." "That would be a precious notion," says +Siegfried. "All my life long I was bothered and hampered by an +old man until I swept him out of my way. I will sweep you in the +same fashion if you don't let me pass. Why do you wear such a big +hat; and what has happened to one of your eyes? Was it knocked +out by somebody whose way you obstructed?" To which Wotan replies +allegorically that the eye that is gone--the eye that his +marriage with Fricka cost him--is now looking at him out of +Siegfried's head. At this, Siegfried gives up the Wanderer as a +lunatic, and renews his threats of personal violence. Then Wotan +throws off the mask of the Wanderer; uplifts the world-governing +spear; and puts forth all his divine awe and grandeur as the +guardian of the mountain, round the crest of which the fires of +Loki now break into a red background for the majesty of the god. +But all this is lost on Siegfried Bakoonin. "Aha!" he cries, as +the spear is levelled against his breast: "I have found my +father's foe"; and the spear falls in two pieces under the stroke +of Nothung. "Up then," says Wotan: "I cannot withhold you," and +disappears forever from the eye of man. The fires roll down the +mountain; but Siegfried goes at them as exultantly as he went at +the forging of the sword or the heart of the dragon, and +shoulders his way through them, joyously sounding his horn to the +accompaniment of their crackling and seething. And never a hair +of his head is singed. Those frightful flames which have scared +mankind for centuries from the Truth, have not heat enough in +them to make a child shut its eyes. They are mere phantasmagoria, +highly creditable to Loki's imaginative stage-management; but +nothing ever has perished or will perish eternally in them except +the Churches which nave been so poor and faithless as to trade +for their power on the lies of a romancer. + +BACK TO OPERA AGAIN + +And now, O Nibelungen Spectator, pluck up; for all allegories +come to an end somewhere; and the hour of your release from these +explanations is at hand. The rest of what you are going to see is +opera, and nothing but opera. Before many bars have been played, +Siegfried and the wakened Brynhild, newly become tenor and +soprano, will sing a concerted cadenza; plunge on from that to a +magnificent love duet; and end with a precipitous allegro a +capella, driven headlong to its end by the impetuous semiquaver +triplets of the famous finales to the first act of Don +Giovanni or the coda to the Leonore overture, with a specifically +contrapuntal theme, points d'orgue, and a high C for the soprano +all complete. + +What is more, the work which follows, entitled Night Falls On The +Gods, is a thorough grand opera. In it you shall see what you +have so far missed, the opera chorus in full parade on the stage, +not presuming to interfere with the prima donna as she sings her +death song over the footlights. Nay, that chorus will have its +own chance when it first appears, with a good roaring strain in C +major, not, after all, so very different from, or at all less +absurd than the choruses of courtiers in La Favorita or "Per te +immenso giubilo" in Lucia. The harmony is no doubt a little +developed, Wagner augmenting his fifths with a G sharp where +Donizetti would have put his fingers in his ears and screamed for +G natural. But it is an opera chorus all the same; and along with +it we have theatrical grandiosities that recall Meyerbeer and +Verdi: pezzi d'insieme for all the principals in a row, vengeful +conjurations for trios of them, romantic death song for the +tenor: in short, all manner of operatic conventions. + +Now it is probable that some of us will have been so talked by +the more superstitious Bayreuth pilgrims into regarding Die +Gotterdammerung as the mighty climax to a mighty epic, more +Wagnerian than all the other three sections put together, as not +to dare notice this startling atavism, especially if we find the +trio-conjurations more exhilarating than the metaphysical +discourses of Wotan in the three true music dramas of The Ring. +There is, however, no real atavism involved. Die Gotterdammerung, +though the last of The Ring dramas in order of performance, was +the first in order of conception and was indeed the root from +which all the others sprang. + +The history of the matter is as follows. All Wagner's works prior +to The Ring are operas. The last of them, Lohengrin, is perhaps +the best known of modern operas. As performed in its entirety at +Bayreuth, it is even more operatic than it appears at Covent +Garden, because it happens that its most old-fashioned features, +notably some of the big set concerted pieces for principals and +chorus (pezzi d'insieme as I have called them above), are +harder to perform than the more modern and characteristically +Wagnerian sections, and for that reason were cut out in preparing +the abbreviated fashionable version. Thus Lohengrin came upon the +ordinary operatic stage as a more advanced departure from current +operatic models than its composer had made it. Still, it is +unmistakably an opera, with chorus, concerted pieces, grand +finales, and a heroine who, if she does not sing florid +variations with flute obbligato, is none the less a very +perceptible prima donna. In everything but musical technique the +change from Lohengrin to The Rhine Gold is quite revolutionary. + +The explanation is that Night Falls On The Gods came in between +them, although its music was not finished until twenty years +after that of The Rhine Gold, and thus belongs to a later and +more masterful phase of Wagner's harmonic style. It first came +into Wagner's head as an opera to be entitled Siegfied's Death, +founded on the old Niblung Sagas, which offered to Wagner the +same material for an effective theatrical tragedy as they did to +Ibsen. Ibsen's Vikings in Helgeland is, in kind, what Siegfied's +Death was originally intended to be: that is, a heroic piece for +the theatre, without the metaphysical or allegorical +complications of The Ring. Indeed, the ultimate catastrophe of +the Saga cannot by any perversion of ingenuity be adapted to the +perfectly clear allegorical design of The Rhine Gold, The +Valkyries, and Siegfried. + + + +SIEGFRIED AS PROTESTANT + +The philosophically fertile element in the original project of +Siegfried's Death was the conception of Siegfried himself as a +type of the healthy man raised to perfect confidence in his own +impulses by an intense and joyous vitality which is above fear, +sickliness of conscience, malice, and the makeshifts and moral +crutches of law and order which accompany them. Such a character +appears extraordinarily fascinating and exhilarating to our +guilty and conscience-ridden generations, however little they may +understand him. The world has always delighted in the man who is +delivered from conscience. From Punch and Don Juan down to Robert +Macaire, Jeremy Diddler and the pantomime clown, he has always +drawn large audiences; but hitherto he has been decorously given +to the devil at the end. Indeed eternal punishment is sometimes +deemed too high a compliment to his nature. When the late Lord +Lytton, in his Strange Story, introduced a character personifying +the joyousness of intense vitality, he felt bound to deny him the +immortal soul which was at that time conceded even to the +humblest characters in fiction, and to accept mischievousness, +cruelty, and utter incapacity for sympathy as the inevitable +consequence of his magnificent bodily and mental health. + +In short, though men felt all the charm of abounding life and +abandonment to its impulses, they dared not, in their deep +self-mistrust, conceive it otherwise than as a force making for +evil--one which must lead to universal ruin unless checked and +literally mortified by selfrenunciation in obedience to +superhuman guidance, or at least to some reasoned system of +morals. When it became apparent to the cleverest of them that no +such superhuman guidance existed, and that their secularist +systems had all the fictitiousness of "revelation" without its +poetry, there was no escaping the conclusion that all the good +that man had done must be put down to his arbitrary will as well +as all the evil he had done; and it was also obvious that if +progress were a reality, his beneficent impulses must be gaining +on his destructive ones. It was under the influence of these +ideas that we began to hear about the joy of life where we had +formerly heard about the grace of God or the Age of Reason, and +that the boldest spirits began to raise the question whether +churches and laws and the like were not doing a great deal more +harm than good by their action in limiting the freedom of the +human will. Four hundred years ago, when belief in God and in +revelation was general throughout Europe, a similar wave of +thought led the strongest-hearted peoples to affirm that every +man's private judgment was a more trustworthy interpreter of God +and revelation than the Church. This was called Protestantism; +and though the Protestants were not strong enough for their +creed, and soon set up a Church of their own, yet the movement, +on the whole, has justified the direction it took. Nowadays the +supernatural element in Protestantism has perished; and if every +man's private judgment is still to be justified as the most +trustworthy interpreter of the will of Humanity (which is not a +more extreme proposition than the old one about the will of God) +Protestantism must take a fresh step in advance, and become +Anarchism. Which it has accordingly done, Anarchism being one of +the notable new creeds of the eighteenth and nineteenth +centuries. + +The weak place which experience finds out in the Anarchist theory +is its reliance on the progress already achieved by "Man." There +is no such thing as Man in the world: what we have to deal with +is a multitude of men, some of them great rascals, some of them +greet statesmen, others both, with a vast majority capable of +managing their personal affairs, but not of comprehending social +organization, or grappling with the problems created by their +association in enormous numbers. If "Man" means this majority, +then "Man" has made no progress: he has, on the contrary, +resisted it. He will not even pay the cost of existing +institutions: the requisite money has to be filched from him by +"indirect taxation." Such people, like Wagner's giants; must be +governed by laws; and their assent to such government must be +secured by deliberately filling them with prejudices and +practicing on their imaginations by pageantry and artificial +eminences and dignities. The government is of course established +by the few who are capable of government, though its mechanism +once complete, it may be, and generally is, carried on +unintelligently by people who are incapable of it the capable +people repairing it from time to time when it gets too far behind +the continuous advance or decay of civilization. All these +capable people are thus in the position of Wotan, forced to +maintain as sacred, and themselves submit to, laws which they +privately know to be obsolescent makeshifts, and to affect the +deepest veneration for creeds and ideals which they ridicule +among themselves with cynical scepticism. No individual Siegfried +can rescue them from this bondage and hypocrisy; in fact, the +individual Siegfried has come often enough, only to find himself +confronted with the alternative of governing those who are not +Siegfrieds or risking destruction at their hands. And this +dilemma will persist until Wotan's inspiration comes to our +governors, and they see that their business is not the devising +of laws and institutions to prop up the weaknesses of mobs and +secure the survival of the unfittest, but the breeding of men +whose wills and intelligences may be depended on to produce +spontaneously the social wellbeing our clumsy laws now aim at and +miss. The majority of men at present in Europe have no business +to be alive; and no serious progress will be made until we +address ourselves earnestly and scientifically to the task of +producing trustworthy human materialfor society. In short, it is +necessary to breed a race of men in whom the life-giving impulses +predominate, before the New Protestantism becomes politically +practicable.* + +*The necessity for breeding the governing class from a selected +stock has always been recognized by Aristocrats, however +erroneous their methods of selection. We have changed our system +from Aristocracy to Democracy without considering that we were at +the same time changing, as regards our governing class, from +Selection to Promiscuity. Those who have taken a practical part +in modern politics best know how farcical the result is. + + +The most inevitable dramatic conception, then, of the nineteenth +century, is that of a perfectly naive hero upsetting religion, +law and order in all directions, and establishing in their place +the unfettered action of Humanity doing exactly what it likes, +and producing order instead of confusion thereby because it likes +to do what is necessary for the good of the race. This +conception, already incipient in Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations, +was certain at last to reach some great artist, and be embodied +by him in a masterpiece. It was also certain that if that master +happened to be a German, he should take delight in describing his +hero as the Freewiller of Necessity, thereby beyond measure +exasperating Englishmen with a congenital incapacity for +metaphysics. + +PANACEA QUACKERY, OTHERWISE IDEALISM + +Unfortunately, human enlightenment does not progress by nicer and +nicer adjustments, but by violent corrective reactions which +invariably send us clean over our saddle and would bring us to +the ground on the other side if the next reaction did not send us +back again with equally excessive zeal. Ecclesiasticism and +Constitutionalism send us one way, Protestantism and Anarchism +the other; Order rescues us from confusion and lands us in +Tyranny; Liberty then saves the situation and is presently found +to be as great a nuisance as Despotism. A scientifically balanced +application of these forces, theoretically possible, is +practically incompatible with human passion. Besides, we have the +same weakness in morals as in medicine: we cannot be cured of +running after panaceas, or, as they are called in the sphere of +morals, ideals. One generation sets up duty, renunciation, +self-sacrifice as a panacea. The next generation, especially the +women, wake up at the age of forty or thereabouts to the fact +that their lives have been wasted in the worship of this ideal, +and, what is still more aggravating, that the elders who imposed +it on them did so in a fit of satiety with their own experiments +in the other direction. Then that defrauded generation foams at +the mouth at the very mention of duty, and sets up the +alternative panacea of love, their deprivation of which seems to +them to have been the most cruel and mischievous feature of their +slavery to duty. It is useless to warn them that this reaction, +if prescribed as a panacea, will prove as great a failure as all +the other reactions have done; for they do not recognize its +identity with any reaction that ever occurred before. Take for +instance the hackneyed historic example of the austerity of the +Commonwealth being followed by the licence of the Restoration. +You cannot persuade any moral enthusiast to accept this as a pure +oscillation from action to reaction. If he is a Puritan he looks +upon the Restoration as a national disaster: if he is an artist +he regards it as the salvation of the country from gloom, devil +worship and starvation of the affections. The Puritan is ready to +try the Commonwealth again with a few modern improvements: the +Amateur is equally ready to try the Restoration with modern +enlightenments. And so for the present we must be content to +proceed by reactions, hoping that each will establish some +permanently practical and beneficial reform or moral habit that +will survive the correction of its excesses by the next reaction. + +DRAMATIC ORIGIN OF WOTAN + +We can now see how a single drama in which Wotan does not appear, +and of which Siegfried is the hero, expanded itself into a great +fourfold drama of which Wotan is the hero. You cannot dramatize a +reaction by personifying the reacting force only, any more than +Archimedes could lift the world without a fulcrum for his lever. +You must also personify the established power against which the +new force is reacting; and in the conflict between them you get +your drama, conflict being the essential ingredient in all drama. +Siegfried, as the hero of Die Gotterdammerung, is only the primo +tenore robusto of an opera book, deferring his death, after he +has been stabbed in the last act, to sing rapturous love strains +to the heroine exactly like Edgardo in Donizetti's Lucia. In +order to make him intelligible in the wider significance which +his joyous, fearless, conscienceless heroism soon assumed in +Wagner's imagination, it was necessary to provide him with a much +vaster dramatic antagonist than the operatic villain Hagen. Hence +Wagner had to create Wotan as the anvil for Siegfried's hammer; +and since there was no room for Wotan in the original opera book, +Wagner had to work back to a preliminary drama reaching primarily +to the very beginnings of human society. And since, on this +world-embracing scale, it was clear that Siegfried must come into +conflict with many baser and stupider forces than those lofty +ones of supernatural religion and political constitutionalism +typified by Wotan and his wife Fricka, these minor antagonists +had to be dramatized also in the persons of Alberic, Mime, +Fafnir, Loki, and the rest. None of these appear in Night Falls +On The Gods save Alberic, whose weird dream-colloquy with Hagen, +effective as it is, is as purely theatrical as the scene of the +Ghost in Hamlet, or the statue in Don Giovanni. Cut the +conference of the Norns and the visit of Valtrauta to Brynhild +out of Night Falls On The Gods, and the drama remains coherent +and complete without them. Retain them, and the play becomes +connected by conversational references with the three music +dramas; but the connection establishes no philosophic coherence, +no real identity between the operatic Brynhild of the Gibichung +episode (presently to be related) and the daughter of Wotan and +the First Mother. + +THE LOVE PANACEA + +We shall now find that at the point where The Ring changes from +music drama into opera, it also ceases to be philosophic, and +becomes didactic. The philosophic part is a dramatic symbol of +the world as Wagner observed it. In the didactic part the +philosophy degenerates into the prescription of a romantic +nostrum for all human ills. Wagner, only mortal after all, +succumbed to the panacea mania when his philosophy was exhausted, +like any of the rest of us. + +The panacea is by no means an original one. Wagner was +anticipated in the year 1819 by a young country gentleman from +Sussex named Shelley, in a work of extraordinary artistic power +and splendor. Prometheus Unbound is an English attempt at a Ring; +and when it is taken into account that the author was only 27 +whereas Wagner was 40 when he completed the poem of The Ring, our +vulgar patriotism may find an envious satisfaction in insisting +upon the comparison. Both works set forth the same conflict +between humanity and its gods and governments, issuing in the +redemption of man from their tyranny by the growth of his will +into perfect strength and self-confidence; and both finish by a +lapse into panacea-mongering didacticism by the holding up of +Love as the remedy for all evils and the solvent of all social +difficulties. + +The differences between Prometheus Unbound and The Ring are as +interesting as the likenesses. Shelley, caught in the pugnacity +of his youth and the first impetuosity of his prodigious artistic +power by the first fierce attack of the New Reformation, gave no +quarter to the antagonist of his hero. His Wotan, whom he calls +Jupiter, is the almighty fiend into whom the Englishman's God had +degenerated during two centuries of ignorant Bible worship and +shameless commercialism. He is Alberic, Fafnir Loki and the +ambitious side of Wotan all rolled into one melodramatic demon +who is finally torn from his throne and hurled shrieking into the +abyss by a spirit representing that conception of Eternal Law +which has been replaced since by the conception of Evolution. +Wagner, an older, more experienced man than the Shelley of 1819, +understood Wotan and pardoned him, separating him tenderly from +all the compromising alliances to which Shelley fiercely held +him; making the truth and heroism which overthrow him the +children of his inmost heart; and representing him as finally +acquiescing in and working for his own supersession and +annihilation. Shelley, in his later works, is seen progressing +towards the same tolerance, justice, and humility of spirit, as +he advanced towards the middle age he never reached. But there is +no progress from Shelley to Wagner as regards the panacea, except +that in Wagner there is a certain shadow of night and death come +on it: nay, even a clear opinion that the supreme good of love is +that it so completely satisfies the desire for life, that after +it the Will to Live ceases to trouble us, and we are at last +content to achieve the highest happiness of death. + +This reduction of the panacea to absurdity was not forced upon +Shelley, because the love which acts as a universal solvent in +his Prometheus Unbound is a sentiment of affectionate benevolence +which has nothing to do with sexual passion. It might, and in +fact does exist in the absence of any sexual interest whatever. +The words mercy and kindness connote it less ambiguously than the +word love. But Wagner sought always for some point of contact +between his ideas and the physical senses, so that people might +not only think or imagine them in the eighteenth century fashion, +but see them on the stage, hear them from the orchestra, and feel +them through the infection of passionate emotion. Dr. Johnson +kicking the stone to confute Berkeley is not more bent on +common-sense concreteness than Wagner: on all occasions he +insists on the need for sensuous apprehension to give reality to +abstract comprehension, maintaining, in fact, that reality has no +other meaning. Now he could apply this process to poetic love +only by following it back to its alleged origin in sexual +passion, the emotional phenomena of which he has expressed in +music with a frankness and forcible naturalism which would +possibly have scandalized Shelley. The love duet in the first act +of The Valkyries is brought to a point at which the conventions +of our society demand the precipitate fall of the curtain; whilst +the prelude to Tristan and Isolde is such an astonishingly +intense and faithful translation into music of the emotions which +accompany the union of a pair of lovers, that it is questionable +whether the great popularity of this piece at our orchestral +concerts really means that our audiences are entirely catholic in +their respect for life in all itits beneficently creative +functions, or whether they simply enjoy the music without +understanding it. + +But however offensive and inhuman may be the superstition which +brands such exaltations of natural passion as shameful and +indecorous, there is at least as much common sense in disparaging +love as in setting it up as a panacea. Even the mercy and +lovingkindness of Shelley do not hold good as a universal law of +conduct: Shelley himself makes extremely short work of Jupiter, +just as Siegfried does of Fafnir, Mime, and Wotan; and the fact +that Prometheus is saved from doing the destructive part of his +work by the intervention of that very nebulous personification of +Eternity called Demogorgon, does not in the least save the +situation, because, flatly, there is no such person as +Demogorgon, and if Prometheus does not pull down Jupiter himself, +no one else will. It would be exasperating, if it were not so +funny, to see these poets leading their heroes through blood and +destruction to the conclusion that, as Browning's David puts it +(David of all people!), "All's Love; yet all's Law." + +Certainly it is clear enough that such love as that implied by +Siegfried's first taste of fear as he cuts through the mailed +coat of the sleeping figure on the mountain, and discovers that +it is a woman; by her fierce revolt against being touched by him +when his terror gives way to ardor; by his manly transports of +victory; and by the womanly mixture of rapture and horror with +which she abandons herself to the passion which has seized on +them both, is an experience which it is much better, like the +vast majority of us, never to have passed through, than to allow +it to play more than a recreative holiday part in our lives. It +did not play a very large part in Wagner's own laborious life, +and does not occupy more than two scenes of The Ring. Tristan and +Isolde, wholly devoted to it, is a poem of destruction and death. +The Mastersingers, a work full of health, fun and happiness, +contains not a single bar of love music that can be described as +passionate: the hero of it is a widower who cobbles shoes, writes +verses, and contents himself with looking on at the +sweetheartings of his customers. Parsifal makes an end of it +altogether. The truth is that the love panacea in Night Falls On +The Gods and in the last act of Siegfried is a survival of the +first crude operatic conception of the story, modified by an +anticipation of Wagner's later, though not latest, conception of +love as the fulfiller of our Will to Live and consequently our +reconciler to night and death. + +NOT LOVE, BUT LIFE + +The only faith which any reasonable disciple can gain from The +Ring is not in love, but in life itself as a tireless power which +is continually driving onward and upward--not, please observe, +being beckoned or drawn by Das Ewig Weibliche or any other +external sentimentality, but growing-from within, by its own +inexplicable energy, into ever higher and higher forms of +organization, the strengths and the needs of which are +continually superseding the institutions which were made to fit +our former requirements. When your Bakoonins call out for the +demolition of all these venerable institutions, there is no need +to fly into a panic and lock them up in prison whilst your +parliament is bit by bit doing exactly what they advised you to +do. When your Siegfrieds melt down the old weapons into new ones, +and with disrespectful words chop in twain the antiquated +constable's staves in the hands of their elders, the end of the +world is no nearer than it was before. If human nature, which is +the highest organization of life reached on this planet, is +really degenerating, then human society will decay; and no +panic-begotten penal measures can possibly save it: we must, like +Prometheus, set to work to make new men instead of vainly +torturing old ones. On the other hand, if the energy of life is +still carrying human nature to higher and higher levels, then the +more young people shock their elders and deride and discard their +pet institutions the better for the hopes of the world, since the +apparent growth of anarchy is only the measure of the rate of +improvement. History, as far as we are capable of history (which +is not saying much as yet), shows that all changes from crudity +of social organization to complexity, and from mechanical +agencies in government to living ones, seem anarchic at first +sight. No doubt it is natural to a snail to think that any +evolution which threatens to do away with shells will result in +general death from exposure. Nevertheless, the most elaborately +housed beings today are born not only without houses on their +backs but without even fur or feathers to clothe them. + +ANARCHISM NO PANACEA + +One word of warning to those who may find themselves attracted by +Siegfried's Anarchism, or, if they prefer a term with more +respectable associations, his neo-Protestantism. Anarchism, as a +panacea, is just as hopeless as any other panacea, and will still +be so even if we breed a race of perfectly benevolent men. It is +true that in the sphere of thought, Anarchism is an inevitable +condition of progressive evolution. A nation without +Freethinkers--that is, without intellectual Anarchists--will +share the fate of China. It is also true that our criminal law, +based on a conception of crime and punishment which is nothing +but our vindictiveness and cruelty in a virtuous disguise, is an +unmitigated and abominable nuisance, bound to be beaten out of us +finally by the mere weight of our experience of its evil and +uselessness. But it will not be replaced by anarchy. Applied to +the industrial or political machinery of modern society, anarchy +must always reduce itself speedily to absurdity. Even the +modified form of anarchy on which modern civilization is based: +that is, the abandonment of industry, in the name of individual +liberty, to the upshot of competition for personal gain between +private capitalists, is a disastrous failure, and is, by the +mere necessities of the case, giving way to ordered Socialism. +For the economic rationale of this, I must refer disciples of +Siegfried to a tract from my hand published by the Fabian Society +and entitled The Impossibilities of Anarchism, which explains +why, owing to the physical constitution of our globe, society +cannot effectively organize the production of its food, clothes +and housing, nor distribute them fairly and economically on any +anarchic plan: nay, that without concerting our social action to +a much higher degree than we do at present we can never get rid +of the wasteful and iniquitous welter of a little riches and a +deal of poverty which current political humbug calls our +prosperity and civilization. Liberty is an excellent thing; but +it cannot begin until society has paid its daily debt to Nature +by first earning its living. There is no liberty before that +except the liberty to live at somebody else's expense, a liberty +much sought after nowadays, since it is the criterion of +gentility, but not wholesome from the point of view of the common +weal. + +SIEGFRIED CONCLUDED + +In returning now to the adventures of Siegfried there is little +more to be described except the finale of an opera. Siegfried, +having passed unharmed through the fire, wakes Brynhild and goes +through all the fancies and ecstasies of love at first sight in a +duet which ends with an apostrophe to "leuchtende Liebe, +lachender Tod!", which has been romantically translated into +"Love that illumines, laughing at Death," whereas it really +identifies enlightening love and laughing death as involving each +other so closely as to be usually one and the same thing. + + + +NIGHT FALLS ON THE GODS + +PROLOGUE + +Die Gottrerdammerung begins with an elaborate prologue. The three +Norns sit in the night on Brynhild's mountain top spinning their +thread of destiny, and telling the story of Wotan's sacrifice of +his eye, and of his breaking off a bough from the World Ash to +make a heft for his spear, also how the tree withered after +suffering that violence. They have also some fresher news to +discuss. Wotan, on the breaking of his spear by Siegfried, has +called all his heroes to cut down the withered World Ash and +stack its faggots in a mighty pyre about Valhalla. Then, with his +broken spear in his hand, he has seated himself in state in the +great hall, with the Gods and Heroes assembled about him as if in +council, solemnly waiting for the end. All this belongs to the +old legendary materials with which Wagner began The Ring. + +The tale is broken by the thread snapping in the hands of the +third Norn; for the hour has arrived when man has taken his +destiny in his own hands to shape it for himself, and no longer +bows to circumstance, environment, necessity (which he now freely +wills), and all the rest of the inevitables. So the Norns +recognize that the world has no further use for them, and sink +into the earth to return to the First Mother. Then the day dawns; +and Siegfried and Brynhild come, and have another duet. He gives +her his ring; and she gives him her horse. Away then he goes in +search of more adventures; and she watches him from her crag +until he disappears. The curtain falls; but we can still hear the +trolling of his horn, and the merry clatter of his horse's shoes +trotting gaily down the valley. The sound is lost in the grander +rhythm of the Rhine as he reaches its banks. We hear again an +echo of the lament of the Rhine maidens for the ravished gold; +and then, finally, a new strain, which does not surge like the +mighty flood of the river, but has an unmistakable tramp of hardy +men and a strong land flavor about it. And on this the opera +curtain at last goes up--for please remember that all that has +gone before is only the overture. + +The First Act + +We now understand the new tramping strain. We are in the +Rhineside hall of the Gibichungs, in the resence of King Gunther, +his sister Gutrune, and unther's grim half brother Hagen, the +villain of the piece. Gunther is a fool, and has for Hagen's +intelligence the respect a fool always has for the brains of a +scoundrel. Feebly fishing for compliments, he appeals to Hagen to +pronounce him a fine fellow and a glory to the race of Gibich. +Hagen declares that it is impossible to contemplate him without +envy, but thinks it a pity that he has not yet found a wife +glorious enough for him. Gunther doubts whether so extraordinary +a person can possibly exist. Hagen then tells him of Brynhild and +her rampart of fire; also of Siegfried. Gunther takes this rather +in bad part, since not only is he afraid of the fire, but +Siegfried, according to Hagen, is not, and will therefore achieve +this desirable match himself. But Hagen points out that since +Siegfried is riding about in quest of adventures, he will +certainly pay an early visit to the renowned chief of the +Gibichungs. They can then give him a philtre which will make him +fall in love with Gutrune and forget every other woman he has yet +seen. + +Gunther is transported with admiration of Hagen's cunning when he +takes in this plan; and he has hardly assented to it when +Siegfried, with operatic opportuneness, drops in just as Hagen +expected, and is duly drugged into the heartiest love for Gutrune +and total oblivion of Brynhild and his own past. When Gunther +declares his longing for the bride who lies inaccessible within a +palisade of flame, Siegfried at once offers to undertake the +adventure for him. Hagen then explains to both of them that +Siegfried can, after braving the fire, appear to Brynhild in the +semblance of Gunther through the magic of the wishing cap (or +Tarnhelm, as it is called throughout The Ring), the use of which +Siegfried now learns for the first time. It is of course part of +the bargain that Gunther shall give his sister to Siegfried in +marriage. On that they swear blood-brotherhood; and at this +opportunity the old operatic leaven breaks out amusingly in +Wagner. With tremendous exordium of brass, the tenor and baritone +go at it with a will, showing off the power of their voices, +following each other in canonic imitation, singing together in +thirds and sixths, and finishing with a lurid unison, quite in +the manner of Ruy Gomez and Ernani, or Othello and Iago. Then +without further ado Siegfried departs on his expedition, taking +Gunther with him to the foot of the mountain, and leaving Hagen +to guard the hall and sing a very fine solo which has often +figured in the programs of the Richter concerts, explaining that +his interest in the affair is that Siegfried will bring back the +Ring, and that he, Hagen, will presently contrive to possess +himself of that Ring and become Plutonic master of the world. + +And now it will be asked how does Hagen know all about the +Plutonic empire; and why was he able to tell Gunther about +Brynhild and Siegfried, and to explain to Siegfried the trick of +the Tarnhelm. The explanation is that though Hagen's mother was +the mother of Gunther, his father was not the illustrious Gibich, +but no less a person than our old friend Alberic, who, like +Wotan, has begotten a son to do for him what he cannot do for +himself. + +In the above incidents, those gentle moralizers who find the +serious philosophy of the music dramas too terrifying for them, +may allegorize pleasingly on the philtre as the maddening chalice +of passion which, once tasted, causes the respectable man to +forget his lawfully wedded wife and plunge into adventures which +eventually lead him headlong to destruction. + +We now come upon a last relic of the tragedy of Wotan. Returning +to Brynhild's mountain, we find her visited by her sister +Valkyrie Valtrauta, who has witnessed Wotan's solemn preparations +with terror. She repeats to Brynhild the account already given by +the Noms. Clinging in anguish to Wotan's knees, she has heard him +mutter that were the ring returned to the daughters of the deep +Rhine, both Gods and world would be redeemed from that stage +curse off Alberic's in The Rhine Gold. On this she has rushed on +her warhorse through the air to beg Brynhild to give the Rhine +back its ring. But this is asking Woman to give up love for the +sake of Church and State. She declares that she will see them +both perish first; and Valtrauta returns to Valhalla in despair. +Whilst Brynhild is watching the course of the black thundercloud +that marks her sister's flight, the fires of Loki again flame +high round the mountain; and the horn of Siegfried is heard as he +makes his way through them. But the man who now appears wears the +Tarnhelm: his voice is a strange voice: his figure is the unknown +one of the king of the Gibichungs. He tears the ring from her +finger, and, claiming her as his wife, drives her into the cave +without pity for her agony of horror, and sets Nothung between +them in token of his loyalty to the friend he is impersonating. +No explanation of this highway robbery of the ring is offered. +Clearly, this Siegfried is not the Siegfried of the previous +drama. + +The Second Act + +In the second act we return to the hall of Gibich, where Hagen, +in the last hours of that night, still sits, his spear in his +hand, and his shield beside him. At his knees crouches a dwarfish +spectre, his father Alberic, still full of his old grievances +against Wotan, and urging his son in his dreams to win back the +ring for him. This Hagen swears to do; and as the apparition of +his father vanishes, the sun rises and Siegfried suddenly comes +from the river bank tucking into his belt the Tarnhelm, which has +transported hi from the mountain like the enchanted carpet of the +Arabian tales. He describes his adventures to Gutrune until +Gunther's boat is seen approaching, when Hagen seizes a cowhorn +and calls the tribesmen to welcome their chief and his bride. It +is most exhilarating, this colloquy with the startled and hastily +armed clan, ending with a thundering chorus, the drums marking +the time with mighty pulses from dominant to tonic, much as +Rossini would have made them do if he had been a pupil of +Beethoven's. + +A terrible scene follows. Gunther leads his captive bride +straight into the presence of Siegfried, whom she claims as her +husband by the ring, which she is astomshed to see on his finger: +Gunther, as she supposes, having torn it from her the night +before. Turning on Gunther, she says "Since you took that ring +from me, and married me with it, tell him of your right to it; +and make him give it back to you." Gunther stammers, "The ring! I +gave him no ring--er--do you know him?" The rejoinder is +obvious. "Then where are you hiding the ring that you had from +me?" Gunther's confusion enlightens her; and she calls Siegfried +trickster and thief to his face. In vain he declares that he got +the ring from no woman, but from a dragon whom he slew; for he is +manifestly puzzled; and she, seizing her opportunity, accuses him +before the clan of having played Gunther false with her. + +Hereupon we have another grandiose operatic oath, Siegfried +attesting his innocence on Hagen's spear, and Brynhild rushing to +the footlights and thrusting him aside to attest his guilt, +whilst the clansmen call upon their gods to send down lightnings +and silence the perjured. The gods do not respond; and Siegfried, +after whispering to Gunther that the Tarnhelm seems to have been +only half effectual after all, laughs his way out of the general +embarrassment and goes off merrily to prepare for his wedding, +with his arm round Gutrune's waist, followed by the clan. +Gunther, Hagen and Brynhild are left together to plot operatic +vengeance. Brynhild, it appears, has enchanted Siegfried in such +a fashion that no weapon can hurt him. She has, however, omitted +to protect his back, since it is impossible that he should ever +turn that to a foe. They agree accordingly that on the morrow a +great hunt shall take place, at which Hagen shall thrust his +spear into the hero's vulnerable back. The blame is to be laid on +the tusk of a wild boar. Gunther, being a fool, is remorseful +about his oath of blood-brotherhood and about his sister's +bereavement, without having the strength of mind to prevent the +murder. The three burst into a herculean trio, similar in +conception to that of the three conspirators in Un Ballo in +Maschera; and the act concludes with a joyous strain heralding +the appearance of SiegEried's wedding procession, with strewing +of flowers, sacrificing to the gods, and carrying bride and +bridegroom in triumph. + +It will be seen that in this act we have lost all connection with +the earlier drama. Brynhild is not only not the Brynhild of The +Valkyries, she is the Hiordis of Ibsen, a majestically savage +woman, in whom jealousy and revenge are intensified to heroic +proportions. That is the inevitable theatrical treatment of the +murderous heroine of the Saga. Ibsen's aim in The Vikings was +purely theatrical, and not, as in his later dramas, also +philosophically symbolic. Wagner's aim in Siegfried's Death was +equally theatrical, and not, as it afterwards became in the +dramas of which Siegfried s antagonist Wotan is the hero, +likewise philosophically symbolic. The two master-dramatists +therefore produce practically the same version of Brynhild. Thus +on the second evening of The Ring we see Brynhild in the +character of the truth-divining instinct in religion, cast into +an enchanted slumber and surrounded by the fires of hell lest she +should overthrow a Church corrupted by its alliance with +government. On the fourth evening, we find her swearing a +malicious lie to gratify her personal jealousy, and then plotting +a treacherous murder with a fool and a scoundrel. In the original +draft of Siegfried's Death, the incongruity is carried still +further by the conclusion, at which the dead Brynhild, restored +to her godhead by Wotan, and again a Valkyrie, carries the slain +Siegfried to Valhalla to live there happily ever after with its +pious heroes. + +As to Siegfried himself, he talks of women, both in this second +act and the next, with the air of a man of the world. "Their +tantrums," he says, "are soon over." Such speeches do not belong +to the novice of the preceding drama, but to the original +Siegfried's Tod, with its leading characters sketched on the +ordinary romantic lines from the old Sagas, and not yet reminted +as the original creations of Wagner's genius whose acquaintance +we have made on the two previous evenings. The very title +"Siegfried's Death" survives as a strong theatrical point in the +following passage. Gunther, in his rage and despair, cries, "Save +me, Hagen: save my honor and thy mother's who bore us both." +"Nothing can save thee," replies Hagen: "neither brain nor hand, +but SIEGFRIED'S DEATH." And Gunther echoes with a shudder, +"SIEGFRIED'S DEATH!" + +A WAGNERIAN NEWSPAPER CONTROVERSY + +The devotion which Wagner's work inspires has been illustrated +lately in a public correspondence on this very point. A writer in +The Daily Telegraph having commented on the falsehood uttered by +Brynhild in accusing Siegfried of having betrayed Gunther with +her, a correspondence in defence of the beloved heroine was +opened in The Daily Chronicle. The imputation of falsehood to +Brynhild was strongly resented and combated, in spite of the +unanswerable evidence of the text. It was contended that +Brynhild's statement must be taken as establishing the fact that +she actually was ravished by somebody whom she believed to be +Siegfried, and that since this somebody cannot have been +Siegfried, he being as incapable of treachery to Gunther as she +of falsehood, it must have been Gunther himself after a second +exchange of personalities not mentioned in the text. The reply to +this--if so obviously desperate a hypothesis needs a reply--is +that the text is perfectly explicit as to Siegfried, disguised as +Gunther, passing the night with Brynhild with Nothung dividing +them, and in the morning bringing her down the mountain THROUGH +THE FIRE (an impassable obstacle to Gunther) and there +transporting himself in a single breath, by the Tarnhelm's magic, +back to the hall of the Gibichungs, leaving the real Gunther to +bring Brynhild down the river after him. One controversialist +actually pleaded for the expedition occupying two nights, on the +second of which the alleged outrage might have taken place. But +the time is accounted for to the last minute: it all takes place +during the single night watch of Hagen. There is no possible way +out of the plain fact that Brynhild's accusation is to her own +knowledge false; and the impossible ways just cited are only +interesting as examples of the fanatical worship which Wagner and +his creations have been able to inspire in minds of exceptional +power and culture. + +More plausible was the line taken by those who admitted the +falsehood. Their contention was that when Wotan deprived Brynhild +of her Godhead, he also deprived her of her former high moral +attributes; so that Siegfried's kiss awakened an ordinary mortal +jealous woman. But a goddess can become mortal and jealous +without plunging at once into perjury and murder. Besides, this +explanation involves the sacrifice of the whole significance of +the allegory, and the reduction of The Ring to the plane of a- +child's conception of The Sleeping Beauty. Whoever does not +understand that, in terms of The Ring philosophy, a change from +godhead to humanity is a step higher and not a degradation, +misses the whole point of The Ring. It is precisely because the +truthfulness of Brynhild is proof against Wotan's spells that he +has to contrive the fire palisade with Loki, to protect the +fictions and conventions of Valhalla against her. + +The only tolerable view is the one supported by the known history +of The Ring, and also, for musicians of sufficiently fine +judgment, by the evidence of the scores; of which more anon. As a +matter of fact Wagner began, as I have said, with Siegfried's +Death. Then, wanting to develop the idea of Siegfried as +neoProtestant, he went on to The Young Siegfried. As a Protestant +cannot be dramatically projected without a pontifical antagonist. +The Young Siegfried led to The Valkyries, and that again to its +preface The Rhine Gold (the preface is always written after the +book is finished). Finally, of course, the whole was revised. The +revision, if carried out strictly, would have involved the cuttmg +out of Siegfried's Death, now become inconsistent and +superfluous; and that would have involved, in turn, the facing of +the fact that The Ring was no longer a Niblung epic, and really +demanded modern costumes, tall hats for Tarnhelms, factories for +Nibelheims, villas for Valhallas, and so on--in short, a complete +confession of the extent to which the old Niblung epic had become +the merest pretext and name directory in the course of Wagner's +travail. But, as Wagner's most eminent English interpreter once +put it to me at Bayreuth between the acts of Night Falls On The +Gods, the master wanted to "Lohengrinize" again after his long +abstention from opera; and Siegfried's Death (first sketched in +1848, the year before the rising in Dresden and the subsequent +events which so deepened Wagner's sense of life and the +seriousness of art) gave him exactly the libretto he required for +that outbreak of the old operatic Adam in him. So he changed it +into Die Gotterdammerung, retaining the traditional plot of +murder and jealousy, and with it, necessarily, his or~gmal second +act, in spite of the incongruity of its Siegfried and Brynhild +with the Siegfried and Brynhild of the allegory. As to the +legendary matter about the world-ash and the destruction of +Valhalla by Loki, it fitted in well enough; for though, +allegorically, the blow by which Siegfried breaks the god's spear +is the end of Wotan and of Valhalla, those who do not see the +allegory, and take the story literally, like children, are sure +to ask what becomes of Wotan after Siegfried gets past him up the +mountain; and to this question the old tale told in Night Falls +On The Gods is as good an answer as another. The very +senselessness of the scenes of the Norns and of Valtrauta in +relation to the three foregoing dramas, gives them a highly +effective air of mystery; and no one ventures to challenge their +consequentiality, because we are all more apt to pretend to +understand great works of art than to confess that the meaning +(if any) has escaped us. Valtrauta, however, betrays her +irrelevance by explaining that the gods can be saved by the +restoration of the ring to the Rhine maidens. This, considered as +part of the previous allegory, is nonsense; so that even this +scene, which has a more plausible air of organic connection with +The Valkyries than any other in Night Falls On The Gods, is as +clearly part of a different and earlier conception as the episode +which concludes it, in which Siegfried actually robs Brynhild of +her ring, though he has no recollection of having given it to +her. Night Falls On The Gods, in fact, was not even revised into +any real coherence with the world-poem which sprang from it; and +that is the authentic solution of all the controversies which +have arisen over it. + +The Third Act + +The hunting party comes off duly. Siegfried strays from it and +meets the Rhine maidens, who almost succeed in coaxing the ring +from him. He pretends to be afraid of his wife; and they chaff +him as to her beating him and so forth; but when they add that +the ring is accursed and will bring death upon him, he discloses +to them, as unconsciously as Julius Caesar disclosed it long ago, +that secret of heroism, never to let your life be shaped by fear +of its end.