Who’s Who and What’s What in Wagner

Jonathan Lewsey

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2017
• Print ISBN: 9781138455481
• eBook ISBN: 9781351218528
• Topic: Media & Performing Arts
• Subtopic: Music

Who's Who and What's What in Wagner aims to fill a notable gap in the extensive literature surrounding the works of Richard Wagner. It is a comprehensive reference work in which all the many complexities of character, plot and language in Wagner's operas, from Die Feen to Parsifal, are elucidated. For ease of reference the book is arranged alphabetically in the style of an encyclopaedia. Herein will be found succinct synopses of all the operas; in-depth biographies of all the characters; a lexicon of difficult words and phrases; plus an appendix comprising a select bibliography and discography. Whether the reader be a casual opera lover, or specialist involved in the production or performance of Wagner's works, this book will prove to be an invaluable companion. Contents include: Alphabetical Listing including: 86 in-depth character studies; Synopsis for each of the 13 operas; Over 1,000 further entries about names, places and artifacts that feature in Wagner's works; Index.

A

Abgesang, der (The Aftersong) (Die Meistersinger Von Nürnberg). See Töne.

Ada (Die Feen)

A fairy. Ada is the central character in Die Feen. The main body of the role is contained in Act 2.

After Arindal has failed the trials, which she has been compelled to force him to undergo, Ada describes her central predicament:

I was born of a mortal and a fairy. Like my mother I was immortal. But then I saw you, and on you, perjurer, I bestowed all my passionate love. It was so great that to be yours forever I renounced immortality of my own free will. The Fairy King was angered with me, but since he had no power over my retraction he thought to hinder me in another way. And so he gave me this condition: to conceal from you for eight years who I was, and then on the last day to heap upon you so much torment and so many horrors that you would be misled into cursing me. Only if your heart was steadfast in love would I get my desire of mortality. If not I would remain immortal; and to atone for my foolish will I would be transformed into stone for a hundred years. Now you know my fate.

Throughout Act 1 Ada expresses the anguish that her predicament inflicts on her.

Act 1 Scene 3 Ada's anguish is in no way alleviated by the constant pressure exerted on her by the fairies, Farzana and Zemina, who require her to renounce her mortal lover. They tell Ada of her father's death, thus indicating that she is now Queen of the fairies.

Ada warns Arindal of the trials that he must undergo and predicts that in just a single day, he will forsake her. She extracts an oath from him that in the forthcoming trials he will not curse her, however great the temptation.

Act 2 In an extended scena, Ada wrestles with herself: 'Weh' mir, ('Woe is me). This scena provides the first instance of Wagner's predilection for lengthy monologues in which his characters recapitulate at length the dilemmas which beset them. In this instance Ada's scena follows fairly closely the scheme of Leonora's aria, Abscheulicker, in Fidelio, commencing with an anguished statement of the wretched predicament she finds herself in. This is followed by a lyrical central section in which she dwells on the temptation to renounce her love and retreat to the security and delights of everlasting bliss that her life as a fairy ensures. In the final section this temptation is violently rejected in favour of her love for Arindal. The scena concludes with an affirmation in the strength of her love.

The course of the opera will prove her confidence to be justified. However, first she must endure the horrors of the trials in which she appears to murder her children, and is then cited as having betrayed Arindal's country to the enemy. Arindal forgets his oath and curses her.

Act 3 Scene 2 Ada is now transformed into stone. She can have little hope that Arindal, having failed so conspicuously in the first trials, will survive the trials which await him in the subterranean cavern where she is entombed. Her joy when Arindal, albeit with the help of Groma's sorcery, does succeed in releasing her is all the greater.

Act 3 Scene 3 When the Fairy King confers immortality on Arindal, her dilemma is resolved and her happiness complete.

Conclusion Ada's lot is the reverse of Brünnhilde's. Brünnhilde is forced to renounce immortality in favour of the deeper, more fulfilling experience of the joys of human love and compassion (Mitleid). Ada never becomes acquainted with compassion and her fate is thus correspondingly less affecting. It was Wagner's genius to realize the potential contained in the heroine of his very first opera when it came to composing his magnum opus. The role of Brünnhilde is the fruition of the seed sown in Die Feen.

