Extravagant Worship Brings Forth Your Extravagant Harvest, Favor and Success - Pstra Salome 01272016
Wagner’s Ring Cycle is a very extravagant,...
Transcript of Wagner’s Ring Cycle is a very extravagant,...
The Family of Wagner’s Ring
Brittany Thummel
Music History II
Mary Ellen Haupert
5/10/13
Wagner’s Ring Cycle is a very extravagant, and, in some ways, over-the-top work. The
combination of the Norse mythology and Wagner’s ideas of gesamtkunstwerk make this nearly
twenty hour story one that is not as easily appreciated in the same way other major composers,
such as Mozart, Beethoven, and Brahms might be. Attacks of the Ring include Eduard Hanslick’s
reviews of Wagner’s works, “[Die Walküre is] an abyss of boredom…[some scenes] recall the
medieval torture of waking a sleeping prisoner by stabbing him with a needle at every nod.”i
However, this is not the view of all patrons of Wagner’s Ring. In fact there are many people who
love the telling of this Norse tale and appreciate Wagner’s approach to this risqué story; they
even get over or possibly don’t even acknowledge all the taboo relationships within this classic
myth. Because of this, an in depth analysis of the relationships within the characters of the Ring
cycle is merited. Exploring characters and their relationships within the context of the music
helps the average listener understand the full scope of Wagner’s grand design in the tale of Der
Ring des Nibelung.
Throughout Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelung there are three main characters, one
through the entire cycle, one through all but the first, and one for the last two operas; Wotan,
Brünnhilde, and Siegfried respectively. The entire story of Der Nibelungenlied, which is the
source text for Wagner’s Ring cycle, focuses on the paths of these three characters, necessitating
discussion.
Wotan is the king of the Norse gods, essentially the Norse equivalent to Zeus in Greek
Mythology. He is characterized by his drive for power and control.ii Wotan’s drive for power led
him to extreme ends to get what he wanted. This included trading his eye for the chance to drink
from the “Source of Wisdom”iii, which then gave him the enlightenment to seek the tree of
knowledge and power and take a branch from it to create a spear that is indestructible and is the
holder of oaths taken that deal with him. In essence, this spear is the most powerful item on ever
created and is therefore a fitting companion to Wotan. But the spear was not the only companion
Wotan had. Wotan had several different relationships with living creatures as well; these include
his wife, the earth mother goddess, the Norse version of Mother Earth, and at least one mortal
woman. The result of Wotan’s companionship with the earth mother goddess were the nine
Valkyrie, warrior maidens who oversaw all the earthly battles and picked who were to die and
then shepherded the souls of the heroes to Valhalla on their mighty steeds.iv Of these seven
women, one stepped up and led the group, and here we have the second main character,
Brünnhilde.
Being the leader of the mighty Valkyrie says much about Brünnhilde’s personality. In
order to take charge of a group such as the Valkyrie, one can imagine you would need to be
strong willed, intelligent, physically mighty, and loyal to your fellows; all of these characteristics
describe Brünnhilde in the simplest way. Brünnhilde was unique among the Valkyrie and among
all of Wotan’s children in that she was actually in Wotan’s inner circle. She knew everything
Wotan knew and was the first to learn of anything new that came into light because she was
Wotan’s closest friend and confidant.v But sometimes being so close to a person can make a
mistake seem even worse than it is and things can get blown out of proportion, which is exactly
what happened with Brünnhilde and Wotan. When Brünnhilde sided with the two mortals,
Siegmund and Sieglinde against Wotan’s orders, Wotan banished Brünnhilde to sleep on a rock
surrounded by fire until someone was fearless enough to brave and withstand the fire and come
waken her from her sleep. This person would be the one she was to marry, and this just happens
to be the third main character in this story, Siegfried.
Siegfried was a very strong man who was raised in the woods by an ignorant dwarf who
neglected to teach the boy how to fear. In part, this helps give Siegfried his strength which causes
him to break every sword the man who raised him made him in his blacksmith’s forge, because
he doesn’t fear hurting himself. But since he doesn’t know how to fear, he also doesn’t know
when to take a step back and therefore he goes over the line multiple times, most notable with
Wotan himself. His actions in this show extreme pride in himself, but also much arrogance which
makes it difficult for people to relate to him. Jerry Fodor even quotes in his article on Wagner’s
Ring, “[Siegfried] is a great booby with whom it is impossible to sympathize.”vi Since he was
raised in the woods, Siegfried is also very ignorant of the world and the things that lie beyond the
forest’s trees. This is shown in the fact that when Siegfried arrives on the rock Brünnhilde is
trapped on asleep, he believes her to be a man in armor until he cuts the armor off of her and
discovers otherwise. When this happens, Siegfried starts to learn what fear is because he is drawn
to this woman, but doesn’t really know what or who she is. The feelings he has scare him, but
Brünnhilde awakens and helps ease his worries and he quickly joins with her in feelings of love.