* So he keeps the ring; and they leave him to his +fate. The hunting party now finds him; and they all sit down +together to make a meal by the river side, Siegfried telling them +meanwhile the story of his adventures. When he approaches the +subject of Brynhild, as to whom his memory is a blank, Hagen +pours an antidote to the love philtre into his drinking horn, +whereupon, his memory returning, he proceeds to narrate the +incident of the fiery mountain, to Gunther's intense +mortification. Hagen then plunges his spear into the back of +Siegfried, who falls dead on his shield, but gets up again, after +the old operatic custom, to sing about thirty bars to his love +before allowing himself to be finally carried off to the strains +of the famous Trauermarsch. + +*"We must learn to die, and to die in the fullest sense of the +word. The fear of the end is the source of all lovelessness; and +this fear is generated only when love begins to wane. How came it +that this loves the highest blessedness to all things living, was +so far lost sight of by the human race that at last it came to +this: all that mankind did, ordered, and established, was +conceived only in fear of the end? My poem sets this forth."-- +Wagner to Roeckel, 25th Jan. 1854. + + +The scene then changes to the hall of the Gibichungs by the +Rhine. It is night; and Gutrune, unable to sleep, and haunted by +all sorts of vague terrors, is waiting for the return of her +husband, and wondering whether a ghostly figure she has seen +gliding down to the river bank is Brynhild, whose room is empty. +Then comes the cry of Hagen, returning with the hunting party to +announce the death of Siegfried by the tusk of a wild boar. But +Gutrune divines the truth; and Hagen does not deny it. +Siegfried's body is brought in; Gunther claims the ring; Hagen +will not suffer him to take it; they fight; and Gunther is slain. +Hagen then attempts to take it; but the dead man's hand closes on +it and raises itself threateningly. Then Brynhild comes; and a +funeral pyre is raised whilst she declaims a prolonged scene, +extremely moving and imposing, but yielding nothing to resolute +intellectual criticism except a very powerful and elevated +exploitation of theatrical pathos, psychologically identical with +the scene of Cleopatra and the dead Antony in Shakespeare's +tragedy. Finally she flings a torch into the pyre, and rides her +war-horse into the flames. The hall of the Gibichungs catches +fire, as most halls would were a cremation attempted in the +middle of the floor (I permit myself this gibe purposely to +emphasize the excessive artificiality of the scene); but the +Rhine overflows its banks to allow the three Rhine maidens to +take the ring from Siegfried's finger, incidentally extinguishing +the conflagration as it does so. Hagen attempts to snatch the +ring from the maidens, who promptly drown him; and in the distant +heavens the Gods and their castle are seen perishing in the fires +of Loki as the curtain falls. + +FORGOTTEN ERE FINISHED + +In all this, it will be observed, there is nothing new. The +musical fabric is enormously elaborate and gorgeous; but you +cannot say, as you must in witnessing The Rhme Gold, The +Valkyries, and the first two acts of Siegfried, that you have +never seen anything like it before, and that the inspiration is +entirely original. Not only the action, but most of the poetry, +might conceivably belong to an Elizabethan drama. The situation +of Cleopatra and Antony is unconsciously reproduced without being +bettered, or even equalled in point of majesty and musical +expression. The loss of al! simplicity and dignity, the +impossibility of any credible scenic presentation of the +incidents, and the extreme staginess of the conventions by which +these impossibilities are got over, are no doubt covered from the +popular eye by the overwhelming prestige of Die Gotterdammerung +as part of so great a work as The Ring, and by the extraordinary +storm of emotion and excitement which the music keeps up. But the +very qualities that intoxicate the novice in music enlighten the +adept. In spite of the fulness of the composer's technical +accomplishment, the finished style and effortless mastery of +harmony and instrumentation displayed, there is not a bar in the +work which moves us as the same themes moved us in The Valkyries, +nor is anything but external splendor added to the life and humor +of Siegfried. + +In the original poem, Brynhild delays her self-immolation on the +pyre of Siegfried to read the assembled choristers a homily on +the efficacy of the Love panacea. "My holiest wisdom's hoard," +she says, "now I make known to the world. I believe not in +property, nor money, nor godliness, nor hearth and high place, +nor pomp and peerage, nor contract and custom, but in Love. Let +that only prevail; and ye shall be blest in weal or woe." Here +the repudiations still smack of Bakoonin; but the saviour is no +longer the volition of the full-grown spirit of Man, the Free +Willer of Necessity, sword in hand, but simply Love, and not even +Shelleyan love, but vehement sexual passion. It is highly +significant of the extent to which this uxorious commonplace lost +its hold of Wagner (after disturbing his conscience, as he +confesses to Roeckel, for years) that it disappears in the full +score of Night Falls On The Gods, which was not completed until +he was on the verge of producing Parsifal, twenty years after the +publication of the poem. He cut the homily out, and composed the +music of the final scene with a flagrant recklessness of the old +intention. The rigorous logic with which representative musical +themes are employed in the earlier dramas is here abandoned +without scruple; and for the main theme at the conclusion he +selects a rapturous passage sung by Sieglinda in the third act of +The Valkyries when Brynhild inspires her with a sense of her high +destiny as the mother of the unborn hero. There is no dramatic +logic whatever in the recurrence of this theme to express the +transport in which Brynhild immolates herself. There is of course +an excuse for it, inasmuch as both women have an impulse of +self-sacrifice for the sake of Siegfried; but this is really +hardly more than an excuse; since the Valhalla theme might be +attached to Alberic on the no worse ground that both he and +Wotan are inspired by ambition, and that the ambition has the +same object, the possession of the ring. The common sense of the +matter is that the only themes which had fully retained their +significance in Wagner's memory at the period of the composition +of Night Falls On The Gods are those which are mere labels of +external features, such as the Dragon, the Fire, the Water and so +on. This particular theme of Sieglinda's is, in truth, of no +great musical merit: it might easily be the pet climax of a +popular sentimental ballad: in fact, the gushing effect which is +its sole valuable quality is so cheaply attained that it is +hardly going too far to call it the most trumpery phrase in the +entire tetralogy. Yet, since it undoubtedly does gush very +emphatically, Wagner chose, for convenience' sake, to work up +this final scene with it rather than with the more distinguished, +elaborate and beautiful themes connected with the love of +Brynhild and Siegfried. + +He would certainly not have thought this a matter of no +consequence had he finished the whole work ten years earlier. It +must always be borne in mind that the poem of The Ring was +complete and printed in 1853, and represents the sociological +ideas which, after germinating in the European atmosphere for +many years, had been brought home to Wagner, who was intensely +susceptible to such ideas, by the crash of 1849 at Dresden. Now +no man whose mind is alive and active, as Wagner's was to the day +of his death, can keep his political and spiritual opinions, much +less his philosophic consciousness, at a standstill for quarter +of a century until he finishes an orchestral score. When Wagner +first sketched Night Falls On The Gods he was 35. When he +finished the score for the first Bayreuth festival in 1876 he had +turned 60. No wonder he had lost his old grip of it and left it +behind him. He even tampered with The Rhine Gold for the sake of +theatrical effect when stage-managing it, making Wotan pick up +and brandish a sword to give visible point to his sudden +inspiration as to the raising up of a hero. The sword had first +to be discovered by Fafnir among the Niblung treasures and thrown +away by him as useless. There is no sense in this device; and its +adoption shows the same recklessness as to the original intention +which we find in the music of the last act of The Dusk of the +Gods.* + +*Die Gotterdammerung means literally Godsgloaming. The English +versions of the opera are usually called The Dusk of the Gods, or +The Twilight of the Gods. I have purposely introduced the +ordinary title in the sentence above for the reader's +information. + + + + +WHY HE CHANGED HIS MIND + +Wagner, however, was not the man to allow his grip of a great +philosophic theme to slacken even in twenty-five years if the +theme still held good as a theory of actual life. If the history +of Germany from 1849 to 1876 had been the history of Siegfried +and Wotan transposed into the key of actual life Night Falls On +The Gods would have been the logical consummation of Das +Rheingold and The Valkyrie instead of the operatic anachronism it +actually is. + +But, as a matter of fact, Siegfried did not succeed and Bismarck +did. Roeckel was a prisoner whose mposonment made no difference; +Bakoonin broke up, not Walhall, but the International, which +ended in an undignified quarrel between him and Karl Marx. The +Siegfrieds of 1848 were hopeless political failures, whereas the +Wotans and Alberics and Lows were conspicuous political +successes. Even the Mimes held their own as against Siegfried. +With the single exception of Ferdinand Lassalle, there was no +revolutionary leader who was not an obvious impossibilist in +practical politics; and Lassalle got himself killed in a romantic +and quite indefensible duel after wrecking his health in a +titanic oratorical campaign which convinced him that the great +majority of the working classes were not ready to join him, and +that the minority who were ready did not understand him. The +International, founded in 1861 by Karl Marx in London, and +mistaken for several years by nervous newspapers for a red +spectre, was really only a turnip ghost. It achieved some +beginnings of International Trade Unionism by inducing English +workmen to send money to support strikes on the continent, and +recalling English workers who had been taken across the North Sea +to defeat such strikes; but on its revolutionary socialistic side +it was a romantic figment. The suppression of the Paris Commune, +one of the most tragic examples in history of the pitilessness +with which capable practical administrators and soldiers are +forced by the pressure of facts to destroy romantic amateurs and +theatrical dreamers, made an end of melodramatic Socialism. It +was as easy for Marx to hold up Thiers as the most execrable of +living scoundrels and to put upon Gallifet the brand that still +makes him impossible in French politics as it was for Victor Hugo +to bombard Napoleon III from his paper battery in Jersey. It was +also easy to hold up Felix Pyat and Delescluze as men of much +loftier ideals than Thiers and Gallifet; but the one fact that +could not be denied was that when it came to actual shooting, it +was Gallifet who got Delescluze shot and not Delescluze who got +Gallifet shot, and that when it came to administering the affairs +of France, Thiers could in one way or another get it done, whilst +Pyat could neither do it nor stop talking and allow somebody else +to do it. True, the penalty of following Thiers was to be +exploited by the landlord and capitalist; but then the penalty of +following Pyat was to get shot like a mad dog, or at best get +sent to New Caledonia, quite unnecessarily and uselessly. + +To put it in terms of Wagner's allegory, Alberic had got the ring +back again and was marrying into the best Walhall families with +it. He had thought better of his old threat to dethrone Wotan and +Loki. He had found that Nibelheim was a very gloomy place and +that if he wanted to live handsomely and safely, he must not only +allow Wotan and Loki to organize society for him, but pay them +very handsomely for doing it. He wanted splendor, military glory, +loyalty, enthusiasm, and patriotism; and his greed and gluttony +were wholly unable to create them, whereas Wotan and Loki carried +them all to a triumphant climax in Germany in I87I, when Wagner +himself celebrated the event with his Kaisermarsch, which sounded +much more convincing than the Marseillaise or the Carmagnole. + +How, after the Kaisermarsch, could Wagner go back to his +idealization of Siegfried in 1853? How could he believe seriously +in Siegfried slaying the dragon and charging through the mountain +fire, when the immediate foreground was occupied by the Hotel de +Ville with Felix Pyat endlessly discussing the principles of +Socialism whilst the shells of Thiers were already battering the +Arc de Triomphe, and ripping up the pavement of the Champs +Elysees? Is it not clear that things had taken an altogether +unexpected turn--that although the Ring may, like the famous +Communist Manifesto of Marx and Engels, be an inspired guest at +the historic laws and predestined end of our +capitalistic-theocratic epoch, yet Wagner, like Marx, was too +inexperienced in technical government and administration and too +melodramatic in his hero-contra-villain conception of the class +struggle, to foresee the actual process by which his +generalization would work out, or the part to be played in it by +the classes involved? + +Let us go back for a moment to the point at which the Niblung +legend first becomes irreconcilable with Wagner's allegory. +Fafnir in the allegory becomes a capitalist; but Fafnir in the +legend is a mere hoarder. His gold does not bring him in any +revenue. It does not even support him: he has to go out and +forage for food and drink. In fact, he is on the way to his +drinking-pool when Siegfried kills him. And Siegfried himself has +no more use for gold than Fafnir: the only difference between +them in this respect is that Siegfried does not waste his time in +watching a barren treasure that is no use to him, whereas Fafnir +sacrifices his humanity and his life merely to prevent anybody +else getting it. This contrast is true to human nature; but it +shunts The Ring drama off the economic lines of the allegory. In +real life, Fafnir is not a miser: he seeks dividends, comfortable +life, and admission to the circles of Wotan and Loki. His only +means of procuring these is to restore the gold to Alberic in +exchange for scrip in Alberic's enterprises. Thus fortified with +capital, Alberic exploits his fellow dwarfs as before, and also +exploits Fafair's fellow giants who have no capital. What is +more, the toil, forethought and self-control which the +exploitation involves, and the self-respect and social esteem +which its success wins, effect an improvement in Alberic's own +character which neither Marx nor Wagner appear to have foreseen. +He discovers that to be a dull, greedy, narrow-minded +money-grubber is not the way to make money on a large scale; for +though greed may suffice to turn tens into hundreds and even +hundreds into thousands, to turn thousands into hundreds of +thousands requires magnanimity and a will to power rather than to +pelf. And to turn thousands into millions, Alberic must make +himself an earthly providence for masses of workmen: he must +create towns and govern markets. In the meantime, Fafair, +wallowing in dividends which he has done nothing to earn, may +rot, intellectually and morally, from mere disuse of his energies +and lack of incentive to excel; but the more imbecile he becomes, +the more dependent he is upon Alberic, and the more the +responsibility of keeping the world-machine in working order +falls upon Alberic. Consequently, though Alberic in Also may have +been merely the vulgar Manchester Factory-owner portrayed by +Engels, in 1876 he was well on the way towards becoming Krupp of +Essen or Carnegie of Homestead. + +Now, without exaggerating the virtues of these gentlemen, it will +be conceded by everybody except perhaps those veteran German +Social-Democrats who have made a cult of obsolescence under the +name of Marxism, that the modern entrepreneur is not to be +displaced and dismissed so lightly as Alberic is dismissed in The +Ring. They are really the masters of the whole situation. Wotan +is hardly less dependent on them than Fafnir; the War-Lord visits +their work, acclaims them in stirring speeches, and casts down +their enemies; whilst Loki makes commercial treaties for them and +subjects all his diplomacy to their approval. + +The end cannot come until Siegfried learns A1beric's trade and +shoulders Alberic's burden. Not having as yet done so, he is +still completely mastered by Alberic. He does not even rebel +against him except when he is too stupid and ignorant, or too +romantically impracticable, to see that Alberic's work, like +Wotan's work and Loki's work, is necessary work, and that +therefore Alberic can never be superseded by a warrior, but only +by a capable man of business who is prepared to continue his work +without a day's intermission. Even though the proletarians of all +lands were to become "class conscious," and obey the call of Marx +by uniting to carry the Class struggle to a proletarian victory +in which all capital should become common property, and all +Monarchs, Millionaires, Landlords and Capitalists become common +citizens, the triumphant proletarians would have either to starve +in Anarchy the next day or else do the political and industrial +work which is now being done tant bien que mal by our Romanoffs, +our Hohenzollerns, our Krupps, Carnegies, Levers, Pierpont +Morgans, and their political retinues. And in the meantime these +magnates must defend their power and property with all their +might against the revolutionary forces until these forces become +positive, executive, administrative forces, instead of the +conspiracies of protesting, moralizing, virtuously indignant +amateurs who mistook Marx for a man of affairs and Thiers for a +stage villain. But all this represents a development of which one +gathers no forecast from Wagner or Marx. Both of them prophesied +the end of our epoch, and, so far as one can guess, prophesied it +rightly. They also brought its industrial history up to the year +1848 far more penetratingly than the academic historians of their +time. But they broke off there and left a void between 1848 and +the end, in which we, who have to live in that period, get no +guidance from them. The Marxists wandered for years in this void, +striving, with fanatical superstition, to suppress the +Revisionists who, facing the fact that the Social-Democratic +party was lost, were trying to find the path by the light of +contemporary history instead of vainly consulting the oracle in +the pages of Das Kapital. Marx himself was too simpleminded a +recluse and too full of the validity of his remoter +generalizations, and the way in which the rapid integration of +capital in Trusts and Kartels was confirming them, to be +conscious of the void himself. + +Wagner, on the other hand, was comparatively a practical man. It +is possible to learn more of the world by producing a single +opera, or even conductmg a single orchestral rehearsal, than by +ten years reading in the Library of the British Museum. Wagner +must have learnt between Das Rheingold and the Kaisermarsch that +there are yet several dramas to be interpolated in The Ring after +The Valkyries before the allegory can tell the whole story, and +that the first of these interpolated dramas will be much more +like a revised Rienzi than like Siegfried. If anyone doubts the +extent to which Wagner's eyes had been opened to the +administrative-childishness and romantic conceit of the heroes of +the revolutionary generation that served its apprenticeship on +the barricades of 1848-9, and perished on those of 187@ under +Thiers' mitrailleuses, let him read Eine Kapitulation, that +scandalous burlesque in which the poet and composer of Siegfried, +with the levity of a schoolboy, mocked the French republicans who +were doing in 1871 what he himself was exiled for domg in 1849. +He had set the enthusiasm of the Dresden Revolution to his own +greatest music; but he set the enthusiasm of twenty years later +in derision to the music of Rossini. There is no mistaking the +tune he meant to suggest by his doggerel of Republik, Republik, +Republik-lik-lik. The Overture to Wilhelm Tell is there as +plainly as if it were noted down in full score. + +In the case of such a man as Wagner, you cannot explain this +volte-face as mere jingoism produced by Germany's overwhelming +victory in the Franco-Prussian War, nor as personal spite against +the Parisians for the Tannhauser fiasco. Wagner had more cause +for personal spite against his own countrymen than he ever had +against the French. No doubt his outburst gratified the pettier +feelings which great men have in common with small ones; but he +was not a man to indulge in such gratifications, or indeed to +feel them as gratifications, if he had not arrived at a profound +philosophical contempt for the inadequacy of the men who were +trying to wield Nothung, and who had done less work for Wagner's +own art than a single German King and he, too, only a mad one. +Wagner had by that time done too much himself not to know that +the world is ruled by deeds, not by good intentions, and that +one efficient sinner is worth ten futile saints and martyrs. + +I need not elaborate the point further in these pages. Like all +men of genius, Wagner had exceptional sincerity, exceptional +respect for facts, exceptional freedom from the hypnotic +influence of sensational popular movements, exceptional sense of +the realities of political power as distinguished from the +presences and idolatries behind which the real masters of modern +States pull their wires and train their guns. When he scored +Night Falls On The Gods, he had accepted the failure of Siegfried +and the triumph of the Wotan-Loki-Alberic-trinity as a fact. He +had given up dreaming of heroes, heroines, and final solutions, +and had conceived a new protagonist in Parsifal, whom he +announced, not as a hero, but as a fool; who was armed, not with +a sword which cut irresistibly, but with a spear which he held +only on condition that he did not use it; and who instead of +exulting in the slaughter of a dragon was frightfully ashamed of +having shot a swan. The change in the conception of the Deliverer +could hardly be more complete. It reflects the change which took +place in Wagner's mind between the composition of The Rhine Gold +and Night Falls On The Gods; and it explains why he dropped The +Ring allegory and fell back on the status quo ante by +Lohengrinizing. + +If you ask why he did not throw Siegfried into the waste paper +basket and rewrite The Ring from The Valkyries onwards, one must +reply that the time had not come for such a feat. Neither Wagner +nor anyone else then living knew enough to achieve it. Besides, +what he had already done had reached the omit of even his immense +energy and perseverance and so he did the best he could with the +unfinished and for ever unfinishable work, rounding it off with +an opera much as Rossini rounded off some of his religious +compositions with a galop. Only, Rossini on such occasions wrote +in his score "Excusez du pen," but Wagner left us to find out the +change for ourselves, perhaps to test how far we had really +followed his meaning. + + + +WAGNER'S OWN EXPLANATION + +And now, having given my explanation of The Ring, can I give +Wagner's explanation of it? If I could (and I can) I should not +by any means accept it as conclusive. Nearly half a century has +passed smce the tetralogy was written; and in that time the +purposes of many half instinctive acts of genius have become +clearer to the common man than they were to the doers. Some years +ago, in the course of an explanation of Ibsen's plays, I pointed +out that it was by no means certain or even likely that Ibsen was +as definitely conscious of his thesis as I. All the stupid +people, and some critics who, though not stupid, had not +themselves written what the Germans call "tendency" works, saw +nothing in this but a fantastic affectation of the extravagant +self-conceit of knowing more about Ibsen than Ibsen himself. +Fortunately, in taking exactly the same position now with regard +to Wagner, I can claim his own authority to support me. "How," he +wrote to Roeckel on the 23rd. August 1856, "can an artist expect +that what he has felt intuitively should be perfectly realized by +others, seeing that he himself feels in the presence of his work, +if it is true Art, that he is confronted by a riddle, about which +he, too, might have illusions, just as another might?" + +The truth is, we are apt to deify men of genius, exactly as we +deify the creative force of the universe, by attributing to +logical design what is the result of blind instinct. What Wagner +meant by "true Art" is the operation of the artist's instinct, +which is just as blind as any other instinct. Mozart, asked for +an explanation of his works, said frankly "How do I know?" +Wagner, being a philosopher and critic as well as a composer, was +always looking for moral explanations of what he had created) and +he hit on several very striking ones, all different. In the same +way one can conceive Henry the Eighth speculating very +brilliantly about the circulation of his own blood without +getting as near the truth as Harvey did long after his death. + +None the less, Wagner's own explanations are of exceptional +interest. To begin with, there is a considerable portion of The +Ring, especially the portraiture of our capitalistic industrial +system from the socialist's point of new in the slavery of the +Niblungs and the tyranny of Alberic, which is unmistakable, as it +dramatizes that portion of human activity which lies well within +the territory covered by our intellectual consciousness. All this +is concrete Home Office business, so to speak: its meaning was as +clear to Wagner as it is to us. Not so that part of the work +which deals with the destiny of Wotan. And here, as it happened, +Wagner's recollection of what he had been driving at was +completely upset by his discovery, soon after the completion of +The Ring poem, of Schopenhaur's famous treatise "The World as +Will and Representation." So obsessed did he become with this +masterpiece of philosophic art that he declared that it contained +the intellectual demonstration of the conflict of human forces +which he himself had demonstrated artistically in his great poem. +"I must confess," he writes to Roeckel, "to having arrived at a +clear understanding of my own works of art through the help of +another, who has provided me with the reasoned conceptions +corresponding to my intuitive principles." + +Schopenhaur, however, had done nothing of the sort. Wagner's +determination to prove that he had been a Schopenhaurite all +along without knowing it only shows how completely the +fascination of the great treatise on The Will had run away with +his memory. It is easy to see how this happened. Wagner says of +himself that "seldom has there taken place in the soul of one and +the same man so profound a division and estrangement between the +intuitive or impulsive part of his nature and his consciously or +reasonably formed ideas." And since Schopenhaur's great +contribution to modern thought was to educate us into clear +consciousness of this distinction--a distinction familiar, in a +fanciful way, to the Ages of Faith and Art before the Renascence, +but afterwards swamped in the Rationalism of that movement--it +was inevitable that Wagner should jump at Schopenhaur's +metaphysiology (I use a word less likely to be mistaken than +metaphysics) as the very thing for him. But metaphysiology is one +thing, political philosophy another. The political philosophy of +Siegfried is exactly contrary to the political philosphy of +Schopenhaur, although the same clear metaphysiological +distinction between the instinctive part of man (his Will) and +his reasoning faculty (dramatized in The Ring as Loki) is +insisted on in both. The difference is that to Schopenhaur the +Will is the universal tormentor of man, the author of that great +evil, Life; whilst reason is the divine gift that is finally to +overcome this life-creating will and lead, through its +aboegation, to cessation and peace, annihilation and Nirvana. +This is the doctrine of Pessimism. Now Wagner was, when he wrote +The Ring, a most sanguine revolutionary Meliorist, contemptuous +of the reasoning faculty, which he typified in the shifty, +unreal, delusive Loki, and full of faith in the life-giving Will, +which he typified in the glorious Siegfried. Not until he read +Schopenhaur did he become bent on proving that he had always been +a Pessimist at heart, and that Loki was the most sensible and +worthy adviser of Wotan in The Rhine Gold. + +Sometimes he faces the change in his opinions frankly enough. "My +Niblung drama," he writes to Roeckel, "had taken form at a time +when I had built up with my reason an optimistic world on +Hellenic principles, believing that nothing was necessary for the +realization of such a world but that men should wish it. I +ingeniously set aside-the problem why they did not wish it. I +remember that it was with this definite creative purpose that I +conceived the personality of Siegfried, with the intention of +representing an existence free from pain." But he appeals to his +earlier works to show that behind all these artificial optimistic +ideas there was always with him an intuition of "the sublime +tragedy of renunciation, the negation of the will." In trying to +explain this, he s full of ideas philosophically, and full of the +most amusing contradictions personally. Optimism, as an +accidental excursion into the barren paths of reason on his own +part, he calls "Hellenic." In others he denounces it as rank +Judaism, the Jew having at that time become for him the whipping +boy for all modern humamty. In a letter from London he expounds +Schopenhaur to Roeckel with enthusiasm, preaching the +renunciation of the Will to Live as the redemption from all error +and vain pursuits: in the next letter he resumes the subject with +unabated interest, and fin~shes by mentioning that on leaving +London he went to Geneva and underwent "a most beneficial course +of hydropathy." Seven months before this he had written as +follows: "Believe me, I too was once possessed by the idea of a +country life. In order to become a radically healthy human being, +I went two years ago to a Hydropathic Establishment, prepared to +give up Art and everything f I could once more become a child of +Nature. But, my good friend, I was obliged to laugh at my own +naivete when I found myself almost going mad. None of us will +reach the promised land: we shall all die in the wilderness. +Intellect is, as some one has said, a sort of disease: it is +incurable. + +Roeckel knew his man of old, and evidently pressed him for +explanations of the inconsistencies of The Ring with Night Falls +On The Gods. Wagner defended himself with unfailing cleverness +and occasional petulances, ranging from such pleas as "I believe +a true instinct has kept me from a too great definiteness; for it +has been borne in on me that an absolute disclosure of the +intention disturbs true insight," to a volley of explanations and +commentaries on the explanations. He gets excited and annoyed +because Roeckel will not admire the Brynhild of Night Falls On +The Gods; re-invents the Tarnhelm scene; and finally, the case +being desperate, exclaims, "It is wrong of you to challenge me to +explain it in words: you must feel that something is being +enacted that is not to be expressed in mere words." + +THE PESSIMIST AS AMORIST + +Sometimes he gets very far away from Pessimism indeed, and +recommends Roeckel to solace his captivity, not by conquering the +will to live at liberty, but by "the inspiring influences of the +Beautiful." The next moment he throws over even Art for Life. +"Where life ends," he says, very wittily, "Art begins. In youth +we turn to Art, we know not why; and only when we have gone +through with Art and come out on the other side, we learn to our +cost that we have missed Life itself." His only comfort is that +he is beloved. And on the subject of love he lets himself loose +in a manner that would have roused the bitterest scorn in +Schopenhaur, though, as we have seen (Love Panacea), it is highly +characteristic of Wagner. "Love in its most perfect reality," he +says, "is only possible between the sexes: it is only as man and +woman that human beings can truly love. Every other manifestation +of love can be traced back to that one absorbingly real feeling, +of which all other affections are but an emanation, a connection, +or an imitation. It is an error to look on this as only one of +the forms in which love is revealed, as if there were other forms +coequal with it, or even superior to it. He who after the manner +of metaphysicians prefers UNREALITY to REALITY, and derives the +concrete from the abstract--in short, puts the word before the +fact--may be right in esteeming the idea of love as higher than +the expression of love, and may affirm that actual love made +manifest in feeling is nothing but the outward and visible sign +of a pre-existent, non-sensuous, abstract love; and he will do +well to despise that sensuous function in general. In any case it +were safe to bet that such a man had never loved or been loved as +human beings can love, or he would have understood that in +despising this feeling, what he condemned was its sensual +expression, the outcome of man's animal nature, and not true +human love. The highest satisfaction and expression of the +individual is only to be found in his complete absorption, and +that is only possible through love. Now a human being is both MAN +and WOMAN: it is only when these two are united that the real +human being exists; and thus it is only by love that man and +woman attain to the full measure of humanity. But when nowadays +we talk of a human being, such heartless blockheads are we that +quite involuntarily we only think of man. It is only in the umon +of man and woman by love (sensuous and supersensuous) that the +human being exists; and as the human being cannot rise to the +conception of anything higher than his own existence--his own +being--so the transcendent act of his life is this consummation +of his humanity through love." + +It is clear after this utterance from the would-be +Schopenhaurian, that Wagner's explanations of his works for the +most part explain nothing but the mood in which he happened to be +on the day he advanced them, or the train of thought suggested to +his very susceptible imagination and active mind by the points +raised by his questioner. Especially in his private letters, +where his outpourings are modified by his dramatic consciousness +of the personality of his correspondent, do we find him taking +all manner of positions, and putting forward all sorts of cases +which must be taken as clever and suggestive special pleadings, +and not as serious and permanent expositions of his works. These +works must speak for themselves: if The Ring says one thing, and +a letter written afterwards says that it said something else, The +Ring must be taken to confute the letter just as conclusively as +if the two had been written by different hands. However, nobody +fairly well acquainted with Wagner's utterances as a whole will +find any unaccountable contradictions in them. As in all men of +his type, our manifold nature was so marked in him that he was +like several different men rolled into one. When he had exhausted +himself in the character of the most pugnacious, aggressive, and +sanguine of reformers, he rested himself as a Pessimist and +Ninanist. In The Ring the quietism of Brynhild's "Rest, rest, +thou God" is sublime in its deep conviction; but you have only to +turn back the pages to find the irrepressible bustle of Siegfried +and the revelry of the clansmen expressed with equal zest. Wagner +was not a Schopenhaurite every day in the week, nor even a +Wagnerite. His mind changes as often as his mood. On Monday +nothing will ever induce him to return to quilldriving: on +Tuesday he begins a new pamphlet. On Wednesday he is impatient of +the misapprehensions of people who cannot see how impossible it +is for him to preside as a conductor over platform performances +of fragments of his works, which can only be understood when +presented strictly according to his intention on the stage: on +Thursday he gets up a concert of Wagnerian selections, and when +it is over writes to his friends describing how profoundly both +bandsmen and audience were impressed. On Friday he exults in the +self-assertion of Siegfried's will against all moral ordinances, +and is full of a revolutionary sense of "the universal law of +change and renewal": on Saturday he has an attack of holiness, +and asks, "Can you conceive a moral action of which the root idea +is not renunciation?" In short, Wagner can be quoted against +himself almost without limit, much as Beethoven's adagios could +be quoted against his scherzos if a dispute arose between two +fools as to whether he was a melancholy man or a merry one. + + + +THE MUSIC OF THE RING + +THE REPRESENTATIVE THEMES + +To be able to follow the music of The Ring, all that is necessary +is to become familiar enough with the brief musical phrases out +of which it is built to recognize them and attach a certain +definite significance to them, exactly as any ordinary Englishman +recognizes and attaches a definite significance to the opening +bars of God Save the King. There is no difficulty here: every +soldier is expected to learn and distinguish between different +bugle calls and trumpet calls; and anyone who can do this can +learn and distinguish between the representative themes or +"leading motives" (Leitmotifs) of The Ring. They are the easier +to learn because they are repeated agam and agam; and the main +ones are so emphatically impressed on the ear whilst the +spectator is looking for the first time at the objects, or +witnessing the first strong dramatic expression of the ideas they +denote, that the requisite association is formed unconsciously. +The themes are neither long, nor complicated, nor difficult. +Whoever can pick up the flourish of a coach-horn, the note of a +bird, the rhythm of the postman's knock or of a horse's gallop, +will be at no loss in picking up the themes of The Ring. No +doubt, when it comes to forming the necessary mental association +with the theme, it may happen that the spectator may find his ear +conquering the tune more easily than his mind conquers the +thought. But for the most part the themes do not denote thoughts +at all, but either emotions of a quite simple universal kind, or +the sights, sounds and fancies common enough to be familiar to +children. Indeed some of them are as frankly childish as any of +the funny little orchestral interludes which, in Haydn's +Creation, introduce the horse, the deer, or the worm. We have +both the horse and the worm in The Ring, treated exactly in +Haydn's manner, and with an effect not a whit less ridiculous to +superior people who decline to take it good-humoredly. Even the +complaisance of good Wagnerites is occasionally rather +overstrained by the way in which Brynhild's allusions to her +charger Grani elicit from the band a little rum-ti-tum triplet +which by itself is in no way suggestive of a horse, although a +continuous rush of such triplets makes a very exciting musical +gallop. + +Other themes denote objects which cannot be imitatively suggested +by music: for instance, music cannot suggest a ring, and cannot +suggest gold; yet each of these has a representative theme which +pervades the score in all directions. In the case of the gold the +association is established by the very salient way in which the +orchestra breaks into the pretty theme in the first act of The +Rhine Gold at the moment when the sunrays strike down through the +water and light up the glittering treasure, "hitherto invisible. +The reference of the strange little theme of the wishing cap is +equally manifest from the first, since the spectator's attention +is wholly taken up with the Tarnhelm and its magic when the theme +is first pointedly uttered by the orchestra. The sword theme is +introduced at the end of The Rhine Gold to express Wotan's hero +inspiration; and I have already mentioned that Wagner, unable, +when it came to practical stage management, to forego the appeal +to the eye as well as to the thought, here made Wotan pick up a +sword and brandish it, though no such instruction appears in the +printed score. When this sacrifice to Wagner's scepticism as to +the reality of any appeal to an audience that is not made through +their bodily sense is omitted, the association of the theme with +the sword is not formed until that point in the first act of The +Valkyries at which Siegmund is left alone by Hunding's hearth, +weaponless, with the assurance that he will have to fight for his +life at dawn with his host. He recalls then how his father +promised him a sword for his hour of need; and as he does so, a +flicker from the dying fire is caught by the golden hilt of the +sword in the tree, when the theme immediately begins to gleam +through the quiver of sound from the orchestra, and only dies out +as the fire sinks and the sword is once more hidden by the +darkness. Later on, this theme, which is never silent whilst +Sieglinda is dwelling on the story of the sword, leaps out into +the most dazzling splendor the band can give it when Siegmund +triumphantly draws the weapon from the tree. As it consists of +seven notes only, with a very marked measure, and a melody like a +simple flourish on a trumpet or post horn, nobody capable of +catching a tune can easily miss it. + +The Valhalla theme, sounded with solemn grandeur as the home of +the gods first appears to us and to Wotan at