Siegfried
There are several themes associated with the young hero of the Ring’s third opera. This chapter discusses Siegfried’s music. When he makes his entrance leading a wild bear that he has brought with him to terrorize Mime, the music has a characteristic rhythm and melodic pattern that is labeled the Siegfried’s Horn Call Motive. Interestingly it is first introduced by the violas and cellos and not on a horn. When Siegfried releases the bear and sends him back to the forest Wagner has a brief musical joke by having the violas and cellos play an inversion of the Siegfried’s Horn Call Motive.
Shortly after this musical jest we hear the Siegfried’s Horn Call Motive in its definitive form on solo horn.
The syncopated melody of Siegfried’s Horn Call is developed by Wagner during Act I – Scene 3 when Siegfried takes the broken shards of Nothung away from Mime and decides that he will forge the sword anew himself. The rhythm is repeated in an energetic ascending pattern that is thought by some to be representative of Siegfried’s youthful exuberance and strength. The use of this rhythmic pattern, by the strings, suggesting an activity also occurs in Götterdämmerung in association with Siegfried’s propelling his boat upon the Rhine river.
Music-Siegfried Will Forge The Sword
In Scene 2 of Götterdämmerung’s prologue the 6/8 rhythm of Siegfried’s Horn Call Motive is changed into a slow and stately 4/4 rhythm on the horns argued by some to represent a maturation of the young hero under the influence of the love he shares with Brunnhilde and her tutelage. This transformed form of the horn call is often labeled the Siegfried Motive. Note how the opening statement by the horns is answered by a statement on the clarinet of the Brunnhilde’s Motive (see Woman’s Love chapter).
As Siegfried prepares to leave Brunnhilde in search of new heroic deeds, Wagner again modifies the Horn Call Motive’s rhythm and orchestration. To the horns he adds the oboes and clarinets which lightens the mood of their parting. Then as Siegfried descends from Brunnhilde’s Rock the definitive Horn Call Motive is heard again on solo horn.
In Act III - Scene 1 of Götterdämmerung the Rhine Daughter’s hear Siegfried’s horn call and anticipate his arrival. There is a brief passage in the orchestra that has the upper woodwinds playing a dissonant theme that seems to combine part of the rhythm of his horn call with the opening triplet rhythm that was associated with Wotan’s angst.
There are two different musical patterns that have a strong association with Siegfried’s emotions. The first musical pattern has several variations and is introduced in Act I – Scene 1 of Siegfried as he expresses his anger with Mime. The motive of Siegfried’s Temperament can be identified by a pattern of falling 4th ’s separated by a step up of one note. In the first example given the motive is played rapidly by the violins and the violas. In the second example of this pattern Wagner uses a variation of this theme as the youth berates the old dwarf.
As Siegfried’s fit of temper plays itself out, the motive’s tempo slows and begins to become calm. Then, as Siegfried explains to Mime how he observed love by watching the forest birds brood their chicks Wagner transforms the theme into bird calls that are passed from the flute to the oboe, to the clarinet and then to the English horn. This bird’s song has a brief appearance outside of the Ring in the Siegfried Idyll. Notice the motive of Siegfried’s Longing beneath the bird song.
Music-Siegfried Calms Down Music-Calming Bird Song
Wagner has two other variations on the pattern of falling 4th ’s to introduce and he does this at the very end of Siegfried Act III – Scene 3. Both of these variations also make an appearance in the Siegfried Idyll, although slightly modified. The first of the two variations is a triplet figuration on the violins. Note the descending pattern of 4ths beginning on the second beat of the third measure.
Wagner has one other variation on the pattern of falling 4th ’s to introduce and he does this at the very end of Siegfried Act III – Scene 3. Siegfried’s emotional state and his music are picked up by Brunnhilde. This music has been labeled the Love’s Resolution Motive by Cooke, presumably because at the end of the opera “boy gets girl”. However, it seems more likely that Wagner may have been trying to communicate a dramatic point about the young lover’s complete emotional abandonment to each other. Dramatically this music is the complete opposite from the expressions of temper first associated with musical pattern. Note how this theme is blended into a variation on the Adventure Motive on the horn.
The second musical pattern is probably more of a string figuration than a true leitmotiv, but like other themes it is repeated and has its own variations. After Mime is slain, Siegfried is again engaged by the woodbird’s counsel. As he learns of the sleeping maid on a mountain top he becomes more and more excited. The violins play two related patterns of rapidly descending scales that are initiated by an interval skip of a 7th.
