Top Document: [humanities.music.composers.wagner] Wagner General FAQ Previous Document: E. Why does Siegmund sing the renunciation motif as he draws the sword from the tree? Next Document: G. Why is Valhall set on fire at the end of the 'Ring' cycle? See reader questions & answers on this topic! - Help others by sharing your knowledge Perhaps because, from the moment Alberich's caught, his hands are tied, so he cannot reach the ring, as he seems to need to. Only when he agrees to the ransom, and sends his command to the Nibelungs, is he allowed to get at it again. So that, one guesses, would be the time to use its power. In productions by Scottish Opera and ENO, among others, Alberich was thoroughly trussed up as Wagner intended, with only one hand freed to wield the ring, and Wotan had his spearpoint at Alberich's throat throughout. Or, for the same reason it couldn't protect either Fafner or Brunnhilde from Siegfried. The ring never had that kind of power. Deryck Cooke, in 'I Saw the World End', asserts that the Ring was only good for finding wealth, i.e. gold. Alberich uses it for that purpose in 'Das Rheingold', and that is the reason Wotan wants it so badly. The power of the ring isn't a direct, blow-them-away kind of power, although obviously it can help him create such things. It cannot destroy rope or chains, or make them come loose. Further, it might be that the ring (like the magic fire, or Wotan's spear and the rule of law that it represents) does not have any power, except over those who believe in it, or fear it. Therefore it does not have any effect on Siegfried, who never learned (or has forgotten that he had learned) fear. If Brünnhilde had been a little smarter, she would have realised from this that her captor was Siegfried in disguise. In 'The Perfect Wagnerite', G.B. Shaw compared Alberich to a capitalist and, in one of his late essays, Wagner himself compared the ring to a "stock-exchange portfolio". Dieter Borchmeyer has commented: "This comparison underlines the abstract power of an object that cannot be used in acts of physical violence, which explains why it can repeatedly be wrested from whoever happens to be wearing it... the ring grants its wearer power over the world only because it is a symbol, albeit one grounded in myth and magic. As the abstract basis of the possibility of accumulating capital, the ring may be capable of allowing its wearer to win 'the world's inheritance' and 'measureless might' ... but it can be stolen from its wearer with a minimum of cunning and force, just as any artful dodger can steal money, checkbooks, documents and credit cards from the most powerful capitalist in the world if the latter carries them around with him or her unprotected." ['Drama and the World of Richard Wagner', tr. Daphne Ellis, Princeton, 2003, pages 171-2.] Although the 'Ring' is most often interpreted in terms of a conflict between love and power, this interpretation is not universally accepted; and many of those who do see the cycle in those terms, also acknowledge that it is not only concerned with this conflict. It is possible that Wagner was primarily concerned with love and power when he wrote his libretto; it is certain that his own understanding of that libretto changed after he had become a disciple of Schopenhauer. Therefore it might be an oversimplification to regard the ring as a source of power, or even as a symbol of power. User Contributions:Top Document: [humanities.music.composers.wagner] Wagner General FAQ Previous Document: E. Why does Siegmund sing the renunciation motif as he draws the sword from the tree? Next Document: G. Why is Valhall set on fire at the end of the 'Ring' cycle? Single Page [ Usenet FAQs | Web FAQs | Documents | RFC Index ] Send corrections/additions to the FAQ Maintainer: mimirswell@hotmail.com (Derrick Everett)
Last Update March 27 2014 @ 02:11 PM
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