Richard Wagner and J.R.R. Tolkien - The Long Defeat, The Final Battle, and Glimpses of Victory

Here is the next part of my continuing thread exploring the works of Richard Wagner and J.R.R Tolkien - two of the greatest and most prolific sub-creators of their generation.

Wagner and Tolkien worked on the development of their legendariums over a course of many years and for each of them it was a great part of their lifework. The development of these works reflected their life experiences and changing attitudes. One series of related themes both Wagner and Tolkien explore throughout the development of each of their works are the concepts of the long defeat, the final battle and glimpses of victory.

For Wagner, these thoughts are illustrated in his changing ideas for the end of his great Ring-cycle which he rewrote six or seven times (an interesting personal comparison with Tolkien's habit of "niggling" over his works). In the original 1848 version, written in a time of revolutionary optimism, Siegfried and Brunnhilde rise out of the fire of the funeral pyre and ascend to the god's home of Valhalla. There Brunnhilde cleanses the gods of their guilt and prevents their fated destruction. This is the only version where the gods are saved from ultimate destruction. As Laurence Dreyfus says in his recent article Siegfried's Masculinity, in the early version of the Ring there is little that has to do with romantic love - instead of falling in love men force themselves on females, Grimhild, Gunther's mother is overpowered and Alberich does not forswear love to master the Rhinegold but simply abducts it. (Dreyfus, p. 5) This idea of love and healing begins to play a much more important part in the make up of the Ring in the next major version of the story Wagner penned in 1852 living as a poor political exile in Switzerland. For this version, Wagner re-wrote the ending which now saw the gods being destroyed and being replaced by a human society ruled by love. This version was very much influenced by the Philosopher Ludwig Feuerbach (1804-1872) whose work Das Wesen des Christentums (The Essence of Christanity) argues that the ultimate essence of God is love (gross oversimplification of a very complex theory). This influenced Wagner to change the end to Brunnhilde proclaiming to the gods -

"The holiest hoard of my wisdom I bequeath to the world. Not wealth, not gold, nor godly splendour; not house, not court, nor overbearing pomp; not troubled treaties’ deceiving union, nor the dissembling custom of harsh law: Rapture in joy and sorrow comes from love alone."

In 1856 Wagner fell under two new influences: the philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer and a growing resurgence in Buddhist teachings. These influences caused him to revise the ending of the Ring again this time to to reflect the illusory nature of human existence (known in German as "wahn" as in Wagner's later home at Bayreuth - Wahnfried) and the negation of the will. In this version, Brunnhilde sees herself redeemed from an endless cycle of birth, suffering, death and rebirth – enlightened by love she achieves a state of non-being - her final lines to her horse Grane now are:

"Were I no more to fare to Valhalla's fortress, do you know whither I fare? I depart from the home of desire, I flee forever the home of delusion; the open gates of eternal becoming I close behind me now: To the holiest chosen land, free from desire and delusion, the goal of the world's migration, redeemed from incarnation, the enlightened woman now goes. The blessed end of all things eternal, do you know how I attained it? Grieving love's profoundest suffering opened my eyes for me: I saw the world end."

The final final version of Brunnhilde's Immolation was not written to the very end of orchestral composition for the Ring in 1874 when Wagner now a famous composer fully funded by his patron King Ludwig of Bavaria (ah those were the days!) revisited the ending again. He still has the gods perish in the flames of Valhalla (the last stage direction he gives is “the gods completely hidden from view by flames, the curtain falls”). Now Wagner uses his “elvish craft” of highly complex musical composition - using the network of leading motives he developed to illustrate characters, items and thoughts throughout the Ring. You will hear this theme in the final moments of this clip from my still favorite production of the Ring at the Metropolitan Opera featuring the incomparible Wagnerian soprano Hildegard Behrens as Brunnhilde

In these last glorious moments we hear blasting out of the orchestra the leading motive of “Redemption through Love” This motive has been heard only once before when Sieglinde learns she will give birth to the hero Siegfried and Brunnhilde helps her escape the anger of Wotan.

It is in this final moment of the opera we glimpse a final victory against the downfall of the gods – a victory heralding the start of a new world of mankind. However, Wagner does not indicate what happens to the Lord of the Ring Alberich himself – the last time he is seen is telling his son to “be true” so in this new world Wagner hints that evil may persist.

