Loge
Loge, as a character, only appears in Das Rheingold. However his musical themes and their associated motives are probably as important to the drama of Der Ring Des Nibelungen as those of Love, Renunciation, the Ring, the Spear and the Sword. In Scene 2 of Das Rheingold the dramatic tension builds as the Giants insist that Freia be handed over to them as their agreed upon wage for Valhalla. Wotan is anxiously awaiting Loge to arrive and provide a way out of his agreement with the Giants. When Loge makes his entrance the orchestra plays four different musical themes in sequence that establish their association with Loge. The first theme and the last theme are almost musical inversions of each other and share not only a musical structure but dramatic relationships. The second and third themes have different dramatic interpretations, but they are still related to the first and fourth on a musical basis.
In the first four measures of the first example the violas play the first musical theme. This theme has two musical elements. The most obvious is that the motive is based on an ascending chromatic scale, but the more distinctive second element is the alternating interval skips in 5th ’s: F# to C#, D to G, and so on up the chromatic scale for four bars. In the seventh measure the second theme is heard as rapidly alternating notes a half step apart. This second theme can be labeled the Fire Motive and is usually thought to be representational of the flickering or undulating flames. This label should not be confused with a theme that is usually named the Magic Fire Motive which will be discussed later in this chapter.
Music-Loge Ascending/Flickering Fire
After the strings have introduced the first two themes they are joined by the upper woodwinds which play the third theme. This theme is composed of a series of alternating chords with a characteristic long-short-long rhythmic pattern. Both this third theme and the first theme discussed above have been called Loge’s Motives by different authors. However, as with the majority of Wagner’s themes they are not just identification labels associated with a character or object, but have a dramatic associations. As will be shown this third theme will generate a family of motives that share the concept of “transformation”, i.e. the changing from one state to another. One of Loge’s fundamental characteristics is his ability to change his shape into fire. This family of related motives can be labeled Transformation Music.
The fourth theme of Loge’s music is based on a descending chromatic scale with interval skips of a 5th similar to the first theme. These two themes have a conceptual association with the treacherous aspect of Loge’s persona.
Of the four themes mentioned above, three are used to develop other motives or subsidiary themes. Only the Fire Motive remains unchanged. It has several appearances in the Ring representing physical fire. One of its most dramatic appearances occurs at the end of Die Walküre when Wotan summons Loge to appear as fire and surround Brunnhilde’s Rock. Of course it makes an important appearance in the final scene of Götterdämmerung as Siegfried’s funeral pyre is set ablaze.
The fourth theme (descending chromatic scale and interval skips of a 5th ) and its dramatic association is foreshadowed in Scene 2 before Loge makes his entrance. In the example given below Wotan informs the audience that Loge is a master when deceit or trickery can be used to surmount an issue. Wotan’s vocal line is very close to the theme. Also note the descending chromatic scale of the cello, which reinforces the chromatic nature of the vocal line. This brief phrase will become the Deceit Motive.
The Deceit Motive is foreshadowed a second time before Loge’s entrance. Fafner sings a slight variation of it when he asks if Fasolt now recognizes the treachery behind Wotan’s hesitation to fulfill his agreement.
Music-Fafner Recognizes Deceit
Returning to the music heard when Loge makes his entrance we can now demonstrate how the first theme is developed with a slightly different association to the concept of deceit. In Scene 4 of Das Rheingold, after Wotan has demanded that Alberich surrender the ring as part of his ransom, the god and Alberich exchange a series of accusations about each other’s dishonesty to variations on Loge’s first theme. Wotan begins the exchange with a rhetorical question about the origin of Alberich’s ring. In the first two measures of the example taken from start of this exchange note Wotan’s vocal line with the interval skip of a 5th superimposed over the ascending chromatic scale of the contrabasses.
Alberich and Wotan have one final direct confrontation between them in Act II – Scene 1 of Siegfried. In this example the ascending chromatic pattern is shortened and partially obscured by the descending figurations played by the oboe, English horn, and violin. Just as the first and fourth themes have a close musical relationship their dramatic associations are likewise related. This association recurs in Götterdämmerung.
