Valhalla
Here is the music associated with the god’s dwelling place. This example is played by the brass from Scene 2 of Das Rheingold when Wotan salutes Valhalla his newly built fortress
Music-Valhalla Music-Ring Transition Vahalla
Actually this example is not the first
appearance of the Valhalla Music, but it contains all of the component subthemes
as will be demonstrated. As a
symbol of dominion the Valhalla Motive evolves from the Ring Motive. As can be heard in the transition music between Scene 1 and
Scene 2 of Das Rheingold, it evolves from a modulation of a Bb minor 6th
(Ring Chord) up a third to Db major. The
melody of the first two measures played by the tenor tuba makes up the principal
Valhalla Motive, but Wagner uses other phrases from this selection to developed
separate motives. There are four
distinct musical phrases and an accenting fanfare
triplet rhythm that can be identified.
The principal motive of the first two measures has been already
mentioned. The second is the
ascending phrase in measure five, which is repeated as a modulation in measures
six through ten.
The third fragment consists of chords that alternate between the
subdominant and the tonic in measure seventeen and the first two beats of
measure eighteen. Measures nineteen
through twenty-one comprise the forth fragment.
It frequently functions as a cadence and has two sub component phrases
that identify it. The first sub
component is the phrase played by the trumpet the begins with an upward skip of
an octave in measure nineteen and the second is the descending four note bass
scale played by the lower tubas and the trombones.
Now that the four components of the Valhalla
Music have been identified some of their uses can be demonstrated. The principal Valhalla Motive is usually heard with minimal
modification. However there is a
distinctly harsh version of it transformed from the major to the minor that is
first heard in Die Walküre Act II – Scene 2.
We hear this music when a despairing Wotan informs Brünnhilde that he
will abandon the world to Alberich’s recently conceived son.
At the end of Act I – Scene 2 of Götterdämmerung we hear it again
when Hagen identifies himself as the Nibelung’s Son.
Note the Gold Motive played by the bass trumpet.
At the end of Das Rheingold, the Valhalla Music is heard with an ascending modulation within it that almost sounds like a key change. This modulation foreshadows music associated with Wotan’s Farewell in the last scene of Die Walküre. That music is not a variation of the Valhalla Motive per se, but careful listening will demonstrate the relationship based on the first two notes of the phrase and a similar upward modulation. The importance of the general form of this modulation is that a dramatic association with Wotan’s Farewell can be recalled during the concluding orchestral music of Götterdämmerung. Only the trumpet part is given is given in this example from the score of Das Rheingold, but Wotan’s parting “Lebe Wohl” is given as a more complete representation.
There are two examples of music developed from the second component of the Valhalla music, i.e. measure five of the example given at the beginning of this chapter. The first example occurs in Die Walküre Act III – Scene 1 shortly after the famous Ride of the Valkyries when the Valkyries explain their function to bring slain warriors to Wotan and Valhalla.
The second example is taken from Siegfried Act I – Scene 2 when Wotan makes his entrance in his new identity as the World’s Wanderer. The music associated with the Wanderer has two parts. The first is made of four downward modulating chords in the first three measures. It is usually labeled the definitive Wanderer Motive and will be discussed in the Loge chapter. The second part is the ascending phrase beginning in measure five when Wotan asks for permission to rest a while at Mime’s hearth, and it has the relationship to the second component of the Valhalla music. Some authors label this the Pilgrimage Motive.
The Valhalla music’s third component of alternating chords has two important separate appearances in Götterdämmerung. They are given by Waltraute in Act I – Scene 3 and Brunnhilde in Act III – Scene 3, but because of their dramatic significance to the conclusion of Wagner’s Ring those associations are discussed in the last chapter (see Combinations chapter). However, in Siegfried Act III – Scene 2 there is music associated with Wotan’s questioning of Siegfried that is quite suggestive of the third component’s alternating chords.
The cadence segment from the fourth component of the Valhalla Music is easily identified whenever it appears. It’s emphasis on upward octave skip using a dominant 6th chord is suggestive of a relationship to the joyful innocence of the Rhine Daughters and earlier times. In Scene 1 of Götterdämmerung’s Prelude, Wagner makes this association more directly with a brief passage that uses this cadence to round off a restatement of the Nature Motive during the Norn’s narrative of happier times before Wotan,s desecration of the World Ash Tree to make his spear. Note the descending scale of the cellos and contrabass followed by the upward octave skip played by the trumpets.