Wagner expands on expression for each character though a melodic theme attached to
either characters or something that is related to them significantly; this is called a leitmotif.
However, Wagner did not like the term leitmotif because he thought he took the idea, which had
been established many years earlier, farther, so he called them “melodischen momente”. Wagner
himself discussed the role of the “melodischen momente” as such: “These Melodic Moments…
will be made by the orchestra into a kind of guides-to-feeling through the whole labyrinthine
building of the drama. At their hand we become the constant fellow-knowers of the profoundest
secret of the poet’s aim, the immediate partners in [that realization].” vii Looking into what
Wagner says about the leitmotifs, it is evident that they are quite important within the story and
they can add a lot of interest and information to the story for the listener. With that in mind, it is
pretty safe to assume that there is at least one leitmotif for each of the three main characters.
Wotan himself has at least seven leitmotifs connected to him in either his possessions or his
emotions to give the listener a hint as to what the king of the gods is or will be feeling. One of
the most prominent of Wotan’s leitmotifs is what is entitled “Wotan’s Spear.” This motif is
representative of Wotan’s authority and yet his inhibitions as well, it represents his emotions
when he was getting the wood to make the spear which was from the ash tree of knowledge. But
there is one leitmotif that is considered the “Valhalla” motif that within “Das Rheingold” is
purely representative of the kingdom of the gods, but it eventually morphs into a motif about
Wotan’s creativity and achievement.viii The “Valhalla” motif is one of the most used motifs in the
Ring.
“Wotan’s Spear” “Valhalla”
ix
These motifs are hidden within the orchestration to give hidden hints that sometimes even
change the emotion and add to the story line to foreshadow future events.
Brünnhilde also has many motifs attached to her. Her motifs are more prominent after she
meets Siegfried and falls in love. In fact her two main motifs are entitled “Brünnhilde’s love”
and “Brünnhilde as woman” further emphasizing her change from battle driven Valkyrie to a
woman in love.
“Brünnhilde’s love”
“Brünnhilde as woman”
x
In the first two operas, Brünnhilde’s motifs are very similar to the motifs attached to the
Valkyries and it is clear to see and hear the change in her character through the leitmotifs
attached to her.
Siegfried has the most motifs attached to him than any other character at a grand total of
thirteen directly related to him. Many of leitmotifs are representative of aspects of his
personality, such as “Siegfried’s Boldness”, or they go along with things he proves, such as
“Siegfried’s Strength” and “Siegfried’s Deeds”.
“Siegfried’s Strength”
“Siegfried’s Boldness”
xi
These leitmotifs are not used as often as, for instance, Wotan’s leitmotifs because Wotan is
almost an omnipresent figure that oversees all and Siegfried is only present in the last two operas
and these are all very specific to certain activities.
While the aforementioned characters are the main characters in Wagner’s Ring, it is
necessary to know a bit about some of the lesser characters. This is because these characters all
have something they do, or influence other relationships, that change the course of events in the
lives of the three main characters.
Fricka has a big role in regards to an influence on Wotan. Fricka is the goddess of fidelity
and marriage, and is also married to Wotan. She is described as “crabbed and conservative”xii
which gives off this image of a strong, powerful woman that is determined to get her way no
matter what she has to do or say. However, she is in a less than fortunate position when her
relationship with Wotan is looked at because it is not an ideal marriage. In fact, Fricka is actually
a character to be looked at with empathy in some ways because she is indeed sad and suffering in
her personal life. This is prevalent when we learn of some of Wotan’s sexual escapades through
the course of the first opera of Wagner’s Ring, “Das Rheingold”. And with Fricka being the
goddess of fidelity and marriage, this would obviously lead to some issues in her relationship
Fricka’s little sister is Freia, goddess of beauty and eternal youth; she is the Norse
equivalent of the Roman’s Venus or the Greek’s Aphrodite. She also oversees the orchards of
golden apples that give the gods eternal life. There is not much information on Freia, but it is
clear to see that she is an innocent soul in this tale, and is a victim of circumstance and bad luck
when it comes to Wotan and his plans for her.
