Opera for the Average Idiot #4: Götterdämmerung

aka:

The Ring Cycle: The Conclusion.

Warning:  This is "the long one."  Or rather, "the really long one."  Or as some people know it, "the really really REALLY long one."  I'm about to condense 4 1/2 hours of opera into something more manageable.  Wish me luck. If I'm not back in 5 minutes, just wait longer.

We last left our heroes cursing the Gods, inbreeding (Aunt Brünnhilde and Nephew Siegfried), and generally setting themselves on a course of doom and destruction.

Or as the Norse called it, Ragnarok. (click here for more info on this mythological event)

Prologue
The scene opens with the Norns (daughters of Erda. Kin of like the Fates from Greek mythology.  Kind of.) weaving the rope of destiny as they sit around the rock where Brünnhilde had been laying in her ring of fire.  While they sing of the future, where Wotan burns all of Valhalla to the ground, the rope suddenly breaks.  Disappointed, they leave.

Brünnhilde and Siegfried make their first appearance, after having what we can only assume was copious amounts of sex.  She sends him off to do heroic deeds and asks him to remember their love.  He gives her the ring that he took from Fafnir (see Opera for the Average Idiot #3 for more details) as a token of his love, takes her shield and her horse, and rides off to do herioc type things.

Insert a fabulous orchestral interlude here as we transition to Act I proper.  This is also where we get the "Short Call," which is Siegfried's leitmotif throughout all 4 operas.  Listen for it around the 5 minute, 55 second mark of this video:





Act I

We find ourselves in the hall of the Gibichungs, somewhere near the Rhine river.  King Gunther is confronted by his half-brother, Hagen, who tells him that he (Gunther) needs to find Hagen a wife and their sister Gutrune a husband.  Naturally, Hagen suggests that Brünnhilde would be perfect for him and Siegfried would be perfect for Gutrune.  Why not, right?  We then learn that Gutrune has a love potion that she could use on Siegfried to make him forget all about his pledge of love to Brünnhilde.

Conveniently enough, Siegfried shows up while out and about on his quest to do heroic-type-things.  Gunther extends his hospitality, and his sister, who give Siegfried a drink containing the love potion.  Siegfried toasts to his love for Brünnhilde, drinks the potion, forgets Brünnhilde, and falls madly in love with Gutrune.

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Now that Seigfried is single again, he offers to find a wife for his future brother-in-law (Gunther).  Gunther tells him of a maiden asleep, surrounded by a ring of fire that only someone who is fearless can cross (Sound familiar...?).  He and Gunther swear blood brotherhood and head off to find Brünnhilde's rock.  Hagen does not partake of the swearing of blood brotherhood, preferring to remain on guard duty as he sings of how they are unwittingly bringing the Ring to him.

"Myyyyyyy prrrrrreciousssssssss......"

Meanwhile, back at the ranch...
Brünnhilde has a visitor in the form of her sister Waltraute (another Valkyrie), who brings her the news that Wotan has officially given up.  He has barricaded himself inside of Valhalla and is waiting for the end of the world, rather than trying to actually do something about it.

Waltraute asks Brünnhilde to give the Ring back to the Rhinemaidens (remember Das Rheingold from way back when?) to end the madness.  Being the selfish thing that she is, Brünnhilde refuses to give up the Ring since her Siggy gave it to her as a token of his love.  Waltraute gives up and leaves.  Enter Siegfried wearing the Tarnhelm, which makes him look like Gunther.  He (as Gunther) claims her as his wife and she fights him because she is still in love with Siegfried.  He tackles her, takes the Ring from her, and places it on his own finger.

Act II
This act returns us to the land of the Gibichungs where we find Hagen by the Rhine.  He is suddenly visited by his father, who is, surprisingly, the dwarf Alberich!!! We thought we had left this bastard behind in Das Rheingold, but nooooooooooooooo.....that would be too easy.  You guessed it, he's still after the Ring and he gets his son to swear that he will kill our hero and get the ring back for his father. Siegfried, Gunther, and Brünnhilde return and Brünnhilde is shocked to see that Siegfried is wearing the Ring, not Gunther who she had heretofore thought was the one who conquered her.

Brünnhilde to Siegfried: "You seduced and betrayed me!!"
S to B: "Did not!"
B to S: "Did too!"
S to B: "Did not!"
B to S: "Did too!"
S to B: "I swear on this spear that Hagen is conveniently holding, that I did not!"
B to S: "I swear on the same spear that Hagen is conveniently holding that you did!"

Unbeknownst to us, but knownst to our heroes, if an oath is sworn upon a weapon and the oath is broken, the owner of the weapon must kill the person who broke the oath.

Hellooooooooo foreshadowing.....

Siegfried heads off to the wedding feast with Gutrune.  Gunther agrees with Hagen that Siegfried must die for the insult he has given to Brünnhilde.  Brünnhilde is pretty damn pissed off at her former beau by now and she reveals to the conspirators that they can kill Siegfried if they stab him in the back.

Act III
subtitled:
DEATH!!! DOOM!!! DESTRUCTION!!!

We return to the banks of the Rhine where the Rhinemaidens are still mourning the loss of the Rhinegold (yes, three operas later, they are still in mourning).  Siegfried walks by after being separated from a hunting party and they beg him to return the Ring. He refuses and tells them that he would rather die than give it up.

Oh look....our good friend foreshadowing...nice to see you again....

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Siegfried rejoins the hunters and starts telling stories of his childhood while everyone rests by the river.  Hagen gives him a drink containing a potion that restores his memories and he tells the tale of how he found Brünnhilde and woke her with a kiss.  Suddenly, Wotan's ravens do a fly-over, distracting Siegfried long enough for Hagen to stab him in the back.  Remember that Siegfried swore on Hagen's spear in Act II that he did not seduce/betray Brünnhilde.  Hagen was honor-bound to kill him for breaking that oath.  The hunting party carries Siegfried in a funeral procession back to the Gibichung Hall.

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The procession arrives at the Gibichung Hall where Gutrune is waiting for Siegfried.  Gunther blames Hagen for Siegfried's death.

Hagen defends his actions by reminding everyone of Siegfried's broken oath and he claims the Ring by right of conquest.  Gunther tries to stop him but Hagen attacks and kills his brother easily.  Hagen goes to take the Ring and Siegfried's hand moves in a threatening manner.  Hagen is startled and Gutrune dies.  Why not, right?

Brünnhilde makes a sufficiently dramatic entrance and orders a funeral pyre to be built by the river.  She then takes the ring from Siegfried's hand and summons the Rhinemaidens.  She tells them to take the Ring from her ashes when she is gone as the fire should cleanse the Ring of the curse.  Her final act is to send Wotan's ravens to Valhalla with a message of their impending doom.  She mounts her horse, Grane, and rides into her own funeral pyre.

I give you.....the end of the world.

The Gibichung Hall burns down.  The Rhine overflows.  The Rhinemaidens take back the Ring.  Hagen decides to be a complete idiot and goes after the Rhinemaidens to get the Ring.  They drown him.  There was much rejoicing from the Rhinemaidens (yay!).  The scene closes as we see Valhalla glowing brightly in the distance as all of the Gods are burnt to a crisp.

The End


Congratulations!!! You made it to the end!  I suppose I could have saved you even more time by simply saying that everyone dies at the end, but where would the fun be in that?? 

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Now, if you don't mind, I think I have earned a drink after this one.