Cyclic Structures and Dramatic Recap in Wagner - Reale PDF

Cyclic Structure and Dramatic Recapitulation in
Richard Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen
by
Steven M. Reale
A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment

of the requirements for the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy
(Music Theory)
in The University of Michigan
2009
Doctoral Committee:
Professor Kevin E. Korsyn, Chair

Professor Walter T. Everett
Professor Andrew W. Mead
Associate Professor Ramon Satyendra
Associate Professor Johannes E. von Moltke
UMI Number: 3354060
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Steven M. Reale
2009
To my parents
ii
Acknowledgements
This dissertation would not be possible without the assistance of many individuals
and organizations. I would first of all like to thank my advisor, Kevin Korsyn, for his
support and guidance throughout this process; for encouraging the development of my
own ideas as well as generously sparking new ones and suggesting relationships and
correspondences that I had not previously considered.
I wish to acknowledge the members of my dissertation committee: Andy Mead,
Walter Everett, Johannes von Moltke, and Ramon Satyendra for their advice, support,
and encouragement in matters of research and beyond.
There are many other professors at the University of Michigan who have
contributed to my professional development as a scholar, and in particular I would like to
thank James Borders, Wayne Petty, and Karen Fournier.
Special thanks to William Kinderman and Katherine Syer for their invitation to
attend the 2007 Bayreuth festival. It was an extremely rare and valuable opportunity: not
just securing tickets to Wagnerian Mecca but to work closely with such distinguished
Wagner scholars. At the same time, it was a tremendous pleasure to be a member of a
seminar filled with Wagner scholars and enthusiasts: Joy Calico, Hannah Chan, Tom and
Dorothy Fitzgerald, John C. Hay, Tim and Ellen Heltzel, Joseph Jones, Feng-Shu Lee,
Oliver Schowalter-Hay, Maria Todorova, and Paul Weichsel.
iii
In addition, I would like to acknowledge the Rackham School of Graduate Studies
and Dean Steven J. Whiting for their financial support, through fellowships and teaching
assistantships, travel grants to present my research at conferences, and the funding that
made the Bayreuth trip possible.
Writing a dissertation is a test of stamina and fortitude in ways beyond the purely
professional. I wish to thank my colleagues at the University of Michigan for their warm
friendship and kindness throughout the process, especially Nate Adam, Abby Anderton,
Elizabeth Batiuk, Rene Rusch Daley, Chris Dempsey, Phil Duker, Haley Endicott, David
Heetderks, Blair Johnston, Jesse Johnston, John Knoedler, John Levey, Michael
Mauskapf, Daniel Stevens, Tim Sullivan, and Alyssa Woods.
Particular thanks go to those who offered me care and support during the very
bleakest of times: my mother, Jeanne, and father, Michael; my brothers Michael and
Chris, my sister Jennifer, and my cousin Caroline Accumanno; Mark Schaller, with
whom I have had the distinct fortune of sharing not just an apartment but a deep, lasting
friendship; and Shinobu Yoshida, who through all the ups and downs has always been
like a sister to me.
Lastly, I cannot thank Alison DeSimone enough for her boundless energy and
enthusiasm, her sense of humor, kindness, warmth and the inexhaustible depth of her
support and encouragement through the seemingly interminable final stages of writing
this dissertation. More times than I can count in these last trying months has she lent me
enough strength to keep on going just a little longer.
Many thanks to everyone who has contributed to making this project possible.
iv
Table of Contents
Dedication ii
Acknowledgements iii
List of Figures vi
List of Musical Examples viii
Abstract ix
Chapter 1 Introduction 1
Chapter 2 Groundwork for a Theory of Dramatic Recapitulation 14
1. Is a Neutral Alternative to Recapitulation Preferable? 16
2. Recapitulation and Sonata Form 29
3. The Valences of "Recapitulation" 40
4. The Relationship between Music and Drama 50
Chapter 3 Cyclic Structure in The Ring 67
1. Overview of Ring Composition 69
2. Analysis of the Minor Bands 77
Chapter 4 Love, Marriage, and the Major Bands 116
1. The Prehistory of Love 117
2. Siegmund and Sieglinde 127
3. Siegfried and Brunnhilde 140
Chapter 5 Dramatic Recapitulation and the Immolation of Valhalla 157
1. The fiery consecration of Brunnhilde and Siegfried's marriage 168
2. Brunnhilde's final sleep 177
3. The Rhinemaidens rejoice as Valhalla burns 182
Chapter 6 Conclusion 200
Bibliography 213
v
List of Figures
Figure 1.1 Siegfried's two arrivals on Brunnhilde's rock as a ring structure 9

Figure 2.1 Plotting theoretical approaches in "sonata-form space" 47
Figure 2.2 Freytag's Pyramid of Dramatic Structure and its Musical Counterpart 65
Figure 3.1 Douglas's criteria for a well-formed ring structure 71
Figure 3.2 Order of composition of The Ring laid out in a cyclic form 72
Figure 3.3 Overall ring structure centered on Siegfried's acts as recapitulations of those
of his ancestors 73
Figure 3.4 First half of Valhalla period toward the end of Das Rheingold 78
Figure 3.5 Harmonic reduction of modulation to C for the Sword motive in Das
Rheingold, Scene 4 83
Figure 3.6 Three analytic readings of Gotterdammerung, Act III, Scene 1 (258/2/lff.).. 97
Figure 3.7 Venn diagram of the analytic readings in Figure 3.5 100
Figure 3.8 Parallel love triangles involving the Sword and Spear 105
Figure 3.9 Ring construction of related motives in Die Walkiire, Act III and Siegfried,
Act III 107
Figure 4.1 Ring structure of dramatic events and associated key areas in Die Walkiire,
Act 1 128
Figure 4.2 Analyses of the three parts of Siegmund's tale 133
Figure 4.3 Ring diagram of Siegmund's tale 135
Figure 4.4 Analysis of Sieglinde's tale 136
Figure 4.5 Diagram of Sieglinde's tale 137
Figure 4.6 Union of Siegmund's and Sieglinde's tales 138
Figure 4.7 Subring of Brunnhilde's marriages to Siegfried and Gunther 141
Figure 4.8 Siegfried's conquests of Brunnhilde 153
Figure 5.1 Love motives used at the end of Siegfried. 169
Figure 5.2 Linear analysis of Gotterdammerung, Act III, Sc. 3 (332/1/1 - 336/1/2) 173
Figure 5.3 Branching Analysis of Gotterdammerung, Act III, Sc. 3 (332/1/1 - 336/1/2)
174
Figure 5.4 Glorification of Brunnhilde, Gotterdammerung (334/3/2) 176
Figure 5.5 Tonal structure of the love stories 177
Figure 5.6 Analytic reductions of 3 forms of the Magic Sleep 178
Figure 5.7 Voice-leading analysis of the first statement of the Rhinemaidens' song 183
Figure 5.8 Voice-leading reduction of the first appearances of the Valhalla motive 185
Figure 5.9 Warren Darcy's graphs of the background and deep middleground of Das
Rheingold 186
Figure 5.10 First half of Valhalla period toward the end of Das Rheingold, reproduction
of Figure 3.4 188
Figure 5.11 Voice leading analysis of the closing passage ofDas Rheingold 189
VI
Figure 5.12 Voice-leading reduction of end of Immolation Scene 192
Figure 5.13 Warren Darcy's voice-leading reduction of the end of the Immolation Scene
192
Figure 5.14 Corruptions of the Valhalla motive (339:5:3ff) 196
Figure 5.15 Closing progression as subdominant projection of normative functional
progression 198
Figure 6.1 Linear analysis of the shadow upper voice at the end of Gdtterddmmerung 210
vu
List of Musical Examples
Example 1.1 Gotterdammerung, Act I, Sc. 3 (105/3/lff.) 3
Example 1.2 Gotterdammerung, Act III, Sc. 3 (326/1/lff.) 4
Example 2.1 Opening measures of Parsifal, Act 1 24
Example 2.2 Kinderman's analysis of motivic synthesis at the end of Parsifal 25
Example 3.1 Sword Motive in Die Walkure, Act I, Scene 3 (72/4/1) 78
Example 3.2 Das Rheingold, Scene 4 79
Example 3.4 Gotterdammerung, Act III, Sc. 1 90
Example 3.6 Gotterdammerung, Act III, Scene 1 92
Example 3.7 Gotterdammerung, End of Schreckensgesang, Act III, Scene 1 95
Example 3.8 Die Walkure, Act II, Scene 5 102
Example 3.9 Siegfried, Act III, Scene 2 104
Example 3.10 Die Walkure, Act III, Scene 3 110
Example 3.11 Die Walkure, Act III, Scene 3 Ill
Example 4.1 Introduction to Siegmund'stale 131
Example 4.2 Prologue to Siegmund's story: three possible names 132
Example 4.3 Epilogue to Siegmund's tale 134
Example 4.4 Gotterdammerung, Act I, Scene 3 145
Example 4.5 Brunnhilde's fear in Siegfried, Act III 149
Example 4.6 Brunnhilde's abduction in Gotterdammerung, Act 1 151
Example 5.1 Gotterdammerung, Act III, Sc. 3 (332/1/lff.) 159
Example 5.2 Siegfried, Act III, Sc. 3 (357/1/lff.) 171
Example 53 Die Walkure, Act III, Scene 3 (290/4/1) 194
vin
Abstract
The present work explores Wagner's four-opera Der Ring des Nibelungen cycle
from the perspective of the term "recapitulation," usually reserved for the study of
sonata-allegro form but nonetheless frequently used by writers to describe large-scale
repetitions in Wagner's music dramas. First, the dissertation performs a survey of music-
theoretical usage of the term within the context of sonata-form to develop a general
working definition for it and then explores the implications of applying it to operatic
works. By demonstrating the similarity in function of the different parts of sonata form
with the formal divisions of drama outlined in pyramid form by Gustav Freytag, the
dissertation concludes that it is acceptable to roughly correlate the concept of musical
recapitulation with dramatic denouement.
Having laid the groundwork for the discussion of recapitulation in Wagner, the
dissertation then particularizes the term within the context of a specific type of
recapitulation. By demonstrating that both musical and dramatic themes throughout the
tetralogy are repeated according to a "ring structure," the study presents an organizational
framework to manage the analysis of a vast amount of music, thus offering a model for
solving a problem long faced by Wagner scholars while at the same time uncovering an
as-yet unnoticed structural pattern governing the cycle. The ring structure resembles an
arch form, with an initial exposition of material balanced with a palindromic repetition.
The remainder of the dissertation provides musical and dramatic analysis of the
different correspondences across the central divide of the ring structure with two central
foci. The first is the pair of love relationships between Siegmund and Sieglinde on the
one hand and Siegfried and Brunnhilde on the other; and the second is the Immolation of
Valhalla, which brings to a close a myriad of unresolved threads from earlier parts of the
drama while providing a latch to connect the end back to the beginning. Finally, the
conclusion begins from the premise that the ring structure can highlight obscure and
unexpected relationships between scenes and suggests the potential profitability of
research into "negative recapitulations," which function not through actual repetition but
rather through significant absence.
x
Chapter 1
Introduction
This dissertation is a study of Wagner's technique of recapitulation in Der Ring
des Nibelungen. Although the volume of existing commentary makes the decision to
enter the discourse a daunting one, it is a testament to the richness and depth of Wagner's
art that after all that has already been argued, discussed, analyzed, and dissected, the
conversation shows no signs of waning. If there is nothing else remarkable about
Wagner's impact on music, theatre, literature, and politicsand there is plenty else
remarkablewe can marvel that there is still plenty to be said.
Being a study of recapitulation means, among other things, that this is a
dissertation about repetition. It might be argued that any dissertation about music is a
dissertation about repetition, because, as many writers have noted, it is through repetition
that musical structuresfrom the briefest motive to the grandest formbecome
comprehensible. As will be addressed in Chapter 2, Leonard Meyer discerns two types of
"conformant relationships," which describe distinctions between processive and
structural types of repetitions. William Rothstein's theory of phrase rhythm depends
upon an abstract sense of rhythmic and melodic recurrence to determine sections between
phrases and hypermetrical units.1 Arnold Schoenberg argues that repetition is one of
1
William Rothstein, Phrase Rhythm in Tonal Music (Schirmer, 1989), 12.
1
many elements without which music would be incomprehensible.2 Likewise, Heinrich
Schenker contends that a series of tones can only be considered a motive if they are
followed by an immediate repetition, concluding that "Repetition thus is the basis of
music as an art."3 Finally, philosopher Peter Kivy even titled one of his many books on
music The Fine Art of Repetition.
To clarify the kind of recapitulations this dissertation will address, consider the
passage in Act III, Scene 3 of Gotterdammerung in which Brunnhilde finally agrees to
return the ring to the Rhinemaidens. It is by uttering the words, "Ruhe, ruhe, du Gott!"
that she offers Wotan the peace for which he has longed since Act II of Die Walkure. But
it is the orchestra that offers peace to a musical matter left unresolved since Waltraute's
visit in Act I. Waltraute had relayed to Brunnhilde that Wotan no longer acts in his
capacity as leader of the gods, but simply waits in Valhalla for oblivion. Only if the
golden ring on her hand were returned to the Rhinemaidens would the weight of its curse
be lifted from both god and world. Waltraute's plea, rejected by Brunnhilde, enjoys no
musical resolution; the plagal cadence onto 3 provides no rest for her melodic line. The
Db major of the fragmented Valhalla motive is approached by what might be called its
dominant in second inversion, but the downward resolution of the Eb in the bass, which
had been sustaining for a full twelve measures, overshadows a strong sense of dominant-
tonic resolution. Neither does the Db, which does receive some confirming alternations
with its dominant, rest for very long. It is quickly recontextualized as the dominant to F#
minor. (See Example 1.1). By contrast, when Brunnhilde later sings, "Ruhe, ruhe, du
2
Arnold Schoenberg, "Brahms the Progressive," in Style and Idea, trans. Dika Newlin (New York:
Philosophical Library, 1950), 53.
3
Heinrich Schenker, Harmony, ed. Oswald Jones, trans. Elisabeth Mann Borgese (Cambridge, MA: MIT
Press, 1954), 4-5.
2
Gott," she does so to the same music, but her melody is allowed to fall to i . The Db
major is here prolonged by plagal motion before being confirmed by its dominant, which
lingers with the assistance of two fermatas before continuing in Db major. (See Example
1.2).
l=V/F#minor
Example 1.1 Gotterdammerung, Act I, Sc. 3 (105/3/lff.)4
Measures are indicated according to the format (Page/System/Bar) in the Schirmer edition of the vocal
score, except for the examples from Siegfried, which refer to the Breitkopf & Hartel edition.
3
Example 1.2 Gotterdammerung, Act III, Sc. 3 (326/1/lff.)
4
Chapter 2 explores theorists' usages of the term recapitulation within the context
of Wagnerian scholarship as well as its more normative usage within the study of sonata-
allegro forms with the goal of determining its legitimacy, because at present, music
scholarship has not yet offered a unanimous, well-defined sense of what the word means.
In addition, if we are to import the term recapitulation into operatic study from that of an
abstract instrumental form, then we must do so to a certain degree metaphorically. If we
argue that a particular passage in Wagner is a recapitulation, does it necessarily imply
that the passage is engaged in a process by which music previously heard in the dominant
is brought to the tonic key?
This becomes even more pertinent when we consider that many scholars do not
consider Wagner's operas to be monotonal. In an act governed by a tonal pairingthat
between E and C in Act III of Siegfried, as Kinderman has arguedit would be difficult
to determine which key would be considered "correct" for the return of a theme.
Furthermore, this line of questioning assumes that the concept of recapitulation is
extrinsic to opera, which may not be the case. These issues will be considered over the
course of this dissertation. For now, I offer a naive definition of a Wagnerian
recapitulation: a passage which restates a dramatic or musical theme (often both
simultaneously) in a manner which brings it to closure or resolution which it did not
previously enjoy.
By repeating the earlier music, Brunnhilde's "Ruhe, ruhe du Gott" connects the
dramatic situation of Gotterddmmerung, Act III, Scene 3 with Act I, Scene 3. By altering
the earlier music, allowing it to come to a conclusive cadence, the later passage
emphasizes the differences in the dramatic situations of the two moments. The later
5
passage offers the closure and resolution that the weakened cadence of the first passage
lacked. It is in this respect that the later passage recapitulates the former. It not only
repeats the musical content, but also resolves it.
While the above pair of passages exemplify the general philosophical approach
that this dissertation takes to recapitulations, it also highlights one of the fundamental
problems of excising passages for analysis: given the size and scope of the work in
question, it is not feasible in a single monograph to tackle every instance of repetition
throughout the cycle. Artificial boundaries must be drawn between passages of interest
that necessarily do a certain amount of violence to the continuity of the musical texture. It
is therefore important to be judicious in the means by which sections are excised from the
whole for the purposes of analysis. Therefore, what criteria ought we to use to select
passages for analysis? Moreover, are all appearances of a particular theme created equal?
Are they granted the same structural weight regardless of their placement within the cycle
or the thematic problems they develop or resolve? If they are not, then a framework is
necessary for understanding their functions and relative importance in the fabric as a
whole.
I have approached these problems of excision in two ways, which may be
expressed through two metaphors. The first considers the entire Ring as a large tapestry.
Though it may be too large to experience in its fullness, the viewer might select one
detail, such as a border of flowers, and explore how the flowers are alike and different in
their appearances along the edge. We might further imagine that one thing that all of the
flowers have in common is a particular shade of blue, and that this color comes from a
thread which emerges only to create the detail of the flower and submerges beneath the
6
other threads which make up the texture of the space which intervenes between the
flowers. Although there may be important detail in the areas of the tapestry behind which
the blue thread hides, the viewer may nonetheless bracket those parts off during his or her
contemplation of the piece's smaller details.
The pattern that this dissertation highlights and extracts for study of the Ring's
structure of recapitulation is, aptly enough, through what Mary Douglas has called "ring
structure." It will be through explication of the ring structure itself and its application to
Der Ring des Nibelungen which will concern the remainder of this dissertation. Although
the structure will be explained in-depth in Chapter 3, it is worth lingering on a short
example of what the structure entails.
After tasting the dragon's blood in Act II of Siegfried, the hero is surprised to
learn that he can suddenly understand the song of the forest bird, who advises him that he
may find a sleeping bride on a rock surrounded by fire. After crossing through the fire,
Siegfried discovers a sleeping warrior constricted by armor. He removes the armor to
discover that the warrior is a woman, who he awakens with a kiss. Brunnhilde, who had
with Wotan intended that Siegfried be the hero to find her, is afraid to give herself to him
completely, but Siegfried convinces her to love him, and the opera ends with the couple
in rapturous love. Siegfried and Brunnhilde's story continues during the Prologue of
Gdtterddmmerung. Siegfried leaves the rock to seek further adventures, but gives to
Brunnhilde the ring as a token of his love. She praises the gods for bringing her
happiness, and they say farewell.
Unfortunately, their story does not remain a happy one. By the end of the act,
Siegfried will return disguised as Gunther to abduct Brunnhilde to be the bride of his new
7
blood-brother. Surprisingly, the events of Siegfried's second visit correspond with those
of his first visit, but in reverse order. Brunnhilde, seeing the flames surge, prepares to
greet Siegfried, but meets a strange man claiming that he has won her as his bride.
Brunnhilde curses Wotan, believing she now understands the meaning of his punishment.
Siegfried demands that Brunnhilde give him the ring as a dowry. She resists, but is
overpowered. Siegfried sends her to sleep, and as a symbol of his chaste wooing, places
the sword between them for the duration of their bridal night.
The mirroring in the tale suggests a chiasmatic structure, something like an arch
form, or a Lorenzian Bogen form, but with important distinguishing details which will be
explored later. The above plot elements may charted to highlight the relationships of the
later events to the earlier, as appears in Figure 1.1. The plot events are laid out in a
counterclockwise fashion, with the beginning of Das Rheingold in the semicircle at the
top of the diagram, moving down the left side to the events of Acts I and II of Siegfried,
in the semicircle at the bottom of the diagram, and back up the right side, where the end
of the cycle "latches" to its beginning. A crucial feature of the ring is that the elements
on the left side of the diagram are matched by those on the right side, just as the lower
semicircle matches the upper one.
8
Siegfried learns from
the Forest Bird of a woman
who may only be won by
one who has not learned fear.
Siegfried journeys Siegfried journeys

through the fire. through the fire.
;
Sii'^liicd ri.niii\i.'!i Siv.-t.Mnod pl.iccs
2 Hriiniilnkk-'s aimoi sv.uid hvluvx-ii Ihem
Willi :swmd | as lhe> sleep
7 Siegfried awakens
Briinnhilde
Siegfried sends
Briinnhilde to sleep.
Dmiinliilde isal'r.nd lu j ' limniihildc i>

~4_ ijitv'hcrscll u< Sicitliicd.l i merpiUM-reilliv SiL-jjIned
hill rirlcnty- i ! .ind relents.
1 i
Siegfried gives the Siegfried wrenches the

5_ ring to Briinnhilde. ring from Briinnhilde.
lliiiiinhildv CIIIVS
|4ninnhildcask'< I'm the Woi.in liirthi-
@ t'j'il-" hle-miL-.. puimlinvnt
0
Briinnhilde prepares to
Briinnhilde and Siegfried
greet Siegfried; "meets"
say farewell.
Gunther.
Siegfried journeys Siegfried journeys

through the fire. through the fire.
A
Figure 1.1 Siegfried's two arrivals on Briinnhilde's rock as a ring structure.
The power of the ring as an organizing structure is manifold. First, the Ring is so
enormous and so full of musical and dramatic references that it is barely an exaggeration
to say that one might conceivably compare any scene to any other scene. While it might
prove informative to explore relationships between randomly selected pairs of scenes, the
lack of a compelling framework for study means that there can be no deeper or larger
scale implications for those relationships. Second, once an organizational framework
9
such as a ring structure is found to apply generally, it can then provide grounding for
highlighting unexpected, inconspicuous, and sometimes surprising formal relationships.
For example, while the relationship between Wotan breaking the sword and Siegfried
breaking the spear has a very clear dramatic significance as well as a clear musical
relationship, it might be less immediately apparent that there is a structural significance to
Siegfried's funeral music as a recall of Wotan's Grand Idea from Das Rheingold.
Similarly, the appearance of the Rhinemaidens at the beginning of Act III of
Gotterdammerung might be somewhat perplexing, given that it had been many hours
since we had last heard or seen them. Noting that there is a structural significance in the
two appearances of these plaints elevates the latter in the closing act from mere episode
to an embodying of Siegfried's personal story within the history of the mythic world he
inhabits. His refusal to grant the ring to the Rhinemaidens highlights his relationship to
Wotan, the fact that he is the free hero for whom Wotan set the entire plans of the Ring in
motion, and also signals that he is subject to the same curse, and therefore doomed to the
same downfall as Wotan.
My chosen methodology, analysis of recapitulation through the framework of ring
structure, does not imply that it is the only structure governing the Ring, nor that it is able
to account for all of its structural repetitions, which leads to the second guiding metaphor
of this dissertation: the geometrical situation which occurs when a 3-dimensional object,
such as a sphere, intersects with a 2-dimensional object, a plane. An observer from the
two-dimensional space will not experience the sphere as a three-dimensional object.
Rather, as the sphere moves through the plane, the observer will first see a point, then a
circle which expands until it reaches the same diameter as the sphere, then it will shrink
10
again, become a point, and vanish.5 According to this metaphor, the Ring is a three-
dimensional object, and any written account of it must necessarily reduce its scope, to
flatten it to two dimensions. None, I would contend, can explain it in all its fullness. I
therefore do not submit that my chosen methodology for analyzing the Ring can even
come close to explaining it in its three-dimensional entirety. Instead, I offer my
viewpoint as an observer in two-dimensional space, describing one moment of
intersectionone ring!that caught my interest.
Both metaphorsthe tapestry and the spherereflect an intended attitude of
analytic pluralism. Both offer room for competing, complementary, and even
contradictory approaches to the music. The very act of excising the moments discussed
here affirms the many important features and details of the Ring that my approach leaves
unexplored. The metaphor of 3-dimensional space leaves room for many other analytic
methodologies, because the amount of points of intersection between a plane and a
sphere, in a mathematical sense, is infinite. Because of the 2-dimensional vantage point
of the analytic observer, what on the surface might appear to be a contradictory and
incompatible set of observations about the Ring may simply result from the fact that we
are not able to perceive more than one moment of intersection at a time. I therefore
welcome a multiplicity of analytic approaches, so long as they are sufficiently rigorous.
The bulk of this dissertation will explore recapitulation through the lens of ring
structure. Chapter 3 provides the general background for the structure, by explaining its
derivation from Mary Douglas's work and analyzing what I consider to be the minor
5
For an entertaining and accessible explanation of this concept, see Rob Bryanton's animated video
"Imagining the Tenth Dimension," http://www.tenthdimension.com/medialinks.php (2006), accessed
January 8,2009.
11
recapitulations across its central divide. In addition, it provides theoretical grounding for
positing the existence of such a structure in the Ring. While ring forms offer the analyst a
powerful hermeneutic tool, there is of course a flipside: the danger of begging the
question. If the ring is able to highlight unexpected and unobvious relationships between
scenes, it is imperative that those relationships can be understood beyond the context of
their appearance within it. The structure is of no analytical use if the relationships it
uncovers only serve to assert its existence. After setting the groundwork for the analysis
of ring structure, Chapter 4 offers a study of the Ring's primary love stories, both because
they feature as more complicated elements of the overall ring, but also because their tonal
organizations point toward a more refined understanding of recapitulation that operates in
music with more than one tonal center. Chapter 5 is a recapitulatory analysis of the
Immolation scene from Gotterdammerung from three perspectives. First, it completes
the analysis of the tonal background begun in Chapter 4; second, it studies the scene as a
closing gesture in the overall ring; third, it positions the scene as an overdetermined
recapitulation of the entire cycle. Finally, Chapter 6 offers concluding remarks and
suggestions new directions for research on recapitulation as it pertains to Wagnerian
opera. Beginning from the premise that the ring structure can highlight obscure and
unexpected relationships between scenes, the chapter suggests the potential profitability
of research into "negative recapitulations," which function not through actual repetition
but rather through significant absence.
Before we turn to the operas themselves, however, it will be important to explore
the concept of recapitulation. Not only will it be important to construct a working
definition for the term in a general sense, but the legitamacy of applying a term that is
12
generally associated with instrumental forms to operatic works needs to be established.
Thus, we turn to Chapter 2, which explores the discourse surrounding the term both in the
realm of Sonata-form analysis and with respect to Wagner.
13
Chapter 2
Groundwork for a Theory of Dramatic Recapitulation
Approximately four hours after the lights of the opera hall first dimmed, not
counting intermissions, Isolde and her orchestral accompaniment give the audience a
resolution for which they have been waiting more than a full act. About a minute or two
later, the orchestra offers the audience a resolution for which they have been waiting
since the orchestra played its first notes. Both the frenzy of the end of the love duet in
Act II and its prominent prolongation of an F# dominant-seventh chord heighten
expectations for resolution on B. Just at the moment of climax a B7 chord intrudesit
has been called a musical "coitus interruptus"and with it Marke and Melot, dooming
the couple and denying the consummation of their love.6 When the passage repeats itself
at the end of the opera, there is no such interruption. While the passage does not
immediately resolve to B major, it does lead to an E major triad with a C# appoggiatura7,
6
Slavoj Zizek has argued that Brangaene's scream is a displacement of Isolde's orgasm where the pleasure
ofjouissance morphs into traumatic pain. See Slavoj Zizek and Mladen Dolar, Opera's Second Death,
(Routledge, 2002), 125.
7
The resulting combination of pitches, E, G#, B, and C# is related both to Robert Bailey's interpretation of
the Tristan chord in particular and to his theory of the double-tonic complex in general. Bailey argues that
a mm7 chord obtained by fusing relative major and minor triads functions as the "tonic chord" of a double-
tonic complex centered on the roots of those two triads. Because Wagner's harmony is often mode-
independent, major and minor triads built on those roots can serve equally well as a local instantiation of
the complex. Bailey reads the Tristan chord as a minor-inflected version of an Ab triad with added sixth
spelled with the F in the bass, and demonstrates how later appearances of opening motive actually
substitute an Ab major triad for the Tristan chord (and also a B major triad for repetitions of the second
phrase). See Robert Bailey, "Analytical Study" in Prelude and Transfiguration from Tristan and Isolde
(Norton, 1985): 118-23.
14
allowing the closing passage of the opera to prolong the subdominant in preparation for
the last appearance of the Tristan chord. And whereas appearances of the Tristan chord
throughout the opera generally lead to Mm7 chords, here it has been modified first by
placing it in inversion so that the B is in the bass and secondarily by altering the chord to
which it leads by omitting the D and lowering the G. Instead of a EMm7 chord, then, we
hear an E minor chord in second inversion with strong expectations of a plagal resolution
to B, which is exactly what we hear. Five hours after its first appearance, the Tristan
chord is finally allowed to bring rest and resolution.
As a result, the Liebestod can be described as a large-scale restatement of earlier
musical material which finds the resolution which had been previously avoided, and this
fact invites comparison to the processes of sonata-allegro movements. Indeed, an
abundance of such comparisons exist. If recapitulations are characterized by restatements
of melodic material from the expositions of sonata-allegro movements, but reinterpreted
so that they end in the tonic and thereby find resolution which they did not have earlier, is
it legitimate to consider the Liebestod a recapitulation?
The purpose of this chapter is to explore our theoretical understanding of the
concept of recapitulation to determine whether it is valid to import the term into the
discourse of opera study rather than maintaining a safer position by using a less
theoretically loaded term, such as "reiteration," "repetition," or "return." After exploring
our common scholarly usage of the term as it is used in relationship to sonata-allegro
form, the chapter considers the relationship between music and drama, what might
constitute a dramatic recapitulation, why we might wish to discuss non-musical events
15
with the terminology of musical analysis and what we might stand to gain or lose by
doing so.
1. Is a Neutral Alternative to Recapitulation Preferable?
When we speak of recapitulations, generally we are referring to a feature of
sonata form whereby the themes of the exposition are repeated, but are tonally altered in
order to bring them the harmonic closure that they did not attain in the exposition. If we
decide to use the term to refer to opera, does this imply that the tonality of the
recapitulation in question ought to follow the models of the Classical or Romantic sonata
movement? In other words, must the closure enacted by an operatic recapitulation be
tonal? Several of William Kinderman's studies on dramatic recapitulations on Wagner
consider passages which are governed by "tonal pairings." Yet, the very principle that
closure may be attained through repeating in the tonic themes previously heard in the
dominant assumes that the work in question is monotonal. Would a similar harmonic
approach even be possible in music that is heard as polytonal? Consider, too, that we are
speaking not just of operatic recapitulations, that is, recapitulations which occur in the
music of an opera, but dramatic recapitulations, which implies a recapitulation not just of
the musical texture, but also the dramatic structure. Allowing the possibility that a
dramatic feature of a work might be recapitulated might raise bizarre questions such as,
"Did the earlier dramatic action end in 'dominant' and does the later one end in 'tonic?'"
Suddenly our understanding of the termand any metaphors we may rely on to do so
get stretched dangerously close to their breaking point. Lastly, if a dramatic
recapitulation refers to a moment that repeats and brings closure to an earlier one, what of
16
moments which resolve some issues while opening new ones? Or moments which do not
repeat earlier ones only to bring them closure but also to further develop them?
If we were to decide that recapitulation is too theoretically loaded to be usefully
or unproblematically applied to opera, there do exist alternative, more generalized models
of musical restatement. In Explaining Music, Leonard Meyer presents such a model
which differentiates between two types of "conformant relationships": repetition and
return. A return usually occurs after a significant amount of time has passed and brings
familiarity, a sense that the music has come back to where it had been earlier.8 Therefore,
generally speaking they are considered to be purely formal devices which delineate
sections. While a repetition can theoretically also do that, it is primarily distinguished as
being part of a process and not a structure. In addition, repetitions usually occur within
close proximity of one another, and in contrast to a return, the repetition has a quality of
development and intensification. As an example, both the antecedent and consequent
phrases of a period and the exposition and recapitulation of a sonata are conformant
relationships, but the former would be an instance of repetition, and the latter an instance
of return. More concretely, the third and fourth measures of the Liebestod constitute a
repetition of measures 1 and 2 transposed up by third, whereas the Liebestod as a whole
would constitute a return of the love duet from Act II.
The utility of Meyer's model is that it comfortably handles instances of repetition
and return in any musical genre. Both a standard sonata recapitulation and Isolde's
Liebestod can be considered returns because both are restatements of distant musical
passages and both function to delineate formal structures. These terms, repetition and
8
Leonard B. Meyer, Explaining Music: Essays and Explorations (University of California Press, 1973),
44-51.
17
return, are generic and therefore do not bring any inaccurate or misleading analytical
connotations to bear.
Another possible alternative to recapitulation is found in Joseph Kerman's work
on Beethoven's codas. Kerman argues that the purpose of most normative codas by
Mozart and Haydn is to reinforce tonic as the movement is brought to cadence because
the task of resolving the harmonic and melodic materials left open in the exposition
already occurred in the recapitulation. By contrast, many Beethoven sonatas leave their
primary themes unresolved until the coda. Kerman rejects terms like 'terminal
development' or 'second development' because the role of a coda is emphatically not to
develop, but to close a movement, and 'recapitulation' is not even considered, since the
structure with that name has already come and gone. The term Kerman settles on is
'thematic completion.'9
Kerman has approached a similar issue in a different way in his article on Bach's
late fugues. A common feature of these fugues is what he calls "thematic returns," which
are countersubjects which disappear for most of the duration of the fugue. When one
reappears at the end, it provides a sense of rhetorical return, which is heightened by the
large temporal distance from its earlier statement. What is relevant to the present issue,
however, is that Kerman explicitly addresses the possibility of referring to them as
recapitulations, and even highlights two writers who have: David Ledbetter, who argues
that they serve to provide the fugue with the same sort of closure found in a rounded
binary form, and Roger Bullivant, who explicitly describes them as "structural
recapitulations." Kerman, on the other hand, rejects the term so as to avoid its heavy
9
Joseph Kerman, "Notes on Beethoven's Codas," in Beethoven Studies 3, ed. Alan Tyson (Cambridge,
1982), 151-2.
18
connotations with sonata form, but he does suggest that the sense of order governed by
Bach's returns is a historical glimpse forward to the styles that would proliferate in the
next few generations of composers.10 Should we reject the term for analysis of opera as
well?
Although Kerman is writing about sonatas and fugues, adapting the terminology
of "thematic completion" or "thematic return" does not suffer the same hazards as
"recapitulation" for two reasons. First, they are idiosyncratic terms, in the sense that they
do not carry heavy discursive weight behind it. We can conceptualize an idea such as
thematic completion without immediately associating it to sonata form. Second, Kerman
is already discussing compositional details which fall outside of the norms of standard
sonata form and fugal composition. He is not positing a new generalized model for either
of them, but rather accounting for additional musical events. Neither are being pitched as
aspects of their respective genres; they are simply means by which musical ideas can find
resolution and as such there is no reason to exclude them from music dramas.
On the one hand, adopting Meyer's or Kerman's terminology to describe
important musical restatements in Wagner could neutralize concerns about
misappropriating terminology. On the other hand, insisting on a neutral description of
these moments ignores the long discursive precedent for calling them recapitulations: the
first having been set by Wagner himself. In a diary entry dated September 9,1876,
Cosima records that Wagner considered Gotterdammerung "a recapitulation of the whole
[Ring]: a prelude and three pieces."11
Joseph Kerman, "Thematic Return in Late Bach Fugues," Music & Letters 87/4 (November, 2006), 522.
11
Entry dated September 9, 1876. "Somit ware die Gotterdammerung eine Wiederholung des Ganzen, ein
Vorspiel und 3 Stiicke." Cosima Wagner, Die Tagebiicher, ed. Martin Gregor-Dellin and Dietrich Mack,
19
Donald Tovey, whose work forms the basis for much of our modern theory of
sonata form, had no compunctions about applying "recapitulation" to the music drama.
In fact, he actually includes the Liebestod as an example of a recapitulation in his
Encyclopaedia Britannica article on Sonata Forms in order to normalize the
recapitulation of the Eroica, which presents an exact repetition of a large part of the
second theme without transposing it to the tonic.12 It is quite remarkable that Tovey,
from whom we inherit our modern understanding of sonata form, not only believed that
recapitulations can occur in works that are not sonatas, but that such occurrences are
normative enough that they can be used to establish the basic criteria for what constitutes
a recapitulation in the first place. Yet this is fully in keeping with Tovey's understanding
of recapitulation as a musical process. It is not just a feature of sonata form, but "is as
(Munich: R. Piper & Co. Verlag, 1976), vol. 1, pg. 1002. Although the German Reprise is more typically
used to describe the recapitulation section of a sonata, I follow Bailey's lead in translating it thusly for
several reasons. First, several reputable dictionaries translate the musical usage of the term Wiederholung
as recapitulation and Wagner himself uses the terms Wiederholung and Wiederkehr to refer to structural
repetitions as they occur within sonata movements. See Richard Wagner, "Uber Franz Listzs
Symphonische Dichtungen," Gesammelte Schriften und Dichtungen Vol. 5 (Leipzig: Verlag, 1872), 245.
In addition, A.B. Marx the word Wiederholung throughout to describe the repetition of the Hauptsazt in
Rondo form, from which he derives the Sonatina and Sonata forms. See Die Lehre von der musikalischen
Komposition, (Leipzig: Breitkopf und Hartel, 1868), 98ff. Second, our modern tripartite description of
sonata form into exposition-development-recapitulation has its roots in a more recent account of sonata
form than was in force when Wagner would have spoken these words. Therefore, it would be anachronistic
to assume that Wagner's usage of the words Wiederholung or Reprise would carry the same connotations
that they do now. Third, and this point will become clearer below, regardless of the noun-sense in which
the term is used, the verb-sense is in force and is of primary interest here. In a translation of the same
passage, John Daverio translates the word as "repetition," but immediately treats it as a synonym for
"recapitulation." See "Briinnhilde's Immolation Scene and Wagner's 'Conquest of the Reprise,'" Journal
of Musicological Research 11 (1991): 33.
12
Donald Francis Tovey, The Forms of Music (New York: Meridian Books: 1957), 220. To my ears, the
passage that Tovey considers to be the start of the second group, beginning in m. 57, is very much part of
the transition. Indeed, this appears in Bb major in both the exposition and the development. However, I do
not hear the second group beginning until m. 83 for two reasons. First, the passage in m. 57 carries a stable
melody for no more than eight measures before beginning a series of sequences and modulations very
characteristic of transition passages. Second, the key areas in which the theme beginning in m. 83 appear
in both the exposition and recapitulation are as expected: V, then I. It is possible that this dispute weakens
the claim that transposition is not a necessary feature of recapitulation, but the primary issue of this chapter
is writers' presumptions of what "recapitulation" means, and this is still very much in force, even if this
particular analysis is problematic. For Tovey's analysis see Essays in Musical Analysis Vol. 1 (London:
Oxford University Press, 1935): 29-34.
20
inveterate in musical form as symmetry is in architecture." Beyond merely using the
term to describe the Liebestod, Tovey argues that it is a supremely important aspect of
Wagner's musical organizationmore so than the use of leitmotives.14
Kerman's project in Opera and Drama is to problematize the oft-used
formulation of Wagnerian "opera as symphonic poem," which he uses as the title of the
chapter on Wagner. He argues that Wagner's music dramas are not symphonic poems,
even if they approach that genre.15 Interestingly, while for Kerman, the leitmotivic
organization and formal construction are important reasons for the artistic success of
Tristan, he considers the closure afforded by the Liebestod to be "unlike any effect
obtainable by the use of leitmotives. It is more like the recapitulation of a Beethoven
symphony movement.. ,"16 Thus, regardless of how problematic the metaphor "opera as
symphonic poem" might be, and how firm his refusal to apply "recapitulation" to Bach's
fugues was, Kerman nonetheless still seems comfortable relating Wagner's works with
sonata procedure.
Carolyn Abbate maintains a similar, if more strongly worded, position as Kerman.
In "Opera as Symphony, a Wagnerian Myth," Abbate argues at length against
simplistically referring to Wagner's music dramas as symphonic, a practice which is so
prevalent that it has become conventional wisdom. She argues that by "symphonic,"
Wagner only meant to signify an interwoven and unified texture of thematic material, and
Tovey, The Forms of Music, 220.