the beginning of the +second scene of The Rhine Gold, also cannot be mistaken. It, too, +has a memorable rhythm; and its majestic harmonies, far from +presenting those novel or curious problems in polyphony of which +Wagner still stands suspected by superstitious people, are just +those three simple chords which festive students who vamp +accompaniments to comic songs "by ear" soon find sufficient for +nearly all the popular tunes in the world. + +On the other hand, the ring theme, when it begins to hurtle +through the third scene of The Rhine Gold, cannot possibly be +referred to any special feature in the general gloom and turmoil +of the den of the dwarfs. It is not a melody, but merely the +displaced metric accent which musicians call syncopation, rung on +the notes of the familiar chord formed by piling three minor +thirds on top of one another (technically, the chord of the minor +ninth, ci-devant diminished seventh). One soon picks it up and +identifies it; but it does not get introduced in the +unequivocally clear fashion of the themes described above, or of +that malignant monstrosity, the theme which denotes the curse on +the gold. Consequently it cannot be said that the musical design +of the work is perfectly clear at the first hearing as regards +all the themes; but it is so as regards most of them, the main +lines being laid down as emphatically and intelligibly as the +dramatic motives in a Shakespearean play. As to the coyer +subtleties of the score, their discovery provides fresh interest +for repeated hearings, giving The Ring a Beethovenian +inexhaustibility and toughness of wear. + +The themes associated with the individual characters get stamped +on the memory easily by the simple association of the sound of +the theme with the appearance of the person indicated. Its +appropriateness is generally pretty obvious. Thus, the entry of +the giants Is made to a vigorous stumping, tramping measure. +Mimmy, being a quaint, weird old creature, has a quaint, weird +theme of two thin chords that creep down eerily one to the other. +Gutrune's theme is pretty and caressing: Gunther's bold, rough, +and commonplace. It is a favorite trick of Wagner's, when one of +his characters is killed on the stage, to make the theme attached +to that character weaken, fail, and fade away with a broken echo +into silence. + +THE CHARACTERIZATION + +All this, however, is the mere child's play of theme work. The +more complex characters, instead of having a simple musical label +attached to them, have their characteristic ideas and aspirations +identified with special representative themes as they come into +play in the drama; and the chief merit of the thematic structure +of The Ring is the mastery with which the dramatic play of the +ideas is reflected in the contrapuntal play of the themes. We do +not find Wotan, like the dragon or the horse, or, for the matter +of that, like the stage demon in Weber's Freischutz or +Meyerbeer's Robert the Devil, with one fixed theme attached to +him like a name plate to an umbrella, blaring unaltered from the +orchestra whenever he steps on the stage. Sometimes we have the +Valhalla theme used to express the greatness of the gods as an +idea of Wotan's. Again, we have his spear, the symbol of his +power, identified with another theme, on which Wagner finally +exercises his favorite device by making it break and fail, cut +through, as it were, by the tearing sound of the theme identified +with the sword, when Siegfried shivers the spear with the stroke +of Nothung. Yet another theme connected with Wotan is the +Wanderer music which breaks with such a majestic reassurance on +the nightmare terror of Mimmy when Wotan appears at the mouth of +his cave in the scene of the three riddles. Thus not only are +there several Wotan themes, but each varies in its inflexions and +shades of tone color according to its dramatic circumstances. So, +too, the merry ham tune of the young Siegfried changes its +measure, loads itself with massive harmonies, and becomes an +exordium of the most imposing splendor when it heralds his entry +as full-fledged hero in the prologue to Night Falls On The Gods. +Even Mimmy has his two or three themes: the weird one already +described; the little one in triple measure imitating the tap of +his hammer, and fiercely mocked in the savage laugh of Alberic at +his death; and finally the crooning tune in which he details all +his motherly kindnesses to the little foundling Siegfried. +Besides this there are all manner of little musical blinkings and +shamblings and whinings, the least hint of which from the +orchestra at any moment instantly brings Mimmy to mind, whether +he is on the stage at the time or not. + +In truth, dramatic characterization in music cannot be carried +very far by the use of representative themes. Mozart, the +greatest of all masters of this art, never dreamt of employing +them; and, extensively as they are used in The Ring, they do not +enable Wagner to dispense with the Mozartian method. Apart from +the themes, Siegfried and Mimmy are still as sharply +distinguished from one another by the character of their music as +Don Giovanni from Leporello, Wotan from Gutrune as Sarastro from +Papagena. It is true that the themes attached to the characters +have the same musical appropriateness as the rest of the music: +for example, neither the Valhalla nor the spear themes could, +without the most ludicrous incongruity, be used for the forest +bird or the unstable, delusive Loki; but for all that the musical +characterization must be regarded as independent of the specific +themes, since the entire elimination of the thematic system from +the score would leave the characters as well distinguished +musically as they are at present. + +One more illustration of the way in which the thematic system is +worked. There are two themes connected with Loki. One is a rapid, +sinuous, twisting, shifty semiquaver figure suggested by the +unsubstantial, elusive logic-spinning of the clever one's +braincraft. The other is the fire theme. In the first act of +Siegfried, Mimmy makes his unavailing attempt to explain fear to +Siegfried. With the horror fresh upon him of the sort of +nightmare into which he has fallen after the departure of the +Wanderer, and which has taken the form, at once fanciful and +symbolic, of a delirious dread of light, he asks Siegfried +whether he has never, whilst wandering in the forest, had his +heart set hammering in frantic dread by the mysterious lights of +the gloaming. To this, Siegfried, greatly astonished, replies +that on such occasions his heart is altogether healthy and his +sensations perfectly normal Here Mimmy's question is accompanied +by the tremulous sounding of the fire theme with its harmonies +most oppressively disturbed and troubled; whereas with +Siegfried's reply they become quite clear and straightforward, +making the theme sound bold, brilliant, and serene. This is a +typical instance of the way in which the themes are used. + +The thematic system gives symphonic interest, reasonableness, and +unity to the music, enabling the composer to exhaust every aspect +and quality of his melodic material, and, in Beethoven's manner, +to work miracles of beauty, expression and significance with the +briefest phrases. As a set-off against this, it has led Wagner to +indulge in repetitions that would be intolerable in a purely +dramatic work. Almost the first thing that a dramatist has to +learn in constructing a play is that the persons must not come on +the stage in the second act and tell one another at great length +what the audience has already seen pass before its eyes in the +first act. The extent to which Wagner has been seduced into +violating this rule by his affection for his themes is startling +to a practiced playwright. Siegfried inherits from Wotan a mania +for autobiography which leads him to inflict on every one he +meets the story of Mimmy and the dragon, although the audience +have spent a whole evening witnessing the events he is narrating. +Hagen tells the story to Gunther; and that same night Alberic's +ghost tells it over again to Hagen, who knows it already as well +as the audience. Siegfried tells the Rhine maidens as much of it +as they will listen to, and then keeps telling it to his hunting +companions until they kill him. Wotan's autobiography on the +second evening becomes his biography in the mouths of the Norns +on the fourth. The little that the Norns add to it is repeated an +hour later by Valtrauta. How far all this repetition is tolerable +is a matter of individual taste. A good story will bear +repetition; and if it has woven into it such pretty tunes as the +Rhine maidens' yodel, Mimmy's tinkling anvil beat, the note of +the forest bird, the call of Siegfried's horn, and so on, it will +bear a good deal of rehearing. Those who have but newly learnt +their way through The Ring will not readily admit that there is a +bar too much repetition. + +But how if you find some anti-Wagnerite raising the question +whether the thematic system does not enable the composer to +produce a music drama with much less musical fertility than was +required from his predecessors for the composition of operas +under the old system! + +Such discussions are not within the scope of this little book. +But as the book is now finished (for really nothing more need be +said about The Ring), I am quite willing to add a few pages of +ordinary musical criticism, partly to please the amateurs who +enjoy that sort of reading, and partly for the guidance of those +who wish to obtain some hints to help them through such critical +small talk about Wagner and Bayreuth as may be forced upon them +at the dinner table or between the acts. + + + + THE OLD AND THE NEW MUSIC + +In the old-fashioned opera every separate number involved the +composition of a fresh melody; but it is quite a mistake to +suppose that this creative-effort extended continuously +throughout the number from the first to the last bar. When a +musician composes according to a set metrical pattern, the +selection of the pattern and the composition of the first stave +(a stave in music corresponds to a line in verse) generally +completes the creative effort. All the rest follows more or less +mechanically to fill up the pattern, an air being very like a +wall-paper design in this respect. Thus the second stave is +usually a perfectly obvious consequence of the first; and the +third and fourth an exact or very slightly varied repetition of +the first and second. For example, given the first line of Pop +Goes the Weasel or Yankee Doodle, any musical cobbler could +supply the remaining three. There is very little tune turning of +this kind in The Ring; and it is noteworthy that where it does +occur, as in Siegmund's spring song and Mimmy's croon, "Ein +zullendes Kind," the effect of the symmetrical staves, recurring +as a mere matter of form, is perceptibly poor and platitudinous +compared with the free flow of melody which prevails elsewhere. + +The other and harder way of composing is to take a strain of free +melody, and ring every variety of change of mood upon it as if it +were a thought that sometimes brought hope, sometimes melancholy, +sometimes exultation, sometimes raging despair and so on. To take +several themes of this kind, and weave them together into a rich +musical fabric passing panoramically before the ear with a +continually varying flow of sentiment, is the highest feat of the +musician: it is in this way that we get the fugue of Bach and the +symphony of Beethoven. The admittedly inferior musician is the +one who, like Auber and Offenbach, not to mention our purveyors +of drawing-room ballads, can produce an unlimited quantity of +symmetrical tunes, but cannot weave themes symphonically. + +When this is taken into account, it will be seen that the fact +that there is a great deal of repetition in The Ring does not +distinguish it from the old-fashioned operas. The real difference +is that in them the repetition was used for the mechanical +completion of conventional metric patterns, whereas in The Ring +the recurrence of the theme is an intelligent and interesting +consequence of the recurrence of the dramatic phenomenon which it +denotes. It should be remembered also that the substitution of +symphonically treated themes for tunes with symmetrical eight-bar +staves and the like, has always been the rule in the highest +forms of music. To describe it, or be affected by it, as an +abandonment of melody, is to confess oneself an ignoramus +conversant only with dance tunes and ballads. + +The sort of stuff a purely dramatic musician produces when he +hampers himself with metric patterns in composition is not unlike +what might have resulted in literature if Carlyle (for example) +had been compelled by convention to write his historical stories +in rhymed stanzas. That is to say, it limits his fertility to an +occasional phrase, and three quarters of the time exercises only +his barren ingenuity in fitting rhymes and measures to it. In +literature the great masters of the art have long emancipated +themselves from metric patterns. Nobody claims that the hierarchy +of modern impassioned prose writers, from Bunyan to Ruskin, +should be placed below the writers of pretty lyrics, from Herrick +to Mr. Austin Dobson. Only in dramatic literature do we find the +devastating tradition of blank verse still lingering, giving +factitious prestige to the platitudes of dullards, and robbing +the dramatic style of the genuine poet of its full natural +endowment of variety, force and simplicity. + +This state of things, as we have seen, finds its parallel in +musical art, since music can be written in prose themes or in +versified tunes; only here nobody dreams of disputing the greater +difficulty of the prose forms, and the comparative triviality of +versification. Yet in dramatic music, as in dramatic literature, +the tradition of versification clings with the same pernicious +results; and the opera, like the tragedy, is conventionally made +like a wall paper. The theatre seems doomed to be in all things +the last refuge of the hankering after cheap prettiness in art. + +Unfortunately this confusion of the decorative with the dramatic +element in both literature and music is maintained by the example +of great masters in both arts. Very touching dramatic expression +can be combined with decorative symmetry of versification when +the artist happens to possess both the decorative and dramatic +gifts, and to have cultivated both hand in hand. Shakespeare and +Shelley, for instance, far from being hampered by the +conventional obligation to write their dramas in verse, found it +much the easiest and cheapest way of producing them. But if +Shakespeare had been compelled by custom to write entirely in +prose, all his ordinary dialogue might have been as good as the +first scene of As You Like It; and all his lofty passages as fine +as "What a piece of work is Man!", thus sparing us a great deal +of blank verse in which the thought is commonplace, and the +expression, though catchingly turned, absurdly pompous. The Cent +might either have been a serious drama or might never have been +written at all if Shelley had not been allowed to carry off its +unreality by Elizabethan versification. Still, both poets have +achieved many passages in which the decorative and dramatic +qualities are not only reconciled, but seem to enhance one +another to a pitch otherwise unattainable. + +Just so in music. When we find, as in the case of Mozart, a +prodigiously gifted and arduously trained musician who is also, +by a happy accident, a dramatist comparable to Mohere, the +obligation to compose operas in versified numbers not only does +not embarrass him, but actually saves him trouble and thought. No +matter what his dramatic mood may be, he expresses it in +exquisite musical verses more easily than a dramatist of ordinary +singleness of talent can express it in prose. Accordingly, he +too, like Shakespeare and Shelley,leaves versified airs, like +Dalla sua pace, or Gluck's Che fare senza Euridice, or Weber's +Leise, leise, which are as dramatic from the first note to the +last as the untrammelled themes of The Ring. In consequence, it +used to be professorially demanded that all dramatic music should +present the same double aspect. The demand was unreasonable, +since symmetrical versification is no merit in dramatic music: +one might as well stipulate that a dinner fork should be +constructed so as to serve also as a tablecloth. It was an +ignorant demand too, because it is not true that the composers +of these exceptional examples were always, or even often, able to +combine dramatic expression with symmetrical versification. Side +by side with Dalla sua pace we have Il mio tesoro and Non mi dir, +in which exquisitely expressive opening phrases lead to +decorative passages which are as grotesque from the dramatic +point of view as the music which Alberic sings when he is +slipping and sneezing in the Rhine mud is from the decorative +point of view. Further, there is to be considered the mass of +shapeless "dry recitative" which separates these symmetrical +numbers, and which might have been raised to considerable +dramatic and musical importance had it been incorporated into a +continuous musical fabric by thematic treatment. Finally, +Mozart's most dramatic finales and concerted numbers are more or +less in sonata form, like symphonic movements, and must therefore +be classed as musical prose. And sonata form dictates repetitions +and recapitulations from which the perfectly unconventional form +adopted by Wagner is free. On the whole, there is more scope for +both repetition and convention in the old form than in the new; +and the poorer a composer's musical gift is, the surer he is to +resort to the eighteenth century patterns to eke out his +invention. + + + +THE NINETEENTH CENTURY + +When Wagner was born in 1813, music had newly become the most +astonishing, the most fascinating, the most miraculous art in the +world. Mozart's Don Giovanni had made all musical Europe +conscious of the enchantments of the modern orchestra and of the +perfect adaptability of music to the subtlest needs of the +dramatist. Beethoven had shown how those inarticulate mood-poems +which surge through men who have, like himself, no exceptional +command of words, can be written down in music as symphonies. Not +that Mozart and Beethoven invented these applications of their +art; but they were the first whose works made it clear that the +dramatic and subjective powers of sound were enthralling enough +to stand by themselves quite apart from the decorative musical +structures of which they had hitherto been a mere feature. After +the finales in Figaro and Don Giovanni, the possibility of +the modern music drama lay bare. After the symphonies of +Beethoven it was certain that the poetry that lies too deep for +words does not lie too deep for music, and that the vicissitudes +of the soul, from the roughest fun to the loftiest aspiration, +can make symphonies without the aid of dance tunes. As much, +perhaps, will be claimed for the preludes and fugues of Bach; but +Bach's method was unattainable: his compositions were wonderful +webs of exquisitely beautiful Gothic traceries in sound, quite +beyond all ordinary human talent. Beethoven's far blunter craft +was thoroughly popular and practicable: not to save his soul +could he have drawn one long Gothic line in sound as Bach could, +much less have woven several of them together with so apt a +harmony that even when the composer is unmoved its progressions +saturate themselves with the emotion which (as modern critics are +a little apt to forget) springs as warmly from our delicately +touched admiration as from our sympathies, and sometimes makes us +give a composer credit for pathetic intentions which he does not +entertain, just as a boy imagines a treasure of tenderness and +noble wisdom in the beauty of a woman. Besides, Bach set comic +dialogue to music exactly as he set the recitatives of the +Passion, there being for him, apparently, only one recitative +possible, and that the musically best. He reserved the expression +of his merry mood for the regular set numbers in which he could +make one of his wonderful contrapuntal traceries of pure ornament +with the requisite gaiety of line and movement. Beethoven bowed +to no ideal of beauty: he only sought the expression for his +feeling. To him a joke was a joke; and if it sounded funny in +music he was satisfied. Until the old habit of judging all music +by its decorative symmetry had worn out, musicians were shocked +by his symphonies, and, misunderstanding his integrity, openly +questioned his sanity. But to those who were not looking for +pretty new sound patterns, but were longing for the expression of +their moods in music, he achieved revelation, because, being +single in his aim to express his own moods, he anticipated with +revolutionary courage and frankness all the moods of the rising +generations of the nineteenth century. + +The result was inevitable. In the nineteenth century it was no +longer necessary to be a born pattern designer in sound to be a +composer. One had but to be a dramatist or a poet completely +susceptible to the dramatic and descriptive powers of sound. A +race of literary and theatrical musicians appeared; and +Meyerbeer, the first of them, made an extraordinary impression. +The frankly delirious description of his Robert the Devil in +Balzac's short story entitled Gambra, and Goethe's astonishingly +mistaken notion that he could have composed music for Faust, show +how completely the enchantments of the new dramatic music upset +the judgment of artists of eminent discernment. Meyerbeer was, +people said (old gentlemen still say so in Paris), the successor +of Beethoven: he was, if a less perfect musician than Mozart, a +profounder genius. Above all, he was original and daring. Wagner +himself raved about the duet in the fourth act of Les Huguenots +as wildly as anyone. + +Yet all this effect of originality and profundity was produced by +a quite limited talent for turning striking phrases, exploiting +certain curious and rather catching rhythms and modulations, and +devising suggestive or eccentric instrumentation. On its +decorative side, it was the same phenomenon in music as the +Baroque school in architecture: an energetic struggle to enliven +organic decay by mechanical oddities and novelties. Meyerbeer was +no symphonist. He could not apply the thematic system to his +striking phrases, and so had to cobble them into metric patterns +in the old style; and as he was no "absolute musician" either, he +hardly got his metric patterns beyond mere quadrille tunes, which +were either wholly undistinguished, or else made remarkable by +certain brusqueries which, in the true rococo manner, owed their +singularity to their senselessness. He could produce neither a +thorough music drama nor a charming opera. But with all this, and +worse, Meyerbeer had some genuine dramatic energy, and even +passion; and sometimes rose to the occasion in a manner which, +whilst the imagination of his contemporaries remained on fire +with the novelties of dramatic music, led them to overrate him +with an extravagance which provoked Wagner to conduct a long +critical campaign against his leadership. Thirty years ago this +campaign was mentably ascribed to the professional jealousy of a +disappointed rival. Nowadays young people cannot understand how +anyone could ever have taken Meyerbeer's influence seriously. +Those who remember how his reputation stood half a century ago, +and who realize what a nothoroughfare the path he opened proved +to be, even to himself, know how inevitable and how impersonal +Wagner's attack was. + +Wagner was the literary musician par excellence. He could not, +like Mozart and Beethoven, produce decorative tone structures +independently of any dramatic or poetic subject matter, because, +that craft being no longer necessary for his purpose, he did not +cultivate it. As Shakespeare, compared with Tennyson, appears to +have an exclusively dramatic talent, so exactly does Wagner +compared with Mendelssohn. On the other hand, he had not to go to +third rate literary hacks for "librettos" to set to music: he +produced his own dramatic poems, thus giving dramatic integrity +to opera, and making symphony articulate. A Beethoven symphony +(except the articulate part of the ninth) expresses noble +feeling, but not thought: it has moods, but no ideas. Wagner +added thought and produced the music drama. Mozart's loftiest +opera, his Ring, so to speak, The Magic Flute, has a libretto +which, though none the worse for seeming, like The Rhine Gold, +the merest Christmas tomfoolery to shallow spectators, is the +product of a talent immeasurably inferior to Mozart's own. +The libretto of Don Giovanni is coarse and trivial: its +transfiguration by Mozart's music may be a marvel; but nobody +will venture to contend that such transfigurations, however +seductive, can be as satisfactory as tone poetry or drama in +which the musician and the poet are at the same level. Here, +then, we have the simple secret of Wagner's preemminence as a +dramatic musician. He wrote the poems as well as composed the +music of his "stage festival plays," as he called them. + +Up to a certain point in his career Wagner paid the penalty of +undertaking two arts instead of one. Mozart had his trade as a +musician at his fingers' ends when he was twenty, because he had +served an arduous apprenticeship to that trade and no other. +Wagner was very far from having attained equal mastery at +thirty-five: indeed he himself has told us that not until he had +passed the age at which Mozart died did he compose with that +complete spontaneity of musical expression which can only be +attained by winning entire freedom from all preoccupation with +the difficulties of technical processes. But when that time came, +he was not only a consummate musician, like Mozart, but a +dramatic poet and a critical and philosophical essayist, +exercising a considerable influence on his century. The sign of +this consummation was his ability at last to play with his art, +and thus to add to his already famous achievements in sentimental +drama that lighthearted art of comedy of which the greatest +masters, like Moliere and Mozart, are so much rarer than the +tragedians and sentimentalists. It was then that he composed the +first two acts of Siegfried, and later on The Mastersingers, a +professedly comedic work, and a quite Mozartian garden of melody, +hardly credible as the work of the straining artifices of +Tanehauser. Only, as no man ever learns to do one thing by doing +something else, however closely allied the two things may be, +Wagner still produced no music independently of his poems. The +overture to The Mastersingers is delightful when you know what it +is all about; but only those to whom it came as a concert piece +without any such clue, and who judged its reckless counterpoint +by the standard of Bach and of Mozart's Magic Flute overture, can +realize how atrocious it used to sound to musicians of the old +school. When I first heard it, with the clear march of the +polyphony in Bach's B mmor Mass fresh in my memory, I confess I +thought that the parts had got dislocated, and that some of the +band were half a bar behind the others. Perhaps they were; but +now that I am familiar with the work, and with Wagner's harmony, +I can still quite understand certain passages producing that +effect organ admirer of Bach even when performed with perfect +accuracy. + + + +THE MUSIC OF THE FUTURE + +The success of Wagner has been so prodigious that to his dazzled +disciples it seems that the age of what he called "absolute music +must be at an end, and the musical future destined to be an +exclusively Wagnerian one inaugurated at Bayreuth. All great +geniuses produce this illusion. Wagner did not begin a movement: +he consummated it. He was the summit of the nineteenth century +school of dramatic music in the same sense as Mozart was the +summit (the word is Gounod's) of the eighteenth century school. +And those who attempt to carry on his Bayreuth tradition will +assuredly share the fate of the forgotten purveyors of +second-hand Mozart a hundred years ago. As to the expected +supersession of absolute music, it is sufficient to point to the +fact that Germany produced two absolute musicians of the first +class during Wagner's lifetime: one, the greatly gifted Goetz, +who died young; the other, Brahms, whose absolute musical +endowment was as extraordinary as his thought was commonplace. +Wagner had for him the contempt of the original thinker for the +man of second-hand ideas, and of the strenuously dramatic +musician for mere brute musical faculty; but though his contempt +was perhaps deserved by the Triumphlieds, and Schicksalslieds, +and Elegies and Requiems in which Brahms took his brains so +seriously, nobody can listen to Brahms' natural utterance of the +richest absolute music, especially in his chamber compositions, +without rejoicing in his amazing gift. A reaction to absolute +music, starting partly from Brahms, and partly from such revivals +of medieval music as those of De Lange in Holland and Mr. Arnold +Dolmetsch in England, is both likely and promising; whereas there +is no more hope in attempts to out-Wagner Wagner in music drama +than there was in the old attempts--or for the matter of that, +the new ones--to make Handel the starting point of a great school +of oratorio. + + + +BAYREUTH + +When the Bayreuth Festival Playhouse was at last completed, and +opened in 1876 with the first performance of The Ring, European +society was compelled to admit that Wagner was "a success." +Royal personages, detesting his music, sat out the performances +in the row of boxes set apart for princes. They all complimented +him on the astonishing "push" with which, in the teeth of all +obstacles, he had turned a fabulous and visionary project into a +concrete commercial reality, patronized by the public at a pound +a head. It is as well to know that these congratulations had no +other effect upon Wagner than to open his eyes to the fact that +the Bayreuth experiment, as an attempt to evade the ordinary +social and commercial conditions of theatrical enterprise, was a +failure. His own account of it contrasts the reality with his +intentions in a vein which would be bitter if it were not so +humorous. The precautions taken to keep the seats out of the +hands of the frivolous public and in the hands of earnest +disciples, banded together in little Wagner Societies throughout +Europe, had ended in their forestalling by ticket speculators and +their sale to just the sort of idle globe-trotting tourists +against whom the temple was to have been strictly closed. The +money, supposed to be contributed by the faithful, was begged by +energetic subscription-hunting ladies from people who must have +had the most grotesque misconceptions of the composer's aims-- +among others, the Khedive of Egypt and the Sultan of Turkey! + +The only change that has occurred since then is that +subscriptions are no longer needed; for the Festival Playhouse +apparently pays its own way now, and is commercially on the same +footing as any other theatre. The only qualification required +from the visitor is money. A Londoner spends twenty pounds on a +visit: a native Bayreuther spends one pound. In either case "the +Folk," on whose behalf Wagner turned out in 1849, are effectually +excluded; and the Festival Playhouse must therefore be classed as +infinitely less Wagnerian in its character than Hampton Court +Palace. Nobody knew this better than Wagner; and nothing can be +further off the mark than to chatter about Bayreuth as if it had +succeeded in escaping from the conditions of our modern +civilization any more than the Grand Opera in Paris or London. + +Within these conditions, however, it effected a new departure in +that excellent German institution, the summer theatre. Unlike our +opera houses, which are constructed so that the audience may +present a splendid pageant to the delighted manager, it is +designed to secure an uninterrupted view of the stage, and an +undisturbed hearing of the music, to the audience. The dramatic +purpose of the performances is taken with entire and elaborate +seriousness as the sole purpose of them; and the management is +jealous for the reputation of Wagner. The commercial success +which has followed this policy shows that the public wants summer +theatresof the highest class. There is no reason why the +experiment should not be tried in England. If our enthusiasm for +Handel can support Handel Festivals, laughably dull, stupid and +anti-Handelian as these choral monstrosities are, as well as +annual provincial festivals on the same model, there is no +likelihood of a Wagner Festival failing. Suppose, for instance, a +Wagner theatre were built at Hampton Court or on Richmond Hill, +not to say Margate pier, so that we could have a delightful +summer evening holiday, Bayreuth fashion, passing the hours +between the acts in the park or ontheriver before sunset, is it +seriously contended that there would be any lack of visitors? If +a little of the money that is wasted on grand stands, Eiffel +towers, and dismal Halls by the Sea, all as much tied to brief +annual seasons as Bayreuth, were applied in this way, the profit +would be far more certain and the social utility prodigiously +greater. Any English enthusiasm for Bayreuth that does not take +the form of clamor for a Festival Playhouse in England may be set +aside as mere pilgrimage mania. + +Those who go to Bayreuth never repent it, although the +performances there are often far from delectable. The singing is +sometimes tolerable, and some times abominable. Some of the +singers are mere animated beer casks, too lazy and conceited to +practise the self-control and physical training that is expected +as a matter of course from an acrobat, a jockey or a pugilist. +The women's dresses are prudish and absurd. It is true that +Kundry no longer wears an early Victorian ball dress with +"ruchings," and that Fresh has been provided with a quaintly +modish copy of the flowered gown of Spring in Botticelli's famous +picture; but the mailclad Brynhild still climbs the mountains +with her legs carefully hidden in a long white skirt, and looks +so exactly like Mrs. Leo Hunter as Minerva that it is quite +impossible to feel a ray of illusion whilst looking at her. The +ideal of womanly beauty aimed at reminds Englishmen of the +barmaids of the seventies, when the craze for golden hair was at +its worst. Further, whilst Wagner's stage directions are +sometimes disregarded as unintelligently as at Covent Garden, an +intolerably old-fashioned tradition of half rhetorical, half +historical-pictorial attitude and gesture prevails. The most +striking moments of the drama are conceived as tableaux vivants +with posed models, instead of as passages of action, motion and +life. + +I need hardly add that the supernatural powers of control +attributed by credulous pilgrims to Madame Wagner do not exist. +Prima donnas and tenors are as unmanageable at Bayreuth as +anywhere else. Casts are capriciously changed; stage business is +insufficiently rehearsed; the public are compelled to listen to a +Brynhild or Siegfried of fifty when they have carefully arranged +to see one of twenty-five, much as in any ordinary opera house. +Even the conductors upset the arrangements occasionally. On the +other hand, if we leave the vagaries of the stars out of account, +we may safely expect always that in thoroughness of preparation +of the chief work of the season, in strenuous artistic +pretentiousness, in pious conviction that the work is of such +enormous importance as to be worth doing well at all costs, the +Bayreuth performances will deserve their reputation. The band is +placed out of sight of the audience, with the more formidable +instruments beneath the stage, so that the singers have not to +sing THROUGH the brass. The effect is quite perfect. + +BAYREUTH IN ENGLAND + +I purposely dwell on the faults of Bayreuth in order to show that +there is no reason in the world why as good and better +performances of The Ring should not be given in England. Wagner's +scores are now before the world; and neither his widow nor his +son can pretend to handle them with greater authority than any +artist who feels the impulse to interpret them. Nobody will ever +know what Wagner himself thought of the artists who established +the Bayreuth tradition: he was obviously not in a position to +criticize them. For instance, had Rubini survived to create +Siegmund, it is quite certain that we should not have had from +Wagner's pen so amusing and vivid a description as we have of his +Ottavio in the old Paris days. Wagner was under great obligations +to the heroes and heroines of 1876; and he naturally said nothing +to disparage their triumphs; but there is no reason to believe +that all or indeed any of them satisfied him as Schnorr of +Carolsfeld satisfied him as Tristan, or Schroder Devrient as +Fidelio. It is just as likely as not that the next Schnorr or +Schroder may arise in England. If that should actually happen, +neither of them will need any further authority than their own +genius and Wagner's scores for their guidance. Certainly the less +their spontaneous impulses are sophisticated by the very stagey +traditions which Bayreuth is handing down from the age of +Crummles, the better. + +WAGNERIAN SINGERS + +No nation need have much difficulty in producing a race of +Wagnerian singers. With the single exception of Handel, no +composer has written music so well calculated to make its singers +vocal athletes as Wagner. Abominably as the Germans sing, it is +astonishing how they thrive physically on his leading parts. His +secret is the Handelian secret. Instead of specializing his vocal +parts after the manner of Verdi and Gounod for high sopranos, +screaming tenors, and high baritones with an effective compass of +about a fifth at the extreme tiptop of their ranges, and for +contraltos with chest registers forced all over their compass in +the manner of music hall singers, he employs the entire range of +the human voice freely, demanding from everybody very nearly two +effective octaves, so that the voice is well exercised all over, +and one part of it relieves the other healthily and continually. +He uses extremely high notes very sparingly, and is especially +considerate in the matter of instrumental accompaniment. Even +when the singer appears to have all the thunders of the full +orchestra raging against him, a glance at the score will show +that he is well heard, not because of any exceptionally +stentorian power in his voice, but because Wagner meant him to be +heard and took the greatest care not to overwhelm him. Such +brutal opacities of accompaniment as we find in Rossini's Stabat +or Verdi's Trovatore, where the strings play a rum-tum +accompaniment whilst the entire wind band blares away, +fortissimo, in unison with the unfortunate singer, are never to +be found in Wagner's work. Even in an ordinary opera house, with +the orchestra ranged directly between the singers and the +audience, his instrumentation is more transparent to the human +voice than that of any other composer since Mozart. At the +Bayreuth Buhnenfestspielhaus, with the brass under the stage, it +is perfectly so. + +On every point, then, a Wagner theatre and Wagner festivals are +much more generally practicable than the older and more +artificial forms of dramatic music. A presentable performance of +The Ring is a big undertaking only in the sense in which the +construction of a railway is a big undertaking: that is, it +requires plenty of work and plenty of professional skill; but it +does not, like the old operas and oratorios, require those +extraordinary vocal gifts which only a few individuals scattered +here and there throughout Europe are born with. Singers who could +never execute the roulades of Semiramis, Assur, and Arsaces in +Rossini's Semiramide, could sing the parts of Brynhild, Wotan and +Erda without missing a note. Any Englishman can understand this +if he considers for a moment the difference between a Cathedral +service and an Italian opera at Covent Garden. The service is a +much more serious matter than the opera. Yet provincial talent is +sufficient for it, if the requisite industry and devotion are +forthcoming. Let us admit that geniuses of European celebrity are +indispensable at the Opera (though I know better, having seen +lusty troopers and porters, without art or manners, accepted by +fashion as principal tenors at that institution during the long +interval between Mario and Jean de Reszke); but let us remember +that Bayreuth has recruited its Parsifals from the peasantry, and +that the artisans of a village in the Bavarian Alps are capable +of a famous and elaborate Passion Play, and then consider whether +England is so poor in talent that its amateurs must journey to +the centre of Europe to witness a Wagner Festival. + +The truth is, there is nothing wrong with England except the +wealth which attracts teachers of singing to her shores in +sufficient numbers to extinguish the voices of all natives who +have any talent as singers. Our salvation must come from the +class that is too poor to have lessons. + + + + + +End of The Project Gutenberg Etext of The Perfect Wagnerite, by Shaw + diff --git a/old/sring10.zip b/old/sring10.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..c87f5ef --- /dev/null +++ b/old/sring10.zip diff --git a/old/sring11.txt b/old/sring11.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..df12e7c --- /dev/null +++ b/old/sring11.txt @@ -0,0 +1,4525 @@ +***The Perfect Wagnerite: A Commentary on the Niblung's Ring*** +#5 in our series by [George] Bernard Shaw + + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world, be sure to check +the copyright laws for your country before posting these files!! + +Please take a look at the important information in this header. +We encourage you to keep this file on your own disk, keeping an +electronic path open for the next readers. 