act that Wotan has made life
bitter for him counts for nothing against that fact; and, finally,
though he could not himself aid Siegmund, he ordered his daughter to do
so. He wished Siegmund to act of his own free-will, and yet to do what
he, Wotan, wanted. Checked by Fricka, he revokes his command to
Brunnhilda, and goes off cursing fate. Siegmund and Sieglinda enter,
flying before Hunding; Sieglinda faints, and at last sleeps; and then
Brunnhilda steps forward from among the rocks in the gloomy
half-light--a stern, imposing, indeed an awful, figure, the herald of
death, seen only by warriors about to die. The Fate theme sounds from
the orchestra, and another melody, out of which nearly the whole scene
is woven, is heard, and then, to a simple chord--supernatural, ghostly
in its effect--she calls Siegmund. She tells him he is to die and go
with her to Valhalla. He pleads in vain; she (simply, be it remembered,
a part of her father's will) cannot understand why he should refuse to
go where his father and so many famous warriors have already gone. "So
young and fair, and yet so cold and stern!" Siegmund exclaims; and at
last he asks whether Sieglinda will also be there. "Siegmund will see
Sieglinda no more," she replies to a quiet phrase of unspeakable pathos.
Then Siegmund refuses to go with her, and he draws his sword to slay
first Sieglinda, then himself. Brunnhilda is overwhelmed by the
revelation of a love so devoted, and at last promises to help him. It is
her own nature as is revealed to her. Night and storm come on; Hunding's
horn is heard as he comes nearer and nearer; Siegmund mounts amongst the
rocks to meet him; a flash of lightning reveals them in the act of
fighting; Brunnhilda hovers above to strike for him, when Wotan appears
in a fiery glare and smashes Siegmund's sword, so that Hunding's spear
passes through him. Sieglinda has awakened to see this and collapses;
Brunnhilda rapidly descends, and, gathering the fragments of the
shattered sword, hurries Sieglinda off to seek shelter from Wotan's
wrath. Wotan kills Hunding with a contemptuous gesture, telling him to
say to Fricka that her will has been accomplished. He rests there for a
moment, then goes off in flaming wrath. The tragedy has gone a step
onward; he has killed his son, and now must punish Brunnhilda--put away
love from himself to the end that he may enjoy a loveless empire.

The music throughout the act is amongst Wagner's noblest and most
be