Wieland the blacksmith (Wagner)

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Richard Wagner 1854

Wieland the blacksmith (also Wieland the blacksmith ) is a play draft by the German composer , poet and art theorist Richard Wagner (1813-1883). It bears the number WWV 82 in the Wagner work directory .

Emergence

The romantic Richard Wagner dealt intensively with Germanic mythology in the 1840s and drew the material for most of his musical dramas from it . He had already set heroic legends to music twice: Tannhäuser and the Singers' War on Wartburg (1845) and Lohengrin (1848). Now he was mainly concerned with Siegfried and Wieland fabrics. While he realized the former in the tetralogy The Ring of the Nibelung in decades of work from 1851 to 1874 , Wieland the blacksmith remained at the drafting stage. Wagner presumably used the Thidreksaga and the later poems by Karl Simrock as sources . The fact that a prince of the gods approaches a woman in the shape of a swan seems to be taken from the Greek myth of Zeus and Leda .

After the failure of the German Revolution , which Wagner had vehemently supported, he had to flee Dresden in 1849 and relocated to republican Zurich . The following years were very productive: In addition to his writings on art theory, he designed several music dramas, including Wieland the blacksmith in 1849 and 1850 , which he did not develop into a full libretto or music drama. Wagner planned the world premiere of the work at the Opera in Paris , where he stayed for a short time at the beginning of his Zurich years.

Wagner called the material in his work The Work of Art of the Future a "wonderful legend", "which the raw, uncivilized people of the ancient Teutons once wrote for themselves for no other reason than that of inner necessity."

action

prehistory

Wieland is the son of Wate, who in turn emerged from the union of the "sea woman" Wachilde with King Wiking. Wiking also fathered several sons with a king's daughter, of whom, according to the prophecy of Wate, Rothar was chosen to be a hero, but was besieged by the enemy king of the Niaren, Neiding. The main female character, Schwanhilde, is descended from a daughter of King Isang of Nordland and the prince of the light albums , whom the latter approached in the form of a swan. This connection resulted in Schwanhilde and two other daughters, all of whom were born with easily removable swan wings. Since Schwandhilde's mother asked the albums for his name against his command, the album swam away.

first act

Scenery : "Mark Norway, wooded shore area by the sea, in the foreground on the side of Wieland's house with the forge, which stands free in front of it."

First scene : Wieland forges presents for his brothers Eigel and Helferich. Both receive braces whose magical power should never lose the charm in the eyes of men. Wieland also hands the rifleman Eigel a steel bow and the doctor Helferich a vessel made of gold for his healing potions. The two thank you and advise Wieland to take a wife soon. There they see virgins with swan wings soaring on the horizon. The brothers turn away, but Wieland is fascinated. He sees one of the swan maidens fall and throws himself into the sea to save her.

Second scene : Wieland brings the Schwanhilde ashore. She fears that she has fallen into the hands of one of King Neiding's captors, which Wieland denies. Since Envy had killed and robbed her grandfather Isung, his swan maidens set out for revenge and only fled when Schwanhilde was injured by a spear. Wieland confesses his love to her. Moved, she hands him a magic ring that enables a woman to bewitch men, but a man to win a fight. Wieland says that he doesn't need either, and that he loves her even without a ring. She reciprocates his love, but ask him to take her wings off, otherwise she would flee from him because of her urge for freedom (despite her love).

Third scene : Bathilde, the daughter of King Neiding, arrives in the wake of scouts. She discovers that Schwanhilde has fled here. Dangling from Wieland's door, she finds the magic ring and takes it.

Fourth scene : Gram, envy marshal, lands on the beach with armed scouts. They put Wieland in chains on the grounds that Wieland does not serve the rightful sovereign, Neiding. They set Wieland's hut on fire. When he found out, he breaks the chains, kills some men and swears vengeance. Gram and Bathilde flee with their retinue on the ships.

Second act

Scenery : “In Niarenland. King Neiding's court. The foreground represents the hall; from it stairs lead right to Neiding's, left to Bathilde's apartment. At the rear wide steps lead down into the courtyard; this is enclosed with high walls and a tower. "

First scene : Gram has been banished from Neiding because of his failure, but stays with Bathilde. He fell in love with her because she wears the magic ring. Bathilde incites him against the master blacksmith named Goldbrand, who has recently been driven on a tree trunk. In this she recognized Wieland. Instead of taking his revenge, Goldbrand fell for Bathilde because of the ring.

Second scene : Two courtiers from Neiding let Eigel and Helferich enter, who now declare war on King Neiding as messengers of the Viking king Rothar. They also want to avenge the disappeared Wieland. Neiding, however, is betting that Goldbrand's blacksmithing will bring him victory.

Third scene : Bathilde tells Neiding about the Siegerstein and explains to him that Wieland is at court, but because of a love spell he has lost the memory of his plan for revenge. Grudgingly, Neiding promises Bathilde grief for her husband as thanks for her services.

Fourth scene : Neiding incites Wieland against grief. Wieland slays Gram and is arrested by the king.

Bathilde visits Wieland in the smithy (book illustration by Johannes Gehrts, 1901)

Third act

Scenery , "Wieland's forged with a wide chimney . In the center, which takes up almost the entire vaulted ceiling"

First scene : Instead of killing him, Neiding had Wieland's tendons cut through. So he is deprived of all strength and possibility of escape and, as a prisoner, has to forge weapons for the king. His love is still Bathilde.