In J.R.R. Tolkien's legendarium, within the context of his secondary world of Arda and its history there is also a long defeat - a series of historical episodes that move inexorably from the creation to the end of the world. Each age of Middle Earth has defeats and peoples who are the slaves to fate. The great hapless hero of the first age Turin Turambar's, like Wagner's ultimate hero, Brunnhilde, is ruled by fate. The etymological derivation of Turin's very name carries with it the idea of fate. In The Etymologies Tolkien outlines the linguistic roots of this name from the roots TUR (Mastery)and UMBAR/AMBAR (FATE) (History of Middle Earth, The Lost Road, p. 395) and the story of Turin ultimately turns this name against him - "Turin Turambar Master of Fate by Fate Mastered."

As in Wagner's world there is also a persistence of evil. We see a distant echo of this in Tolkien's The New Shadow Tolkien's late unfortunately unfinished sequel to the Lord of the Rings where there is evidence of orc and Morgoth worship in Fourth Age Gondor (Alberich knocking on the Door perhaps?). There is definitely a pessimism and a sense of elegy and fading (one thinks of the Two Trees, the passing of the Elves back to the West, etc.).

Tolkien like Wagner also gives evidence of glimpses of a final victory in the wreck of the "ragnarok" of the end of the world. Looking into the legendarium we see evidence of both aspects. In one of the earliest prose versions of the Turin story from the Book of Lost Tales - Turambar and the Foaloke we are told that after a ritual cleansing in the bath of flame both Turin and his sister Nienori will -

"dwelt as shining Valar among the blessed ones, and now the love of that brother and sister is very fair, "but Turambar indeed shall stand beside Fionwe in the Great Wrack, and Melkor and his drakes shall curse the sword of Mormakil" (History of Middle Earth, The Book of Lost Tales 2, p.116)

An interesting echo of the early version of the ending of the Ring with Siegfried and Brunnhilde ascending to Valhalla in glory?

Later in The Book of Last Tales this concept of the "Wrack of the Gods" is paired with "the Great End -

"The Elves'prophecy is that one day they will fare forth from Tol-Eressea and on arriving in the world they will gather all the fading kindred still live in the world and march towards Valinor - through the Southern lands. Then they will only do with the help of Men. If men, and them, the fairies will take Men to Valinor - those that wish to go - fight a great battle with Melko in Erumani and open Valinor. Laurelin and Silpion will be rekindled and the mountain wall being destroyed then soft radiance will spread over all the world, and the Sun and the Moon will be recalled." (The History of Middle Earth, The Book of Lost Tales 2, p.285)

But as Tolkien continued to develop his legendarium we can see the blending of another theme - the "Great End" starts to be referred to as "Arda Healded." In The Sketch of the Mythology (1926) the last battle is followed by a passage about Yavanna finding the lost Silmarils and using them to rekindle the light of the Two Trees.

"When the world is much older, and the Gods weary, Morgoth will come back through the Door, and the last battle of all will be fought. Fionwe will fight Morgoth on the plain of Valinor, and the spirit of Turin shall fight beside him, it shall be Turin who with his black sword will slay Morgoth, and thus the Children of Hurin will be avenged. In those days the Silmarils shall be recovered from sea and earth and aid, and Maidros shall break them and Belaurin (ed - Palurien/Yavanna) with their fire rekindle the Two Trees, and the great light shall come forth again, and the Mountains of Valinor shall be levelled so that it goes out over the world, and Gods and Elves and Men (Men was struck out according to the notes) shall grow young again and all their dead awake." (The History of Middle Earth, The Shaping of Middle Earth, p.41).

Tolkien continues to develop this theme throughout his later works with the idea that for all the suffering of the world there is an ultimate recovery or perhaps to go further redemption - and as we learn in some of Tolkien's later works - especially in the very interesting Athrabeth Finrod ah Andreth" — A discussion between two characters, an Elven king (Felagund) and a mortal woman (Andreth), about the metaphysical differences between Elves and Men - there is indeed an "old hope" men possess about their ultimate fate -

"'What then was this hope, if you knew?" Finrod asked. 'They say,' answered Andreth 'they say that the One will himself enter into Arda, and heal Men and all the Marring from the beginning to the end. This they say, also, or they feign, is a rumour that has come down through years uncounted, from the days of our undoing." (Morgoth's Ring, p. 321).