Erda is another prominent figure in Wotan’s romantic life. Erda is the earth goddess and
is referred to as “the mother of all” through the course of Wagner’s ring, which translates to, in
essence, mother earth. She is mainly a dormant figure, meaning that she is usually in a deep sleep
for the majority of her time. Erda is not necessarily a pretty character, in body or mind. This can
be said because she is supposed to be, according to Wagner’s directions, buried to the waist and
covered in hoarfrost, all while being extremely negative and dismayed about everything that has
and will happen, since she can see what is yet to come in the world. xiii So with all this negative
energy coming from her that makes one question why Wotan would have a romantic relationship
with her. She does have some useful qualities though that could have sparked Wotan’s interest.
The Rhinemaidens, as they are commonly called even though the direct translation from
the German “Die Rheintöchter” is Rhinedaughters,xiv are three female characters that look like
young mermaids and act like young girls. They each have names that are never mentioned in the
opera, but are listed in the libretto and score; Woglinde, Wellgunde, and Flosshilde.xv The three
immortal ladies are quite immature in their actions and carefree. Wagner shows us their
immaturity in the first scene of “Das Rheingold” where the Rhinemaidens taunt and jeer at
Alberich, a dwarf, because of his looks. And it makes sense that they are carefree seeing as they
only have one job, which is to guard and protect the Rheingold at the bottom of the River Rhine
that they reside in and swim around in all day. After they lose the gold and it is made into the
ring, the Rhinemaidens only thought and goal is to get the ring, and therefore the gold, back in its
rightful place at the bottom of the Rhine. These characters however do not have any direct
relationship or interaction with Wotan or almost any of the main characters throughout the course
of the ring. It is almost as if they are in a separate world compared to the rest of the story, and
this is emphasized by the fact that they are rarely in the opera, and their prominent scenes are
scene one and then a scene at the end of the opera just before the final conclusion. Woglinde,
Wellgunde, and Flosshilde are not key characters in the progression of the story, but they do help
give some narrative to the beginning and then some wrap up at the end of the ring cycle.
Siegmund and Sieglinde are only present in “Die Walküre”, but are still important
characters to understand. These two are twins born out of a relationship Wotan had with a human
woman. They were separated at birth and are reunited later in life completely by circumstance.
They each have very unique personalities though.
Chereau describes Siegmund is described as follows: “[he] loves freedom and rejects the
laws. [He is] alive in the present moment, and he is incapable of establishing the slightest link of
cause and effect. He merely notices that his values are opposite of those of society, without
trying neither to adapt himself to them nor to wonder about their validity. He is an epic character
by his long story of pursuing…one supposes him a young person, strong, brave and doubtless
beautiful... [he is unmistakably human]…[he is sensitive to the beauty of nature and the beauty
of a woman.”xvi From this it is clear to see that Siegmund is not the brightest character, but has a
lot to offer. However, his most important quality is his bravery. Patrice Chereau describes
Siegmund’s bravery as such: “Siegmund is brave. Not in the style of the young unconscious who
plays his life at the roulette because he believes he is immortal. But as any conscious being who
knows suffering and fear, and who being true to himself carries the burden of life, which he
hates.”xvii The things brought up in this quote really exemplifies the aspects of Siegmund’s
personality and really shows that he is, or at least could be, a very likeable and relatable
character; possibly one of the most likeable of all the ring’s characters.
Sieglinde is a bit different from her brother because of her difference in upbringing. She
was married off to a man named Hunding who treated her like an obedient dog; their relationship
is one of the traditional ideas of a woman’s job in the household, such as cleaning, cooking, and
doting on the husband. Since he husband is such a domineering person, it is not hard to imagine
how she ended up being a more downtrodden character, with not much optimism or voice. She
does seem like an intelligent woman though, and a very observant one as well because she is the
one that realizes and recognizes that Siegmund is her twin brother whom she only knew for the
first few years of her life. She also brings up the sword which is stick in the tree with almost a
sense that she knows that Siegmund will be the one that is able to release the sword from the
tree’s grasp. It is quite possible that she did know though, because she is a clairvoyant as are
Erda and Brünnhilde. We know this because she does talk about how she has had a vision of
Siegmund being torn apart by wolves, which does come to pass at the end of “Die Walküre”. So
when Siegmund and Sieglinde are looked at together, it would make sense that they got along
well because their personalities were fulfilled by the others.