Second scene : Bathilde visits Wieland. When he accidentally takes the ring from her, he regains his memory of Schwanhilde. He laments his terrible fate. Moved by his complaints, Bathilde now realizes that she loves Wieland herself. But she confesses to him that Schwanhilde escaped with her wings.

Third scene : Wieland hears Schwanhilde's voice from the air. He calls out to her that he is forging wings from the already finished swords for Neiding's army in order to take revenge on the king and win back Swanhilde. She replies happily: "If you free me in the air, I will never escape you!"

Fourth scene : Neiding and his entourage go to Wieland's forge. The courtiers mocked him: he was more skilful on the crutches than before with healthy feet. Wieland now pulls on the pair of wings made of steel springs that the stone from the magic ring holds together. He rises in the air and fanned the hearth fire with his wings - the hut collapsed. Neiding learns from Wieland that Klönig is close to Rothar in order to take his kingdom and marry Bathilde.

Fifth scene : Rothar's army appears with Eigel and Helferich at the head. Eigel shoots a deadly arrow at the already seriously injured Neiding. The Niaren cheerfully greet Rothar as a liberator. Only now, when both beings are in the air, can Wieland and Schwanhilde come together: “Sunny, bright morning. In the background a forest. Everyone looks up to Wieland in amazement and emotion. This has swung higher, the glittering steel of its wings shines in the bright sunshine. Schwanhilde hovers towards him from the forest with outstretched swan wings: they reach each other and fly towards the distance. "

interpretation

Swans as a symbol of romance. (Painting by Caspar David Friedrich, around 1820)

The text repeatedly emphasizes Wieland's strong desire for freedom, which the tyrant Neiding faces as an antagonist . The fact that Wieland can free himself despite the cut tendons can - in the context of the failed Dresden Revolution - be understood as a political statement. Significantly, Wieland succeeds in this through his manual skills - his "art". The way to freedom and love therefore leads through art. The political-aesthetic dimension of the drama is expressed in Wagner's work The Work of Art of the Future , which appeared in 1850. He not only put a detailed table of contents at the end of the work, but also concluded it with the lines addressed to the German people: “O unique, wonderful people! You wrote that, and you yourself are this Wieland! Forge your wings, and swing yourself up! ”The drama here combines the political concept of freedom and the metaphysical concept of eternal love through the motif of redemption, which is omnipresent in Wagner's oeuvre .

With the approach of the autobiographical interpretation of the work, various features of Wagner's life can be identified. This view was represented, for example, by the Wagner biographer Robert Gutmann. Topics such as loyalty and infidelity, inability to love and false love spells appear repeatedly in the libretto. They could be an indication of Wagner's split relationship with his then wife Minna . The motif of the self-liberating “artist” is also said to have been close to Wagner's understanding of himself.

Swans are a popular motif of romance. They can express the symbol of the dying artist ( Franz Schubert : Schwanengesang , 1828), or they can be a symbol of liberation (Wagner's Lohengrin , 1845, or Hans Christian Andersen : The ugly duckling , 1843). Swan girls play a central role in Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's ballet Swan Lake, composed in 1875 .

Parallels to other works by Wagner

Before or later, many motifs were reflected in other operas and musical dramas by Wagner:

  • Person in the shape of a swan (here the “Prince of the Light Albums”): Prince Gottfried in Lohengrin .
  • Outrageous shooting of a swan: Parsifal .
  • Three female hybrid beings (here swan maidens): Rhine daughters in Das Rheingold .
  • Ring of strong magical power: The Ring of the Nibelung .
  • Treacherous couple (here Bathilde and Gram): Ortrud and Friedrich von Telramund in Lohengrin .
  • Blacksmith with Schmitte in the forest: title character in Siegfried .
  • Spear: Wotan's spear in the Valkyrie and the Holy Lance in Parsifal .
  • Artfully forged sword: Nothung in Siegfried .
  • No questions asked by the light album prince: Lohengrin was not allowed to ask Elsa von Brabant.
  • Forget (Schwanhilde wants to forget; Wieland forgets temporarily): Tristan and Isolde seek redemption in forgetting; In the Götterdämmerung, Siegfried forgets who he is through a spell.
  • Unification of lovers only in a remote world (here: the air): The Flying Dutchman , also hinted at in Tannhäuser and in Tristan and Isolde .

Setting the material to music

Set to music during his lifetime Max Zenger the material in his opera Wayland the Smith , which premiered 1,881th It is based on Simrock's book of heroes. The opera setting Kovář Wieland by the Slovak composer Ján Levoslav Bella followed around 1890 (premiered in 1926). It was based on an adaptation of Wagner's dramatic draft by Oskar Schlemm . Siegmund von Hausegger created the late romantic tone poem Wieland the blacksmith in 1904 . Hausegger's tone poem is also based on Wagner's draft libretto.

literature

  • Richard Wagner: The work of art of the future , in: Ders .: Gesammelte Schriften und Dichtungen (second edition), Leipzig 1881, pp. 42–177.
  • Richard Wagner: Wieland der Schmiedt, designed as a drama , in: Ders .: Gesammelte Schriften und Dichtungen (second edition), Leipzig 1881, pp. 178–206.
  • Robert Gutmann: Richard Wagner. Man, his work, his time (from the American by H. Leuchtmann) Munich 1970.
  • Martin Geck : Richard Wagner , Reinbek near Hamburg 2004.