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That explanation is correct as far as it +goes; but, put as I put it, it now seems to me to suggest that +the operatic character of Night Falls On The Gods was the result +of indifference or forgetfulness produced by the lapse of +twenty-five years between the first projection of the work and +its completion. Now it is clear that in whatever other ways +Wagner may have changed, he never became careless and he never +became indifferent. I have therefore inserted a new section in +which I show how the revolutionary history of Western Europe from +the Liberal explosion of 1848 to the confused attempt at a +socialist, military, and municipal administration in Paris in +1871 (that is to say, from the beginning of The Niblung's Ring by +Wagner to the long-delayed completion of Night Falls On The +Gods), demonstrated practically that the passing away of the +present order was going to be a much more complicated business +than it appears in Wagner's Siegfried. I have therefore +interpolated a new chapter which will perhaps induce some readers +of the original English text to read the book again in German. + +For some time to come, indeed, I shall have to refer English +readers to this German edition as the most complete in +existence. + +My obligation to Herr Trebitsch for making me a living German +author instead of merely a translated English one is so great +that I am bound to point out that he is not responsible for my +views or Wagner's, and that it is as an artist and a man of +letters, and not as a propagandist, that he is conveying to the +German speaking peoples political criticisms which occasionally +reflect on contemporary authorities with a European reputation +for sensitiveness. And as the very sympathy which makes his +translations so excellent may be regarded with suspicion, let me +hasten to declare I am bound to Germany by the ties that hold my +nature most strongly. Not that I like the average German: nobody +does, even in his own country. But then the average man is not +popular anywhere; and as no German considers himself an average +one, each reader will, as an exceptional man, sympathize with my +dislike of the common herd. And if I cannot love the typical +modern German, I can at least pity and understand him. His worst +fault is that he cannot see that it is possible to have too much +of a good thing. Being convinced that duty, industry, education, +loyalty, patriotism and respectability are good things (and I am +magnanimous enough to admit that they are not altogether bad +things when taken in strict moderation at the right time and +in the right place), he indulges in them on all occasions +shamelessly and excessively. He commits hideous crimes when crime +is presented to him as part of his duty; his craze for work is +more ruinous than the craze for drink; when he can afford +secondary education for his sons you find three out of every five +of them with their minds lamed for life by examinations which +only a thoroughly wooden head could go through with impunity; and +if a king is patriotic and respectable (few kings are) he puts up +statues to him and exalts him above Charlemagne and Henry the +Fowler. And when he meets a man of genius, he instinctively +insults him, starves him, and, if possible, imprisons and kills +him. + +Now I do not pretend to be perfect myself. Heaven knows I have to +struggle hard enough every day with what the Germans call my higher +impulses. I know too well the temptation to be moral, to be +self-sacrificing, to be loyal and patriotic, to be respectable and +well-spoken of. But I wrestle with it and--as far as human fraility +will allow--conquer it, whereas the German abandons himself to it +without scruple or reflection, and is actually proud of his pious +intemperance and self-indulgence. Nothing will cure him of this +mania. It may end in starvation, crushing taxation, suppression of +all freedom to try new social experiments and reform obsolete +institutions, in snobbery, jobbery, idolatry, and an omnipresent +tyranny in which his doctor and his schoolmaster, his lawyer and +his priest, coerce him worse than any official or drill sergeant: +no matter: it is respectable, says the German, therefore it must +be good, and cannot be carried too far; and everybody who rebels +against it must be a rascal. Even the Social-Democrats in Germany +differ from the rest only in carrying academic orthodoxy beyond +human endurance--beyond even German endurance. I am a Socialist +and a Democrat myself, the hero of a hundred platforms, one of the +leaders of the most notable Socialist organizations in England. I am +as conspicuous in English Socialism as Bebel is in German Socialism; +but do you suppose that the German Social-Democrats tolerate me? Not +a bit of it. I have begged again and again to be taken to the bosom +of my German comrades. I have pleaded that the Super-Proletarians +of all lands should unite. I have pointed out that the German +Social-Democratic party has done nothing at its Congresses for the +last ten years except the things I told them to do ten years before, +and that its path is white with the bones of the Socialist +superstitions I and my fellow Fabians have slain. Useless. They do +not care a rap whether I am a Socialist or not. All they want to +know is; Am I orthodox? Am I correct in my revolutionary views? Am +I reverent to the revolutionary authorities? Because I am a genuine +free-thinker they look at me as a policeman looks at a midnight +prowler or as a Berlin bourgeois looks at a suspicious foreigner. +They ask "Do you believe that Marx was omniscient and infallible; +that Engels was his prophet; that Bebel and Singer are his inspired +apostles; and that Das Kapital is the Bible?" Hastening in my +innocence to clear myself of what I regard as an accusation of +credulity and ignorance, I assure them earnestly that I know ten +times as much of economics and a hundred times as much of practical +administration as Marx did; that I knew Engels personally and rather +liked him as a witty and amiable old 1848 veteran who despised +modern Socialism; that I regard Bebel and Singer as men of like +passions with myself, but considerably less advanced; and that I +read Das Kapital in the year 1882 or thereabouts, and still consider +it one of the most important books of the nineteenth century because +of its power of changing the minds of those who read it, in spite of +its unsound capitalist economics, its parade of quotations from +books which the author had either not read or not understood, its +affectation of algebraic formulas, and its general attempt to +disguise a masterpiece of propagandist journalism and prophetic +invective as a drily scientific treatise of the sort that used to +impose on people in 1860, when any book that pretended to be +scientific was accepted as a Bible. In those days Darwin and +Helmholtz were the real fathers of the Church; and nobody would +listen to religion, poetry or rhetoric; so that even Socialism had +to call itself "scientific," and predict the date of the revolution, +as if it were a comet, by calculations founded on "historic laws." + +To my amazement these reasonable remarks were received as hideous +blasphemies; none of the party papers were allowed to print any +word of mine; the very Revisionists themselves found that the +scandal of my heresy damaged them more than my support aided +them; and I found myself an outcast from German Social-Democracy +at the moment when, thanks to Trebitsch, the German bourgeoisie +and nobility began to smile on me, seduced by the pleasure of +playing with fire, and perhaps by Agnes Sorma's acting as +Candida. + +Thus you may see that when a German, by becoming a +Social-Democrat, throws off all the bonds of convention, and +stands free from all allegiance to established religion, law, +order, patriotism, and learning, he promptly uses his freedom to +put on a headier set of chains; expels anti-militarists with the +blood-thirstiest martial anti-foreign ardor; and gives the Kaiser +reason to thank heaven that he was born in the comparative +freedom and Laodicean tolerance of Kingship, and not in the +Calvinistic bigotry and pedantry of Marxism. + +Why, then, you may ask, do I say that I am bound to Germany by +the ties that hold my nature most strongly? Very simply because +I should have perished of despair in my youth but for the world +created for me by that great German dynasty which began with Bach +and will perhaps not end with Richard Strauss. Do not suppose for +a moment that I learnt my art from English men of letters. True, +they showed me how to handle English words; but if I had known no +more than that, my works would never have crossed the Channel. My +masters were the masters of a universal language: they were, to +go from summit to summit, Bach, Handel, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven +and Wagner. Had the Germans understood any of these men, they +would have hanged them. Fortunately they did not understand them, +and therefore only neglected them until they were dead, after +which they learnt to dance to their tunes with an easy +conscience. For their sakes Germany stands consecrated as the +Holy Land of the capitalist age, just as Italy, for its painters' +sakes, is the Holy Land of the early unvulgarized Renascence; +France, for its builders' sakes, of the age of Christian chivalry +and faith; and Greece, for its sculptors' sakes, of the Periclean +age. + +These Holy Lands are my fatherlands: in them alone am I truly at +home: all my work is but to bring the whole world under this +sanctification. + +And so, O worthy, respectable, dutiful, patriotic, brave, +industrious German reader, you who used to fear only God and your +own conscience, and now fear nothing at all, here is my book for +you; and--in all sincerity--much good may it do you! + +London, 23rd. October 1907. + + + +PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION + +The preparation of a Second Edition of this booklet is quite the +most unexpected literary task that has ever been set me. When it +first appeared I was ungrateful enough to remonstrate with its +publisher for printing, as I thought, more copies than the most +sanguine Wagnerite could ever hope to sell. But the result proved +that exactly one person buys a copy on every day in the year, +including Sundays; and so, in the process of the suns, a reprint +has become necessary. + +Save a few verbal slips of no importance, I have found nothing to +alter in this edition. As usual, the only protests the book has +elicited are protests, not against the opinions it expresses, but +against the facts it records. There are people who cannot bear to +be told that their hero was associated with a famous Anarchist in +a rebellion; that he was proclaimed as "wanted" by the police; +that he wrote revolutionary pamphlets; and that his picture of +Niblunghome under the reign of Alberic is a poetic vision of +unregulated industrial capitalism as it was made known in Germany +in the middle of the nineteenth century by Engels's Condition of +the Laboring classes in England. They frantically deny these +facts, and then declare that I have connected them with Wagner in +a paroxysm of senseless perversity. I am sorry I have hurt them; +and I appeal to charitable publishers to bring out a new life of +Wagner, which shall describe him as a court musician of +unquestioned fashion and orthodoxy, and a pillar of the most +exclusive Dresden circles. Such a work, would, I believe, have a +large sale, and be read with satisfaction and reassurance by many +lovers of Wagner's music. + +As to my much demurred-to relegation of Night Falls On The Gods +to the category of grand opera, I have nothing to add or +withdraw. Such a classification is to me as much a matter of fact +as the Dresden rising or the police proclamation; but I shall not +pretend that it is a matter of such fact as everybody's judgment +can grapple with. People who prefer grand opera to serious +music-drama naturally resent my placing a very grand opera below +a very serious music-drama. The ordinary lover of Shakespeare +would equally demur to my placing his popular catchpenny plays, +of which As You Like It is an avowed type, below true +Shakespearean plays like Measure for Measure. I cannot help that. +Popular dramas and operas may have overwhelming merits as +enchanting make-believes; but a poet's sincerest vision of the +world must always take precedence of his prettiest fool's +paradise. + +As many English Wagnerites seem to be still under the impression +that Wagner composed Rienzi in his youth, Tannhauser and +Lohengrin in his middle age, and The Ring in his later years, may +I again remind them that The Ring was the result of a political +convulsion which occurred when Wagner was only thirty-six, and +that the poem was completed when he was forty, with thirty more +years of work before him? It is as much a first essay in +political philosophy as Die Feen is a first essay in romantic +opera. The attempt to recover its spirit twenty years later, when +the music of Night Falls On The Gods was added, was an attempt to +revive the barricades of Dresden in the Temple of the Grail. Only +those who have never had any political enthusiasms to survive can +believe that such an attempt could succeed. G. B. S. + + London, 1901 + + + +Preface to the First Edition + +This book is a commentary on The Ring of the Niblungs, Wagner's +chief work. I offer it to those enthusiastic admirers of Wagner +who are unable to follow his ideas, and do not in the least +understand the dilemma of Wotan, though they are filled with +indignation at the irreverence of the Philistines who frankly +avow that they find the remarks of the god too often tedious and +nonsensical. Now to be devoted to Wagner merely as a dog is +devoted to his master, sharing a few elementary ideas, appetites +and emotions with him, and, for the rest, reverencing his +superiority without understanding it, is no true Wagnerism. Yet +nothing better is possible without a stock of ideas common to +master and disciple. Unfortunately, the ideas of the +revolutionary Wagner of 1848 are taught neither by the education +nor the experience of English and American gentlemen-amateurs, +who are almost always political mugwumps, and hardly ever +associate with revolutionists. The earlier attempts to translate +his numerous pamphlets and essays into English, resulted in +ludicrous mixtures of pure nonsense with the absurdest +distorsions of his ideas into the ideas of the translators. We +now have a translation which is a masterpiece of interpretation +and an eminent addition to our literature; but that is not +because its author, Mr. Ashton Ellis, knows the German dictionary +better than his predecessors. He is simply in possession of +Wagner's ideas, which were to them inconceivable. + +All I pretend to do in this book is to impart the ideas which +are most likely to be lacking in the conventional Englishman's +equipment. I came by them myself much as Wagner did, having +learnt more about music than about anything else in my youth, and +sown my political wild oats subsequently in the revolutionary +school. This combination is not common in England; and as I seem, +so far, to be the only publicly articulate result of it, I +venture to add my commentary to what has already been written by +musicians who are no revolutionists, and revolutionists who are +no musicians. G. B. S. + + + +Preliminary Encouragements +The Ring of the Niblungs +The Rhine Gold +Wagner as Revolutionist +The Valkyries +Siegfried +Siegfried as Protestant +Night Falls On The Gods +Why He Changed His Mind +Wagner's Own Explanation +The Music of The Ring +The Old and the New Music +The Nineteenth Century +The Music of the Future +Bayreuth + + + +THE PERFECT WAGNERITE + + + +PRELIMINARY ENCOURAGEMENTS + +A few of these will be welcome to the ordinary citizen visiting +the theatre to satisfy his curiosity, or his desire to be in the +fashion, by witnessing a representation of Richard Wagner's +famous Ring of the Niblungs. + +First, The Ring, with all its gods and giants and dwarfs, its +water-maidens and Valkyries, its wishing-cap, magic ring, +enchanted sword, and miraculous treasure, is a drama of today, +and not of a remote and fabulous antiquity. It could not have +been written before the second half of the nineteenth century, +because it deals with events which were only then consummating +themselves. Unless the spectator recognizes in it an image of the +life he is himself fighting his way through, it must needs appear +to him a monstrous development of the Christmas pantomimes, spun +out here and there into intolerable lengths of dull conversation +by the principal baritone. Fortunately, even from this point of +view, The Ring is full of extraordinarily attractive episodes, +both orchestral and dramatic. The nature music alone--music of +river and rainbow, fire and forest--is enough to bribe people +with any love of the country in them to endure the passages of +political philosophy in the sure hope of a prettier page to come. +Everybody, too, can enjoy the love music, the hammer and anvil +music, the clumping of the giants, the tune of the young +woodsman's horn, the trilling of the bird, the dragon music and +nightmare music and thunder and lightning music, the profusion of +simple melody, the sensuous charm of the orchestration: in short, +the vast extent of common ground between The Ring and the +ordinary music we use for play and pleasure. Hence it is that +the four separate music-plays of which it is built have become +popular throughout Europe as operas. We shall presently see that +one of them, Night Falls On The Gods, actually is an opera. + +It is generally understood, however, that there is an inner ring +of superior persons to whom the whole work has a most urgent +and searching philosophic and social significance. I profess to +be such a superior person; and I write this pamphlet for the +assistance of those who wish to be introduced to the work on +equal terms with that inner circle of adepts. + +My second encouragement is addressed to modest citizens who may +suppose themselves to be disqualified from enjoying The Ring by +their technical ignorance of music. They may dismiss all such +misgivings speedily and confidently. If the sound of music has +any power to move them, they will find that Wagner exacts +nothing further. There is not a single bar of "classical music" +in The Ring--not a note in it that has any other point than the +single direct point of giving musical expression to the drama. +In classical music there are, as the analytical programs tell +us, first subjects and second subjects, free fantasias, +recapitulations, and codas; there are fugues, with +counter-subjects, strettos, and pedal points; there are +passacaglias on ground basses, canons ad hypodiapente, and other +ingenuities, which have, after all, stood or fallen by their +prettiness as much as the simplest folk-tune. Wagner is never +driving at anything of this sort any more than Shakespeare in +his plays is driving at such ingenuities of verse-making as +sonnets, triolets, and the like. And this is why he is so easy +for the natural musician who has had no academic teaching. The +professors, when Wagner's music is played to them, exclaim at +once "What is this? Is it aria, or recitative? Is there no +cabaletta to it--not even a full close? Why was that discord not +prepared; and why does he not resolve it correctly? How dare he +indulge in those scandalous and illicit transitions into a key +that has not one note in common with the key he has just left? +Listen to those false relations! What does he want with six +drums and eight horns when Mozart worked miracles with two of +each? The man is no musician." The layman neither knows nor +cares about any of these things. If Wagner were to turn aside +from his straightforward dramatic purpose to propitiate the +professors with correct exercises in sonata form, his music +would at once become unintelligible to the unsophisticated +spectator, upon whom the familiar and dreaded "classical" +sensation would descend like the influenza. Nothing of the kind +need be dreaded. The unskilled, untaught musician may approach +Wagner boldly; for there is no possibility of a misunderstanding +between them: The Ring music is perfectly single and simple. It +is the adept musician of the old school who has everything to +unlearn: and him I leave, unpitied, to his fate. + + + +THE RING OF THE NIBLUNGS + +The Ring consists of four plays, intended to be performed on four +successive evenings, entitled The Rhine Gold (a prologue to the +other three), The Valkyries, Siegfried, and Night Falls On The +Gods; or, in the original German, Das Rheingold, Die Walkure, +Siegfried, and Die Gotterdammerung. + + +THE RHINE GOLD + +Let me assume for a moment that you are a young and good-looking +woman. Try to imagine yourself in that character at Klondyke five +years ago. The place is teeming with gold. If you are content to +leave the gold alone, as the wise leave flowers without plucking +them, enjoying with perfect naivete its color and glitter and +preciousness, no human being will ever be the worse for your +knowledge of it; and whilst you remain in that frame of mind the +golden age will endure. + +Now suppose a man comes along: a man who has no sense of the +golden age, nor any power of living in the present: a man with +common desires, cupidities, ambitions, just like most of the men +you know. Suppose you reveal to that man the fact that if he will +only pluck this gold up, and turn it into money, millions of men, +driven by the invisible whip of hunger, will toil underground and +overground night and day to pile up more and more gold for him +until he is master of the world! You will find that the prospect +will not tempt him so much as you might imagine, because it +involves some distasteful trouble to himself to start with, and +because there is something else within his reach involving no +distasteful toil, which he desires more passionately; and that +is yourself. So long as he is preoccupied with love of you, the +gold, and all that it implies, will escape him: the golden age +will endure. Not until he forswears love will he stretch out his +hand to the gold, and found the Plutonic empire for himself. But +the choice between love and gold may not rest altogether with +him. He may be an ugly, ungracious, unamiable person, whose +affections may seem merely ludicrous and despicable to you. In +that case, you may repulse him, and most bitterly humiliate and +disappoint him. What is left to him then but to curse the love he +can never win, and turn remorselessly to the gold? With that, he +will make short work of your golden age, and leave you lamenting +its lost thoughtlessness and sweetness. + +In due time the gold of Klondyke will find its way to the great +cities of the world. But the old dilemma will keep continually +reproducing itself. The man who will turn his back on love, and +upon all the fruitful it, and will set himself single-heartedly +to gather gold in an exultant dream of wielding its Plutonic +powers, will find the treasure yielding quickly to his touch. +But few men will make this sacrifice voluntarily. Not until +the Plutonic power is so strongly set up that the higher human +impulses are suppressed as rebellious, and even the mere +appetites are denied, starved, and insulted when they cannot +purchase their satisfaction with gold, are the energetic spirits +driven to build their lives upon riches. How inevitable that +course has become to us is plain enough to those who have the +power of understanding what they see as they look at the +plutocratic societies of our modern capitals. + +First Scene + +Here, then, is the subject of the first scene of The Rhine Gold. +As you sit waiting for the curtain to rise, you suddenly catch +the booming ground-tone of a mighty river. It becomes plainer, +clearer: you get nearer to the surface, and catch the green light +and the flights of bubbles. Then the curtain goes up and you see +what you heard--the depths of the Rhine, with three strange fairy +fishes, half water-maidens, singing and enjoying themselves +exuberantly. They are not singing barcarolles or ballads about +the Lorely and her fated lovers, but simply trolling any nonsense +that comes into their heads in time to the dancing of the water +and the rhythm of their swimming. It is the golden age; and the +attraction of this spot for the Rhine maidens is a lump of the +Rhine gold, which they value, in an entirely uncommercial way, +for its bodily beauty and splendor. Just at present it is +eclipsed, because the sun is not striking down through the +water. + +Presently there comes a poor devil of a dwarf stealing along the +slippery rocks of the river bed, a creature with energy enough to +make him strong of body and fierce of passion, but with a brutish +narrowness of intelligence and selfishness of imagination: too +stupid to see that his own welfare can only be compassed as part +of the welfare of the world, too full of brute force not to grab +vigorously at his own gain. Such dwarfs are quite common in +London. He comes now with a fruitful impulse in him, in search +of what he lacks in himself, beauty, lightness of heart, +imagination, music. The Rhine maidens, representing all these to +him, fill him with hope and longing; and he never considers that +he has nothing to offer that they could possibly desire, being +by natural limitation incapable of seeing anything from anyone +else's point of view. With perfect simplicity, he offers himself +as a sweetheart to them. But they are thoughtless, elemental, +only half real things, much like modern young ladies. That the +poor dwarf is repulsive to their sense of physical beauty and +their romantic conception of heroism, that he is ugly and +awkward, greedy and ridiculous, disposes for them of his claim to +live and love. They mock him atrociously, pretending to fall in +love with him at first sight, and then slipping away and making +game of him, heaping ridicule and disgust on the poor wretch +until he is beside himself with mortification and rage. They +forget him when the water begins to glitter in the sun, and the +gold to reflect its glory. They break into ecstatic worship of +their treasure; and though they know the parable of Klondyke +quite well, they have no fear that the gold will be wrenched away +by the dwarf, since it will yield to no one who has not forsworn +love for it, and it is in pursuit of love that he has come to +them. They forget that they have poisoned that desire in him by +their mockery and denial of it, and that he now knows that life +will give him nothing that he cannot wrest from it by the +Plutonic power. It is just as if some poor, rough, vulgar, coarse +fellow were to offer to take his part in aristocratic society, +and be snubbed into the knowledge that only as a millionaire +could he ever hope to bring that society to his feet and buy +himself a beautiful and refined wife. His choice is forced on +him. He forswears love as thousands of us forswear it every day; +and in a moment the gold is in his grasp, and he disappears in +the depths, leaving the water-fairies vainly screaming "Stop +thief!" whilst the river seems to plunge into darkness and sink +from us as we rise to the cloud regions above. + +And now, what forces are there in the world to resist Alberic, +our dwarf, in his new character of sworn plutocrat? He is soon at +work wielding the power of the gold. For his gain, hordes of his +fellow-creatures are thenceforth condemned to slave miserably, +overground and underground, lashed to their work by the invisible +whip of starvation. They never see him, any more than the victims +of our "dangerous trades" ever see the shareholders whose power +is nevertheless everywhere, driving them to destruction. The very +wealth they create with their labor becomes an additional force +to impoverish them; for as fast as they make it it slips from +their hands into the hands of their master, and makes him +mightier than ever. You can see the process for yourself in every +civilized country today, where millions of people toil in want +and disease to heap up more wealth for our Alberics, laying up +nothing for themselves, except sometimes horrible and agonizing +disease and the certainty of premature death. All this part of +the story is frightfully real, frightfully present, frightfully +modern; and its effects on our social life are so ghastly and +ruinous that we no longer know enough of happiness to be +discomposed by it. It is only the poet, with his vision of what +life might be, to whom these things are unendurable. If we were a +race of poets we would make an end of them before the end of this +miserable century. Being a race of moral dwarfs instead, we think +them highly respectable, comfortable and proper, and allow them +to breed and multiply their evil in all directions. If there were +no higher power in the world to work against Alberic, the end of +it would be utter destruction. + +Such a force there is, however; and it is called Godhead. The +mysterious thing we call life organizes itself into all living +shapes, bird, beast, beetle and fish, rising to the human marvel +in cunning dwarfs and in laborious muscular giants, capable, +these last, of enduring toil, willing to buy love and life, not +with suicidal curses and renunciations, but with patient manual +drudgery in the service of higher powers. And these higher powers +are called into existence by the same self-organization of life +still more wonderfully into rare persons who may by comparison be +called gods, creatures capable of thought, whose aims extend far +beyond the satisfaction of their bodily appetites and personal +affections, since they perceive that it is only by the +establishment of a social order founded on common bonds of moral +faith that the world can rise from mere savagery. But how is this +order to be set up by Godhead in a world of stupid giants, since +these thoughtless ones pursue only their narrower personal ends +and can by no means understand the aims of a god? Godhead, face +to face with Stupidity, must compromise. Unable to enforce on the +world the pure law of thought, it must resort to a mechanical law +of commandments to be enforced by brute punishments and the +destruction of the disobedient. And however carefully these laws +are framed to represent the highest thoughts of the framers at +the moment of their promulgation, before a day has elapsed that +thought has grown and widened by the ceaseless evolution of life; +and lo! yesterday's law already fallen out with today's thought. +Yet if the high givers of that law themselves set the example of +breaking it before it is a week old, they destroy all its +authority with their subjects, and so break the weapon they have +forged to rule them for their own good. They must therefore +maintain at all costs the sanctity of the law, even when it has +ceased to represent their thought; so that at last they get +entangled in a network of ordinances which they no longer believe +in, and yet have made so sacred by custom and so terrible by +punishment, that they cannot themselves escape from them. Thus +Godhead's resort to law finally costs it half its integrity--as +if a spiritual king, to gain temporal power, had plucked out one +of his eyes--and it finally begins secretly to long for the +advent of some power higher than itself which will destroy its +artificial empire of law, and establish a true republic of free +thought. + +This is by no means the only difficulty in the dominion of Law. +The brute force for its execution must be purchased; and the mass +of its subjects must be persuaded to respect the authority which +employs this force. But how is such respect to be implanted in +them if they are unable to comprehend the thought of the +lawgiver? Clearly, only by associating the legislative power with +such displays of splendor and majesty as will impress their +senses and awe their imaginations. The god turned lawgiver, in +short, must be crowned Pontiff and King. Since he cannot be known +to the common folk as their superior in wisdom, he must be known +to them as their superior in riches, as the dweller in castles, +the wearer of gold and purple, the eater of mighty feasts, the +commander of armies, and the wielder of powers of life and death, +of salvation and damnation after death. Something may be done in +this way without corruption whilst the golden age still endures. +Your gods may not prevail with the dwarfs; but they may go to +these honest giants who will give a day's work for a day's pay, +and induce them to build for Godhead a mighty fortress, complete +with hall and chapel, tower and bell, for the sake of the +homesteads that will grow up in security round that +church-castle. This only, however, whilst the golden age lasts. +The moment the Plutonic power is let loose, and the loveless +Alberic comes into the field with his corrupting millions, the +gods are face to face with destruction; since Alberic, able with +invisible hunger-whip to force the labor of the dwarfs and to buy +the services of the giants, can outshine all the temporal shows +and splendors of the golden age, and make himself master of the +world, unless the gods, with their bigger brains, can capture his +gold. This, the dilemma of the Church today, is the situation +created by the exploit of Alberic in the depths of the Rhine. + +Second Scene + +From the bed of the river we rise into cloudy regions, and +finally come out into the clear in a meadow, where Wotan, the +god of gods, and his consort Fricka lie sleeping. Wotan, you +will observe, has lost one eye; and you will presently learn +that he plucked it out voluntarily as the price to be paid for +his alliance with Fricka, who in return has brought to him as +her dowry all the powers of Law. The meadow is on the brink of +a ravine, beyond which, towering on distant heights, stands +Godhome, a mighty castle, newly built as a house of state for the +one-eyed god and his all-ruling wife. Wotan has not yet seen this +castle except in his dreams: two giants have just built it for +him whilst he slept; and the reality is before him for the first +time when Fricka wakes him. In that majestic burg he is to rule +with her and through her over the humble giants, who have eyes to +gape at the glorious castles their own hands have built from his +design, but no brains to design castles for themselves, or to +comprehend divinity. As a god, he is to be great, secure, and +mighty; but he is also to be passionless, affectionless, wholly +impartial; for Godhead, if it is to live with Law, must have no +weaknesses, no respect for persons. All such sweet littlenesses +must be left to the humble stupid giants to make their toil sweet +to them; and the god must, after all, pay for Olympian power the +same price the dwarf has paid for Plutonic power. + +Wotan has forgotten this in his dreams of greatness. Not so +Fricka. What she is thinking of is this price that Wotan has +consented to pay, in token whereof he has promised this day to +hand over to the giants Fricka's sister, the goddess Freia, with +her golden love-apples. When Fricka reproaches Wotan with having +selfishly forgotten this, she finds that he, like herself, is not +prepared to go through with his bargain, and that he is trusting +to another great worldforce, the Lie (a European Power, as +Lassalle said), to help him to trick the giants out of their +reward. But this force does not dwell in Wotan himself, but in +another, a god over whom he has triumphed, one Loki, the god of +Intellect, Argument, Imagination, Illusion, and Reason. Loki has +promised to deliver him from his contract, and to cheat the +giants for him; but he has not arrived to keep his word: indeed, +as Fricka bitterly points out, why should not the Lie fail Wotan, +since such failure is the very essence of him? + +The giants come soon enough; and Freia flies to Wotan for +protection against them. Their purposes are quite honest; and +they have no doubt of the god's faith. There stands their part +of the contract fulfilled, stone on stone, port and pinnacle all +faithfully finished from Wotan's design by their mighty labor. +They have come undoubtingly for their agreed wage. Then there +happens what is to them an incredible, inconceivable thing. The +god begins to shuffle. There are no moments in life more tragic +than those in which the humble common man, the manual worker, +leaving with implicit trust all high affairs to his betters, and +reverencing them wholly as worthy of that trust, even to the +extent of accepting as his rightful function the saving of them +from all roughening and coarsening drudgeries, first discovers +that they are corrupt, greedy, unjust and treacherous. The shock +drives a ray of prophetic light into one giant's mind, and gives +him a momentary eloquence. In that moment he rises above his +stupid gianthood, and earnestly warns the Son of Light that all +his power and eminence of priesthood, godhood, and kingship must +stand or fall with the unbearable cold greatness of the +incorruptible law-giver. But Wotan, whose assumed character of +law-giver is altogether false to his real passionate nature, +despises the rebuke; and the giant's ray of insight is lost in +the murk of his virtuous indignation. + +In the midst of the wrangle, Loki comes at last, excusing himself +for being late on the ground that he has been detained by a +matter of importance which he has promised to lay before Wotan. +When pressed to give his mind to the business immediately in +hand, and to extricate Wotan from his dilemma, he has nothing to +say except that the giants are evidently altogether in the right. +The castle has been duly built: he has tried every stone of it, +and found the work first-rate: there is nothing to be done but +pay the price agreed upon by handing over Freia to the giants. +The gods are furious; and Wotan passionately declares that he +only consented to the bargain on Loki's promise to find a way for +him out of it. But Loki says no: he has promised to find a way +out if any such way exist, but not to make a way if there is no +way. He has wandered over the whole earth in search of some +treasure great enough to buy Freia back from the giants; but in +all the world he has found nothing for which Man will give up +Woman. And this, by the way, reminds him of the matter he had +promised to lay before Wotan. The Rhine maidens have complained +to him of Alberic's theft of their gold; and he mentions it as +a curious exception to his universal law of the unpurchasable +preciousness of love, that this gold-robber has forsworn love for +the sake of the fabulous riches of the Plutonic empire and the +mastery of the world through its power. + +No sooner is the tale told than the giants stoop lower than the +dwarf. Alberic forswore love only when it was denied to him and +made the instrument for cruelly murdering his self-respect. But +the giants, with love within their reach, with Freia and her +golden apples in their hands, offer to give her up for the +treasure of Alberic. Observe, it is the treasure alone that they +desire. They have no fierce dreams of dominion over their +superiors, or of moulding the world to any conceptions of their +own. They are neither clever nor ambitious: they simply covet +money. Alberic's gold: that is their demand, or else Freia, as +agreed upon, whom they now carry off as hostage, leaving Wotan +to consider their ultimatum. + +Freia gone, the gods begin to wither and age: her golden apples, +which they so lightly bargained away, they now find to be a +matter of life and death to them; for not even the gods can live +on Law and Godhead alone, be their castles ever so splendid. Loki +alone is unaffected: the Lie, with all its cunning wonders, its +glistenings and shiftings and mirages, is a mere appearance: it +has no body and needs no food. What is Wotan to do? Loki sees the +answer clearly enough: he must bluntly rob Alberic. There is +nothing to prevent him except moral scruple; for Alberic, after +all, is a poor, dim, dwarfed, credulous creature whom a god can +outsee and a lie can outwit. Down, then, Wotan and Loki plunge +into the mine where Alberic's slaves are piling up wealth for him +under the invisible whip. + +Third Scene + +This gloomy place need not be a mine: it might just as well be +a match-factory, with yellow phosphorus, phossy jaw, a large +dividend, and plenty of clergymen shareholders. Or it might be +a whitelead factory, or a chemical works, or a pottery, or a +railway shunting yard, or a tailoring shop, or a little +gin-sodden laundry, or a bakehouse, or a big shop, or any other +of the places where human life and welfare are daily sacrificed +in order that some greedy foolish creature may be able to hymn +exultantly to his Platonic idol: + +Thou mak'st me eat whilst others starve, +And sing while others do lament: +Such untome Thy blessings are, +As if I were Thine only care. + +In the mine, which resounds with the clinking anvils of the +dwarfs toiling miserably to heap up treasure for their master, +Alberic has set his brother Mime--more familiarly, Mimmy--to make +him a helmet. Mimmy dimly sees that there is some magic in this +helmet, and tries to keep it; but Alberic wrests it from him, and +shows him, to his cost, that it is the veil of the invisible +whip, and that he who wears it can appear in what shape he will, +or disappear from view altogether. This helmet is a very common +article in our streets, where it generally takes the form of a +tall hat. It makes a man invisible as a shareholder, and changes +him into various shapes, such as a pious Christian, a subscriber +to hospitals, a benefactor of the poor, a model husband and +father, a shrewd, practical independent Englishman, and what not, +when he is really a pitiful parasite on the commonwealth, +consuming a great deal, and producing nothing, feeling nothing, +knowing nothing, believing nothing, and doing nothing except what +all the rest do, and that only because he is afraid not to do it, +or at least pretend to do it. + +When Wotan and Loki arrive, Loki claims Alberic as an old +acquaintance. But the dwarf has no faith in these civil +strangers: Greed instinctively mistrusts Intellect, even in the +garb of Poetry and the company of Godhead, whilst envying the +brilliancy of the one and the dignity of the other. Alberic +breaks out at them with a terrible boast of the power now within +his grasp. He paints for them the world as it will be when his +dominion over it is complete, when the soft airs and green mosses +of its valleys shall be changed into smoke, slag, and filth; when +slavery, disease, and squalor, soothed by drunkenness and +mastered by the policeman's baton, shall become the foundation of +society; and when nothing shall escape ruin except such pretty +places and pretty women as he may like to buy for the slaking of +his own lusts. In that kingdom of evil he sees that there will be +no power but his own. These gods, with their moralities and +legalities and intellectual subtlety, will go under and be +starved out of existence. He bids Wotan and Loki beware of it; +and his "Hab' Acht!" is hoarse, horrible, and sinister. Wotan +is revolted to the very depths of his being: he cannot stifle the +execration that bursts from him. But Loki is unaffected: he has +no moral passion: indignation is as absurd to him as enthusiasm. +He finds it exquisitely amusing--having a touch of the comic +spirit in him--that the dwarf, in stirring up the moral fervor of +Wotan, has removed his last moral scruple about becoming a thief. +Wotan will now rob the dwarf without remorse; for is it not +positively his highest duty to take this power out of such evil +hands and use it himself in the interests of Godhead? On the +loftiest moral grounds, he lets Loki do his worst. + +A little cunningly disguised flattery makes short work of +Alberic. Loki pretends to be afraid of him; and he swallows that +bait unhesitatingly. But how, enquires Loki, is he to guard +against the hatred of his million slaves? Will they not steal +from him, whilst he sleeps, the magic ring, the symbol of his +power, which he has forged from the gold of the Rhine? "You think +yourself very clever," sneers Alberic, and then begins to boast +of the enchantments of the magic helmet. Loki refuses to believe +in such marvels without witnessing them. Alberic, only too glad +to show off his powers, puts on the helmet and transforms himself +into a monstrous serpent. Loki gratifies him by pretending to be +frightened out of his wits, but ventures to remark that it would +be better still if the helmet could transform its owner into some +tiny creature that could hide and spy in the smallest cranny. +Alberic promptly transforms himself into a toad. In an instant +Wotan's foot is on him; Loki tears away the helmet; they pinion +him, and drag him away a prisoner up through the earth to the +meadow by the castle. + +Fourth Scene + +There, to pay for his freedom, he has to summon his slaves from +the depths to place all the treasure they have heaped up for him +at the feet of Wotan. Then he demands his liberty; but Wotan must +have the ring as well. And here the dwarf, like the giant before +him, feels the very foundations of the world shake beneath him at +the discovery of his own base cupidity in a higher power. That +evil should, in its loveless desperation, create malign powers +which Godhead could not create, seems but natural justice to him. +But that Godhead should steal those malign powers from evil, and +wield them itself, is a monstrous perversion; and his appeal to +Wotan to forego it is almost terrible in its conviction of wrong. +It is of no avail. Wotan falls back again on virtuous +indignation. He reminds Alberic that he stole the gold from the +Rhine maidens, and takes the attitude of the just judge +compelling a restitution of stolen goods. Alberic knowing +perfectly well that the judge is taking the goods to put them m +his own pocket, has the ring torn from his finger, and is once +more as poor as he was when he came slipping and stumbling among +the slimy rocks in the bed of the Rhine. + +This is the way of the world. In older times, when the Christian +laborer was drained dry by the knightly spendthrift, and the +spendthrift was drained by the Jewish usurer, Church and State, +religion and law, seized on the Jew and drained him as a +Christian duty. When the forces of lovelessness and greed had +built up our own sordid capitalist systems, driven by invisible +proprietorship, robbing the poor, defacing the earth, and forcing +themselves as a universal curse even on the generous and humane, +then religion and law and intellect, which would never themselves +have discovered such systems, their natural bent being towards +welfare, economy, and life instead of towards corruption, waste, +and death, nevertheless did not scruple to seize by fraud and +force these powers of evil on presence of using them for good. +And it inevitably happens that when the Church, the Law, and all +the Talents have made common cause to rob the people, the Church +is far more vitally harmed by that unfaithfulness to itself than +its more mechanical confederates; so that finally they turn on +their discredited ally and rob the Church, with the cheerful +co-operation of Loki, as in France and Italy for instance. + +The twin giants come back with their hostage, in whose presence +Godhead blooms again. The gold is ready for them; but now that +the moment has come for parting with Freia the gold +does not seem so tempting; and they are sorely loth to let her +go. Not unless there is gold enough to utterly hide her from +them--not until the heap has grown so that they can see nothing +but gold--until money has come between them and every human +feeling, will they part with her. There is not gold enough to +accomplish this: however cunningly Loki spreads it, the glint of +Freia's hair is still visible to Giant Fafnir, and the magic +helmet must go on the heap to shut it out. Even then Fafnir's +brother, Fasolt, can catch a beam from her eye through a chink, +and is rendered incapable thereby of forswearing her. There is +nothing to stop that chink but the ring; and Wotan is as greedily +bent on keeping that as Alberic himself was; nor can the other +gods persuade him that Freia is worth it, since for the highest +god, love is not the highest good, but only the universal delight +that bribes all living things to travail with renewed life. Life +itself, with its accomplished marvels and its infinite +potentialities, is the only force that Godhead can worship. Wotan +does not yield until he is reached by the voice of the fruitful +earth that before he or the dwarfs or the giants or the Law or +the Lie or any of these things were, had the seed of them all in +her bosom, and the seed perhaps of something higher even than +himself, that shall one day supersede him and cut the tangles and +alliances and compromises that already have cost him one of his +eyes. When Erda, the First Mother of life, rises from her +sleeping-place in the heart of the earth, and warns him to yield +the ring, he obeys her; the ring is added to the heap of gold; +and all sense of Freia is cut off from the giants. + +But now what Law is left to these two poor stupid laborers +whereby one shall yield to the other any of the treasure for +which they have each paid the whole price in surrendering Freia? +They look by mere habit to the god to judge for them; but he, +with his heart stirring towards higher forces than himself, turns +with disgust from these lower forces. They settle it as two +wolves might; and Fafnir batters his brother dead with his staff. +It is a horrible thing to see and hear, to anyone who knows how +much blood has been shed in the world in just that way by its +brutalized toilers, honest fellows enough until their betters +betrayed them. Fafnir goes off with his booty. It is quite +useless to him. He has neither the cunning nor the ambition to +establish the Plutonic empire with it. Merely to prevent others +from getting it is the only purpose it brings him. He piles it in +a cave; transforms himself into a dragon by the helmet; and +devotes his life to guarding it, as much a slave to it as a +jailor is to his prisoner. He had much better have thrown it all +back into the Rhine and transformed himself into the +shortest-lived animal that enjoys at least a brief run in the +sunshine. His case, however, is far too common to be surprising. +The world is overstocked with persons who sacrifice all their +affections, and madly trample and batter down their fellows to +obtain riches of which, when they get them, they are unable to +make the smallest use, and to which they become the most +miserable slaves. + +The gods soon forget Fafnir in their rejoicing over Freia. +Donner, the Thunder god, springs to a rocky summit and calls the +clouds as a shepherd calls his flocks. They come at his summons; +and he and the castle are hidden by their black legions. Froh, +the Rainbow god, hastens to his side. At the stroke of Donner's +hammer the black murk is riven