Opera Plots I - MDC Faculty Home Pages

SIEGLINDE and Siegmund are the twin children of Wotan by a mortal amour, and have been
separated by misfortune since childhood, having both married in the interval; and in Act 1 they
meet again. Siegmund, flying from an enemy, takes refuge during a stormy evening in the hut of
another enemy, Hunding, a warrior, whose wife is Sieglinde, from whom the refugee begs
refreshment and rest. The pair, not recognising each other, fall in love; and though their guilty
passion is noticed by Hunding, he is bound by the sacred laws of hospitality not to harm his guest
until morning. During the night, however, Sieglinde, having given her husband a drug to make
him sleep heavily, comes down to the waiting Siegmund, who has just pulled out from a tree trunk
in the room a mighty sword left here by Wotan when he wooed his mortal spouse, and which he
had declared should only be plucked out by his offspring; and the pair thus discover themselves
sister and brother and the twin children of Wotan. The passion they have conceived for each other,
however, is so overwhelming that they are powerless to resist it; and, folded in a happy embrace,
the guilty lovers step forth into the night, full of joy, and regardless of the sin they are committing,
and of the wrath of the abandoned husband.
In Act 2 Fricka, who is the goddess and defender of Marriage, has an angry scene with the fickle
Wotan for suffering such disregard of her laws; and she forces him to refrain from protecting the
runaway, Siegmund-which he is eager to do - and to break the magic sword he carries. Wotan,
therefore, reluctantly recalls his favourite Valkyrie, Brünnhilde - one of a race of strong and heroic
war-maidens, the children of Wotan, who employs them to bring the corpses of warriors who fall
in battle to dwell in glory in Valhalla-whom he had despatched to the assistance of the lovers, who
are now flying from the righteous wrath of the pursuing Hunding. Brünnhilde, however, has much
pity for the sad plight of the hunted lovers, and is so attracted by the courage of the hero that she
disobeys the commands laid upon her; and when Hunding overtakes the pair she helps Siegmund
against his enemy. Wotan now appears; and though in sympathy with his disobedient daughter, he
is bound by his promise to Fricka to the opposite course, and so joins in the combat, and, breaking
the magic sword, he causes the death of Siegmund. Full of grief for the loss of the hero, he
continues the fight with the wronged Hunding, and slays him; and then he pursues the disobedient
Valkyrie, who has snatched up the exhausted and terrified Sieglinde, and, mounting her horse, has
ridden away with her burden.
In Act 3 Brünnhilde meets with a band of her sister Valkyries, and begs their assistance. Finding
them afraid to offend the mighty All-Father by so doing, she directs Sieglinde to a place of hiding
near the cave of Fafner the giant, who, in the form of a dragon, still guards the Magic Ring; and
she tells her that she shall become the mother of a mighty and glorious hero, Siegfried, who shall
reforge the broken sword of Siegmund, the pieces of which she gives her. As Sieglinde totters
away Brünnhilde awaits courageously the coming of Wotan, and hears his reproaches
unflinchingly. As the punishment for her disobedience, the god commands her to lie upon a
neighbouring rock in a charmed sleep, to be the prize of any passer-by; but upon Brünnhilde
passionately pleading for protection from such indignity, he relents so far as to concede to her a
barrier of fire around her resting-place, through which none but the greatest and noblest of heroes
would dare to penetrate. Full of gratitude for this concession, which will ensure that she can only
be awakened by one worthy of a pure virgins love, the penitent Valkyrie stretches herself upon the
rock and falls into a charmed sleep; and, after kissing his beloved child tenderly, Wotan invokes
Loge, the God of Fire, at whose command flames spring out on every side. The god then departs;
and the beautiful Brünnhilde is left sleeping upon the rock, surrounded by the protecting wall of