So in Tolkien's legendarium there is a reason to fight another day (one thinks of the rousing Quenya war cry - Auta I lome - passing is the night!), there is a reason to suffer and strive - the hope of a final victory - an Arda restored - the ultimate movement from "elegy to eucatastrophe"



Thus in the development of their vast and shifting legendarium's both Wagner and Tolkien using their own versions of their "elvish craft" - each a form of "gesamtkunstwerk" - depicts stirring visions of the fall, recovery and glimpses of redemption - the world's ultimate hope.

Works/Sites Cited:

Dreyfus, Laurence - Siegfried's Masculinity in The Wagner Journal (Vol 4: 2011)

Tolkien, J.R.R. - The History of Middle Earth (Vol 1) - HarperCollins: 2002

Tolkien, J.R.R. - Morgoth's Ring - Harper Collins: 2002

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Der_Ring_des_Nibelungen:_Composition_of_the_poem


Posted from Andrew Higgins IPAD asthiggins@me.com

"Gundryggia dort, Kundry Hier"

In his recent excellent article Sourcing Tolkien's "Circles of the World:" Speculations on the Heimskringla, the Latin Vulgate Bible, and the Hereford Mappa Mundi, Jason Fisher mentions J.R.R. Tolkien's preference to "wringing the juice out of a single sentence, or exploring the implications of one word" (quoted from Tolkien Monsters and the Critics, p. 224). I have decided in the course of writing this blog to attempt to adapt a strand of posts where I will attempt to do just that - look at one word or phrase and attempt to extract meaning and the sources of historical etymology from it - words and phrases found either in Tolkien's legendarium or in the primary world of myth and legend (or opera).

This first one was inspired by my attendance last night at English National Opera's production of Richard Wagner's Bühnenweihfestspiel final work Parsifal in the incredibly powerful staging by Nikolaus Lehnhoff. I had seen this production before when I worked at San Francisco Opera and this time it had a special relevance as it was sung in English with John Tomlinson as a stirring Gurnemanz.

What struck me (and not for the first time) was a line in Act 2 when the evil necromancer Klingsor summons the doomed Kundry to seduce the pure, or half fool, Parsifal. In the evil invocation to awaken Kundry, Klingsor says:

"Herauf! Herauf! Zu mir!
Dein Meister ruft dich, Namenlose,
Urteufelin! Hollenrose!
Herodias warst du, und was noch?
Gundryggia dort, Kundry hier!"

"Arise Arise To me!
your master calls you! Nameless one
Primeval witch, rose of hell
You were Herodias, and what else?
Gundryggia there, Kundry here!"

So the phrase I would like to "wring the juice out of" is the very last line of this passage "Gundryggia dort, Kundry hier"

In her personal diary entry for March 14, 1877- Cosima Wagner relates... at lunch R (Wagner) tells me: "She will be called Gundrygia (sic), the weaver of war", but then he decides to keep to Kundry."

So where did Wagner derive this Norse name from - the name of what the nameless one was "dort" (there) and how does the word in Wagner's mind come to mean a "weaver of war"

For me the first part of the name "gunn" looks the most familiar as the Old Norse word - gunnr. According to the entry in the Cleasby-Vigfusson Old Norse dictionary there is an entry for:

"GUNNR, f., older form guðr, [A. S. gûd; O. H. G. gundia], war, battle, only used in poetry, Lex. Poët, passim. COMPDS: gunnar-fúss, -gjarn, -örr, -tamðr, adj. warlike, Lex. Poët. gunnar-haukr, m. a hawk. gunn-blíðr, -bráðr, -djarfr, -fíkinn, -hagr, -hvatr, -mildr, -rakkr, -reifr, -snarr, -sterkr, -tamiðr, -tamr, -þorinn, -öfligr, -örðigr, adj. all laudatory epithets = valiant, Lex. Poët.: of weapons and armour, the shield is called gunn-blik, -borð, -hörgr, -máni, -rann, -tjald, -veggr, n.; the sword and spear, gunn-logi, -seiðr, -sproti, -svell, -viti, n.; of the battle, gunn-el, -hríð, -þing, n.; the carrion crow, gunn-gjóðr, -már, -skári, -valr, n.; of the warrior, gunn-nórungr, -slöngvir, -stœrandi, -veitir, -viðurr, -þeysandi, n. etc., vide Lex. Poët. II. in pr. names; of men, Gunn-arr, Gunn-björn, Gunn-laugr, Gunn-ólfr, Gunn-steinn, etc.; of women, Gunn-hildr, Gunn-laug, Gunn-löð; and in the latter part. Þor-gunnr (-guðr), Hlað-gunnr, Hildi-gunnr" (cite)