in all directions by darting +ribbons of lightning; and as the air clears, the castle is seen in +its fullest splendor, accessible now by the rainbow bridge which +Froh has cast across the ravine. In the glory of this moment +Wotan has a great thought. With all his aspirations to establish +a reign of noble thought, of righteousness, order, and justice, +he has found that day that there is no race yet in the world that +quite spontaneously, naturally, and unconsciously realizes his +ideal. He himself has found how far short Godhead falls of the +thing it conceives. He, the greatest of gods, has been unable to +control his fate: he has been forced against his will to choose +between evils, to make disgraceful bargains, to break them still +more disgracefully, and even then to see the price of his +disgrace slip through his fingers. His consort has cost him half +his vision; his castle has cost him his affections; and the +attempt to retain both has cost him his honor. On every side he +is shackled and bound, dependent on the laws of Fricka and on the +lies of Loki, forced to traffic with dwarfs for handicraft and +with giants for strength, and to pay them both in false coin. +After all, a god is a pitiful thing. But the fertility of the +First Mother is not yet exhausted. The life that came from her +has ever climbed up to a higher and higher organization. From +toad and serpent to dwarf, from bear and elephant to giant, from +dwarf and giant to a god with thoughts, with comprehension of the +world, with ideals. Why should it stop there? Why should it not +rise from the god to the Hero? to the creature in whom the god's +unavailing thought shall have become effective will and life, who +shall make his way straight to truth and reality over the laws of +Fricka and the lies of Loki with a strength that overcomes giants +and a cunning that outwits dwarfs? Yes: Erda, the First Mother, +must travail again, and breed him a race of heroes to deliver the +world and himself from his limited powers and disgraceful +bargains. This is the vision that flashes on him as he turns to +the rainbow bridge and calls his wife to come and dwell with him +in Valhalla, the home of the gods. + +They are all overcome with Valhalla's glory except Loki. He is +behind the scenes of this joint reign of the Divine and the +Legal. He despises these gods with their ideals and their golden +apples. "I am ashamed," he says, "to have dealings with these +futile creatures." And so he follows them to the rainbow bridge. +But as they set foot on it, from the river below rises the +wailing of the Rhine maidens for their lost gold. "You down there +in the water," cries Loki with brutal irony: "you used to bask in +the glitter of your gold: henceforth you shall bask in the +splendor of the gods." And they reply that the truth is in the +depths and the darkness, and that what blazes on high there is +falsehood. And with that the gods pass into their glorious +stronghold. + + + +WAGNER AS REVOLUTIONIST + +Before leaving this explanation of The Rhine Gold, I must have a +word or two about it with the reader. It is the least popular of +the sections of The Ring. The reason is that its dramatic moments +lie quite outside the consciousness of people whose joys and +sorrows are all domestic and personal, and whose religions and +political ideas are purely conventional and superstitious. To +them it is a struggle between half a dozen fairytale personages +for a ring, involving hours of scolding and cheating, and one +long scene in a dark gruesome mine, with gloomy, ugly music, and +not a glimpse of a handsome young man or pretty woman. Only those +of wider consciousness can follow it breathlessly, seeing in it +the whole tragedy of human history and the whole horror of the +dilemmas from which the world is shrinking today. At Bayreuth I +have seen a party of English tourists, after enduring agonies of +boredom from Alberic, rise in the middle of the third scene, and +almost force their way out of the dark theatre into the sunlit +pine-wood without. And I have seen people who were deeply +affected by the scene driven almost beside themselves by this +disturbance. But it was a very natural thing for the unfortunate +tourists to do, since in this Rhine Gold prologue there is no +interval between the acts for escape. Roughly speaking, people +who have no general ideas, no touch of the concern of the +philosopher and statesman for the race, cannot enjoy The Rhine +Gold as a drama. They may find compensations in some exceedingly +pretty music, at times even grand and glorious, which will enable +them to escape occasionally from the struggle between Alberic and +Wotan; but if their capacity for music should be as limited as +their comprehension of the world, they had better stay away. + +And now, attentive Reader, we have reached the point at which +some foolish person is sure to interrupt us by declaring that The +Rhine Gold is what they call "a work of art" pure and simple, and +that Wagner never dreamt of shareholders, tall hats, whitelead +factories, and industrial and political questions looked at from +the socialistic and humanitarian points of view. We need not +discuss these impertinences: it is easier to silence them with +the facts of Wagner's life. In 1843 he obtained the position of +conductor of the Opera at Dresden at a salary of L225 a year, +with a pension. This was a first-rate permanent appointment in +the service of the Saxon State, carrying an assured professional +position and livelihood with it In 1848, the year of revolutions, +the discontented middle class, unable to rouse the +Churchand-State governments of the day from their bondage to +custom, caste, and law by appeals to morality or constitutional +agitation for Liberal reforms, made common cause with the +starving wage-working class, and resorted to armed rebellion, +which reached Dresden in 1849. Had Wagner been the mere musical +epicure and political mugwump that the term "artist" seems to +suggest to so many critics and amateurs--that is, a creature in +their own lazy likeness--he need have taken no more part in the +political struggles of his day than Bishop took in the English +Reform agitation of 1832, or Sterndale Bennett in the Chartist or +Free Trade movements. What he did do was first to make a +desperate appeal to the King to cast off his bonds and answer the +need of the time by taking true Kingship on himself and leading +his people to the redress of their intolerable wrongs (fancy the +poor monarch's feelings!), and then, when the crash came, to take +his side with the right and the poor against the rich and the +wrong. When the insurrection was defeated, three leaders of it +were especially marked down for vengeance: August Roeckel, an old +friend of Wagner's to whom he wrote a well-known series of +letters; Michael Bakoonin, afterwards a famous apostle of +revolutionary Anarchism; and Wagner himself. Wagner escaped to +Switzerland: Roeckel and Bakoonin suffered long terms of +imprisonment. Wagner was of course utterly ruined, pecuniarily +and socially (to his own intense relief and satisfaction); and +his exile lasted twelve years. His first idea was to get his +Tannhauser produced in Paris. With the notion of explaining +himself to the Parisians he wrote a pamphlet entitled Art and +Revolution, a glance through which will show how thoroughly the +socialistic side of the revolution had his sympathy, and how +completely he had got free from the influence of the established +Churches of his day. For three years he kept pouring forth +pamphlets--some of them elaborate treatises in size and +intellectual rank, but still essentially the pamphlets and +manifestoes of a born agitator--on social evolution, religion, +life, art and the influence of riches. In 1853 the poem of The +Ring was privately printed; and in 1854, five years after the +Dresden insurrection, The Rhine Gold score was completed to the +last drum tap. + +These facts are on official record in Germany, where the +proclamation summing up Wagner as "a politically dangerous +person" may be consulted to this day. The pamphlets are now +accessible to English readers in the translation of Mr. Ashton +Ellis. This being so, any person who, having perhaps heard that +I am a Socialist, attempts to persuade you that my interpretation +of The Rhine Gold is only "my socialism" read into the works of +a dilettantist who borrowed an idle tale from an old saga to make +an opera book with, may safely be dismissed from your +consideration as an ignoramus. + +If you are now satisfied that The Rhine Gold is an allegory, do +not forget that an allegory is never quite consistent except when +it is written by someone without dramatic faculty, in which case +it is unreadable. There is only one way of dramatizing an idea; +and that is by putting on the stage a human being possessed +by that idea, yet none the less a human being with all the human +impulses which make him akin and therefore interesting to us. +Bunyan, in his Pilgrim's Progress, does not, like his unread +imitators, attempt to personify Christianity and Valour: he +dramatizes for you the life of the Christian and the Valiant Man. +Just so, though I have shown that Wotan is Godhead and Kingship, +and Loki Logic and Imagination without living Will (Brain without +Heart, to put it vulgarly); yet in the drama Wotan is a +religiously moral man, and Loki a witty, ingenious, imaginative +and cynical one. As to Fricka, who stands for State Law, she does +not assume her allegorical character in The Rhine Gold at all, +but is simply Wotan's wife and Freia's sister: nay, she +contradicts her allegorical self by conniving at all Wotan's +rogueries. That, of course, is just what State Law would do; but +we must not save the credit of the allegory by a quip. Not until +she reappears in the next play (The Valkyries) does her function +in the allegorical scheme become plain. + +One preconception will bewilder the spectator hopelessly unless +he has been warned against it or is naturally free from it. In +the old-fashioned orders of creation, the supernatural personages +are invariably conceived as greater than man, for good or evil. +In the modern humanitarian order as adopted by Wagner, Man is the +highest. In The Rhine Gold, it is pretended that there are as yet +no men on the earth. There are dwarfs, giants, and gods. The +danger is that you will jump to the conclusion that the gods, at +least, are a higher order than the human order. On the contrary, +the world is waiting for Man to redeem it from the lame and +cramped government of the gods. Once grasp that; and the allegory +becomes simple enough. Really, of course, the dwarfs, giants, and +gods are dramatizations of the three main orders of men: to wit, +the instinctive, predatory, lustful, greedy people; the patient, +toiling, stupid, respectful, money-worshipping people; and the +intellectual, moral, talented people who devise and administer +States and Churches. History shows us only one order higher than +the highest of these: namely, the order of Heroes. + +Now it is quite clear--though you have perhaps never thought of +it--that if the next generation of Englishmen consisted wholly of +Julius Caesars, all our political, ecclesiastical, and moral +institutions would vanish, and the less perishable of their +appurtenances be classed with Stonehenge and the cromlechs and +round towers as inexplicable relics of a bygone social order. +Julius Caesars would no more trouble themselves about such +contrivances as our codes and churches than a fellow of the Royal +Society will touch his hat to the squire and listen to the +village curate's sermons. This is precisely what must happen some +day if life continues thrusting towards higher and higher +organization as it has hitherto done. As most of our English +professional men are to Australian bushmen, so, we must suppose, +will the average man of some future day be to Julius Caesar. Let +any man of middle age, pondering this prospect consider what has +happened within a single generation to the articles of faith his +father regarded as eternal nay, to the very scepticisms and +blasphemies of his youth (Bishop Colenso's criticism of the +Pentateuch, for example!); and he will begin to realize how much +of our barbarous Theology and Law the man of the future will do +without. Bakoonin, the Dresden revolutionary leader with whom +Wagner went out in 1849, put forward later on a program, often +quoted with foolish horror, for the abolition of all +institutions, religious, political, juridical, financial, legal, +academic, and so on, so as to leave the will of man free to find +its own way. All the loftiest spirits of that time were burning +to raise Man up, to give him self-respect, to shake him out of +his habit of grovelling before the ideals created by his own +imagination, of attributing the good that sprang from the +ceaseless energy of the life within himself to some superior +power in the clouds, and of making a fetish of self-sacrifice to +justify his own cowardice. + +Farther on in The Ring we shall see the Hero arrive and make an +end of dwarfs, giants, and gods. Meanwhile, let us not forget +that godhood means to Wagner infirmity and compromise, and +manhood strength and integrity. Above all, we must understand-- +for it is the key to much that we are to see--that the god, +since his desire is toward a higher and fuller life, must long +in his inmost soul for the advent of that greater power whose +first work, though this he does not see as yet, must be his +own undoing. + +In the midst of all these far-reaching ideas, it is amusing +to find Wagner still full of his ingrained theatrical +professionalism, and introducing effects which now seem +old-fashioned and stagey with as much energy and earnestness as +if they were his loftiest inspirations. When Wotan wrests the +ring from Alberic, the dwarf delivers a lurid and bloodcurdling +stage curse, calling down on its every future possessor care, +fear, and death. The musical phrase accompanying this outburst +was a veritable harmonic and melodic bogey to mid-century ears, +though time has now robbed it of its terrors. It sounds again +when Fafnir slays Fasolt, and on every subsequent occasion when +the ring brings death to its holder. This episode must justify +itself purely as a piece of stage sensationalism. On deeper +ground it is superfluous and confusing, as the ruin to which +the pursuit of riches leads needs no curse to explain it; nor +is there any sense in investing Alberic with providential powers +in the matter. + + + +THE VALKYRIES + +Before the curtain rises on the Valkyries, let us see what has +happened since it fell on The Rhine Gold. The persons of the +drama will tell us presently; but as we probably do not +understand German, that may not help us. + +Wotan is still ruling the world in glory from his giant-built +castle with his wife Fricka. But he has no security for the +continuance of his reign, since Alberic may at any moment +contrive to recover the ring, the full power of which he can +wield because he has forsworn love. Such forswearing is not +possible to Wotan: love, though not his highest need, is a higher +than gold: otherwise he would be no god. Besides, as we have +seen, his power has been established in the world by and as a +system of laws enforced by penalties. These he must consent to be +bound by himself; for a god who broke his own laws would betray +the fact that legality and conformity are not the highest rule +of conduct--a discovery fatal to his supremacy as Pontiff and +Lawgiver. Hence he may not wrest the ring unlawfully from +Fafnir, even if he could bring himself to forswear love. + +In this insecurity he has hit on the idea of forming a heroic +bodyguard. He has trained his love children as war-maidens +(Valkyries) whose duty it is to sweep through battle-fields and +bear away to Valhalla the souls of the bravest who fall there. +Thus reinforced by a host of warriors, he has thoroughly +indoctrinated them, Loki helping him as dialectician-in-chief, +with the conventional system of law and duty, supernatural +religion and self-sacrificing idealism, which they believe to +be the essence of his godhood, but which is really only the +machinery of the love of necessary power which is his mortal +weakness. This process secures their fanatical devotion to his +system of government, but he knows perfectly well that such +systems, in spite of their moral pretensions, serve selfish and +ambitious tyrants better than benevolent despots, and that, if +once Alberic gets the ring back, he will easily out-Valhalla +Valhalla, if not buy it over as a going concern. The only chance +of permanent security, then, is the appearance in the world of a +hero who, without any illicit prompting from Wotan, will destroy +Alberic and wrest the ring from Fafnir. There will then, he +believes, be no further cause for anxiety, since he does not yet +conceive Heroism as a force hostile to Godhead. In his longing +for a rescuer, it does not occur to him that when the Hero comes, +his first exploit must be to sweep the gods and their ordinances +from the path of the heroic will. + +Indeed, he feels that in his own Godhead is the germ of such +Heroism, and that from himself the Hero must spring. He takes to +wandering, mostly in search of love, from Fricka and Valhalla. He +seeks the First Mother; and through her womb, eternally fertile, +the inner true thought that made him first a god is reborn as his +daughter, uncorrupted by his ambition, unfettered by his +machinery of power and his alliances with Fricka and Loki. This +daughter, the Valkyrie Brynhild, is his true will, his real +self, (as he thinks): to her he may say what he must not say to +anyone, since in speaking to her he but speaks to himself. "Was +Keinem in Worten unausgesprochen," he says to her, "bleib es +ewig: mit mir nur rath' ich, red' ich zu dir." + +But from Brynhild no hero can spring until there is a man of +Wotan's race to breed with her. Wotan wanders further; and a +mortal woman bears him twins: a son and a daughter. He separates +them by letting the girl fall into the hands of a forest tribe +which in due time gives her as a wife to a fierce chief, one +Hunding. With the son he himself leads the life of a wolf, and +teaches him the only power a god can teach, the power of doing +without happiness. When he has given him this terrible training, +he abandons him, and goes to the bridal feast of his daughter +Sieglinda and Hunding. In the blue cloak of the wanderer, wearing +the broad hat that flaps over the socket of his forfeited eye, he +appears in Hunding's house, the middle pillar of which is a +mighty tree. Into that tree, without a word, he strikes a sword +up to the hilt, so that only the might of a hero can withdraw +it. Then he goes out as silently as he came, blind to the truth +that no weapon from the armory of Godhead can serve the turn of +the true Human Hero. Neither Hunding nor any of his guests can +move the sword; and there it stays awaiting the destined hand. +That is the history of the generations between The Rhine Gold and +The Valkyries. + +The First Act + +This time, as we sit looking expectantly at the curtain, we hear, +not the deep booming of the Rhine, but the patter of a forest +downpour, accompanied by the mutter of a storm which soon gathers +into a roar and culminates in crashing thunderbolts. As it +passes off, the curtain rises; and there is no mistaking whose +forest habitation we are in; for the central pillar is a mighty +tree, and the place fit for the dwelling of a fierce chief. The +door opens: and an exhausted man reels in: an adept from the +school of unhappiness. Sieglinda finds him lying on the hearth. +He explains that he has been in a fight; that his weapons not +being as strong as his arms, were broken; and that he had to fly. +He desires some drink and a moment's rest; then he will go; for +he is an unlucky person, and does not want to bring his ill-luck +on the woman who is succoring him. But she, it appears, is also +unhappy; and a strong sympathy springs up between them. When her +husband arrives, he observes not only this sympathy, but a +resemblance between them, a gleam of the snake in their eyes. +They sit down to table; and the stranger tells them his unlucky +story. He is the son of Wotan, who is known to him only as +Wolfing, of the race of the Volsungs. The earliest thing he +remembers is returning from a hunt with his father to find their +home destroyed, his mother murdered, and his twin-sister carried +off. This was the work of a tribe called the Neidings, upon whom +he and Wolfing thenceforth waged implacable war until the day +when his father disappeared, leaving no trace of himself but an +empty wolfskin. The young Volsung was thus cast alone upon the +world, finding most hands against him, and bringing no good luck +even to his friends. His latest exploit has been the slaying of +certain brothers who were forcing their sister to wed against +her will. The result has been the slaughter of the woman by her +brothers' clansmen, and his own narrow escape by flight. + +His luck on this occasion is even worse than he supposes; for +Hunding, by whose hearth he has taken refuge, is clansman to the +slain brothers and is bound to avenge them. He tells the Volsung +that in the morning, weapons or no weapons, he must fight for his +life. Then he orders the woman to bed, and follows her himself, +taking his spear with him. + +The unlucky stranger, left brooding by the hearth, has nothing to +console himself with but an old promise of his father's that he +shall find a weapon to his hand when he most needs one. The last +flicker of the dying fire strikes on the golden hilt of the sword +that sticks in the tree; but he does not see it; and the embers +sink into blackness. Then the woman returns. Hunding is safely +asleep: she has drugged him. She tells the story of the one-eyed +man who appeared at her forced marriage, and of the sword. She +has always felt, she says, that her miseries will end in the arms +of the hero who shall succeed in drawing it forth. The stranger, +diffident as he is about his luck, has no misgivings as to his +strength and destiny. He gives her his affection at once, and +abandons himself to the charm of the night and the season; +for it is the beginning of Spring. They soon learn from their +confidences that she is his stolen twin-sister. He is transported +to find that the heroic race of the Volsungs need neither perish +nor be corrupted by a lower strain. Hailing the sword by the name +of Nothung (or Needed), he plucks it from the tree as her +bride-gift, and then, crying "Both bride and sister be of thy +brother; and blossom the blood of the Volsungs!" clasps her as +the mate the Spring has brought him. + +The Second Act + +So far, Wotan's plan seems prospering. In the mountains he calls +his war-maiden Brynhild, the child borne to him by the First +Mother, and bids her see to it that Hunding shall fall in the +approaching combat. But he is reckoning without his consort, +Fricka. What will she, the Law, say to the lawless pair who have +heaped incest on adultery? A hero may have defied the law, and +put his own will in its place; but can a god hold him guiltless, +when the whole power of the gods can enforce itself only by law? +Fricka, shuddering with horror, outraged in every instinct, comes +clamoring for punishment. Wotan pleads the general necessity of +encouraging heroism in order to keep up the Valhalla bodyguard; +but his remonstrances only bring upon him torrents of reproaches +for his own unfaithfulness to the law in roaming through the +world and begetting war-maidens, "wolf cubs," and the like. He is +hopelessly beaten in the argument. Fricka is absolutely right +when she declares that the ending of the gods began when he +brought this wolf-hero into the world; and now, to save their +very existence, she pitilessly demands his destruction. Wotan has +no power to refuse: it is Fricka's mechanical force, and not his +thought, that really rules the world. He has to recall Brynhild; +take back his former instructions; and ordain that Hunding shall +slay the Volsung. + +But now comes another difficulty. Brynhild is the inner thought +and will of Godhead, the aspiration from the high life to the +higher that is its divine element, and only becomes separated +from it when its resort to kingship and priestcraft for the sake +of temporal power has made it false to itself. Hitherto, +Brynhild, as Valkyrie or hero chooser, has obeyed Wotan +implicitly, taking her work as the holiest and bravest in his +kingdom; and now he tells her what he could not tell Fricka--what +indeed he could not tell to Brynhild, were she not, as she says, +his own will--the whole story of Alberic and of that inspiration +about the raising up of a hero. She thoroughly approves of the +inspiration; but when the story ends in the assumption that she +too must obey Fricka, and help Fricka's vassal, Hunding, to undo +the great work and strike the hero down, she for the first time +hesitates to accept his command. In his fury and despair he +overawes her by the most terrible threats of his anger; and she +submits. + +Then comes the Volsung Siegmund, following his sister bride, who +has fled into the mountains in a revulsion of horror at having +allowed herself to bring her hero to shame. Whilst she is lying +exhausted and senseless in his arms, Brynhild appears to him and +solemnly warns him that he must presently leave the earth with +her. He asks whither he must follow her. To Valhalla, to take his +place there among the heroes. He asks, shall he find his father +there? Yes. Shall he find a wife there? Yes: he will be waited on +by beautiful wishmaidens. Shall he meet his sister there? No. +Then, says Siegmund, I will not come with you. + +She tries to make him understand that he cannot help himself. +Being a hero, he will not be so persuaded: he has his father's +sword, and does not fear Hunding. But when she tells him that she +comes from his father, and that the sword of a god will not avail +in the hands of a hero, he accepts his fate, but will shape it +with his own hand, both for himself and his sister, by slaying +her, and then killing himself with the last stroke of the sword. +And thereafter he will go to Hell, rather than to Valhalla. + +How now can Brynhild, being what she is, choose her side freely +in a conflict between this hero and the vassal of Fricka? By +instinct she at once throws Wotan's command to the winds, and +bids Siegmund nerve himself for the combat with Hunding, in which +she pledges him the protection of her shield. The horn of Hunding +is soon heard; and Siegmund's spirits rise to fighting pitch at +once. The two meet; and the Valkyrie's shield is held before the +hero. But when he delivers his sword-stroke at his foe, the +weapon shivers on the spear of Wotan, who suddenly appears +between them; and the first of the race of heroes falls with the +weapon of the Law's vassal through his breast. Brynhild snatches +the fragments of the broken sword, and flies, carrying off the +woman with her on her war-horse; and Wotan, in terrible wrath, +slays Hunding with a wave of his hand, and starts in pursuit of +his disobedient daughter. + +The Third Act + +On a rocky peak, four of the Valkyries are waiting for the rest. +The absent ones soon arrive, galloping through the air with slain +heroes, gathered from the battle-field, hanging over their +saddles. Only, Brynhild, who comes last, has for her spoil a live +woman. When her eight sisters learn that she has defied Wotan, +they dare not help her; and Brynhild has to rouse Sieglinda to +make an effort to save herself, by reminding her that she bears +in her the seed of a hero, and must face everything, endure +anything, sooner than let that seed miscarry. Sieglinda, in a +transport of exaltation, takes the fragments of the sword and +flies into the forest. Then Wotan comes; the sisters fly in +terror at his command; and he is left alone with Brynhild. + +Here, then, we have the first of the inevitable moments which +Wotan did not foresee. Godhead has now established its dominion +over the world by a mighty Church, compelling obedience through +its ally the Law, with its formidable State organization of force +of arms and cunning of brain. It has submitted to this alliance +to keep the Plutonic power in check--built it up primarily for +the sake of that soul in itself which cares only to make the +highest better and the best higher; and now here is that very +soul separated from it and working for the destruction of its +indispensable ally, the lawgiving State. How is the rebel to be +disarmed? Slain it cannot be by Godhead, since it is still +Godhead's own very dearest soul. But hidden, stifled, silenced +it must be; or it will wreck the State and leave the Church +defenseless. Not until it passes completely away from Godhead, +and is reborn as the soul of the hero, can it work anything but +the confusion and destruction of the existing order. How is the +world to be protected against it in the meantime? Clearly Loki's +help is needed here: it is the Lie that must, on the highest +principles, hide the Truth. Let Loki surround this mountain top +with the appearance of a consuming fire; and who will dare +penetrate to Brynhild? It is true that if any man will walk +boldly into that fire, he will discover it at once to be a lie, +an illusion, a mirage through which he might carry a sack of +gunpowder without being a penny the worse. Therefore let the fire +seem so terrible that only the hero, when in the fulness of time +he appears upon earth, will venture through it; and the problem +is solved. Wotan, with a breaking heart, takes leave of Brynhild; +throws her into a deep sleep; covers her with her long warshield; +summons Loki, who comes in the shape of a wall of fire +surrounding the mountain peak; and turns his back on Brynhild for +ever. + +The allegory here is happily not so glaringly obvious to the +younger generations of our educated classes as it was forty years +ago. In those days, any child who expressed a doubt as to the +absolute truth of the Church's teaching, even to the extent of +asking why Joshua told the sun to stand still instead of telling +the earth to cease turning, or of pointing out that a whale's +throat would hardly have been large enough to swallow Jonah, was +unhesitatingly told that if it harboured such doubts it would +spend all eternity after its death in horrible torments in a lake +of burning brimstone. It is difficult to write or read this +nowadays without laughing; yet no doubt millions of ignorant and +credulous people are still teaching their children that. When +Wagner himself was a little child, the fact that hell was a +fiction devised for the intimidation and subjection of the +masses, was a well-kept secret of the thinking and governing +classes. At that time the fires of Loki were a very real terror +to all except persons of exceptional force of character and +intrepidity of thought. Even thirty years after Wagner had +printed the verses of The Ring for private circulation, we find +him excusing himself from perfectly explicit denial of current +superstitions, by reminding his readers that it would expose him +to prosecution. In England, so many of our respectable voters are +still grovelling in a gloomy devil worship, of which the fires of +Loki are the main bulwark, that no Government has yet had the +conscience or the courage to repeal our monstrous laws against +"blasphemy." + + + +SIEGFRIED + +Sieglinda, when she flies into the forest with the hero's son +unborn in her womb, and the broken pieces of his sword in her +hand, finds shelter in the smithy of a dwarf, where she brings +forth her child and dies. This dwarf is no other than Mimmy, the +brother of Alberic, the same who made for him the magic helmet. +His aim in life is to gain possession of the helmet, the ring, +and the treasure, and through them to obtain that Plutonic +mastery of the world under the beginnings of which he himself +writhed during Alberic's brief reign. Mimmy is a blinking, +shambling, ancient creature, too weak and timid to dream of +taking arms himself to despoil Fafnir, who still, transformed to +a monstrous serpent, broods on the gold in a hole in the rocks. +Mimmy needs the help of a hero for that; and he has craft enough +to know that it is quite possible, and indeed much in the +ordinary way of the world, for senile avarice and craft to set +youth and bravery to work to win empire for it. He knows the +pedigree of the child left on his hands, and nurses it to manhood +with great care. + +His pains are too well rewarded for his comfort. The boy +Siegfried, having no god to instruct him in the art of +unhappiness, inherits none of his father's ill luck, and all his +father's hardihood. The fear against which Siegmund set his face +like flint, and the woe which he wore down, are unknown to the +son. The father was faithful and grateful: the son knows no law +but his own humor; detests the ugly dwarf who has nursed him; +chafes furiously under his claims for some return for his +tender care; and is, in short, a totally unmoral person, a +born anarchist, the ideal of Bakoonin, an anticipation of the +"overman" of Nietzsche. He is enormously strong, full of life +and fun, dangerous and destructive to what he dislikes, and +affectionate to what he likes; so that it is fortunate that +his likes and dislikes are sane and healthy. Altogether an +inspiriting young forester, a son of the morning, in whom the +heroic race has come out into the sunshine from the clouds of +his grandfather's majestic entanglements with law, and the night +of his father's tragic struggle with it. + +The First Act + +Mimmy's smithy is a cave, in which he hides from the light like +the eyeless fish of the American caverns. Before the curtain +rises the music already tells us that we are groping in darkness. +When it does rise Mimmy is in difficulties. He is trying to make +a sword for his nursling, who is now big enough to take the field +against Fafnir. Mimmy can make mischievous swords; but it is not +with dwarf made weapons that heroic man will hew the way of his +own will through religions and governments and plutocracies and +all the other devices of the kingdom of the fears of the +unheroic. As fast as Mimmy makes swords, Siegfried Bakoonin +smashes them, and then takes the poor old swordsmith by the +scruff of the neck and chastises him wrathfully. The particular +day on which the curtain rises begins with one of these trying +domestic incidents. Mimmy has just done his best with a new sword +of surpassing excellence. Siegfried returns home in rare spirits +with a wild bear, to the extreme terror of the wretched dwarf. +When the bear is dismissed, the new sword is produced. It is +promptly smashed, as usual, with, also, the usual effects on the +temper of Siegfried, who is quite boundless in his criticisms of +the smith's boasted skill, and declares that he would smash the +sword's maker too if he were not too disgusting to be handled. + +Mimmy falls back on his stock defence: a string of maudlin +reminders of the care with which he has nursed the little boy +into manhood. Siegfried replies candidly that the strangest thing +about all this care is that instead of making him grateful, it +inspires him with a lively desire to wring the dwarf's neck. +Only, he admits that he always comes back to his Mimmy, though he +loathes him more than any living thing in the forest. On this +admission the dwarf attempts to build a theory of filial +instinct. He explains that he is Siegfried's father, and that +this is why Siegfried cannot do without him. But Siegfried has +learned from his forest companions, the birds and foxes and +wolves, that mothers as well as fathers go to the making of +children. Mimmy, on the desperate ground that man is neither bird +nor fox, declares that he is Siegfried's father and mother both. +He is promptly denounced as a filthy liar, because the birds and +foxes are exactly like their parents, whereas Siegfried, having +often watched his own image in the water, can testify that he is +no more like Mimmy than a toad is like a trout. Then, to place +the conversation on a plane of entire frankness, he throttles +Mimmy until he is speechless. When the dwarf recovers, he is so +daunted that he tells Siegfried the truth about his birth, and +for testimony thereof produces the pieces of the sword that broke +upon Wotan's spear. Siegfried instantly orders him to repair the +sword on pain of an unmerciful thrashing, and rushes off into the +forest, rejoicing in the discovery that he is no kin of Mimmy's, +and need have no more to do with him when the sword is mended. + +Poor Mimmy is now in a worse plight than ever; for he has long +ago found that the sword utterly defies his skill: the steel will +yield neither to his hammer nor to his furnace. Just then there +walks into his cave a Wanderer, in a blue mantle, spear in hand, +with one eye concealed by the brim of his wide hat. Mimmy, not by +nature hospitable, tries to drive him away; but the Wanderer +announces himself as a wise man, who can tell his host, in +emergency, what it most concerns him to know. Mimmy, taking this +offer in high dudgeon, because it implies that his visitor's wits +are better than his own, offers to tell the wise one something +that HE does not know: to wit, the way to the door. The +imperturbable Wanderer's reply is to sit down and challenge the +dwarf to a trial of wit. He wagers his head against Mimmy's that +he will answer any three questions the dwarf can put to him. + +Now here were Mimmy's opportunity, had he only the wit to ask +what he wants to know, instead of pretending to know everything +already. It is above all things needful to him at this moment to +find out how that sword can be mended; and there has just dropped +in upon him in his need the one person who can tell him. In such +circumstances a wise man would hasten to show to his visitor his +three deepest ignorances, and ask him to dispel them. The dwarf, +being a crafty fool, desiring only to detect ignorance in his +guest, asks him for information on the three points on which he +is proudest of being thoroughly well instructed himself. His +three questions are, Who dwell under the earth? Who dwell on the +earth? and Who dwell in the cloudy heights above? The Wanderer, +in reply, tells him of the dwarfs and of Alberic; of the earth, +and the giants Fasolt and Fafnir; of the gods and of Wotan: +himself, as Mimmy now recognizes with awe. + +Next, it is Mimmy's turn to face three questions. What is that +race, dearest to Wotan, against which Wotan has nevertheless done +his worst? Mimmy can answer that: he knows the Volsungs, the race +of heroes born of Wotan's infidelities to Fricka, and can tell +the Wanderer the whole story of the twins and their son +Siegfried. Wotan compliments him on his knowledge, and asks +further with what sword Siegfried will slay Fafnir? Mimmy can +answer that too: he has the whole history of the sword at his +fingers' ends. Wotan hails him as the knowingest of the knowing, +and then hurls at him the question he should himself have asked: +Who will mend the sword? Mimmy, his head forfeited, confesses +with loud lamentations that he cannot answer. The Wanderer reads +him an appropriate little lecture on the folly of being too +clever to ask what he wants to know, and informs him that a smith +to whom fear is unknown will mend Nothung. To this smith he +leaves the forfeited head of his host, and wanders off into the +forest. Then Mimmy's nerves give way completely. He shakes like a +man in delirium tremens, and has a horrible nightmare, in the +supreme convulsion of which Siegfried, returning from the forest, +presently finds him. + +A curious and amusing conversation follows. Siegfried himself +does not know fear, and is impatient to acquire it as an +accomplishment. Mimmy is all fear: the world for him is a +phantasmagoria of terrors. It is not that he is afraid of being +eaten by bears in the forest, or of burning his fingers in the +forge fire. A lively objection to being destroyed or maimed does +not make a man a coward: on the contrary, it is the beginning of +a brave man's wisdom. But in Mimmy, fear is not the effect of +danger: it is natural quality of him which no security can allay. +He is like many a poor newspaper editor, who dares not print the +truth, however simple, even when it is obvious to himself and all +his readers. Not that anything unpleasant would happen to him if +he did--not, indeed that he could fail to become a distinguished +and influential leader of opinion by fearlessly pursuing such a +course, but solely because he lives in a world of imaginary +terrors, rooted in a modest and gentlemanly mistrust of his own +strength and worth, and consequently of the value of his opinion. +Just so is Mimmy afraid of anything that can do him any good, +especially of the light and the fresh air. He is also convinced +that anybody who is not sufficiently steeped in fear to be +constantly on his guard, must perish immediately on his first +sally into the world. To preserve Siegfried for the enterprise to +which he has destined him he makes a grotesque attempt to teach +him fear. He appeals to his experience of the terrors of the +forest, of its dark places, of its threatening noises its +stealthy ambushes, its sinister flickering lights its +heart-tightening ecstasies of dread. + +All this has no other effect than to fill Siegfried with wonder +and curiosity; for the forest is a place of delight for him. He +is as eager to experience Mimmy's terrors as a schoolboy to feel +what an electric shock is like. Then Mimmy has the happy idea of +describing Fafnir to him as a likely person to give him an +exemplary fright. Siegfried jumps at the idea, and, since Mimmy +cannot mend the sword for him, proposes to set to work then and +there to mend it for himself. Mimmy shakes his head, and bids him +see now how his youthful laziness and frowardness have found him +out--how he would not learn the smith's craft from Professor +Mimmy, and therefore does not know how even to begin mending the +sword. Siegfried Bakoonin's retort is simple and crushing. He +points out that the net result of Mimmy's academic skill is that +he can neither make a decent sword himself nor even set one to +rights when it is damaged. Reckless of the remonstrances of the +scandalized professor, he seizes a file, and in a few moments +utterly destroys the fragments of the sword by rasping them into +a heap of steel filings. Then he puts the filings into a +crucible; buries it in the coals; and sets to at the bellows with +the shouting exultation of the anarchist who destroys only to +clear the ground for creation. When the steel is melted he runs +it into a mould; and lo! a sword-blade in the rough. Mimmy, +amazed at the success of this violation of all the rules of his +craft, hails Siegfried as the mightiest of smiths, professing +himself barely worthy to be his cook and scullion; and forthwith +proceeds to poison some soup for him so that he may murder him +safely when Fafnir is slain. Meanwhile Siegfned forges and +tempers and hammers and rivets, uproariously singing the while as +nonsensically as the Rhine maidens themselves. Finally he assails +the anvil on which Mimmy's swords have been shattered, and +cleaves it with a mighty stroke of the newly forged Nothung. + +The Second Act + +In the darkest hour before the dawn of that night, we find +ourselves before the cave of Fafnir, and there we find Alberic, +who can find nothing better to do with himself than to watch the +haunt of the dragon, and eat his heart out in vain longing for +the gold and the ring. The wretched Fafnir, once an honest giant, +can only make himself terrible enough to keep his gold by +remaining a venomous reptile. Why he should not become an honest +giant again and clear out of his cavern, leaving the gold and the +ring and the rest of it for anyone fool enough to take them at +such a price, is the first question that would occur to anyone +except a civilized man, who would be too accustomed to that sort +of mania to be at all surprised at it. + +To Alberic in the night comes the Wanderer, whom the dwarf, +recognizing his despoiler of old, abuses as a shameless thief, +taunting him with the helpless way in which all his boasted power +is tied up with the laws and bargains recorded on the heft of his +spear, which, says Alberic truly, would crumble like chaff in his +hands if he dared use it for his own real ends. Wotan, having +already had to kill his own son with it, knows that very well; +but it troubles him no more; for he is now at last rising to +abhorrence of his own artificial power, and looking to the coming +hero, not for its consolidation but its destruction. When Alberic +breaks out again with his still unquenched hope of one day +destroying the gods and ruling the world through the ring, Wotan +is no longer shocked. He tells Alberic that Brother Mime +approaches with a hero whom Godhead can neither help nor hinder. +Alberic may try his luck against him without disturbance from +Valhalla. Perhaps, he suggests, if Alberic warns Fafnir, and +offers to deal with the hero for him, Fafnir, may give him the +ring. They accordingly wake up the dragon, who condescends to +enter into bellowing conversation, but is proof against their +proposition, strong in the magic of property. "I have and hold," +he says: "leave me to sleep." Wotan, with a wise laugh, turns to +Alberic. "That shot missed," he says: "no use abusing me for it. +And now let me tell you one thing. All things happen according to +their nature; and you can't alter them." And so he leaves him +Alberic, raging with the sense that his old enemy has been +laughing at him, and yet prophetically convinced that the last +word will not be with the god, hides himself as the day breaks, +and his brother approaches with Siegfried. + +Mimmy makes a final attempt to frighten Siegfried by discoursing +of the dragon's terrible jaws, poisonous breath, corrosive +spittle, and deadly, stinging tail. Siegfried is not interested +in the tail: he wants to know whether the dragon has a heart, +being confident of his ability to stick Nothung into it if it +exists. Reassured on this point, he drives Mimmy away, and +stretches himself under the trees, listening to the morning +chatter of the birds. One of them has a great deal to say to him; +but he cannot understand it; and after vainly trying to carry on +the conversation with a reed which he cuts, he takes to +entertaining the bird with tunes on his horn, asking it to send +him a loving mate such as all the other creatures of the forest +have. His tunes wake up the dragon; and Siegfried makes merry +over the grim mate the bird has sent him. Fafnir is highly +scandalized by the irreverence of the young Bakoonin. He loses +his temper; fights; and is forthwith slain, to his own great +astonishment. + +In such conflicts one learns to interpret the messages of Nature +a little. When Siegfried, stung by the dragon's vitriolic blood, +pops his finger into his mouth and tastes it, he understands what +the bird is saying to him, and, instructed by it concerning the +treasures within his reach, goes into the cave to secure the +gold, the ring and the wishing cap. Then Mimmy returns, and is +confronted by Alberic. The two quarrel furiously over the sharing +of the booty they have not yet secured, until Siegfried comes +from the cave with the ring and the helmet, not much impressed by +the heap of gold, and disappointed because he has not yet learned +to fear. + +He has, however, learnt to read the thoughts of such a creature +as poor Mimmy, who, intending to overwhelm him with flattery and +fondness, only succeeds in making such a self-revelation of +murderous envy that Siegfried smites him with Nothung and slays +him, to the keen satisfaction of the hidden Alberic. Caring +nothing for the gold, which he leaves to the care of the slain; +disappointed in his fancy for learning fear; and longing for a +mate, he casts himself wearily down, and again appeals to his +friend the bird, who tells him of a woman sleeping on a mountain +peak within a fortress of fire that only the fearless can +penetrate. Siegfried is up in a moment with all the tumult of +spring in his veins, and follows the flight of the bird as it +pilots him to the fiery mountain. + +The Third Act + +To the root of the mountain comes also the Wanderer, now nearing +his doom. He calls up the First Mother from the depths of the +earth, and begs counsel from her. She bids him confer with the +Norns (the Fates). But they are of no use to him: what he seeks +is some foreknowledge of the way of the Will in its perpetual +strife with these helpless Fates who can only spin the net of +circumstance and environment round the feet of men. Why not, says +Erda then, go to the daughter I bore you, and take counsel with +her? He has to explain how he has cut himself off from her, and +set the fires of Loki between the world and her counsel. In that +case the First Mother cannot help him: such a separation is part +of the bewilderment that is ever the first outcome of her eternal +work of thrusting the life energy of the world to higher and +higher organization. She can show him no way of escape from the +destruction he foresees. Then from the innermost of him breaks +the confession that he rejoices in his doom, and now himself +exults in passing away with all his ordinances and alliances, +with the spear-sceptre which he has only wielded on condition of +slaying his dearest children with it, with the kingdom, the power +and the glory which will never again boast themselves as "world +without end." And so he dismisses Erda to her sleep in the heart +of the earth as the forest bird draws near, piloting the slain +son's son to his goal. + +Now it is an excellent thing to triumph in the victory of the new +order and the passing away of the old; but if you happen to be +part of the old order yourself, you must none the less fight for +your life. It seems hardly possible that the British army at the +battle of Waterloo did not include at least one Englishman +intelligent enough to hope, for the sake of his country and +humanity, that Napoleon might defeat the allied sovereigns; but +such an Englishman would kill a French cuirassier rather than be +killed by him just as energetically as the silliest soldier, ever +encouraged by people who ought to know better, to call his +ignorance, ferocity and folly, patriotism and duty. Outworn life +may have become mere error; but it still claims the right to die +a natural death, and will raise its hand against the millennium +itself in self-defence if it tries to come by the short cut of +murder. Wotan finds this out when he comes face to face with +Siegfried, who is brought to a standstill at the foot of the +mountain by the disappearance of the bird. Meeting the Wanderer +there, he asks him the way to the mountain where a woman sleeps +surrounded by fire. The Wanderer questions him, and extracts his +story from him, breaking into fatherly delight when Siegfried, +describing the mending of the sword, remarks that all he knew +about the business was that the broken bits of Nothung would be +of no use to him unless he made a new sword out of them right +over again from the beginning. But the Wanderer's interest is by +no means reciprocated by Siegfried. His majesty and elderly +dignity are thrown away on the young anarchist, who, unwilling to +waste time talking, bluntly bids him either show him the way to +the mountain, or else "shut his muzzle." Wotan is a little hurt. +"Patience, my lad," he says: "if you were an old man I should +treat you with respect." "That would be a precious notion," says +Siegfried. "All my life long I was bothered and hampered by an +old man until I swept him out of my way. I will sweep you in the +same fashion if you don't let me pass. Why do you wear such a big +hat; and what has happened to one of your eyes? Was it knocked +out by somebody whose way you obstructed?" To which Wotan replies +allegorically that the eye that is gone--the eye that his +marriage with Fricka cost him--is now looking at him out of +Siegfried's head. At this, Siegfried gives up the Wanderer as a +lunatic, and renews his threats of personal violence. Then Wotan +throws off the mask of the Wanderer; uplifts the world-governing +spear; and puts forth all his divine awe and grandeur as the +guardian of the mountain, round the crest of which the fires of +Loki now break into a red background for the majesty of the god. +But all this is lost on Siegfried Bakoonin. "Aha!" he cries, as +the spear is levelled against his breast: "I have found my +father's foe"; and the spear falls in two pieces under the stroke +of Nothung. "Up then," says Wotan: "I cannot withhold you," and +disappears forever from the eye of man. The fires roll down the +mountain; but Siegfried goes at them as exultantly as he went at +the forging of the sword or the heart of the dragon, and +shoulders his way through them, joyously sounding his horn to the +accompaniment of their crackling and seething. And never a hair +of his head is singed. Those frightful flames which have scared +mankind for centuries from the Truth, have not heat enough in +them to make a child shut its eyes. They are mere phantasmagoria, +highly creditable to Loki's imaginative stage-management; but +nothing ever has perished or will perish eternally in them except +the Churches which have been so poor and faithless as to trade +for their power on the lies of a romancer. + +BACK TO OPERA AGAIN + +And now, O Nibelungen Spectator, pluck up; for all allegories +come to an end somewhere; and the hour of your release from these +explanations is at hand. The rest of what you are going to see is +opera, and nothing but opera. Before many bars have been played, +Siegfried and the wakened Brynhild, newly become tenor and +soprano, will sing a concerted cadenza; plunge on from that to +a magnificent love duet; and end with a precipitous allegro a +capella, driven headlong to its end by the impetuous semiquaver +triplets of the famous finales to the first act of Don +Giovanni or the coda to the Leonore overture, with a specifically +contrapuntal theme, points d'orgue, and a high C for the soprano +all complete. + +What is more, the work which follows, entitled Night Falls On The +Gods, is a thorough grand opera. In it you shall see what you +have so far missed, the opera chorus in full parade on the stage, +not presuming to interfere with the prima donna as she sings her +death song over the footlights. Nay, that chorus will have its +own chance when it first appears, with a good roaring strain in +C major, not, after all, so very different from, or at all less +absurd than the choruses of courtiers in La Favorita or "Per te +immenso giubilo" in Lucia. The harmony is no doubt a little +developed, Wagner augmenting his fifths with a G sharp where +Donizetti would have put his fingers in his ears and screamed for +G natural. But it is an opera chorus all the same; and along with +it we have theatrical grandiosities that recall Meyerbeer and +Verdi: pezzi d'insieme for all the principals in a row, vengeful +conjurations for trios of them, romantic death song for the +tenor: in short, all manner of operatic conventions. + +Now it is probable that some of us will have been so talked by +the more superstitious Bayreuth pilgrims into regarding Die +Gotterdammerung as the mighty climax to a mighty epic, more +Wagnerian than all the other three sections put together, as not +to dare notice this startling atavism, especially if we find the +trio-conjurations more exhilarating than the metaphysical +discourses of Wotan in the three true music dramas of The Ring. +There is, however, no real atavism involved. Die Gotterdammerung, +though the last of The Ring dramas in order of performance, was +the first in order of conception and was indeed the root from +which all the others sprang. + +The history of the matter is as follows. All Wagner's works prior +to The Ring are operas. The last of them, Lohengrin, is perhaps +the best known of modern operas. As performed in its entirety at +Bayreuth, it is even more operatic than it appears at Covent +Garden, because it happens that its most old-fashioned features, +notably some of the big set concerted pieces for principals and +chorus (pezzi d'insieme as I have called them above), are +harder to perform than the more modern and characteristically +Wagnerian sections, and for that reason were cut out in preparing +the abbreviated fashionable version. Thus Lohengrin came upon the +ordinary operatic stage as a more advanced departure from current +operatic models than its composer had made it. Still, it is +unmistakably an opera, with chorus, concerted pieces, grand +finales, and a heroine who, if she does not sing florid +variations with flute obbligato, is none the less a very +perceptible prima donna. In everything but musical technique the +change from Lohengrin to The Rhine Gold is quite revolutionary. + +The explanation is that Night Falls On The Gods came in between +them, although its music was not finished until twenty years +after that of The Rhine Gold, and thus belongs to a later and +more masterful phase of Wagner's harmonic style. It first came +into Wagner's head as an opera to be entitled Siegfied's Death, +founded on the old Niblung Sagas, which offered to Wagner the +same material for an effective theatrical tragedy as they did to +Ibsen. Ibsen's Vikings in Helgeland is, in kind, what Siegfied's +Death was originally intended to be: that is, a heroic piece for +the theatre, without the metaphysical or allegorical +complications of The Ring. Indeed, the ultimate catastrophe of +the Saga cannot by any perversion of ingenuity be adapted to the +perfectly clear allegorical design of The Rhine Gold, The +Valkyries, and Siegfried. + + + +SIEGFRIED AS PROTESTANT + +The philosophically fertile element in the original project of +Siegfried's Death was the conception of Siegfried himself as a +type of the healthy man raised to perfect confidence in his own +impulses by an intense and joyous vitality which is above fear, +sickliness of conscience, malice, and the makeshifts and moral +crutches of law and order which accompany them. Such a character +appears extraordinarily fascinating and exhilarating to our +guilty and conscience-ridden generations, however little they may +understand him. The world has always delighted in the man who is +delivered from conscience. From Punch and Don Juan down to Robert +Macaire, Jeremy Diddler and the pantomime clown, he has always +drawn large audiences; but hitherto he has been decorously given +to the devil at the end. Indeed eternal punishment is sometimes +deemed too high a compliment to his nature. When the late Lord +Lytton, in his Strange Story, introduced a character personifying +the joyousness of intense vitality, he felt bound to deny him the +immortal soul which was at that time conceded even to the +humblest characters in fiction, and to accept mischievousness, +cruelty, and utter incapacity for sympathy as the inevitable +consequence of his magnificent bodily and mental health. + +In short, though men felt all the charm of abounding life and +abandonment to its impulses, they dared not, in their deep +self-mistrust, conceive it otherwise than as a force making for +evil--one which must lead to universal ruin unless checked and +literally mortified by self-renunciation in obedience to +superhuman guidance, or at least to some reasoned system of +morals. When it became apparent to the cleverest of them that +no such superhuman guidance existed, and that their secularist +systems had all the fictitiousness of "revelation" without its +poetry, there was no escaping the conclusion that all the good +that man had done must be put down to his arbitrary will as well +as all the evil he had done; and it was also obvious that if +progress were a reality, his beneficent impulses must be gaining +on his destructive ones. It was under the influence of these +ideas that we began to hear about the joy of life where we had +formerly heard about the grace of God or the Age of Reason, and +that the boldest spirits began to raise the question whether +churches and laws and the like were not doing a great deal more +harm than good by their action in limiting the freedom of the +human will. Four hundred years ago, when belief in God and in +revelation was general throughout Europe, a similar wave of +thought led the strongest-hearted peoples to affirm that every +man's private judgment was a more trustworthy interpreter of God +and revelation than the Church. This was called Protestantism; +and though the Protestants were not strong enough for their +creed, and soon set up a Church of their own, yet the movement, +on the whole, has justified the direction it took. Nowadays the +supernatural element in Protestantism has perished; and if every +man's private judgment is still to be justified as the most +trustworthy interpreter of the will of Humanity (which is not a +more extreme proposition than the old one about the will of God) +Protestantism must take a fresh step in advance, and become +Anarchism. Which it has accordingly done, Anarchism being one +of the notable new creeds of the eighteenth and nineteenth +centuries. + +The weak place which experience finds out in the Anarchist theory +is its reliance on the progress already achieved by "Man." There +is no such thing as Man in the world: what we have to deal with +is a multitude of men, some of them great rascals, some of them +greet statesmen, others both, with a vast majority capable of +managing their personal affairs, but not of comprehending social +organization, or grappling with the problems created by their +association in enormous numbers. If "Man" means this majority, +then "Man" has made no progress: he has, on the contrary, +resisted it. He will not even pay the cost of existing +institutions: the requisite money has to be filched from him by +"indirect taxation." Such people, like Wagner's giants; must be +governed by laws; and their assent to such government must be +secured by deliberately filling them with prejudices and +practicing on their imaginations by pageantry and artificial +eminences and dignities. The government is of course established +by the few who are capable of government, though its mechanism +once complete, it may be, and generally is, carried on +unintelligently by people who are incapable of it the capable +people repairing it from time to time when it gets too far behind +the continuous advance or decay of civilization. All these +capable people are thus in the position of Wotan, forced to +maintain as sacred, and themselves submit to, laws which they +privately know to be obsolescent makeshifts, and to affect the +deepest veneration for creeds and ideals which they ridicule +among themselves with cynical scepticism. No individual Siegfried +can rescue them from this bondage and hypocrisy; in fact, the +individual Siegfried has come often enough, only to find himself +confronted with the alternative of governing those who are not +Siegfrieds or risking destruction at their hands. And this +dilemma will persist until Wotan's inspiration comes to our +governors, and they see that their business is not the devising +of laws and institutions to prop up the weaknesses of mobs and +secure the survival of the unfittest, but the breeding of men +whose wills and intelligences may be depended on to produce +spontaneously the social well-being our clumsy laws now aim at and +miss. The majority of men at present in Europe have no business +to be alive; and no serious progress will be made until we +address ourselves earnestly and scientifically to the task of +producing trustworthy human material for society. In short, it is +necessary to breed a race of men in whom the life-giving impulses +predominate, before the New Protestantism becomes politically +practicable.* + +*The necessity for breeding the governing class from a selected +stock has always been recognized by Aristocrats, however +erroneous their methods of selection. We have changed our system +from Aristocracy to Democracy without considering that we were at +the same time changing, as regards our governing class, from +Selection to Promiscuity. Those who have taken a practical part +in modern politics best know how farcical the result is. + + +The most inevitable dramatic conception, then, of the nineteenth +century, is that of a perfectly naive hero upsetting religion, +law and order in all directions, and establishing in their place +the unfettered action of Humanity doing exactly what it likes, +and producing order instead of confusion thereby because it likes +to do what is necessary for the good of the race. This +conception, already incipient in Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations, +was certain at last to reach some great artist, and be embodied +by him in a masterpiece. It was also certain that if that master +happened to be a German, he should take delight in describing his +hero as the Freewiller of Necessity, thereby beyond measure +exasperating Englishmen with a congenital incapacity for +metaphysics. + +PANACEA QUACKERY, OTHERWISE IDEALISM + +Unfortunately, human enlightenment does not progress by nicer +and nicer adjustments, but by violent corrective reactions which +invariably send us clean over our saddle and would bring us to +the ground on the other side if the next reaction did not send +us back again with equally excessive zeal. Ecclesiasticism and +Constitutionalism send us one way, Protestantism and Anarchism +the other; Order rescues us from confusion and lands us in +Tyranny; Liberty then saves the situation and is presently found +to be as great a nuisance as Despotism. A scientifically balanced +application of these forces, theoretically possible, is +practically incompatible with human passion. Besides, we have +the same weakness in morals as in medicine: we cannot be cured +of running after panaceas, or, as they are called in the sphere +of morals, ideals. One generation sets up duty, renunciation, +self-sacrifice as a panacea. The next generation, especially the +women, wake up at the age of forty or thereabouts to the fact +that their lives have been wasted in the worship of this ideal, +and, what is still more aggravating, that the elders who imposed +it on them did so in a fit of satiety with their own experiments +in the other direction. Then that defrauded generation foams at +the mouth at the very mention of duty, and sets up the +alternative panacea of love, their deprivation of which seems to +them to have been the most cruel and mischievous feature of their +slavery to duty. It is useless to warn them that this reaction, +if prescribed as a panacea, will prove as great a failure as all +the other reactions have done; for they do not recognize its +identity with any reaction that ever occurred before. Take for +instance the hackneyed historic example of the austerity of the +Commonwealth being followed by the licence of the Restoration. +You cannot persuade any moral enthusiast to accept this as a pure +oscillation from action to reaction. If he is a Puritan he looks +upon the Restoration as a national disaster: if he is an artist +he regards it as the salvation of the country from gloom, devil +worship and starvation of the affections. The Puritan is ready +to try the Commonwealth again with a few modern improvements: +the Amateur is equally ready to try the Restoration with modern +enlightenments. And so for the present we must be content to +proceed by reactions, hoping that each will establish some +permanently practical and beneficial reform or moral habit that +will survive the correction of its excesses by the next reaction. + +DRAMATIC ORIGIN OF WOTAN + +We can now see how a single drama in which Wotan does not appear, +and of which Siegfried is the hero, expanded itself into a great +fourfold drama of which Wotan is the hero. You cannot dramatize a +reaction by personifying the reacting force only, any more than +Archimedes could lift the world without a fulcrum for his lever. +You must also personify the established power against which the +new force is reacting; and in the conflict between them you get +your drama, conflict being the essential ingredient in all drama. +Siegfried, as the hero of Die Gotterdammerung, is only the primo +tenore robusto of an opera book, deferring his death, after he +has been stabbed in the last act, to sing rapturous love strains +to the heroine exactly like Edgardo in Donizetti's Lucia. In +order to make him intelligible in the wider significance which +his joyous, fearless, conscienceless heroism soon assumed in +Wagner's imagination, it was necessary to provide him with a much +vaster dramatic antagonist than the operatic villain Hagen. Hence +Wagner had to create Wotan as the anvil for Siegfried's hammer; +and since there was no room for Wotan in the original opera book, +Wagner had to work back to a preliminary drama reaching primarily +to the very beginnings of human society. And since, on this +world-embracing scale, it was clear that Siegfried must come into +conflict with many baser and stupider forces than those lofty +ones of supernatural religion and political constitutionalism +typified by Wotan and his wife Fricka, these minor antagonists +had to be dramatized also in the persons of Alberic, Mime, +Fafnir, Loki, and the rest. None of these appear in Night Falls +On The Gods save Alberic, whose weird dream-colloquy with Hagen, +effective as it is, is as purely theatrical as the scene of the +Ghost in Hamlet, or the statue in Don Giovanni. Cut the +conference of the Norns and the visit of Valtrauta to Brynhild +out of Night Falls On The Gods, and the drama remains coherent +and complete without them. Retain them, and the play becomes +connected by conversational references with the three music +dramas; but the connection establishes no philosophic coherence, +no real identity between the operatic Brynhild of the Gibichung +episode (presently to be related) and the daughter of Wotan and +the First Mother. + +THE LOVE PANACEA + +We shall now find that at the point where The Ring changes from +music drama into opera, it also ceases to be philosophic, and +becomes didactic. The philosophic part is a dramatic symbol of +the world as Wagner observed it. In the didactic part the +philosophy degenerates into the prescription of a romantic +nostrum for all human ills. Wagner, only mortal after all, +succumbed to the panacea mania when his philosophy was exhausted, +like any of the rest of us. + +The panacea is by no means an original one. Wagner was +anticipated in the year 1819 by a young country gentleman from +Sussex named Shelley, in a work of extraordinary artistic power +and splendor. Prometheus Unbound is an English attempt at a Ring; +and when it is taken into account that the author was only 27 +whereas Wagner was 40 when he completed the poem of The Ring, our +vulgar patriotism may find an envious satisfaction in insisting +upon the comparison. Both works set forth the same conflict +between humanity and its gods and governments, issuing in the +redemption of man from their tyranny by the growth of his will +into perfect strength and self-confidence; and both finish by a +lapse into panacea-mongering didacticism by the holding up of +Love as the remedy for all evils and the solvent of all social +difficulties. + +The differences between Prometheus Unbound and The Ring are as +interesting as the likenesses. Shelley, caught in the pugnacity +of his youth and the first impetuosity of his prodigious artistic +power by the first fierce attack of the New Reformation, gave no +quarter to the antagonist of his hero. His Wotan, whom he calls +Jupiter, is the almighty fiend into whom the Englishman's God had +degenerated during two centuries of ignorant Bible worship and +shameless commercialism. He is Alberic, Fafnir Loki and the +ambitious side of Wotan all rolled into one melodramatic demon +who is finally torn from his throne and hurled shrieking into the +abyss by a spirit representing that conception of Eternal Law +which has been replaced since by the conception of Evolution. +Wagner, an older, more experienced man than the Shelley of 1819, +understood Wotan and pardoned him, separating him tenderly from +all the compromising alliances to which Shelley fiercely held +him; making the truth and heroism which overthrow him the +children of his inmost heart; and representing him as finally +acquiescing in and working for his own supersession and +annihilation. Shelley, in his later works, is seen progressing +towards the same tolerance, justice, and humility of spirit, as +he advanced towards the middle age he never reached. But there is +no progress from Shelley to Wagner as regards the panacea, except +that in Wagner there is a certain shadow of night and death come +on it: nay, even a clear opinion that the supreme good of love is +that it so completely satisfies the desire for life, that after +it the Will to Live ceases to trouble us, and we are at last +content to achieve the highest happiness of death. + +This reduction of the panacea to absurdity was not forced upon +Shelley, because the love which acts as a universal solvent in +his Prometheus Unbound is a sentiment of affectionate benevolence +which has nothing to do with sexual passion. It might, and in +fact does exist in the absence of any sexual interest whatever. +The words mercy and kindness connote it less ambiguously than the +word love. But Wagner sought always for some point of contact +between his ideas and the physical senses, so that people might +not only think or imagine them in the eighteenth century fashion, +but see them on the stage, hear them from the orchestra, and feel +them through the infection of passionate emotion. Dr. Johnson +kicking the stone to confute Berkeley is not more bent on +common-sense concreteness than Wagner: on all occasions he +insists on the need for sensuous apprehension to give reality to +abstract comprehension, maintaining, in fact, that reality has no +other meaning. Now he could apply this process to poetic love +only by following it back to its alleged origin in sexual +passion, the emotional phenomena of which he has expressed in +music with a frankness and forcible naturalism which would +possibly have scandalized Shelley. The love duet in the first act +of The Valkyries is brought to a point at which the conventions +of our society demand the precipitate fall of the curtain; whilst +the prelude to Tristan and Isolde is such an astonishingly +intense and faithful translation into music of the emotions which +accompany the union of a pair of lovers, that it is questionable +whether the great popularity of this piece at our orchestral +concerts really means that our audiences are entirely catholic +in their respect for life in all its beneficently creative +functions, or whether they simply enjoy the music without +understanding it. + +But however offensive and inhuman may be the superstition which +brands such exaltations of natural passion as shameful and +indecorous, there is at least as much common sense in disparaging +love as in setting it up as a panacea. Even the mercy and +lovingkindness of Shelley do not hold good as a universal law of +conduct: Shelley himself makes extremely short work of Jupiter, +just as Siegfried does of Fafnir, Mime, and Wotan; and the fact +that Prometheus is saved from doing the destructive part of his +work by the intervention of that very nebulous personification of +Eternity called Demogorgon, does not in the least save the +situation, because, flatly, there is no such person as +Demogorgon, and if Prometheus does not pull down Jupiter himself, +no one else will. It would be exasperating, if it were not so +funny, to see these poets leading their heroes through blood and +destruction to the conclusion that, as Browning's David puts it +(David of all people!), "All's Love; yet all's Law." + +Certainly it is clear enough that such love as that implied by +Siegfried's first taste of fear as he cuts through the mailed +coat of the sleeping figure on the mountain, and discovers that +it is a woman; by her fierce revolt against being touched by him +when his terror gives way to ardor; by his manly transports of +victory; and by the womanly mixture of rapture and horror with +which she abandons herself to the passion which has seized on +them both, is an experience which it is much better, like the +vast majority of us, never to have passed through, than to allow +it to play more than a recreative holiday part in our lives. It +did not play a very large part in Wagner's own laborious life, +and does not occupy more than two scenes of The Ring. Tristan and +Isolde, wholly devoted to it, is a poem of destruction and death. +The Mastersingers, a work full of health, fun and happiness, +contains not a single bar of love music that can be described as +passionate: the hero of it is a widower who cobbles shoes, writes +verses, and contents himself with looking on at the +sweetheartings of his customers. Parsifal makes an end of it +altogether. The truth is that the love panacea in Night Falls On +The Gods and in the last act of Siegfried is a survival of the +first crude operatic conception of the story, modified by an +anticipation of Wagner's later, though not latest, conception of +love as the fulfiller of our Will to Live and consequently our +reconciler to night and death. + +NOT LOVE, BUT LIFE + +The only faith which any reasonable disciple can gain from The +Ring is not in love, but in life itself as a tireless power which +is continually driving onward and upward--not, please observe, +being beckoned or drawn by Das Ewig Weibliche or any other +external sentimentality, but growing from within, by its own +inexplicable energy, into ever higher and higher forms of +organization, the strengths and the needs of which are +continually superseding the institutions which were made to fit +our former requirements. When your Bakoonins call out for the +demolition of all these venerable institutions, there is no need +to fly into a panic and lock them up in prison whilst your +parliament is bit by bit doing exactly what they advised you to +do. When your Siegfrieds melt down the old weapons into new ones, +and with disrespectful words chop in twain the antiquated +constable's staves in the hands of their elders, the end of the +world is no nearer than it was before. If human nature, which +is the highest organization of life reached on this planet, +is really degenerating, then human society will decay; and no +panic-begotten penal measures can possibly save it: we must, +like Prometheus, set to work to make new men instead of vainly +torturing old ones. On the other hand, if the energy of life is +still carrying human nature to higher and higher levels, then the +more young people shock their elders and deride and discard their +pet institutions the better for the hopes of the world, since the +apparent growth of anarchy is only the measure of the rate of +improvement. History, as far as we are capable of history (which +is not saying much as yet), shows that all changes from crudity +of social organization to complexity, and from mechanical +agencies in government to living ones, seem anarchic at first +sight. No doubt it is natural to a snail to think that any +evolution which threatens to do away with shells will result in +general death from exposure. Nevertheless, the most elaborately +housed beings today are born not only without houses on their +backs but without even fur or feathers to clothe them. + +ANARCHISM NO PANACEA + +One word of warning to those who may find themselves attracted +by Siegfried's Anarchism, or, if they prefer a term with more +respectable associations, his neo-Protestantism. Anarchism, as a +panacea, is just as hopeless as any other panacea, and will still +be so even if we breed a race of perfectly benevolent men. It is +true that in the sphere of thought, Anarchism is an inevitable +condition of progressive evolution. A nation without +Freethinkers--that is, without intellectual Anarchists--will +share the fate of China. It is also true that our criminal law, +based on a conception of crime and punishment which is nothing +but our vindictiveness and cruelty in a virtuous disguise, is an +unmitigated and abominable nuisance, bound to be beaten out of +us finally by the mere weight of our experience of its evil and +uselessness. But it will not be replaced by anarchy. Applied to +the industrial or political machinery of modern society, anarchy +must always reduce itself speedily to absurdity. Even the +modified form of anarchy on which modern civilization is based: +that is, the abandonment of industry, in the name of individual +liberty, to the upshot of competition for personal gain between +private capitalists, is a disastrous failure, and is, by the +mere necessities of the case, giving way to ordered Socialism. +For the economic rationale of this, I must refer disciples of +Siegfried to a tract from my hand published by the Fabian Society +and entitled The Impossibilities of Anarchism, which explains +why, owing to the physical constitution of our globe, society +cannot effectively organize the production of its food, clothes +and housing, nor distribute them fairly and economically on any +anarchic plan: nay, that without concerting our social action to +a much higher degree than we do at present we can never get rid +of the wasteful and iniquitous welter of a little riches and +a deal of poverty which current political humbug calls our +prosperity and civilization. Liberty is an excellent thing; but +it cannot begin until society has paid its daily debt to Nature +by first earning its living. There is no liberty before that +except the liberty to live at somebody else's expense, a liberty +much sought after nowadays, since it is the criterion of +gentility, but not wholesome from the point of view of the common +weal. + +SIEGFRIED CONCLUDED + +In returning now to the adventures of Siegfried there is little +more to be described except the finale of an opera. Siegfried, +having passed unharmed through the fire, wakes Brynhild and goes +through all the fancies and ecstasies of love at first sight in +a duet which ends with an apostrophe to "leuchtende Liebe, +lachender Tod!", which has been romantically translated into +"Love that illumines, laughing at Death," whereas it really +identifies enlightening love and laughing death as involving +each other so closely as to be usually one and the same thing. + + + +NIGHT FALLS ON THE GODS + +PROLOGUE + +Die Gottrerdammerung begins with an elaborate prologue. The three +Norns sit in the night on Brynhild's mountain top spinning their +thread of destiny, and telling the story of Wotan's sacrifice of +his eye, and of his breaking off a bough from the World Ash to +make a heft for his spear, also how the tree withered after +suffering that violence. They have also some fresher news to +discuss. Wotan, on the breaking of his spear by Siegfried, has +called all his heroes to cut down the withered World Ash and +stack its faggots in a mighty pyre about Valhalla. Then, with his +broken spear in his hand, he has seated himself in state in the +great hall, with the Gods and Heroes assembled about him as if in +council, solemnly waiting for the end. All this belongs to the +old legendary materials with which Wagner began The Ring. + +The tale is broken by the thread snapping in the hands of the +third Norn; for the hour has arrived when man has taken his +destiny in his own hands to shape it for himself, and no longer +bows to circumstance, environment, necessity (which he now freely +wills), and all the rest of the inevitables. So the Norns +recognize that the world has no further use for them, and sink +into the earth to return to the First Mother. Then the day dawns; +and Siegfried and Brynhild come, and have another duet. He gives +her his ring; and she gives him her horse. Away then he goes in +search of more adventures; and she watches him from her crag +until he disappears. The curtain falls; but we can still hear the +trolling of his horn, and the merry clatter of his horse's shoes +trotting gaily down the valley. The sound is lost in the grander +rhythm of the Rhine as he reaches its banks. We hear again an +echo of the lament of the Rhine maidens for the ravished gold; +and then, finally, a new strain, which does not surge like the +mighty flood of the river, but has an unmistakable tramp of hardy +men and a strong land flavor about it. And on this the opera +curtain at last goes up--for please remember that all that has +gone before is only the overture. + +The First Act + +We now understand the new tramping strain. We are in the +Rhineside hall of the Gibichungs, in the resence of King Gunther, +his sister Gutrune, and Gunther's grim half brother Hagen, the +villain of the piece. Gunther is a fool, and has for Hagen's +intelligence the respect a fool always has for the brains of a +scoundrel. Feebly fishing for compliments, he appeals to Hagen +to pronounce him a fine fellow and a glory to the race of Gibich. +Hagen declares that it is impossible to contemplate him without +envy, but thinks it a pity that he has not yet found a wife +glorious enough for him. Gunther doubts whether so extraordinary +a person can possibly exist. Hagen then tells him of Brynhild and +her rampart of fire; also of Siegfried. Gunther takes this rather +in bad part, since not only is he afraid of the fire, but +Siegfried, according to Hagen, is not, and will therefore achieve +this desirable match himself. But Hagen points out that since +Siegfried is riding about in quest of adventures, he will +certainly pay an early visit to the renowned chief of the +Gibichungs. They can then give him a philtre which will make him +fall in love with Gutrune and forget every other woman he has yet +seen. + +Gunther is transported with admiration of Hagen's cunning when he +takes in this plan; and he has hardly assented to it when +Siegfried, with operatic opportuneness, drops in just as Hagen +expected, and is duly drugged into the heartiest love for Gutrune +and total oblivion of Brynhild and his own past. When Gunther +declares his longing for the bride who lies inaccessible within +a palisade of flame, Siegfried at once offers to undertake the +adventure for him. Hagen then explains to both of them that +Siegfried can, after braving the fire, appear to Brynhild in the +semblance of Gunther through the magic of the wishing cap (or +Tarnhelm, as it is called throughout The Ring), the use of which +Siegfried now learns for the first time. It is of course part +of the bargain that Gunther shall give his sister to Siegfried +in marriage. On that they swear blood-brotherhood; and at this +opportunity the old operatic leaven breaks out amusingly in +Wagner. With tremendous exordium of brass, the tenor and baritone +go at it with a will, showing off the power of their voices, +following each other in canonic imitation, singing together in +thirds and sixths, and finishing with a lurid unison, quite in +the manner of Ruy Gomez and Ernani, or Othello and Iago. Then +without further ado Siegfried departs on his expedition, taking +Gunther with him to the foot of the mountain, and leaving Hagen +to guard the hall and sing a very fine solo which has often +figured in the programs of the Richter concerts, explaining that +his interest in the affair is that Siegfried will bring back the +Ring, and that he, Hagen, will presently contrive to possess +himself of that Ring and become Plutonic master of the world. + +And now it will be asked how does Hagen know all about the +Plutonic empire; and why was he able to tell Gunther about +Brynhild and Siegfried, and to explain to Siegfried the trick of +the Tarnhelm. The explanation is that though Hagen's mother was +the mother of Gunther, his father was not the illustrious Gibich, +but no less a person than our old friend Alberic, who, like +Wotan, has begotten a son to do for him what he cannot do for +himself. + +In the above incidents, those gentle moralizers who find the +serious philosophy of the music dramas too terrifying for them, +may allegorize pleasingly on the philtre as the maddening chalice +of passion which, once tasted, causes the respectable man to +forget his lawfully wedded wife and plunge into adventures which +eventually lead him headlong to destruction. + +We now come upon a last relic of the tragedy of Wotan. Returning +to Brynhild's mountain, we find her visited by her sister +Valkyrie Valtrauta, who has witnessed Wotan's solemn preparations +with terror. She repeats to Brynhild the account already given by +the Norns. Clinging in anguish to Wotan's knees, she has heard +him mutter that were the ring returned to the daughters of the +deep Rhine, both Gods and world would be redeemed from that stage +curse off Alberic's in The Rhine Gold. On this she has rushed on +her warhorse through the air to beg Brynhild to give the Rhine +back its ring. But this is asking Woman to give up love for the +sake of Church and State. She declares that she will see them +both perish first; and Valtrauta returns to Valhalla in despair. +Whilst Brynhild is watching the course of the black thundercloud +that marks her sister's flight, the fires of Loki again flame +high round the mountain; and the horn of Siegfried is heard as he +makes his way through them. But the man who now appears wears the +Tarnhelm: his voice is a strange voice: his figure is the unknown +one of the king of the Gibichungs. He tears the ring from her +finger, and, claiming her as his wife, drives her into the cave +without pity for her agony of horror, and sets Nothung between +them in token of his loyalty to the friend he is impersonating. +No explanation of this highway robbery of the ring is offered. +Clearly, this Siegfried is not the Siegfried of the previous +drama. + +The Second Act + +In the second act we return to the hall of Gibich, where Hagen, +in the last hours of that night, still sits, his spear in his +hand, and his shield beside him. At his knees crouches a dwarfish +spectre, his father Alberic, still full of his old grievances +against Wotan, and urging his son in his dreams to win back the +ring for him. This Hagen swears to do; and as the apparition of +his father vanishes, the sun rises and Siegfried suddenly comes +from the river bank tucking into his belt the Tarnhelm, which has +transported hi from the mountain like the enchanted carpet of the +Arabian tales. He describes his adventures to Gutrune until +Gunther's boat is seen approaching, when Hagen seizes a cowhorn +and calls the tribesmen to welcome their chief and his bride. +It is most exhilarating, this colloquy with the startled and +hastily armed clan, ending with a thundering chorus, the drums +marking the time with mighty pulses from dominant to tonic, +much as Rossini would have made them do if he had been a pupil +of Beethoven's. + +A terrible scene follows. Gunther leads his captive bride +straight into the presence of Siegfried, whom she claims as her +husband by the ring, which she is astonished to see on his finger: +Gunther, as she supposes, having torn it from her the night +before. Turning on Gunther, she says "Since you took that ring +from me, and married me with it, tell him of your right to it; +and make him give it back to you." Gunther stammers, "The ring! +I gave him no ring--er--do you know him?" The rejoinder is +obvious. "Then where are you hiding the ring that you had from +me?" Gunther's confusion enlightens her; and she calls Siegfried +trickster and thief to his face. In vain he declares that he got +the ring from no woman, but from a dragon whom he slew; for he is +manifestly puzzled; and she, seizing her opportunity, accuses him +before the clan of having played Gunther false with her. + +Hereupon we have another grandiose operatic oath, Siegfried +attesting his innocence on Hagen's spear, and Brynhild rushing +to the footlights and thrusting him aside to attest his guilt, +whilst the clansmen call upon their gods to send down lightnings +and silence the perjured. The gods do not respond; and Siegfried, +after whispering to Gunther that the Tarnhelm seems to have been +only half effectual after all, laughs his way out of the general +embarrassment and goes off merrily to prepare for his wedding, +with his arm round Gutrune's waist, followed by the clan. +Gunther, Hagen and Brynhild are left together to plot operatic +vengeance. Brynhild, it appears, has enchanted Siegfried in such +a fashion that no weapon can hurt him. She has, however, omitted +to protect his back, since it is impossible that he should ever +turn that to a foe. They agree accordingly that on the morrow a +great hunt shall take place, at which Hagen shall thrust his +spear into the hero's vulnerable back. The blame is to be laid +on the tusk of a wild boar. Gunther, being a fool, is remorseful +about his oath of blood-brotherhood and about his sister's +bereavement, without having the strength of mind to prevent +the murder. The three burst into a herculean trio, similar in +conception to that of the three conspirators in Un Ballo in +Maschera; and the act concludes with a joyous strain heralding +the appearance