Adriano (Rienzi)

Adriano is the son of the Roman noble, Steffano Colonna. He is in love with Irene, Rienzi's, sister, and she with him.

The action of the opera charts Adriano's vacillations between duty to his father and love for Irene. His dilemma is complicated by the fact that he deeply respects Rienzi's ideals. In the end, and in spite of himself, it is filial duty which wins.

Act 1 Scene 2 Rienzi tells Adriano how the Colonna family is responsible for the murder of Rienzi's brother. Adriano is mortified by this. He becomes fired with enthusiasm by Rienzi's exhortation to put aside sectarian allegiances and 'be a Roman'.

Act 1 Scene 3 Irene is delighted with the new found sympathy between her lover and brother. Adriano tells her that he fears Rienzi will become a victim of the fickleness of the mob.

Act 1 Scene 4 The fragility of Adriano's allegiance is made clear when he thinks Rienzi is going to appoint himself King. His fears are, however, quickly allayed when Rienzi insists he wishes only to be appointed Tribune.

Act 2 Scene 2 When Adriano discovers that his father is plotting with Orsini to assassinate Rienzi, he is immediately placed in a terrible dilemma. Should he inform Rienzi and betray his father, or should he keep his peace and thus risk losing Irene? He opts for a middle course.

Act 2 Scene 3 Adriano does not specifically warn Rienzi of the assassination plot, but tells him to be on his guard, for he has a presentiment of trouble. He is enormously relieved that Rienzi survives the attempt on his life, but when Rienzi condemns Colonna to death he quickly loses his sangfroid and threatens to kill Rienzi himself. However, when Irene joins him in pleading for Colonna's life, Rienzi relents. Act 2 concludes with Adriano joining Irene in a paeon of praise for Rome's great hero of peace, Rienzi.

Act 3 Scene 1 Adriano's problems are far from over. His father and the other nobles, having been granted their lives, immediately set about achieving the support of the people in plotting Rienzi's overthrow.

Act 3 Scene 2 Adriano's soliloquy marks the crisis for him. Like Hamlet, he is totally emeshed in irresolution. In a moment which prefigures Rienzi's great prayer in Act 5, Adriano kneels and prays for strength.

Act 3 Scene 3 As Rienzi is about to ride into battle, Adriano goes to him and pleads with him to reconsider. His pleas fall on deaf ears. Rienzi considers the nobles have had chance enough. As battle is enjoined Adriano imagines, correctly as it turns out, his whole family being slaughtered. Irene tries vainly to comfort him.

Rienzi returns victorious and Adriano lets forth a stream of invective, warning Rienzi that he will seek vengeance for his father's death. Rienzi pays no heed. Adriano is haunted by the spirit of his father.

Act 4 Scene 1 He assists Baroncelli in convincing the Roman populace that Rienzi has betrayed them and therefore must pay with his life. Thinking Rienzi is under the protection of the church, Adriano volunteers to strike Rienzi down himself, on the altar steps if necessary.

Act 4 Scene 2 Adriano is saved from having to murder Rienzi by the latter's unexpected excommunication. Adriano tries to persuade Irene to desert her condemned brother, but to no avail. He leaves her to her fate.

Act 5 Scene 3 At the eleventh hour, however, knowing that the populace are about to torch the Capitol, he goes to Irene one last time to try to persuade her to leave Rienzi. He begs her on bended knee, but Irene will not desert her brother and violently repulses Adriano.

Act 5 Scene 4 Even at the last, as the Capitol is about to collapse around Rienzi and Irene, Adriano makes to rescue her. But it is too late. Irene perishes amidst the flames.

Conclusion Adriano follows in the mould of Arindal (Die Feen), being self-divided between the dictates of duty and necessity on the one hand, and of personal love and happiness on the other. However, his preoccupation appears trivial and irrelevant in the light of Rienzi's fanatical idealism.

Alberich (Der Ring des Nibelungen)

Nibelung (Nibelungen) dwarf who initiates the whole Ring drama by stealing the Rhinegold (Rheingold) and fashioning from it a Ring with which he exercises supreme power.