14
"[A] far more important aspect of Wagner's musical organization than any details of leitmotive is the
matter of recapitulation. A leitmotive may be short enough to please the early official commentators on
whom Wagner smiled playfully; but no classical symphony has larger slabs of exact recapitulation than
those that hold Wagner's immense works together." Tovey, "A Note on Opera" in The Main Stream of
Music and other Essays, (New York: Meridian Books, 1959), 359.
15
Joseph Kerman, Opera and Drama (New York: Vintage Books, 1959), 207.
16
Ibid., 212.
21
conceptual problems often result from the fact that modern music scholarship carries
many connotations of "symphonic" that he would not have intended, including
assumptions about form, instrumentation, and, more problematically, a particular value
judgment stemming from the symphony's prestige as a genre. The problem is not so
much in the term "symphonic" as it is in the difficulty of disentangling it from modern
assumptions and connotations associated with the form. In addition, Wagner's own
conception of "symphonic" is complicated and problematic, which is generally not
acknowledged in accounts of his music which take the term at face value.17 Therefore,
Abbate warns against distorting Wagner's own meaning of the term without
acknowledging it and urges us to consider that "we need not explain as symphonic what
Wagner readily understood as operatic."18
Notwithstanding her caveat, Abbate, like Kerman, has described various passages
in Wagner as recapitulations. She writes that "the many narrators in the Ring seem to
recapitulate accurately events that we ourselves have witnessed on the stage"19 and reads
the Immolation Scene as a "large-scale musical recapitulation, created by the final return
of the hieratic, half-dissonant march music that had first been heard in the
Gotterdammerung prologue." Both of these passages use recapitulate and
recapitulation without comment or acknowledgment of the connotations and associations
of the terms with sonata form. These associations can actually reinforce the simplistic
understanding of these operas as symphonic.
17
Carolyn Abbate, "Opera as Symphony, a Wagnerian Myth" in Analyzing Opera: Verdi and Wagner, ed.
Carolyn Abbate and Roger Parker (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1989), 93-5. Some of the
complications will be addressed later in this chapter.
18
Ibid., 104, 124.
19
Carolyn Abbate, Unsung Voices (Princeton, 1991), 222.
20
Ibid., 238
22
The term "dramatic recapitulation" is William Kinderman's, and appears
prominently within the title of two articles by him. It should be pointed out that
Kinderman's usage of recapitulation is heavily influenced by Tovey's. This is made
explicit when he begins his article with the same reference to the Encylopaedia Brittanica
article that appears in footnote 7 above. Following Bailey's theory of the double-tonic
complex, Kinderman treats the two passages within the context of what he calls "tonal
pairings." In the first, Siegfried's funeral music, a pairing is established between E and C
and in the second, the redeemed Grail ceremony at the end of Parsifal, the pairing
consists of Ab and C. Kinderman, like Bailey, does not insist on a particular mode for
either member of the pairing, but they are nonetheless frequently found in pairs of
relative major and minor. Nor does a tonal pairing necessarily prioritize either member;
for example, both E and C serve equally as tonic where they occur in Siegfried's funeral
music or the scene which it recapitulates.
In "Dramatic Recapitulation in Wagner's 'Gotterdammerung,'" Kinderman
characterizes Siegfried's Funeral Music as a recapitulation through three primary
features: a shift in centricity from E to C which mirrors the same tonal progression in
Siegfried, repetition of musical material, and Siegfried's "awakening" from the effects of
the potion of forgetfulness to remember (and retell of) Briinnhilde and the events that
unfolded on the rock. Kinderman's language is particularly notable for its explicit
comparison of Wagner's recapitulation here to a similar process found in sonata form:
The most striking change in the recapitulation of this tonal framework is

its new emphasis on A, the subdominant of E. ... This cadence weakens
the E side of the tonal pairing by turning E into the dominant of A. Yet of
course emphasis on the subdominant in a recapitulation is a familiar
feature of the symphonic 'drama' of the Classical style. Its effect here is
23
analogous to that in a Classical symphony: the resulting softening of
contrast presents the restatement in a new and superior light.21
In the other article, Kinderman seeks to demonstrate that, contrary to the
arguments of Carl Dahlhaus and Carolyn Abbate, Wagner used recapitulation as "an
architectural principle" in his later music-dramas. Kinderman argues that the end of
Tristannot just the Liebestod, but also the passages preceding itfunctions as a
"recapitulatory synthesis," as it brings themes from throughout the operathe Tristan
chord, the death motive, and the love duetto full closure.23 Similarly, Kinderman
describes Parsifal's response to Kundry's kiss in Act II of Parsifal as a "varied
recapitulation of several passages from Amfortas's lament in Act I" that shifts the
dramatic attention from Amfortas to Parsifal as the hero undergoes a repetition of
Amfortas's seduction, culminating in Kundry's kiss.24 The major recapitulation of
Parsifal, however, is the redeemed grail ceremony at the end of Act III. In Act I, the
tonal pairing of Ab and C is played out in a small scale in the opening Communion
theme, which begins in Ab major, but moves to C minor when the melody turns back and
descends from the upper Ab to the G.25

Half-step turn to C minor
Example 2.1 Opening measures of Parsifal, Act I
21
William Kinderman, "Dramatic Recapitulation in Wagner's 'Gotterdammerung,'" 19th-century Music
4:2 (Autumn, 1980): 104.
22
William Kinderman, "Dramatic Recapitulation and Tonal Pairing in Wagner's Tristan und Isolde and
Parsifal" in The Second Practice of Nineteenth Century Tonality, ed. William Kinderman and Harald
Krebs (University of Nebraska Press, 1996), 179.
23
See especially the chart on ibid., 184.
24
Ibid., 202-3.
25
Ibid., 196.
24
In contrast to Gotterdammerung, which recapitulated by repeating the motion
from one member of the pairing to the other, Parsifal finds closure when "the tonal
pairing is eliminated in favor of a symphonic synthesis and resolution of the motives of
the Grail in Ab."26 The resolution is enacted by the removal of the semitone between Ab
and G which marked the turn to C minor at the beginning of the Act I prelude. Recall
that for Bailey the triad with added-sixth is a chordal expression of the double-tonic
complex as it contains all of the pitches of two triads related by a third. By removing the
semitone here, Wagner also removes one member of the double-tonic complex
entirely.
Omitted continuation
Grail motive
Communion Motive Alteration,

no turn to minor
Example 2.2 Kiuderman's analysis of motivic synthesis at the end of Parsifal17
In its apotheosis at the end of the opera, the communion motive is appended to the first
half of the grail motive, and its newly-found ascending fourth substitutes for the same
fourth from the grail motive. In this way, the close affinity between the Grail,
Communion, Faith, and Spear motives is revealed, and it is on this note that the drama
ends.28
A weakness of Kinderman's work is that neither of these articles clearly state
what he means by recapitulation. He provides its terminological lineagefrom Tovey,
26
Ibid., 206.
27
Ibid., 209.
28
Ibid., 208-9.
25
through Kerman and Abbatebut takes its meaning for granted, and it is presented only
obliquely. When he describes passages as recapitulations, the reader might notice that he
often also uses terms such as "synthesis," "resolution," "completion," "conclusion," and
"transformation."29 The words which orbit "recapitulation" allow one to infer its
meaning, but the closest Kinderman comes to providing a definition is his remark that
"[a] recapitulation, because it represents the turning-back of a form onto itself, tends to
collapse one time into the recollection of another."30
John Daverio picks up Kinderman's thread. In addition to referencing Kinderman
and Tovey, he also cites both Wagner's description of Gotterdammerung as a
Wiederholung of the whole and his theories of the symphony, highlighting Wagner's
opinion that Beethoven made an error in composing the Leonore overture by allowing not
the dramatic arc of the work's program but rather an abstract symphonic form to govern
its composition. Although Daverio translates Wiederholung as repetition, in his very next
sentence, he immediately begins using "recapitulation" synonymously, asking the
question of whether Gotterdammerung can truly be heard as one.31
Daverio teases out three structural layers of recapitulation in Gotterdammerung.
On the first level are three shorter passages in each act which server to recapitulate
passages from earlier acts. Thus, he describes the Waltraute scene in Act I as
recapitulating the passages in Acts II and III oiDie Walkiire concerned with Wotan's
desire for das Ende; Alberich's appearance during Hagen's watch as recapitulating
Alberich's monologue upon being released in Scene 2 of Das Rheingold; and the scene
29
Ibid., 180 and 187 for the first instances of these terms, although they are found throughout the article.
30
Kinderman, "Gotterdammerung," 109.
31
John Daverio, "Brunnhilde's Immolation Scene and Wagner's 'Conquest of the Reprise," Journal of
MusicologicalResearch 11/1-2 (1991): 33.
26
leading up to Siegfried's death as recapitulating virtually the entirety of Siegfried. On a
second level, there are two passages which constitute a series of what he calls "centers of
attraction" of the previous dramas. By "center of attraction," he means points in which
the musical texture is focused on the presentation and/or development of the cycle's
motives. In contrast with the recapitulations of the first level, which recall longer
passages in the previous operas, second-level recapitulations draw together points which
had earlier appeared distantly from one another. Lastly, he considers the Immolation
Scene to be on the third level; significantly more compressed than a second-level
recapitulation, the Immolation Scene is a small-scale summation of the cycle in its
entirety.32
Although he acknowledges the architectural purpose that the dramatic text can
serve in delineating sections for analysis, Daverio focuses primarily on the musical
dimension to determine moments of recapitulationhis is not a theory of "dramatic
recapitulation." His rationale is that because the texts were written with the
foreknowledge of their musical setting, the structural landmarks of the text already
correspond to those of the music. This oversimplifies things somewhat, as there are
many situations throughout the Ring in which there is not only a conflict between the
dramatic situation and its musical expression, but often that conflict is entirely the point.
A famous example of this is the triumphant musical rhetoric of the fanfare at the end of
Das Rheingold that relies entirely on the complications of the dramatic story to
communicate its irony. Ultimately, Daverio's article does not go far beyond telling us
what we already know: some moments in the ring recollect music from earlier ones; and
Ibid., 41-3.
27
it certainly does not clarify why he adopts "recapitulation" to describe these events
instead of "repetition." These omissions are particularly surprising since he began the
essay with a nod toward Wagner's theories of the symphony, and therefore the
symphonic heritage of the term.
Joseph Jones uses the concept of recapitulation to explain the puzzling
discrepancies between the woodbird's song in Act II of Siegfried and Siegfried's retelling
of the song in Act III of Gotterdammerung. It has been noted, and often assumed to be a
result of a blunder or lack of attention to detail, that Siegfried's tale to Gunther and the
vassals is not accurate with respect to what the audience has already seen on stage. For
example, in Siegfried, the woodbird advises the hero to pay careful attention to Mime's
words, because the dragon's blood will reveal their true intentions. In Siegfried's version
of the tale, the woodbird advised him specifically that Mime intended to kill him.
Far from being an accidental oversight, Jones argues, altering the presentation of
the tale was actually part of Wagner's recapitulatory strategy. Jones provides a
reproduction of the manuscript of Wagner's poem for Siegfried showing that Wagner
initially copied the text of the poem from Gotterdammerung exactly, but changed his
mind and altered the ending. Jones's position very much recalls one of Tovey's
observations of sonata form: one of the characteristic features of a recapitulation is to
offer a "stereographic" perspective on the music. What might have been a simple half-
cadence in the exposition and thereby dismissed as an unimportant detail there, for
example, might in the recapitulation have enormous consequences, such as facilitating
the return to tonic at the end of the transition.33 Noting that the orchestration is only
28
slightly changed from Siegfriedto Gotterdammerung, Jones suggests that there is a
change in perspective, but it is offered not by the music, which might be the expected
parameter, but by the poetic text itself. Jones's approach demonstrates one subtle way
that the dramatic aspect of the work may participate in a recapitulation.34
This survey of seven writers' usages of the term recapitulation in reference to
passages in Wagner suggests that our understanding of it remains amorphous. Yet it also
highlights the long-standing precedent for using the term, which therefore demands a
close look. There is good reason not to expunge a term whose applicability has seemed
obvious to many writers provided that it can be shown to be valid. The first step toward
determining its validity in the realm of opera is coming to a thorough understanding of
the meaning of the term when it is used within the context of sonata study.
2. Recapitulation and Sonata Form
Theoretical writing on the form of first movements of sonatas was concurrent
with the genre's emergence, mostly taking the form of treatises on composition. Bathia
Churgin argues that early theories of sonata form tend to emphasize the bipartite,
harmonic structure whereas more recent accounts tend to highlight the tripartite, thematic
structure. Her impetus for translating Francesco Galeazzi's eighteenth-century discussion
of the sonata was because it is forward-looking in its treatment of both the harmonic
structure of the form as well as its treatment of contrasting themes.35 Galeazzi also
divides the sonata movement into two parts, since in practice (particularly in a movement
Joseph Jones, "The Woodbird's Song in Act III of Gotterdammerung: Recapitulatory Transformations of
the Simply Wondrous," unpublished manuscript, received May 14, 2008.
35
Bathia Churgin, "Francesco Galeazzi's Description (1796) of Sonata Form" Journal of the American
Musicological Society 21:2 (Summer, 1968), 182.
29
with repeats) the development and recapitulation merge to form one large section. Yet
his account of the two parts is governed not by an overall harmonic structure, though in
his description of the themes themselves he accounts for the typical key areas in which
they occur. Instead, his overall description of the form is focused on its thematic
structure:
The first part is usually composed of the following members: 1.

Introduction, 2. Principal Motive, 3. Second Motive, 4. Departure to the
most closely related keys, 5. Characteristic Passage or Intermediate
Passage, 6. Cadential Period, and 7. Coda. The second part is then
composed of these members: 1. Motive, 2. Modulation, 3. Reprise, 4.
Repetition of the Characteristic Passage, 5. Repetition of the Cadential
Period, and 6. Repetition of the Coda. 6
Where the "Principal Motive" would occur in the second part, Galeazzi uses the word
ripresa, and clarifies it later in the essay as being a repetition of the first motive of the
movement in the key in which it first occurred.37
Interestingly, Heinrich Koch's Versuch einer Anleitung zur Composition, written
from 1782-1793, treats the form of first movements of symphonies as the model and only
then extrapolates it to (solo) sonatas, duets, trios, quartets and concerti, all of which he
considers individually. Like Galeazzi's, Koch's theory also models the concept of the
sonata-allegro as being both binary and ternary in conception. The primary formal
division is understood as binary, with two large sections which may be repeated. The
first section contains one period while the second contains two, a description which
corresponds to our exposition-development-recapitulation structure; however, Koch does
not use any of these terms, nor does he label the sections with names at all. Even without
section labels, Koch's description rings familiar: he writes that the final period usually
Ibid., 190.
Ibid., 195.
30
begins with the opening theme in the main key of the movement followed by the second
half of the first period, which had initially appeared in the key of fifth scale-degree, now
transposed back to the main key bringing the movement to a close.
A. B. Marx is generally considered to have coined the term "Sonata Form" in Die
Lehre von der musikalischen Komposition. Volume 3, which appeared in 1845, contains
a narrative of formal evolution, beginning with simple period structures, moving through
rondos, sonatinas, and finally reaching sonata form, which he posits as a synthesis of the
cohesion of a sonatina movement with the richness of content of the rondo.39 Marx
breaks the form into three sections, and provides a thematic diagram 40
Part 1 Part 2 Part 3
HS SS G SZ HS SS G SZ
Marx continues to specify that, like Part 2 of the Sonatina form, Part 3 of the
Sonata form repeats the Seitensatz in tonic while in Part 1 it had appeared in the key of
the dominant.41 Although in the diagram Part 2 is left structurally undefined, Marx is
emphatic that if it is not entirely related to the themes of Part 1, it must be at least
primarily related to them, otherwise the sonata movement will lack necessary overall
unity, and he includes a lengthy account of the various ways that these themes may be
38
Heinrich Christoph Koch, Introductory Essay on Composition: The Mechanical Rules of Melody,
Sections 3 and 4, trans. Nancy Kovaleff Baker (Yale, 1983), 199-201.
39
A. B. Marx, Die Lehre von der musikalischen Komposition, vol. 3 (Leipzig : Breitkopf und Hartel, 1868),
220. For an English overview of the evolutionary account of the development of musical composition, see
Scott Burnham, "The Role of Sonata Form in A. B. Marx's Theory of Form" Journal of Music Theory 33:2
(Autumn, 1989), 247-71. In addition, note that on page 248, Burnham begins his article by contradicting
the assumption that Marx intended his treatise to provide a "textboox schema" for the form.
40
Marx, Die Lehre, 221. HS = Hauptsatz, or primary theme; SS = Seitensatz, or secondary theme; G =
Gang, or an incomplete, i.e. unresolving melody; and SZ = Schlusssatz, or closing theme. For detailed
English descriptions of these terms, see Burnham, "Role of Sonata Form," 6-13.
41
Ibid, 249.
31
composed-out. Marx's theory of Sonata form is primarily a thematic one, placing
emphasis on the tripartite division of the form and treats the harmonic structure as a
secondary feature. This is entirely in keeping with the very foundations of Marx's theory
of composition, which begins with the primacy of melody and only later derives its
harmonic underpinnings.43
At approximately the same time, estimated to be 1848, Carl Czerny wrote his
treatise, Die Schule der praktischen Tonsetzkunst oder vollstandiges Lehrbuch der
Composition. The treatise emphasizes the thematic aspects of sonata form, although it
discusses harmonic considerations as well. Czerny divides the form into two parts, the
first of which contains a primary theme and its amplification, a middle theme and its
continuation, and a closing theme, while the second part begins with a modulating
development of the themes from the first part and is followed once again by the primary
theme and the middle theme (which now appears in the original key).44
After outlining the thematic content of the movement, Czerny moves on to an
account of the most common modulations for a sonata, which are familiar: in a major
key, we expect the first part to modulate to the key of the dominant; while in a minor key
we expect the first part to modulate to the key of the relative major, or, secondarily, the
key of the minor dominant.45
Czerny wrote his treatise as a handbook for students of musical composition, and
he intends that they will begin by writing numerous model sonatas and, once the
42
Ibid., 225-248.
43
Burnham, "Role of Sonata Form," 249.
44
Carl Czemy, School ofPractical Composition, trans. John Bishop Vol. 1 (London: Robert Cocks & Co.,
1848), Reprinted by Da Capo Press, 1979, 33-4.
45
Ibid., 34.
32
techniques have been fully internalized, only begin to cultivate a personal style. In
addition to including a written analysis of a sonatina by Mozart, he also presents another
sonatina that he composed in imitation of the former. Therefore, although he begins his
discussion of the sonata with a list of necessary features, it is clear that those features
alone do not provide sufficient information for the composition of satisfactory sonatas. It
is only after study and modeling of numerous actual works that the composer will achieve
mastery of the form.46
As noted above, it is Donald Tovey's work that sets the groundwork for much of
the later English-language discourse on sonata form, particularly his usage of the terms
exposition, development, and recapitulation. His Encyclopaedia Britannica article on the
subject is entitled "Sonata Forms," and the usage of the plural has been noted by scholars,
with good reason: it stakes an immediate position against a monolithic conception of "a"
or "the" sonata form. After clarifying that there are many variations among sonata-
allegro movements in practice, he goes on to describe the archetypal form, which I cite at
length because his usage of recapitulation has important implications which will be
explored later in the chapter:
There is a first [theme] group in the tonic, followed by a transition to

another key, where there is a second group that usually ends with a neat
little cadence-theme. These groups constitute the exposition, which may
be repeated. Then follows the development, the function of which is to
put the previous materials into new lights, regrouping the figures into new
types of phrase, modulating freely, and settling, if at all, only in new keys.
Eventually a return is made to the tonic, and so to the recapitulation. This
recapitulates the exposition, but it gives the second group in the tonic, and
so completes the design. The development and recapitulation may be
repeated; a coda may follow the recapitulation.47
Ibid., 42-52.
Donald Francis Tovey, The Forms of Music (New York: Meridian Books: 1957), 214.
33
He emphasizes that the length of his description should not imply that it is
anything more than a cursory outline, since among the sonatas we might study in the
interest of determining a model formthose of Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoventhere is
great variance in actual practice. Indeed, he expresses his very distaste for the idea of a
prescriptive model of sonata form when he decries "the perky generalizations of text-
books by writers who regarded the great masters as dangerous, and who deduced their
rules from the uniform procedures of lesser composers."49 Thus, while Tovey finds a
general understanding of sonata form to be useful, the concept of a definitive model for it
is entirely foreign to Tovey's formulation of first movements. A formulaic approach to
the composition of sonatas might be appropriate for second-rate composers, but it cannot
describe the music written by those he really cares about.
Tovey's work highly influenced that of Charles Rosen. Even the title of his
monograph on the subject, Sonata Forms, echoes the title of Tovey's article. Sonata
Forms contains a detailed account of the structure of sonatas including possible
deviations. The account builds on a similar description which appeared in his earlier
book, The Classical Style50 and is significantly longer and more detailed due to the
inclusions of possible variations. Though lengthier than Tovey's description, the overall
structure is described in mostly the same way. Like Tovey, Rosen emphasizes that its
length and resemblance to a textbook model should not imply that he intends for it to be
one. The length of the description is mostly accounted for by the inclusion of the
Ibid., 215. It is ironic that many later descriptions of the form absolutely dwarf this passage, and yet also
carry a similar warning that they are not presumed to be exhaustive accounts of the form.
49
Ibid., 125.
50
See Charles Rosen, The Classical Style: Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, expanded edition (Norton, 1997),
30.
34
variable details, but bracketing those, the terrain is still very familiar: the exposition
includes the main themes of the movement, one in the tonic, one in the dominant, and
ends with closing themes. The development usually involves quick and unpredictable
changes of key and fragmentation of the themes from the exposition, and ends with a
retransition, which brings the tonality back to the tonic for the recapitulation. Finally,
the recapitulation repeats the themes of the exposition, but brings the second theme group
and the closing themes into tonic to allow the movement to cadence with tonal closure.51
In outlining this definition, Rosen, like Tovey, is cautious about the hazard of
presenting an overly rigid model which would imply a uniformity among sonata
movements which simply does not exist. Rosen's warning and reservations about
treating the form as a rigid model is subtly different than Tovey's. Whereas Tovey was
concerned that his account implied a much more universal approach to the form than that
actually taken by Classical-era composers in practice, Rosen's reservations stem not from
a sense that his model is inaccurate as a description of the actual music, but from a sense
that it might imply that composers treated the form as a "recipe," with all of the necessary
information that a composer would need to write a sonata from the ground up.52
Leonard Ratner's work on the sonata in the Classic period, written during the
intervening years between Tovey's and Rosen's, differs from their approaches in two
respects. Rather than deriving the principles of his theories wholly on the study of
Classical-era sonatas, he also derives many of his ideas from primary source-reading. As
a result, Ratner's theories on sonata form resemble those written in the 18th Century
because he is attempting to understand them as contemporary audiences and composers
51
Charles Rosen, Sonata Forms, (Norton, 1980), 1.
52
Rosen, The Classical Style, 31.
35
would have. Similar to Galeazzi and Koch, for example, he acknowledges a dual
principle to the form: a two-part harmonic structure (the rounded-binary) "interlocked"
with the three-part thematic structure (exposition-development-recapitulation).53 Yet
Ratner is primarily interested in the harmonic organization of the form, writing in the
early part of his career that "it cannot be said that the generating factor of sonata-form is
a fixed relationship of themes."54
Ratner is invested in the predominance of the two-part harmonic reading of sonata
form, and he even derives it from the principle of periodic phrase structure. Like a pair
of parallel phrases, both parts are closely related to one another, with the primary
difference being that the first ends in V (a structural half-cadence) while the second ends
in I (a structural perfect authentic cadence). This is particularly evident in his book
Harmony: Structure and Style, which foregoes specific discussion of sonata form and
simply folds discussion of it into a generalized theory of "Two-Reprise Form."55 The
generalized harmonic plan of the periodic reading of sonata form (and two-reprise forms
in general) can be expressed as:
I-V (III), X-I56
The harmonic, periodic reading takes precedence over the thematic one, which is
divisible into the three familiar parts based on how they treat the thematic material.
Ratner considers the harmonic reading to be "dynamic" as it is the polarity between I and
V that creates the tonal demand for resolution to I at the end of the movement, while the
Leonard G. Ratner, Classic Music: Expression, Form, and Style, (Schirmer, 1980), 221.
54
Leonard G. Ratner, "Harmonic Aspects of Classic Form," Journal of the American Musicological Society
II/3 (Fall, 1949): 160.
55
Leonard G. Ratner, "Two-reprise Form" in Harmony: Structure and Style (McGraw-Hill, 1962), 232-48.
56
Ratner, Classic Music, 218.
36
thematic reading is "static" as it is simply concerned with labeling themes. It is for this
reason that Ratner has emphasized that the resolution brought about at the end of a sonata
movement can only be in the realm of harmony. Without considering the tonal changes,
there is nothing in the thematic realm which could raise expectations for resolution.
Although Ratner's primary focus in his study of sonata form, the harmonic
construction, differs from Tovey and Rosen, who engage the thematic and harmonic
aspects of the form in a much more symbiotic manner, he nonetheless includes the same
warnings about reading the structure as a prescriptive model that composers would have
adopted. The similarities and variations among Classical-era sonata movements most
likely resulted from "paraphrase and parody" rather than reliance on an archetypal
model.59
It is the tendency to accompany a theoretical outline of sonata form with the
caveat that it should not be taken to be either prescriptive or comprehensive to which
James Hepokoski and Warren Darcy humorously refer as "The War against the
Textbooks,"60 at the beginning ofElements of Sonata Theory: "One prominent feature of
the study of the sonata form in recent decadesvery much in the wake of Tovey's
similar assertionshas been the repeated declaration that the 'textbook' view of sonata
form is inadequate to deal with the actual musical structures at hand."61
To a certain degree, Hepokoski and Darcy agree with that sentiment, arguing that
any account of Sonata form does not decree fixed rules for composition, but rather that it
57
Ibid., 220.
58
Ratner, "Harmonic Aspects of Classic Form," 161.
59
60
James Hepokoski and Warren Darcy, Elements of Sonata Theory: Norms, Types, and Deformations in
the Late-Eighteenth-Century Sonata (Oxford, 2006), 6.
37
represents the distillation and tabulation of sonata practice in aggregate. Yet, they are
less willing than other writers to completely dismiss a prescriptive theory of the sonata.
Although it is certainly true that brief, generalized descriptions of the form do not give an
accurate picture of the diversity of sonata practice, their project seeks to create a
systematic and comprehensive account of the many variations among all the specimens of
actual Classical-era sonatas. Thus, in a sense, Hepokoski and Darcy actually do intend to
outline a prescriptive, textbook-model theory of sonata form. Critical to their argument is
that they do not maintain the two-part/three-part model of the form, but instead argue that
the rounded-binary form found expression in five fundamentally different ways, and so
theirs is a theory of types: Type 1 describes sonatas without development; Type 2
sonatas are characterized by having what would by other authors be called the
recapitulation beginning not with P but with S. Type 3 describes "textbook sonatas";
Type 4 sonata-rondos; and Type 5 concerto forms. Their intention in labeling the
different forms only with numbers is to completely divorce their sonata theory from the
connotations of the ones that came before.63 This likely explains why the most normative
sonata form is enumerated third on the list even though the book begins with an overview
of that form that strongly resembles Ratner'sa rounded binary which is divisible into a
tripartite thematic structureeven if their terminology is new, as in referring to the
exposition, development, and recapitulation as "action-spaces."64
62
Ibid., 15.
63
Ibid., 344. P and S are their formalizations for what are elsewhere called "Primary Groups" and
"Secondary Groups," respectively.
64
Ibid., 16. While their attempt to level the ground among the various forms is appreciated, their effort
spent denying long-established hierarchical superiority to the Type 3 sonata through its label is radically
undermined by establishing its normativity so early in the book.
38
Yet if Ratner is concerned primarily with the binary aspect of the form,
Hepokoski and Darcy are most definitely concerned with the tripartite division. Instead
of reading the harmonic trajectory of the movements as being governed by a large-scale
period, Hepokoski and Darcy attribute to each action-space both harmonic and rhetorical
functions. The rhetorical purpose of the exposition is to present the groundwork of
thematic material to which the material of the other action spaces may be compared while
the harmonic purpose is to establish the home key and subsequently move away from it,
thereby raising expectations both for the return of the thematic material as well as the
initial tonic. In their words, the exposition represents a "structure of promise." The
development is governed by rhetorical and harmonic fluidity, which is to say that themes
from the exposition may appear in a myriad of ways, or may not appear at all, and they
are not tied to the order or harmonic approach used in the exposition. The development
not only immediately follows the large-scale structural half-cadence with which the
exposition ends, but actually prolongs the structural dissonance that occurs there.
Although they do not offer any terms to summarize the section as they do for the
recapitulation and exposition, we might suggest that they intend the development to be a
"structure of interruption." Finally, the harmonic purpose of the recapitulation is to
resolve the tonal departures in the exposition and the development by confirming the
governing thematic material and therefore is a "structure of accomplishment."65
Ibid., 16-9. The phrase "structure of interruption" recalls Schenkerian terminology which is very much
present in their argument. They argue that the end of the development is the key point at which the division
caused by a Schenkerian interruption would occur, and they explicitly contrast this placement with that
which is found in the typical two-part, harmonic division of sonata form that was common in the
Eighteenth century and finds a modern revival in Ratner's approach.
39
While such a taxonomic approach to the discussion of the Classical sonata might
imply that they believe composers maintained a similarly static approach to the form,
Hepokoski and Darcy argue that it is simply a means to an end; a necessary first step in
the process of articulating the cultural and historical placement of a musical practice is to
develop a workable understanding of the practice in question, even one that "seems
almost exclusively formalistic."66 So rather than maintaining a rigidly formal standpoint,
Hepokoski and Darcy position their formalism as a first step toward an understanding of
sonata form as a cultural touchstone. In writing a sonata, a composer engages with a
received tradition of customs and norms. The sonata does not need to rigidly conform to
those norms, but rather is set into a dialogue them.67 They therefore contend that the
strictness with which they approach analytic methodology should not be confused with a
strictness with which an eighteenth-century composer would have approached
composition. Textbooks are fine, they seem to be saying, as long as we do not assume
that composers read them.
3. The Valences of "Recapitulation"
This chapter began with the goal of exploring our theoretical understanding of the
concept of recapitulation. At present, no concrete, comprehensive theory of the
recapitulation exists. Although music scholars have a working understanding of the term,
problems arise because exponents of different theories often do not approach it with the
same set of associations and therefore argue past one another. For example, Hepokoski
and Darcy deride the practice of claiming that the recapitulation of Type 2 sonatas begins
66
Ibid., 603.
67
Ibid., 11.
40
with S on the grounds that it ignores important thematic issues in the sonata in favor of
purely harmonic ones.68 Their position is fundamentally at odds with the sort of
approach that Ratner would take, who is profoundly more interested in the dynamic
properties of the periodic structure of the sonata form than in the static activity of theme-
labeling. Lacking agreement on the very foundational principles of sonata form, it is
virtually impossible to imagine that much productive debate could arise between their
disagreements.
One fundamental misunderstanding stems from the generally unacknowledged
fact that "recapitulation" has a two-fold syntactical meaning. On the one hand, there is a
nominal valence which describes a static formal section, as in the phrase "the
recapitulation begins in m. 300 and ends at the beginning of the coda in m. 400." On the
other hand, there is a verbal valence, which describes a dynamic process, as in "the
melody appearing in m. 300 is a recapitulation of the primary theme." Fundamental to
my argument is the importance of the verbal valence, because it is that one, not the
nominal one, underlying the concept of dramatic recapitulation. It is this
misunderstanding or lack of acknowledge of the distinction between two which may be at
the root of theoretical disagreements over sonata form.
Galeazzi engaged both of these meanings by using different words. He used
ripresa to describe the nominal valence, and only used ricapitolare as a verb: "A most
beautiful artiface is [often practiced] here, and this is to recapitulate in the Coda the
Ibid., 354.
41
motive of the first part, or the Introduction, if there was one, or some other passage that is
both remarkable and well suited to end [with]..."
Recall that Marx derives Sonata form from Sonatina form, and Sonatina form
from small rondo forms (in modern parlance, Marx's "small rondos" would be called
"simple ternary forms"). The term that Marx uses to refer to the return of the Hauptsatz
after the intermediary Gang is Wiederholung.10 Wiederholung is itself a gerund, and
when he uses it, he is not referring to the section in which it appears, but the actual
reappearance of the thematic material of the Hauptsatz. Interestingly, in his account of
Sonata form, the term Wiederholung does not appear in connection with his description
of Part 3. The name for that section is "dritte Theil," and he simply names the
appearances of the themes in that section. Where he does use Wiederholung is in his
account of Part 2, to describe the ways in which the primary thematic material of the
form is stated there.71 Thus it is clear that Marx does not use the term to refer to a section
but rather to a musical process, thus, Wiederholung is entirely verbally valenced.
As noted about, Czerny compares the different parts of the sonata form to the
dramatic action of a novel or poem. He does not use the term Reprise or Wiederholung
as a section label, but his term that most closely approaches "recapitulation" is
Befriedigung. This word does not by itself carry implications of repetition, but only
refers to the closure that the movement attains. His actual wording reads "die
Wiederkehr des ersten Theils in der Grundtonart bewirkt endlich jene wohlthuende und
Churgin, "Francesco Galeazzi," 196.

Marx, Die Lehre, 101.
Ibid., 222.
42
klare Befriedigung, welche von jedem Kunstwerke mit Recht gefordert wird." It is
clear that neither Wiederkehr nor Befriedigung are intended to delineate sectional
divisions. The former refers to an action performed upon the original themes and the
latter describes the function and purpose of that action and thus are verbally valenced.
Tovey appears to exclusively engage the verbal valence when discussing
recapitulations, and therefore seems to think of the recapitulation as processive, rather
than structural. Looking once again at the above-cited description of sonata form, "a
return is made to the tonic, and so to the recapitulation. This recapitulates the exposition,
but it gives the second group in the tonic, and so completes the design." This formulation
suggests that in considering sonata form, the noun selected to describe the section is
derived from the verb describing its purpose, not the other way around. Notice, too, that
Tovey pulls the process of repeating the themesrecapitulating the expositionapart
from the harmonic structure of the section. This is consistent with his treatment of the
recapitulation of the 'Eroica.' For Tovey, "recapitulation" seems to refer primarily to the
process of repeating thematic material and only secondarily to the harmonic treatment of
that material.
Rosen, following Tovey, generally uses the term in its verbal sense as well,
although he occasionally uses the term in its nominal sense, as in his remark, "I use
'recapitulation' here to mean everything that follows the final reintroduction of the tonic,
including what is generally called a coda, if there is one."73 However, Rosen's prose
"The repetition of the first part in the original key finally brings the very pleasant and clear satisfaction
demanded of every proper artwork." Czerny, Die Schule, 29.
73
Rosen, The Classical Style, lAn. It is noteworthy that Rosen is comfortable with labeling the coda as part
of the recapitulation, while Kerman was compelled to introduce the term "thematic completion" in order to
avoid doing so.
43
tends much more toward a conception of the term as a process, as in his extended
definition referred to above and reproduced here: "The recapitulation starts with the
return of the first theme in the tonic. The rest of this section 'recapitulates' the exposition
as it was first played, except that the second group and closing theme appear in the tonic,
with the bridge passage suitably altered so that it no longer leads to the dominant but
prepares what follows in the tonic."74 Similarly, in The Classical Style, Rosen argues that
a piece lacking complete thematic resolution might find it elsewhere. Extracting from his
discussion of Haydn's Op. 64, No. 3 quartet: "The repeated four-measure phrase does
not, as I said, reappear in the recapitulation, but it does, however, reappear in its full form
in the development section, and on the tonic. This time the phrase is played twice in the
minor. In this way the theme is satisfactorily recapitulated."75 Thus, in this example, the
verb-function of recapitulation is fulfilled, even if its noun-function is not.
For Rosen, the dual-usage of recapitulation does not pose an enormous problem,
because Rosen's primary interest is not formal. Although recapitulation has a formal
meaning for Rosen, he is significantly more interested in the purpose it serves, which is
to bring the sonata movement to closure. He writes, "The principle of recapitulation as
resolution may be considered the most fundamental and radical innovation of the sonata
style."76 There is a fair amount of flexibility as to how the resolution may occur, but
critical to the rhetorical success of a sonata is bringing closure to both the harmonic and
Charles Rosen, Sonata Forms, (Norton, 1980), 1.