of Siegfried's wedding procession, with strewing +of flowers, sacrificing to the gods, and carrying bride and +bridegroom in triumph. + +It will be seen that in this act we have lost all connection with +the earlier drama. Brynhild is not only not the Brynhild of The +Valkyries, she is the Hiordis of Ibsen, a majestically savage +woman, in whom jealousy and revenge are intensified to heroic +proportions. That is the inevitable theatrical treatment of the +murderous heroine of the Saga. Ibsen's aim in The Vikings was +purely theatrical, and not, as in his later dramas, also +philosophically symbolic. Wagner's aim in Siegfried's Death was +equally theatrical, and not, as it afterwards became in the +dramas of which Siegfried's antagonist Wotan is the hero, +likewise philosophically symbolic. The two master-dramatists +therefore produce practically the same version of Brynhild. +Thus on the second evening of The Ring we see Brynhild in the +character of the truth-divining instinct in religion, cast into +an enchanted slumber and surrounded by the fires of hell lest +she should overthrow a Church corrupted by its alliance with +government. On the fourth evening, we find her swearing a +malicious lie to gratify her personal jealousy, and then plotting +a treacherous murder with a fool and a scoundrel. In the original +draft of Siegfried's Death, the incongruity is carried still +further by the conclusion, at which the dead Brynhild, restored +to her godhead by Wotan, and again a Valkyrie, carries the slain +Siegfried to Valhalla to live there happily ever after with its +pious heroes. + +As to Siegfried himself, he talks of women, both in this second +act and the next, with the air of a man of the world. "Their +tantrums," he says, "are soon over." Such speeches do not belong +to the novice of the preceding drama, but to the original +Siegfried's Tod, with its leading characters sketched on the +ordinary romantic lines from the old Sagas, and not yet reminted +as the original creations of Wagner's genius whose acquaintance +we have made on the two previous evenings. The very title +"Siegfried's Death" survives as a strong theatrical point in +the following passage. Gunther, in his rage and despair, cries, +"Save me, Hagen: save my honor and thy mother's who bore us both." +"Nothing can save thee," replies Hagen: "neither brain nor hand, +but SIEGFRIED'S DEATH." And Gunther echoes with a shudder, +"SIEGFRIED'S DEATH!" + +A WAGNERIAN NEWSPAPER CONTROVERSY + +The devotion which Wagner's work inspires has been illustrated +lately in a public correspondence on this very point. A writer +in The Daily Telegraph having commented on the falsehood uttered +by Brynhild in accusing Siegfried of having betrayed Gunther +with her, a correspondence in defence of the beloved heroine +was opened in The Daily Chronicle. The imputation of falsehood +to Brynhild was strongly resented and combated, in spite of +the unanswerable evidence of the text. It was contended that +Brynhild's statement must be taken as establishing the fact that +she actually was ravished by somebody whom she believed to be +Siegfried, and that since this somebody cannot have been +Siegfried, he being as incapable of treachery to Gunther as she +of falsehood, it must have been Gunther himself after a second +exchange of personalities not mentioned in the text. The reply to +this--if so obviously desperate a hypothesis needs a reply--is +that the text is perfectly explicit as to Siegfried, disguised as +Gunther, passing the night with Brynhild with Nothung dividing +them, and in the morning bringing her down the mountain THROUGH +THE FIRE (an impassable obstacle to Gunther) and there +transporting himself in a single breath, by the Tarnhelm's magic, +back to the hall of the Gibichungs, leaving the real Gunther to +bring Brynhild down the river after him. One controversialist +actually pleaded for the expedition occupying two nights, on the +second of which the alleged outrage might have taken place. But +the time is accounted for to the last minute: it all takes place +during the single night watch of Hagen. There is no possible way +out of the plain fact that Brynhild's accusation is to her own +knowledge false; and the impossible ways just cited are only +interesting as examples of the fanatical worship which Wagner and +his creations have been able to inspire in minds of exceptional +power and culture. + +More plausible was the line taken by those who admitted the +falsehood. Their contention was that when Wotan deprived Brynhild +of her Godhead, he also deprived her of her former high moral +attributes; so that Siegfried's kiss awakened an ordinary mortal +jealous woman. But a goddess can become mortal and jealous +without plunging at once into perjury and murder. Besides, this +explanation involves the sacrifice of the whole significance of +the allegory, and the reduction of The Ring to the plane of a +child's conception of The Sleeping Beauty. Whoever does not +understand that, in terms of The Ring philosophy, a change from +godhead to humanity is a step higher and not a degradation, +misses the whole point of The Ring. It is precisely because the +truthfulness of Brynhild is proof against Wotan's spells that +he has to contrive the fire palisade with Loki, to protect the +fictions and conventions of Valhalla against her. + +The only tolerable view is the one supported by the known history +of The Ring, and also, for musicians of sufficiently fine +judgment, by the evidence of the scores; of which more anon. As +a matter of fact Wagner began, as I have said, with Siegfried's +Death. Then, wanting to develop the idea of Siegfried as +neo-Protestant, he went on to The Young Siegfried. As a Protestant +cannot be dramatically projected without a pontifical antagonist. +The Young Siegfried led to The Valkyries, and that again to its +preface The Rhine Gold (the preface is always written after the +book is finished). Finally, of course, the whole was revised. The +revision, if carried out strictly, would have involved the cutting +out of Siegfried's Death, now become inconsistent and +superfluous; and that would have involved, in turn, the facing of +the fact that The Ring was no longer a Niblung epic, and really +demanded modern costumes, tall hats for Tarnhelms, factories for +Nibelheims, villas for Valhallas, and so on--in short, a complete +confession of the extent to which the old Niblung epic had become +the merest pretext and name directory in the course of Wagner's +travail. But, as Wagner's most eminent English interpreter once +put it to me at Bayreuth between the acts of Night Falls On The +Gods, the master wanted to "Lohengrinize" again after his long +abstention from opera; and Siegfried's Death (first sketched in +1848, the year before the rising in Dresden and the subsequent +events which so deepened Wagner's sense of life and the +seriousness of art) gave him exactly the libretto he required for +that outbreak of the old operatic Adam in him. So he changed it +into Die Gotterdammerung, retaining the traditional plot of +murder and jealousy, and with it, necessarily, his original second +act, in spite of the incongruity of its Siegfried and Brynhild +with the Siegfried and Brynhild of the allegory. As to the +legendary matter about the world-ash and the destruction of +Valhalla by Loki, it fitted in well enough; for though, +allegorically, the blow by which Siegfried breaks the god's spear +is the end of Wotan and of Valhalla, those who do not see the +allegory, and take the story literally, like children, are sure +to ask what becomes of Wotan after Siegfried gets past him up the +mountain; and to this question the old tale told in Night Falls +On The Gods is as good an answer as another. The very +senselessness of the scenes of the Norns and of Valtrauta in +relation to the three foregoing dramas, gives them a highly +effective air of mystery; and no one ventures to challenge their +consequentiality, because we are all more apt to pretend to +understand great works of art than to confess that the meaning +(if any) has escaped us. Valtrauta, however, betrays her +irrelevance by explaining that the gods can be saved by the +restoration of the ring to the Rhine maidens. This, considered as +part of the previous allegory, is nonsense; so that even this +scene, which has a more plausible air of organic connection with +The Valkyries than any other in Night Falls On The Gods, is as +clearly part of a different and earlier conception as the episode +which concludes it, in which Siegfried actually robs Brynhild of +her ring, though he has no recollection of having given it to +her. Night Falls On The Gods, in fact, was not even revised into +any real coherence with the world-poem which sprang from it; and +that is the authentic solution of all the controversies which +have arisen over it. + +The Third Act + +The hunting party comes off duly. Siegfried strays from it and +meets the Rhine maidens, who almost succeed in coaxing the ring +from him. He pretends to be afraid of his wife; and they chaff +him as to her beating him and so forth; but when they add that +the ring is accursed and will bring death upon him, he discloses +to them, as unconsciously as Julius Caesar disclosed it long ago, +that secret of heroism, never to let your life be shaped by fear +of its end.* So he keeps the ring; and they leave him to his +fate. The hunting party now finds him; and they all sit down +together to make a meal by the river side, Siegfried telling them +meanwhile the story of his adventures. When he approaches the +subject of Brynhild, as to whom his memory is a blank, Hagen +pours an antidote to the love philtre into his drinking horn, +whereupon, his memory returning, he proceeds to narrate the +incident of the fiery mountain, to Gunther's intense +mortification. Hagen then plunges his spear into the back of +Siegfried, who falls dead on his shield, but gets up again, after +the old operatic custom, to sing about thirty bars to his love +before allowing himself to be finally carried off to the strains +of the famous Trauermarsch. + +*"We must learn to die, and to die in the fullest sense of the +word. The fear of the end is the source of all lovelessness; +and this fear is generated only when love begins to wane. How +came it that this loves the highest blessedness to all things +living, was so far lost sight of by the human race that at last +it came to this: all that mankind did, ordered, and established, +was conceived only in fear of the end? My poem sets this forth." +--Wagner to Roeckel, 25th Jan. 1854. + + +The scene then changes to the hall of the Gibichungs by the +Rhine. It is night; and Gutrune, unable to sleep, and haunted by +all sorts of vague terrors, is waiting for the return of her +husband, and wondering whether a ghostly figure she has seen +gliding down to the river bank is Brynhild, whose room is empty. +Then comes the cry of Hagen, returning with the hunting party to +announce the death of Siegfried by the tusk of a wild boar. But +Gutrune divines the truth; and Hagen does not deny it. +Siegfried's body is brought in; Gunther claims the ring; Hagen +will not suffer him to take it; they fight; and Gunther is slain. +Hagen then attempts to take it; but the dead man's hand closes on +it and raises itself threateningly. Then Brynhild comes; and a +funeral pyre is raised whilst she declaims a prolonged scene, +extremely moving and imposing, but yielding nothing to resolute +intellectual criticism except a very powerful and elevated +exploitation of theatrical pathos, psychologically identical with +the scene of Cleopatra and the dead Antony in Shakespeare's +tragedy. Finally she flings a torch into the pyre, and rides her +war-horse into the flames. The hall of the Gibichungs catches +fire, as most halls would were a cremation attempted in the +middle of the floor (I permit myself this gibe purposely to +emphasize the excessive artificiality of the scene); but the +Rhine overflows its banks to allow the three Rhine maidens to +take the ring from Siegfried's finger, incidentally extinguishing +the conflagration as it does so. Hagen attempts to snatch the +ring from the maidens, who promptly drown him; and in the distant +heavens the Gods and their castle are seen perishing in the fires +of Loki as the curtain falls. + +FORGOTTEN ERE FINISHED + +In all this, it will be observed, there is nothing new. The +musical fabric is enormously elaborate and gorgeous; but you +cannot say, as you must in witnessing The Rhine Gold, The +Valkyries, and the first two acts of Siegfried, that you have +never seen anything like it before, and that the inspiration is +entirely original. Not only the action, but most of the poetry, +might conceivably belong to an Elizabethan drama. The situation +of Cleopatra and Antony is unconsciously reproduced without being +bettered, or even equalled in point of majesty and musical +expression. The loss of all simplicity and dignity, the +impossibility of any credible scenic presentation of the +incidents, and the extreme staginess of the conventions by which +these impossibilities are got over, are no doubt covered from the +popular eye by the overwhelming prestige of Die Gotterdammerung +as part of so great a work as The Ring, and by the extraordinary +storm of emotion and excitement which the music keeps up. But the +very qualities that intoxicate the novice in music enlighten the +adept. In spite of the fulness of the composer's technical +accomplishment, the finished style and effortless mastery of +harmony and instrumentation displayed, there is not a bar in the +work which moves us as the same themes moved us in The Valkyries, +nor is anything but external splendor added to the life and humor +of Siegfried. + +In the original poem, Brynhild delays her self-immolation on the +pyre of Siegfried to read the assembled choristers a homily on +the efficacy of the Love panacea. "My holiest wisdom's hoard," +she says, "now I make known to the world. I believe not in +property, nor money, nor godliness, nor hearth and high place, +nor pomp and peerage, nor contract and custom, but in Love. Let +that only prevail; and ye shall be blest in weal or woe." Here +the repudiations still smack of Bakoonin; but the saviour is no +longer the volition of the full-grown spirit of Man, the Free +Willer of Necessity, sword in hand, but simply Love, and not even +Shelleyan love, but vehement sexual passion. It is highly +significant of the extent to which this uxorious commonplace lost +its hold of Wagner (after disturbing his conscience, as he +confesses to Roeckel, for years) that it disappears in the full +score of Night Falls On The Gods, which was not completed until +he was on the verge of producing Parsifal, twenty years after the +publication of the poem. He cut the homily out, and composed the +music of the final scene with a flagrant recklessness of the old +intention. The rigorous logic with which representative musical +themes are employed in the earlier dramas is here abandoned +without scruple; and for the main theme at the conclusion he +selects a rapturous passage sung by Sieglinda in the third act of +The Valkyries when Brynhild inspires her with a sense of her high +destiny as the mother of the unborn hero. There is no dramatic +logic whatever in the recurrence of this theme to express the +transport in which Brynhild immolates herself. There is of course +an excuse for it, inasmuch as both women have an impulse of +self-sacrifice for the sake of Siegfried; but this is really +hardly more than an excuse; since the Valhalla theme might be +attached to Alberic on the no worse ground that both he and +Wotan are inspired by ambition, and that the ambition has the +same object, the possession of the ring. The common sense of the +matter is that the only themes which had fully retained their +significance in Wagner's memory at the period of the composition +of Night Falls On The Gods are those which are mere labels of +external features, such as the Dragon, the Fire, the Water and so +on. This particular theme of Sieglinda's is, in truth, of no +great musical merit: it might easily be the pet climax of a +popular sentimental ballad: in fact, the gushing effect which is +its sole valuable quality is so cheaply attained that it is +hardly going too far to call it the most trumpery phrase in the +entire tetralogy. Yet, since it undoubtedly does gush very +emphatically, Wagner chose, for convenience' sake, to work up +this final scene with it rather than with the more distinguished, +elaborate and beautiful themes connected with the love of +Brynhild and Siegfried. + +He would certainly not have thought this a matter of no +consequence had he finished the whole work ten years earlier. +It must always be borne in mind that the poem of The Ring was +complete and printed in 1853, and represents the sociological +ideas which, after germinating in the European atmosphere for +many years, had been brought home to Wagner, who was intensely +susceptible to such ideas, by the crash of 1849 at Dresden. Now +no man whose mind is alive and active, as Wagner's was to the day +of his death, can keep his political and spiritual opinions, much +less his philosophic consciousness, at a standstill for quarter +of a century until he finishes an orchestral score. When Wagner +first sketched Night Falls On The Gods he was 35. When he +finished the score for the first Bayreuth festival in 1876 he had +turned 60. No wonder he had lost his old grip of it and left it +behind him. He even tampered with The Rhine Gold for the sake of +theatrical effect when stage-managing it, making Wotan pick up +and brandish a sword to give visible point to his sudden +inspiration as to the raising up of a hero. The sword had first +to be discovered by Fafnir among the Niblung treasures and thrown +away by him as useless. There is no sense in this device; and its +adoption shows the same recklessness as to the original intention +which we find in the music of the last act of The Dusk of the +Gods.* + +*Die Gotterdammerung means literally Godsgloaming. The English +versions of the opera are usually called The Dusk of the Gods, +or The Twilight of the Gods. I have purposely introduced the +ordinary title in the sentence above for the reader's +information. + + + + +WHY HE CHANGED HIS MIND + +Wagner, however, was not the man to allow his grip of a great +philosophic theme to slacken even in twenty-five years if the +theme still held good as a theory of actual life. If the history +of Germany from 1849 to 1876 had been the history of Siegfried +and Wotan transposed into the key of actual life Night Falls On +The Gods would have been the logical consummation of Das +Rheingold and The Valkyrie instead of the operatic anachronism it +actually is. + +But, as a matter of fact, Siegfried did not succeed and Bismarck +did. Roeckel was a prisoner whose imprisonment made no difference; +Bakoonin broke up, not Walhall, but the International, which +ended in an undignified quarrel between him and Karl Marx. The +Siegfrieds of 1848 were hopeless political failures, whereas the +Wotans and Alberics and Lows were conspicuous political +successes. Even the Mimes held their own as against Siegfried. +With the single exception of Ferdinand Lassalle, there was no +revolutionary leader who was not an obvious impossibilist in +practical politics; and Lassalle got himself killed in a romantic +and quite indefensible duel after wrecking his health in a +titanic oratorical campaign which convinced him that the great +majority of the working classes were not ready to join him, and +that the minority who were ready did not understand him. The +International, founded in 1861 by Karl Marx in London, and +mistaken for several years by nervous newspapers for a red +spectre, was really only a turnip ghost. It achieved some +beginnings of International Trade Unionism by inducing English +workmen to send money to support strikes on the continent, and +recalling English workers who had been taken across the North Sea +to defeat such strikes; but on its revolutionary socialistic side +it was a romantic figment. The suppression of the Paris Commune, +one of the most tragic examples in history of the pitilessness +with which capable practical administrators and soldiers are +forced by the pressure of facts to destroy romantic amateurs and +theatrical dreamers, made an end of melodramatic Socialism. It +was as easy for Marx to hold up Thiers as the most execrable of +living scoundrels and to put upon Gallifet the brand that still +makes him impossible in French politics as it was for Victor Hugo +to bombard Napoleon III from his paper battery in Jersey. It was +also easy to hold up Felix Pyat and Delescluze as men of much +loftier ideals than Thiers and Gallifet; but the one fact that +could not be denied was that when it came to actual shooting, it +was Gallifet who got Delescluze shot and not Delescluze who got +Gallifet shot, and that when it came to administering the affairs +of France, Thiers could in one way or another get it done, whilst +Pyat could neither do it nor stop talking and allow somebody else +to do it. True, the penalty of following Thiers was to be +exploited by the landlord and capitalist; but then the penalty of +following Pyat was to get shot like a mad dog, or at best get +sent to New Caledonia, quite unnecessarily and uselessly. + +To put it in terms of Wagner's allegory, Alberic had got the ring +back again and was marrying into the best Walhall families with +it. He had thought better of his old threat to dethrone Wotan and +Loki. He had found that Nibelheim was a very gloomy place and +that if he wanted to live handsomely and safely, he must not only +allow Wotan and Loki to organize society for him, but pay them +very handsomely for doing it. He wanted splendor, military glory, +loyalty, enthusiasm, and patriotism; and his greed and gluttony +were wholly unable to create them, whereas Wotan and Loki carried +them all to a triumphant climax in Germany in 1871, when Wagner +himself celebrated the event with his Kaisermarsch, which sounded +much more convincing than the Marseillaise or the Carmagnole. + +How, after the Kaisermarsch, could Wagner go back to his +idealization of Siegfried in 1853? How could he believe seriously +in Siegfried slaying the dragon and charging through the mountain +fire, when the immediate foreground was occupied by the Hotel de +Ville with Felix Pyat endlessly discussing the principles of +Socialism whilst the shells of Thiers were already battering the +Arc de Triomphe, and ripping up the pavement of the Champs +Elysees? Is it not clear that things had taken an altogether +unexpected turn--that although the Ring may, like the famous +Communist Manifesto of Marx and Engels, be an inspired guest +at the historic laws and predestined end of our +capitalistic-theocratic epoch, yet Wagner, like Marx, was too +inexperienced in technical government and administration and too +melodramatic in his hero-contra-villain conception of the class +struggle, to foresee the actual process by which his +generalization would work out, or the part to be played in it +by the classes involved? + +Let us go back for a moment to the point at which the Niblung +legend first becomes irreconcilable with Wagner's allegory. +Fafnir in the allegory becomes a capitalist; but Fafnir in the +legend is a mere hoarder. His gold does not bring him in any +revenue. It does not even support him: he has to go out and +forage for food and drink. In fact, he is on the way to his +drinking-pool when Siegfried kills him. And Siegfried himself has +no more use for gold than Fafnir: the only difference between +them in this respect is that Siegfried does not waste his time in +watching a barren treasure that is no use to him, whereas Fafnir +sacrifices his humanity and his life merely to prevent anybody +else getting it. This contrast is true to human nature; but it +shunts The Ring drama off the economic lines of the allegory. In +real life, Fafnir is not a miser: he seeks dividends, comfortable +life, and admission to the circles of Wotan and Loki. His only +means of procuring these is to restore the gold to Alberic in +exchange for scrip in Alberic's enterprises. Thus fortified with +capital, Alberic exploits his fellow dwarfs as before, and also +exploits Fafair's fellow giants who have no capital. What is +more, the toil, forethought and self-control which the +exploitation involves, and the self-respect and social esteem +which its success wins, effect an improvement in Alberic's own +character which neither Marx nor Wagner appear to have foreseen. +He discovers that to be a dull, greedy, narrow-minded +money-grubber is not the way to make money on a large scale; for +though greed may suffice to turn tens into hundreds and even +hundreds into thousands, to turn thousands into hundreds of +thousands requires magnanimity and a will to power rather than +to pelf. And to turn thousands into millions, Alberic must make +himself an earthly providence for masses of workmen: he must +create towns and govern markets. In the meantime, Fafair, +wallowing in dividends which he has done nothing to earn, may +rot, intellectually and morally, from mere disuse of his energies +and lack of incentive to excel; but the more imbecile he becomes, +the more dependent he is upon Alberic, and the more the +responsibility of keeping the world-machine in working order +falls upon Alberic. Consequently, though Alberic in Also may have +been merely the vulgar Manchester Factory-owner portrayed by +Engels, in 1876 he was well on the way towards becoming Krupp +of Essen or Carnegie of Homestead. + +Now, without exaggerating the virtues of these gentlemen, it will +be conceded by everybody except perhaps those veteran German +Social-Democrats who have made a cult of obsolescence under the +name of Marxism, that the modern entrepreneur is not to be +displaced and dismissed so lightly as Alberic is dismissed in The +Ring. They are really the masters of the whole situation. Wotan +is hardly less dependent on them than Fafnir; the War-Lord visits +their work, acclaims them in stirring speeches, and casts down +their enemies; whilst Loki makes commercial treaties for them and +subjects all his diplomacy to their approval. + +The end cannot come until Siegfried learns Alberic's trade and +shoulders Alberic's burden. Not having as yet done so, he is +still completely mastered by Alberic. He does not even rebel +against him except when he is too stupid and ignorant, or too +romantically impracticable, to see that Alberic's work, like +Wotan's work and Loki's work, is necessary work, and that +therefore Alberic can never be superseded by a warrior, but only +by a capable man of business who is prepared to continue his work +without a day's intermission. Even though the proletarians of all +lands were to become "class conscious," and obey the call of Marx +by uniting to carry the Class struggle to a proletarian victory +in which all capital should become common property, and all +Monarchs, Millionaires, Landlords and Capitalists become common +citizens, the triumphant proletarians would have either to starve +in Anarchy the next day or else do the political and industrial +work which is now being done tant bien que mal by our Romanoffs, +our Hohenzollerns, our Krupps, Carnegies, Levers, Pierpont +Morgans, and their political retinues. And in the meantime these +magnates must defend their power and property with all their +might against the revolutionary forces until these forces become +positive, executive, administrative forces, instead of the +conspiracies of protesting, moralizing, virtuously indignant +amateurs who mistook Marx for a man of affairs and Thiers for a +stage villain. But all this represents a development of which one +gathers no forecast from Wagner or Marx. Both of them prophesied +the end of our epoch, and, so far as one can guess, prophesied it +rightly. They also brought its industrial history up to the year +1848 far more penetratingly than the academic historians of their +time. But they broke off there and left a void between 1848 and +the end, in which we, who have to live in that period, get no +guidance from them. The Marxists wandered for years in this void, +striving, with fanatical superstition, to suppress the +Revisionists who, facing the fact that the Social-Democratic +party was lost, were trying to find the path by the light of +contemporary history instead of vainly consulting the oracle in +the pages of Das Kapital. Marx himself was too simpleminded a +recluse and too full of the validity of his remoter +generalizations, and the way in which the rapid integration of +capital in Trusts and Kartels was confirming them, to be +conscious of the void himself. + +Wagner, on the other hand, was comparatively a practical man. +It is possible to learn more of the world by producing a single +opera, or even conducting a single orchestral rehearsal, than by +ten years reading in the Library of the British Museum. Wagner +must have learnt between Das Rheingold and the Kaisermarsch that +there are yet several dramas to be interpolated in The Ring after +The Valkyries before the allegory can tell the whole story, and +that the first of these interpolated dramas will be much more +like a revised Rienzi than like Siegfried. If anyone doubts the +extent to which Wagner's eyes had been opened to the +administrative-childishness and romantic conceit of the heroes of +the revolutionary generation that served its apprenticeship on +the barricades of 1848-9, and perished on those of 1870 under +Thiers' mitrailleuses, let him read Eine Kapitulation, that +scandalous burlesque in which the poet and composer of Siegfried, +with the levity of a schoolboy, mocked the French republicans who +were doing in 1871 what he himself was exiled for doing in 1849. +He had set the enthusiasm of the Dresden Revolution to his own +greatest music; but he set the enthusiasm of twenty years later +in derision to the music of Rossini. There is no mistaking the +tune he meant to suggest by his doggerel of Republik, Republik, +Republik-lik-lik. The Overture to William Tell is there as +plainly as if it were noted down in full score. + +In the case of such a man as Wagner, you cannot explain this +volte-face as mere jingoism produced by Germany's overwhelming +victory in the Franco-Prussian War, nor as personal spite against +the Parisians for the Tannhauser fiasco. Wagner had more cause +for personal spite against his own countrymen than he ever had +against the French. No doubt his outburst gratified the pettier +feelings which great men have in common with small ones; but he +was not a man to indulge in such gratifications, or indeed to +feel them as gratifications, if he had not arrived at a profound +philosophical contempt for the inadequacy of the men who were +trying to wield Nothung, and who had done less work for Wagner's +own art than a single German King and he, too, only a mad one. +Wagner had by that time done too much himself not to know that +the world is ruled by deeds, not by good intentions, and that +one efficient sinner is worth ten futile saints and martyrs. + +I need not elaborate the point further in these pages. Like all +men of genius, Wagner had exceptional sincerity, exceptional +respect for facts, exceptional freedom from the hypnotic +influence of sensational popular movements, exceptional sense of +the realities of political power as distinguished from the +presences and idolatries behind which the real masters of modern +States pull their wires and train their guns. When he scored +Night Falls On The Gods, he had accepted the failure of Siegfried +and the triumph of the Wotan-Loki-Alberic-trinity as a fact. He +had given up dreaming of heroes, heroines, and final solutions, +and had conceived a new protagonist in Parsifal, whom he +announced, not as a hero, but as a fool; who was armed, not with +a sword which cut irresistibly, but with a spear which he held +only on condition that he did not use it; and who instead of +exulting in the slaughter of a dragon was frightfully ashamed of +having shot a swan. The change in the conception of the Deliverer +could hardly be more complete. It reflects the change which took +place in Wagner's mind between the composition of The Rhine Gold +and Night Falls On The Gods; and it explains why he dropped The +Ring allegory and fell back on the status quo ante by +Lohengrinizing. + +If you ask why he did not throw Siegfried into the waste paper +basket and rewrite The Ring from The Valkyries onwards, one must +reply that the time had not come for such a feat. Neither Wagner +nor anyone else then living knew enough to achieve it. Besides, +what he had already done had reached the omit of even his immense +energy and perseverance and so he did the best he could with the +unfinished and for ever unfinishable work, rounding it off with +an opera much as Rossini rounded off some of his religious +compositions with a galop. Only, Rossini on such occasions wrote +in his score "Excusez du pen," but Wagner left us to find out the +change for ourselves, perhaps to test how far we had really +followed his meaning. + + + +WAGNER'S OWN EXPLANATION + +And now, having given my explanation of The Ring, can I give +Wagner's explanation of it? If I could (and I can) I should not +by any means accept it as conclusive. Nearly half a century has +passed smce the tetralogy was written; and in that time the +purposes of many half instinctive acts of genius have become +clearer to the common man than they were to the doers. Some years +ago, in the course of an explanation of Ibsen's plays, I pointed +out that it was by no means certain or even likely that Ibsen was +as definitely conscious of his thesis as I. All the stupid +people, and some critics who, though not stupid, had not +themselves written what the Germans call "tendency" works, saw +nothing in this but a fantastic affectation of the extravagant +self-conceit of knowing more about Ibsen than Ibsen himself. +Fortunately, in taking exactly the same position now with regard +to Wagner, I can claim his own authority to support me. "How," he +wrote to Roeckel on the 23rd. August 1856, "can an artist expect +that what he has felt intuitively should be perfectly realized by +others, seeing that he himself feels in the presence of his work, +if it is true Art, that he is confronted by a riddle, about which +he, too, might have illusions, just as another might?" + +The truth is, we are apt to deify men of genius, exactly as we +deify the creative force of the universe, by attributing to +logical design what is the result of blind instinct. What Wagner +meant by "true Art" is the operation of the artist's instinct, +which is just as blind as any other instinct. Mozart, asked for +an explanation of his works, said frankly "How do I know?" +Wagner, being a philosopher and critic as well as a composer, was +always looking for moral explanations of what he had created and +he hit on several very striking ones, all different. In the same +way one can conceive Henry the Eighth speculating very +brilliantly about the circulation of his own blood without +getting as near the truth as Harvey did long after his death. + +None the less, Wagner's own explanations are of exceptional +interest. To begin with, there is a considerable portion of The +Ring, especially the portraiture of our capitalistic industrial +system from the socialist's point of new in the slavery of the +Niblungs and the tyranny of Alberic, which is unmistakable, as it +dramatizes that portion of human activity which lies well within +the territory covered by our intellectual consciousness. All this +is concrete Home Office business, so to speak: its meaning was as +clear to Wagner as it is to us. Not so that part of the work +which deals with the destiny of Wotan. And here, as it happened, +Wagner's recollection of what he had been driving at was +completely upset by his discovery, soon after the completion of +The Ring poem, of Schopenhaur's famous treatise "The World as +Will and Representation." So obsessed did he become with this +masterpiece of philosophic art that he declared that it contained +the intellectual demonstration of the conflict of human forces +which he himself had demonstrated artistically in his great poem. +"I must confess," he writes to Roeckel, "to having arrived at a +clear understanding of my own works of art through the help of +another, who has provided me with the reasoned conceptions +corresponding to my intuitive principles." + +Schopenhaur, however, had done nothing of the sort. Wagner's +determination to prove that he had been a Schopenhaurite all +along without knowing it only shows how completely the +fascination of the great treatise on The Will had run away with +his memory. It is easy to see how this happened. Wagner says of +himself that "seldom has there taken place in the soul of one and +the same man so profound a division and estrangement between the +intuitive or impulsive part of his nature and his consciously or +reasonably formed ideas." And since Schopenhaur's great +contribution to modern thought was to educate us into clear +consciousness of this distinction--a distinction familiar, in a +fanciful way, to the Ages of Faith and Art before the Renascence, +but afterwards swamped in the Rationalism of that movement--it +was inevitable that Wagner should jump at Schopenhaur's +metaphysiology (I use a word less likely to be mistaken than +metaphysics) as the very thing for him. But metaphysiology is one +thing, political philosophy another. The political philosophy of +Siegfried is exactly contrary to the political philosphy of +Schopenhaur, although the same clear metaphysiological +distinction between the instinctive part of man (his Will) and +his reasoning faculty (dramatized in The Ring as Loki) is +insisted on in both. The difference is that to Schopenhaur the +Will is the universal tormentor of man, the author of that great +evil, Life; whilst reason is the divine gift that is finally to +overcome this life-creating will and lead, through its +aboegation, to cessation and peace, annihilation and Nirvana. +This is the doctrine of Pessimism. Now Wagner was, when he wrote +The Ring, a most sanguine revolutionary Meliorist, contemptuous +of the reasoning faculty, which he typified in the shifty, +unreal, delusive Loki, and full of faith in the life-giving Will, +which he typified in the glorious Siegfried. Not until he read +Schopenhaur did he become bent on proving that he had always been +a Pessimist at heart, and that Loki was the most sensible and +worthy adviser of Wotan in The Rhine Gold. + +Sometimes he faces the change in his opinions frankly enough. +"My Niblung drama," he writes to Roeckel, "had taken form at a +time when I had built up with my reason an optimistic world on +Hellenic principles, believing that nothing was necessary for +the realization of such a world but that men should wish it. +I ingeniously set aside-the problem why they did not wish it. +I remember that it was with this definite creative purpose that +I conceived the personality of Siegfried, with the intention of +representing an existence free from pain." But he appeals to his +earlier works to show that behind all these artificial optimistic +ideas there was always with him an intuition of "the sublime +tragedy of renunciation, the negation of the will." In trying to +explain this, he s full of ideas philosophically, and full of the +most amusing contradictions personally. Optimism, as an +accidental excursion into the barren paths of reason on his own +part, he calls "Hellenic." In others he denounces it as rank +Judaism, the Jew having at that time become for him the whipping +boy for all modern humamty. In a letter from London he expounds +Schopenhaur to Roeckel with enthusiasm, preaching the +renunciation of the Will to Live as the redemption from all error +and vain pursuits: in the next letter he resumes the subject with +unabated interest, and finishes by mentioning that on leaving +London he went to Geneva and underwent "a most beneficial course +of hydropathy." Seven months before this he had written as +follows: "Believe me, I too was once possessed by the idea of a +country life. In order to become a radically healthy human being, +I went two years ago to a Hydropathic Establishment, prepared to +give up Art and everything if I could once more become a child +of Nature. But, my good friend, I was obliged to laugh at my own +naivete when I found myself almost going mad. None of us will +reach the promised land: we shall all die in the wilderness. +Intellect is, as some one has said, a sort of disease: it is +incurable." + +Roeckel knew his man of old, and evidently pressed him for +explanations of the inconsistencies of The Ring with Night Falls +On The Gods. Wagner defended himself with unfailing cleverness +and occasional petulances, ranging from such pleas as "I believe +a true instinct has kept me from a too great definiteness; for +it has been borne in on me that an absolute disclosure of the +intention disturbs true insight," to a volley of explanations +and commentaries on the explanations. He gets excited and annoyed +because Roeckel will not admire the Brynhild of Night Falls On +The Gods; re-invents the Tarnhelm scene; and finally, the case +being desperate, exclaims, "It is wrong of you to challenge me +to explain it in words: you must feel that something is being +enacted that is not to be expressed in mere words." + +THE PESSIMIST AS AMORIST + +Sometimes he gets very far away from Pessimism indeed, and +recommends Roeckel to solace his captivity, not by conquering the +will to live at liberty, but by "the inspiring influences of the +Beautiful." The next moment he throws over even Art for Life. +"Where life ends," he says, very wittily, "Art begins. In youth +we turn to Art, we know not why; and only when we have gone +through with Art and come out on the other side, we learn to our +cost that we have missed Life itself." His only comfort is that +he is beloved. And on the subject of love he lets himself loose +in a manner that would have roused the bitterest scorn in +Schopenhaur, though, as we have seen (Love Panacea), it is highly +characteristic of Wagner. "Love in its most perfect reality," he +says, "is only possible between the sexes: it is only as man and +woman that human beings can truly love. Every other manifestation +of love can be traced back to that one absorbingly real feeling, +of which all other affections are but an emanation, a connection, +or an imitation. It is an error to look on this as only one of +the forms in which love is revealed, as if there were other forms +coequal with it, or even superior to it. He who after the manner +of metaphysicians prefers UNREALITY to REALITY, and derives the +concrete from the abstract--in short, puts the word before the +fact--may be right in esteeming the idea of love as higher than +the expression of love, and may affirm that actual love made +manifest in feeling is nothing but the outward and visible sign +of a pre-existent, non-sensuous, abstract love; and he will do +well to despise that sensuous function in general. In any case it +were safe to bet that such a man had never loved or been loved as +human beings can love, or he would have understood that in +despising this feeling, what he condemned was its sensual +expression, the outcome of man's animal nature, and not true +human love. The highest satisfaction and expression of the +individual is only to be found in his complete absorption, and +that is only possible through love. Now a human being is both MAN +and WOMAN: it is only when these two are united that the real +human being exists; and thus it is only by love that man and +woman attain to the full measure of humanity. But when nowadays +we talk of a human being, such heartless blockheads are we that +quite involuntarily we only think of man. It is only in the union +of man and woman by love (sensuous and supersensuous) that the +human being exists; and as the human being cannot rise to the +conception of anything higher than his own existence--his own +being--so the transcendent act of his life is this consummation +of his humanity through love." + +It is clear after this utterance from the would-be +Schopenhaurian, that Wagner's explanations of his works for the +most part explain nothing but the mood in which he happened to be +on the day he advanced them, or the train of thought suggested to +his very susceptible imagination and active mind by the points +raised by his questioner. Especially in his private letters, +where his outpourings are modified by his dramatic consciousness +of the personality of his correspondent, do we find him taking +all manner of positions, and putting forward all sorts of cases +which must be taken as clever and suggestive special pleadings, +and not as serious and permanent expositions of his works. These +works must speak for themselves: if The Ring says one thing, and +a letter written afterwards says that it said something else, The +Ring must be taken to confute the letter just as conclusively as +if the two had been written by different hands. However, nobody +fairly well acquainted with Wagner's utterances as a whole will +find any unaccountable contradictions in them. As in all men of +his type, our manifold nature was so marked in him that he was +like several different men rolled into one. When he had exhausted +himself in the character of the most pugnacious, aggressive, and +sanguine of reformers, he rested himself as a Pessimist and +Ninanist. In The Ring the quietism of Brynhild's "Rest, rest, +thou God" is sublime in its deep conviction; but you have only to +turn back the pages to find the irrepressible bustle of Siegfried +and the revelry of the clansmen expressed with equal zest. Wagner +was not a Schopenhaurite every day in the week, nor even a +Wagnerite. His mind changes as often as his mood. On Monday +nothing will ever induce him to return to quilldriving: on +Tuesday he begins a new pamphlet. On Wednesday he is impatient of +the misapprehensions of people who cannot see how impossible it +is for him to preside as a conductor over platform performances +of fragments of his works, which can only be understood when +presented strictly according to his intention on the stage: on +Thursday he gets up a concert of Wagnerian selections, and when +it is over writes to his friends describing how profoundly both +bandsmen and audience were impressed. On Friday he exults in the +self-assertion of Siegfried's will against all moral ordinances, +and is full of a revolutionary sense of "the universal law of +change and renewal": on Saturday he has an attack of