On a relavatory website called Guide to Nordic Names we find the following historic analysis of this word:

Ancient Germanic
*guntho = 'battle, fight' [1]
Proto Norse
*gunþi- = 'battle, fight' [2]
*gunþiō = 'battle, fight' [2]
Old Norse
gunnr = 'battle, fight' [2] [3] [4] [1]
Old Saxon
gûth = 'battle, fight' [1]
Anglo-Saxon
gûdh = 'battle, fight' [1]
Old High German
gund- = 'battle, fight' [5] [1]

This word survives in English as the word "gun"

So clearly the War part of the name makes sense from the etymological record.

According to Geir T. Zoega's Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic there is the Old Norse verb - drygja which means "to commit, perpetrate, carry out, practise with secondary meaning
to comply with ones wishes, to obey one (cite p. 97). In Michael Barnes' Glossary to An Introduction to Old Norse (Part 3) the same verb is cited as "carry out, engage in; suffer?"

So one can posit that someone who "weaves" does carry out and perpetrates something. Of course the very meaning of the name points a very important set of characters in Norse mythology who are "war weavers" and carriers out of Wotan's will - the Valkyrie

Going back to the first part of the name GUNNR we find that although not counted among the Valkyries in Wagner's Ring cycle - there is in the corpus of Norse mythology a Valkyrie called GUNNR. We first find her name on the Rök Stone a 9th century memorial block bearing the longest runic inscription which was found in Östergötland, Sweden where it occurs as part of a kenning for the word "wolf" (a good association with Wotan/Walse of course!)

"Þat sagum tvalfta, hvar hæstR se GunnaR etu vettvangi a, kunungaR tvaiR tigiR svað a liggia."

Translation:

I say this the twelfth, where the horse of Gunnr sees fodder on the battlefield, where twenty kings lie...

In the Prose Edda she is described as riding out with her sisters Rota and Skuld - "Guðr ok Róta ok norn in yngsta, er Skuld heitir, ríða jafnan at kjósa val ok ráða vígum"

We also find mentions of her in the Voluspa among the other Valkyries.

So with this etymology is Wagner saying that at one time this primeval witch was a valkyrie - a weaver or carrier out of war - certainly the Valkyrie were charged with carrying the dead heroes of the battlefield to Valhalla where they are to fight eternally as part of Wotan's army for the final end battle of Ragnarok.

Before calling her Gundryggia , Klingsor says "Herodias warst du, und was noch?" Interestingly there is another Valkyrie link here. In the German Poet Henrich Heine's 1843 poem Atta Troll we are told that it was Herodias, not Salome, who asks for severed head of John the Baptist and for doing so is cursed for all eternity to ride, laughing, with the Wild Hunt -

Yes, she really was a princess,
Was the queen of all Judea,
And the lovely wife of Herod,
Who the baptist's head did covet.

For this blood-guilt must she also
Be accursed; she must, as Night-Spook,
'Til the very Day of Judgement,
Ride along with this Wild Hunt.

In her hands she bears forever
That sad platter, with the head of
John the Baptist, which she kisses;
Yes, she'll kiss the head with fervor.

For, at one time, she loved John -
It's not found within the Bible,
Yet the people keep the saga
Of Herodias' bloody loving (Heine, Atta Troll, XVIII)

We know Wagner was a great reader of Heine's works and based two of his earlier works on poems by him - Der Fliegende Hollander and Tannhauser.