Gunther and Gutrune do not appear in the ring cycle until the final installment,
“Götterdämmerung”. These two are also siblings like Siegmund and Sieglinde. However, they
are almost complete opposites of the other set of siblings. Looking at these pairs really rounds off
the ring cycle because we really get into the heart of the story with Siegmund and Sieglinde, the
calm and more moral, in most aspects, and we end the ring cycle with Gunther and Gutrune, the
more conniving and self-serving.
Gunther is not necessarily a stable or kind character. He is the King of the area that is
around the area of Bavaria along the Rhine River. His reputation is quite renowned, which is
obvious from Siegfried’s agreement to Gunther’s terms and Siegfried also shows some type of
respect to him when he banks on the shores outside of his castle. But Gunther himself is not the
type of person that should be in a position of power. One description of him says, “[Gunther has
a] bad reputation: coward, hypocrite, vain, interested, fearful etc. That is a lot for a man obsessed
by his image. He is the typical politician preoccupied by his local reputation and the society man
worried about his public image.”xviii He is also known as a cyclothymic; cyclothymic disorder is a
mild form of bipolar disorder (manic depressive illness) in which a person has mood swings over
a period of years that go from mild depression to emotional highs.xix Obviously these
characteristics do not a good person make, so it is easy to see that he is going to cause drama and
upsets in the story.
Gutrune is quite like her brother, but is not as far gone him in respects of his cyclothymic
disorder. She is described as very beautiful, but is also quite superficial and thinks mainly of
enjoying herself and of "having fun".xx These two siblings are so alike and seem to think of
themselves as the ideal representations of what a man and a woman should be. That is why they
try to seek out fitting mates for them, meaning the next best female for Gunther and the next best
male for Gutrune. However, Gutrune does seem to be a bit more aware of things when they start
going wrong. We see this in the confused and quickened passages that she has when Brünnhilde
recognizes Siegfried and explains their relationship and Gutrune realizes that something is not
right in her brother’s plan to get these two as their spouses. However, she does nothing to change
her brother’s mind which speaks quite a bit to her character and her priorities.
The central characters are more integral to the relationships and issues between some of
these characters, but it is important to know what these people are like before trying to analyze
what is going on in these often strange groupings. Wotan is prominent in many relationships
because, as the most powerful man in the world and Valhalla, the dwelling of the gods that
Wotan hired two giants, Fafner and Fafstolt, to build,xxi he would find it his place to step in and
be involved in as much as possible. Four main prominent relationships in the plot include Wotan,
the first being his relationship with Fricka. As previously mentioned, these two are married,
though it is not necessarily a happy union. Fricka agreed to marry Wotan was because Wotan had
already sacrificed one eye for “wisdom” and he threatened to remove his other eye if Fricka did
not marry him. With him being her “king”, for lack of a better explanation, Fricka unwillingly
agreed to the marriage even though she knew of Wotan’s womanizing ways.xxii So it is pretty
easy to see that their marriage would not be a happy one with Fricka being the goddess of fidelity
and marriage and her husband is unfaithful to her. This leads Fricka to try to make herself a part
of Wotan’s life in ways other than love. She does this by pushing her ideas on him and making
sure he follows them. This is quite prominent in both “Das Rheingold” and “Die Walküre” with
how she stands up for the treatment of her sister and with her ideals present in Wotan’s treatment
of his illegitimate children, Siegmund and Sieglinde. It is evident that both are unhappy in their
marriage, but you can see Fricka trying to make it work, just because it is her nature. She even
preservers through their marriage even after Wotan promises her sister, Freia, as payment to the
giants for building Valhalla. The selling of one’s sister is bound to cause some drama in any
relationship, and in an unstable one such as this, it is going to cause a lot of issues. This is
probably a major contributor to the harsh stance Fricka takes against Siegmund and Sieglinde’s
relationship and therefore the reason why she pushes/forces Wotan to curse and call and end to
their liaison with as stark a punishment as death.
Siegmund and Sieglinde are an interesting pair and probably the most risqué couple of all
the couples in the Ring. These two are the product of a relationship between Wotan and a mortal
woman; twins. These two were separated at a young age and raised in very different
atmospheres, but when Siegmund stumbles into the home of Hunding and Sieglinde for shelter
from the winter weather as he runs from the bounty hunters, one of which is Hunding himself.
