



Produced by Madeleine Fournier & Marc D'Hooghe at
http://www.freeliterature.org (Images generously made
available by the Internet Archive.)






                        THE RING OF THE NIBLUNG

                        THE RHINEGOLD: PRELUDE
                THE VALKYRIE: FIRST DAY OF THE TRILOGY
                 SIEGFRIED: SECOND DAY OF THE TRILOGY
                    THE TWILIGHT OF THE GODS: THIRD
                          DAY OF THE TRILOGY





THE RHINEGOLD & THE VALKYRIE

BY RICHARD WAGNER


WITH ILLUSTRATIONS

BY ARTHUR RACKHAM


TRANSLATED BY MARGARET ARMOUR


LONDON WILLIAM HEINEMANN

NEW YORK DOUBLEDAY PACE & Co



1910



[Illustration: "Raging, Wotan
                Rides to the rock!
                 .......
                Like a storm-wind he comes!"]



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS


"Raging, Wotan
Rides to the rock!
 . . . . . . . .
Like a storm-wind he comes"                                 plate 01

The frolic of the Rhine-Maidens                             plate 02

The Rhine-Maidens teasing Alberich                          plate 03

    "Mock away! Mock!
The Niblung makes for your toy!"                            plate 04

"Seize the despoiler!
Rescue the gold!
Help us! Help us!
Woe! Woe!"                                                  plate 05

Freia, the fair one                                         plate 06

"The Rhine's pure-gleaming children
Told me of their sorrow"                                    plate 07

Fasolt suddenly seizes Freia and drags her to one side
with Fafner                                                 plate 08

The Gods grow wan and aged at the loss of Freia             plate 09

MIME, howling. "Ohé! Ohé!
                Oh! Oh!"                                    plate 10

MIME writhes under the lashes he receives                   plate 11

Alberich drives in a band of Niblungs laden with gold
and silver treasure                                         plate 12

   "Ohé! Ohé!
   Horrible dragon,
   O swallow me not!
Spare the life of poor Loge!                                plate 13

"Hey! Come hither,
And stop me this cranny!"                                   plate 14

"Erda bids thee beware"                                     plate 15

Fafner kills Fasolt                                         plate 16

    "To my hammer's swing
    Hitherward sweep
    Vapours and fogs!
    Hovering mists!
Donner, your lord, summons his hosts!"                      plate 17

"The Rhine's fair children,
Bewailing their lost gold, weep"                            plate 18

    "This healing and honeyed
    Draught of mead
Deign to accept from me."
"Set it first to thy lips"                                  plate 19

Hunding discovers the likeness between Siegmund and
Sieglinde                                                   plate 20

Sieglinde prepares Hunding's draught for the night          plate 21

"Siegmund the Walsung
Thou dost see!
As bride-gift
He brings thee this sword"                                  plate 22

Brünnhilde                                                  plate 23

Fricka approaches in anger                                  plate 24

Brünnhilde slowly and silently leads her horse down the
path to the cave                                            plate 25

    "Father! Father!
    Tell me what ails thee?
With dismay thou art filling thy child!"                    plate 26

Brünnhilde stands for a long time dazed and alarmed         plate 27

Brünnhilde with her horse, at the mouth of the cave         plate 28

    "I flee for the first time
    And am pursued:
Warfather follows close
 . . . . . . .
He nears, he nears, in fury!
    Save this woman!
    Sisters, your help!"                                    plate 29

    "There as a dread
    Dragon he sojourns,
    And in a cave
Keeps watch over Alberich's ring"                           plate 30

The ride of the Valkyries                                   plate 31

"Appear, flickering fire,
Encircle the rock with thy flame!
Loge! Loge! Appear!"                                        plate 32

As he moves slowly away, Wotan turns and looks
sorrowfully back at Brünnhilde                              plate 33

The sleep of Brünnhilde                                     plate 34




THE RHINEGOLD


CHARACTERS

    GODS: WOTAN, DONNER, FROH, LOGE
    NIBELUNGS: ALBERICH, MIME
    GIANTS: FASOLT, FAFNER
    GODDESSES: FRICKA, FREIA, ERDA
    RHINE-MAIDENS: WOGLINDE, WELLGUNDE, FLOSSHILDE

SCENES OF ACTION

      I. AT THE BOTTOM OF THE RHINE
     II. OPEN SPACE ON A MOUNTAIN HEIGHT NEAR THE RHINE
    III. THE SUBTERRANEAN CAVERNS OF NIBELHEIM
     IV. OPEN SPACE AS IN SCENE II.