In Germanic folklore thunder was often thought to be caused by an army of wild horsemen flying through the night sky. The riders were said to be the dead heroes following the Valkyries to Valhalla. In Jessie L. Weston's Legends of Wagner's Dramas there is an interesting quote from a passage in Simrock's Deutsche Mythologie in the passage for Herodias "which relates how the enmity of Herod's queen towards John the Baptist was really caused by the saint's rejection of her proffered love. When after death she would have covered the severed head with tears and kisses, it recoiled, and from the dead lips issued a blast of wind so powerful that Herodias was carried away by it and made to joint the wild hunt, and like Dante's sinful lovers sweeps for ever onward before its resistless force. This curious legend appears to owe its origin to a misunderstanding of Hrödes, one of the many names of Wotan, who, in his elementary character of the air, is the original Wild Huntsman. Among the many explanations traditionally given of the object of this mysterious chase we find the god represented as pursuing his flying bride; and vice- versa the deserted goddess seeking her lost husband. This chase being closely associated with St. John's (Midsummer) Day, the remembrance of the saint, coupled with the misunderstanding of the name, probably contributed to the evolution of this quaint legend (author's footnote: cf. Simrock, 'Herodias')."

Note: Need to do more exploring with Hrödes - perhaps related to Hrjóðr meaning "the roarer"

So perhaps it is through this association that Gunndryggia and Herodias become associated - you were the pagan Valkyrie war weaver and that Herodias who was doomed to ride with the Wild Hunt with the severed head of John the Baptist laughing for all eternity (and one thinks of Kundry mocking Christ - "Ich sah ihn...ihn und lachte...")

But wait a minute - there is another Valkyrie in the room that can not be ignored - name THE Valkyrie - Brunnhilde - who is also certainly a "war weaver". It is a matter of knowledge that Wagner considered Parsifal to in many ways be the fifth act of the Ring and as early as 1848/9 in his sub-creative essay for his legendarium -Die Wibelungen has already made connections between the Nibelung hoard and the Holy Grail. For a brilliant analysis of all this connection I refer you to Paul Schofield's excellent book The Redeemer Reborn - Parsifal as the Fifth Act of the Ring.

Certainly Brunnhilde and Kundry share similar dual nature character traits (they are both the loving servant and the traitor - both cursed for their deeds and ultimately play a part in redemption). I also believe, and have yet to prove, that we may find in Kundry's music some echos of Brunnhilde's themes in the Ring (more to come on this). So could "Gunndryggia there" mean - yes, you were the weaver of war - Brunnhilde back there, and Herodias and now here in this life you are Kundry - a seductress and a servant.

Going back to the name Gunnr - we also find parallel meaning in the "hilde" part of Brunnhilde's name a poetic name for battle and in Old Norse to vekja hildi means to "wage war, to fight"

I will end this posting with one more interesting observation made by Schofield - Amalie Materna (pictured) was the first soprano to sing the roles of both Brunnhilde in the 1876 Bayreuth production and Kundry in the 1882 premiere. Wagner gave inscribed copies of his photograph to a number of friends and performers. The inscription given to Frau Materna read "Kundry here, Brunnhilde there, the work's bright jewel everywhere." Clearly Wagner is playing on the line "Gundryggia there, Kundry here," he was know to enjoy making plays on words and ideas that had both humorous and serious levels of meaning. In this light the association of Brunnhilde and Gundryggia, and thus with Brunnhilde having been a former life of Kundry, can be taken seriously as well as playfully."

Perhaps, at least we can see that the etymological history of the phrase points in that direction although I am sure there is more "wringing" to be done!

Please note: the most incredible resource on-line for anything about Parsifal is the website Monsalvat - The Parsifal Pages which I have used many times for this research.


Posted from Andrew Higgins IPAD asthiggins@me.com

Richard Wagner and J.R.R Tolkien The Forgers of their Rings

i have just finished an excellent online Tolkien course through the University of Wales in Cardiff: (Tolkien Myth and Middle Earth in Context) by Dr Dimitra Fimi -author of a key work of Tolkien Scholarship Tolkien, Race and Cultural History . I highly recommend this course to anyone interested in an in-depth exploration of Tolkien and his legendarium.

For this course I wrote a paper focusing on Richard Wagner (another one of my passions) as a sub-creator like Tolkien and tried to find some "common ground" between these two incredible artists of the 19th and 20th century. This is an attempt to move the dialogue beyond the oft-quoted remark by Tolkien (made in a fit of anger!) "both rings are round and that's where the comparison ends" (Letters, 237).