Ibid., 73.
Rosen, Sonata Forms, 272.
44
thematic material of the exposition, in other words, repeating the themes so that they both
end conclusively in tonic.
What Rosen's theory of overall sonata structure points to is a generalized concept
of consonance and dissonance. On a deep structural level, Rosen considers the
appearance of the second theme group in the key of the dominant to be dissonant with
respect to the overall key of the movement and the dissonance demands resolution to the
tonic, which occurs in the recapitulation of a normative sonata form. In another passage
articulating classical sonata form's historical contingency, Rosen writes, "The real
distinction between the sonata forms and the earlier forms of the Baroque is this new and
radically heightened conception of dissonance, raised from the level of the interval and
the phrase to that of the whole structure.
In contrast to Tovey and Rosen, Hepokoski and Darcy are firmly committed to the
nominal valence of recapitulation, and this is evident from the very beginning of the
chapter concerned with it It begins with the question: "What Qualifies as a
Recapitulation?" and they provide the following answer:
[T]he recapitulation provides another complete rotation through the

action-zone layout initially set forth in the exposition (P TR ' S / C). We
refer to this restatement of the layout as the recapitulatory rotation. Its
expanse begins with the layout's first module (P1) and continues until the
last one has been sounded. Anything following this is rhetorical coda-
space. ... The designation recapitulatory space is especially appropriate
when dealing with non-normative complete rotations whose outer
boundaries do not coincide with the customary (tonic) expectations of
more standard recapitulations.
On the other hand, if we confront what we at first presume is a

recapitulation that begins significantly after the P1 module (and especially
after the first TR-module), thereby producing a space that seems to omit
Ibid., 150.
Ibid., 25.
45
the early portions of the rotation, we should not label that space as a
recapitulation at all. ... A 'recapitulation' cannot begin with a TR1'2 or S-
module. To assume that one can leads to such erroneous concepts as
'partial,' 'incomplete,' or 'reversed' ('mirror') recapitulations, which are
definitional contradictions to be avoided.79
Hepokoski and Darcy's taxonomic language tends strongly toward words like
"module," "space," and "zone." These are sectional designations and give the impression
of sonata form as an ordered set of self-contained chunks of music. While the end of a
Type 2 sonata can be a resolution of the movement's thematic material, for Hepokoski
and Darcy it cannot be a recapitulation, and nowhere in their language is there room for
the possibility that it might recapitulate them nonetheless.
Ratner, whose work is primarily a history of the theory of form, also seems to
assume the nominal valence when using the term, such as when he writes, "The
recapitulation ... secures the unity of the form by a broad and final confirmation of the
tonic and by recall and rhyme of the melodic material of part I."80 What distinguishes
Ratner, however, is that he is less interested in the thematic return at the end of a sonata
movement than the harmonic return, whereas "recapitulation" implies both a harmonic
return and a thematic one. Because he positions the form within an expanded theory of
period structure, he uses "sonata form" and its component parts, "exposition,
development, and recapitulation" simply as conventional labels.81 In fact, he is so
committed to the harmonic process of the binary form that his entire account of the
sonata as a particularized example of a two-reprise form never even uses the word
Hepokoski and Darcy, 231-2. This point is emphatically reiterated on pages 353-4.
0
1
Ratner, Music: The Listener's Art (McGraw-Hill, 1957), 191-4.
46
"recapitulation."82 Thus, while in a literal sense, Ratner's usage is nominal and not
verbal, it is irrelevant because his theory is primarily concerned with the dynamic process
of harmonic resolution, and only secondarily with thematic structure. One might
therefore say his theory is verbally-valenced, even if his language is not.
Figure 2.1 is an abstraction of the four generalized conceptual approaches that a
theorist might take to understanding "recapitulation," with the organizational axis
governed by theme vs. harmony and the linguistic axis governed by verbal vs. nominal,
on which the theorists studied here are plotted relative to one another. Although Czerny
and Koch do not use appear "recapitulation" per se, their description of the form clearly
treats the repetition of the exposition material as part of a process and not a structure.
Two-Part
Ratner
Gateazzi
Nominal -<- > verbal

Koch
Rosen
Tovey
Czerny
Hepokoskiand Y
Darcy
Three-Part
Figure 2.1 Plotting theoretical approaches in "sonata-form space"
82
Ratner, "Two-reprise Form," 232-48.
47
Galeazzi appears on an axis because he uses two different words to describe the repetition
itself and the section in which it appears. Ratner, although he sometimes discusses sonata
movements in terms of the tripartite division into exposition, development, and
recapitulation, is placed in the upper half because for him, the dynamic harmonic
processes of the form are paramout. Conversely, and although they are comfortable
deriving sonata form from a generic rounded binary model, Hepokoski and Darcy are
fully committed to the primacy of the thematic content of the form, specifically how
themes are used to fill the three action spaces, and so they appear on the lower half of the
diagram.
One thing that becomes immediately obvious when looking at the chart is that it
that none of the theorists fit firmly in the upper-right quadrant. It is often the case, but
not exclusively so, that bipartite models of the form are concerned with the harmonic
structure (as in the case of Ratner) while the tripartite model is concerned with thematic
content. It is difficult to imagine a theoretical position which would interpret a passage to
be a verbally-valenced recapitulation only because it cadenced in tonic but was
thematically unrelated to a corresponding cadence in dominant. Conversely, it is much
easier to imagine a nominally-valenced recapitulation which, as a section, is concerned
primarily with the resolution of the movement's large-scale harmonic pattern.
Tovey's position in the lower-right quadrant remains in force even when he is
speaking of Wagnerian recapitulation (although the labels "Three-Part" and "Two-Part"
no longer apply). It is the same quadrant occupied by Abbate, Kinderman, Kerman,
Daverio, and even Wagner himself when the idea of "recapitulation" is applied to his
48
music. These writers do not, and could not, be referring to static formal structures, but
rather to dynamic processes, which, through repetition (or return) bring resolution and
closure to musical and dramatic themes.
While it is possible to consider "recapitulation" as a noun describing a static
structure or section, more flexibility is offered by thinking of it as describing an action.
Therefore, with the intent of using the term in an operatic, non-sonata-oriented genre, we
might formulate a definition of recapitulation as "the process by which musical materials
are restated to afford them closure." But while this formulation releases the term from the
confines of sonata form, it does not yet address the problem of applying it to dramatic
structures. Although conceptualizing it as a verb, "to recapitulate," dissolves to a great
extent the overwhelming musical connotations to the word and frees it from many of the
expectations of sonata form, dramatic events are not developed and advanced in exactly
the same way as musical ones. It is not clear that the term has freed itself enough from
the musical implications to be useful or is even appropriate to use to describe dramatic
events. One fundamental objection might be that unlike music, dramatic texts rarely
contain long stretches of exact repetition; the Liebestod, for example, only repeats the
musical content of the love duet, and does not reflect a large-scale repetition of the
dramatic events from Act II. Do we not fundamentally expect dramatic events to change
over time? If we do decide that an opera can have a dramatic recapitulation, does this
imply that there need to be corresponding expositions and developments in these works?
The fact that the lower-right quadrant of Figure 2.1 places a priority on the
resolution of themes over resolution of harmonic structure weakens some of the possible
49
objections to the application of "recapitulation" to operatic music. This is precisely
Tovey's point when he writes of the 'Eroica':
Anybody inclined to cavil at the exact recapitulation of no less than one

hundred bars comprising the transition and second group may be surprised
to leam that this is, by the clock, precisely the same length as Isolde's
Liebestod, and that in the Liebestod Wagner exactly recapitulates, without
transposition, the last movement of the love-duet in the previous act.
Recapitulation is as inveterate in musical form as symmetry is in
architecture; and nobody understood this better than the first and most
uncompromising realist in the application of music to drama.
So too does the snag of demanding proper resolution to I in a bitonal texture dissipate as
long as there is sufficient thematic resolution and the tongue-in-cheek objection that a
"dramatic recapitulation" ought to repeat dramatic events "in tonic" evaporates
completely. It is in this respect that demanding too close an affinity between artworks of
different media proves to be short-sighted. A dramatic text might not recapitulate in the
manner we would expect a musical one to. The remainder of this chapter will explore the
long-standing discourse of the relationship between music and drama. Then, it will turn
to the concept of dramatic recapitulation specifically, to determine the processes of
musical and dramatic closure at work in Wagner's music dramas and how they interact.
4. The Relationship between Music and Drama
We might begin with a question: "Is music dramatic?" From the standpoint of
music scholarship, the short answer is decidedly "yes," or at the very least "it can be." A
particularly noteworthy element of Czerny's work is that he presents a characterization of
the different parts of the movement as they might be related to dramatic forms. A novel
might begin with "an exposition of the principal idea and of the different characters, then
83
50
the protracted complication of events, and lastly the surprising catastrophe and the
satisfactory conclusion." The unified sonata movement is similar, and begins with an
Exposition, is followed by a complication (Verwicklung) and the repetition of the
beginning themes in the third part brings the movement satisfaction (Befriedigung).
For Tovey, the Classical period was specifically defined by the dramatic quality
of the music. He considers Gluck, both for his approaches to orchestration as well as his
operatic reforms, to be the catalyst of change from the ornate play of pattern
characteristic of the Baroque era.85 Drama became the overriding factor in virtually every
parameter of music. Harmonic structure in the classical period traded in the intellectual
complexity of music of the previous generation for dramatic significance. He compares
the long preparation and prolongation of the dominant, as might occur at the end of a
rondo episode anticipating the return of the primary theme, with the introduction and
arrival of a key character in a drama.86 He argues that it was the introduction in the
Classical era of dramatic effects in masses, such as Beethoven's second, which brought
them out of the church and into the concert hall. Tovey unquestionably conceives of the
Classical sonata as a dramatic genre, and this is evidenced by the frequency with which
he uses phrases such as "the dramatic sonata style" and "the sonata style of Haydn and
Mozart irrevocably brought the dramatic element into music."88
Czerny, 34. See also the original German: Die Schule derpraktischen Tonsetzkunst oder vollstdndiges
Lehrbuch der Composition, Vol. 1 (Bonn, N. Simrock, 71849), 29. It is a curiosity that scholars' best
estimate for the date of publication of the original German edition is one or two years later than the
publication date of the English translation, which was 1848.
85
Tovey, The Forms of Music, 77-8 and 124.
86
Ibid., 59.
87
Ibid., 87.
88
Ibid., 15, 6. Examples of this usage abound throughout The Forms of Music, such as the top of pg. 130.
51
Rosen concurs fully and in many ways fleshes out the metaphor. He writes in a
passage very reminiscent of Tovey that the Classical style began when "Haydn and
Mozart, separately and together, created a style in which a dramatic effect seemed at once
surprising and logically motivated, in which the expressive and the elegant could join
hands."89 One way in which Rosen's account differs from that of Tovey is that he
presents a narrative wherein drama develops out of tendencies and characteristics already
latent in earlier music. While Baroque music could adorn itself with the trappings of
dramatic feeling, it was the move toward symmetry in the Rococo style which carved a
space for the dramatic aspects of the music to occupy and allowed it to be infused with
dramatic energy.90
This narrative, wherein static expression of Baroque styles gives way to a sense of
dramatic action in Classical styles, is evident throughout both The Classical Style and
Sonata Forms. He compares the "static" design of ternary form giving way to "a more
dramatic structure, in which exposition, contrast, and reexposition function as opposition,
intensification, and resolution."91 Similarly, "The advantage of the sonata forms over
earlier musical forms might be termed a dramatized clarity" which does not need words
to be expressed. For Rosen, the recapitulation itself is a "dramatic reinterpretation of the
exposition," which replaces the decorative ornaments of a Baroque or Rococo aesthetic
by serving their function of changing the expressive meaning of the underlying melody.93
Rosen, The Classic Style, 44.

Ibid., 43.
Ibid., 12.
Rosen, The Classical Style, 100-1.
52
Hepokoski and Darcy certainly address the dramatic qualities of the sonata form
in their writing. In fact, their stated criteria for a successful analysis is "one that seeks to
reawaken or re-energize the latent drama, power, wit, and wonder within individual
compositions."94 At their most general, they discuss the goal-oriented motion of the
form, whereby the recapitulation provides the closure toward which the entire structure is
oriented.95 They admit in their theory both a belief that the late-Eighteenth century
sonata is characterized by drama, and the plausibility of understanding the form as
engaging a type of narrative, even describing it as a "dramatized musical activity."96
Fred Maus has provided a precis of the theoretical discourse of the dramatic
possibilities of music in his article "Music as Drama," mentioning both Schoenberg's
conception of pitches and harmonies as having "agency" and Tovey's position on the
matter which we explored above. His article takes the form of an analytical narrative as
and tells the story of an emotional response to the expressively dramatic elements of
Beethoven's String Quartet, Op. 95.97
Crucially, if the rise of the sonata is the rise of dramatic music, then the idea of a
recapitulation was never foreign to drama at all, and to suggest that applying such a
musical term to a dramatic structure is wrongheaded misses the point that musical
practice has for a long time been related to the concept of drama. In fact, Tovey actually
connects the rise of the sonata form with the fundamental change of opera that occurred
in the Classical period, arguing that the rise of the sonata forms created the very
Ibid., 11-2.
Ibid., 232.
Ibid., 250-1.
Fred Everett Maus, "Music as Drama," Music Theory Spectrum 10 (Spring, 1988), 56-73.
53
possibility for Gluck's reform of opera. Specifically, Tovey reads a close kinship
between the workings of sonata form and what Wagner set out to do with music drama.
He argues that sonata form itself was unable to lengthen the time-scale of musical
expression, so a complete sonata might consist of several movements, each of which
would be about ten minutes long. The ten-minute limitation also implied a limitation on
emotional content of the work that might feasibly be explored. It was Wagner who, by
creating the music-drama, created a work with a time-scale that could match the deep
emotional content of drama which music could not otherwise attain."
The connection between sonata form and opera brings us to a point where it is
worthwhile to consider Wagner's own positions on the role of drama in music, because
he spends much time expounding upon the dramatic potential of Beethoven in his
symphonic writing and considers the extent to which the structural expectations of the
form limited that dramatic potential. As a preliminary, it is important to note that
Wagner's theories cannot be relied upon to give a thorough window into his
compositional practice. Not only are there contradictions among his different theoretical
treatises, but there even seem to be contradictions between his theories about how to
compose and his actual compositions. Wagner addresses this point in "A
Communication with My Friends," arguing that his ideas have changed and evolved over
time, and therefore the critics who deride him for inconsistency are misunderstanding
(either intentionally or not) the nature of what he is trying to communicate. It is for this
reason that the essay is addressed to his "Friends," defined as those who are willing to
Ibid., 208.
Ibid., 130.
54
make the effort to understand and appreciate what he has attempted to do with his art, as
distinct from the critics, who are simply out for blood.100
If Wagner's theories are not wholly consistent either with each other or his art,
then what is the value of studying them? Literary theory does not place a priority on
authorial intention in criticizing works of art. Nonetheless, we may treat Wagner's
theories as one of many conflicting or complementary frameworks for understanding the
Ring. The fact that we cannot derive a complete reading from his theories or intentions
alone does not negate the fact that it is useful to have a sense for how Wagner conceived
of the process of creation. Specifically, Wagner's understanding of the relationship
between his music and his poetry is enormously consequential with regard to the actual
composition of both.
In theorizing about what constitutes the ideal art, Wagner begins by describing the
Greek drama as its last golden age. When Wagner uses the term "Drama" he does so
meaning something distinctly different from "theater" or "play." For Wagner, Drama is a
unified art form, as it was in ancient Greece, which brings together poetry and music.
Drama is a profoundly public and universal art, as it constituted an expression of the
consciousness of the Greek populace and was freely accessible to that same public. After
the Greeks, Drama declined and was divided into its constituent parts, each of which was
treated as an independent medium of art. Whereas there had once been a unified Drama,
now theater can be divided into "play" and "opera," where the former bars music from
the stage, while the latter bars poetry, but merely uses text to serve as a vehicle for the
100
Richard Wagner, "A Communication to My Friends" (1851), in Richard Wagner's Prose Works, Vol. 1,
trans. William Ashton Ellis, 2d edition (London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co., Ltd, 1895), 270. All
English translations of Wagner are by Ellis, and will henceforth be identified by year of initial publication,
volume and page number.
55
music. Furthermore, the works no longer speak for, or to, the public. Rather, both plays
and operas are written as entertaining trifles for the upper class. They thereby lose their
claim to the status of art and are considered to be mere handiworks.101
Wagner's intention for art, his "Art-work for the Future," is that it should return to
the Greek ideals for Drama, a reunification of poetry and music not in the sense of
contemporaneous opera, which errs insofar as, "a Means of expression (Music) has been
made the end, while the End of expression (the Drama) has been made a means...."
The problem may be fixed by recognizing that music is only capable of communicating
Feeling but that it cannot communicate the cause of the Feeling, only the poetry may do
that. The ideal drama will utilize both music and poetry in service of what they are
already most adept at, with the poetry providing the object of study with the music
providing emotional commentary on the object. Wagner insists that by doing so, Drama
can once again be realized, and may once again rise above handiwork and become Art as
it was intended. "Who," Wagner asks, "will be the Artist of the Future? The Poet? The
Performer? The Musician? The Plastician?Let us say it in one word: the Folk. That
selfsame Folk to whom we owe the only genuine Artwork, still living even in our modern
memory, however much distorted by our restorations; to whom alone we owe all Art
itself"103
101
Richard Wagner, "Art and Revolution" (1849), Vol. 1,43-8.
102
Richard Wagner, "Opera and Drama" (1851), Vol. 2, 17.
103
Richard Wagner, "Art-Work of the Future" (1851), Vol. 1,204-5. The importance of das Volk is
underscored in his anxieties about Tannhauser. He wanted to make his artistic intentions clear to the public
so that they would join him in demanding their proper realization by the opera performers. Yet the
spectator was accustomed to a much more passive role, wanting nothing more from a performance than his
or her own entertainment. Thus he finds himself in a precarious situation: needing to convince the public
that what they really want is different than one they think they want and finds his words being received as
those of a madman. See "A Communication to My Friends" (1851), Vol. 1, 337-8.
56
A common narrative in many of Wagner's writings is a claim that in his youth he
was primarily interested in poetry and theater, having been heavily influenced by Goethe,
and only secondarily interested in music. In his studies, he had learned the various forms
in which instrumental music is usually written, but theater was his first love, and his early
plays were either entirely spoken, or, if they incorporated music at all, the music was
written concurrently with the poetry. It was only later in his life that he came to a greater
appreciation of music.104 It would be hard to verify conclusively the historical accuracy
of his account of his youthful artistic engagements, but that consideration is ultimately
less important and less interesting than the implications that the biography has on his
aesthetic ideas. Indeed, the progression from poet to musician, which is implicit in that
account, recurs in his account of his progression from opera composer in Rienzi to music-
dramatist in the Ring. Wagner explains that his initial experiences with music were
similar to someone learning a foreign language. At first, the speaker is extremely
conscious of each word that they speak, and over time he or she begins to acquire
familiarity with certain formulas and idioms. After an extended period of time speaking
the language, however, he or she no longer needs to think about the words they are using,
but they come naturally as the person communicates their ideas. Thus, his initial attempts
at operaDie Feen, Das Liebesverbot, and Rienzi, were composed as a person speaking
a foreign language, with careful attention paid to convention and operatic formulae. It
was with Der fliegende Hollander that Wagner for the first time believed himself to be a
poet. When he attained the status of poet, suddenly he found he had gained fluency in
music, so that he could express himself musically without needing to be think through or
104
This narrative appears in "A Communication to My Friends," 29Iff. and again in "Zukunftsmusik,"
303ff.
57
be overly conscious of its grammar. Paradoxically, Wagner realized that music was the
language through which his poetry could be best expressed.105 It is not coincidental that
after explaining this progression from poet to musician that Wagner turns to a discussion
of his plans for Die Meistersinger von Nurnburg. Although he would not begin his
composition of the poetry or the music for many years after publishing "A
Communication to my Friends," the dramatic sketch that appears therein almost entirely
corresponds to the eventual plot. At the center of the dramatic sketch is the singing
contest. Beckmesser, having stolen the poetry of Walther's song, is nonetheless unable to
find the appropriate musical setting for the words, which is subsequently sung by
Walther. Once again, the poetry is written first and only afterwards is the music
composed. Furthermore, the sketch makes it clear that the poetry requires an appropriate,
masterful musical setting to succeed. The point is that Beckmesser fails not because he
gets the words wrong (which he does, to great comedic effect), but because he would not
be able to compose a fitting tune even if he had gotten them right.
The music drama fixes the problem of opera whereby the librettos were treated as
empty vehicles for the presentation of the aria tune. Indeed, the opera composer is at
liberty to break apart, refigure, and repeat portions of the libretto at will in order to fit the
needs of the melody and its structure, such as in a typical da capo aria, for example.106
By contrast, in the music drama once the poetry is settled upon, it is treated as fixed and it
is therefore the job of the composer to find the appropriate musical expression for the
poem. It would seem to follow that because the poetry enjoys both a temporal and
Wagner makes this point in several places. See "A Communication to My Friends" (1851), Vol. 1, 365;
and throughout "Beethoven" (1870), Vol. 5, such as pp. 62-3,104, and 122-3.
106
Richard Wagner, "On Operatic Poetry and Composition" (1879), Vol. 6,154.
58
hierarchical priority over the music, the music must be considered subservient to and
therefore inferior to the poetry, but Wagner's position is more complicated than that.
In fact, he has elsewhere argued that vocal music has made it clear that because a
multitude of poetic texts can be set to a single melody (as in a strophic song), "[t]he
Union of Music and Poetry must... always end in such a subordination of the latter that
we can only wonder above all at our great German poets returning again and again to the
problem, to say nothing of the attempt."107 Consider, too, that Wagner's term for the
artwork of the future is "music drama" and not "music poetry." It is an important
distinction because the drama refers not to the poetic text which is set to the music, but
the actual performance itself. Music drama does not mean "a drama set to music," but
something more like "the enacting of drama through music."108 While it is clear that the
poetry contributes to the drama, insofar as it provides the framework for the action, it is
decidedly not the relationship between the music and the poetry which primarily interests
Wagner, but that between the music and the drama.109
Yet this formulation creates theoretical as well as practical problems. The
position that the drama is born from a union of the music and the poetry does not mesh
with the more idealistic claim that "it is not the verses of a text-writer ... that can
determine Music. Drama alone can do that; and not the dramatic poem, but the drama
that moves before our very eyes, the visible counterpart of Music, where word and speech
107
Richard Wagner, "Beethoven" (1870), Vol. 5, 104.
108
Richard Wagner, "On the Name 'Musikdrama'" (1872), Vol. 5,299-302.
109
In this essay, Wagner repeats the metaphor of music as a woman from whose womb the drama is born.
He also explores this idea at length in "Opera and Drama," revealing that the paternity of the drama is the
poem. It is a colorful and provocative metaphor indeed. Given that Wagner spends the bulk of his
theoretical writing on the drama and the music but not the poetry, I am inclined to extend the metaphor
somewhat and imagine the poetry as something of a dead-beat dad, who skips town after hearing the results
of his DNA test on some form of aesthetic Jerry Springer show.
59
belong no more to the poet's thought, but solely to the action."110 From a practical
consideration, it is hard to imagine what, if not the poetic text, could determine the action
of a drama at any given moment such that a fitting musical expression could be
composed.
And yet the alternate formulation is also problematic: the idea that the musical
texture depends wholly on the Feeling that needs to be expressed with the words, the idea
that the melody takes its cue from the text alone. If we wish to consider the Liebestod as
any form of recapitulation, as we have at the beginning of this chapter, this formulation
might lead us to the uncomfortable conclusion that the long stretch of repeated music
from Act II is a result of the two different texts coincidentally implying the same musical
expression. On the other hand, it is much more reasonable to imagine that the dramatic
situation at the end of Tristan und Isolde called for a repetition of the music from Act II.
In practice, there is a much more nuanced interrelationship between the text, the music,
and the dramatic situation that unfolds in Wagner's scores than appears in his theorizing.
There are occasions when the text of the poetry implies particular forms of musical
realization; there are times when the dramatic situation of a scene implies both the poetry
and its musical realization. There are also occasions, though they seem to be rarer, when
the music implies the text or the dramatic situation, yet this does occur. Both the Prelude
to Act III of Tristan und Isolde as well as parts of the love duet in Act II first appeared as
two of the Wesendonk Lieder, implying that the music cannot be wholly understood as a
spontaneous outpouring of the Feeling latent in either the drama or the text of Tristan.
This is also the case with the appearance of the utterly unrelated music of the Siegfried
Richard Wagner, "Beethoven" (1870), Vol. 5,112.
60
Idyll in Act III of Siegfried. The simplest and thus most likely explanationthat
Wagner's approach to writing his operas was a much more fluid process than his
theorizing would suggestis borne out by Robert Bailey's detailed studies of the
compositional sketches and drafts.111
As Abbate has argued, the question of whether Wagner's artworks are
"symphonic" is difficult to answer. To a great extent, this is because Wagner's own idea
of what "symphonic" means developed and changed over time. On the one hand,
Wagner argues that the typical symphony movement is an elaboration and development
of a dance form.112 His major complaint about the Leonora overture is not that is
programmatic, but that the constraints of the symphonic movement, which demanded
repetition, clashed with the needs of the program's dramatic development. Given the
conflicting needs of the idea and the form, Wagner considers it a weakness that
Beethoven sacrificed the former for the latter. To fix the problem would mean
abandoning repetition and thereby inventing a new form. That form is whatever is
demanded by the subject for its portrayal and development. In short: it means writing
program music.113 As a close friend, Wagner had a personal interest in praising Franz
Liszt's symphonic poems, but he had a professional one as well: because Liszt's music
functions as an expression of the dramatic action of the program, it is not far removed at
111
Robert Bailey, The Genesis of Tristan und Isolde: and a Study of Wagner's Sketches and Drafts for the
First Act, Ph.D. dissertation (Princeton University, 1969): 11-2. Bailey observes that for the most part, the
composition of the poems long preceded the composition of the music, yet that it was fair to say that
Wagner's initial conception of the works often involved both a particular dramatic situation and a possible
type of musical setting.
112
As one of many places where Wagner makes this argument, see "On the Application of Music to the
Drama" (1879), Vol. 6,176.
113
Richard Wagner, "On Franz Listz's Symphonic Poems" (1857), Vol. 3,234-6.
61
all from Wagner's project of writing texted music which accomplishes the same goal,
possibly quite closer than Kerman's argument would suggest.
Wagner would later return to the matter of the dramatic potential of the
symphony. He begins from the same point: the symphony is derived from the dance
forms, but also argues that traditional opera also derives its formal organization from
dance forms, which explains the similarity between a da capo aria and a minuet and trio,
for example. In an otherwise abstract sonata form movement, dance forms function
reasonably well, but they falter when they are implemented in opera, which purports to
carry a poetic text rather than focus on musical development. Bringing the symphonic
technique to opera would thus require that the poetic text be constructed in advance with
the intention of fitting it to a symphonic form, which is why Beethoven was more
successful in the realm of choral music than opera.
"Yet," Wagner continues, "there must remain open the possibility of obtaining in
the dramatic poem itself a poetic counterpart to the Symphonic form, which, while
completely filling out that ample form, should at like time answer best the inmost statutes
of dramatic form." How might this work? Since the symphony is an elaboration of a
dance form, Wagner posits that the expression of the ideal dance is the role of the ideal
symphony. By further positing that the ideal dance is Drama, Wagner can conclude that
the ideal symphony is therefore the music drama.114
We arrive at more or less the point at which we began: Wagner's compositional
practice does not always follow his theoretical frameworks, and his theoretical
perspectives developed and changed over time anyway. It is not the intention of this
Richard Wagner, "Zukunftsmusik" (1861), Vol. 3, 333-7.
62
exegesis to function as an apologetics for the consistency between Wagner's theories and
his music. Rather, it is sufficient to have explored whether Wagner invites us to compare
his compositional practice with the symphony as well as whether he believed that
symphonic musicboth Beethoven's symphonies as well as Liszt's symphonic poems
could be described as dramatic. In both cases, the answer would seem to overwhelmingly
be "yes."
The notion of sonata form as dramatic is ubiquitous and is relevant in both
directions. Not only have many of the writers explored in this chapter either used sonata
models as a basis for discussion of Wagnerian operas or else appealed to drama to
explain the dynamic qualities of sonata form, but Wagner himself draws the comparison
to explain the relationship of his work to Beethoven's. Although Rosen's account of
sonata form contrasts very sharply with Hepokoski and Darcy's, they share a belief that
the form is a dramatic one, and this commonality may be sublimated onto a single word
that both of their theories adopt: denoument. For Rosen, sonata form is "a closed form,
without the static frame of ternary form; it has dynamic closure analogous to the
denouement of eighteenth-century drama, in which everything is resolved, all loose ends
are tied up, and the work rounded off."115 Hepokoski and Darcy posit that sonata form
"dramatizes a purely musical plot," one that has very much in common with a
Schenkerian middleground or foreground, which "is generically expected to lead to a
characteristic, foreordained denouement."116
Denouement might be described as the term corresponding to "recapitulation" in
the study of drama, because both terms refer to activity toward the end of their respective
115
116
Hepokoski and Darcy, 251.
63
works that brings resolution to what has occurred before. Similarly, speaking of a
"musical denouement" relies on the same distortion and metaphorical treatment of the
term as does "dramatic recapitulation." It is worth comparing the structure of a sonata
form to the "pyramidal structure" of drama, developed by Gustav Freytag at about the
same time Wagner was completing The Ring. Freytag's work is inspired by Lessing's
Hamburg Dramaturgiea work which was also read and admired by Wagner. Both
Freytag's and Lessing's dramatic theories are rooted in Aristotle's Poetics. Of interest
here is Freytag's retiming of Aristotle's attumbration of drama's formal design: it consists
of an exposition, a rising action, a climax, a falling action, and a denouement. The
exposition introduces the setting for the drama; the rising action builds tension toward the
climax, which is the emotional high point and where the peripeteia, or reversal, occurs;
then the falling action functions as a "return" and unravels the tension, leading to the
denouement, where the drama finds closure.
If Rosen's theory of sonata form "points to a generalized concept of consonance
and dissonance," as observed above, then that concept can be even further generalized to
describe "dramatic dissonance," or the emotional intensity of a drama as it approaches
and reaches the peripeteia, and "dramatic consonance," or the satisfactory sense of
closure when the complications are resolved Although the means are different, there is
therefore a striking correlation between the functions of the various parts of the sonata
form and Freytag's schema of dramatic form. Example 2.2 is a mapping of the two
structures as being derived from a more generalized structure of tension and release.
By mapping the two structures from a more generalized form, this model avoids the
117
Marvin Carlson, Theories of the Theatre: A Historical and Critical Survey, from the Greeks to the
Present, (Cornell, 1984), 258.
64
Climax (HighestTension)
Resolution
Development
Unresolved themes,
Climax (Peripeteia) Fluid harmonic structure
Exposition Denouement Exposition Second themes

First themes in home key.
Figure 2.2 Freytag's Pyramid of Dramatic Structure and its Musical Counterpart
hazard of implying a priority or hierarchical superiority to either art form, but it also
highlights the fact that as media which are experienced temporally, both music and drama
rely on related organizational strategies at the most abstract level. As a result, dramatic
recapitulation can be understood as a process by which the denouement of a drama is
treated as roughly isomorphic with the recapitulation of a sonata and in the case of the
music drama engages both of these functions simultaneously. This formulation applies in
both a literal sense and an abstract sense. Although a drama generally has one
denouement and a sonata one recapitulation, the formulation can apply abstractly to a
myriad of moments which both recall musical and dramatic themes and bring them to
closure. What we stand to gain from such a formulation is twofold. First, it

65
acknowledges the fact that the two media are not entirely distinct from one anothernot
just in the Wagnerian sense that their origins stemmed from one unified work of art but in
the more general sense that their overall trajectories are similar enough that numerous
theorists of both have not hesitated or even questioned whether "recapitulation" can apply
to drama or "denouement" can apply to music. Second, it frees the theorist from
objections stemming from a literal interpretation of either term because it allows the
musical and dramatic processes to be understood and interpreted within their own their
own contextual paradigms.
Having now provided a framework for theorizing about the existence, role, and
function of the "dramatic recapitulation," it is now time to turn to the Ring itself. While
many theorists of Wagner have explored recapitulations as backward-looking features of
the work, I take a slightly different path. By widening my usage of recapitulation to
interpret moments of repetition and resolution which occur at all points of the work, a
surprising and yet wholly appropriate organizational structure emerges: the Ring is
structured like a Ring! The remainder of this dissertation explicates and analyzes the
tetralogy from the perspective of cyclic structure in which pairs of scenes, related by both
their dramatic and musical contents, tie the Ring even closer to its roots in the Greek ideal
of art than we might have ever imagined.
66
Chapter 3
Cyclic Structure in The Ring
At the end of Chapter 2,1 offered a working theoretical definition of dramatic
recapitulation: a passage which repeats a musical texture in a way which brings it
closure while the text resolves a related dramatic complication. The present chapter
concerns a particular type of dramatic recapitulationone that functions in the context of
a large-scale cyclic structure that can describe major organizational features of Wagner's
Ring cycle. Whereas a typical play or sonata would have only one denouement or
recapitulation, this chapter particularizes my usage of the term while loosening it from
the implication that the works ought to contain only one. This is because the Ring
contains numerous moments that serve as dramatic recapitulations, even some moments
which recapitulate earlier material while providing new exposition that will itself later be
recapitulated. All of the recapitulations perform the task of resolving musical and
dramatic situations left open in their earlier iterations, where resolution implies a
perfection and completion of that which was previously imperfect and incomplete.
My treatment of perfection and completion through repetition carries an intended
psychoanalytic flavor, which relates to Lacan's concept of "repetition automatism."118
Lacan explicates the concept through an analysis of Edgar Allan Poe's story, "The
Purloined Letter," that relates the scenes of the two primary actions of the story. The
118
Jacques Lacan, "Seminar on 'The Purloined Letter,'" Ecrits, trans. Bruce Fink (Norton, 2006), 6.
67
first, which Lacan refers to as the "primal" scene, is the initial theft: the crafty Minister,
who deduces the sensitive nature of the Queen's letter, steals it while she watches,
knowing that the presence of the King prevents her from stopping him. After the Prefect
makes many unsuccessful searches of the Ministerial hotel to find the letter, Dupin is able
to recover it by realizing that the Minister, by turning it inside-out and writing a new
address on it, hid it in plain view, placing it directly in front of while at the same time
above the gaze of the police as they searched the premises.
Lacan argues that Dupin is only able to recover the letter through repeating the
structure of the initial theft. The primal scene incorporated three figures: the King,
metaphorically blind to the fact that anything has occurred; the second is the Queen, who
incorrectly believes that King's blindness renders the letter sufficiently concealed; and
the Minister, who can take advantage of both the King's blindness and the Queen's
mistaken assumption to snatch the letter with impunity. Dupin recovers the letter by
repeating the primal scene, and placing himself in the role that was occupied by the
Minister in the earlier scene. Thus, in the later scene, the Prefect is blind to the letter in
plain view; the Minister mistakenly assumes that the letter is therefore sufficiently
hidden, and Dupin can take advantage of the Minister's mistaken assumption to recover
the letter.119 Recapitulated events in the Ring, most importantly the love relationship
between Siegfried and Brunnhilde, which perfects that between Siegmund and Sieglinde,
operate according to a similar process.
68
1. Overview of Ring Composition
The title of the second opera of the tetralogy, Die Walkiire, implies that it is
primarily the story of Brunnhilde. While she is an important focus of the end of the
opera, the tragic love between Siegmund and Sieglinde occupies the major balance of the
work's attention. Wotan intended that Siegmund act as a free agent who could recover
the ring from Fafher, unfettered by the contract between the gods and the giants.
Wotan's error is quickly identified by Fricka. During their exchange in Act II of Die
Walkiire, Wotan paid no heed to any of the arguments Fricka put forth concerning the
sanctity of Hunding and Sieglinde's marriage. It was only by teasing out the flaw in
Wotan's plan that Fricka convinces him to withdraw his protection:
Wer hauchte Menschen ihn ein?