FIRST SCENE


_At the bottom of the Rhine_


_A greenish twilight, lighter above than below. The upper part is filled
with undulating water, which streams respectively from right to left.
Towards the bottom the waves resolve themselves into a mist which
grows finer as it descends, so that a space, as high as a mans body
from the ground, appears to be quite free from the water, which
floats like a train of clouds over the gloomy stretch below. Steep
rocky peaks jut up everywhere from the depths, and enclose the entire
stage. The ground is a wild confusion of jagged rocks, no part of
it being quite level, and on every side deeper fisures are indicated
by a still denser gloom. Woglinde circles with graceful swimming
movements round the central rock._



WOGLINDE

      Weia! Waga!
      Roll, O ye billows,
      Rock ye our cradle!
      Wagala weia!
  Wallala, weiala, weia!

WELLGUNDE [_From above._

      Woglinde, watchest alone?

WOGLINDE

      If Wellgunde came we were two.

WELLGUNDE [_Dives down to the rock_.

      How keepest thou watch?

WOGLINDE [_Swimming off, eludes her_.

      Wary of thee.

        [_They playfully tease and chase one another_.

FLOSSHILDE [_From above_.

      Heiaha weia!
      Ho! ye wild sisters!

WELLGUNDE

      Flosshilde, swim!
      Woglinde flies:
  Help me to hinder her flying.

FLOSSHILDE [_Dives down between the two at play._

      The sleeping gold
      Badly ye guard;
      Watch with more zeal
      The slumberer's bed,
  Or dear you'll pay for your sport!

        [_They swim asunder with merry cries. Flosshilde
        tries to catch first the one, then the other.
        They elude her, and then combine to chase her,
        darting like fish from rock to rock with jests and
        laughter. Meanwhile Alberich climbs out of a dark
        ravine on to a rock. He pauses, still surrounded
        by darkness, and watches the frolic of the
        Rhine-Maidens with increasing pleasure._

ALBERICH

      Hey, hey! ye nixies!
      Ye are a lovely,
      Lovable folk!
      From Nibelheim's night
      Fain would I come,
  Would ye be kind to me.

        [_The maidens, as soon as they hear Alberich's
        voice, stop playing._

WOGLINDE

      Hei! Who is there?

WELLGUNDE

      A voice! It grows dark!

FLOSSHILDE

      Who listens below?

        [_They dive down and see the Nibelung._

WOGLINDE and WELLGUNDE

      Fie! the loathsome one!

[Illustration: Plate 02, The frolic of the Rhine-Maidens.]

FLOSSHILDE [_Swimming up quickly._

      Look to the gold!
      Father warned us
      Of such a foe.

        [Both the others follow her, and all three gather
        quickly round the central rock.

ALBERICH

      You above there!

THE THREE RHINE-MAIDENS

      What wouldst thou below there?

ALBERICH

      Do I spoil sport
      By standing and gazing here?
      Dived ye but deeper,
      Fain the Niblung
  Would join in your frolic and play.

WELLGUNDE

      He wishes to join us?

WOGLINDE

      Is he in jest?

ALBERICH

      Ye gleam above me
      So glad and fair!
      If one would only
  Glide down, how close in my arms
  Fondly clasped she would be!

FLOSSHILDE

      I laugh at my fears:
      The foe is in love.

WELLGUNDE

      The amorous imp!

WOGLINDE

      Let us approach him.

        [She sinks down to the top of the rock, whose base
        Alberich has reached.

ALBERICH

      Lo! one of them comes!

WOGLINDE

      Climb up to me here!

ALBERICH

        [_Climbs with gnome-like agility, though with
        repeated checks, to the summit of the rock.
        Irritably._

      Horrid rock,
      So slippery, slimy!
      I slide and slip!
      My hands and feet vainly
      Attempt to hold on
      To the slithery surface!
      Vapour damp
      Fills up my nostrils--
      Accursed sneezing!

        [_He has got near Woglinde,_

WOGLINDE [_Laughing._

      Sneezing tells
      That my suitor comes!

ALBERICH

      Be thou my love!
      Adorable child!

        [_He tries to embrace her._

WOGLINDE [_Escaping from him._

      Here thou must woo,
      If woo me thou wilt!

        [_She swims up to another rock._

ALBERICH [_Scratching his head._

      Alas! not yet caught?
      Come but closer!
      Hard I found
  What so lightly thou didst.

WOGLINDE [_Swims to a third rock lower down._

      Deeper descend:
      Thou'lt certainly seize me!

ALBERICH [_Clambers down quickly._

      Down there it is better!

WOGLINDE [_Darts upwards to a higher rock at the side._

      But better still higher!

WELLGUNDE AND FLOSSHILDE [_Laughing_

      Ha! ha! ha! ha! ha! ha!

ALBERICH

      How capture this coy,
      Elusive fish?
      Wait for me, false one!

        [_He tries to climb after her in haste._

WELLGUNDE

        [_Has sunk down to a lower rock on the other side._

      Heia! my friend there!
      Dost thou not hear?

ALBERICH [_Turning round._

      What? Didst thou call?

WELLGUNDE

      Be counselled by me:
      Forsake Woglinde,
      Climb up to me now!

ALBERICH

        [_Climbs hastily over the river-bottom towards
        Wellgunde._

      Thou art more comely
      Far than that coy one