The original paper was over 6,000 words long (double the requirement!) and several sections had to be omitted from the final paper. I would like to get the final paper in shape for potential publication. I will be posting to this blog some excerpts from the paper focusing on several thematic areas of shared common ground. I welcome any thoughts and comments. I will also be adding to the paper as I discover new material. For example, the recent excellent book Middle Earth Minstrel had some new intriguing material on Wagner and Tolkien

We will start at looking at the very specific item at the centre of both legendarium's - THE RING itself










"solang er lebt,
sterb' er lechzend dahin,
des Ringes Herr
als des Ringes Knecht!"

















"Ash nazg durbatuluk,
Ash nazg gimbatul,
Ash nazg thrakatuluk agh burzum-ishi kimpatul"









"A specific shared item of evidence for common ground is found in the actual item of Wagner and Tolkien’s ring. In his prose sketch The Nibelungen Myth, Wagner outlines the earliest origin for his ring:

“Alberich stole the clear and noble Rhine Gold, carried it away from the depths of the waters and forged from it with great cunning and art a ring that gave him the highest power over the whole race, the Nibelungs: so he became their lord, forced them from that moment to work for him and collected the immeasurable hoard of the Nibelungs. “ (Edward Haymes, 2010, p. 44)

The ring as sketched here is an item that gives the owner power and dominion. Based on the primary Norse sources Wagner would have known, there are several stories about magic rings. There are two major magic rings mentioned in the Eddas: Odin's ring Draupnir and the dwarf Andvari's ring Andvarnaut. Regarding the later, in Volsunga Saga, Andvari is forced to ransom his ring to the god Loki and he sets a curse on it.” (Finch, 1965, p. 67) From these and perhaps other sources, Wagner forged his own ruling ring – a ring that grants world domination, unlimited power, wealth and is also cursed.

As T.A. Shippey states “none of the ancient sources give the Ring the central place that Wagner does....It was Wagner who, in very Tolkienian fashion, noted the gaps of the ancient tradition and wrote his version of the story determinedly into them.” (Shippey, 2006, p. 106)

Turning to Tolkien, how did he forge his Ruling Ring? It is important to remember that the role of the ring in Tolkien went through many changes from the time it was first found in the dark by Bilbo in The Hobbit to its later manifestation as the Ruling Ring- “For Bilbo's Ring is not the same as Frodo's in its nature nor its powers...Bilbo and Gollum's Ring is a simple ring of invisibility with rather limited power.” (Rateliff, 2007, pp. 174-5). Indeed, Tolkien’s early concept of the ring is much more like Wagner’s tarnhelm - the magical instrument (either a helmet or chain mail) which has the power, among several, to make you invisible. The other main characteristics of Wagner’s ring – greed, dominion and a curse are not evident in Bilbo’s ring. However, as Tolkien started to work on the much demanded sequel for The Hobbit, he did explore the idea of incorporating the slightly nefarious concepts of greed into the potential plot line for his new Hobbit. In the first sketches of the opening chapter, The Long Expected Party, Bilbo is to leave the Shire to look for more dragon-gold having spent his share of the treasure he received from his activities in The Hobbit. (Shadow, pp. 19-34) In a fourth version sketch Bilbo says, “Now I have spent all my money which once seemed to me too much and my own has gone after it. And I don't like being without…in fact I am bring lured.” (Shadow, p. 41) Later in the same sketch, he asks Elrond what he can do to heal his “money wish and unsettlement. “ (Shadow, p. 41) As Tolkien developed this idea he wrote “The Ring: whence its origin. Necromancer? Not very dangerous when used for good purpose. But it exacts a penalty. You must lose either it our yourself .” (Shadow, p. 42) Tolkien eventually connects these earlier ideas of greed and lust and the curse with the nefarious attributes of the Ruling Ring.

Thus, in the development of the ring it changes from a useful ring of invisibility (more akin to Wagner's Tarnhelm) to the One Ring (more akin to Wagner’s Ring of the Nibelung). Now certainly Tolkien could have arrived at this through synthesis of the same type of sources that Wagner found in Old Norse works. Shippey states that if Tolkien did take anything from Wagner it was perhaps no more than the idea that something could be done with the idea of the Ring of Power, something more laden with significance, than anything in an ancient source but at the same time and very definitely not what Wagner had done with it.” (Shippey, 2006, p. 113). However, Michael Scott Rohan in his paper Was Tolkien the Real Ring Thief states that there is nowhere else Tolkien can have come by it; no dark passages in which his hand rested on an enigmatic Ring. (Rohan, 2005, p. 151 ). In his piece The Ring and the Rings, Alex Ross goes even further stating that it is clear that Tolkien used Wagner to develop his ring and accuses Tolkien of being a closet Wagnerian and brandishing his walking stick as Nothung Siegfried's reforged sword! (Ross, 2003).