Wer hellte dem Bloden den Blick?
In deinem Schutz scheinen sie stark,
durch deinen Stachel streben sie auf:
du reizest sie einzig,
die so mir Ew'gen du ruhmst.120
Because Siegmund was raised, guided, and shielded by Wotan, he is not free to
carry out Wotan's task, and so the drama cannot end with Die Walkiire; the remaining
two operas are therefore necessary to present the history of the hero who can. Like "The
Purloined Letter," Siegfried and Brunnhilde fill the spaces previously held by Siegmund
and Sieglinde. Siegmund was unable to complete the task set before him or realize his
love for Sieglinde; fulfillment of both comes with the stories of Siegfried and Brunnhilde.
Siegfried is free both to recover the ring and to love Brunnhilde with a fervor that no
"Who breathed humanity into them? Who brightened the dullness of their gaze? Under your protection
they appear strong, through your spurring they emerged: you alone provoke them, they who you endlessly
praise to me" (97-8). All translations are by the author unless otherwise specified. Cited poetry is
identified by page number in the score, as specified in Footnote 129 below.
69
other characters have known except for Siegmund and Sieglinde. Yet their story is more
than a simplistic, exact repetition of the earlier onethe narratives contain similar events
which do not occur in the same order in the two relationships. Close inspection of the
love narratives reveals an intricately-wrought structure resembling those about which
Mary Douglas theorizes in Thinking in Circles, a book suggested to me by Kevin Korsyn,
who correctly believed that Douglas's theories could shed important light on Wagner's
Ring.121 The cyclic structure of the love relationships between Siegmund and Sieglinde
on the one hand and Siegfried and Brunnhilde on the other are explored in detail in
Chapter 4. However, the small-scale ring structures which govern their marriages reflect
a much deeper background ring structure at work in the tetralogy as a whole into which
are embedded a number of other smaller rings. The central focus of this dissertation is
the exploration of cyclic structure in the Ring as it occurs on both large and small scales.
Douglas, a classicist, posits that the construction of stories and poetry into ring
forms is an ancient practice which has gone unnoticed and unrecognized for centuries.
She argues that it is a lack of understanding of the cyclic nature of the form that for a
long time caused readers to consider ancient texts "difficult" whereas their contemporary
audiences would have experienced little trouble understanding them.122 Douglas draws
many biblical examples, such as the book of Numbers and the stories of the binding of
Isaac and the Garden of Eden to demonstrate the overall conventions of the structure.
According to Douglas, a well-formed ring will include the features outlined in Figure 3.1.
Kevin Korsyn, personal discussion, July 24,2007.

Mary Douglas, Thinking in Circles: An Essay in Ring Composition (Yale, 2007): 1.
70
1. A Prologue
2. A division into two halves
3. Parallel sections mirrored across the division from one another
4. "Indicators," which are things like key words whose repetition helps
identify its relationship with its mirrored section.
5. An emphasized midpoint, which is usually developed at length and
parallels the prologue
6. Often, a section will itself be constructed as a subring, so that the large-
scale structure can be found embedded in its constituent parts
7 A "latch," which connects the ending of the story back to the Prologue
Figure 3.1 Douglas's criteria for a well-formed ring structure123
After discovering that the model applies to the study of other ancient poems, such
as the Iliad and the Aeneid, she turns to a more modern literary work to test for ring
structure there. Her analysis of Tristram Shandy reveals that it is a "not-quite ring."
Although it includes many of the key features of classical ring design, its primary
deviation from a strong form is that it lacks a well-defined midpoint.124 For this reason,
Douglas argues that Lawrence Sterne was probably not modeling the book on ancient
structures, but that the layout of the work arose ad hoc as a means of organizing a
voluminous and meandering story. It is likely that it "originated as a structure in the
mind of a brilliant author, without his necessarily being aware of all the details of Hebrew
poetic structures or meaning to adopt them."125
Similarly, my analysis of a quasi-ring structure in The Ring does not necessarily
imply that Wagner was modeling the design on ancient structures (although he certainly
may have been, given that his goal for the music drama was that it would be a revival of
Greek ideals of art). It is worth considering to what extent the central object of the
Ibid,. 36-8.
Ibid., 87.
Ibid., 88.
71
dramathe Ringmay have contributed to Wagner's formal construction. Also,
because Tristram Shandy was written serially over many years, Douglas suggests that its
reversal may have arisen because the simplest way for Sterne to proceed may have been
to backtrack until he reached the beginning again. Similarly, a ring structure might
have arisen as a natural consequence of Wagner's construction of the tetralogy. As is
well known, Wagner wrote the texts of the dramas before he began work composing the
music and in reverse order. Thus, even the creation of The Ring can be organized into a
ring form:
Libretti Scores
GStteraammerimgi \
! \
Siegfried ! \
i Die Walkiire Die Walkiire
'J,I R'lx'insold ftts Rhemzohl
Figure 3.2 Order of composition of The Ring laid out in a cyclic form.
Like Douglas's study of Tristram Shandy, the Ring may be found to be organized
according to a ring structure which deviates from those of ancient texts, but which
nonetheless demonstrates a remarkable level of organization control on the part of its
creator.
126
Ibid., 96.
127
Bailey points out that the composition of the texts was not entirely backward, as Wagner wrote the prose
sketch of Das Rheingold before that of Die Walkiire, but that he nonetheless did complete the poetic text of
Die Walkiire first. See "The Structure of the Ring, " 50. J. Peter Burkholder drew my attention to a similar
diagram in Richard Taruskin's Oxford History of Western Music, Vol. 3 (Oxford University Press, 2005),
498. Although remarkably similar, Taruskin does not use his within the context of a discussion of ring
structure.
72
Figure 3.3 outlines key events which feature Siegfried's acts as recapitulations of
those of his ancestors, as well as those taken by Briinnhilde in response to his death. The
chronology of dramatic events begins at the top of the diagram, runs down the left side,
across the bottom, then back up the right side. Each moment on the right half of the ring
structure serves as a dramatic recapitulation of the corresponding moment on the left half.
The diagram includes two balanced sets of chiasmi, which is to say that the later events
do not occur in exactly the reverse order as the original ones (Douglas's chart of Tristram
Shandy incorporates similar chiasmi).
Dawn of Time
Dawn of the Gods
/ \
0 Albericn steals
the Rhmcgold
Destruction of -~-
Das Rheingold
0 CompJerion of
Valhalla
BrOnnhilde returns Ring
Hagen Drowns in Rhine
0 Wotari's Grand Idea Siegfried's Death

and Funeral
Gotterdammerung
Rhinemaidens plead Rhinemaidens plead
0 wrth Wotan to return

the Ring.
with Siegfried to return
Ihe King,
111 fSie glinde forced lo ]

marry Huntimg
'Briinnhilde forced to
many (iunther
Die Walkure
0 Srcglinde manic*
^Siegmund
Brunnhilde marries
.Siegfried _,
0 WdUn destroy*
Nolluing
Briinnhilde 'dwoken
on rock
0 Brthtnhildeputto
sleep on rock
Sic^lVscd bicaks
Wolan's spear
V B rth of Siegfrie i
"I)awnoftheTw
0 the Gods"
Si "gfned
Figure 3.3 Overall ring structure centered on Siegfried's acts as recapitulations of those of his
ancestors.
73
The ring structure of Figure 3.3 may resemble certain ideas about Wagner's form
developed by Alfred Lorenz, often considered to be a controversial figure in the
literature, but my project differs from Lorenz's in several ways. First, although he
divides Wagner's music dramas into basic units called dichterisch-musikalische
Perioden, and his overall formal diagrams of the Ring are labeled with both the musical
and poetic contents each period, Der Geheimnis is concerned primarily with determining
1 98
the purely musical forms which combine to create the music dramas. In practice, he is
more concerned with sectioning the music, not the poetry, into discrete parts which neatly
divide the fabric of the entire music dramas. By contrast, the ring structure is designed to
strike a balance between the musical and the dramatic situations it describes. Second, his
structural designations are of a relatively small scale, using measures as the basic metric,
and his form diagrams seek to account for every measure as it serves a single period. The
moments listed in Figure 3.3 function more as nodal points, thematic ideas to which the
actual dramatic and musical elements of the Ring are attracted. In addition, the ring
diagram does not claim to be encyclopedic in scope; there are many dramatic and musical
themes that are not accounted for on the diagram. Most importantly, my diagram is
intended to serve a hermeneutic function in service of one piece of musical criticism; it is
not designed to be a detailed formal outline of the nuts-and-bolts workings of the
construction of the music dramas.
Moreover, although the structure might resemble a Lorenzian Bogen form, and
both Warren Darcy and John Daverio have noted small scale arch forms in Wagner's
music, Douglas's ring structure features organizational control beyond a simple harmonic
Alfred Lorenz, Der Geheimnis der Form bei Richard Wagner, Vol. 1 (Verlagt, 1966), 10.
74
or thematic reversal, many of which are found in the Ring. A prologue is balanced with
an emphasized midpoint, and a parallelism of structure exists across the central division.
A "latch" brings the end of the cyclethe twilight of the godsback to the beginning
where the dawn and creation of the world is portrayed in the prelude to Das Rheingold.
Finally, several of the bands constitute rings within rings, which Douglas argues is a
characteristic feature of ring composition. I call bands 5 and 6, which contain rings
within rings, "major bands" and the others "minor bands."
An organizing framework such as a ring structure is a powerful tool for many
reasons. First, it solves to a great extent the problem of selecting scenes in Wagner for
analytic comparison. Without some sort of framework, analysts can easily find
themselves in the position of being able to compare any scene with virtually any other
scene. Without a guiding methodology for such analyses, they can be of only the most
limited usefulness toward developing our understanding of larger-scale relationships in
the Ring. Secondly, the analytic framework itself can open the door to exploring possible
relationships between moments whose relationship would otherwise remain obscure and
inconspicuous. Yet these advantages to ring structure as a methodology contain potential
hazards as well. To a structure which guides an analyst's decisions about which passages
to extract for comparison might be leveled the charge of cherry-picking moments which
best suit the structure. To the ability of the structure to draw comparisons between
material that otherwise seems disparate might be leveled the charge of begging the
question-arguing that a relationship exists between scenes that has no basis other than
appearing in the structural framework.
In the case of the more problematic or unobvious relationships, I struggled to do
no violence to the way the drama unfolds on the stageI did not want the ring structure
75
to become a Procrustean bed, and so I modified it when necessary, such as by
incorporating the necessary chiasmi, rather than forcing Wagner's work into a structure
into which it did not fit. At all times I sought to insure that the pairs of scenes have an
inherent musical and dramatic relationship that could exist without a cyclic framework,
even if the relationship was one that I would not have noticed without the framework's
assistance. Although there are doubtless many moments of the Ring which would not fit
comfortably within a cyclic structure, and many of those moments do not appear in
Figure 3.3,1 am overwhelmingly more interested in the manner in which rings can be
embedded within themselves than whether the deepest level of the structure addresses all
moments of the tetralogy equally well.
Although the "central place" figures into Douglas's theory as an important feature
of the form, I have set aside discussion of Siegfried's youth in this dissertation. It is an
important part of the ring structure as well as the overall story of the Ring as a whole, and
certainly deserves exploration in its own right, as the birth of Siegfried serves as a symbol
for the dawn of the new order which will succeed the downfall of the gods. Yet, although
that symbol mirrors to a certain extent the dawn of the world itself in the beginning of
Das Rheingold, I would not argue that it functions as a recapitulation of the opening of
the tetralogy. Therefore, discussion of Acts I and II of Siegfried, although important with
respect to the ring structure studied here, nonetheless falls outside the scope of this
dissertation.
Because the end of Gotterdammerung recapitulates many issues of the cycle
beyond simply those with which it is paired in Figure 3.3,1 set aside discussion of bands
1 and 2 until Chapter 5, which is a study of how the end of Gotterdammerung brings
closure to the Ring as a whole. I also set aside discussion of the major bands until
76
Chapter 4, as they require more detailed study and analysis than the minor bands. The
remainder of this chapter, then, explores the smaller-scale recapitulations of Figure 3.3 as
they find instantiation across the minor bands, offering a sketch of the types of
relationships that a ring structure can clarify.
2. Analysis of the Minor Bands
In addition to shedding light on the organizational design of the repeated stories,
the ring structure provides a framework for understanding the structure of musical
repetition across bands. By demonstrating that there is a significant correspondence over
time between dramatic and musical themes and that the correspondence is so intricately
wrought, musical repetitions and developments across the bands are afforded a quality of
structural weight which mere reminiscences do not enjoy.
Band 3 highlights a relationship between events that is not entirely obvious:
Siegfried's death and funeral music in Act III of Gotterdammerung recapitulates Wotan's
Grand Idea at the end of Das Rheingold. On the surface, both moments are related by
one musical detailthe appearance of the sword motive in each. In fact, the two
passages in question constitute the first and the last time the Sword motive is heard in its
primary key of C major. Additionally, in both cases, the sword motive moves to a high G
which is harmonized by the local dominant. This causes the appearance of the motive to
have a cadential quality. Contrast this with another key moment involving the sword;
when Siegmund removes it from the tree, it merely arpeggiates C major with no change
of underlying harmony (See Example 3.1).
77
fi- -l-CC
J rr
m
^ =B
rr
Example 3.1 Sword Motive in Die Walkure, Act I, Scene 3 (72/4/1)
At the end of Das Rheingold, bringing the music into C major requires some
harmonic sleight of hand, as the opera closes with a repetition of the Db Valhalla
music which opened Scene 2. The entire passage is reproduced and annotated as
Example 3.2. Figure 3.4 is a voice-leading analysis from the beginning of the passage up
to its arrival on V at m. 212/1/3, which establishes the local tonal center that the C major
Sword motive interrupts.
Dai Rheingold, (209/4/3)
^f^^^^^^J^^^^^^^^S^^^
zm
^
iv Ni v D (-V fcl
Figure 3.4 First half of Valhalla period toward the end of Das Rheingold
Once the passage arrives on V, it moves to its parallel minor and prolongs it with
its own dominant: first a V9, then a vii3. The diminished chord is enharmonically
recontextualized as vii2 of F minor, and C major makes its first appearance as the
dominant to F. It is then tonicized by its own dominant to complete the modulation for
the appearance of the Sword motive. After the Grand Idea, Wagner returns to Db by
moving directly from C to a Bb minor chord. One way to interpret the Bb minor chord
78
A - bendlich straMtderSon - - na An - ge;
Gold - en at eve thesun - - lightglemneih;
Example 3.2 Das Rheingold, Scene 41
129
All musical examples are drawn from the Schirmer edition of the keyboard score, arranged by Karl
Klindworth, with the exception of Siegfried, which is drawn from the Breitkopf & Hartel edition, arranged
by Otto Singer.
79
WOTAN
-P.
mu - thig er -" scbimmerndlag sie faer - ren-los,

brave - ly it glis-tened,ly ing lord - lessthere,
f^^fnBp^ ? 4: li
P^g
iiiNii^llfe
piitp **)
r
a^
p.
Eî i litXJ
E P.
S
P.
P777T
V I
Example 3.2 Das Rheingold, Scene 4 cont.
80
WOTAN
zm hehr_
m^
_ ver - lo - ckend vor mir.
^ ^
Von
proud - - ly lur - ing my feet. From
i9mfe
^fe
PP
^VJ^z
& ^
m f r ' r if *f
m=$=*}
I
-ittr
Z- P.
^
rs
^
V ab * V
*
s^ Mor =
gen bis A - bend,
^ 8in Miih' und
^
Angst, nicbt
ning till eve - *'#, in care fear, un
Example 3.2 cont.
81
(Wie von eineia giossenGedanken ergriffen,gelir entsctlossen)
3
WOTAN (As though seized by a gnat lkought,very firmly)
F o l - g e m i r , Frau! In Wal - - hall

Fol-low <, wife,' In Wal - - halt
/ ^ T * - 4 - - 4 -
i Ifc ^ ^ 2 &
^ 3P~
m ft 6 tgt
I. J , j-
ggfel W I 1
v7p Db vi IV
, FR1CKA
fefeE EJEJÊULp * 1 |~f
ffi Was deu-tetder Na-me?
**~T* ^
Nie, diinktmi<:h,hort ichihn
WOTAJf ffhatmeanethtke namefhen? Strange'tis metkinksto my
w
iy5 f_> p I r -t-t
woh - ne mit ntir
dwell now with mf.
Example 3.2 cont
82
functionally is to hear it as the subdominant of F minor, allowing the passage to
backtrack along the same tonal path it took to get to C major. Once it arrives in Db, the
progression proceeds through a small-scale repetition of the middleground harmonic
structure which appears in Figure 3.4: vi - IV - V - 1 . A harmonic reduction of the move
to and from C major appears in Figure 3.5.
212/1/3 212/1/4 212/2/4 212/3/3 212/4/2 212/4/3 213/1/3 213/3/3 213/3/5 213/3/6 213/4/1 213/4/3
m fast feni^ wm^ 4J '- -4/i
WTTT
S^ A
f ' r ' r
Db: V Db: IV V
..04
Ab: I V VII 3
,. o 4 7 ,. o 6
11VII 2 V VII 5 /V V iv
\C] VII 5 v'i i-
Figure 3.5 Harmonic reduction of modulation to C for the Sword motive in Das Rheingold, Scene 4
By contrast, the appearance of the Sword motive during the funeral music appears
as a modal shift in a passage primarily centered on C minor, so that no chromatic
finagling is required beyond a simple move to the parallel key. As will be explored in
significant depth below and in the following chapter, the key of C in Das Rheingold and
Die Walkiire is often treated as marked, as signifying an absence which will be fulfilled
in the later two operas. In a sense, the later statement of the sword motive in C major
amidst a passage in C minor in Gotterddmmerung fixes its marked chromatic appearance
in a very distant key area at the end of Das Rheingold.
The appearance of the Sword motive during Siegfried's funeral music is not its
last occurrence in the Ring. It is sounded again when Hagen attempts to take the ring
from Siegfried's corpse and Siegfried's hand magically rises, warding him away. In the
83
same way that a Schenkerian would maintain that the structural descent of an Urlinie to
f may occur before the last literal appearance of that f in a particular piece, there are two
reasons for interpreting this repetition as non-structural. First, it does not occur in C
major, and while Bailey notes that the Sword motive eventually becomes associated with
D major as well as C major when Siegfried reforges it, D major is nonetheless a
secondary associative key area. Second, like the Sword statement in Example 3.1, this
appearance does not include dominant-tonic cadential motion but simply arpeggiates D
major with no change of harmony.
From a dramatic standpoint, the connection between Siegfried's funeral music
and Wotan's grand idea is less obvious. Deryck Cooke explored various possible
interpretations of the appearance of the Sword motive at the end of Das Rheingold, which
ranged from the literalduring the rehearsals of the original Bayreuth staging of the
Ring, Wagner made a decision that Wotan would take a sword from the Nibelung's
horde, which he would brandish as the Sword motive is playedto a more figurative
interpretation, one which is much more in line with his original intent. As Cooke puts it,
"Wotan should be merely 'struck by a grand idea', and that this idea should later
materialize in the heroism of Siegmund, symbolized by the sword Wotan provides for
him."131 Labeling this moment "Wotan's Grand Idea" highlights the fact that this
statement has much deeper dramatic meaning than a simple musical label for a sword.
Wotan's plans extend far beyond the act of placing the sword in the tree to his entire idea
to sire the race of the Walsungs to retrieve the ring for him. The statement of the Sword
motive at the end of Das Rheingold is thus a synecdoche for the totality of his idea. The
130
Robert Bailey, "The Structure of the Ring," 55.
131
Deryck Cooke, I Saw the World End, 234-5.
84
point is confirmed when Wotan names the fortress "Walhall," a name that Fricka has
never heard before and that Wotan refuses to clarify. He simply sings, "Was machtig der
Furcht mein Muth mir erfand wenn siegend es lebt, leg' es den Sinn dir dar."132 It is the
race of Walsungs that Wotan has devised, and it is for the race of Walsungs that Wotan
names his fortress Walhall.
Kinderman has argued that Siegfried's funeral music constitutes one of the
grandest recapitulations in Wagner: it retells the whole story of Siegfried, beginning with
his lineage as a Walsung, continuing through his heroic deeds, and comes to an emphatic
climax with the sword.133 The ring structure suggests that the funeral march
commemorates more than just Siegfried's life. It signals the passing of the entire
Walsung race and marks the final consequence of the plan Wotan set in motion with his
Grand Idea in Das Rheingold. These two key appearances of the Sword motive, far from
being contextually unrelated, thus serve as bookends for the part of the story played by
the Walsungs and therefore provide dramatic as well as musical correspondence across
Band 3 of Figure 3.3.
Band 4 correlates the Rhinemaidens' plea for Wotan to return the ring to them just
before Das Rheingold ends with their similar plaint to Siegfried at the beginning of Act
III of Gotterdammerung. While Band 3 highlighted an obvious musical repetition that
invited inspection of a dramatic one, in Band 4 the dramatic elements of return are clearer
than the musical connections, and so here the drama invites us to compare the musical
passages. From a dramatic standpoint, the similarity of the purpose of their complaint is
"How my courage has devised to triumph over my powerful fear will clarify its meaning for you." Das
Rheingold, 214.
133
William Kinderman, "Richard Wagner: Music and Drama, Aesthetics, Politics," Seminar led in
Bayreuth, Germany, August 14, 2007.
85
obvious, and the strategies they use in both attempts are similar as well. Both songs
contain two attempts, one alluring and one threatening, and both songs aim to contrast the
purity of the Rhine's depths with the corruption above.
In Das Rheingold, they first sing:
Rheingold! Rheingold! reines Gold!

wie lauter und hell leuchtetest hold du uns!
Um dich, du klares, wir nun klagen:
gebt uns das Gold, gebt uns das Gold!
O gebt uns das reine zuriick! ...
When Loge rebuffs them, saying that Wotan has decreed that the gold will shine on them
no more, their tone changes and becomes more sinister:
Rheingold! Rheingold! reines Gold!

O leuchtete noch in der Tiefe dein laut'rer Tand!
Traulich und treu ist's nur in der Tiefe:
falsch und feig ist was dort oben sich freut!134
The structure of the plaint in Gotterdammerung is similar. It begins with the
Rhinemaidens using flattery, as they chide him for being stingy with women, and sing
that he is handsome, strong, and worthy.135 When this approach fails, they threaten that
the ring is cursed:
Siegfried! Schlimmes wissen wir dir.

Zu deinem Unheil wahr'st du den Ring.
Aus des Rheines Gold ist der Ring gegluht:
der ihn listig geschmiedet und schmachlich verlor,
der verfluchte ihn, in fernster Zeit
zu zeugen den Tod dem der ihn triig'.
Wie den Wurm du falltest, So fallst auch du, Und heute noch:
134
"Rhinegold! Rhinegold! Pure gold! How clear and bright your loveliness glows to us! Of you, and your
brightness we lament: give us the gold, give us the gold! O give us its purity back! ... Rhinegold!
Rhinegold! Pure gold! Oh if only your fair treasure still gleamed in the depths! It is trustworthy and true
only in the depths: false and cowardly is what rejoices above." (216-8)
135
Fredric Jameson translates gehrenswerth as "worthy love"; whereas Nico Castel translates it as
"desirable."
86
so heissen wir's dir, tauschest den Ring du uns nicht,
im tiefen Rhein ihn zu bergen.
Nur seine Fluth siihnet den Fluch!
Their plaint in Gotterdammerung is more ominous than the one in Das Rheingold. It is
concerned not just with falsehood above the depths, but death and destruction.
The musical connections between the two scenes are less obvious than the
dramatic ones. On the surface, the music in the two scenes seems mostly disparate. This
is particularly true given that the plaints in Das Rheingold are very brief, whereas the
scene in Gotterdammerung lasts quite a while. Their first song in Das Rheingold is in Ab
major serving as a prolongation of the dominant of Db and their second is in Gb
major/minor as a prolongation of the subdominant. Conversely, the scene in
Gotterdammerung is centered on an F major refrain with excursions to various key areas
both remote and close. Both passages are in compound triple meter but the one in
Gotterdammerung is based around a completely new melody.
The latter delineates its form through the use of a refrain to which the intervening
episodes of the scene return. The refrain is first heard as the instrumental introduction to
the scene. The Rhinemaidens' initial song consists of a variation of the refrain followed
by the refrain itself. They sing both parts twice before Siegfried's entrance with an
"Siegfried! We prophesize your doom. You keep the ring to your own disaster. From the pure Rhine's
gold was that ring tempered: he who cunningly forged it and shamefully lost it cursed it for all time to bear
witness to the death of he who holds it. As you slew the dragon, so will you be slainand today: this we
foretell, if you do not exchange the ring to us to return to the depths of the Rhine. Only this course will
cleanse the curse!" (254-7). Several points of interest in the German: the line "Aus des Rheines Gold" is
homophonous with "reines Gold," a connection which was made explicit in the text at the end of Das
Rheingold. In addition, the word "Fluch" in the final line translates literally to "flood" and thus evokes the
imagery of a flowing river to describe the course of events necessary to forestall the curse.
87
interrupted cadence at the end of the first one and an authentic cadence at the end of the
second, creating an overall period structure for the entire passage.
The first motivic reference to Das Rheingold occurs at the beginning of their
variation, when the music abruptly moves from F major to Ab major and the melody
repeatsat the same pitch level and virtually identical rhythmthe music to which the
Rhinemaidens sang "Traulich und treu ist's nur in der Tiefe." The new text recalls the
old: "Nacht liegt in der Tiefe." (See Example 3.3 and Example 3.4). The variation
continues, and as the Rhinemaidens sing "Rheingold, klares Gold," they recall the
beginnings of the two strains from Das Rheingold in which they sang "Rheingold! reines
Gold." The leap from G to A in Woglinde's line recalls the descending octave Gb's in the
second strain, and her descending A to E tetrachord on "klares Gold" recalls her
descending A to Eb tetrachord on "reines Gold" (See Example 3.5 and Example 3.6)
These two passages have slightly different harmonizations; the "Rheingold" beginning in
Das Rheingold (219/1/4) is harmonized by a Cb minor chord followed by a Gb chord (iv
- 1 in Gb major), whereas the latter is harmonized using an F9 (in inversion) followed by
an F#3. The 9th chord of the Rheingold motive, which generally resolves as a dominant,
instead moves by stepwise voice-leading to a vii7 of V of F. Similarly, the earlier "reines
Gold" features a motion from Db major to Ab major (which sounds like IV-I over a local
Ab major), whereas the "klares Gold" is harmonized by a GMm7 to Amm7 (which sounds
like a deceptive cadence in the key of the dominant, C). The later harmonizations are
certainly representative of Wagner's more developed,
By contrast, Lorenz separates the introduction into its own period, and reads my period structure as
constituting the two Stollen of a larger Bar form. I am unconvinced, however, because subsequent
appearances of the refrain have a strong sense of return which is weakened when they are divided among
various sections of various periods. See Lorenz, 238-45.
88
220 WOGL
89
WOQh. 235
Example 3.4 Gotterdammerung, Act III, Sc. 1
post-Tristan harmonic style. It is in keeping with Bailey's description of the style, for
example, to hear the Amm7 of the deceptive cadence as a fusion of the relative major and
1 38
minors.
Although the harmonic idiom has changed vastly between Das Rheingold and
Gotterdammerung, Wagner's compositional approaches in differentiating between the
two strains (we may call these the Schmeichelsgesang and Schreckensgesang after
See Footnote 142 below.
90
216 Gottern in nachlassigerHaltung anzuschliesser.)
careless manner^Co join the gods)
m
jftftr
frvjidrj
3f ~to ^fidff^
zm
pococrese. .
^
ra ra râ
8^
r t^ o
(Die drei Rielntachter to der Ttefe des Tiales,unsii4tbar.)
*:
( !"8e ttree Shine-eansrhters in the valley)

, WOGL.
^ ^ ^ =4
3Ê
Rhein - goldi Rhein - gold! rei- -lies
Rhine - gold! Rhine - gold! guile- less
WBLL6.
<ff p y t>8 ^ 3
ein . gold! Rhein - goldi reines
Rhine - iro/a?/ Rhine - gold/ guile - less
FLOSSH.
i*
131
i f'i g ' i
Rhein gold! Rhein - gold! rei- -nes

Rhine - gold! Rhine - goldi guile - less
rWfr
^ ^
Gold!. wie
1111 3SE
lau-ter unci hell leuch-te-test hold

how brightlyandclear shimmered thy beams. on
fe r ~z?
14. Gold!. T J- ~ lau-ternndhell
B 3* 9 * Cl p
wie leuch4e-test hold*.
goldi. Ao brightly and clear shimmeredthy beams. on
91
Example 3.6 Gotterdammerung, Act III, Scene 1
Siegfried's line: "wer nicht ihrem Schmeicheln traut, den schrecken sie mit Drohen"139)
are similar, though considerably more complex in the later opera. In Das Rheingold, both
strains serve to prolong Db major, the key of the surrounding music and the one in which
the opera will cadence. The Schmeichelsgesang is a simple prolongation of Ab Major,
the dominant:
Ab: V -I-V-I-IV-I
139
"He who mistrusts their charms they frighten with threats." Gotterdammerung, 269-70.
92
The Schreckensgesang in Das Rheingold is also diatonic, but instead of
prolonging Ab Major, it is primarily centered on Gb Major, the subdominant. Whereas
the first strain's prolongation of Ab major was relatively simple with no harmonic
exploration beyond moving to its dominant or subdominant, the progression in the second
strain is more complex in that it uses the subdominant of the parallel minor (Cb minor)
and also spends some time in the key of the mediant. The V chord with which it ends is
then recontextualized as I in the Db major in which the opera subsequently closes.
Gb: iv-I-ffl(I-V)-V-iv-I-V
The Schmeichelsgesang is thus characterized by a simple move to the dominant and
prolongation via major keys, whereas the Schreckensgesang is characterized by a more
complicated move to the subdominant with prolongation via minor keys.
The Schmeichelsgesang in Gotterdammerung is mostly diatonic. When the
Rhinemaidens first address Siegfried, it is to a variation of the refrain that appears in Ab
Major, the key of the corresponding passage in Das Rheingold. As was the case with the
interpolated "Nacht liegt in der Tiefe," the appearance of Ab major provides a jarring
contrast to the F major which precedes it. The passages which follow modulate wildly,
when compared to a Das Rheingold standard, but the Rhinemaidens' plaints remain
mostly diatonic within themselves, and often return to fragments of the refrain. Thus, the
chromatic excursions are grounded by a return to and centricity on a relatively stable key
area.
The Schreckensgesang in Gotterdammerung, by contrast, is a remarkably
dissonant and chromatic passage of music that is characterized by prolongations and
ascending sequences (a technique which Bailey calls "expressive tonality") of mostly
half- and fully-diminished seventh harmonies. Indeed, both Wagner's approach to
93
tonality and sectional organization in Gotterdammerung demonstrate his significant
compositional development during the many years and many operas intervening since
Das Rheingold. Determining local tonality in the earlier opera is usually trivial (though
determining a governing tonal center for the work as a whole is a thornier issue) and
boundaries between changes in texture, from arioso to recitative for example, can be
pinpointed with ease. Conversely, Gotterdammerung's approach to tonality is much
more complex: key areas are often established through allusion and evaporate before
achieving any sort of conclusiveness and there are frequent extended passages of
prolonged dissonance that can connect to a tonal center in only the most tangential way.
Similarly, the musical foreground is more continuous than that of Das Rheingold, so that
section divisions become more much unclear and simultaneously more flitting, so that
rapidly-changing melodic materials and harmonic structures become the norm.
The Schreckensgesang proper begins at (254/1/3) with the Rhinemaidens' angst-
ridden cries of "Siegfried! Siegfried!" and has a ternary structure, with the B section of
Siegfried's response book-ended by repeated material which begins with the
Rhinemaidens' cries of "Siegfried! Siegfried!" Because the text at this moment is
dominated by narrative, Siegfried and the Rhinemaidens spend much time retelling the
plot and the musical texture supplies recalls of the associated motives. The move from
motive to motive contributes to much of the frantic musical changes of the entire passage.
I have reproduced just the closing "Siegfried!" refrain as Example 3.7, because although
it includes motivic recalls, it does so in a manner much more self-contained and less
diverse than the first "Siegfried!" refrain. Figure 3.6 constitutes three analytic readings
of the passage.
94
258
SIEGP.
^^fe
SB:
Trant' ich kaum
* tfJ 14 '
eu - ren Sehmei-cheln,
f ' %eu-er
? 1Dro
P - hen schreckt
'~^ JS =S=ii
mich njt|
If your craft could not catch me, #r grottr threats still less will y
T cresc. .
*p irf:
6-
"'P.H/,',;
E
^ ^
WOGL.
^ ^
r r~ r
& =te= V r p r~
rrt Sieff - - fried I fried! Wir wei. sen ii<k -
fried! We counsel the-rl
#li
WELLG. - fried I
f^Vf \~ ^ *===f=^
fried! Sieg - - fried Wir wei - sen dick \
FLOSSH. sfeg
I$t=
fried/ Sieg - - fried! We counsel the* M
s t fcf^J \J :pi \ti JT?T71
Sieg fried I Sieg - fried! Wir wei - sen dick
Sieg fried! Steg - fried! #5? counsel the* M
min - der
fright me !
wahr Wei ehe! Wei- - die dem Fhieh.

well. Turn thee/ Turn. from the curse.
%m m s ^
T
wahr Wei - ehe! Wei- - ehe den

dem Fluch_
Turn thee! Turn. from the curse.
^
che dem Fluch_

from the curse.
Example 3.7 Gotterdammerung, End of Schreckensgesang, Act III, Scene 1.
95
259
I .WOOL
v i r p pi T ^ p ^ BZE ^ IB p f iftfcf
floeh-ten nacht-lich we - ben-de Nor- nen in des Ur - - - g e - s e - tzes
I k By Noma at dead ofnightwas it wo - ven in the rope of fate's de -
hf 7
lira floch - ten
P r M l ' T P P p IT
nacht-lich we- ben-do Nor-nen in des Ur
P^H^^NJM
g e - s e - tzes
i Norns at dead of night was it ivo - ven in the rope. of fate's de -
I l,l,LFL0SlS:
fr r ' T P r P PI 35T p ? py^ U==^
g e - s e - tzes
Inn Norms
By floch - ten
at nacht-lich we-ben-de
dead of night was it Nor-nen in dee
wo - ven in the Ur .
rope. of fate's de -
*> Seil i ~
* Seil LI
i&t fSeil.
=ro
orees /
mi SIEGF.
^=^ &
MeinSchwert zerschwang ei - nen Speer: _
i^^=f=t
des
Lebhaft.(o^J-) My sword once shat - tered a spear:. the
96
Motives: f ^ f ^ n g Twilight of the The Forged The Noras
(Hagen) gods Ring Spinning
luS ,- '|L..(5. W_IZM%p fcjbftp

fa^
zm\ Y
9 - *i 8 S7-
E'S -7
-1(5
fjj 6-
. 1 " K4-" C Db6 Gb ft
-3 3-
1. f: V/a? Il/e? I! V! VI IV/VI? ? 9? 97?
2. A V- VI
f:| I V VI
o7
GkV VII
Key Upper [0258] [0258] [0258] [0258] [037] [037] [037] [037] [0258] [0258] [0369]
- ~ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ O - a a g
^r ^ ftBgz.
P w w w
<V J , I
^f Iff ^ f l 7^~T T ~T ^f ~~
Figure 3.6 Three analytic readings of Gotterdammerung, Act III, Scene 1 (258/2/lff.)
Figure 3.6A constitutes a pair of roman numeral/functional analyses. The first is
a monotonal reading in F minor, which demonstrates one of the problems with attempting
a monotonal functional analysis in late Wagner. The second is a modulating reading
which begins by reading the E in the bass as prolonging the dominant of A major before
resolving deceptively to F minor. F minor moves to its own dominant which also
resolves deceptively to Db major,
97
which is then treated as the dominant to Gb major. The F in the bass, then, acts as a
leading tone serving to prolong the dominant, and the final chord of the progression
becomes a vii2 , with the Ebb spelled enharmonically as Dtl.
The reading of a tonal progression in A.2 suggests the potential usefulness of a
linear analysis, which appears as Figure 3.6B. The linear reading highlights the
interesting chromatic ascent in the inner voice, a rising 6th linear intervallic pattern in the
inner voices, and uncovers a third progression as the bass note E moves up through F to
an implied Gb. The F is unfolded to the Dt), once again suggesting that the entire set of
harmonies is a long prolongation of vii7 of Gb.
Each reading is problematic. Reading A. 1 cannot be considered a convincing
analysis at all. A.2 and B highlight a compelling modulating progression, but while they
look quite good on the page, do not capture the affect of this passage. The important
dissonance of the shrill cries of "Siegfried!" is overlooked in the reductive analyses, as is
the ominous flavor of the Rhinemaidens' Cb recitation tone which is supported by
diminished harmonies. In fact, the very difficulty that Reading A. 1 has in making sense
of most of the harmonies which begin and end the passage allows it to project a sense of
the relative tonal stability of the music at any given moment, as the difficulty of
analyzing the first and last chords contrasts with the strong sense of arrival that occurs on
the F minor chord. Although it functions very poorly as an analysis, what Reading A. 1
does do is highlight a very important aural quality of the music missed by Readings A.2
andB.
That quality is also captured in Reading C, which is a pitch-class-set analysis of
the upper voices of the passage. Consonance and dissonance have immediate visual
98
representation. The triads in the middle of the passage, [037], are bookended by
diminished chords, all but the last of which are members of the set [0258] until the final
harmony, which changes from half-diminished to fully-diminished.
Readings A.l and C begin to resemble Robert Morgan's analysis of the Prelude to
Act III of Parsifal, which he argues is governed by dissonant prolongation, which
describes a reversal of the typical polarity of consonance and dissonance.140 Diminished
harmonies are prolonged and offer repose most associated with major or minor triads,
whereas those harmonies are used primarily as passing chordsdissonances!between
the "stable" 7 chords. We would expect a typical tonal passage to begin in tonic, lose
stability as it moves to the dominant, and then find resolution by returning to and
cadencing on tonic. This passage has the opposite effect. It begins and ends with tonal
instability and only achieves a fleeting sense of repose in the middle. Yet, while Reading
C makes the aural experience immediately visual, it suffers because the abstract notation
of pitch-class sets cannot capture the sense that the passage has tonal centers.
Each reading of Figure 3.6 captures two of the three critical musical effects
exploited by the Schreckensgesang and each has a blind spot. Figure 3.7 is a Venn
diagram of the three readings. The areas where they overlap govern a shared musical
effect that the two can highlight. Thus, a is the space of tonal function, where Readings
A. 1, A.2, and B represent the passage's progression through key areas. P refers to the
fact that Readings A.2, B, and C utilize analytic methodologies which provide adequate
results and satisfactorily describe an overall logic for the entire passage. Finally, y is the
See Robert P. Morgan, "Dissonant Prolongation: Theoretical and Compositional Precedents," Journal of
Music Theory 20/1 (Spring, 1976), pp. 49-91.
99
space represented by Readings A.l and C, which highlights the reversal of the typical
tonal pattern of consonance-dissonance-consonance.
a: Tonal orientation.
P: Satisfactory analytic results.
y: Anti-consonant tonal structure.
h'.Zukunftsanalyse
Figure 3.7 Venn diagram of the analytic readings in Figure 3.5
Space 5 represents the lacunae of the three readings, the space of a
Zukunftsanalyse which might be able to represent in an independent and self-consistent
way both the linear tonal structure of the passage and the aural effect produced by the
abstract relationships of its pitch construction. Developing such an analytic system is of
course outside the scope of this dissertation. The primary point to be taken from study of
this passage is that compared to the related passages in Das Rheingold and the
Schmeichelsgesang which precedes it in Gotterdammerung, the use of tonality here is
drastically different.
100
Nonetheless, while the harmonic treatment of the songs in the two operas is in a
particular sense very different, they have in common a more general rhetorical function.
Wagner's treatment of chromaticism was still very much in its infancy when he
composed Das Rheingold, so the change in character between the Schmeichelsgesang and
the Schrekensgesang was subtle. The latter portrayed the corrupted foundation of
Valhalla through a turn to the subdominant and the minor mode. In Gotterdammerung,
the distinction is very pronounced. The lilting tonal music of the Schmeichelsgesang
gives way to a deep, brooding dissonance. While the degree of change between the songs
of Gotterdammerung is by orders of magnitude far beyond that which occurred in Das
Rheingold, one might nonetheless say that the rhetorical turn from diatonicism to
dissonance and chromaticism in the later opera is in the same spirit as the rhetorical turn
from major-and-dominant to minor-and-plagal in the earlier.
Band 7 connects the destruction of Nothung by Wotan in Act II of Die Walktire
with the moment when Siegfried shatters the Spear in Act III of Siegfried. This is a key
dramatic moment: through breaking the Spear, Siegfried destroys the source of Wotan's
power. Wotan is left to sing, "Zieh' hin! Ich kann dich nicht halten!"141 and to return to
Walhall as Waltraute describes in Act I of Gotterdammerung.
Siegfried thus proves himself a free hero, capable of acting without Wotan's
assistance and even acting against Wotan's will with impunity. This marks a remarkable
change in Wotan since the events of Die Walktire. Although he expressed great love for
both Siegmund and Briinnhilde, his love seemed limited according to Siegmund's ability
to perform his will and Brunnhilde's willingness to obey him absolutely. Now, Wotan is
"Go on! I cannot stop you!"
101
able to accept defeat at the hands of the free hero and is unable to stop him even when he
tries. Siegfried thereby fulfills the very role which Wotan intended for Siegmund.
The musical parallel between these two moments is remarkable. Both feature a
visual clash between the Spear and the Sword; and both feature a musical clash between
the Spear and Sword motives on the same F#7 chord. In Die Walkiire, the passage
begins with an interruption of the B minor Walkiire motive by Wotan's entrance which is
punctuated by the fully-diminished seventh chord. The Sword motive immediately
follows in C minor, a modal distortion which represents the brokenness of the object and
the music leads to the Annunciation of Death, music which had already been strongly
associated with Siegmund's death in particular. (See Example 3.8).
180 tijrmuihilde Wficht erschrockeo vorWol.u,

Bit rfem SchiMe zuriick.- Siegmutiu s
Schwert serspringt an (Jem vorgchal -
fenen Speere.)
{Brunnhilde, in terror before Wotan,m'nk
back with her shield: Stegwwndssvorfi
WOTAN. snaps on the outstretched spear?)
gLmzfc gEgEEEE^Ê^pj^JEg^
Zu-riick vor dem Speeri In Stu-eken das Schwert t
Go hack from the spear/ In splinters the sword/
(DemDnbewehrtenstosst Handing seinen Sperindie Brust.)