Sieglinde quickly recognizes her brother and explains their relationship as brother and sister, but
they fall in love regardless of that. After spending one night together they run off so Hunding
won’t kill Siegmund for the money on his head, but fate is not kind to them seeing as Fricka has
ordered Wotan to curse the relationship of Siegmund and Sieglinde. In order to save Sieglinde’s
life and the life of their unborn child, Siegmund sacrifices himself under Brünnhilde’s advice,
since she is on loves side in this fight, and gives himself over to Hunding. But these two very
loving siblings are not parted for long because Sieglinde dies as she gives birth to her and her
brother’s love child, Siegfried.xxiii
Erda and Wotan also make an interesting couple. They are not a steady pairing, but when
Wotan calls or when Erda feels a disturbance in the world she is awoken and this results in some
type of interaction with Wotan. The most interesting interactions between these two do not
actually happen during the ring cycle, although their interactions there are quite important as
well. The first interaction between Erda and Wotan was a result of Wotan calling her out of her
sleep to find out what he had to do to become more than he already was. Erda then proceeded to
tell him about the water that would give him great wisdom, but would include a great sacrifice.
After he follows her instructions, he returns and attacks, essentially rapes, Erda which resulted in
the birth of Brünnhilde. He then continued to return to her in the same way, and by the end of
these escapades they had parented eleven children; 8 Walküre’s and 3 Rhinemaidens. But what
we do witness as interactions between the two during the ring cycle are quite important as well.
The first time we see Erda is when she appears to Wotan to warn him of the ring and that the
curse Alberich laid upon it was in fact real. Wotan was wise enough to heed Erda’s warning to a
degree but instead of returning it to the Rhine to be guarded by their children, the Rhinemaidens,
he throws it into the world where it is picked up by Fastolt who is then killed by his brother
Fafner so he can get the ring, bringing truth to Erda’s warning about the curse. The second time
we see Erda is when she is called upon by Wotan and she gives another warning but this time it
is of the fall of all of Valhalla, meaning all the gods, rather than just his own downfall as it was
the previous time. By this time Wotan is getting tired of people telling him what to do and telling
him that he is wrong in what he is doing so he dismisses her and puts her back into her deep
sleep.
Wotan has a bad habit of putting people to sleep. Not only did he do this to Erda, but he
did this to Brünnhilde. As previously mentioned, Brünnhilde is the daughter of Wotan and Erda
and the leader of the Valkyrie, but she disobeys her father’s commands and he punishes her with
eternal sleep, unless someone braves the fire surrounding the rock she is to be laid on and
awakens her. But Brünnhilde disobeys Wotan for a reason. While under Wotan’s influence,
Brünnhilde stays in an immature state because he has reins over her, so in order for her to be able
to embrace her womanhood she had to stand up against him.xxiv However, by going against his
will she is actually secretly fulfilling his wishes because Wotan does not actually want to see his
children unhappy, and even worse, dead;xxv the only reason Wotan cursed Siegmund and
Sieglinde was because Fricka demanded it. This information further complicates the relationship
between Wotan and Brünnhilde because this then raises the question of what were Wotan’s true
motives behind putting Brünnhilde into that deep 18 year sleep; was he truly vengeful, as Fricka
wishes to believe, or is he doing it to protect her from Fricka’s wrath. It would seem to favor the
second option since in the final moments of “Götterdämmerung” Wotan answers Brünnhilde’s
pleas for help to be able join Siegfried in a mortal death.
Siegfried and Brünnhilde make a strong couple, for the couple days that they know each
other and fall in love. They are destined to be together, but this is a bit strange and risqué when
you analyze their familiar relations. This is because Brünnhilde is the daughter of Wotan, who
fathered Siegmund and Sieglinde, who joined to create Siegfried, which means Brünnhilde, as
half-sister to Siegmund and Sieglinde, is actually Siegfried’s aunt. And with that known, they
still strike up a strong relationship that seems to withstand even the worst betrayal; infidelity.
This infidelity is the main plot for Götterdämmerung, and it all centers around the second set of
siblings in the Ring, Gunther and Gutrune.