One item which Ross focuses on in his analysis are the similarities in the actual curses put on the ring by Alberich and Sauron (both included above) In the final libretto for Das Rhinegold, Alberich curses the ring “Forfeit to death, faint with fear shall he be fettered; the length of his life he shall long to die, the lord of the Ring as the slave to the Ring.” (Wagner, 1876). Which is interesting to compare to Sauron's curse “One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, One Ring to Bring them all, and in the darkness bind them.” (FR, p. 49) Clearly, each ring carries a curse that is bound up with themes of slavery and dominion over all who dare to bear it. “Wagner's fundamental message is, in short, a warning against the curse of covetousness and hunger for power.” (Bjornsson, 2003, p.276)

The same could certainly be said of Tolkien's One Ring as well."

So that's the first instalment - Next time we will look at some evidence of shared ground in character and fates of Wagner and Tolkien's final Ring bearers.

Happy YuleFest to all!!!



REFERENCES

Works Cited by J.R.R. Tolkien

The History of the Hobbit: Part One Mr. Baggins, edited by John D. Rateliff. (London: HarperCollins, 2007)
The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, edited by Humphrey Carpenter with the assistance of Christopher Tolkien. (London: George Allen & Unwin, 1981)
The Return of the Shadow: The History of The Lord of the Rings, Part One, edited by Christopher Tolkien. (London: Harper Collins, 2002)

Other Works Cited

Bjornsson A (2003) Wagner and the Volsungs: Icelandic Sources of Der Ring des Nibelungen. London: Viking Society for Northern Research
Finch, R.G (1965) The Saga of the Volsungs. London: Thomas Nelson
Hammond, Wayne G. & Scull, Christina (2008), J. R. R. Tolkien Companion and Guide vol. 2 Companion London: HarperCollins
Haymes, E (2010) Wagner's Ring in 1848: New Translations of The Nibelung Myth and Siegfried's Death. New York: Camden House
Rohan, M (2005) 'What Story I Wonder?” said Gandalf....” Was Tolkien the real Ring-Thief', in Sarah Wells (ed.) The Ring Goes Ever On Proceedings of theTolkien 2005 Conference vol. 2, Tolkien Society, Coventry England, pp. 147-155
Ross, A. (2003) The Ring and the Rings. Available at http://www.therestisnoise.com/2004/04/wagner_tolkien_1.html (Accessed on
4th December 2010)
Shippey, T (2003) The Road to Middle Earth. London: HarperCollins
Shippey, T (2006) Roots and Branches: Selected Papers on Tolkien. Walking Tree Press
Wagner, R (1898) 'A Communication to My Friends (Eine Mittheilung an meine Freunde)', in The Art-Work of the Future: Richard Wagner's Prose Works Vol 1, Translated by William Ashton Ellis. London: The Wagner Library, pp, 230-344.
Wagner, R (1876) Der Ring des Nibelungen. Librettos available at http://www.rwagner.net/libretti/rheingold/e-t-rhein.html (Accessed on 5th December 2010)


Posted from Andrew Higgins IPAD asthiggins@me.com

New Tolkien Book Coming Soon

Just noticed on Amazon.co.uk that there is now cover artwork for the new Tolkien book - The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrun based on work did around the Niflung poem in the 1920's-1930's. An eagerly awaited publishing event for all Tolkien lovers! I'm sure I will be reading my deluxe edition just in time for the broadcast of Wagner's Ring Cycle from the Metropolitan Opera!

Move Over G-I Joe

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all out there in Blog Land!!! What do you get for someone who loves Richard Wagner!! Recordings, books, letters from Wagner asking for another 25,000 Thalers to finish the Ring (and you should be glad I am asking you!!).....No....

My partner got me.....

A Wagner doll the plays Ride of the Valykrie when you wind him up and....

wait for it...

a Wagner Action figure that moves!!! He will be a welcome addition to my desk at Glyndebourne!!

I am going to collect all the figures - Mozart, Verdi, Puccini, Strauss and the action opera house set and watch them fight crime as Der Komponeist League of Baveria!!!

Now that's fun!!!