The Rhinegold & The Valkyrie. The Ring of the Niblung, part 1. Рихард Вагнер

Rhinegold & The Valkyrie / The Ring of the Niblung, part 1

      THE RHINEGOLD

CHARACTERS

      GODS: WOTAN, DONNER, FROH, LOGE

      NIBELUNGS: ALBERICH, MIME

      GIANTS: FASOLT, FAFNER

      GODDESSES: FRICKA, FREIA, ERDA

      RHINE-MAIDENS: WOGLINDE, WELLGUNDE, FLOSSHILDE

SCENES OF ACTION

      I. AT THE BOTTOM OF THE RHINE

      II. OPEN SPACE ON A MOUNTAIN HEIGHT NEAR THE RHINE

      III. THE SUBTERRANEAN CAVERNS OF NIBELHEIM

      IV. OPEN SPACE AS IN SCENE II.

      FIRST SCENE

At the bottom of the Rhine

      A greenish twilight, lighter above than below. The upper part is filled with undulating water, which streams respectively from right to left. Towards the bottom the waves resolve themselves into a mist which grows finer as it descends, so that a space, as high as a mans body from the ground, appears to be quite free from the water, which floats like a train of clouds over the gloomy stretch below. Steep rocky peaks jut up everywhere from the depths, and enclose the entire stage. The ground is a wild confusion of jagged rocks, no part of it being quite level, and on every side deeper fisures are indicated by a still denser gloom. Woglinde circles with graceful swimming movements round the central rock.

      WOGLINDE

      Weia! Waga!

      Roll, O ye billows,

      Rock ye our cradle!

      Wagala weia!

      Wallala, weiala, weia!

      WELLGUNDE [From above.

      Woglinde, watchest alone?

      WOGLINDE

      If Wellgunde came we were two.

      WELLGUNDE [Dives down to the rock.

      How keepest thou watch?

      WOGLINDE [Swimming off, eludes her.

      Wary of thee.

      [They playfully tease and chase one another.

      FLOSSHILDE [From above.

      Heiaha weia!

      Ho! ye wild sisters!

      WELLGUNDE

      Flosshilde, swim!

      Woglinde flies:

      Help me to hinder her flying.

      FLOSSHILDE [Dives down between the two at play.

      The sleeping gold

      Badly ye guard;

      Watch with more zeal

      The slumberer's bed,

      Or dear you'll pay for your sport!

      [They swim asunder with merry cries. Flosshilde tries to catch first the one, then the other. They elude her, and then combine to chase her, darting like fish from rock to rock with jests and laughter. Meanwhile Alberich climbs out of a dark ravine on to a rock. He pauses, still surrounded by darkness, and watches the frolic of the Rhine-Maidens with increasing pleasure.

      ALBERICH

      Hey, hey! ye nixies!

      Ye are a lovely,

      Lovable folk!

      From Nibelheim's night

      Fain would I come,

      Would ye be kind to me.

      [The maidens, as soon as they hear Alberich's voice, stop playing.

      WOGLINDE

      Hei! Who is there?

      WELLGUNDE

      A voice! It grows dark!

      FLOSSHILDE

      Who listens below?

      [They dive down and see the Nibelung.

      WOGLINDE AND WELLGUNDE

      Fie! the loathsome one!

      The frolic of the Rhine-Maidens.

      FLOSSHILDE [Swimming up quickly.

      Look to the gold!

      Father warned us

      Of such a foe.

      [Both the others follow her, and all three gather quickly round the central rock.

      ALBERICH

      You above there!

      THE THREE RHINE-MAIDENS

      What wouldst thou below there?

      ALBERICH

      Do I spoil sport

      By standing and gazing here?

      Dived ye but deeper,

      Fain the Niblung

      Would join in your frolic and play.

      WELLGUNDE

      He wishes to join us?

      WOGLINDE

      Is he in jest?

      ALBERICH

      Ye gleam above me

      So glad and fair!

      If one would only

      Glide down, how close in my arms

      Fondly clasped she would be!

      FLOSSHILDE

      I laugh at my fears:

      The foe is in love.

      WELLGUNDE

      The amorous imp!

      WOGLINDE

      Let us approach him.

      [She sinks down to the top of the rock, whose base Alberich has reached.

      ALBERICH

      Lo! one of them comes!

      WOGLINDE

      Climb up to me here!

      ALBERICH

      [Climbs with gnome-like agility, though with repeated checks, to the summit of the rock. Irritably.

      Horrid rock,

      So slippery, slimy!

      I slide and slip!

      My hands and feet vainly

      Attempt to hold on

      To the slithery surface!

      Vapour damp

      Fills up my nostrils—

      Accursed sneezing!

      [He