(Jhmding plunges his spear into the dis-armed Siegmund's breast.) (Sicgmuad stiirzt todt zu Boden.Sieglinde,dif
(Siegnwndfalls dead to the groimd>SiegUnd'
Example 3.8 Die Walkiire, Act II, Scene 5
102
In Siegfried, the corresponding passage is approached by an expressive sequence
of rising seconds. The sword motive now appears in the correct key of C major142 and
once again it strikes the spear against an F#7 chord. This time, the sword is victorious,
and now it is the Spear motive which is distorted, descending with chromatic notes that
obscure a tonal center, eventually landing on A. Whereas the earlier moment transitioned
to music related to Siegmund's demise, the Annunciation of Death motive, now the
music transitions to music associated with Wotan's end: the Twilight of the Gods motive.
(See Example 3.9).
Yet, the musical and visual similarities of the two passages give way to an even
deeper symbolism that drives to the root of one of the central ethical debates of the entire
Ring cycle. The Spear is not just Wotan's weapon; it is a symbol for his rule of law by
contract. The Sword is not just Siegmund's or Siegfried's weapon; it is a phallic symbol
of their virility and their capability for the transcendent love that the cycle presents as its
ideal. The point was not missed by Adrianne Pieczonka who, in her stunning
performance as Sieglinde during the 2007 Bayreuth production of Die Walkiire, shrieked
as she fell to the ground, on her back, with her legs wide open when Siegmund finally
pulled it from the tree.
And so when Wotan uses the power of his Spear to destroy the Sword in Die
Walkiire, he highlights what has been a prevailing ethic throughout the story up to that
This account slightly simplifies the musical texture. The Sword motive appears over an A, which might
seem to imply a key area of A minor. This strategy is actually quite common in Wagner's later work, and
is the basis for Robert Bailey's study of the Tristan prelude. According to Bailey, keys which are
considered in earlier music to be relative major and minor are synthesized here into a single chord. The
relationship between the two keys here is derived not from displacing the root by a third, but simply by
raising the 5th of a major triad by a step. Thus, the union of the two chords, a minor-minor seventh chord,
can stand in as a "tonic harmony" of a double-tonic complex, wherein either C major or A minor can be
understood as the "tonic" of the "key." See Robert Bailey, "An Analytical Study of the Sketches and
Drafts," in Prelude and Transfiguration from Tristan and Isolde, (Norton, 1985), especially pp. 113-24.
103
300
(Siegfried haut dem W a a d e r e r mit eiaem Schlage den Speer in zwei Stiicken: ein Blitzstrahl fahrt
d a r a u s nach der Felsenhohe zu, wo von nun a n dex bisher mattere Schein in immer helleren Veu-
-erflammen zn lodern begimit. Starker Donner, der Bchnell sich abschw&eht, begleitet den Schlag.)
(Siegfried with one blow hews the Wanderer'* spear in two: a flash of lightning darts from it towardti the
roeky heights, where the previously dull glow now merges into brighter and brighter flames. The blow is
accompanied by violent thunder, that quickly dies away.)
(Die Speerstiicken rollen zu des Wanderer's FiiBen. E r rafft sie r u i n g auf.)
(The fragments of the spear fall at the Wanderer's feet. He Quietly picks them up.)
(2 _ts . /^TTî- (syh^f-". ,ritard.
MaJig. Moderate *
Wanderer (ZUIk weicnend)
(falling back).
(Er verschwindet plotzlicb. in vb'lliger Finsternis.)
W.
^B
Ich
m
karrn dichnicM hal..ten! -
(He suddenly disappears in complete darkness.)
stop thee!
/ no more can
R.W. 9.
Example 3.9 Siegfried, Act III, Scene 2
104
point: the rule of law as established through contract. In this case, Sieglinde's forced
wedding oath, though clearly made under duress, trumps her genuine love and passion for
Siegmund. By destroying Wotan's spear, Siegfried actually creates the very possibility
for his love relationship with Brunnhilde, which is unable to be broken even when she is
forced to make her own wedding oath to Gunther. The deep musical, visual, and
symbolic relationships between these two moments is summarized and distilled by the
love triangle diagrams in Figure 3.8. Further discussion of the two love relationships will
be explored in Chapter 4.
Sieglinde BritonMlde
.<1 J f
/
/
/ / \ '
Huudius
//

Siegmuud
/ /
Gimther
X Siegfried
Figure 3.8 Parallel love triangles involving the Sword and Spear
Band 8 centers on Brunnhilde as she is put to sleep on the rock in Die Walkure
and awoken by Siegfried in the following opera. The dramatic relationship between these
two events is clear, but it is worth highlighting the fact that Brunnhilde asked Wotan to
surround her rock with fire specifically so that Siegfried could be the only one to
penetrate it and claim her as a bride. In Act III of Die Walkure, she sings:
Soil fesselnder Schlaf fest mich binden,

dem feigsten Manne zur leichten Beute:
dies Eine musst du erhoren,
was heil'ge Angst zu dir fleht!
Die schlafende schtitze mit scheuchenden Schrecken,
105
dass nur ein furchtlos freiester Held
hier auf dem Felsen einst mich fand!143
It is Siegfried of whom she sings, and the audience is alerted to this by the appearance of
the Siegfried motive on the words "ein furchtlos freiester Held," previously heard when
Brunnhilde implored Sieglinde to flee for the sake of her unborn child: "den hehrsten
Helden der Welt/hegst du, o Weib, im schirmendes Schooss!"144 Being awoken by
Siegfried is thus the fruition of plans set forthboth her plans to be to be won as bride by
only the most worthy of heroes, but also as a means by which Wotan's Grand Idea, which
did not succeed with Siegmund, may yet find realization. In other words, the scenes have
a reciprocal relationship. The earlier passage looks forward to the later passage
specifically, while the later looks backward to fulfill the specific foreshadowing of the
earlier one.
The order of musical material and the associated events that occur when Siegfried
comes to Brunnhilde's rock are a reversal of the events and musical material that
occurred when Wotan put Brunnhilde to sleep. The musical construction of the two
passages can thus be laid in a ring form, as shown in Figure 3.9. Because the passage in
Siegfried is not only longer but also incorporates musical and dramatic themes that had
not yet been developed in Die Walkiire, I have bracketed passages of unrelated music
simply as "interludes." Motives are grouped into "units" and "complexes." Complexes
are groups within the same box and represent motives which are sounded serially but can
be nonetheless sectioned off from each other. Units are motives which are set in
"Should enchanting sleep bind me to be the easy prize of the cowardly man: this one thing must you
hear, with powerful fear I implore you! The sleeping guard with dispersing terrors, that only a fearless,
most free hero might find me here on this rock" (285-6).
144 "you bear the noblest hero in the world, o Woman, in your shielding womb" (226).
106
counterpoint with one another and cannot be extracted without destroying the musical
texture. Units are indicated in the chart as groups of motives joined with braces.
For example, the second box on the left-hand side indicates a unit wherein the Sleeping
Brunnhilde motive is heard in counterpoint with Wotan's Farewell. By contrast, the box
opposite indicates a complex wherein Wotan's Farewell is heard first, and then
subsequently the Sleeping Brunnhilde is played (as with all such diagrams, the right side
should be read from bottom to top).
Die Walkiire Siegfried

Brunnhilde put to sleep Brunnhilde awoken
in 'not C7E in E/C
{sleeping Brunnhiidi' (interlude)

^Wotan's f-urcwcll Sleeping firiimiliildc
(interlude)
Wotan's J art-well
Sleeping Brunnhilde Sleeping Brunnhilde
Annunciation of Death
Annunciation of Death (interlude)
Annunciation of Death
Magic Fire Sleeping Brunnhilde

Magic Sleep Magic Sleep
^Sleeping Brunnhilde /'Siegfried's Horn
< Siegfried -/ Siegfried
(Ânnunciation of Death (^Magic Fire
Figure 3.9 Ring construction of related motives in Die Walkiire, Act III and Siegfried, Act III
107
The diagram begins with the moment when Wotan puts Briinnhilde to sleep. As
Wotan sings "so kusst er die Gottheit von dir!" his melody and its musical
accompaniment approach a cadence in C major. While the voice cadences there, the
harmony instead creates a deceptive cadence in the parallel minor, moving to Ab major
instead. At this point, a rotation of major thirds begins, and the passage ends in E major
with the Sleeping Briinnhilde music.
Once she is asleep, Wotan closes her helmet and covers her with her shield. This
is accompanied by a reiteration of the farewell music he sang earlier in the act in G#
minor and returns to the Sleeping Briinnhilde and the Annunciation of Death motives.
Wotan then calls for Loge to surround the rock with fire, and we hear the Magic Fire
music in E major. There is another statement of the Magic Sleep music, and then Wotan
sings "Wer meines Speeres Spitze furchtet/durchschreite das Feuer nie!" to the Siegfried
motive in counterpoint with the Magic Fire music. The opera ends with recalls of the
Annunciation of Death motive before ending in E major to the strains of the Magic Fire
and Sleeping Briinnhilde music.
The corresponding passage in Siegfried begins after the hero has broken Wotan's
spear and heads toward Briinnhilde's rock. We first hear the Magic Fire music in F
major in counterpoint with Siegfried's horn, then the Siegfried motive is added. As
Siegfried approaches the peak, we hear the Magic Sleep and the Sleeping Briinnhilde
motives in E major. The Annunciation of Death sounds just before an interlude of new
music unrelated to Die Walkure as Siegfried finds Briinnhilde at the top of the rock.
After Siegfried notices Briinnhilde's body, we hear Wotan's farewell music as he
removes the shield covering her body and the helmet covering her face (in the reverse
order that Wotan placed them there). There is new music here as Siegfried removes the
108
breastplate and learns fear for the first time and feels passion and love for Briinnhilde.
Finally, he awakens Briinnhilde with a kiss, and the music begins by juxtaposing E minor
and C major, reversing the move from C to E that occurred as Wotan kissed her to sleep.
It is a critical point that C was weakened by a deceptive cadence in the parallel minor in
the earlier moment. Similar to the discussion of the chromaticized appearance of C major
at the end of Das Rheingold, the later moment serves to normalize, or fix the earlier one.
Broadly speaking, E is treated as a governing and orienting tonality for the scene
as a whole. It begins by prolonging the dominant of E minor and remains in E minor for
quite some time. While the scene moves through a number of key areas, it returns to and
emphasizes E throughout and finally ends in E major. The music associates E with
Brunnhilde: specifically, her love for Wotan, the Walsungs, and Siegfried, and Wotan's
love for her. For example, Wotan sings his farewell to Brunnhilde in a passage which
begins with an emphasized E minor. Similarly, when Brunnhilde sings "Der diese Liebe
mir in's Herz gehaucht,/dem Willen, der dem Walsung mich gesellt,/ihm innig vertraut
trotzt' ich deinem Gebot,"145 she does so in a passage with a stunning turn from E minor
to E major, to the same music in the same key with which Wotan will agree to surround
her with the magic fire (See Example 3.10).
While E plays an important role in expressing Brunnhilde's love in this scene,
Wagner's treatment of C is considerably more interesting. Throughout the scene,
passages in C fail to cadence conclusively, or else the cadences are quickly undermined.
When Brunnhilde sings that it was for Wotan's love for Siegmund that she decided he
"For he who breathed this love into my heart, for his will which joined me with the Walsung, for him,
with whom I am deeply familiar, that I defied your command." (273-4).
109
274
BBUNNH
*-' Lie - beaiir in's Herz ge - haucht, demWil - len,derde

love _ . in- to my heart had breathed, whose will hadflaceiV,
Etwas breit
Wal - sungmichge - sellt, ihm. in-nigver - traut.

Will- sung at my side, true. on-ly to him,..
trotzt ich deinem Ge - bot,
m^^
thy word did I de - - fy.
If|3
So tha-test da,was so
Lefchaft. So thou hast done what so
~yr i^ *^ ny"y"
f +
P
#:
tEEfc ftEEfc i it-
dim.
at ^r== p,
^
Example 3.10 Die Walkiire, Act III, Scene 3
should be shielded, her melody is allowed to cadence in C, but on a weak plagal cadence,
and Wotan immediately brings the music back to E minor. (See Example 3.11).
In a similar passage, when Brunnhilde tells Wotan that Sieglinde carries the
sword he made for Siegmund, the sword motive appears in C major and almost cadences
110
:
yfc
P== ^^^^^f^^m
seh'n, was zu sehau'n so herb scbnerz - te dein Herzs dass Sieg - nmnd
cerm, which, so md to sight, preyed on that Sieg - mimd
Sctatz du ver- sag- test

might not be shield-ed.
^^^mfe
WOTAN.
TSSA
23! 3E|3E j$m rrir^
Du wasstest es so, uiid wagtest deunochdeaSchutz?
TAm knewest thou that, and nathlessgavehim thy shield?
Isft-
g^y !E3EEEEIEEEI EEEEElE
F
m. Ê^^ dt==t
Example 3.11 Die Walkure, Act III, Scene 3
when the V7 chord becomes a vii7 chord which is treated enharmonically to resolve back
to E. (See Example 3.12).
When Wotan first considered his punishment for her transgression, it appeared in
a first-stage of the Magic Sleep motive which prolonged C. Subsequent statements of the
Magic Sleep motive begin in Ab (this point will be explored in detail in Chapter 5), but it
is important that the particular statement of the motive which occurs as Brtinnhilde is put
to sleep is approached by an averted cadence in C.
The first statement of the Magic Sleep motive is a mere inkling of Wotan's plans
for Briinnhilde which would eventually be revised and realized in an expanded Magic
111
BRUNNH. lelmllA.
LJLg_H^^^f1^!!^,^
p secretly.
9 $ *! NT
PP=
Sie wall - ret das Schwert,das du Sieg-mund sctra. - fest. , ... .
as
She guard - eth the sword, that thou gat) - est Sieg -
* m
mund. (vehemently)
H*
Und das ich iiim in
The srvordthat I in
Sleep motive. This first motive prolongs C major, as does the music which follows, but
the passage modulates so as to cadence in D. This is especially notable, since that
cadence is undermined, and the tonality moves back to C minor for the next passage. It
would seem that the move to D was expressly designed to avoid a cadence in C. The
music once again modulates away from C for the cadence, this time in G minor. (See
Example 3.13).
Another way that C is undermined throughout this scene is through the many
appearances of the Siegfried motive. The motive is first heard in C minor in Scene 1 of
the same act, when Brunnhilde tells Sieglinde that she carries the world's most glorious
hero in her womb. The Siegfried motive will continue to be associated with C minor in
112
285
WOTAJL.
m fes -
iEJEfc^
ten Schlaf ver - seMiess' ich dicii:
slum - lev fast shalt thou be locked-.
the subsequent operas, however, it only appears once in C minor in Scene 3; during the
passage following the first Magic Sleep motive, which modulates away from C before
cadencing. Otherwise, the Siegfried motive appears once in G minor, twice in A minor,
and twice in E minor. One of the appearances in E minor occurs immediately before the
113
repetition of the E major music, expressing Wotan's love for Briinnhilde and his decision
to grant her wish. The last scene of Die Walkilre, then, paradoxically draws attention to
the importance of C as a key area through denying it. As Die Walkilre comes to a close,
C remains an absent key
As a result, the moment when Briinnhilde is put to sleep on a deceptive cadence to
Ab can be profitably understood as expressing both E and 'not C While both E and C
figure in to this moment, they are certainly not afforded the same prominence. It would
be less accurate to say that the motive begins in C than to suggest that the motive begins
with an allusion to, or an avoidance of C. But whereas the last scene of Die Walkilre
seems throughout to be concerned with avoiding C as much at is concerned with
expressing E as a central tonality, the end of Siegfried asserts both. Briinnhilde's
awakening by Siegfried both reverses the directionality of the progression and, by
offering C as a conclusive key area, completes the tonal pairing. In contrast to a more
simplistic strategy, whereby the repetition at the end of Siegfried might repeat a tonal
pairing from the end of Die Walkilre, the music realizes the pairing that was earlier only
alluded to in order to bring a sense of resolution to Briinnhilde's awakening. Although it
adopts a different strategy from a sonata movement, the recapitulation of the moment
when Briinnhilde is put to sleep is thus nonetheless treated as a harmonic event. Where a
sonata form fixes the tonality of the exposition by bringing the earlier themes into the key
of the tonic, this recapitulation fixes the harmonic structure by bringing both members of
the tonal pairing into equal prominence.
While this chapter has considered on a smaller-scale some of the basic
relationships that the ring structure can highlight, at the same time the examples have
pointed toward more complex recapitulatory relationships. Discussion of bands 3 and 4
114
have introduced reworkings of music related to Valhalla and the Rhinemaidens which is
developed in a much deeper way in relation to their functions in the drama as a whole.
Discussion of the love triangles involving Sieglinde and Briinnhilde have structural
importance in the drama which goes way beyond the moments in which the Spear and
Sword are broken. Harmonic implications across these scenesthe polarization between
Ab major of the Rhinemaidens and Db major of Valhalla and the importance of E and C
as a tonal pairing in the love relationship between Siegfried and Brunnhilderequire
closer inspection. The following two chapters will consider the more complicated
relationships across the central divide of the ring structure while bringing closure to a
study of harmonic relationships that have only begun to be explored.
115
Chapter 4
Love, Marriage, and the Major Bands
The brief study of the ring structure's minor bands in Chapter 3 demonstrated on a
small-scale the sort of relationships it is capable of elucidating. Yet beyond providing
fertile ground for analyzing remote, small-scale reminiscences, the ring structure can also
govern deeper thematic relationships. The Major Bands are distinguished from the Minor
Bands because they not only serve as guideposts for the repetition of major structural
points of the drama as a whole, but they also constitute miniature subrings. The present
chapter demonstrates that the overall ring structure does not just highlight a mere
similarity between the love stories of Siegmund and Sieglinde on the one hand and
Siegfried and Brunnhilde on the other, but that those stories are governed by their own
smaller-scale rings that provide internal organization while emphasizing the importance
of the stories within the overall Ring.
Of particular value is that the ring structure provides a methodology for
considering later moments of the cycle to be recapitulations of earlier ones, particularly
those in which the musical or dramatic relationships are less obvious. Once there is a
critical mass of evidence supporting the existence of a ring structure and the pattern of
the structure begins to crystalize, the analyst may wish to examine moments of emphasis
in the drama and determine whether a potential mirror imageeven, or especially, one
which on first glance appears to be a brief aside of little importance.
116
Moreover, commonalities among a set of points along the ring structure invites
the analyst to explore the possibility that they may be governed by a deeper musical or
dramatic relationship. While exploring the relationships across the Major bands of
Figure 3.3, the present chapter also explores its interaction with and development of a
musical thread alluded to at the end of Chapter 3: Siegfried and Brunnhilde's union as
expressed through a tonal pairing of E and C and a musical emplotment of the new
redemptive ethos of love sparked by Siegmund and Sieglinde and realized by Siegfried
and Brunnhilde.
Love is one of many central themes of the cycle as a whole and its importance is
underscored by the fact that the Ring's first episodes concern the Rhinemaidens'
flirtatious advances toward Alberich and the barren, apparently loveless marriage
between Wotan and Fricka. Love is the foremost issue in Act I of Die Walkure, as it
chronicles the attempts of Siegmund and Sieglinde to realize their passion for one another
even as the ugly oaths she had no choice but to make with Hunding prove to be both of
their downfalls. Ultimately, the cycle will end with the redemption of love (and
marriage) by Siegfried and Brunnhilde, who will realize a bond strong enough to persist
through deception, betrayal, and even death.
1. The Prehistory of Love
In the universe of the Ring, contractual marriage long predates romantic marriage.
Contractual marriage is a social construct, existing without consideration of love, and is a
consequence of the world order established by Wotan. Although he is the ruler of the
gods, it is only through enacting and honoring agreements that he has any power at all.
Therefore, it is fitting that the prototypical contractual marriage is exemplified by the
117
relationship between Wotan and Frickaa loveless and barren union which is
nonetheless considered to be sacred. The relationships between Sieglinde and Hunding,
Brunnhilde and Gunther, and Siegfried and Gutrune are all contractual marriages. The
Ring treats romantic marriage both as the ideal to which love should aspire and as
incompatible with social norms; genuine love between two people seems not to exist
within the social world presented in the Ring. This is one reason why the prototypical
romantic marriage, exemplified by Siegmund and Sieglinde, is doomed; though their
relationship is founded on a genuine love for one another, it is not only considered to be
incongruent with the societal constructs of marriage but outright illicit.146 Brunnhilde
and Siegfried are the only other couple in the cycle to achieve a romantic marriage, one
which will serve as a structural repetition that completes, in the sense of perfecting, the
one attempted by Siegmund and Sieglinde.
It was Wagner's intention that the complete Ring cycle consist of three operas and
a prelude.147 Das Rheingold has a different character than the three nights which will
follow. Among the basic distinctions, its brevity and lack of intermissions lie in sharp
contrast against the other three operas, each of which contains three distinct, full-length
acts. Further differences have been explored by previous writers through the lens of
genre. For example, Robert Bailey attributes a classical progression of dramatic modes
to the last three operashe considers Die Wcdkure to be a pathos, Siegfried a comedy,
Fricka makes it clear through her line of argumentation in Act II of Die Walkure that the incestuous
nature of the relationship, while offensive to her sensibilities, by no means represents the primary reason
for her intercession.
147
More accurately, he considered the cycle a "Buhnenfestspieljur drei Tage undeinen Vorabend," a stage
festival play for three days and one eve.
118
and Gotterdammerung a tragedy, but he refers to Das Rheingold simply as a Prologue.
Peter Conrad suggests instead a Romantic progression of the literary styles each opera of
the cycle represents. According to Conrad, Gotterdammerung best exemplifies the Epic,
as the epic is the literary mode which deals with dynastic machinations and the fall of
civilization; Siegfried is a Romance, a pastoral mode which focuses on the maturation of
the young hero; Die Waikure is a Novel, as it is concerned with the domestic and social
affairs of Hunding and Wotan; and Das Rheingold is an "Ibsenite" Drama, a play which
is in its essence a philisophical debate. Conrad argues that the Ring "arches across the
history of romanticism," with each opera accounting for a different romantic idiom.149
Actually, Bailey's and Conrad's positions are not that far from each other; the differences
between their typologies result not from a disagreement about type but rather a simple
difference in focus. Bailey's "modes" describe generalized plot structures (or in the case
of the pathos, a mere rhetorical strategy) which could be filled in a myriad of ways;
Conrad's descriptions are concerned much less with plot arcs than with the operas'
characters. It is thus easy to synthesize the two: Gotterdammerung is a tragedy
concerned with not just the fall of Siegfried but that of civilization as a whole; Siegfried
is a comedy whose subject is the maturation and ultimate success of the hero; Die
Waikure is a Pathos, leading us to feel emotional sympathies with two households:
Hunding's in Acts I and II and the familial relationship between Brunnhilde and Wotan in
Act III. Finally, Das Rheingold, as a prologue, is tasked with providing the necessary
dramatic background which will be later developed by the other operas, and this is
Robert Bailey, "The Structure of the Ring and its Evolution," Nineteenth Century Music, I (July, 1977),
49-50.
149
Peter Conrad, Romantic Opera and Literary Form, (University of California Press, 1977), 35-42.
119
performed by presenting the philosophical underpinnings of the Ring's world when the
drama proper begins.
Thematically, Das Rheingold is not concerned with heroic acts, as the later operas
are, but with petty political machinations. Whereas Siegmund's love for Sieglinde is so
transcendent that he is willing to forego the splendor of Valhalla if it means being
without her, the gods are wholly selfish, with no interests beyond satiating their desires.
If Wotan wants a fortress built, and if Fricka wants a fortress built so that Wotan is less
likely to carouse, then the fortress is built with no regard to consequences or cost.
It is therefore in this preliminary evening that the groundwork is set for the ethical
debate concerning love relationships that will be enacted throughout the rest of the
drama. It is Das Rheingold'which establishes the pervading ethic of the contractual
marriage. The first appearance of such a relationship is the marriage between Wotan and
Fricka, a marriage which does not appear to be happy or satisfying for either party.
Because the contractual marriage is one of commodityrecall that the cost of marrying
Fricka was Wotan's eyeit is in a sense a repetition of the original sin of the Ring:
Alberich's decision to sacrifice love in order to acquire the Rhinegold, and more
importantly (as Alberich is not interested in the glittering trifle), the power to rule the
world.
The original sinsale of love for poweris not borne by Alberich alone. Scene
2 begins on the verge of the troubling possibility that another contractual marriage is soon
to happen. Valhalla's construction by the giants, now complete, must be paid for, and the
agreed-upon cost of construction is Freia. Deryck Cooke has argued that Freia is more
120
than just the goddess of youthfulness, but is the goddess of love. Therefore, in
Wotan's contract with the giants, he has both repeated Alberich's original sin by selling
love for power, a point that Fricka underscores when she sings "Um der Macht und
Herrschaft miissigen Tand/verspielst du in lasterndem Spott/Liebe und Weibes Wert?"151;
while propogating the ethic that treats marriage as a social contract which has absolutely
nothing to do with love. The vulgarity of the sale of Freia to the giants is made explicit
when she is literally measured against the gold, Tarnhelm, and ring which they accept as
an adequate substitute.
This is the state of the world of the Ring as Die Walkure opens: relationships
between men and women are based not on love but rather ownership and social
contract,152 and it is the state of affairs that exists in the Hunding household at the
beginning of Act I. Asked by Siegmund whose house he is in, Sieglinde responds, "Diess
Haus und diess Weib sind Hundings Eigen."153 Sieglinde's introduction establishes
herself as equivalent to the housemerely a piece of Hunding's property. Throughout
the narrative through which we come to learn Sieglinde's and Siegmund's back stories
(and as they become more and more aware that they are brother and sister even as they
become more and more aware of their love for each other), we discover that Sieglinde
was kidnapped as a girl and was forced to marry Hunding. We also learn that Siegmund
has just arrived exhausted and unarmed from a remarkably similar situation, his attempt
150
Deryck Cooke, I Saw the World End: A Study of Wagner's Ring (Oxford, 1979), 155.
151
"For the idle baubles of power and lordship would you wager love and woman's worth in slanderous
mockery?" (62). Unless otherwise noted, translations are by the author. Page numbers appear in
parentheses according to Footnote 4 in Chapter 1.
152
Even in the time of Gdtterddmmerung, it is an ethic which will continue to exist. When Hagen calls the
vassals to arms, announcing that Gunther returns with his bride, their initial assumption as to the dire nature
of the call is that perhaps her kinsmen are in angry pursuit.
153 ' " j n j s n o u s e and this woman belong to Hunding" (10).
121
to protect a girl who was about to be kidnapped and forced to marry. Immediately,
Siegmund is positioned as sympathetic with respect to Sieglinde, as both of their histories
share an experience with the fear and inhumanity implicit in the contractual marriage.
Through the echoing of their shared experience with contractual marriages will the seeds
be sown for an alternative paradigm for love and will serve as a focal point around which
a ring structure will be developed. The roots of the new concept of love in the drama,
then, begin with Siegmund and Sieglinde.154
As Act I ends in a fervor of passion (William Kinderman interprets the
penultimate chord of the acta vii7 chord over a pedal Gas the moment of
Siegfried's conception),155 the audience's sympathies rest with Sieglinde and Siegmund.
There is a problem, however, which arises at the beginning of Act II. After Wotan has
told Brunnhilde his plans for Siegmund's battle with Hunding, Fricka arrives according
to her role as the goddess of marriage to intercede with Wotan on Hunding's behalf.
Fricka eventually wins the argument, demonstrating that although Wotan wishes for
Siegmund to be the free hero who will recover the ring from Fafner, he has been guided
and aided by Wotan every step of the way. He therefore is still Wotan's agent and thus
not able to act freely or independently at all.
It is Fricka's first line of argumentation that reveals the standing ethos of
contractual marriage. Her opening gambit, "Wie thorig und taub du dich stellst,/als
154
If "true love" begins with Siegmund and Sieglinde, then what is the love that is represented by the
Rhinemaidens? In this case, it is a bill of goods. The Rhinemaidens have no intention of making good on
their flirtatious advances. They are siren songs, intended entirely to distract nearby adventurers from their
gold. Yet if we consider alongside Cooke that Freia is a goddess of love, then it would seem that love must
have pre-existed Siegmund and Sieglinde, at least in some capacity. Even if this is true, however, we
certainly never witness it within the action of Das Rheingold, nor are we given any indication that the
meaning of the love that Freia represents is of the same order as that experienced by Siegmund and
Sieglinde.
155
William Kinderman, "Richard Wagner: Music and Drama, Aesthetics, Politics," Seminar led in
Bayreuth, Germany, August 10, 2007.
122
wiisstest fuhrwahr du nicht,/dass um der Ehe heiligen Eid,/den hart verletzten, ich
klage!"156 belies a real ethical problem. Fricka ascribes the sanctity of a "holy oath" to
Hunding and Sieglinde's marriage, a brutal, barbaric arrangement that the audience
perceives as anything but holy. Fricka personifies a rigid ontological belief in the law of
marriage. There is no room in her understanding for extenuating circumstances, in this
case the fact that it was a marriage contracted against Sieglinde's willany oath sworn
by Sieglinde was certainly made under duress. The audience sides with Wotan in this
debate, and continues to do so, even when Fricka raises the objection that, being brother
and sister, their love is unnatural.
Eventually, the crux of Fricka's complaint emerges, and it becomes clear that her
intercession on Hunding's behalf has nothing to do with her professional opinion on his
marriage, but rather that it stands in as a complaint about her own marriage: "O was klag'
ich um Ehe und Eid,/da zuerst du selbst sie versehrt."157 Fricka's strong position on the
matter is related to her own experience with Wotan's infidelity. She so strongly wants
him to intervene in Hunding's case because in truth it is has been the holy oaths of her
own marriage which had been so bitterly offended by Wotan's carousing.
The emergence of the romantic marriage from the otherwise bleak world order of
the contractual marriage is signified through the use of the word "Braut," which, up to the
point of Wotan and Fricka's dispute, has only been used to describe the position
Sieglinde occupies with respect to SiegmundSieglinde is never referred to as
Hunding's Braut, and Fricka is never referred to as Wotan's Braut. Instead, wives are
referred to only with the words Frau and Weib, as in Scene 2 of Das Rheingold when
156
"How oblivious and deaf you present yourself, as though you truly did not know that I complain of the
bitter offense of marriage's holy oath" (88).
157
"Oh, how I complain of marriage and oaths which you yourself broke first" (92).
123
Wotan sings, "Wolltest du Frau in der Feste mich fangen..." and later, "Um dich zum
Weib zu gewinnen."158 Similarly, Hunding only ever refers to Sieglinde as Frau.
Siegmund's usage of the word Braut connotes a significant intimacy that simply does not
exist between Wotan and Fricka or Hunding and Sieglinde.159 When Siegmund sings of
Sieglinde and refers to her as "brdutliche Schwester" and later ends the act by singing,
"Braut und Schwester bist du dem Bruder," he alerts us to a radical difference in their
relationship from any we have yet come across. Their love is presented as ideal, and the
term Braut ironically signifies their relationship as a kind of marriage above marriage.
Furthermore, the change in the meaning of marriage is not simply a subjective experience
on the part of Siegmund and Sieglinde, but is treated as an objective reality by
Brunnhilde who, when asked by her sister who she protects, responds, "Sieglinde ist es,
Siegmunds Schwester und Braut," thereby affirming their relationship.
In Gotterdammerung, Brunnhilde will eventually also be referred to as Gunther's
Braut, a usage which can be read as ironic. The audience knows that Brunnhilde is
already Siegfried's bride. Furthermore, we also know that Gunther is simply incapable of
winning Brunnhilde for himselfwhen Brunnhilde is won as Gunther's bride, it is only
through Siegfried acting in his stead. Therefore, when Brunnhilde is called Gunther's
Braut, in reality she is only the Braut of the man who twice travelled to the rock to win
"Would you, wife, trap me in the fortress..." "To win you as wife..." In modern German, the word Weib
is typically used as moderately pejorative slang for "woman," such as "broad" or "dame," although in
archaic usage it was much more neutral, as it is also used throughout The Ring to refer to wives and women
in general. Siegmund uses it at the beginning of Scene 3 ("em Weib sah' ich, wonnig und hehr") and
Siegfried, when he attempts to awaken Brunnhilde sings "Erwache! Erwache! Heiliges Weib!" In these
cases, the context makes it hard to read the words with a pejorative connotation.
159
When Wotan sings to Fricka: "Nichts lerntest du, wollt' ich dich lehren,/was nie du erkennen
kannst,/eh' nicht ertagte die Tat" ("Even though I tried to teach you, you've never learned to recognize
things until after they actually occur," translation by Nico Castel, Der Ring des Nibelungen, ed. Marcie
Stapp (New York: Leyerle Publications, 2003), 163.) (95-6), we might note that "marriage grounded in
love" is on the list of things of which Fricka has never heard.
124
her hand. Similarly, Gutrune is never referred to as Siegfried's Brout; she could only
ever be Siegfried's Weib.
Although a significant change in the meaning of marriage is catalyzed in the love
between Siegmund and Sieglinde, they are unable to realize it in its fullness; their story
only posits the promise of romantic love and serves as an expository point which will be
recapitulated as the drama comes to an end. The love of Siegfried and Briinnhilde as it
blooms in Act III of Siegfried and is threatened over the course of Gdtterddmmerung is
treated as a repetition of the primal scene of the love of Siegmund and Sieglinde in the
Lacanian sense described in Chapter 3.
Wagner begins articulating parallels between the two couples in Act III of Die
Walkiire, as when Briinnhilde explains to Wotan that she acted in response to witnessing
Siegmund's love for Sieglinde:
Tod kundend trat ich vor ihn,

gewahrte sein Auge, horte sein Wort;
ich vernahm des Helden heilige Not;
tonend erklang mir des Tapfersten Klage:
freiester Liebe furchtbares Leid,
traurigsten Mutes machtigster Trotz!
Meinem Ohr erscholl, mein Aug erschaute,
was tief im Busen das Herz
zu heil'gem Beben mir traf.160
It was this love which moved her to disobey Wotan's command, and it is this love that
she will eventually experience with Siegfried. Thus, as Sieglinde was Siegmund's Braut,
so too will Briinnhilde become Siegfried's Braut. In fact, there are many similarities
between the love stories of Die Walkiire on the one hand and Siegfried and
Gdtterddmmerung on the other. Both involve incestuous relationships between
"Death's tidings I brought to him, saw his eyes, heard his words; I heard of the hero's holy need;
resounding in me his most courageous lament: freest love, most fearsome suffering, saddest courage, most
powerful defiance! My ears heard, my eyes saw, what sacred trembles struck deep in my bosom" (271-2).
125
descendents of Wotan, and in both pairs of relationships, the woman names the man.
Whereas in Act I of Die Walkure Sieglinde sings, "Siegmund, so nenn' ich dich!"161 in
Act III as Brunnhilde sends Sieglinde off to protect her unborn child, she advises:
Verwahr' ihm die starken Schwertes Stucken;

seines Vaters Walstatt entfuhrt ich sie glucklich:
der neugefugt das Schwert einst schwingt,
den Namen nehm' er von mir:
1 ft*)
Siegfried erfreu' sich des Sieg's!"
As was explored in Chapter 3, the sword also plays a fundamental role in both
marriages. It is through pulling it from the tree in Act I of Die Walkure that Siegmund
fulfills his destiny and proves his worth to Sieglinde. Similarly, it is with the sword that
Siegfried slays Famer, winning the horde and the ability to hear the bird's song, which
advises him to search for Brunnhilde. Lastly, as already described, the encounter in
which Siegfried confronts Wotan and shatters the spear with Nothung is a structural
repetition of Act II of Die Walkure, when Wotan had used the power of his spear to
shatter Nothung.
As an echo of Siegmund, it is not only Wotan's task that Siegfried completes, but
he also perfects the love of Siegmund and Sieglinde in his marriage to Brunnhilde, which
persists even through the deception and chicanery of Gotterdammerung. Although
Brunnhilde will eventually be forced into a social marriage (and Siegfried will enter into
his own with Gutrune), they are marriages which in the new order of love are utterly
unsustainable. Neither Gutrune nor Gunther are worthy of their new spouses, nor are
they able to hold onto their new marriages. Although they ritualistically call on the gods
161
"Siegmund, thusly I name you!" (69-70).
162
"Keep for him the sword's mighty pieces that I fortunately took from his father's battlefield: for him
who will forge and wield the sword anew, take from me the name Siegfried who will rejoice in triumph"
(227-8).
126
to bless the festivities of the wedding, specifically slaughtering a lamb on Fricka's behalf
in order to secure her blessing, there is no call for her intercession as there was by
Hunding, nor would the gods in there present state of inactivity be likely to answer their
plaints anyway. When the cycle ends, it is with Brunnhilde singing, "Siegfried!
Siegfried! Sieh! Selig griisst dich dein Weib."163 The reality of their marriage is thus
articulated, and their love is consecrated by the fire of their funeral pyre.
2. Siegmund and Sieglinde
The unsuccessful love between Siegmund and Sieglinde provides the exposition
for the repetition and completion which will be realized by Siegfried and Brunnhilde
across the central divide of the overall ring structure. Act I of Die Walkiire begins in
medias res, and the love between Siegmund and Sieglinde is sparked immediately and
develops over the course of the act. It is the ordering of the events associated with that
development which are structured and balanced according to a ring structure, which is
laid out in Figure 4.1. While the repetition that features into the organization of Siegfried
and Brunnhilde's story approaches Lacan's explication of repetition automism discussed
at the beginning of Chapter 3, the repetition in Siegmund and Sieglinde's story would be
better described as a formal organization pattern.
163
"Siegfried! Siegfried! See! Blessedly your wife greets you!" Gdtterddmmerung (335-6).
127
Plot Elements Key Areas! Plot Elements Key Areas
T Sicgmund Arrives Dml ; M->Dm Siegmund and