Das Rheingold, Scene 1 Alberich emerges from a dark chasm at the bottom of the River Rhine. He is not in his natural element, though clearly amphibious as he appears to have no problem breathing in the water. He can hardly believe his luck at the sight which greets him: three beautiful young nymphs, disporting uninhibitedly in the water. He calls up to them: 'I'd like to draw close to you if only you would come down to me!' The Rhinemaidens (Rheintöchter,) dive down, take one look at him and withdraw in alarm and disgust. They gather protectively round the rock on which the gold (Rheingold) rests. Alberich calls up again and pleads with them to come and play with him. The Rhinemaidens think he is joking, but when he tells them how he would love to enfold them in his arms they dismiss their fear and decide to have some fun at Alberich's expense.

Woglinde swims down towards Alberich and invites him to draw close to her. Frantically Alberich tries to clamber up the slippery rock. He has great difficulty finding a foothold and then is overcome by a fit of sneezing. When finally he makes it to the top of the rock and attempts to embrace Woglinde, the latter, laughing at her sneezing suitor, swims to a rock higher up. Alberich complains and she dives back down again. Alberich follows and Woglinde swims up.

Now Wellgunde takes over from her sister. She allows Alberich to draw close, but then mocks his ugliness. Alberich tries to hold her by force, but she easily evades him. Alberich is beginning to lose patience. He tells Wellgunde that if he does not appeal to her, she should go and flirt with the eels.

Now it is Flosshilde's turn. Flosshilde flatters the dwarf, wraps her arms around him and convinces him she means business. 'If only I could hold you for ever', Alberich exclaims. Flosshilde rhapsodizes over his bristling beard, his croaking voice and toad-like form. Alberich finally gets the message; once again he has been mocked. Flosshilde tears herself away and rejoins her sisters who are by now splitting their sides with merriment. Inevitably Alberich's frustration turns to rage: 'You despicable, sly, evil gang!' he shouts. The Rhinemaidens tempt him to chase them and Alberich takes the bait. Frantically he scrambles first after one, then another. Every time he thinks he has reached one of them either she escapes, or be slips on the rocks and tumbles back. Finally, foaming with rage and totally out of breath, he shakes his clenched fist and screams at them: 'Fing eine diese Faust!'

At that moment the sun shines through the waters, illuminating the gold, and Alberich's attention is distracted. Gradually the light irradiates throughout the waters. Alberich becomes quite spellbound. When the Rhinemaidens have finished their ecstatic dance around the gold (which only serves to draw Alberich's attention to it the more) Alberich asks them what it is that creates such a spectacular glow. The Rhinemaidens are astonished that he has not heard of the fabled Rhinegold and invite him to join them in their dance. Alberich wonders if the gold's only purpose is to illuminate their games, and the Rhinemaidens then reveal the gold's true potential: 'Nur wet der Minne Macht versagt'.

Alberich remains remarkably quiet as the Rhinemaidens prattle on among themselves. His eyes remain fixed on the gold. He repeats to himself its true significance; namely that if he were to forswear love he could obtain the gold and with it mastery of the world.

With remarkable agility, considering his earlier failed attempts to catch the Rhinemaidens, he leaps up to the rock. He shouts to them to continue mocking, for he is near now to their plaything. The nymphs do not take him seriously. By the time they do it is too late. Alberich has reached the summit of the rock and with tremendous force wrenches the gold from its place. 'Now play in the dark!' he screams at the astonished nymphs. 'Thus I put out your light; I tear the gold from its rock. I shall forge the avenging Ring. Let these waters witness; Thus I curse love!' His harsh mocking laughter is heard as he makes off with the gold.

Scene 3 From a bungling and ineffectual suitor, Alberich has been transformed into a merciless tyrant. He enters from a mine shaft, dragging his brother, Mime, behind him. He is threatening Mime with a beating if the latter does not hand over the trinket that he has ordered him to fashion. Mime prevaricates and Alberich grows impatient. As he makes to beat Mime, the latter drops a small object. It is the Tarnhelm. Alberich puts it on his head and murmurs a spell. Instantly he disappears. His voice can be heard as he commences beating Mime in earnest for his 'thievish intentions'. Alberich laughs demonically and calls for the rest of the Nibelungs to bow down to him, for: 'he is present everywhere, watching. There will be no rest nor peace for you, for now you must work for him even when you cannot see him'. (It is the literal enactment of George Orwell's 'Big Brother is Watching You'). His voice disappears into the distance, screaming for all to bow down before the Lord of the Nibelungs.