holiness, +and asks, "Can you conceive a moral action of which the root idea +is not renunciation?" In short, Wagner can be quoted against +himself almost without limit, much as Beethoven's adagios could +be quoted against his scherzos if a dispute arose between two +fools as to whether he was a melancholy man or a merry one. + + + +THE MUSIC OF THE RING + +THE REPRESENTATIVE THEMES + +To be able to follow the music of The Ring, all that is necessary +is to become familiar enough with the brief musical phrases out +of which it is built to recognize them and attach a certain +definite significance to them, exactly as any ordinary Englishman +recognizes and attaches a definite significance to the opening +bars of God Save the King. There is no difficulty here: every +soldier is expected to learn and distinguish between different +bugle calls and trumpet calls; and anyone who can do this can +learn and distinguish between the representative themes or +"leading motives" (Leitmotifs) of The Ring. They are the easier +to learn because they are repeated again and again; and the main +ones are so emphatically impressed on the ear whilst the +spectator is looking for the first time at the objects, or +witnessing the first strong dramatic expression of the ideas they +denote, that the requisite association is formed unconsciously. +The themes are neither long, nor complicated, nor difficult. +Whoever can pick up the flourish of a coach-horn, the note of a +bird, the rhythm of the postman's knock or of a horse's gallop, +will be at no loss in picking up the themes of The Ring. No +doubt, when it comes to forming the necessary mental association +with the theme, it may happen that the spectator may find his ear +conquering the tune more easily than his mind conquers the +thought. But for the most part the themes do not denote thoughts +at all, but either emotions of a quite simple universal kind, or +the sights, sounds and fancies common enough to be familiar to +children. Indeed some of them are as frankly childish as any of +the funny little orchestral interludes which, in Haydn's +Creation, introduce the horse, the deer, or the worm. We have +both the horse and the worm in The Ring, treated exactly in +Haydn's manner, and with an effect not a whit less ridiculous +to superior people who decline to take it good-humoredly. Even +the complaisance of good Wagnerites is occasionally rather +overstrained by the way in which Brynhild's allusions to her +charger Grani elicit from the band a little rum-ti-tum triplet +which by itself is in no way suggestive of a horse, although a +continuous rush of such triplets makes a very exciting musical +gallop. + +Other themes denote objects which cannot be imitatively suggested +by music: for instance, music cannot suggest a ring, and cannot +suggest gold; yet each of these has a representative theme which +pervades the score in all directions. In the case of the gold the +association is established by the very salient way in which the +orchestra breaks into the pretty theme in the first act of The +Rhine Gold at the moment when the sunrays strike down through the +water and light up the glittering treasure, hitherto invisible. +The reference of the strange little theme of the wishing cap is +equally manifest from the first, since the spectator's attention +is wholly taken up with the Tarnhelm and its magic when the theme +is first pointedly uttered by the orchestra. The sword theme is +introduced at the end of The Rhine Gold to express Wotan's hero +inspiration; and I have already mentioned that Wagner, unable, +when it came to practical stage management, to forego the appeal +to the eye as well as to the thought, here made Wotan pick up a +sword and brandish it, though no such instruction appears in the +printed score. When this sacrifice to Wagner's scepticism as to +the reality of any appeal to an audience that is not made through +their bodily sense is omitted, the association of the theme with +the sword is not formed until that point in the first act of The +Valkyries at which Siegmund is left alone by Hunding's hearth, +weaponless, with the assurance that he will have to fight for his +life at dawn with his host. He recalls then how his father +promised him a sword for his hour of need; and as he does so, a +flicker from the dying fire is caught by the golden hilt of the +sword in the tree, when the theme immediately begins to gleam +through the quiver of sound from the orchestra, and only dies +out as the fire sinks and the sword is once more hidden by the +darkness. Later on, this theme, which is never silent whilst +Sieglinda is dwelling on the story of the sword, leaps out into +the most dazzling splendor the band can give it when Siegmund +triumphantly draws the weapon from the tree. As it consists of +seven notes only, with a very marked measure, and a melody like +a simple flourish on a trumpet or post horn, nobody capable of +catching a tune can easily miss it. + +The Valhalla theme, sounded with solemn grandeur as the home of +the gods first appears to us and to Wotan at the beginning of the +second scene of The Rhine Gold, also cannot be mistaken. It, too, +has a memorable rhythm; and its majestic harmonies, far from +presenting those novel or curious problems in polyphony of which +Wagner still stands suspected by superstitious people, are just +those three simple chords which festive students who vamp +accompaniments to comic songs "by ear" soon find sufficient for +nearly all the popular tunes in the world. + +On the other hand, the ring theme, when it begins to hurtle +through the third scene of The Rhine Gold, cannot possibly be +referred to any special feature in the general gloom and turmoil +of the den of the dwarfs. It is not a melody, but merely the +displaced metric accent which musicians call syncopation, rung on +the notes of the familiar chord formed by piling three minor +thirds on top of one another (technically, the chord of the minor +ninth, ci-devant diminished seventh). One soon picks it up and +identifies it; but it does not get introduced in the +unequivocally clear fashion of the themes described above, or of +that malignant monstrosity, the theme which denotes the curse on +the gold. Consequently it cannot be said that the musical design +of the work is perfectly clear at the first hearing as regards +all the themes; but it is so as regards most of them, the main +lines being laid down as emphatically and intelligibly as the +dramatic motives in a Shakespearean play. As to the coyer +subtleties of the score, their discovery provides fresh interest +for repeated hearings, giving The Ring a Beethovenian +inexhaustibility and toughness of wear. + +The themes associated with the individual characters get stamped +on the memory easily by the simple association of the sound of +the theme with the appearance of the person indicated. Its +appropriateness is generally pretty obvious. Thus, the entry of +the giants is made to a vigorous stumping, tramping measure. +Mimmy, being a quaint, weird old creature, has a quaint, weird +theme of two thin chords that creep down eerily one to the other. +Gutrune's theme is pretty and caressing: Gunther's bold, rough, +and commonplace. It is a favorite trick of Wagner's, when one of +his characters is killed on the stage, to make the theme attached +to that character weaken, fail, and fade away with a broken echo +into silence. + +THE CHARACTERIZATION + +All this, however, is the mere child's play of theme work. The +more complex characters, instead of having a simple musical label +attached to them, have their characteristic ideas and aspirations +identified with special representative themes as they come into +play in the drama; and the chief merit of the thematic structure +of The Ring is the mastery with which the dramatic play of the +ideas is reflected in the contrapuntal play of the themes. We do +not find Wotan, like the dragon or the horse, or, for the matter +of that, like the stage demon in Weber's Freischutz or +Meyerbeer's Robert the Devil, with one fixed theme attached to +him like a name plate to an umbrella, blaring unaltered from the +orchestra whenever he steps on the stage. Sometimes we have the +Valhalla theme used to express the greatness of the gods as an +idea of Wotan's. Again, we have his spear, the symbol of his +power, identified with another theme, on which Wagner finally +exercises his favorite device by making it break and fail, cut +through, as it were, by the tearing sound of the theme identified +with the sword, when Siegfried shivers the spear with the stroke +of Nothung. Yet another theme connected with Wotan is the +Wanderer music which breaks with such a majestic reassurance on +the nightmare terror of Mimmy when Wotan appears at the mouth of +his cave in the scene of the three riddles. Thus not only are +there several Wotan themes, but each varies in its inflexions and +shades of tone color according to its dramatic circumstances. So, +too, the merry ham tune of the young Siegfried changes its +measure, loads itself with massive harmonies, and becomes an +exordium of the most imposing splendor when it heralds his entry +as full-fledged hero in the prologue to Night Falls On The Gods. +Even Mimmy has his two or three themes: the weird one already +described; the little one in triple measure imitating the tap of +his hammer, and fiercely mocked in the savage laugh of Alberic at +his death; and finally the crooning tune in which he details all +his motherly kindnesses to the little foundling Siegfried. +Besides this there are all manner of little musical blinkings and +shamblings and whinings, the least hint of which from the +orchestra at any moment instantly brings Mimmy to mind, whether +he is on the stage at the time or not. + +In truth, dramatic characterization in music cannot be carried +very far by the use of representative themes. Mozart, the +greatest of all masters of this art, never dreamt of employing +them; and, extensively as they are used in The Ring, they do not +enable Wagner to dispense with the Mozartian method. Apart from +the themes, Siegfried and Mimmy are still as sharply +distinguished from one another by the character of their music as +Don Giovanni from Leporello, Wotan from Gutrune as Sarastro from +Papagena. It is true that the themes attached to the characters +have the same musical appropriateness as the rest of the music: +for example, neither the Valhalla nor the spear themes could, +without the most ludicrous incongruity, be used for the forest +bird or the unstable, delusive Loki; but for all that the musical +characterization must be regarded as independent of the specific +themes, since the entire elimination of the thematic system from +the score would leave the characters as well distinguished +musically as they are at present. + +One more illustration of the way in which the thematic system is +worked. There are two themes connected with Loki. One is a rapid, +sinuous, twisting, shifty semiquaver figure suggested by the +unsubstantial, elusive logic-spinning of the clever one's +braincraft. The other is the fire theme. In the first act of +Siegfried, Mimmy makes his unavailing attempt to explain fear +to Siegfried. With the horror fresh upon him of the sort of +nightmare into which he has fallen after the departure of the +Wanderer, and which has taken the form, at once fanciful and +symbolic, of a delirious dread of light, he asks Siegfried +whether he has never, whilst wandering in the forest, had his +heart set hammering in frantic dread by the mysterious lights of +the gloaming. To this, Siegfried, greatly astonished, replies +that on such occasions his heart is altogether healthy and his +sensations perfectly normal. Here Mimmy's question is accompanied +by the tremulous sounding of the fire theme with its harmonies +most oppressively disturbed and troubled; whereas with +Siegfried's reply they become quite clear and straightforward, +making the theme sound bold, brilliant, and serene. This is a +typical instance of the way in which the themes are used. + +The thematic system gives symphonic interest, reasonableness, and +unity to the music, enabling the composer to exhaust every aspect +and quality of his melodic material, and, in Beethoven's manner, +to work miracles of beauty, expression and significance with the +briefest phrases. As a set-off against this, it has led Wagner to +indulge in repetitions that would be intolerable in a purely +dramatic work. Almost the first thing that a dramatist has to +learn in constructing a play is that the persons must not come on +the stage in the second act and tell one another at great length +what the audience has already seen pass before its eyes in the +first act. The extent to which Wagner has been seduced into +violating this rule by his affection for his themes is startling +to a practiced playwright. Siegfried inherits from Wotan a mania +for autobiography which leads him to inflict on every one he +meets the story of Mimmy and the dragon, although the audience +have spent a whole evening witnessing the events he is narrating. +Hagen tells the story to Gunther; and that same night Alberic's +ghost tells it over again to Hagen, who knows it already as well +as the audience. Siegfried tells the Rhine maidens as much of it +as they will listen to, and then keeps telling it to his hunting +companions until they kill him. Wotan's autobiography on the +second evening becomes his biography in the mouths of the Norns +on the fourth. The little that the Norns add to it is repeated an +hour later by Valtrauta. How far all this repetition is tolerable +is a matter of individual taste. A good story will bear +repetition; and if it has woven into it such pretty tunes as the +Rhine maidens' yodel, Mimmy's tinkling anvil beat, the note of +the forest bird, the call of Siegfried's horn, and so on, it will +bear a good deal of rehearing. Those who have but newly learnt +their way through The Ring will not readily admit that there is +a bar too much repetition. + +But how if you find some anti-Wagnerite raising the question +whether the thematic system does not enable the composer to +produce a music drama with much less musical fertility than was +required from his predecessors for the composition of operas +under the old system! + +Such discussions are not within the scope of this little book. +But as the book is now finished (for really nothing more need be +said about The Ring), I am quite willing to add a few pages of +ordinary musical criticism, partly to please the amateurs who +enjoy that sort of reading, and partly for the guidance of those +who wish to obtain some hints to help them through such critical +small talk about Wagner and Bayreuth as may be forced upon them +at the dinner table or between the acts. + + + +THE OLD AND THE NEW MUSIC + +In the old-fashioned opera every separate number involved the +composition of a fresh melody; but it is quite a mistake to +suppose that this creative-effort extended continuously +throughout the number from the first to the last bar. When a +musician composes according to a set metrical pattern, the +selection of the pattern and the composition of the first stave +(a stave in music corresponds to a line in verse) generally +completes the creative effort. All the rest follows more or less +mechanically to fill up the pattern, an air being very like a +wall-paper design in this respect. Thus the second stave is +usually a perfectly obvious consequence of the first; and the +third and fourth an exact or very slightly varied repetition of +the first and second. For example, given the first line of Pop +Goes the Weasel or Yankee Doodle, any musical cobbler could +supply the remaining three. There is very little tune turning of +this kind in The Ring; and it is noteworthy that where it does +occur, as in Siegmund's spring song and Mimmy's croon, "Ein +zullendes Kind," the effect of the symmetrical staves, recurring +as a mere matter of form, is perceptibly poor and platitudinous +compared with the free flow of melody which prevails elsewhere. + +The other and harder way of composing is to take a strain of free +melody, and ring every variety of change of mood upon it as if it +were a thought that sometimes brought hope, sometimes melancholy, +sometimes exultation, sometimes raging despair and so on. To take +several themes of this kind, and weave them together into a rich +musical fabric passing panoramically before the ear with a +continually varying flow of sentiment, is the highest feat of the +musician: it is in this way that we get the fugue of Bach and the +symphony of Beethoven. The admittedly inferior musician is the +one who, like Auber and Offenbach, not to mention our purveyors +of drawing-room ballads, can produce an unlimited quantity of +symmetrical tunes, but cannot weave themes symphonically. + +When this is taken into account, it will be seen that the fact +that there is a great deal of repetition in The Ring does not +distinguish it from the old-fashioned operas. The real difference +is that in them the repetition was used for the mechanical +completion of conventional metric patterns, whereas in The Ring +the recurrence of the theme is an intelligent and interesting +consequence of the recurrence of the dramatic phenomenon which it +denotes. It should be remembered also that the substitution of +symphonically treated themes for tunes with symmetrical eight-bar +staves and the like, has always been the rule in the highest +forms of music. To describe it, or be affected by it, as an +abandonment of melody, is to confess oneself an ignoramus +conversant only with dance tunes and ballads. + +The sort of stuff a purely dramatic musician produces when he +hampers himself with metric patterns in composition is not unlike +what might have resulted in literature if Carlyle (for example) +had been compelled by convention to write his historical stories +in rhymed stanzas. That is to say, it limits his fertility to an +occasional phrase, and three quarters of the time exercises only +his barren ingenuity in fitting rhymes and measures to it. In +literature the great masters of the art have long emancipated +themselves from metric patterns. Nobody claims that the hierarchy +of modern impassioned prose writers, from Bunyan to Ruskin, +should be placed below the writers of pretty lyrics, from Herrick +to Mr. Austin Dobson. Only in dramatic literature do we find the +devastating tradition of blank verse still lingering, giving +factitious prestige to the platitudes of dullards, and robbing +the dramatic style of the genuine poet of its full natural +endowment of variety, force and simplicity. + +This state of things, as we have seen, finds its parallel in +musical art, since music can be written in prose themes or in +versified tunes; only here nobody dreams of disputing the greater +difficulty of the prose forms, and the comparative triviality of +versification. Yet in dramatic music, as in dramatic literature, +the tradition of versification clings with the same pernicious +results; and the opera, like the tragedy, is conventionally made +like a wall paper. The theatre seems doomed to be in all things +the last refuge of the hankering after cheap prettiness in art. + +Unfortunately this confusion of the decorative with the dramatic +element in both literature and music is maintained by the example +of great masters in both arts. Very touching dramatic expression +can be combined with decorative symmetry of versification when +the artist happens to possess both the decorative and dramatic +gifts, and to have cultivated both hand in hand. Shakespeare and +Shelley, for instance, far from being hampered by the +conventional obligation to write their dramas in verse, found it +much the easiest and cheapest way of producing them. But if +Shakespeare had been compelled by custom to write entirely in +prose, all his ordinary dialogue might have been as good as the +first scene of As You Like It; and all his lofty passages as fine +as "What a piece of work is Man!", thus sparing us a great deal +of blank verse in which the thought is commonplace, and the +expression, though catchingly turned, absurdly pompous. The Cent +might either have been a serious drama or might never have been +written at all if Shelley had not been allowed to carry off its +unreality by Elizabethan versification. Still, both poets have +achieved many passages in which the decorative and dramatic +qualities are not only reconciled, but seem to enhance one +another to a pitch otherwise unattainable. + +Just so in music. When we find, as in the case of Mozart, a +prodigiously gifted and arduously trained musician who is also, +by a happy accident, a dramatist comparable to Moliere, the +obligation to compose operas in versified numbers not only does +not embarrass him, but actually saves him trouble and thought. +No matter what his dramatic mood may be, he expresses it in +exquisite musical verses more easily than a dramatist of ordinary +singleness of talent can express it in prose. Accordingly, he +too, like Shakespeare and Shelley, leaves versified airs, like +Dalla sua pace, or Gluck's Che fare senza Euridice, or Weber's +Leise, leise, which are as dramatic from the first note to the +last as the untrammelled themes of The Ring. In consequence, it +used to be professorially demanded that all dramatic music should +present the same double aspect. The demand was unreasonable, +since symmetrical versification is no merit in dramatic music: +one might as well stipulate that a dinner fork should be +constructed so as to serve also as a tablecloth. It was an +ignorant demand too, because it is not true that the composers +of these exceptional examples were always, or even often, able to +combine dramatic expression with symmetrical versification. Side +by side with Dalla sua pace we have Il mio tesoro and Non mi dir, +in which exquisitely expressive opening phrases lead to +decorative passages which are as grotesque from the dramatic +point of view as the music which Alberic sings when he is +slipping and sneezing in the Rhine mud is from the decorative +point of view. Further, there is to be considered the mass of +shapeless "dry recitative" which separates these symmetrical +numbers, and which might have been raised to considerable +dramatic and musical importance had it been incorporated into a +continuous musical fabric by thematic treatment. Finally, +Mozart's most dramatic finales and concerted numbers are more or +less in sonata form, like symphonic movements, and must therefore +be classed as musical prose. And sonata form dictates repetitions +and recapitulations from which the perfectly unconventional form +adopted by Wagner is free. On the whole, there is more scope for +both repetition and convention in the old form than in the new; +and the poorer a composer's musical gift is, the surer he is to +resort to the eighteenth century patterns to eke out his +invention. + + + +THE NINETEENTH CENTURY + +When Wagner was born in 1813, music had newly become the most +astonishing, the most fascinating, the most miraculous art in +the world. Mozart's Don Giovanni had made all musical Europe +conscious of the enchantments of the modern orchestra and of +the perfect adaptability of music to the subtlest needs of the +dramatist. Beethoven had shown how those inarticulate mood-poems +which surge through men who have, like himself, no exceptional +command of words, can be written down in music as symphonies. +Not that Mozart and Beethoven invented these applications of +their art; but they were the first whose works made it clear that +the dramatic and subjective powers of sound were enthralling +enough to stand by themselves quite apart from the decorative +musical structures of which they had hitherto been a mere feature. +After the finales in Figaro and Don Giovanni, the possibility +of the modern music drama lay bare. After the symphonies of +Beethoven it was certain that the poetry that lies too deep for +words does not lie too deep for music, and that the vicissitudes +of the soul, from the roughest fun to the loftiest aspiration, +can make symphonies without the aid of dance tunes. As much, +perhaps, will be claimed for the preludes and fugues of Bach; but +Bach's method was unattainable: his compositions were wonderful +webs of exquisitely beautiful Gothic traceries in sound, quite +beyond all ordinary human talent. Beethoven's far blunter craft +was thoroughly popular and practicable: not to save his soul +could he have drawn one long Gothic line in sound as Bach could, +much less have woven several of them together with so apt a +harmony that even when the composer is unmoved its progressions +saturate themselves with the emotion which (as modern critics are +a little apt to forget) springs as warmly from our delicately +touched admiration as from our sympathies, and sometimes makes us +give a composer credit for pathetic intentions which he does not +entertain, just as a boy imagines a treasure of tenderness and +noble wisdom in the beauty of a woman. Besides, Bach set comic +dialogue to music exactly as he set the recitatives of the +Passion, there being for him, apparently, only one recitative +possible, and that the musically best. He reserved the expression +of his merry mood for the regular set numbers in which he could +make one of his wonderful contrapuntal traceries of pure ornament +with the requisite gaiety of line and movement. Beethoven bowed +to no ideal of beauty: he only sought the expression for his +feeling. To him a joke was a joke; and if it sounded funny in +music he was satisfied. Until the old habit of judging all music +by its decorative symmetry had worn out, musicians were shocked +by his symphonies, and, misunderstanding his integrity, openly +questioned his sanity. But to those who were not looking for +pretty new sound patterns, but were longing for the expression of +their moods in music, he achieved revelation, because, being +single in his aim to express his own moods, he anticipated with +revolutionary courage and frankness all the moods of the rising +generations of the nineteenth century. + +The result was inevitable. In the nineteenth century it was no +longer necessary to be a born pattern designer in sound to be a +composer. One had but to be a dramatist or a poet completely +susceptible to the dramatic and descriptive powers of sound. +A race of literary and theatrical musicians appeared; and +Meyerbeer, the first of them, made an extraordinary impression. +The frankly delirious description of his Robert the Devil in +Balzac's short story entitled Gambra, and Goethe's astonishingly +mistaken notion that he could have composed music for Faust, show +how completely the enchantments of the new dramatic music upset +the judgment of artists of eminent discernment. Meyerbeer was, +people said (old gentlemen still say so in Paris), the successor +of Beethoven: he was, if a less perfect musician than Mozart, a +profounder genius. Above all, he was original and daring. Wagner +himself raved about the duet in the fourth act of Les Huguenots +as wildly as anyone. + +Yet all this effect of originality and profundity was produced by +a quite limited talent for turning striking phrases, exploiting +certain curious and rather catching rhythms and modulations, and +devising suggestive or eccentric instrumentation. On its +decorative side, it was the same phenomenon in music as the +Baroque school in architecture: an energetic struggle to enliven +organic decay by mechanical oddities and novelties. Meyerbeer was +no symphonist. He could not apply the thematic system to his +striking phrases, and so had to cobble them into metric patterns +in the old style; and as he was no "absolute musician" either, he +hardly got his metric patterns beyond mere quadrille tunes, which +were either wholly undistinguished, or else made remarkable by +certain brusqueries which, in the true rococo manner, owed their +singularity to their senselessness. He could produce neither a +thorough music drama nor a charming opera. But with all this, +and worse, Meyerbeer had some genuine dramatic energy, and even +passion; and sometimes rose to the occasion in a manner which, +whilst the imagination of his contemporaries remained on fire +with the novelties of dramatic music, led them to overrate him +with an extravagance which provoked Wagner to conduct a long +critical campaign against his leadership. Thirty years ago this +campaign was mentably ascribed to the professional jealousy of a +disappointed rival. Nowadays young people cannot understand how +anyone could ever have taken Meyerbeer's influence seriously. +Those who remember how his reputation stood half a century ago, +and who realize what a nothoroughfare the path he opened proved +to be, even to himself, know how inevitable and how impersonal +Wagner's attack was. + +Wagner was the literary musician par excellence. He could not, +like Mozart and Beethoven, produce decorative tone structures +independently of any dramatic or poetic subject matter, because, +that craft being no longer necessary for his purpose, he did not +cultivate it. As Shakespeare, compared with Tennyson, appears to +have an exclusively dramatic talent, so exactly does Wagner +compared with Mendelssohn. On the other hand, he had not to go to +third rate literary hacks for "librettos" to set to music: he +produced his own dramatic poems, thus giving dramatic integrity +to opera, and making symphony articulate. A Beethoven symphony +(except the articulate part of the ninth) expresses noble +feeling, but not thought: it has moods, but no ideas. Wagner +added thought and produced the music drama. Mozart's loftiest +opera, his Ring, so to speak, The Magic Flute, has a libretto +which, though none the worse for seeming, like The Rhine Gold, +the merest Christmas tomfoolery to shallow spectators, is the +product of a talent immeasurably inferior to Mozart's own. +The libretto of Don Giovanni is coarse and trivial: its +transfiguration by Mozart's music may be a marvel; but nobody +will venture to contend that such transfigurations, however +seductive, can be as satisfactory as tone poetry or drama in +which the musician and the poet are at the same level. Here, +then, we have the simple secret of Wagner's preemminence as a +dramatic musician. He wrote the poems as well as composed the +music of his "stage festival plays," as he called them. + +Up to a certain point in his career Wagner paid the penalty of +undertaking two arts instead of one. Mozart had his trade as a +musician at his fingers' ends when he was twenty, because he had +served an arduous apprenticeship to that trade and no other. +Wagner was very far from having attained equal mastery at +thirty-five: indeed he himself has told us that not until he had +passed the age at which Mozart died did he compose with that +complete spontaneity of musical expression which can only be +attained by winning entire freedom from all preoccupation with +the difficulties of technical processes. But when that time came, +he was not only a consummate musician, like Mozart, but a +dramatic poet and a critical and philosophical essayist, +exercising a considerable influence on his century. The sign of +this consummation was his ability at last to play with his art, +and thus to add to his already famous achievements in sentimental +drama that lighthearted art of comedy of which the greatest +masters, like Moliere and Mozart, are so much rarer than the +tragedians and sentimentalists. It was then that he composed the +first two acts of Siegfried, and later on The Mastersingers, a +professedly comedic work, and a quite Mozartian garden of melody, +hardly credible as the work of the straining artifices of +Tanehauser. Only, as no man ever learns to do one thing by doing +something else, however closely allied the two things may be, +Wagner still produced no music independently of his poems. The +overture to The Mastersingers is delightful when you know what it +is all about; but only those to whom it came as a concert piece +without any such clue, and who judged its reckless counterpoint +by the standard of Bach and of Mozart's Magic Flute overture, can +realize how atrocious it used to sound to musicians of the old +school. When I first heard it, with the clear march of the +polyphony in Bach's B minor Mass fresh in my memory, I confess I +thought that the parts had got dislocated, and that some of the +band were half a bar behind the others. Perhaps they were; but +now that I am familiar with the work, and with Wagner's harmony, +I can still quite understand certain passages producing that +effect organ admirer of Bach even when performed with perfect +accuracy. + + + +THE MUSIC OF THE FUTURE + +The success of Wagner has been so prodigious that to his dazzled +disciples it seems that the age of what he called "absolute" +music must be at an end, and the musical future destined to be +an exclusively Wagnerian one inaugurated at Bayreuth. All great +geniuses produce this illusion. Wagner did not begin a movement: +he consummated it. He was the summit of the nineteenth century +school of dramatic music in the same sense as Mozart was the +summit (the word is Gounod's) of the eighteenth century school. +And those who attempt to carry on his Bayreuth tradition will +assuredly share the fate of the forgotten purveyors of +second-hand Mozart a hundred years ago. As to the expected +supersession of absolute music, it is sufficient to point to the +fact that Germany produced two absolute musicians of the first +class during Wagner's lifetime: one, the greatly gifted Goetz, +who died young; the other, Brahms, whose absolute musical +endowment was as extraordinary as his thought was commonplace. +Wagner had for him the contempt of the original thinker for the +man of second-hand ideas, and of the strenuously dramatic +musician for mere brute musical faculty; but though his contempt +was perhaps deserved by the Triumphlieds, and Schicksalslieds, +and Elegies and Requiems in which Brahms took his brains so +seriously, nobody can listen to Brahms' natural utterance of the +richest absolute music, especially in his chamber compositions, +without rejoicing in his amazing gift. A reaction to absolute +music, starting partly from Brahms, and partly from such revivals +of medieval music as those of De Lange in Holland and Mr. Arnold +Dolmetsch in England, is both likely and promising; whereas there +is no more hope in attempts to out-Wagner Wagner in music drama +than there was in the old attempts--or for the matter of that, +the new ones--to make Handel the starting point of a great school +of oratorio. + + + +BAYREUTH + +When the Bayreuth Festival Playhouse was at last completed, and +opened in 1876 with the first performance of The Ring, European +society was compelled to admit that Wagner was "a success." +Royal personages, detesting his music, sat out the performances +in the row of boxes set apart for princes. They all complimented +him on the astonishing "push" with which, in the teeth of all +obstacles, he had turned a fabulous and visionary project into a +concrete commercial reality, patronized by the public at a pound +a head. It is as well to know that these congratulations had no +other effect upon Wagner than to open his eyes to the fact that +the Bayreuth experiment, as an attempt to evade the ordinary +social and commercial conditions of theatrical enterprise, was a +failure. His own account of it contrasts the reality with his +intentions in a vein which would be bitter if it were not so +humorous. The precautions taken to keep the seats out of the +hands of the frivolous public and in the hands of earnest +disciples, banded together in little Wagner Societies throughout +Europe, had ended in their forestalling by ticket speculators and +their sale to just the sort of idle globe-trotting tourists +against whom the temple was to have been strictly closed. The +money, supposed to be contributed by the faithful, was begged by +energetic subscription-hunting ladies from people who must have +had the most grotesque misconceptions of the composer's aims-- +among others, the Khedive of Egypt and the Sultan of Turkey! + +The only change that has occurred since then is that +subscriptions are no longer needed; for the Festival Playhouse +apparently pays its own way now, and is commercially on the same +footing as any other theatre. The only qualification required +from the visitor is money. A Londoner spends twenty pounds on a +visit: a native Bayreuther spends one pound. In either case "the +Folk," on whose behalf Wagner turned out in 1849, are effectually +excluded; and the Festival Playhouse must therefore be classed as +infinitely less Wagnerian in its character than Hampton Court +Palace. Nobody knew this better than Wagner; and nothing can be +further off the mark than to chatter about Bayreuth as if it had +succeeded in escaping from the conditions of our modern +civilization any more than the Grand Opera in Paris or London. + +Within these conditions, however, it effected a new departure in +that excellent German institution, the summer theatre. Unlike our +opera houses, which are constructed so that the audience may +present a splendid pageant to the delighted manager, it is +designed to secure an uninterrupted view of the stage, and an +undisturbed hearing of the music, to the audience. The dramatic +purpose of the performances is taken with entire and elaborate +seriousness as the sole purpose of them; and the management is +jealous for the reputation of Wagner. The commercial success +which has followed this policy shows that the public wants summer +theatres of the highest class. There is no reason why the +experiment should not be tried in England. If our enthusiasm for +Handel can support Handel Festivals, laughably dull, stupid and +anti-Handelian as these choral monstrosities are, as well as +annual provincial festivals on the same model, there is no +likelihood of a Wagner Festival failing. Suppose, for instance, +a Wagner theatre were built at Hampton Court or on Richmond Hill, +not to say Margate pier, so that we could have a delightful +summer evening holiday, Bayreuth fashion, passing the hours +between the acts in the park or on the river before sunset, is +it seriously contended that there would be any lack of visitors? +If a little of the money that is wasted on grand stands, Eiffel +towers, and dismal Halls by the Sea, all as much tied to brief +annual seasons as Bayreuth, were applied in this way, the profit +would be far more certain and the social utility prodigiously +greater. Any English enthusiasm for Bayreuth that does not take +the form of clamor for a Festival Playhouse in England may be set +aside as mere pilgrimage mania. + +Those who go to Bayreuth never repent it, although the +performances there are often far from delectable. The singing is +sometimes tolerable, and sometimes abominable. Some of the +singers are mere animated beer casks, too lazy and conceited to +practise the self-control and physical training that is expected +as a matter of course from an acrobat, a jockey or a pugilist. +The women's dresses are prudish and absurd. It is true that +Kundry no longer wears an early Victorian ball dress with +"ruchings," and that Fresh has been provided with a quaintly +modish copy of the flowered gown of Spring in Botticelli's famous +picture; but the mailclad Brynhild still climbs the mountains +with her legs carefully hidden in a long white skirt, and looks +so exactly like Mrs. Leo Hunter as Minerva that it is quite +impossible to feel a ray of illusion whilst looking at her. +The ideal of womanly beauty aimed at reminds Englishmen of the +barmaids of the seventies, when the craze for golden hair was +at its worst. Further, whilst Wagner's stage directions are +sometimes disregarded as unintelligently as at Covent Garden, +an intolerably old-fashioned tradition of half rhetorical, half +historical-pictorial attitude and gesture prevails. The most +striking moments of the drama are conceived as tableaux vivants +with posed models, instead of as passages of action, motion and +life. + +I need hardly add that the supernatural powers of control +attributed by credulous pilgrims to Madame Wagner do not exist. +Prima donnas and tenors are as unmanageable at Bayreuth as +anywhere else. Casts are capriciously changed; stage business is +insufficiently rehearsed; the public are compelled to listen to a +Brynhild or Siegfried of fifty when they have carefully arranged +to see one of twenty-five, much as in any ordinary opera house. +Even the conductors upset the arrangements occasionally. On the +other hand, if we leave the vagaries of the stars out of account, +we may safely expect always that in thoroughness of preparation +of the chief work of the season, in strenuous artistic +pretentiousness, in pious conviction that the work is of such +enormous importance as to be worth doing well at all costs, the +Bayreuth performances will deserve their reputation. The band is +placed out of sight of the audience, with the more formidable +instruments beneath the stage, so that the singers have not to +sing THROUGH the brass. The effect is quite perfect. + +BAYREUTH IN ENGLAND + +I purposely dwell on the faults of Bayreuth in order to show that +there is no reason in the world why as good and better +performances of The Ring should not be given in England. Wagner's +scores are now before the world; and neither his widow nor his +son can pretend to handle them with greater authority than any +artist who feels the impulse to interpret them. Nobody will ever +know what Wagner himself thought of the artists who established +the Bayreuth tradition: he was obviously not in a position to +criticize them. For instance, had Rubini survived to create +Siegmund, it is quite certain that we should not have had from +Wagner's pen so amusing and vivid a description as we have of his +Ottavio in the old Paris days. Wagner was under great obligations +to the heroes and heroines of 1876; and he naturally said nothing +to disparage their triumphs; but there is no reason to believe +that all or indeed any of them satisfied him as Schnorr of +Carolsfeld satisfied him as Tristan, or Schroder Devrient as +Fidelio. It is just as likely as not that the next Schnorr or +Schroder may arise in England. If that should actually happen, +neither of them will need any further authority than their own +genius and Wagner's scores for their guidance. Certainly the less +their spontaneous impulses are sophisticated by the very stagey +traditions which Bayreuth is handing down from the age of +Crummles, the better. + +WAGNERIAN SINGERS + +No nation need have much difficulty in producing a race of +Wagnerian singers. With the single exception of Handel, no +composer has written music so well calculated to make its singers +vocal athletes as Wagner. Abominably as the Germans sing, it is +astonishing how they thrive physically on his leading parts. His +secret is the Handelian secret. Instead of specializing his vocal +parts after the manner of Verdi and Gounod for high sopranos, +screaming tenors, and high baritones with an effective compass of +about a fifth at the extreme tiptop of their ranges, and for +contraltos with chest registers forced all over their compass in +the manner of music hall singers, he employs the entire range of +the human voice freely, demanding from everybody very nearly two +effective octaves, so that the voice is well exercised all over, +and one part of it relieves the other healthily and continually. +He uses extremely high notes very sparingly, and is especially +considerate in the matter of instrumental accompaniment. Even +when the singer appears to have all the thunders of the full +orchestra raging against him, a glance at the score will show +that he is well heard, not because of any exceptionally +stentorian power in his voice, but because Wagner meant him to +be heard and took the greatest care not to overwhelm him. Such +brutal opacities of accompaniment as we find in Rossini's Stabat +or Verdi's Trovatore, where the strings play a rum-tum +accompaniment whilst the entire wind band blares away, +fortissimo, in unison with the unfortunate singer, are never +to be found in Wagner's work. Even in an ordinary opera house, +with the orchestra ranged directly between the singers and the +audience, his instrumentation is more transparent to the human +voice than that of any other composer since Mozart. At the +Bayreuth Buhnenfestspielhaus, with the brass under the stage, +it is perfectly so. + +On every point, then, a Wagner theatre and Wagner festivals +are much more generally practicable than the older and more +artificial forms of dramatic music. A presentable performance +of The Ring is a big undertaking only in the sense in which the +construction of a railway is a big undertaking: that is, it +requires plenty of work and plenty of professional skill; but +it does not, like the old operas and oratorios, require those +extraordinary vocal gifts which only a few individuals scattered +here and there throughout Europe are born with. Singers who could +never execute the roulades of Semiramis, Assur, and Arsaces in +Rossini's Semiramide, could sing the parts of Brynhild, Wotan and +Erda without missing a note. Any Englishman can understand this +if he considers for a moment the difference between a Cathedral +service and an Italian opera at Covent Garden. The service is a +much more serious matter than the opera. Yet provincial talent +is sufficient for it, if the requisite industry and devotion are +forthcoming. Let us admit that geniuses of European celebrity are +indispensable at the Opera (though I know better, having seen +lusty troopers and porters, without art or manners, accepted by +fashion as principal tenors at that institution during the long +interval between Mario and Jean de Reszke); but let us remember +that Bayreuth has recruited its Parsifals from the peasantry, and +that the artisans of a village in the Bavarian Alps are capable +of a famous and elaborate Passion Play, and then consider whether +England is so poor in talent that its amateurs must journey to +the centre of Europe to witness a Wagner Festival. + +The truth is, there is nothing wrong with England except the +wealth which attracts teachers of singing to her shores in +sufficient numbers to extinguish the voices of all natives who +have any talent as singers. Our salvation must come from the +class that is too poor to have lessons. + + + + + +End of The Project Gutenberg Etext of The Perfect Wagnerite, by Shaw + diff --git a/old/sring11.zip b/old/sring11.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..eceb899 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/sring11.zip |