nce get more artificiality and
theatricality. In using the word theatrical I do not mean there is any
return to, for instance, the _Rienzi_ style: the music is theatrical
in Wagner's own later way: it seems to fit the situation, but the
appearance is an appearance only: the stuff is superficial: the
feeling of the moment is not expressed--the music, in a word, is
essentially the same as that of many inferior but clever opera
composers, only, of course, the Wagner idiom is always there. The
Waltraute scene is fine, being largely made up of old material; but I
cannot say much for the scene between Bruennhilda and Siegfried. In
this first act two important themes are introduced, the Tarnhelm theme
and that of the draught of forgetfulness. The first is of the
theatrical type: it is a leitmotiv of the same sort as Lohengrin's
warning to Elsa; the other is a miracle, one of the wonders of music.
It gives one in a brief phrase Siegfried's dazed sense that something
has gone from him, a strange sense of loss; and it has the pathos the
moment demands. As for the draught of forgetfulness itself, it cannot
be explained as symbolical of anything; it must be accepted as we
accept the Tarnhelm and the Rhinemaidens and black Alberich.

II

In the Second Act the scene is again the Gibichungs' hall. Siegfried
and Guenther are away, and Hagen watches by night; his father,
Alberich, crawls up from the river and counsels him as to how to get
possession of the Ring; then he disappears as dawn begins to show. The
music is weird and sinister in Wagner's finest manner. Siegfried comes
in and says Guenther and his bride will soon arrive, and goes off with
Gutruna, happy as a child; in a magnificent piece of music, largely
constructed of a harsh phrase associated with Hagen, he (Hagen) calls
up the clansmen and women; a pompous bit of chorus greets Guenther and
Bruennhilda, and then once more we are plunged into a sea of
theatricality. To her amazement, Bruennhilda finds Siegfried there with
his new bride, unmindful of her. In rage she denounces him and
declares he has shared the joys of love with her; he denies it; but
Guenther is shamed, and has no doubt that Siegfried has played him
false. Siegfried goes merrily off, and Guenther, Hagen and Bruennhilda
swear that he must die. In the music we get any amount of physical
energy and dramatic emphasis; but we know this is no longer the Wagner
of the _Valkyrie_. I pass over the Act briefly now,