The Sword
The Sword Motive, played by the trumpet in the example below, was briefly touched upon in the Nature chapter. Musically it is formed from a combination of the arpeggio of the Nature Motive and a falling octave of the second and third notes of its melody. Just after its first appearance in Das Rheingold, Wotan salutes his fortress, and beginning in the fourth measure his vocal line introduces a second sword related theme . It too incorporates a falling octave. This second theme plays an important dramatic role in acts I and II of Die Walküre. This second theme was given the label “the purpose of the sword” by Cooke. However, the entire eight bar passage has a broader dramatic interpretation. At the first Bayreuth rehearsals of Das Rheingold Wagner is reported to have instructed the actor portraying Wotan to represent the god being taken with a ‘grand idea’ at this point in the music. In Die Walküre that ‘grand idea’ becomes Wotan’s complex plan to regain the ring, involving the creation of Valkyries, the garrisoning of Valhalla with dead heroes, and the siring the Volsung outlaw hero, Siegmund. All of these actions are intended to prevent Erda’s pronouncement of the gods’ end from coming to pass (see All Things End chapter).
A variation on the Sword Motive begins the prelude to Act II of Die Walküre. Its melody is given in the example below.
It is after the prelude and in Scene 2 of Act I that Wagner truly demonstrates his musical and dramatic skills with the Sword Motive. As Siegmund contemplates his vulnerability to Hunding’s threats he sings of a weapon that his father, Wälse, had promised that he would find in need. Notice how Siegmund’s vocal line parallels that of Wotan’s from Das Rheingold.
This musical and dramatic relationship between Siegmund’s need and Wotan’s ‘grand idea’ is reinforced a second time latter in Scene 2. Note that the descending bass line in measure five is extended suggesting the Spear Motive, which can be though to be a manifestation of Wotan’s will. Because of all these relationships an alternative label for the second sword theme is offered. It will be referred to here as the Wotan’s Intentions Motive.
In Act II of Die Walküre a variation on this motive is introduced in association with Fricka. It is usually labeled the Fricka Motive and it can be seen in the violin part. It begins with a sixteenth note rhythm that is similar to accented notes that were heard in the opening storm music of the prelude to Act I. It can be argued that the dramatic relationship between these two motives is that Fricka presents an obstruction Wotan’s intentions. Wotan himself recognizes her opposition to his will.
There is another derivative of the basic Sword Motive that occurs only in Act I. It is actually a combination of the Sword Motive and the second component of the Valhalla Music (see Valhalla chapter). In the following example the oboe, clarinets, and horns play the theme superimposed over the Sword Motive on the trumpet. To appreciate the Valhalla component listen to the ascending chords that follow the principal Valhalla Motive a few times and then return to this example. The music is associated with the challenge that the imbedded sword presents.
Wagner then adds a second phrase to the end of the theme. This modification, which incorporates part of the end of Sieglinde's Motive, is heard when Sieglinde begins to realize that Siegmund may be the one to win the sword and be her deliverer. This form of the theme is repeated several times as their excitement builds.
The falling octave of the Sword Motive has its own significance (see All Things End Chapter). Wagner isolates the falling octave and develops it into an independent motive. The evolution of this development begins in Die Walküre as Siegmund cries out his father’s name. Note the pair of falling octaves.
The next evolution is a change in the harmony accompanying these falling octaves when Siegmund gives the sword and the motive a name – Nothung.
Before becoming the definitive Nothung Motive the theme will undergo another harmonic modification in Siegfried, when Mime tells the young hero the name of his father’s sword.
During the subsequent reforging of the sword, Siegfried continues to make the sword and the theme his own. After reading the Siegfried chapter return to the next example and note how the bassoon and low strings play a variation of the Siegfried’s Horn Call Motive to introduce the Nothung Motive.
During Siegfried’s forging Wagner introduces three additional musical themes. The first is a descending melody played by the cellos and contrabass that accompanies Siegfried’s singing. Its derivation may be related to the descending bass scale in the first example at the beginning of the chapter. Note how Wagner has the upper strings reverse the falling octave skip to provide some thematic variety while still maintaining thematic continuity to the Sword Motive. This bass line theme will be heard briefly again in Act II – Scene 2 as Siegfried and Mime make their way to Fafner’s lair.
The second theme from Siegfried’s forging music is not built from intervals of a octave. The musical relationship to the Nothung Motive is maintained by the rhythm of the accompaniment of the upper woodwinds. Note again that the bassoon, cello and contra bass play the theme mentioned above derived from the Siegfried’s Horn Call Motive.
The third theme is another variation of the descending scale. It is heard as Siegfried encourages the bellows to fan the forge’s fire.
There is an interesting musical interplay between Siegfried’s forging activity and Mime’s brewing of the sleeping draught with which he intends to poison Siegfried. When Siegfried addresses the newly forged blade and remarks on the qualities of its steel the brass play a brief fanfare passage. The opening rhythm is reminiscent of the rhythm of the trumpet fanfare from the Valhalla Music.
This fanfare ironically is used to introduce a theme on the woodwinds as Mime capers about stirring his brew and praising his own deviousness.
There is one last theme developed from the Sword Motive. It appears in Götterdämmerung at the end of Act I when Siegfried draws Nothung and states that his sword will bear witness that his conduct with Brunnhilde was chaste. This theme is characterized by the sharp interval skip of not one but two falling octaves, and instead of the typical rhythm pattern associated with the Nothung Motive, it is reversed to the rhythm of Hagen’s Motive (see Gibichung chapter). It has been labeled the Honor Motive and it is heard again in Act II of Götterdämmerung after Brunnhilde has correctly reasoned that it was Siegfried and not Gunther who overpowered her, and to contest her charges that he took advantage of her sexually Siegfried states that Nothung keep them apart.