Sicglinde Flee
Em^GM
Siegmund sings of Dm -Am -AM Siegmund pulls the CM

being weaponless .sword from the tree
Siegmund names Dm->OM Sieglinde names DM

3 himselfWehwalt" Siegmund
0
1 lunding notices the Sieglinde reeogni/e> (. M->t'M
1I -7 VII 7
resemblance between their resemblance
l-bm
Sieglinde and Siegmund.
0
Hunding becomes aware Gin Spring enters; love BbMDbM
of Sieglinde's intense in full bloom
interest in Siegmund
Siegmund":. slor\ inn 'Am -I m Sieglinde's slots l-in . I . M *

6 Em --} M -
Am
.....
0 Hunding mocks
Siegmund for being
weaponless
Cm Siegmund sings of
the promised sword;
notices gleam from tree
FmCM
A .... 7
Figure 4.1 Ring structure of dramatic events and associated key areas in Die Walkure, Act I
Figure 4.1 was developed primarily from study of the dramatic elements of act;
this is a result of the fact that Act I is almost entirely driven by recitative which furthers
the narrative, with the arioso at the entrance of Spring being the primary exception. The
events on the right side of the diagram balance those on the left side quite nicely.
Whereas the act begins with Siegmund's arrival during a storm, it ends with him fleeing
with Sieglinde in the fresh air of spring. Attention is twice drawn to the fact that
Siegmund is unarmed on the left side, initially as one of his first utterances upon arriving,
and later with Hunding's mocking advice that he arm himself well, as they will fight in
the morning. Once Hunding leaves, Siegmund sings that his father had promised him a
128
sword when he would need it most, and he notices a glint coming from the ash tree
around which the hut is built; he will later find his father's promise kept as well
Sieglinde's prophecy fulfilled when he removes the sword from the tree, thereby
balancing his initial vulnerability.
Siegmund's name features as an important part of Act I. He initially identifies
himself as Wehwalt, and the strophes of his extended story in Scene 2 are punctuated by
the names he accepts, "Wehwalt" and "Wolfing," and those he does not, "Friedmund"
and "Frohwalt." Sieglinde eventually settles the matter of his name, calling him
Siegmund at the end of the act, which balances his self-identification as "Wehwalt" at its
beginning.
Bands 4 and 5 involve observational asides by Ffunding that are fulfilled at length
on the right side. It was Ffunding who first noticed the resemblance between Siegmund
and Sieglinde, a resemblance about which Sieglinde will sing at length in Scene 3; and it
was Ffunding who first vocalized Sieglinde's obvious attraction to Siegmund, an
attraction which over the course of the act blooms into a deep mutual love that finds its
apotheosis in the Spring aria. Band 6 relates Sieglinde's story of her wedding day to
Siegmund's story of his upbringing.
The texture of Die Walkure is considerably simpler than the music Wagner would
compose upon returning from his hiatus and finishing Act III of Siegfried. Much of the
music is composed in a recitative style, and while it is difficult to determine an overall
classical harmonic organization governing the entire act, key areas are relatively well
defined. Therefore, with few exceptions, it is a relatively simple task to assign key areas
to the plot elements in the above chart, and therefore I have included the associated key
areas on the diagram. The first three elements both begin in a minor key, but then move
129
to a major key as the latent love between Siegmund and Sieglinde becomes more and
more apparent: D minor moves to its relative major when Sieglinde brings Siegmund a
drink; Siegmund's tale of being weaponless, which began in D minor and moved to A
minor as he describes fleeing his foes suddenly bursts into A major now that, in
Sieglinde's presence, "die Sonne lacht mir nun neu."164 Then, when Siegmund names
himself, and says that he will stay, he cadences in D minor, but the music immediately
moves to major during the transition to Scene 2, during which, according to the stage
directions, they both gaze emotionally at each other.
Although it does not include every event, the ring structure tracks Act I from
beginning to end. Scenes 1 and 2 constitute the first half of the cycle, whereas Scene 3
constitutes the second half. The most notable musical feature of the second half is that it
constitutes a turn from minor to major. Many of the pairings feature relative and parallel
mode relations. For example, Hunding mocks Siegmund for being unarmed in C minor,
which moves to major when Siegmund notices the glint of the hilt, and is subsequently
punctuated by a strong emphasis on C major. Similarly, when Hunding notices
Sieglinde's interest in Siegmund, he sings about it in a recitative in G minor. When love
comes to fruition, and spring enters the hall, it occurs in the relative major, Bb. When
Siegmund names himself "Wehwalt" at the beginning of the act, he does so in D minor;
when Sieglinde finally names him at the end of the act, it occurs in the parallel major.
Siegmund's story and its repetition in Sieglinde's are of critical importance in the
development of the love theme. Siegmund's story begins with a musical introduction by
The sun now smiles upon me anew." (12).
130
a motive first associated with his sympathy with Sieglinde, as she sang that disaster has
made itself at home in Hunding's house (Example 4.1).
Example 4.1 Introduction to Siegmund's tale
Subsequently, he sings a line of prologue in which he offers three possible names for
himself, two he rejects and one he accepts. Each name is suggested in its own local key
area: Friedmund in C minor, Frohwalt in Bb major, and Wehwalt in G minor, and the
prologue ends with a 9-8 suspension (See Example 4.2).
The prologue is a formal device, as the story which follows is similarly broken
into three parts, each governed by their own local tonal centers, and each punctuated with
self-identifications. Between each part of the story, Hunding and Sieglinde interject with
commentary and request that he continue. Because the story is in a recitative style, local
harmonies fluctuate rapidly based on the emotional content of the associated dramatic
text. Figure 4.2 provides a harmonic analyses of each of the basslines of the three parts
of the story with a gloss of his narration appears above the staff. Notice especially that
each part of the story ends with a name. As Part 1 ends, Siegmund identifies himself as a
Wolfing; as Part 2 ends, he says that his story explains why he must call himself
Wehwalt. The final identification comes in the epilogue to the story, which is presented
and annotated as Example 4.3. The epilogue repeats the framing motive that began the
introduction, and his final line leads to a cadence ending with a 9-8 appoggiatura just as
his prologue did.
131
Framing 9-8
motion
=F^ -r yi t -UI^PES
Fried-mund darf ichnieht heis-sen; Froh-waltmoehtieh wohi sein: doch Weh - wait muss ichmreh nen-nen.
tL,
7-J'i- ty * ^
'9:1,4- - 'J >" [ i- ^ E 3EEEEE
:
-* w : J zjr-
6 6
4
c: Vv B>: ii g: vii, ,v. Hi:
Example 4.2 Prologue to Siegmund's story: three possible names.

Siegmund's tale, Part 1
Measure: 21/4/3 22/1/3 ' 22/2/4 22/4/1 23/1/1 23/4/1 24/1/2
Context: Father Sister Loss of sister Hunting Returns to find House burned, mother dead, Father and son Identifies self as
and mother with father house is empty sister gone; Neidung's deed. fled; lived in wild "Wolfing"
^ ^ =5^
Kf
vJ #
7 \6 b6
(=1 Ml V VI ) (=V I4 Ml I V^V) (=11 V I V VI V II V I IV I 1,11 V I

' . . . - ' V '. III
Bill I IV I

Measure: 25/1/4 26/1/4 26/2/3 26/3/1 26/4/3
Context: Neidungs Father and son Separated Discovers empty (Valhalla Craves Always
attack fight valiantly from Father wolfskin motive!) company mistrusted
mm M .9 s *L_ Jr*~^ -6
^ ' mr m
6 8-
I 6 6I t|l| 66 '
(=1 V) (=IV I V I II) (=V I V IV I) (=V VI II V I VI) (V_,V V J 11 v
> (V^>in v i v_v

W\ I III ' ' V IV
Measure: 27/2/4 27/4/2

Context: Always meets
with feuds

Measure: 29/1/2 29/3/3 30/3/1 31/2/2 .31/4/1
Context: Girl calls for help; Siegmund Her grief Her kinsmen Loses shield and Flees; girl lays
intercedes, slays her attacking brothers surge sword; girl dies lifeless
9-H nn c 1; 5 6 7
*>98 7 6 H f
, 56 5 5 I
34 jj
1 (=i v vi v v^v vi i) v : vi iv v (IN) VII V IV V I)
m a) v
Figure 4.2 Analyses of the three parts of Siegmund's tale.
133
Furthermore, the tonal centers of each of the three parts of the story reverse the
tonal ground presented by the prologue, which moved from C minor to Bb major to G
minor. Now, the individual parts of the story reverse the course, beginning in G minor,
moving through A minor, and ending in C minor. Although there is an apparent
discrepancy between the Bb major in the prologue and A minor within the story, it can be
reconciled by noting that Bb major was established almost entirely through its dominant,
F major; the turn to its relative minor represents the shift in identification from what he
wishes he could be named in the second part of the prologue, Frohwalt, to what he must
call himself in part two of the story, Wehwalt. The space of Siegmund's story may be
diagrammed as a ring structure as in Figure 4.3. The prologue is represented by the
semicircle at the top and along the left side, and the right side constitutes the body of the
story. The appearance of the Valhalla motive during Part 2 juts out of the side of the
diagram, as the music makes an unexpected modulation to the
Siegmund's tale, epilogue
Framing motive 6 6 5
7 5 4 . 3
bll VI V j,iV II V I
Example 4.3 Epilogue to Siegmund's tale
134
\ u l Tricdmund": Noi "Tricdiiiiind":
tC Miiuir) (t iMJIKH)
Not "Frohwalt"; Is " Wehwalt";
(Bb Major) (A Minor)
Hill "Wehuah": N j "\\ dl I'liiy":
id Minor) (li Minor)
Figure 4 3 Ring diagram of Siegmund's tale
dominant of A minor. Finally, the framing motive and the 9-8 motion at the cadences of
Siegmund's first and last lines provide a latch, bringing the structure back to where it
began.
As outlined in Figure 4.1, Sieglinde's story balances Siegmund's in the act's
overall ring structure. Sieglinde's tale is much briefer than Siegmund's, as it only
narrates one event: Wotan's arrival during her wedding to Hunding. Figure 4.4 is a
harmonic analysis of her tale. Whereas Siegmund's story spanned a number of key areas,
Sieglinde's story primarily centers on E as a tonic and simply shifts modality, before
ending in A minor. Sieglinde's tale also incorporates statements of the Valhalla motive,
and these correspond to the turn from E minor to major. Because of its brevity,
Sieglinde's tale does not contain any formal features of ring construction, but simply tells
its narrative from start to finish. A form diagram for Sieglinde's tale appears as Figure
135
Sieglinde's tale
Measure: 44/2/2 44/4/2 46/3/1 47/1/1 '
Context: Men gathered for Hunting's Stranger enters All feared Hxcept Sieglinde. Buries sword into No one could (Valhalla!) Realizes who
wedding; she sits sadly hail (Valhalla: his gaze for whom he had compassion. tree (Sword motives) remove the sword the stranger was and who
can win thcjswijrji^
-6 2. 8 t i i # I? I s - #5-6 . % |5
VI II iV 1 V I IV VI V i v bir v * i VII v/v vii i v
IV
Figure 4.4 Analysis of Sieglinde's tale

4.4, and emphasizes the appearances of the Valhalla motive to highlight their similarity to
to the one that appears during Siegmund's tale.
Men j.ithered for wedding

(E Minor)
Valhalla moliie M i a n ^ i amies. jam:;

l l Major) smud inliureo
Nune 1:111 iL'ir.nic sword

il Mmoi1
Valhalla nmtiie Sieiilinde realizes who

l l M<)|ori the siranuei u .is:
And who may win suoul

(A Minor)
Figure 4.5 Diagram of Sieglinde's tale
Noting that both Siegmund's and Sieglinde's stories contain appearances of the
Valhalla motive raises the question of whether these tales interact in more complex ways
than simply balancing each other across the ringthey do. Figure 4.6 brings together the
above diagrams of the two stories. The Valhalla motives are not just similarities between
these stories, but they serve as a point at which the two nest together. We heard the
Valhalla motive during Siegmund's tale when father and son were separated, and the only
trace Siegmund could find of his father was an empty wolf pelt. Sieglinde's tale fills in
what was missing in Siegmund's story as she tells him where it was his father went.
Furthermore, the Valhalla motive, as the point of union of the two stories, appears as a
musical symbol for their shared parentage.
137
NU'ii t'.illk'U'il loi \Minj:
il Mini"!
Not "'1 McJimmd": Nut "11 iiHliniiiul":
(C Minor) (C Minor)
Viilhuilii iikui%L' Snaiijicr aiTi\i:s. j.iii)-.
(1 M.IIOI l sword into i r w
1 M .1 . li"
Valhalla moi'-.i- Nuns" I'.III ivniiHv- siioiil
i;* v>ni\**m , (F. Maior> (E Minor)
i l l h M.iioi i
i \ Miliol)
\.ilh;ill:i motive SicL'tiiulL- r c j l i / f s who

(I M j j o l ) Iho striiniiorwas:
Hill "Weh all": Is .1 "Wiillliij:":
\<.i Minoi) (Ci Minor)

And who may win sword.
A ( A Minor)
Figure 4.6 Union of Siegmund's and Sieglinde's tales
It is not immediately obvious what might be constitute a governing key structure
for the act as a whole. Robert Bailey follows Lorenz's interpretation: Acts I and II of Die
Walkure constitute a unit with D minor as a tonic beginning with Siegmund's arrival at
Hunding's hut and his death at Hunding's hand.165 However, the turn to major for the
second half of Figure 4.1 would make it difficult to hear D minor as a governing tonality
for Act I in isolation, as does the amount of time it spends in key areas of questionable
relation to D minor. A more interesting possibility is that the act points toward C, as all
of the key areas in the chart have currency in C major-minor (including the Neapolitan)
and the multiple emphasized appearances of the Sword motive in C major further imbue
the key area with a sense of yet-unrealized potential. Not only is this reading contained
within the abstract harmonic structure of the act, but it serves a powerful hermeneutic
165
Bailey, "Structure of the Ring" 54.
138
purpose that builds upon the observations in Chapter 3 concerning the chromaticized C
major in Das Rheingold and the avoidance and weakening of C which will occur in Act
III of Die Walkure, and their subsequent resolutions in Siegfried and Gdtterddmmerung.
In this reading, the G major with which the act ends suggests a half cadence seeking
resolution to C. Because Siegmund's story begins and ends in D minor, however,
resolution to C will need to wait for Siegfried, who, in his marriage to Briinnhilde, will
perfect the love left unresolved for Siegmund and Sieglinde.
Interpretation of Figure 4.6 can be further refined with an underlying orientation
toward C major in mind. The Valhalla motive does not just demarcate the point of union
between the two stories or their shared parentage, but also functions as a point of sexual
union, as the single appearance of the Valhalla motive in Siegmund's tale fits into the
opening created by the two appearances in Sieglinde's tale. Finally, E as a tonality
governed almost all of Sieglinde's story (the remaining portion of which appears in A
minor, the key of Siegmund's identification as "Wehwalt," which appears when she sings
that she knows who it is who will win the sword), while Siegmund's story was framed by
C minor and G minor. By articulating E as a central tonality, Sieglinde completes the C
major triad outlined by these three roots. The two stories thus containand through
coupling bring togetherthe genetic code of the tonality of their unborn son.
Crucially, it is this same C major that, as we noted in Chapter 3, will be
articulated through avoidance in Act III; the absent C'gfried lies gestating beneath the
musical texture in the story of his conception, as well as in the story of his future bride's
fall from godhood.
139
3. Siegfried and Brunnhilde
In contrast to Act I of Die Walkiire, where Sieglinde's marriage to Hunding was
unrelated (at least in a formal sense) to her marriage to Siegmund, the stories of
Brunnhilde's wooings in Siegfried and Gotterdammerung show that Siegfried's
abduction of Brunnhilde on Gunther's behalf figures as a corrupted repetition of his first
arrival on the rock. This embeds one repetition, Siegfried's two journeys to the rock,
within his larger-scale repetition of his parents' stories; across the divide from the story
of Sieglinde's marriages to Hunding and Siegmund is the related story of Brunnhilde's
marriages to Gunther and Siegfried. As we have seen in Chapter 1, this story also takes
the form of a subring, which is reproduced for convenience as Figure 4.7.
This subring in particular highlights the artificiality of excising material for
analysis, as it incorporates Brunnhilde's awakening into the left side of its Band 3,
whereas the overall ring structure from Figure 3.3 positioned it on the right side of Band
8. It is for reasons such as this that I do not consider the ring structures discussed
throughout this dissertation to describe formal divisions, but simply attraction points for
the story. At the same time, Brunnhilde's awakening serves as another example of the
Ring's organizational strategy of embedding recapitulations within recapitulations. The
moment of Brunnhilde's awakening brings closure to Wotan's punishment in Act III of
Die Walkiire while simultaneously providing a new expository moment to be recalled
later. Brunnhilde's awakening can thus be understood as a sort of fulcrum, balanced not
just by the earlier events of Die Walkiire, but also by the events that will come in
Gotterdammerung.
140
Siegfried learns from
the Forest Bird of a woman
who may only be won by
one who has not learned fear.
0 Siegfried journeys
through the fire.
Siegfried journeys
through the fire.
Sicgftied removes Siegfried pLlees

KrunnhiliU:''* armor .wind between ihem
Willi MMllll. a% tlicy sleep.
Siegfried awakens Siegfried sends

Brunnhilde Brunnhilde to sleep.
Brimnhilde i* .ilhud lo Brunnhilde is

gi\e herself lo Siegfried, o\erpov\eied b> Siegfried
but relenls. and relent*.
Siegfried gives the Siegfried wrenches the

ring to Brunnhilde. ring from Brunnhilde.
IJriiiinhiKle euises
Brimnhilde .lsks lor tin.- Woiim loi llie
jiods' blessings. pimishmen!.
_ , , , . . , Brunnhilde prepares to
Brunnhilde and Siegfried . . -.. , .
greet Siegfried; meets
say farewell. Qmther
Siegfried journevs Siegfried journevs

through the file. 1 through the lire.
A
Figure 4.7 Subring of Brunnhilde's marriages to Siegfried and Gunther.
The left side of Figure 4.7 centers on Brunnhilde's marriage to Siegfried (Figure
3.3, Band 6, right side) and is balanced by the right side, concerning Brunnhilde's forced
marriage to Gunther (Figure 3.3, Band 5, right side). The subring's prologue occurs in
Act II, when the forest bird sings to Siegfried of the woman on the rock that can only be
won by one without fear and Siegfried realizes that he is the one without fear and that the
woman is therefore for him to win. The central place, which corresponds to the prologue,
141
is the scheming of Hagen and Gunther. When Gunther explains to Siegfried that he has
no wife, and only one without fear can win the wife he wants, Siegfried realizes that he is
the man without fear and offers to retrieve Brunnhilde for him. The relationship between
the central place and the Prologue is highlighted by a brief statement of the Forest Bird's
motive as Siegfried asks who may penetrate the fire, while the stage directions indicate
that Siegfried is making an effort to remember something.
From a dramatic standpoint, the relationships across the bands are
straightforward. Band 2 balances Siegfried's conquest of Brunnhilde disguised as
Gunther with the symbolic conquest of removing her armor while she slept; Band 3
relates Brunnhilde's awakening by Siegfried to his sending her to sleep; Band 4
highlights the fact that in both wooings, Brunnhilde initially resisted Siegfried's advances
but eventually succumbed (although for very different reasons); in Band 5, Siegfried
reverses his action of giving the ring to Brunnhilde as a gift by wrenching it back through
force; Band 6 balances Brunnhilde's song of praise to the gods for delivering Siegfried to
her with her curse of Wotan for punishing her by sending Gunther; and Band 7 relates
Brunnhilde's joyful farewell to her fearful greeting of Gunther. Finally, Bands 1 and 8
demarcate the four instances in the story in which Siegfried crosses the magic fire.
Because both of Siegfried's journeys to the rock involve wooing Brunnhilde, his
second trip there does double-duty that is implicit in the construction of the subring. The
subring contains two distinct bands of the overall ring structure, so that right half of the
divide of the subring corresponds not only to the left half of the subring, but also to a
point on the other side of the divide of the overall ring. In other words, Siegfried's
second wooing of Brunnhilde repeats his first wooing of Brunnhilde, but since he is
disguised and forcing her to marry Gunther, he also repeats the forced marriage of his
142
mother to Hunding. The framing element of both of Siegfried's wooings is the journey
through fire, and the three occasions where we witness him cross the fire are
accompanied by similar music. Because of the symmetrical arrangements of these
framing devices, the music we hear when Siegfried crosses the fire disguised as Gunther
is related to the music we hear when Siegfried leaves Brunnhilde to seek adventure
earlier in Act I, but it is more closely related to the musical passage we hear when he first
crossed the fire to woo Brunnhilde.
All three of these passages include sections in F Major which juxtapose
Siegfried's horn with the Magic Fire music. The music accompanying Siegfried's Rhine
journey during the transition from the Prologue to Scene 1 of Gotterdammerung, Act I is
distinct as it is in a compound triple meter with a free-fugato feel. The fire and the horn
motives are treated as mere episodes in the journey; once Siegfried leaves the fire, he
begins to travel up the river and the music changes accordingly. There is no particular
emphasis on the travel through the fire in this instance.
Conversely, Siegfried's second journey into the fire is treated as a repetition of the
first, with an interrupted cadence implying a sense of corrpution that was not present in
the earlier journey. The transition between Scenes 2 and 3 of Act III of Siegfried begins
in F major with Siegfried's horn played in counterpoint to the Magic Fire music, and the
Siegfried motive enters in A minor. The music continues to alternate sound these
motives in a sequence of ascending stepsfirst F, then Gb, and finally Grepresenting
Siegfried scaling the rock. The music finally makes a major arrival on Ab for a repetition
of the Magic Sleep motive, which leads, as it did in Die Walkilre, to E major for the
Sleeping Brunnhilde motive. The Sleeping Brunnhilde motive now appears in alteration
143
with the Siegfried motive in sequence through E and C, and eventually the transition
leads to an extended prolongation of V of D, where Scene III begins.
In the corresponding passage toward the end of the first act of Gdtterddmmerung,
when Brunnhilde notices that the flames surrounding her rock swell up, the music is
unstable and chromatic. We hear the Siegfried motive in D minor in the orchestra as
Brunnhilde sings "Siegfried!" and at this point the music begins a strict repetition of the
music from the beginning of the Siegfried transition: the horn motive appears in
alternation and counterpoint with the Magic Fire music in F major. Brunnhilde sings,
"Siegfried zurackl/Seinen Ruf sendet er her!/Auf! Auf! Ihm entgegen! In meines Gottes
Arm!"166 We once again hear the Siegfried motive in A minor, but instead of continuing,
as it had in Siegfried, the passage is interrupted with a fully-diminished seventh-chord on
F (See Example 4.4).
Although Siegfried crosses the fire a total of four times, only three of these occur
within the action onstage. The fourth instancewhen Siegfried brings Brunnhilde
through the fire to Guntherhappens between Act I and Act II, and we only hear about it
when Siegfried relates the events of Brunnhilde's capture to Hagen and Gutrune;
Siegfried's narrative is accompanied musically by fragments of both the Magic Fire
music and his horn, connecting musically his final crossing to the previous three.
166
"Siegfried's back! He follows his call here! Up! Up! To meet him! In the arms of my god!" (118).
144
118
BKlUfMH.
J
fried zu - nick! Sei-nen
fried re - turned/ "lis his
HgulJ J
Ruf sen - det er her!
call sounds inmine ears I
Auf! Ihm ent - ge - gen! In mei - nes Got -

Vpl now to meet him I in the arm
mf- P-m #4 = ''P#- _ &- # -### V^-.
(Sie eilt in koehstem Entziicken demFelsrande zu.)

(She hastens to the rocky para-pet*'the highest delight.)
Example 4.4 Gotterdammerung, Act I, Scene 3
145
119
tFtmerflauiBitm stlilagonherauf; aus ilincii springt Siegfried auf einenhoehragenden
Felssteinempor, worauf die Flamniun sogk-ichwitdtc zuruckweichen and abcrmals
nur aus dtr Tiufe heraufleachten.)
(Flames shoot up from them springsSiegfriedforaardon to a high ruck.- the
flames immediately draw back and again shed their light only from bUow)
Example 4.4 cont.
The sword is an important feature of the two scenes. When Siegfried cuts open
Brunnhilde's armor with his sword, it is an act of sexual aggression. The sword was
imbued with phallic significance in Act I of Die Walkure, when Siegmund pulled it from
the tree in a display of male vitality. Now, Siegfried uses the sword to penetrate
Brunnhilde's defenses, to literally make a woman of herhe approaches the sleeping
figure with the misunderstanding that it was a man, and is only after he cuts away the
armor that he realizes it is a woman. The symbolic significance of this act is made
explicit later, when Briinnhilde sees her armor lying on the rock. She sings:
Ich sehe der Briinne prangenden Stahl:

ein scharfes Schwert schnitt sie entzwei;
von den maidlichen Leibe lost' es die Wehr:
ich bin ohne Schutz und Schirm,
ohne Trutz ein trauriges Weib! ...
Kein Gott nahte mir je!
Der Jungfrau neigten scheu sich die Helden:
heilig schied sie aus Walhall.
Wehe! Wehe! Wehe der Schmach, der schmahligen Noth!
146
Verwundet hat mich, der mich erweckt!
Er erbrach mir Brunne und Helm:
Briinnhilde bin ich nicht mehr!167
Thus, when Siegfried removes Brtinnhilde's armor, it is a sexual act that will be repeated
and thereby completed when Briinnhilde finally gives herself to him a moment or two
after the curtain falls.
This symbolic sexual act, which occurs in B, will be repeated in
Gotterdammerung when Siegfried claims Briinnhilde as Gunther's bride and places the
sword between them as they sleep through the bridal night to testify to his oath to
Gunther. The significance of the bridal night is clear to Gutrune, who questions Siegfried
as to whether he and Briinnhilde lay with one another. The final minutes of the scene
have Siegfried swearing an oath to Gutrune in B that the wooing was chaste. Ironically,
what was previously a phallic symbol now serves to prevent sexual congress. The Sword
lay between them for the duration of their sleep ostensibly, but ultimately disingenuously
assuring an unconsummated bridal night; disingenuous because Siegfried had already
violated Briinnhilde by wrenching the ring from her finger. By removing the ring from
her handher only possible defense at this pointSiegfried repeats the sexual act of
removing her armor in Act III of Siegfried.
The sequence during which Briinnhilde and Siegfried struggle over the ring
incorporates a number of motives which were heard in Siegfried when Briinnhilde
attempted to rebuff Siegfried's love for fear that it would destroy her. Her fear
culminates beginning in measure 342/2/3, for which a score annotated with the important
167
"I see the hauberk's shining steel: a powerful sword cut it in two; from the womanly body it loosed it's
protection: without guard or shield I am but a lowly woman! ... No god ever came near me: heroes timidly
prostrated themselves before my virginity: I parted Valhalla pure. Woe! Woe! Woe the shame, the
shameful need. He wounded me, who woke me! He broke my armor and helm: I am Briinnhilde no more."
(336-40). As she is named for the armor which protects her, without Briinne she is not Briinnhilde.
Ul
motives appears as Example 4.5. Brunnhilde's fear is expressed in part through the music
of Wotan's rage, heard before his arrival in Act III of Die Walkure, and the curse motive.
Both motives occur during the struggle at the end of Act I of Gotterdammerung,
as indicated in Example 4.6. In addition to the diminished harmonies expressing
Briinnhilde's fright, there is an incredibly ironic appearance of music associated with
Siegfried's heroic deeds (last heard as they said farewell to one another at the end of the
Prologue), and once he successfully removes the ring from her finger, she collapses in his
arms and looks in his eyes; a brief fragment of music soundspreviously heard at the
end of the Idyll in Act III of Siegfried when she finally relented to the wooingboth
signalling his successful conquest and highlighting the reminiscence of a previous one.
Finally, the Glorification of Brunnhilde motive yields to the Tarnhelm motive as
Siegfried sings, "Jetzt bist du mein, Brunnhilde, Gunther's Braut/gonne mir nun dein
Gemach!"168 It is worth lingering on Siegfried's words here. Gemach can be translated
simply as "room" or "quarters," but in the context here has a literal referent of "cave."
The Metropolitan Opera subtitles take a particularly provocative liberty in translating the
term as "hole." Thusly translating the line as "grant me access to your hole" has
inescapable sexual connotations, and Johannes von Moltke has suggested that it would be
difficult to miss those connotations in the German text as well.169
"Now you are mine, Brunnhilde, Gunther's bridenow grant me your quarters." (126).
169
Johannes von Moltke, personal correspondence, November 25,2007. Von Moltke also reminded me
that Freud's derivation of the term Das Unheimlich in his essay of that name relates Heimlich to the female
genitals in two ways; first, in its secondary definition, das Heimlich refers to something is hidden, such as
genitalia. Second, he later argues that two experiences that for some are the most uncanny are in relation to
the womb. The first is the fear of being buried alive, which is a manifestation of a "lascivious fantasy of
intra-uterine existence," and the second is the experience of neurotic men who find the female organs to be
uncanny. Because they represent the primal Heim, the uterus itself represents the point at which das
Heimlich meets its own opposite. See Siegmund Freud, "The Uncanny," trans. Alix Strachey, reprinted in
The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism, ed. Vincent B. Leitch (Norton, 2001), pp. 933,946-7.
Particularly since the Gemach is a cave, Freud's reading seems particularly applicable.
148
342
S.
v
Wis.sen
is.sen s
sei. das
tfAe
Leuch.
light
m^ P
.ten der
o/tf%
Lie . be
love
zu
for
wisdom icas_
J^=AS3Jj~g
Briinilhilde (wr sich Mnstarrend).