Music-Alberich Chastises Wotan
Near the end of the Act I – Scene 2, as
Siegfried explains to Gunther his proposal to obtain Brunnhilde for him, the
first theme of Loge’s music is heard several times.
Deception and treachery are the underlying dramatic themes of his plan.
When the deception starts to be exposed in Act II – Scene 4 with
Brunnhilde’s revelations, Gutrune’s vocal line is based on Loge’s first
theme and the vassals respond with music that is similarly chromatic in nature
as they demand that Siegfried swear that Brunnhilde’s charges are false.
Note how the cello and contrabass are playing a counter melody that is
reminiscent the Heroic Love Motive (see Rhine Daughters chapter).
Treachery as a means to an end is not limited to Loge. Fafner reveals his motive to obtain Freia. He informs Fasolt that when the gods are deprived of access to Freia’s golden apples they will loose their perpetual youthful vitality. Notice how the first three notes of Fafner’s vocal line and its relationship to the descending chromatic Deceit Motive. Remember the slowly descending chromatic scale in measures four and five as it will be developed further.
Near the end of Scene 2 Loge notes the changes in the gods and draws a parallel between the withering apples and an end of the gods’ influence. This brief musical passage is important because it reinforces the dramatic and musical association between a loss of power and themes that follow a descending chromatic scale.
Understanding this relationship between the musical and dramatic themes helps to elucidate another motive that appears in Die Walküre Act III – Scene 3 whose melody line follows a descending chromatic scale. The motive makes a partial appearance after Brunnhilde asks Wotan to tell her how he means to punish her disobedience. He informs her that he will bind her with sleep.
It is this reference to “sleep” that is the origin of the label Magic Sleep Motive, but the under lying dramatic significance is that Brunnhilde is loosing her divine powers. After Wotan gently kisses Brunhilde’s eyelids the orchestra plays the definitive version of the Magic Sleep Motive.
Music-Godhead Lost/Magic Sleep
Although the upper melody line of the flute and violins follow a descending chromatic scale, the rest of the orchestra is playing a series of chords that rise to meet the descending melody. Hidden within this chord progression are two subtle reference to the Ring’s influence on the unfolding drama. The third chord of the series is based on the minor 6th, i.e. Ring harmony, which is heard again in a different inversion on the sixth chord of the series. Note the slight delay of the falling half step from ‘Bb’ to ‘A’ in the second measure of the flute’s melody might also be taken as a subtle reference to the Woe Motive.
In Siegfried Act I – Scene 3 we hear a sinister variation on this music as Mime explains how he will overcome Siegfried by means of a special sleeping draught he is brewing thereby rendering the youth helpless. Perhaps Wagner wanted to communicate an analogy to Brunnhilde’s vulnerability, or to remind the audience of the motive before he would use it in Act III.
Although the music is soft and tranquil in Die Walküre it has appearances in the last acts of Siegfried and Götterdämmerung that are more closely associated with the waning of power of the gods. In support of this argument listen to a powerful and loud statement of the theme by the orchestra as Siegfried conquers Loge’s fire. An even more energetic sounding of this theme occurs in the orchestral conclusion to Götterdämmerung.
The next theme to be considered has been labeled the Wanderer Motive. It has an indirect relationship to the Loss of Godhead/Magic Sleep Motive. The theme occurs in the first four measures of the example below when the Wanderer makes his entrance in Act I – Scene 2 of Siegfried. It concludes on the first note of measure five where the Pilgrimage Motive begins (see Valhalla chapter). The chromatic downward pattern of the Magic Sleep Motive is broken by alternating whole and half steps in the melody line of the flute and trumpet.
As mentioned at the beginning of this chapter the third theme of Loge’s music is linked to the dramatic concept of transformation, although alternatively Cooke states that the underlying linkage is to magic. After appearing in Das Rheingold its next dramatic appearance is in Die Walküre Act III – Scene 3 when Brunnhilde requests that Wotan surround her rock with a blazing fire to frighten off cowardly suitors. The woodwinds play the characteristic chord changes of the motive, but the string accompaniment is distinctively different than that of Das Rheingold.
