Following my viewing of the latest production of Der Ring des Nibelungen directed by Richard Lepage over the previous two weekends I have now seen certain aspects of Wagner`s munumental work from a different perspective.
One insight which I gained was the way in which the four individual music dramas which make up the tetralogy reflect the Aryan concept of the four ages.
Das Rheingold clearly represents the world of the Gods and the cosmos in its pristine early state when everything was new and fresh. The `gold` in Rheingold signifies this and the age of pure spirit.
This music drama which serves as a `prelude` for the other three parts of the cycle sets the scene for what is to follow. Unlike the other three parts it is not divided into acts but is a continuous performance which moves through four different scenes. Being the shortest of the dramas at just 2 1/2 hours it is traditionally performed on an evening prior to the other three dramas which are performed during the day as the others exceed 4-4 1/2 hours in length.
Das Rheingold is primarily concerned with the world of the Gods, not men although there is an excursion or foray by the Gods into the world of the dwarves-the Nielungen during Scene 3.
However despite the freshness and the grandeur of this age the seed is already sown which will lead to the ensuing conflict in the following three dramas or cycles of the ages and this is manifested through the curse of the Ring, made from the gold of the Rhein and stolen from the Rheintoechter by the evil dwarf Alberich, who represents the grasping and greed of that species, which is ugly both in appearance and in psychological make up. I am sure my regular readers will understand who I am referring to.
Ageing, something which was hitherto unknown is introduced through the kidnap of the beautiful Goddess Freia by the ugly giants, Fasolt and Fafnir who desire to possess this Goddess, just as many of the hooknosed tribe thoughout the millenia have sought to seduce and violate Nordic Aryan women and their infection is to be found even in the bloodstream of modern European nobility, a nobility which has bartered its blood inheritance for a few shekels.
The theft of Freia and her golden apples[in Germanic mythology these apples belonged to Idunn]causes the Gods to age and it is only with the intervention of Wotan and Loge that this situation is resolved. However the curse of the Ring then transfers from Alberich to Wotan. Whoever possesses this Ring is consequently infected with its curse if he is in full knowledge of the Ring`s true ownership[that of the Rheintoechter] and does not seek to return it to its true owners.
In a sense the Rheintoechter although Godesses[being daughters of Wotan]are guardians of the inheritance of the German people and their inheritance over the years has been plundered by aliens-in particular by the Jews and the state of Israel in the form of reparations for something that they are not responsible for. The Rheintoechter demand the return of their material and spiritual inheritance-for the gold represents both and they have cursed all those who knowingly possess it.
During the latter part of this Golden Age or Satya Yuga conflict and war make their appearance with the conflict between the Gods and the giants, who represent forces of chaos and base inert matter-the conscious versus the unconscious.
Die Walkuere represents the Silver Age or the Treta Yuga. The Gods are still preeminent in this drama and cycle but conflict continues to grow and the Gods themselves become divided. Wotan is in conflict with his consort Fricka and Bruennhilde is banished from Walhall by her father Wotan for disobeying His command although She fulfilled His internal and secret Will.
Humanity and in particular Germanic heroic humanity makes its initial appearance in this part of the cycle with the emergence of the Waelsung clan, fathered by Wotan and so like all true Germanic and Aryan heroes of semi-divine origin. The Waelsungs in effect represent the Germanic people who are themselves children of the Gods. Siegmund and his twin sister Sieglinde continue their dynasty with the birth of their child Siegfried in the next part of the cycle Siegfried.
The Silver age represents the decline of the Gods but the emergence of the semi-divine Aryan hero.
It also represents the decline of spirit into matter with the fathering of the Waelsungs who are essentially part human and subject to death.
Betrayal also begins in this epoch as Siegmund is betrayed and killed by his father Wotan who in turn finds Himself a prisoner of fate and under the influence of Fricka. He is constrained in His actions.
In Act 3 of Die Walkuere Wotan robs Bruennhilde of Her divinity for Her disobedience and puts Her to sleep surrounded by a wall of flame. Again we see the beginnings of the descent of divinity and spirit into matter.
Siegfried is concerned entirely with the world of men-Midgard and represents the Bronze Age-the Age of Heroes or the Dvapara Yuga. God is dethroned-man becomes God. Although Wotan appears in this drama He is disguised-aleit thinly as Der Wanderer who wanders in Midgard to seek knowledge and wisdom and to impart it[the perpetual quest of Aryo-Germanic man]. In effect Wotan has become man as has the Valkyrie Bruennhilde who has become woman. Matter in effect has overcome-albeit temporarily-spirit.
This is further exemplified with the shattering of Wotan`s speer Gungnir on Siegfried`s sword Nothung. The power of the Gods is thus broken and man takes centre stage. Gungnir also represents those binding contracts that sustain the cosmos and with its shattering all contracts are broken. Chaos finds its genesis and betrayal its fullfilment in the next drama Goetterdaemmerug. Siegfried possesses Bruennhilde and She imparts to him her divine knowledge-the wisdom of the Runes.
Goetterdaemmerung the last and longest part of the cycle represents the Iron Age, the Dark Age, the Wolf Age or the Kali Yuga. Decay and betrayal find their climax.
Again all the action takes part in Midgard and although Wotan is referred to He no longer makes His appearance which speaks to me of the current crisis where Germanic man is cut off from His Gods, from his divine self. Siegfried unwittingly betrays Bruennhilde due to the potion given to him by Gutrune, the sister of King Gunther, the lord of the Gibichung dynasty on the Rhein. In turn Gunther and his half-brother Hagen betray and murder Siegfried. The Norse Eddas make clear that prior to Ragnarok that brother will betray brother and Siegfried and Gunther were both brothers-in-law and blood brothers by the mingling of their blood and the swearing of a holy oath.
At the climax of this drama Walhall goes up in flames and Bruennhilde shares Siegfried`s funeral pyre after she casts the cursed Ring back into the Rhein to the delight of the Rheintoechter and Goetterdaemmerung closes in the way that Das Rheingold begins. Is this why it is called a `cycle`? This is certainly how the ages appear and reappear as following this Kali Yuga a new Golden Age will begin!
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