Alberich returns some time later, swinging a whip and driving a group of Nibelungs before him. He has removed the Tarnhelm from his head and hung it from his belt. He bullies the cowering Nibelungs into piling up the treasure for him. Suddenly he becomes aware of the presence of Wotan and Loge. He rounds on Mime: 'Have you been prattling with this pair of tramps?'. Wielding the whip, he drives Mime out with the rest of the Nibelungs, telling them that if anyone is idle Mime will be beaten. When the Nibelungs show signs of recalcitrance, Alberich draws the Ring from his finger, kisses it and holds it out menacingly: 'Tremble and quake, subservient horde; obey now the lord of the Ring'. With howls and screams they quickly disperse.

Alberich turns his attention to Wotan and Loge. What do they want? Wotan flatters him. Alberich's reaction reveals his Achilles heel, namely his vanity. 'I know well it was envy that brought you here', he boasts. Loge reproaches Alberich for his lack of greeting. Alberich is merely thankful that Loge is the friend of the gods and not himself. 'I trust your disloyalty, not your loyalty', he tells Loge. 'But gladly I defy you all' (referring to the gods). He points to his treasure and proclaims: 'That is but a paltry heap. It will soon grow mightily'. Wotan wonders what is the point of accruing so much treasure since Nibelheim is such a miserable place. Alberich has no compunction about telling Wotan his aim: to achieve world dominion, no less. Wotan asks sardonically how he intends setting about it.

Alberich unveils his loveless plan. First he will capture the gods, then he will compel them to renounce love, as he did. All will hanker only for gold. He warms to his theme: 'Habt acht! Habt acht!' He continues: 'While you men serve my power, the dwarf will force his favours on your pretty women, even though they despise my courtship'. It is quite clear (and a testament to Wagner's psychological acuity) that Alberich is determined to fashion the world to his own despairing image.

He laughs hysterically. 'Beware the nocturnal army, when the Nibelung hordes issue from the silent depths into the daylight'. Wotan is only restrained from attacking Alberich by Loge who, seeing Alberich's chief weakness, eulogizes Alberich's cunning and might. Only, Loge wonders: how will Alberich defend himself from potential thieves?

Alberich plays straight into Loge's hand (demonstrating the same naivity as did the Rhinemaidens in Scene I when they described to Alberich the gold's potential). He shows Wotan and Loge the Tarnheim, with its magic ability to transform whoever wears it into whatever shape they will. 'No one can see me, so I am safe even from you!' Alberich triumphantly concludes. Loge refuses to believe it and demands evidence. Alberich asks Loge to dictate what shape he should transform himself into. 'Whatever you like!' says Loge. Alberich changes himself forthwith into a huge and threatening dragon. Wotan and Loge are suitably impressed. But surely it would be much cleverer for Alberich to turn himself into something tiny? Loge points out. That, he reckons, is far too clever for Alberich. The latter, unsuspecting and blinded by his own vanity, falls into the trap. He turns himself into a toad and is immediately caught by Wotan while Loge grabs the Tarnheim. Alberich resumes his customary form.

Loge binds Alberich with rope and together the gods bundle him up through the sulphurous cleft. It is Alberich's darkest hour. Totally humiliated, he is paying the price for his arrogance. He, like Wotan, will have to learn to employ subtler methods in the future.

Scene 4 Loge teases Alberich mercilessly. Alberich can only retort with vague threats. He knows he is hopelessly disadvantaged. He curses his own complacency and swears revenge. Wotan and Loge demand, as ransom for his freedom, the Nibelung treasure. Alberich can reconcile himself with that so long as he can retain the Ring. He demands that his hands be untied so that he can summon the Nibelungs. He touches the Ring and whispers an order into it. Almost immediately the Nibelungs appear, dragging the treasure. Alberich is mortified that his minions should see him so humiliated. He barks commands at them.

When the gold has all been delivered, Alberich ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Dedication
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Foreword
• Acknowledgements
• I1troduction
• Alphabetical Main Text
• Glossary
• Selected Discography
• Bibliography