^ ^ (staring Wore her).
. verlischt; wirdb
.dies out: night falls on,
n:*^J &
R.W 9.
Example 4.5 Brilnnhilde's fear in Siegfried, Act III
149
843
*-$klf^p tQt'r ipft. wtii M

win . detsich wii tend ein Angst. gewirr: Sdn-ak - ken schrei.tet
whirl ... ing that af. friqht rmi soul; ter .- ror stalk.eth
'.* 1 _yy.iti, _ ,
r. ^Jf*^^* i7v\
(BriinnMlde birgt heftig die

Augen mit den Handen.) S e h r Scllliell
(Brunnhilde impulsively covers ~,, 7 ,.'
her eyes with-her hands) Allegro mOltO.
A<rfWrf (iadem er ihr sanft die Hande von den Augen lost). I m ZeitmaB berillligter,
7 of (g'% removing her hands from her eyes). Meno moSSO.
I &=* ;ta
Nacht umbangt
]?*, <t
ngtgekmd'ne
gekmd'ne An.gen.
Au-gen.
Nightbrings fear to fastbound eye -lids.
ausdrueksvoll espr.
Mitdenresselnschwindetdasfinsfre
Withtkefetters pass.es the darksome
^BW^gi^r
W\ Z ^
pdolce
Jfr "ij'a .fi
R.W; 9.
Example 4.5 cont.
150
fre-chedichnichtmirzu nah'nl Star - ker als Stahl macbtmichder Ring"
fy not themight of my hand/ Strong - er thansteel makes me tke ringi _ $
Example 4.6 Brunnhilde's abduction in Gotterdammerung, Act I
151
125
(BruuBhilde wiadet slch log, f Heht
(ErMnnhildewrenekes herself free,
Glorification
Example 4.6 cont.
152
126 (Ef latest die Machtloseauf dieSteinbaukvor
dtm Felsengemaclie niedergleiten.)
(Beletsherfaintingbodg slide downmitotlu
SIEGF. itoneienchatlkee-ntrancelolhecare.)
Example 4.6 cont.
Siegfried overcomes Brunnhilde in four ways; twice per wooing, and the
sequences of events are roughly parallel, as outlined in Figure 4.8.
Siegfried Gotterdammerung
Symbolic conquest:
I Briinnhilde's terror
Breaking her armor
J Symbolic Conquest:
Briinnhilde's terror \ Wrenching the ring
Briinnhilde relents Briinnhilde relents
Curtain 1 alls Curtain FnlU
Actual conquest Repressed conquest
Figure 4.8 Siegfried's conquests of Brunnhilde
153
The remaining musical relationships across the sides of Figure 4.7 are less
compelling than the dramatic ones. There are few strong motivic connections between
the halves, and the tonal structures in the two sections do not seem to be governed by a
ring construction. In particular, the material at the end of Act I of Gotterdammerung is
infused with the Tarnhelm motive, which did not figure into either Act III of Siegfried or
the Vorspiel of Gotterdammerung. In this case, it may be safest to simply conclude that,
like the story of Siegmund and Sieglinde, the ring structure captures much more
compelling facets of the dramatic structure of the stories in question than their musical
expression. While there are numerous examples of small-scale arch forms throughout
Wagner (many of which are described by Lorenz), here it would seem that the ring
structure is relatively inactive at the musical foreground and middleground.
A more productive place to search for a musical relationship between the love
stories is through the concept of tonal pairing, as theorized by Robert Bailey and further
developed by William Kinderman. Robert Bailey explored the polarity between Eb and
B which spans the entire first act of Gotterdammerung, demonstrating that Act I of
Gotterdammerung is divided into three sections, which are further divided into halves.
The beginning of the second half of each section is articulated by the appearance of
Siegfried: the second half of the Prelude begins with daybreak surround Siegfried and
Brunnhilde on the rock; the second half of the second section begins with Scene 2, when
Siegfried arrives at Gibichung Hall; and the second half of the third section begins when
Waltraute leaves Brunnhilde and Siegfried arrives disguised as Gunther. Part 1 begins in
Eb minor and ends in Eb major; Part 2 begins in B minor and ends in Eb minor (which is
weakened by an assertion of Bb major; and Part 3 begins and ends in B minor. The
154
importance of the pairing of B and Eb is expressed at the very outset of the drama, which
begins with the juxtaposition of Eb minor and B major (spelled Cb).
As discussed in Chapter 2, William Kinderman adapted Bailey's analytic method
in his study of E and C as a tonal pairing in Act III of Siegfried and Act III of
Gdtterddmmerung. Kinderman argues that the scene leading up to and including
Siegfried's death and funeral music is a large-scale recapitulation of his arrival on
Brunnhilde's rock. Not only does Siegfried retell the narrative of the earlier scene, but
the musical accompaniment repeats the earlier motivic material during the telling, and,
crucially, repeats the large-scale motion from E to C . m
Yet there is something missing from Kinderman's reading. According to Bailey,
a double-tonic complex usually features two key centers related by third, but Bailey also
highlights the importance of the fact that both tonics are granted equal importance. The
union of triads built from the roots of the double-tonic complex usually results in a
minor-minor or half-diminished seventh chord (it is precisely through such a reading that
Bailey derives the Tristan chord), which serves as focal sonorityperhaps the true
"tonic" chordhighlighting the interdependence of the two local tonics.172
However, Kinderman's reading does not imply an equality between C and E, but
hinges on E as a central tonality being "superseded" by C.173 While Kinderman's
analysis is otherwise very insightful and convincing, it overlooks the fact that each
member of the tonal pairing is related to one member of the love relationship. Although
170
Bailey, "Structure of the Ring," 59-61.
171
William Kinderman, "Dramatic Recapitulation in Wagner's iG6tterdammerung'" l$h Century Music
All (Autumn, 1980), pp. 101-12. See especially the diagrams on pages 104, 106, and 111.
172
Bailey, "Analytic Study," 122.
173
Kinderman, 103.
155
C may find satisfactory resolution in Siegfried's death, Brunnhilde's storythe story of
Estill remains incomplete.
The story of the pairing of C and E begins not with the meeting of the lovers at
the end of Siegfried but in the story of Siegfried's parents, who first brought love into the
world. As the story of Siegmund and Sieglinde's love contained within it the seed of C
major, and as Wotan's farewell emphasized Brunnhilde's presence through E while
implying and undermining C as a symbol for the absence of the hero who will eventually
come to awaken her, the end of Siegfried brings the pairing of C and E to fruition as the
couple destined for transcendent love finally meets.
It seems clear that there is a dramatic relationship between the pure but doomed
love of Siegmund and Sieglinde, the pure love of Siegfried and Brttnnhilde, and its
tainting in the first act of Gotterdammerung. And while the love between Siegfried and
BrUnnhilde will be redeemed as the tetralogy draws to a close, for now it carries the
weight of its depression into the murky depths of B minor and, though Siegfried's C will
find closure in his funeral music, Brunnhilde's E must wait for the Immolation scene to
find resolution.
156
Chapter 5
Dramatic Recapitulation and the Immolation of Valhalla
The previous two chapters have explored and clarified the overall ring structure
by analyzing both simple and complex recapitulations across its central divide. Yet the
most thorough and final recapitulation of the tetralogy remains to be addressed. As a
closing gesture, the Immolation scene is given the enormous task of bringing the many
hours of the cycle to a satisfying end. Framing the entire cycle as a ring structure
furthermore suggests that the Immolation scene ought to correspond with the very
beginning of Das Rheingold, which it does, as it brings to a close the themes which began
the cycle: whereas Alberich successfully stole the gold from the Rhine, Hagen drowns in
an attempt to recover it; whereas Scene 2 began with the completion of Valhalla, so
Gotterdammerung ends with its destruction.
The Immolation scene brings closure not just to the beginning of Das Rheingold,
however, but also revisits the material which closed each of the three preceding operas
and repeats them in such a way as to complete and perfect what previously offered only
tentative closure. This chapter thus explores the Immolation Scene as a dramatic
recapitulation from two perspectives: as a "latch" for the cycle as a whole and as a
completion-through-repetition of the ends of the preceding three operas.174 Although the
Earlier versions of this chapter have been presented at the 2007 Bayreuth seminar led by William
Kinderman, the 2008 Conversations conference at the University of Michigan, and the 2008 meeting of the
Society for Music Theory.
157
Immolation Scene serves to bring closure to a number of themes beyond functioning as a
latch to the ring structure and recapitulation of the closing gestures of the preceding three
operas, analysis is limited here to the passage beginning with Brunnhilde's address to
Grane as she prepares to throw herself on the funeral pyre through the end of the opera.
Thematically and musically, the passage can be divided into three sections. My use of
Parts 1, 2, and 3 mostly correspond to what Warren Darcy has delineated as Parts 6, 7,
and 8 in his own analysis of the Immolation Scene.175
First, we consider Brunnhilde's final address and farewell to the world: in
throwing herself on Siegfried's funeral pyre, she consecrates for eternity their marriage,
which their first night on the rock, as the opera Siegfried came to a close, could not
successfully do. Then, we analyze the recall of Brunnhilde's magic sleep and fall from
godhood surrounded by Loge's flames from the end of Die Walkilre: her symbolic death
on the rock here becomes literal. Finally, we will study how, as the Ring draws to a
close, the Rhinemaidens, whose plaints interrupted and weakened the ostensible triumph
of the final strains of Das Rheingold, are finally given what they had been asking for;
Loge, who had expressed his desire to burn the gods up, does so, and Valhalla, built on a
foundation of corruption, crumbles. An annotated score for the entire passage is
presented as Example 5.1.
175
The Immolation Scene as a whole, of course, begins well before the portion addressed in this chapter,
and I set those sections aside in favor of addressing as closely as possible the very close as it functions not
just as a recapitulation in general but performs double-duty within the ring structure which is the central
occupation of this dissertation. For detailed analyses of the scene as a whole, I recommend Warren Darcy's
"The Metaphysics of Annihilation: Wagner, Schopenhauer, and the ending of the 'Ring,'" Music Theory
Spectrum 16/1 (Spring 1994): 1-40; and John Daverio, "Brunnhilde's Immolation Scene and Wagner's
'Conquest of the Reprise" Journal of Musicological Research 11/1-2 (1991): 33-66.
158
Part 1: Recapitulation of end of Siegfried
332 BRUHNH.
'rff'"7nl
E3E
Gra - lie, mein Ross!.
y steed,
P %rJ' t' r' r.rrrr^ fwfrfrfffrfffrfiii

k
* p'marcato
rrrrrrnr
(Sis 1st ihmeutgegen gesprungcn, fas*
= _ (Site Jtg* sprung towards him, seize*
Sei mir ge - grnsst!

/ grtfrf fifcee, friend/
J* *
ft TSJE tinffitt*%\
4-
lutd'J
** -w-i$i
i t r~r f
es und entzatunt ee schnell: dann deigt sie sich traulich zu ihm.)
a<f unbridles kirns then she bends affectionately towards him.)
Weisst Su aueh, mein Preund,. wo . h i n iehdiefc

Know'st to whom. *wJ w h i t h - e r 1
*\>'-' " '__' ." . cre*c. .

is 'i
Example 5.1 Gotterdammerung, Act III, Sc. 3 (332/1/lff.)
159
BRUNNH 333
Siegfried motives
err, Sieg fried,

lord, Sieg . fried,
m
hpfrk mfeP ^ m X ffl, tfTBjSft
IP
pocof dim. -
-JT3;
SB
f fcf
ieiii_J:
M & *f+-
im|
p.
3i
p.
_>
1 * p.
Example 5.1, cont
160
334
mm
BfcUNNH
Im Freun
fol-
de zu fol -
low thy mas*
- gen
i':::ifrr^V9^lhd
wie - - herstdn freu - dig?
- ter, joy - - fully neigh'st thou?
ftgffi^ >'Cft^^
Ascending sequence of Glorification motives
"3 77
- r E
Lo - he? Fiihl' mei-.- ne Brust auch, wie sie es*. ^
laugh- ter? Feel,, too, my bo - som, how it d'.tJt A
e&pressieci
Example 5.1, cont
161
BRUNNH
p, * p. "J* p *
Siegfried motive appears; two PL transformations fead from
#=# ^ ^
E Major to J>flat Major
seial- Hei-a-ja-ho! Grane! Grfiss'deiaen Herren!

onel Hei-a-ja-ho/ Grane/ Give himthy greeting/
(Sle hat sieh auf das Boss gesehwongen And hebt es jetat zum Sprnnge.)
(She has swung herself on
on the
the horse and urges it to spring forwards.)
ife.
E=E ^ ^ -V y | I
Sieg - fried! Sieg-fried! SiehL
'(? - fried/ Siegfried/
Example 5.1, cont
162
Averted cadence in D-flat Major Part 2: Recapitulation of Die Walkure
336
f BRUNNH. ~~\ (Sle sprengt das Ross mlt cinem Satze in den brenneadenSdieithaufen.)
Qi^g makes her horse leap into the burning pile of logs.)
4 p
fSnglgirii [iraasan der Brand hoch auf, so dass das Feuer den ganzen Kauai vor iet Halls
(Theflames immediately blaze up so that they fill the whole space in front of the hall,
Wieder das vorangehende Zeitmass. > i- 1 p.
P. + P. * K
Magic Sleep
Example 5.1, cont
163
Magic Sleep
. g^j
Glnthschein, so dass bald bloss ein Dampfgewolke sarSck bkibt, welehessich dem Hintei grunde zu verzieht, und dort am Horlzonte sichals
that only a cloud, of smoke remains which is drawn to the background and there lies on the horizon as a dark bank of cloud.
*J=="T~ ~ ~ =1L
p ij dantt nach und nach immer starker .
finstereWolkenschieht lagert. Zugleicb. istTOinUfer her der Rhcin matin,g angeschwoilen, und hat seine Ftathiiber dieBrandstatte ge-
Al the same time the Shine overflows its banks in a mighty flood which rolls over the fire. On the waves the three
walzt. Auf dtiu Wogen sind die drei Rheintochter harbei geschwoniinen und crschelnenjetzt iiber der Brandstatte. Hagen, der seit demVor-
Bhine- daughters swim forwards and now appear the place of the fire. Jfugen, mho since the incident vf the ring,
^M^^JUCZ
gauge mlt dem Ringe Briinnliilde's Benehmen mitwachsender Angst beobachtet hat, gerath bei dem Anblicke der Rheintochter in
Sochsten Schreck.)
has observed Brunnhilde's behaviour with growing anxiety, is seized with great alarm at the appearance ofthe RMk&4aughlers.)
(Er wlrft hastig Speer, Schildund Helm Ton 8lch,nnd stiirat,-wlewahnslnnig,sichin die Fluth.Woglinde&WeHgundeumschlingen
(Me hastily throws spear, shield and helmet from him and rushes, as if mad, into the flood. Woglimde to Wellgunde embrace
HAG.
p_ marcatissimo
Example 5.1, cont
164
338
mit ihren Armen seir.en Kacken,niid Ziehen ifcn, so zuriickschwiinmend, mit sici. in die Tiefe.)
his neck with their arms-ami draw him with them into the depths as they swim away.)
d?
dim.
5F=
Part 3: Recapitulation^
of Das Rheingold ***" *
f-s?
(Flosshilde, den anderen voran dem Hintergrande zu schwimmeml, halt jubelnd den gewonnenen Ring in die HiShe.)
(
Flosshilde, swimming in front of the others towards theback,holds up the regained ring joyously)
Rhinemaicfens'Song in
DurehdieWolkenschichtiwelcliesichamHbrizontegelagertjbricht ein rothlicher Oil
A-flat Major (Through the bant of clouds which lie on the horizon a red glow breaks forth wM ;
la':melodiamolto ten. e marc.
p
-vaTRalla in D-flat Major
schein mit wachsendcr Helligkeit aus. Von dieser Helligkeit beleuchtet, sieht man die 4rei Ehcintocher auf ruhigerenWellen <J8J
creasing brightness. Illumined by this light, the three Shine-daughters are seen,saimming in circles, merrily playing t "
4
P-
Rhinemaidens, D-flat Major
mailich wieder in sein Bett zuriickgetretenen Rheines, lustig mit dem Ringe spielend, im Reigen scnwimmen.J
the ring on the calmer waters of the Rhine which has gradually returned to its natural bed.)
= - ^ , ^ _ ^ ^
* p.
Valhalla, E-flat Mine
Example 5.1, cont
165
* p.
R h i n p m a i H p r r ; F-flat M a i n r Aus den Trununern der zusammengeBturztett Halle sehen die Manner und Frauea, Inhbclister
m in ICI i l a i u c i is, L. i i a i m a j u i f,nm the ruins 0f fa fatten hall,lhejnen and womeiuvn the. greatest agitation, look on
Valhalla Fragments, F minor . / * *

Ergriffeaheit, deia wacKsecden Feuerscheine am Himmel zu. A Is dieser endlieh in liuhiester Helligkeit leuchtet,erblicktman darinden
the growing fire-light in the heavens. As this at length glows with the greatest brightness, the interior of Wathall is seen,
fc P.
Valhalla Fragments, G minor
Saal Walhall's, in welehem die Gb'ttei mid Helden,ganz nach der Schilderung Waltraute's ira ersten Aufzuge, versammelt sitzen )
in which gods andheroes sit assembled, as in Waltraute's description in the first act ) A Valhalla Fragments,
A
Example 5.1, cont
166
Final Valhalla Statement, G-flat Major
Example 5.1, cont
167
1. The fiery consecration of Brtinnhilde and Siegfried's marriage
Part 1 of my analysis begins with Brunnhilde's address to Grane at 332/1/1.
There are surface resemblances between the first part and Act III of Die Walkure, such as
appearances of the Ride of the Valkyries motive, the Siegfried motive, and the
Glorification of Brtinnhilde motive, all of which found their first appearances there. This
reading was advanced by John Daverio who, like myself, interprets the Immolation scene
as carrying the recapitulatory weight of the entire Ring cycle.176 I will accept Daverio's
argument that "the essential fact of the formal structure here is the multiciplicity of
interpretations, each of them simultaneously present, that the scene demands,"177 and
contend that this passage further constitutes a recapitulation of the paean to romantic
marriage sung by Siegfried and Brtinnhilde as the third opera comes to a close.
In Act III of Siegfried, their love is musically represented by a number of motives
which involve a leap followed by stepwise motion; a table of these motives is found in
Figure 5.1 and adopt Robert Donington's labels. Although Donington's ideas have been
met with some skepticism, the appendix of his work is nonetheless valuable for clarifying
musical as well as dramatic relationships between many of the Leitmotive.m The music
from the Siegfried Idyll, or "Brunnhilde's holy love" involves a leap down by fifth
followed by an ascending scale. Shortly after the Idyll, Siegfried sings the "tender love"
music, which involves a leap down by a 6th and then a 3 rd followed by an ascending scale,
and the "innocent delight" music, which involves a leap down by octave, followed by a
descending chromatic scale. In response, Brunnhilde sings a version of the "love as
176
See especially his diagram of the Immolation scene as a whole: Daverio, "Brunnhilde's Immolation
Scene," 44.
177
Ibid., 43.
178
Robert Donington, Wagner's Ring and its Symbols, 3 rd edition (London: Faber and Faber, 1976), 275ff.
168
"Briinnhilde's holy love" (Siegfried Idyll), 345/1/1 ff.
3
JLj JJ^JjpEl
Scale
Descending 5th
"Tender love," 354/3/2 and 362/3/4
m ^m
Scale
L
Descending 6th + 3rd
"Innocent delight," 354/4/2 and 364/3/3
ms mm
Descending Octave Scale
"Love as fulfillment," 361/1/2 (see also 355/5/1)

Siegfried Brilnnhilde Siegfried
w ig=g pppa
I3-
Descending 6th Scale Descending 4th Scale Descending 8ve Scale
Figure 5.1 Love motives used at the end of Siegfried
fulfillment" motive with a descending 4th followed by a descending scale, and in the duet
which ends the opera, Siegfried and Brunnhilde both sing versions of that motive with a
descending 6 followed by scales which sometimes ascend and sometimes descend.
While most of the musical and textual material at the end of Siegfried is related to
their love and is governed by a tonal pairing between E and C (as William Kinderman has
outlined and we have explored in Chapter 4), a contrasting episode in B minor occurs just
before the opera moves to C major for the last time, which I have reproduced as Example
169
5.2. During this passage, Brannhilde asks Siegfried whether he fears her. He responds
that he did, but that he has forgotten that fear entirely. Musically, this passage departs
from the love motives that saturate the surrounding music and instead features the
Valkyrie and Siegfried motives. It is with a recall of this B minor episode (332/4/2) that
Briinnhilde greets Grane and asks if he knows where she leads himin essence asking
him, and ultimately herselfwhether she fears what she is about to do. The episode
leads to an ascending series of statements of the Glorification of Brunnhilde motive
(334/3/2).
From a tonal perspective, as outlined in the linear reduction in Figure 5.2, this
passage prolongs E majorthus recapitulating the end of Siegfried in the other key of the
tonal pairingup to the point when the Siegfried motives signal a transition to an aborted
cadence in Db major. The passage is structured somewhat like a sentence, with a four-
bar motive transposed up by step and repeated for another four bars before an abbreviated
four-bar liquidation. The end of each iteration is approached by a V3 chord; first to IV6,
then to V6, and finally to I, and this large-scale harmonic trajectory is repeated on a
smaller scale as the passage leads to the final I chord: IV6 - V3 - 1 .
While a linear analysis is very useful for showing the basic tonal structure of the
passage as well as its ornamented prolongation through local key areas, it suffers because
the utter frenzy and intensity of this passage is absent on the middleground level. Figure
5.3 is a branching roman-numeral/functional analysis of the passage that models the
points at which the passage heightens in energy. The actual musical texture appears on
the main staff, and the branching staves demonstrate alternative progressions which
represent the expected harmonic continuations. Each time the passage averts a potential
cadence, it raises the listener's desire for resolution.
170
357
fe^ Ffirchtest du,

^ ^
furchtest du aicht
f sg - . fried, dks
Fearest thou b?eg . fearest thou not the
_ fried,
iai #*
MM
4 8 S B H B
Altera i
t v # ."if
rtyv
cresc. ft
* ^ g*Fcres<r.
Valkyrie motive (B+)
zun .
cows .
. dei
aen
ing.
wie
as
der
i%
Blik.
#fow> _
_Me Strah .
. ing glanc -
mm
. len sich"
- es con.
t^m
Example 5.2 Siegfried, Act III, Sc. 3 (357/1/lff.)
171
858
is pres .
bos .
. .
m sen,-
om,-
^ *
s. i dt
_riick mein kiih iiefr Mut,_
1 i r
imd
p
das
me my cour . age of old,. and the
ft "
ih*r PT|IÎI ir tP r ^ IT it y f F
*^ Fiirchten, ach! dasich nie gg'e.lernt,-
e . l e r n t , - das Fiirchten, das du mieh k'aum g e .
fear that, ah! ne'er my heart could learn,- the fear that thy.self covidsthard . ly
(Er hat bei den letzten Wortea Briirmhilde un.

-willkurlich losgelassen.)
fAt the last words he has involuntarily released
Example 5.2 cont
172
^ ^ 4 f t ^ T * l . ^T^
fc
SPS5w u #
^^fcS?EE^^^^fe 3^
6 86
4 6 6 J6 4 6 4 4 7 4 6 1(7 83 4 7 6 4
3 4 5 5 * 3 2 3 2 3 3
(=|| V) (=V VII)
E3 VI V IV V V VI IV VI
A=^
s &
JO.
^M set
4 6 96
M .(I)" IV VI IV V I
Figure 5.2 Linear analysis of Gotterdammerung, Act III, Sc. 3 (332/1/1 - 336/1/2)
The branches on the upper system all hinge on enharmonic readings of a second
inversion E major chord. The first uses a vii7 chord to prepare V3 /TV. The branch
shows that the 7 chord is initially heard as viio7/V, and could be resolved with an
intermediary V4 . Wagner then immediately recontextualizes the V4 not as a dominant
preparation but as a I chord, which is then immediately reinterpreted as V/TV by adding a
lowered seventh. Leave it to Wagner to prepare a V/IV chord with a V/V chord! The
second branch, which begins in the second phrase, demonstrates that the first chord can
be heard as dominant preparation which could immediately move to a cadence in E, but
instead, he introduces another passing 7 to prepare the chord in the sixth bar. This is the
only harmony that appears with five voices in the texture, because it is tonally
ambiguous. It can be heard as a cadential 4 , which immediately leads to a cadence in E,
173
Cad.
(v!-3 i)
VI
Figure 5.3 Branching Analysis of Gdtterdammerung, Act III, Sc. 3 (332/1/1 - 336/1/2)
as in the lower branch. Since we just left a local cadence in that key, it could also be
interpreted as a passing V3 moving to I in A major, as in the upper branch. Its actual
resolution is more in line with cadential 4, except that it moves to applied harmonies to V
before reaching a cadence there. It is a moment which therefore might best be explained
through the linear diagram, since these four bars constitute a harmonization of a
symmetrical out-and-back chromatic scale. Yet its ambiguity in function, by creating the
possibility for three different resolutions, is the driving factor for the intensity that builds
throughout the entire passage. Finally, the two branches in the lower system show that
the local harmonies anticipate dominant-tonic resolutions that are thwarted in order to
continue propelling the line further and further forward.
Although the passage eventually cadences in E major, a full sense of tonal closure
is weakened, as the Siegfried motives bring a sudden and surprising modulation to Db
major, where the series of averted cadences in the passage reaches its apex as what might
be a structural cadence on Db is destroyed by its substitution of an augmented triad for I.
Nonetheless, the passage does recapitulate Siegfried in the other key of the tonal pairing
and in fact also brings motivic closure. Throughout the various love motives at the end
of Siegfried, all sizes of descending leap are accounted for except for the descending 7th.
By introducing the Glorification motive during the recapitulation in Gotterdammerung,
Wagner adds the one remaining intervallic leap as shown in Figure 5.4, a remarkable
musical symbol for the completeness of love that had not quite been attained at the end of
Siegfried.
175
i i
scale
i i
Descending 7th
Figure 5.4 Glorification of Brunnliilde, Gotterdammerung (334/3/2)
As Briinnhilde finally repeats and brings closure in E to the material which ended
Siegfried, we may finally return to a thread alluded to at the end of Chapter 3 and
developed further at the end of Chapter 4. Kevin Korsyn suggested to me the possibility
that a recapitulation of a tonal pairing could modify the normative tonic-dominant
polarity of sonata form by allowing a later instantiation of the pairing to balance an
earlier one by reversing either the emphasis on one member, or else the order of their
appearances.179 It is in this way that Brunnhilde's closure in E brings to final resolution
the pairing between C and E begun in Act I of Die Walkure.
To summarize the tonal background of the entire story, the unresolved "half
cadence" of Die Walkure, Act I could have been resolved by the tonal pairing in Act III,
except that C is consistently undermined. Act I ends with a "half cadence" because
Siegfried is yet to be born, yet to resolve and complete the Walsung race and the love
between his parents. Act III is missing the C because the dramatic situation is creating a
space for Siegfried to fill, and the E/C pairing will only be confirmed when Siegfried
arrives in Act III of Siegfried to fill that space. The pairing is depressed by a half-step,
representing the corruption of their love due to Siegfried's dabblings in the Gibichung's
world of social order; a corruption which will be reversed when Siegfried finally
Kevin Korsyn, personal communication, October 31, 2008.
176
remembers Briinnhilde and dies heroically in C. Finally, Briinnhilde's frenzy in E major
and subsequent death consecrates their marriage while bring final resolution to their tonal
pairing.
The musical background of the love stories is presented in Figure 5.5. Although it
resembles a Schenker graph, it is not intended to carry the strict implications of the
technique. Rather than suggesting, for example, that the key areas are being prolonged
over the intervening acts, the diagram simply provides a visual representation of the tonal
relationships among the scenes in which the love story plays out.
Die Walkiire I Siegfried Gotterdammerung

Act I Act III, Act III,
Scene 2 Scene-
Figure 5.5 Tonal structure of the love stories.
2. Brunnhilde's final sleep

Immediately after Briinnhilde jumps into the fire, we hear a series of motives
associated with the end of Die Walkiire: the Valkyrie motive itself, the Magic Fire, and
the Magic Sleep (336/1/2). It is to the last which I turn my attention here, because
Wagner's transformation of this motive is remarkably symbolic, allowing it to achieve a
state of closure which it had not previously had. Figure 5.6 represents harmonic
177
Die Walkure, 284:4:4 (First Form)
Die Walkiire, 297:4:5; 302/1/1; and Siegfried, 283/4/2 (Second Form, reduction by Salzer and Schachter)
Gotterdammerung, 336/5/3 (Third Form)
Figure 5.6 Analytic reductions of 3 forms of the Magic Sleep
See Felix Salzer and Carl Schachter, Counterpoint in Composition: The Study of Voice Leading, (New
York: Columbia University Press, 1969): 215-20.
178
reductions of three different forms that the motive has taken, excluding its appearances in
Act III of Siegfried and the Prelude and Act I of Gotterdammerung that interrupt the
motive with a transition into the Annunciation of Death. The second reduction is a
reproduction of Salzer and Schachter's analysis of one form the motive takes, and the
first and third adopt their notation to analyze the other two forms. Its first statement
occurs toward the end of Die Walkiire (284/4/5) and contains a chromatic sleight-of-hand
which on the surface takes the appearance of two parallel passages which cycle away
from and back to C major.
My ears are initially led to believe that I am listening to a cycle based on equal
divisions of the octave that harmonizes a descending chromatic scale. However, there are
not enough chords here to fully do that. The first passage, built on a bassline ascending
by major-third, minor third, and two half-steps is matched by a bassline ascending by two
minor thirds and two half steps. In addition, we might have drawn a parallel between the
downward chromatic slips that appear in both progressions: B major to Bb major in the
first half and E major to Eb major in the second passage. Yet the downward slips occur
in two different points in the progression: between the second and third chords of the
first, and the first and second chords of the second; and represent different functions with
respect to their local tonal goals: the B to Bb slip is part of an ornamentation of the
dominant of the eventual E major whereas the E to Eb represents the approach to the
parallel mediant of C major.
By voicing the initial chord in the passage as a second inversion C major triad,
Wagner fools us into believing that the similar patterns in the two iterations in the
bassline account for a complete out-and-back harmonic excursion necessitating some sort
of equal division ofthe octave: to F# and back to C, perhaps. Instead, the passage simply
179
moves to E major and back. There is no equal division of the octave at all! A
hypothetical revoicing of the initial C major triad in root position would undermine the
implied parallelism between the basslines and thereby highlight the enormous difference
in function between the two passages. Here, Wagner lulls us into our own magic sleep,
leading us to believe that C is prolonged through a cycle of equal rotations through the
octave. Although the passage does prolong C, it does so in a manner which subordinates
the assisting E major harmony rather than treating it as equal. This is corroborated by the
bassline, which spells out the C major triad.
At this moment, however, Wotan is simply presenting a first draft, so to speak, of
his plans for Brunnhilde's punishment. When they are more fully developed, the magic
sleep music finds a stronger expression, which appears twice in Die Walkiire and once in
Siegfried. In this form, the motive realizes the potential suggested by the first
appearance: the basslines and harmonic progressions are exactly transposed and the
passages do cycle through a symmetrical division of the octave via major thirds.
Notably, however, each passage includes an additional iteration, so that the harmony does
not end where it begins. Instead, they begin in Ab major, move through E major, C
major, then G# major (and it is notable here that Wagner opted not to spell the arrival
point in Ab major, as this provides emphasis to the idea that the passage is not actually
prolonging Ab major as much as it is passing through key areas) and the passages finally
end in E major with statements of the Magic Fire music.
Salzer and Schachter's analysis emphasizes the tonal motion from Ab to E major.
Although their graph incorporates all four descending-third cycles, they analyze each as
only half of a structural rotation, so the first E major chord is not given as much structural
weight as the C major chord, and the G# major chord is not given as much weight as the
180
final E major chord. What results from their graph is a progression from Ab major to C
major to E major (which reverses the directionality of the thirds on the foreground level).
It is dramatically very important that Wagner adds an extra rotation so that the
passages function as a transition from Ab major to E major. At this stage of the drama,
Briinnhilde's magic sleep serves as a symbol of her transition from god to mortal. This is
in distinct contrast to Wotan's initial conception of the magic sleep punishment, which, in
prolonging C major, had a quality of permanence. Thus, there are two musical threads at
play. First is the idea of a single harmony being prolonged through a progression of
descending thirds. The second is an equal division of the octave that could accomplish
such a prolongation, but in the end overreaches and becomes transitional.
It seems that what these statements point toward is a resolution where the
prolongation of a key area is finally attained, and this happens during the Immolation
scene. Rather than including the fourth iteration which brings the passage to E major,
here it stops after the third and confirms the static potential of the passage and prolongs
Ab major, one of the last appearances of the dominant of the key which will end the
work. The third reduction in Figure 5.6 provides an analysis of this last appearance.
Notice that in removing the final iteration, each cycle is given equal structural weight,
and so the reversal of the direction of the thirds in the earlier iterations no longer applies.
What does this mean? Considering that the end of Die Walkure and the end of
Gotterddmmerung hinge upon two deaths of Briinnhilde, we might think of the
incomplete rotation in the first passage and the transitional nature of the following three
passages, when Briinnhilde loses her godhood, as being completed by the fixed rotations
in the final passage, when she accepts her destruction and its role in the end of the gods'
reign. To use Zizek's phrase, it is her second death that is complete; that functions as
181
closure to the incomplete death signaled by the related passages in Die Walkure and
Siegfried
3. The Rhinemaidens rejoice as Valhalla burns
At last we turn to the final moments of Gotterdammerung, which serves both as
the latch for the tetralogy and the recapitulation of the end of Das Rheingold. At the most
general level, Robert Bailey has pointed out that Das Rheingold corresponds in structure
to Gotterdammerung, as they both contain three scenes plus a prelude; and furthermore
that this structure is mirrored at large over the course of the entire cycle: three operas
with an introductory evening.182 Even were this not true, it would probably not surprise
anyone to learn that the ultimate resolution of the problems set forth in Das Rheingold
will not arrive until the end of Gotterdammerung. The resolution occurs during the
curious extended span of instrumental music and pantomime, which closes the opera.
Hagen's interruption, "Zurtick vom Ring!" ostensibly out of place here, which provides
contrast for and thereby highlights the purely musical and visual close which otherwise
occurs.
As Gotterdammerung draws to a close, we return to where we began: the
Rhinemaidens' song and the Valhalla motive. In Figure 5.7 and Figure 5.8 I have
sketched voice-leading analyses of the first appearances of these motives with the
primary goal of determining possible Kopftone for them: the Rhinemaidens prolong 5 and
Valhalla begins on 3 .
See Slavoj Zizek and Mladen Dolar, Opera's Second Death (Routledge, 2002), 110.
Robert Bailey, "The Structure of the Ring and its Evolution," 19?h Century Music 1/1 (July 1977), 50.
182
Das Rheingold, (5/4/1)
5
5 .
J _ ._ - * -
JM-
^
^
(fa* V -v-Z w ^ ~ ' \ * .. . .
*\h\,
J \>\> f.
Figure 5.7 Voice-leading analysis of the first statement of the Rhinemaidens' song.
Because my voice-leading diagrams are designed to highlight musical features
unique to the operas that they analyze, my usages of the concepts of interruption and
unfolding in Figure 5.8 are somewhat unorthodox and therefore demand clarification.
Rather than an expected pause on 2 , this interruption features a perfect authentic cadence
on V, allowing the Kopfton 3 to be unfolded to the Ab. In addition, the graph omits some
dialogue between Wotan and Fricka and skips directly to the recuperation of the Valhalla
motive. While the unfolding from F to Ab in the first half of the diagram might be
interpreted as the linearization of a simultaneity of those pitches, I am using the unfolding
symbol primarily to highlight a progression from F to Ab which will have important
implications at the end of Gdtterddmmerung. Other important details on the graph that
will have relevance in later appearences of the Valhalla motive are the middleground
subdominant motion to VI in contrast to the foreground appearances of IV for that
purpose and linearization of the F major triad. In Db major, F has the distinct privilege of
functioning as V of VI when major and VI of V when minor!
183
The end of the Immolation scene provides a very functional latch for the ring as a
whole, as it draws its motivic material from the music that began the first two scenes of
the entire tetralogy. Furthermore, the scene displays on-stage the final states of the
realms of Valhalla and the Rhine to bookend their situations at the beginning of Das
Rheingold. However, as a finale, the scene would provide relatively weak closure to the
entire Ring if its only function was to recall its opening material. The emotional power of
the Immolation scene as a closing gesture comes primarily from its ability to bring to a
close many of the dramatic and musical themes explored throughout the cycle.
While creating a latch for the overall ring structure, Part 3 brings closure to the dishonest,
feigned resolution which ended Das Rheingold. As Das Rheingold closed with the
triumphant strains of the Valhalla music undermined first by Loge, the god of fire, and
then by the Rhinemaidens, it is notable that both fire and water take part in the
destruction of Gibichung Hall, Valhalla, and the world. It is Siegfried's funeral pyre,
ignited by Brunnhilde's torch which cause the logs of the World-Ash tree to catch flame
and incinerate Valhalla. It is the waters of the Rhine which swell to extinguish the flames
once the gold is finally returned to the Rhinemaidens. And it is the Valhalla music, now
able to resolve triumphantly (although ironically so, since the triumph is manifest in its
destruction), which resounds to bring the cycle (and the world) to an end.
Although Das Rheingold ends with the rhetoric of triumph, a rousing fanfare as
the gods enter Valhalla, many writers have noted the sheer irony of the gesture.183 The
dramatic problem preventing thorough closure is represented in the structure of the
See, for example, Carl Dahlhaus, Richard Wagner's Music Dramas, trans. Mary Whittall, (Cambridge,
1979), 110-1; and Carolyn Abbate's observation that "In Wagnerian opera, Music can lie." Unsung
Voices: Opera and Musical Narrative in the Nineteenth Century (Princeton, 1991), 19.
184
Das Rheingold, (55/1/1) Das Rheingold, (57/1/1)
Figure 5.8 Voice-leading reduction of thefirstappearances of the Valhalla motive.

overall drama, which may be elucidated in part through Warren Darcy's diagrams of the
opera's background which appear in his book, Wagner's Das Rheingold, and are
reproduced as Figure 5.9. Darcy's analysis is an imaginative combination of a
methodology of Schenkerian-style reduction with the system of tonal functions developed
by Bailey, particularly expressive and associative tonality.184

w
agppf
Scene: ONE TWO THREE FOUR
m,i/\ iAy_*y4=dg=î 6
- J 5
Scene: QNE TWO THREE FOUR

Episode: 1 2 3 4 5 6+ 7 8 10 II 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
W
V 5 k6 5 I I I 6-
J^J5
5
Figure 5.9 Warren Darcy's graphs of the background and deep middleground of Das Rheingold1185
Scene 1 is graphed as an unfolding of C minor (though this might be better
described as a double-tonic complex between the Eb major and C minor), which
functions as a neighboring harmony to Db major, the fundamental tonic of the music-
1
Bailey's description of these functions are found in "The Structure of the Ring," 51.
' Darcy, Das Rheingold, 217.
186
drama. The 5-6 prolongational motion governing the harmonic background of Scenes 2
through 4 is reproduced on a smaller scale graph b in Scenes 2 and 4. Finally, the lowest
graph here analyzes the structural harmonies of each of the twenty Episodes, which
Darcy argues are the fundamental divisions of the whole span of the drama. In the end,
Darcy discovers a large-scale prolongation of Db throughout the opera, with an
incomplete neighbor at the beginning and 5-6 neighboring motion to Bb minor in the
third scene.186
It is the first scene, bracketed in the harmonic structure as mere neighboring
motion and bracketed in the dramatic structure as mere prologue, that unbalances Das
Rheingold and provides the complication needed to produce the following three operas.
We could imagine a version of Das Rheingold that does not include Alberich's theft of
the gold. Such an opera might begin with Scene 2 and would omit the music from
214/3/3 through 220/3/1. This hypothetical opera would not only exhibit large-scale
tonal closure, but would probably exhibit dramatic closure as well: the giants, paid for
their work with ordinary, uncursed gold, would leave and the gods would enter Valhalla
to the triumphant strain, in this version uncomplicated, that ends the opera.
But Das Rheingold does not do this. As we explored in Chapter 3, after the C
major statement of Wotan's Grand Idea, which itself opens an issue which requires
further development, the Db Valhalla music attempts to cadence and is interrupted three
times: once by Loge's monologue (214:3:3ff.) wherein he describes the gods hastening
toward their end, and twice by the Rhinemaidens pleading for the return of the gold.
Warren Darcy, Wagner's Das Rheingold, (Clarenden, 1993), 216.
187
Thus, when the work finally cadences, the Db major Valhalla music is not fully
recuperated. Closer study of the left half of bands 3 and 4 explored in Chapter 3 reveals
further musical expression of the failure of Das Rheingold to find satisfying closure,
thereby emphasizing the intricate complexity of the recapitulatory relationships that the
ring structure highlights. While the musical texture is setting the dramatic exposition for
resolutions that will occur in Gotterdammerung, these expositions themselves serve as
plagally-infused repetitions of the Vision of Valhalla analyzed in Figure 5.8.
The music which leads into Wotan's Grand Idea (analyzed in Figure 3.4 and
reproduced here as Figure 5.10) not only assists in establishing the key area which ends
Das Rheingold, but it also serves as a varied repetition of the first half of the Valhalla
period as it brings the motive from I to V with one important distinction: a move to the
subdominant, which will be further exploited and developed as the passage recurs later in
the drama. The subdominant will take an increasingly more important role in the
fundamental progression as the Valhalla motive is developed, first overtaking and then
completely replacing the function of the dominant as the cycle comes to an end.
i iv hi v i) ev jvi . v o (-vi ^ v l n
i vi IV v I
Figure 5.10 First half of Valhalla period toward the end of Das Rheingold, reproduction of Figure 3.4
188
As it leads to a half cadence, Figure 3.4 represents only the first half of what
could have been a completely recapitulated period. The remaining music which ends Das
Rheingold does bring the music back to a full cadence in Db major, but with a recall of
motivic material from Scene 1 that destroys both dramatically and musically the ability of
the end of Das Rheingold to find resolution. Figure 5.11 is a voice leading sketch of the
Schmeichelsgesang and Schreckensgesang studied in Chapter 3, leading to the end of the
opera.
Schmeivhelsg&stmg Loge's dismissal Schrekensgestmg Sword/Entry into Valhalla

