FORM AND CONTENT
fig. 10-5 Die Walküre, costume and stage designs by M. Ferdinandus. At left, Siegmund and Siglinde fall in love (Act I); at right, Wotan bids farewell to Brünnhilde (Act III).
The first step was to depict the events recounted by the last segment of the Norns’ narrative: Siegfried's coming of age as a hero, his killing the dragon, and winning Brünnhilde. This was accomplished in a “poem” called Der junge Siegfried (“Young Siegfried”), composed in the spring of 1851 right after Oper und Drama was completed. Next, to explain how the sleeping Brünnhilde had got where she was (on a rocky peak surrounded by fire) when Siegfried penetrated her bastion and awakened her, and to clarify Siegfried's qualifications, so to speak, for his heroic calling (being the incestuous—thus purebred—offspring of two fine Volsung specimens), Wagner preceded Der junge Siegfried with another “poem,” Die Walküre (“The Valkyrie,” that is, Brünnhilde), composed between November 1851 and July 1852.
- Citation (MLA):
- Richard Taruskin. "Chapter 10 Deeds of Music Made Visible (Class of 1813, I)." The Oxford History of Western Music. Oxford University Press. New York, USA. n.d. Web. 12 Oct. 2024. <https://www.oxfordwesternmusic.com/view/Volume3/actrade-9780195384833-div1-010005.xml>.
- Citation (APA):
- Taruskin, R. (n.d.). Chapter 10 Deeds of Music Made Visible (Class of 1813, I). In Oxford University Press, Music in the Nineteenth Century. New York, USA. Retrieved 12 Oct. 2024, from https://www.oxfordwesternmusic.com/view/Volume3/actrade-9780195384833-div1-010005.xml
- Citation (Chicago):
- Richard Taruskin. "Chapter 10 Deeds of Music Made Visible (Class of 1813, I)." In Music in the Nineteenth Century, Oxford University Press. (New York, USA, n.d.). Retrieved 12 Oct. 2024, from https://www.oxfordwesternmusic.com/view/Volume3/actrade-9780195384833-div1-010005.xml