After Wotan summons Loge with his spear the orchestra plays the version of the theme that is typically labeled the Magic Fire Motive. The definitive version of the motive is recognized by the piccolo part playing a series of sixteenth note arpeggios that parallel the upper notes of the chord progression of Loge’s Transformation Motive.
There is a more dissonant version of the motive heard in Siegfried Act I – Scene 3 when Mime is trying to explain to Siegfried about fear. Note the flutes and clarinets play the Fear Motive in the second and fourth measures.
In the Prologue to Götterdämmerung as the Norns make reference to Loge the orchestra plays a different variation on his transformation music.
After these somewhat dissonant variations there is one last variation which occurs in Act II of Götterdämmerung whose harmony has a cheery quality to it. It is based around the first four notes of the Loge’s Transformation theme. Dramatically the transformation here involves a change in Siegfried. After he has removed the Tarnhelm he reverts from the brutal impersonator of Gunther back to the carefree hero that began the opera.
If Loge’s music provides the music for transformation the important dramatic symbol of transformation is of course the magic Tarnhelm forged by Mime for Alberich. The Tarnhelm Motive has two components. The first component is heard in Scene 3 of Das Rheingold when Alberich fits the device onto his head. The second component is music associated with his actual transformation spell, and it has different harmony than the chords of the first component.
The Tarnhelm Motive is used to derive the theme of the giant serpent or “wurm”. This variation is heard when Alberich demonstrates the power of the Tarnhelm to Loge and Wotan by changing himself into a giant, coiling snake. A little latter in the same scene Loge tricks Alberich into changing himself into something small and the orchestra plays another variation on the transformation music to depict a small hoping toad. Note how the harmony of the toad’s hops is suggestive of the Ring Motive’s harmony.
Music-Giant Serpent Music-Serpent Uncoils
Alberich’s “wurm” theme is developed a little more and becomes associated with a transformed Fafner. In Act III – Scene 1 of Die Walküre Grimgerde explains that Wotan stays away from the wild forest where Fafner has taken up residence in the form of a giant dragon. In Siegfried Act I – Scene 1 during Mime’s opening monologue he informs the audience that Fafner has become a savage dragon, while the tubas play the Dragon Motive.
There is another interesting quotation of the Dragon Motive, and it is associated with Brunnhilde. It occurs in Act III – Scene 3 of Siegfried and can been recognized in the cello and contra bass parts of the example given. It usage by Wagner at this point in the drama has lead some commentators to propose a psycho analytical based interpretation for its appearance analogous to Fafner’s desire to devour Siegfried. An alternative interpretation consistent with the theme of transformation would be to posit that Brunnhilde is being transformed from a chaste warrior maiden into a wildly passionate woman.
The final theme to be developed from Loge’s transformation music is labeled the Potion Motive. Hagen’s potion apparently has the power to obliterate Siegfried’s prior love for Brunnhilde and make Gutrune the only object of his desire. The motive is foreshadowed in Götterdämmerung Act I – Scene 1 with a statement of its different harmony before Hagen actually explains its power to Gutrune and suggests how it could aid her to gain Siegfried as her mate.
The relationship of the Potion Motive to the second component of the Tarnhelm theme, i.e. the magic spell, is demonstrated in the example given below. In the first five measures the horns play the harmonic progression of the Tarnhelm while a solo cello plays a sinister version of Freia’s Motive. In the sixth measure the harmony changes to a C minor chord (the key of the Renunciation Music and tragedy) with a progression to A 9th harmony ( see Woman’s Love chapter) and then back to C minor, while Hagen’s vocal line explains the actual effects of the potion.
The full dramatic impact of the Tarnhelm and Potion themes is revealed in Götterdämmerung Act I – Scene 3 when Siegfried appears in Gunther’s form. The music tells the audience that not only has his outward appearance been transformed, but also that his love for Brunnhilde has succumbed to the potion’s power.