Gunther and Gutrune decided that they needed to find fitting mates for them since they
are such excellent examples of the male and female gender. Their half-brother tells them of these
immaculate specimens of the opposite gender that would be fitting spouses for them; Siegfried
and Brünnhilde. So when Siegfried shows up on the shores outside their castle looking for
adventure because he was bored alone on the rock with Brünnhilde, Gunther cooks up a master
plan using Siegfried’s lack of fear that is needed to pass through the fire surrounding
Brünnhilde’s rock. In order to make Siegfried forget his love for Brünnhilde and fall in love with
Gutrune and marry her, Gunther gives Gutrune a love potion that will make him forget
everything except the first person he sees, and that person is Gutrune. So Siegfried uses the
magic Tarnhelm to disguise himself as Gunther and takes Brünnhilde off the rock and claims her
for Gunther, and since she is bound by the curse Wotan laid on her, she has to marry whoever
passes through the fire, so therefore she has to marry Gunther believing that he is the one that
came and retrieved her. This means that the destined couple of Siegfried and Brünnhilde is now
broken and there is now Siegfried and Gutrune, and Gunther and Brünnhilde. Brünnhilde tries to
explain things when she sees Siegfried, but he is under the influence of the potion and doesn’t
know of their relationship. But things start going wrong quickly and Gunther takes to the lies
told to him by his half-brother about Siegfried having secret plans to steal Brünnhilde and the
throne and starts a fight which ends in a trick that results in a sword through Siegfried’s chest. At
this point Brünnhilde throws herself on Siegfried’s funeral pyre and Gunther and Gutrune are
both left alone just as before.xxvi Gunther and Gutrune gain nothing from their relationships with
Siegfried and Brünnhilde except distrust of each other because Gutrune could see that there was
love between Siegfried and Brünnhilde and was starting to side with them and see that what her
brother was doing was wrong.
There are many strange relationships within Wagner’s Ring, and many of them don’t
really move the plot along at all, or they just help remind the listener of what has happened. But
knowing more about each character and their relationships to the main characters does help one
to understand all the intricate little things that to some seem ridiculous or unnecessary but
actually bring more to the emotional turmoil depicted in this sixteen hour long tale of epic
proportions. It is necessary to know who you are talking about among the Ring characters to
really comprehend the full scope of this family and their story.
i Eduard Hanslick, Wagner Opera, http://www.wagneropera.net.
ii Philip Kitcher and Richard Schacht, Finding an Ending: Reflections on Wagner's Ring, (London, Oxford University Press, 2005).
iii Herbert Knust, “What’s the Matter with One-eyed Riley?” Comparative Literature 17, no.4 (1965): 290-291.
iv
Colombia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed., s.v. “Valkyrie.”v
Deryck Cooke, I Saw the World End: A Study of Wagner’s Ring (London, Oxford University Press, 1979), 327-330.vi
Jerry Fodor, "What Wotan Wants," The London Review of Books, 26, no. 15 (2004): 8-10,vii
Evenson, Kristian. Wagner Trell, "Leitmotifs in Der Ring des Nibelungen - an introduction." Last modified 2008. Accessed May 8, 2013. http://www.trell.org/wagner/motifs.html.viii
Billam, Peter. PJB, "The Leitmotifs of Wagner's Ring." Accessed May 8, 2013. http://www.pjb.com.au/mus/wagner/index.htmlix
Ibid.x
Ibid.xi
Ibid.xii
William McDonald, "What Does Wotan Know? Autobiography and Moral Vision in Wagner's "Ring"," 19th Century Music, 15, no. 1 (1991): 36-51.
xiii
Patrice Chereau. Opera Online, "Richard Wagner Der Ring." Accessed April 27, 2013. http://ring.mithec.com/eng/whoswho.html.
xiv
Deryck Cooke, I Saw the World End: A Study of Wagner’s Ring (London, Oxford University Press, 1979), 139.xv
Patrice Chereau. Opera Online, "Richard Wagner Der Ring." Accessed April 27, 2013. http://ring.mithec.com/eng/whoswho.html.
xvi
Ibid.xvii
Ibid.xviii
Ibid.xix
Zieve, David. PubMed Health, "A.D.A.M. Medical Encyclopedia." Last modified Sept 19, 2012. Accessed April 29, 2013. xx
Patrice Chereau. Opera Online, "Richard Wagner Der Ring." Accessed April 27, 2013. http://ring.mithec.com/eng/whoswho.html.
xxi
Magee, Elizabeth. Richard Wagner and the Nibelungs. New York: Oxford University Press, 1990.xxii
William McDonald, "What Does Wotan Know? Autobiography and Moral Vision in Wagner's "Ring"," 19th Century Music, 15, no. 1 1991: 36-51.xxiii
Magee, Elizabeth. Richard Wagner and the Nibelungs. New York: Oxford University Press, 1990: 68.xxiv
Ibid.xxv
Ibid.xxvi
Deryck Cooke, I Saw the World End: A Study of Wagner’s Ring (London, Oxford University Press, 1979), 158.