Synopsis
PrologueThe
three Norns, daughters of Erda, gather beside Brunnhilde's rock, weaving the
rope of Destiny. They sing of the past and the present, and of the future when
Wotan will set fire to Valhalla to signal the end of the gods. Without warning,
their rope breaks. Lamenting the loss of their wisdom, the Norns
disappear.
As day breaks, Siegfried and Brunnhilde emerge from their
cave. Brunnhilde sends Siegfried off to new adventures, urging him to keep their
love in mind. As a pledge of fidelity, Siegfried gives her the ring which he
took from Fafner's hoard. Bearing Brunnhilde's shield and mounting her horse
Grane, Siegfried rides away.
Act IThe act begins in the Hall
of the Gibichungs, a people dwelling by the Rhine. Gunther, lord of the
Gibichungs, sits enthroned. His half-brother Hagen advises him to find a wife
for himself and a husband for their sister Gutrune. He suggests Brunnhilde for
Gunther's wife, and Siegfried for Gutrune's husband. He has given Gutrune a
potion to make Siegfried forget Brunnhilde and fall in love with Gutrune; under
its influence, Siegfried will win Brunnhilde for Gunther.
Siegfried
appears at Gibichung Hall, seeking to meet Gunther. Gunther extends his
hospitality to the hero, and Gutrune offers him the love potion. Unaware of the
deception, Siegfried toasts Brunnhilde and their love. Drinking the potion, he
loses his memory of Brunnhilde and falls in love with Gutrune instead. In his
drugged state, Siegfried offers to win a wife for Gunther, who tells him about
Brunnhilde and the magic fire. They swear blood-brotherhood, and leave for
Brunnhilde's rock.
Meanwhile, Brunnhilde is visited by her Valkyrie
sister Waltraute, who relates how Wotan returned from his wanderings one day
with his spear shattered. (Wotan is dismayed at losing his spear, as it has all
the treaties and bargains he has made—everything that gives him power—carved
into its shaft.) Wotan ordered branches of Yggdrasil, the World tree, be piled
around Valhalla; sent his ravens to spy on the world and bring him news; and
currently waits in Valhalla for the end. Waltraute begs Brunnhilde to return the
ring to the Rhinemaidens, since the ring's curse is now affecting their father,
Wotan. However, Brunnhilde refuses to relinquish Siegfried's token of love, and
Waltraute rides away in despair.
Siegfried arrives, disguised as Gunther
using the Tarnhelm, and claims Brunnhilde as wife. Though Brunnhilde violently
resists, Siegfried overpowers her, snatching the Ring from her hand and placing
it on his own.
Act IIHagen, waiting by the bank of the
Rhine, is visited in his sleep by his father, Alberich. On Alberich's urging, he
swears to acquire the Ring. Siegfried arrives as dawn breaks, having secretly
resumed his natural form and traded places with Gunther. Hagen summons the
Gibichung to welcome Gunther and his bride.
Gunther leads in a downcast
Brunnhilde, who is astonished to see Siegfried. Noticing the Ring on Siegfried's
hand, she realizes she has been betrayed. She denounces Siegfried in front of
Gunther's vassals. Siegfried swears on Hagen's spear that her accusations are
false. He then leads Gutrune and the bystanders off to the wedding feast,
leaving Brunnhilde, Hagen, and Gunther alone by the shore. Deeply shamed by
Brunnhilde's outburst, Gunther agrees to Hagen's suggestion that Siegfried must
be slain for his honour to be regained. Brunnhilde, seeking revenge for
Siegfried's treachery, joins the plot and tells Hagen about the hero's sole
weakness: though she had used her magic to ward him from harm, she had left his
back unguarded, knowing that he would never flee from a foe. Hagen and Gunther
decide to lure Siegfried on a hunting-trip and murder him.
Act
IIIIn the woods by the bank of the Rhine, the Rhinemaidens mourn the
lost Rheingold. Siegfried happens by, separated from the hunting party. They
urge him to return the Ring and avoid its curse, but he ignores their tidings of
doom. They swim away, predicting that Siegfried will die and that his heir, a
lady, will treat them more fairly.
Siegfried rejoins the hunters, who
include Gunther and Hagen. While resting, he tells them about the adventures of
his youth. Hagen gives him a drink that restores his memory, and he tells of
discovering the sleeping Brunnhilde and awakening her with a kiss. Suddenly, two
ravens fly out of a bush, and as Siegfried watches them, Hagen stabs him in the
back with his spear. The others look on in horror, and Hagen calmly walks away
into the wood. Siegfried dies, lingering on his memories of Brunnhilde. His body
is carried away in a solemn funeral procession.
Back in the Gibichung
Hall, Gutrune awaits Siegfried's return. Hagen arrives, ahead of the funeral
party. Gutrune is devastated when Siegfried's corpse is brought in. Gunther
blames Siegfried's death on Hagen, who replies that Siegfried had incurred the
penalty of his false oath, and claims the Ring on Siegfried's finger by right of
conquest. When Gunther objects, Hagen attacks and kills him. However, as Hagen
moves to take the Ring, the dead hero's hand raises threateningly, and he
recoils.
Brunnhilde makes her entrance and takes charge of the scene.
She issues orders for a huge funeral pyre to be assembled by the river, and
sends Wotan's ravens home with "anxiously longed-for tidings." She takes the
Ring and tells the Rhinemaidens to claim it from her ashes, once fire has
cleansed it of its curse. The pyre lit, Brunnhilde mounts her horse Grane and
rides into the flames.
What follows are perhaps the most
difficult-to-realise stage directions in the history of opera: the fire flares
up as the Rhine overflows its banks, bearing the Rhinemaidens on its waves.
Hagen leaps after the Ring and drowns. The Rhinemaidens swim away, bearing the
Ring in triumph. The Hall of the Gibichungs collapses. As the flames increase in
intensity, Valhalla comes into view in the sky. Bright flames seem to flare up
in the hall of the Gods, in which the Gods can be seen, finally hiding them from
sight completely. The curtain falls.
Mariinsky Theatre: 
Mariinsky-2 (New Theatre): 
Mariinsky Concert Hall: 
