in my latest installment of writing about wagner's ring cycle, i wrote about sieglinde as heroine, myself as sieglinde, and the ring as an allegory of rape https://www.late-review.com/p/sieglinde-as-heroine
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The motif of Assurance or "Redemption through love" or Liebeserlösung (Wolzogen #90), called by Wagner (according to Cosima) "Verherrlichung Brünnhildes", the Glorification of Brünnhilde. I believe that he conceived it only for the end of "Götterdämmerung", then decided to use it in "Die Walküre".
In the Ring, it is a necessary but not a sufficient condition of a Leitmotiv that it repeats. Even in different operas of the cycle. Liebeserlösung is a borderline case, since it only appears twice. In this and other cases, perhaps repetition is not significant. Maybe Wagner just liked the tune.
I once sang in the chorus for a concert performance of Götterdämmerung. Of course in the general rehearsal we all rushed into the hall to see the ending. At that motive Elizabeth Connell (still standing) leant back a little, looked at the violins, and lifted her right hand a bit.
I have never identified with Siegfried at all but seeing as I am now a person (in a forest right now, even) loving stuff blissfully unaware of the nefarious conversations people have been having just outside of my awareness since before I was even born.. 😬
this has quietly been revised to take myself out of it because there is this thing called 'retraumatization' that nobody warned me about and also now it makes two more critical points that are very important and fits better with the other essays in the series
namely, it is very stupid that wagner puts sieglinde to sleep and also it is terrible what siegmund says he's going to do when she is asleep (these were elements i was going to use in the final essay but it turns out there isn't a good placement for them so now they are in this essay)
Your piece also seems to suggest that sleep (or being put to sleep) is a theme that links Sieglinde and Brünnhilde (and maybe Hunding too). A way of punishing them that also somehow spares them from an unbearable existence
very rare (actually it's the first time it's ever happened) and somewhat embarrassing for me to do a major rewrite but thus is the peril of writing without an editor who can better intervene on your behalf and can see the flaws you can't until 2 days after an essay is published
I just read it while listening to a conservative pastor talking about how man and woman should submit to their godly roles (why do all the good paying churches have sermons like this?). It was a surreal experience. Having read both versions, this works better with your overall series.
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I guess we all contain multitudes.
Excited to read this essay though.
Yeah, it ain't great