Something I just have to wonder, and Opera News magazine wonders with me, is this: If Wotan didn't expect the Volsung twins to hook up and make a baby, what exactly did he expect them to do? He needed a hero who would be able to destroy the Ring and break the curse, one "freer than himself" whom he agrees with Brunnhilde is Siegfried. (That he entirely misses the fact that it's Brunnhilde who ultimately redeems everyone is the subject for another post.)
Further, did Siegmund even know about the Ring? Or were he and Sieglinde simply pawns to create Wotan's free hero? Siegmund almost feels like an anti-hero; or like he was only there to engender the world's most loveable idiot. Thoughts?
(Picture courtesy of US Vogue. I foresee Jonas Kaufmann as winning a whole new legion of fans with this one.)
4 comments:
Interesting question. I think that for Wotan he's both very much beloved - and also a pawn, which, when Fricka shines a glaring light on it, brings the game crashing down. But within the only world he knows, Siegmund is a hero: he runs around doing the right thing as he sees it, rescuing fair maidens, and would doubtless have moved on to slaying dragons in the normal course of career development in his field.
omigod that pic is so amazing. Am asking an American cousin to get me a copy of US Vogue.........
Sorry - haven't got my head around the crazy Ring story yet - am a Failure. Am listening carefully to Kindertotenlieder in advance of Birmingham concert next week, and trying to learn the text.
@David Wagner: I feel like Fricka would've ignored Siegmund if he and Sieglinde wouldn't have hooked up. I think that was the thing that drove her to force Wotan into killing him.
@shapta-dakini: That pic is certainly swoon-inducing, isn't it? The Ring is certainly convoluted, but can possibly be reduced to this: cursed ring+dysfunctional family=shenanigans. Anna Russell sums it up brilliantly; you can find her whole gig on it on YouTube.
Thanks Christie! The Anna Russell stuff is hilarious -and new to me. I have printed out some to read again on way to B'ham.
We will return to Wagner I am sure.........
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