(215/4/4) (216/2/1) (217/1/3) (218/1/2) (219/1/4) (220/3/2)
87 i, 87 ',6 5 h-!>
6-5 " V 6-5 i4J
4-4 " 2 4-3
(=vi iv i) /-r vi
v n i v ii iv v i (=i m vii v
D\>: V IV" I V
Figure 5.11 Voice leading analysis of the closing passage of Das Rheingold
This passage represents the final cadence of Das Rheingold, and it departs
dramatically from the cadence which closed the Valhalla music in Scene 2. While
earlier, a reasonably clear period could be inferred from the structure, and while the
approach to the Sword motive offered the possibility of a varied repetition of the first half
of the period, the remaining half is quite far removed, and in fact, the only material
closely related to the Valhalla motive appears in Loge's dismissal (notice that the F to Ab
unfolding connecting the Rhinemaidens to Valhalla is reversed here). The subdominant,
which was added earlier in the scene, is given particular prominence here, especially
189
when compared against the brevity of the appearance of the structural dominant during
the closing cadence of the opera. Notice too that the overall harmonic structure of the
passage is reflected in the small-scale progression governing the Schmeichelsgesang,
which further associates the background harmonic progression specifically with the
Rhinemaidens.
The disingenuous splendor of the Entry of the Gods has been discussed by many,
but what has not been noted is the manner in which the lie is composed out in the voice
leading. The Schmeichelsgesang provided a descent of a - line, expected for the
Rhinemaidens, since, as pointed out above in Figure 5.7, their music has been associated
with since they entered at the beginning of Scene 1.
When Wotan asks Loge to quiet them, he does so to statements of the Valhalla
motive which provide a descent of a $ - line, also as expected for that motive. However,
the Rhinemaidens intrude once more over the minor subdominant and prolong $ . When
the music returns to Db major for the final strains of the opera, it does so with a
prolongation of $ which is emphasized during the final structural cadence over the Sword
motive. The Rhinemaidens have knocked the trajectory of the descent of the f - line off-
course, causing it to rise to $ instead. And since (and the Ab on which it occurs in
particular) is associated with the Rhinemaidens, this means that the failure of the Entry
into Valhalla to offer a structural Urlinie descent is actually governed by the musical
association of the very cause of the inability of the passage to attain dramatic closure.
The ending of Das Rheingold does reiterate important musical themes and closes
off some parts of the drama (Valhalla, the cost of construction now fully paid to the
giants, is complete and the gods may enter it in Db major). In presenting key areas and
motives that have been imbued with meaning throughout the opera, this scene looks
190
backwards, reminding us of events which have occurred throughout the drama.
However, by arranging these repetitions to undermine the ability of the opera to provide
full closure, they are also forward-looking; they represent unresolved problems which
will require the remaining three operas to solve. As a result, recapitulatory structures can
be embedded within themselves just as ring structures can. This interlocking of forward
and backward looking material is characteristic of Wagner's work and has been noted by
many scholars. One vivid explication of this phenomenon can be found in Patrick
*" McCreless's "Schenker and the Norns," in which he uses an extended metaphor of the
loom to describe the weaving of stories of the past, present, and future as sung by the
first, second, and third Norns, respectively.187
In this case, while the end of Das Rheingold engages in a failed recapitulation of
the Valhalla motive from Scene 2, the last passage of Gotterdammerung recalls the
closing of Das Rheingold, but actively replaces the pomp and celebration over the entry
to Valhalla with a musical symbology of the fortress as it burns. In addition, the passage
replaces the proud dominant-tonic inflection of the end of Das Rheingold with one that is
governed by plagal motion.
Figure 5.12 represents an analysis of the passage from the Rhinemaidens' song
forward. For reference, I have also reproduced Darcy's analysis of the same passage as
Figure 5.13, from which I diverge on several points, one of which is including the first
statement of the Rhinemaidens' melody, as it is motivically related to the passage which
follows and not to the one which precedes it. Additionally, it plays an important
introductory role for the final passage of the opera. In addition, I disagree that the entire
187
Patrick McCreless, "Schenker and the Norns," in Analyzing Opera: Verdi and Wagner, ed. Carolyn
Abbate and Roger Parker (University of California, 1989), 276-97.
191
338:3:1 338:4:2 338:5:3 338:6:4 339:2:1 339:3;2 339:5:3
Motives: Rhinemafclens Valhalla Rhifiemaidens+ Valhalla . Rhinemaidens+ Valhalla Corruption of . Siegfried,

Glorification Glorification . Fragments Valhalla Fragments Glorification
h.A -*/ -*/>-ri~Esl

s&4
t"-*t___
-j-^.-
5 6
^_
5
-^j,
:-r~=Y^'
n*
6
hy/^
5 6 75-6 7 5-6
rW
fe/3~a
7__
J --- 3jy^..<i
7~5
- . B'J ^f**- H?^* . * -
*^TII j , -- - _, g
y=s= _ - = === y jpj^r1; / - = ^S: V ~ v ' big-
5
- i
(=IV, V t)
Db: V III II IV
Major Mode Progression: (Gotterdammerung, 338/4/5) Minor Mode Progression: (Gotterdammerung, 338/6/4)
IV I V I
Figure 5.12 Voice-leading reduction of end of Immolation Scene
StlBROTATlOt* I MIBROTATION I
VALHALLA, VALHALLA VALHALLA, VALHALLA sin, mi i.ioRlli

RHtNErMlW.HTERS. rugwenteJ FUNERAL PVRt twjnmrtoJ I M l l > H f i H I ( \rl)N
GLORIFICATION
^2*: <
^jfe;
m
::kr^r^.i^~r~S'.'~^~~'^. w^^^^^fejgg^^j^^^S^^J # , .
l J
J t f " t "S ?i U ^ M x 4i> 41 n
T^Tct' J* V **t ------i^^^!f^^g^g5.v:-T-#--

- 33
III - ' l(f ^
- f / r . t M
t *' r-'e |
Figure 5.13 Warren Darcy's voice-leading reduction of the end of the Immolation Scene 188
188
Warren J. Darcy, "The Metaphysics of Annihilation: Wagner, Schopenhauer, and the Ending of the
Ring," Music Theory Spectrum 16:1 (Spring, 1994): 39.
192
passage consists of an unbroken series of rising 5-6 harmonies, as it is significant that the
pattern breaks after the arrival on C major.
The first statement of the Rhinemaidens' song appears at the exact pitch level and
with the same harmonic accompaniment as its very first statement in Das Rheingold
(338/3/1). While pentatonic, the theme is supported by an Ab major triad in second
inversion. The bass note steps down from this Eb as the Ab major resolves as a dominant
to Db major, representing the final appearance of a structural dominant, which leads to
the final statement of the Valhalla motive in its home key. Kevin Korsyn also pointed
out to me that the same harmonic motion from Eb down to Db appears in both
Brunnhilde's "Ruhe, ruhe, du Gott," Waltraute's story to which it refers, as well as
recreating the harmonic motion from Scene 1 to Scene 2 of Das Rheingold.m While the
closing passage will feature foreground dominant-tonic relationships, they are in service
of a larger-scale progression governed by plagal motion. Furthermore, the
Rhinemaidens' melody emphasizes F as an incomplete neighbor to the prolonged Eb, and
this is reversed on a deeper level, where the prolonged Eb serves as a neighbor to the
structurally significant F of the first Valhalla motive (these two tones play similar
neighboring functions with each other in Figure 5.11).
After the first Rhinemaiden melody, the section begins with two statements of an
ascending sequence that alternate the Valhalla music with a modified Rhinemaiden
melody that incorporates the Glorification motive in cover tones and includes 5-6 motion
which the original motive did not. A third sequential statement begins, but before it can
shift to the Rheinmaiden's song, the passage begins to assert fragmented Valhalla
Kevin Korsyn, personal communication, October 31,2008.

193
motives that move up by step: F, G and finally A. The pattern changes somewhat here.
Whereas the first three Valhalla statements harmonize the initial arpeggio with the local
tonic in the bass, all of the remaining statements harmonize the initial tone of the motive
with the local dominant. The A minor of the last statement is then treated as vi of C, and
this arrival on C is emphasized with an enormously orchestrated dominant-tonic
resolution.
These Valhalla fragments actually perform double-duty, as they provide
resolution to a detail from the of Die Walkiire. As he bid Brannhilde farewell, Wotan
sang "Leb' wohl" three times. The first two statements involved descending major
thirds, harmonized like those in the Immolation scene: V7/E to E, V7/F# to F#. Rather
than continuing the sequence, to G#, perhaps, the final "Leb' wohl" only drops by half
step, and is harmonized by a V7/V to V in F#.
^m Leti
fe
wohl! letf woMi
Fare well/ fare well!
Example 5.3 Die Walkiire, Act III, Scene 3 (290/4/1)
194
At the end of Gotterdammerung, however, the pattern is completed and consists of this
ascending sequence of falling thirds. Instead of leading to a half cadence, the last falling
third is harmonized by V7/vi - vi leading normatively to V7 - 1 in C major, which is also
the moment of a heavily emphasized statement of the Valhalla motive. It is as though
Wotan's farewell in Die Walkure was only tentative, and here it is affirmed and
completed: Wotan is bidding farewell not just to Brunnhilde, but to the world.
After two fragments, the pattern changes again. Instead of continuing the
ascending sequence, the passage skips a step and asserts the Valhalla motive in C major.
As a result, the music averts an opportunity to connect the initial F in the upper voice by
an ascending scale to a Db. Instead, the upper voice skips over the potential Db, which
might have suggested structural closure, and moves directly from C to E natural, where it
continues its ascent. (Given the local chromaticism, of course, the skipped note would
more likely be a D natural).
The middleground diagram highlights some remarkable structural similarities to
the Valhalla motive itself: the unfoldings perform double-duty; they not only connect the
Kopfton of the Valhalla motive with that of the Rhinemaidens' song, but they also recall
the unfolding from F to Ab that occurred when the first Valhalla theme moved to its half-
cadence. The bass scale from Db to F recalls the same scale which is used to prolong the
Kopfton in the upper voice, and the scale from F to A prolongs the same F major key area
that supplied the transition from Bb to Ab in Das Rheingold.
195
Figure 5.14 is a more detailed analysis of the harmonic progression beginning
from the double bar:
fe M=h A
t^^m s?p m
r^ S
f^ A' d G+ c
\
0 7
A\
B&/A Q\> Q\,
a db
Model Shaded L
Extended
Liquidated
Figure 5.14 Corruptions of the Valhalla motive (339:5:3ff)
After parallel statements in C major and D minor, the bass now stops ascending, although
the upper voice continues. From a harmonic standpoint, the ascending 5-6 sequence is
replaced with what Matthew Bribitzer-Stull might call a developing motivic
corruption.190 My reading of the passage draws from Ernst Kurth's theory of Wagnerian
harmonic shading, which describes the brightening or darkening of otherwise
conventional harmonies by raising or lowering one tone by a half step.191 I argue that this
passage constitutes a parallel sequence of "dominants." The first iteration is presented as
normative and functions as a model: GMm7 resolves to C major and AMm7 resolves to
D minor. The second iteration repeats the progression but shades the harmonies while
simultaneously fragmenting the Valhalla motive. GMm7 becomes a G augmented triad;
C major becomes C minor; AMm7 becomes A half-diminished seventh; and D minor
becomes Db minor. The Db minor chord undergoes an L transformation to become a
Matthew Bribitzer-Stull, Thematic Development and Dramatic Association in Wagner's Der Ring des
Nibelungen, Ph.D. dissertation (Eastman School of Music, 2001), 106-13.
191
Ernst Kurth, Selected Writings, trans. Lee A. Rothfarb (Cambridge, 1991), 105.
196
Bbb major/A major chord that both extends and unravels the repetition, as it finally leads
to Db major for the last statement of the Valhalla motive. It is particularly significant
that this Db is not a point of arrival; rather, it is merely a dominant to Gb, where the
motive finally cadences. This is why it is so important that the harmonic pattern
accompanying the Valhalla motive changed and began to assert dominant-tonic motion.
Db's presence in this passage is not only the final reminiscence of the grandeur of
Valhalla, but by appearing as a dominant it suggests not only its complicity in its own
destruction, but its fundamental role.
The tonality of this passage was driven by a tritone relation - C and Gb. Both the
expressive rise in tonality and the harmonic shading which appear in the passage serve to
heighten the intensity as Valhalla burns, and the tritone further represents the wrenching
of the once-great fortress as it burns to the ground. In addition, the strong emphasis on C
major echoes for one last time Wotan's Grand Idea, in tonality if not in motive, while
simultaneously expressing its outcome.
According to Figure 5.12, the structural harmonic progression of the passage is I
III - VII - IV - 1 , which is an unusual progression to say the least. However, the bassline
reflects the fact that the passage is driven by a structural plagal progression. The bass
motion of the overall progression becomes very familiar when invertedand so
Gotterdammerung ends with the subdominant projection of a very characteristic tonal
progression: I - VI - II - V - 1 , as outlined in Figure 5.15.
197
3rd 4th 4th 5th
Db: I III VII IV I
Figure 5.15 Closing progression as subdominant projection of normative functional progression
Finally, the Gb major of the last Valhalla motive becomes Gb minor during the
last statement of the Siegfried motive, whose Eb (reflecting the subdominant) is
enharmonically spelled as D major (the Neapolitan), which resolves down by half-step to
bring the piece back to Db major and with it the arrival of the Urlinie on scale degree 1.
This last passage in Db major states the Glorification of Brunnhilde motive, no longer in
cover tones, but finally as part of the structural upper voice.
Furthermore, the structural upper voice, which had skipped Db during its ascent
through the closing passage, also skips C. This is because C is the leading tone; it is
missing because the passage is missing a structural dominant. In a plagal closing
passage, there is no room for a dominant or its leading tone.
The unusual musical details of this passage serve a symbolic end. The passage
starts with an ascending sequence of the Valhalla motive which missed an opportunity to
find closure by bringing the upper voice to rest on scale degree 1. Subsequently, the
Valhalla motive is corrupted as the fortress burns and when the upper voice finally
reaches Db, it is only as the local dominant of Gb. The Valhalla motive burns gloriously
in Gb major, and is never heard from again. When we do get Db major back, it is now
wholly centered on the Glorification of Brunnhilde motive. The Glorification motive
198
thus supplants the Valhalla motive, which burned up with the castle in Gb, and supplies a
remarkable musical symbol of the end of the old order and the beginning of the new.
Finally, the plagal infusion in the closing passage recalls the same plagal ending
of Das Rheingold, whose closing cadence was approached by the same Gb major/minor
which occurs here. Plagal motion has overtaken authentic motion; Gotterdammerung
ends with no triumphant statement of the Valhalla motive, rather, it ends with a musical
and dramatic realization of the Rhinemaidens' plagal prophecy.192
Tracing recapitulations of the previous three operas in the Immolation scene
uncovers another analytic morsel: these passages appear in reverse order, and this brings
our discussion back to the overall ring structure, which here finds itself embedded
through a small-scale detail. At the same time as it provides a latch for the overall ring
structure of the cycle, the Immolation scene brings closure to each of the preceding three
operas in the form of another small-scale ring
The end of the Ring constitutes one of Wagner's finest resolutions precisely
because it serves to bring closure to a wide range of musical and dramatic situations
which the tetralogy has spent many hours developing and complicatingmany more than
were discussed in this chapter. Yet the particular recapitulations studied here
demonstrate a high degree of compositional sophistication on Wagner's partsome
passages may recapitulate earlier recapitulations; while others bring closure to multiple
issues simultaneouslyas well as the surprising and unusual relationships that can be
uncovered through the hermeneutic application of ring structure.
192
During the oral defense of this dissertation on December 16,2008, Andrew Mead added a compelling
interpretive twist to the V9 chords discussed in Figure 3.6. Because a V9 chord joins the pitch content of the
dominant triad to that of a subdominant triad (II), the music of the Rhinemaidens' Schreckensgesang to
Siegfried can be read as suggesting that they will get the ring back whether he takes the authentic route or
the plagal route.
199
Chapter 6
Conclusion
This dissertation has studied the issue of recapitulation through the lens of ring
structure, by noting moments which feature a repetition of established dramatic or
musical material in a new context that brings them closure. In delineating a governing
ring structure, it was initially important to find both musical and dramatic evidence to
ground the concept, as a ward against the dangers of traveling too far into the speculative.
Yet, one of the most important features of the structure is its ability to suggest
relationships which are not immediately obvious. Once a sufficient critical mass is met,
we may accept the overall structure and then use it to guide our thinking to considering
moments that appear to have formal significance, and yet do not initially appear to be
closely related.
Chapter 4 began to press against this very problem; from a poetic perspective it
was relatively easy to interpret Siegfried's second wooing of Brunnhilde as a structural
repetition of his first arrival, and both of Siegfried's wooings as structural repetitions of
his mother's two marriages. In addition, the dramatic events in all four marriages fit
nicely into ring forms embedded into two structural levels. But while the events as
described by the poetic texts and stage action fit into ring forms quite nicely, the musical
content of both subrings was much more difficult to interpret in that way, and the musical
200
structure along the four points of the overall ring, while providing a provocative reading
of the C/E tonal pairing, stayed mostly at the background level.
There are two ways to fill in the triad of music, text, and structure. The first is
deductive, where we acknowledge a relationship between the known aspects of the
dramamusic and textand discern that those relationships fall into a consistent pattern.
An inductive method presumes the existence of an organizational structure that is
confirmed by a patterning in either the music or the text but not necessarily both
simultaneously. The inductive method then allows the analyst to ask whether there is an
obscured relationship in the remaining aspect, and, at the furthest point, whether there
might even be a repressed relationship in the remaining aspect.
Because the inductive methodology runs the risk of being purely speculative and
ungrounded, recapitulations discussed throughout most of this dissertation have tended
toward what might be referred to as positive recapitulations, as they involve the presence
of a particular theme or character. While undoubtedly a safer route, insisting wholesale
on a deductive methodology of positive recapitulation ignores the fact that absence is
constantly developed as a theme throughout the cycle.
As an example, consider the steady dwindling of the supernatural throughout the
four operas. In Das Rheingold, we are presented with the drama's pantheon: Wotan,
Fricka, Freia, Dormer, and Froh. Loge and Erda may also be included, but they are
distinguished somewhat from the others as they seem ontologically different: Loge is
only a half-god, so he does not require Freia's apples, and Erda seems to be prior to the
other godsWotan, ruler of the gods, does not initially know who she is. Nonetheless,
Loge and Erda are not excepted from the slow decrescendo of the gods' active roles in
the drama. Loge is not seen again after Das Rheingold, although he is in a sense
201
spiritually present in the Magic Fire scene of Die Walkure, the forge in Act I of Siegfried,
surrounding Brunnhilde's Rock in Act III of Siegfried and Act I of Gotterdammerung,
and finally as the vehicle which destroys both the world in the Immolation scene. Erda is
present only once after Das Rheingold and "appears negatively" in the prelude of
Gotterdammerung, with the Norns functioning as her surrogate. In Die Walkure, the only
gods who are present are Fricka and Wotan. In Siegfried, the presence of the gods is
thinned once again so that Wotan is the only one to appearand he no longer appears in
his godly splendor, but only as a Wanderer. Finally, no gods appear in
Gotterdammerung, a point to which Wagner draws our attention in Act II, when Gutrune
gives thanks for her fortune to Freia and Hagen calls for sacrifices to be made to Wotan,
Fricka, Dormer, and Froh. The pantheon of Das Rheingoldappears in Gotterdammerung
only as a signifier for their absence.
Slowly, the interests of the godsand the gods themselvesfade from the
foreground of the drama. By Act I of Gotterdammerung, the role that the gods play is so
far removed from that story that it can only be told in the third person, during Waltraute's
narration. By Act III (assuming a production completely faithful to the stage directions),
their role is reduced to mere tableau.193 Brunnhilde returns the ring to the Rhinemaidens
specifically because she knows it will bring peace to Wotan, through an end for which he
has craved since Act II of Die Walkure, yet Wotan is curiously absent. It is remarkable
that an opera whose title tells us it is concerned with the Twilight of the Gods does not
present in any way the actions of the gods in question.
During the instrumental portion of the close of the Immolation scene, the stage directions indicate that
the interior of Valhalla becomes visible, with the gods and heroes arranged as Waltraute had described in
Act I.
202
Looking again at William Kinderman's discussion of dramatic recapitulation in
Wagner, in which he points to Siegfried's funeral music and Isolde's Liebestod as key
moments which revisit and reinterpret earlier music in ways which seem to summarize
the drama, we may notice that these two moments have one critical detail in common: not
only are they notable for the themes which are present, but they are both notable for what
is missing. Siegfried's funeral music recapitulates the great deeds of Siegfried, who is of
course now dead, and the Liebestod recapitulates the love duet between Tristan and
Isolde from the second act, but the work is now transformed into a solo number. Where
Tristan was a crucial figure in the duet in act II, he is now missing from the music and is
only present in the drama as a corpse.
Absence also played a fundamental role in the background analysis of the love
stories explored in Chapters 3, 4, and 5, as the importance of the E/C tonal pairing in
Siegfried and Gotterdammerung was foreshadowed by the absence of C at the
background level in Acts I and III of Die Walkiire. Both the "genetic code" of C major
hidden within the union of Siegmund's and Siegdlinde's tale and the reading of Act I as
composing out a background half-cadence suggested a future importance for C not yet
attained. Act III, which frequently orbited around C while never quite resting there,
allowed the absent tonality to serve as a symbol for Siegfried, whose arrival in Act III of
Siegfried will fulfill the prophecies of the end of Die Walkiire by joining with
Brunnhilde's E to provide the musical symbolism for their love.
The analysis in Chapter 5 of the Magic Sleep music provided another example of
an absence which suggests its own future completion. The first instance of the Magic
Sleep was voiced in a way that allowed its actual syntax to be misheard: we may have
initially interpreted it as a prolongation through a cycle of descending thirds before
203
realizing that the descending thirds in the bass simply resulted from a particular chord
voicing. Its second appearance reflected the harmonic progression implied by the bass
motion of the first, but used the descending thirds to effect a modulation rather than
prolong a harmony. The criteria for what would constitute the definitive version of the
progression could be extrapolated from the features which were absent in its first two
forms, and its final appearance in the Immolation scene provides closure specifically
because it presented that definitive version.
The Ring itself invites us to puzzle over absences, and thus also to posit the
concept of negative recapitulation, a structural gesture which would serve to repeat and
bring closure to dramatic or musical themes through their significant absence in the later
iteration. Such a possibility provides the ground for a construction of a dialectic of
absence and presence, ultimately suggesting one point of entry into interpreting
repetitions which do not present material as expected.
An absence is not significant merely because something does not appear;
significance must be manifest in signals which appear in the drama, music, or any of the
incorporated media. For example, after Brunnhilde throws herself on Siegfried's funeral
pyre, there ceases to be any text in the drama except for Hagen's final attempt to retrieve
the ring. It has been pointed out before that this interruption seems inappropriate.
However, it is only because this outburst is inappropriate that our attention is drawn to
the fact that the remainder of the drama is being told entirely through pantomime and the
progression of leitmotives. The presence of Hagen's intrusive text provides a contrast to,
and thereby signals the importance of, the opera's otherwise wordless close.
One model for a principal of negative recapitulation can be found in the work of
Fredric Jameson. In the course of a reading of Conrad's Lord Jim, Jameson points out
204
that one notable plot event is never actually present in the course of the narration, but
happens outside of it:
A classic textualizing displacement first offers the donkey flight of the

hapless Blanco dictator as a mere secondary detail, "told" rather than
"shown," and evoked in conversation as a passing example of some quite
unrelated topiconly some hundreds of pages later to reactualize this
same "event" as an absent sense-datum, the implied cause of a crowd of
spectators blocking off from view some object of curiosity in the
distance.194
Jameson is then able to connect this present-only-through-its-absence event to the
impossible non-event of bringing society to Sulaco in Nostromo, which occurs, "not as an
event which can be narrated, but rather as an aporia around which the narrative must turn,
never fully incorporating it into its own structure."195
In Chapter 3, we suggested the possibility that the end of Das Rheingold could
recapitulate the vision of Valhalla that opened Scene 2. Although the closing passages
began with a varied repetition of first half of Valhalla period, the Rhinemaidens intrude
and disrupt what might otherwise have been the second half of the period. A positive
recapitulation would have included a complete restatement of the Valhalla period, but
this is dramatically impossible: the splendor of Valhalla is corrupt. Because payment for
the fortress's construction was made with stolen gold, the story cannot find final
resolution. The Rhinemaidens' plaint interrupts a hypothetically complete recapitulation
of the Valhalla motive, replacing it instead with a signifier for its absence.
Negative recapitulation might also help explain the difficulty in finding a
compelling musical relationship between Siegfried's two arrivals on Brunnhilde's rock.
As Act I of Gotterdammerung drew to a close, Siegfried uses the Tarnhelm to disguise
194
Frederic Jameson, The Political Unconscious: Narrative as Socially Symbolic Act (Ithaca: Cornell
University Press, 1981), 271-2.
195
Ibid., 278.
205
himself as Gunther. The identity of the character on stage is in a sense indeterminate.
From Briinnhilde's perspective, it is Gunther. From Siegfried's perspective, it is himself
wearing a disguise. To someone reading the score, it is Siegfried, since that is made
explicit in the stage directions. A hypothetical audience member seeing the ring for the
first time might be aware that the character on stage is Siegfried disguised as Gunther, but
might not know for certain which actor is on the stage.
By the end of the act, the neophyte will learn that it was the actor portraying
Siegfried on the stage; by the end of the opera, Brunnhilde, too, will have deduced that it
was Siegfried who came to the rock. Gunther, present in appearance, serves as a
significant absence in the closing scene of Act I, with Siegfried serving as his
replacement.
Gunther's absence is highlighted in several ways, both deductively and
inductively. First, because we had at the end of the previous scene heard of the plan for
Siegfried to disguise himself as Gunther, the audience is aware of his deception when he
identifies himself as a Gibichung and knows that Gunther is actually not there. Second,
from an inductive standpoint, the subring suggests a formal expectation that Siegfried
will return to the rock to provide a structural repetition of his earlier arrival, causing the
possibility that Gunther might be wooing in person and not through an agent some
aesthetic dissonance.
Most importantly, while Gunther is ultimately absent on the stage, he is present in
the musical accompaniment; in fact, the music associated with Siegfried's earlier visit has
been replaced by the music introduced and developed in Scene 1 at Gibichung Hall. The
last scene of Act I includes prominent statements of the Gibichung and Tarnhelm
motives, the first of which introduced Scene 1 of the act, while the latter appeared when
206
Hagen suggested the possibility that Siegfried might be able to win Brunnhilde for
Gunther.
Conversely, Siegfried's presence on the stage contrasts with the fact that his
music is absent; the few motives we do hear during the struggle, mentioned in Chapter 4,
are fleeting, like fragments of memories whose origins are puzzling and unclear to the
pair as they struggle. As Siegfried begins to overpower Brunnhilde, the motive of
Siegfried's heroic deeds serves as a fleeting reminder of their last embrace before he left
to find further adventure; as Brunnhilde, overcome, looks into Siegfried's eyes, two love
motives from the end of Siegfried sound as a memory of the first time she was overcome.
It is precisely the ephemeral nature of these motivic memories that draws attention to the
fact that the music is otherwise lacking material related to the last time Siegfried was on
the rock.
Furthermore, the identity of the man on the rock is split. It is Siegfried in body,
competence, and formal placement, yet it is Gunther in agency, appearance, and musical
accompaniment. The split nature of the character on stage is reflected in the difficulty of
analyzing of the wooing as part of a subring, which provided a compelling rationale for
the sequence of dramatic events which occurred during Siegfried's second visit, but was
unable to account for the musical narration of the scene. In other words, the split identity
is reflected in the divide between the approaches utilized to analyze the music and the
text.
We end our study with a discussion of perhaps the most significant absence of the
entire Ring by returning to the analysis of the Immolation scene from Chapter 5. The
analysis considered the scene primarily from the perspective of positive recapitulation,
highlighting the appearance of many of the same thematic elements of the Magic Fire
207
scene from Die Walkurethe Magic Sleep, Magic Fire, and Siegfried motives; two
different "deaths" of Briinnhilde and the corresponding role of fire in each. However,
the Immolation scene is particularly notable for what it lacks: the figure of Wotan, who,
even if not physically present, is nonetheless symbolically present. Wotan's absence is
curious, as he is one of only two characters who could have appeared in all of the operas
(the other being Alberich, although his absence in Die Walkure seems less significant
than Wotan's absence here). If the tragedy which plays out throughout the Ring as a
whole is essentially the fall of Wotan, we might expect him to appear in the culmination
of his own downfall. Dramatically, his absence in Gotterdammerung is of critical
importance.
The referential nature of language makes it relatively easy to relate characters and
actions without requiring their actual presence. The abstract quality of music makes a
similar process more challenging. Is there a way for music to relate its story without
requiring the presence of its objects?196 Specifically, is there a way in which Wotan's
complicated absence finds expression in the music? Though absent on stage, Wotan's
continued role in the drama is developed through the presence of the Spear motive,
sounded as Brunnhilde sends Wotan's ravens to tell him the news, and in the final
statements of the Valhalla motive, which we hear as it (and he) burn to the ground.
The final section of the Immolation scene began by repeating, at the correct pitch
level, the openings of the first two scenes of Das Rheingold: the Rhinemaidens' song and
the Valhalla motive. These statements performed several rhetorical tasks, including
symbolizing the interests of the Rhinemaidens and Wotan and, in particular,
196
Of related interest is Abbate's observation that "Music seems not to 'have a past tense.' Can it express
the pastness that all literary narrative accomplishes by use of past or preterite verb tenses?" Abbate, Unsung
Voices, 52.
208
demonstrating that the wishes of both are finally being met. Wotan comes to "the end"
for which he has longed since Die Walkiire, while the gold is returned to the
Rhinemaidens, thus fulfilling their wish since the end of Scene 1 of Das Rheingold. The
end of Gotterddmmerung contrasts with the end of the first opera, which presented the
fulfillment of Wotan's wish which, as a consequence, foiled that of the Rhinemaidens.
These two motives may be considered to stand in synecdochically for the Rhinemaidens
on the one hand and Wotan on the other.
Because the final passage of Gotterddmmerung is saturated by statements of the
Valhalla motive, its musical treatment can serve as a narration for Wotan's downfall.
Recall that the first statement of the Valhalla motive in the closing passage is the last in
which it appeared in its home key of Db major. The passage offered the motive in
ascending sequence as part of a structural upper voice that led to its last appearance in Gb
major. Because the underlying harmonic pattern changed throughout the sequences by
beginning to incorporate dominant-tonic motion, the initial pitch of each Valhalla motive
was given more emphasis. Looking once more at the foreground diagram of Figure 5.12
we may note that the initial tones of each Valhalla motive also ascend by step, but this
line is uninterrupted: a passing note F filled the gap between the statements in A minor
and C major (this upper line appears prominently in Darcy's analysis). Because this
upper line is unbroken, it pushes the music forward to its climax on the Db that serves as
the dominant to the final statement of the Valhalla music. Figure 6.1 is another
interpretation of the analysis of Figure 5.12.
209
338:3:1 338:4:2 338:5:3 338:6:4 339:2:1 339:3:2 339:5:3
Motives: Rhinemaidens Valhalla Rhinemaidens+ Valhalla Rhinemaidens+ Valhalla Corruption of Siegfried,
- Gbrificatkm Glorification Fragments Valhaila Fragments . Glorification
Dominant
Ascending s c a l e ^ ^ - ' ;: ^toiv -* Tonic
Figure 6.1 Linear analysis of the shadow upper voice at the end of Gdtterdammerung
The entire passage at the end of Gdtterdammerung includes a series of unfoldings as the
Urlinie ascended. The other voice of the unfoldings can be understood as a shadow of
the Urlinie. The diagram presents a background until the first unfolding, and then
pinpoints the complete scale of pitches as it ascends toward the climax of Db. Because
this is not the Urlinie, the beamed members of the scale do not always have consonant
bass support, and I have indicated with slurs those pitches which can be heard as
constituting passing motion.
The shadow Urlinie can be compared to the shadow of Wotan, who has arranged
for the conditions of his downfall while deciding to passively await its occurrence; Db is
both absent and present, as is Wotan. For it is his own downfall playing out as the fires
consume his creations, and it is he, once the most powerful god in the drama, whose
presence is limited to the impotence of a tableau.
Similarly, although Gdtterdammerung ends with plagal motion, notice that in
Figure 5.13, Darcy interprets the tritone between C and Gb as a large-scale unfolding that
resolves inward to the root and third of Db major. Because C and Gb constitute the
defining tritone of V of Db, their appearance in the background of a passage otherwise
saturated with plagal motion can also be interpreted as the shadow of the authentic
motion that ended Das Rheingold. If we fail to hear Valhalla burn conclusively in its
210
home tonality, Db nonetheless floats just beneath the surface of the music, subtly
directing the excursions above; and if we fail to hear an authentic cadence that would
balance the end of Das Rheingold, it too has left its residue on the Rheinmaidens' plagal
close.
As a final note, recall in Chapter 5 that the fragments of the Valhalla music which
approached C major served to resolve the half cadence from Wotan's farewell in Die
Walkure. We suggested that the closing passage of the Immolation scene functioned as
Wotan's definitive farewell, but we may further nuance its significance by pointing out
that it is a farewell offered by Wotan's shadow.
The present conclusion offers only a sketch of some possibilities for future points
of inquiry into recapitulation in Wagner's Ring. It is hopefully clear, however, that
contrary to the term's usage up to this point, the project of discussing Wagnerian
recapitulation is more complicated than a simple metaphorical adaptation from sonata
form might imply. Recapitulations may be embedded into different structural levels, as
Siegfried's abduction of Brunnhilde both repeated his first wooing and the abduction of
his mother by Hunding. Recapitulations may balance events within a ring structure.
There may be moments serving as recapitulations of recapitulations, where an action both
completes a previous action while opening a space for itself to be completed later; when
Siegfried awakens Brunnhilde on the rock, it serves as a structural closing moment to the
sleep brought on by Wotan's kiss at the end of Die Walkure, and yet it also serves as a
moment which will be reversed later when the disguised Siegfried sends Brunnhilde to
sleep at the end of Gotterdammerung. Recapitulations may be overdetermined: the
power of the Immolation scene stems in part from the fact that it efficiently brings
simultaneous closure to multiple threads. Recapitulations may bring idiosyncratic
211
closure to double-tonic complexes, by allowing a later emphasis on one of its members to
balance an earlier emphasis on the other, as was the case in the background tonal
structure to the two pairs of love stories. Lastly, recapitulations may function through an
active negation or avoidance of an expected appearance. It is my hope that the
groundwork explored in this dissertation may offer a tool for exploring recapitulations
both within the study of Wagnerian music drama but also to genres and media far
beyond.
212
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Cyclic Structure and Dramatic Recapitulation in

Richard Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen

A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment

Professor Kevin E. Korsyn, Chair

correspondences that I had not previously considered.

I wish to acknowledge the members of my dissertation committee: Andy Mead,

and encouragement in matters of research and beyond.

contributed to my professional development as a scholar, and in particular I would like to

thank James Borders, Wayne Petty, and Karen Fournier.

Wagner scholars. At the same time, it was a tremendous pleasure to be a member of a

Oliver Schowalter-Hay, Maria Todorova, and Paul Weichsel.

made the Bayreuth trip possible.

Mauskapf, Daniel Stevens, Tim Sullivan, and Alyssa Woods.

like a sister to me.

enough strength to keep on going just a little longer.

Figure 1.1 Siegfried's two arrivals on Brunnhilde's rock as a ring structure 9

sonata-allegro form but nonetheless frequently used by writers to describe large-scale

dissertation concludes that it is acceptable to roughly correlate the concept of musical

recapitulation with dramatic denouement.

unexpected relationships between scenes and suggests the potential profitability of

rather through significant absence.

This dissertation is a study of Wagner's technique of recapitulation in Der Ring

conversation shows no signs of waning. If there is nothing else remarkable about

remarkablewe can marvel that there is still plenty to be said.

Being a study of recapitulation means, among other things, that this is a

that musical structuresfrom the briefest motive to the grandest formbecome

comprehensible. As will be addressed in Chapter 2, Leonard Meyer discerns two types of

"conformant relationships," which describe distinctions between processive and

structural types of repetitions. William Rothstein's theory of phrase rhythm depends

followed by an immediate repetition, concluding that "Repetition thus is the basis of

music The Fine Art of Repetition.

passage in Act III, Scene 3 of Gotterdammerung in which Brunnhilde finally agrees to

Example 1.1 Gotterdammerung, Act I, Sc. 3 (105/3/lff.)4

abstract instrumental form, then we must do so to a certain degree metaphorically. If we

argue that a particular passage in Wagner is a recapitulation, does it necessarily imply

is brought to the tonic key?

consider Wagner's operas to be monotonal. In an act governed by a tonal pairingthat

Furthermore, this line of questioning assumes that the concept of recapitulation is

course of this dissertation. For now, I offer a naive definition of a Wagnerian

recapitulation: a passage which restates a dramatic or musical theme (often both

simultaneously) in a manner which brings it to closure or resolution which it did not

repeats the musical content, but also resolves it.

question, it is not feasible in a single monograph to tackle every instance of repetition

I have approached these problems of excision in two ways, which may be

contemplation of the piece's smaller details.

the structure will be explained in-depth in Chapter 3, it is worth lingering on a short

example of what the structure entails.

Siegfried discovers a sleeping warrior constricted by armor. He removes the armor to

happiness, and they say farewell.

semicircle matches the upper one.

Siegfried journeys Siegfried journeys

Dmiinliilde isal'r.nd lu j ' limniihildc i>

Siegfried gives the Siegfried wrenches the

Siegfried journeys Siegfried journeys

Figure 1.1 Siegfried's two arrivals on Briinnhilde's rock as a ring structure.

scale implications for those relationships. Second, once an organizational framework

highlighting unexpected, inconspicuous, and sometimes surprising formal relationships.

relationship, it might be less immediately apparent that there is a structural significance to

Similarly, the appearance of the Rhinemaidens at the beginning of Act III of

same downfall as Wotan.

My chosen methodology, analysis of recapitulation through the framework of ring

two-dimensional space will not experience the sphere as a three-dimensional object.

come close to explaining it in its three-dimensional entirety. Instead, I offer my