“Das Rheingold” by Richard Wagner libretto (English)

Contents: Characters; Prelude And Scene One; Scene Two; Scene Three; Scene Four; Glossary

Scene Two

An open space on a mountain height
(The dawning day lights up with growing bright-
ness a castle with glittering pinnacles, which stands
on the top of a cliff in the background. Between this
cliff and the foreground, a deep valley through which
the Rhine flows is supposed.
Wotan and Fricka asleep.)

(The castle has become quite visible. Fricka
awakes: her gaze falls on the castle.)

Fricka
(alarmed) Wotan, give ear! awaken!

Wotan
(dreaming)
The sacred dwelling of joy
is guarded by gate and door:
Manhood's honor, might without bound,
rise now to endless renown!

Fricka
(shakes him)
Up from thy vision's blissful deceit!
My husband, wake and bethink thee!
(Wotan awakes and raises himself a little. His eyes
are at once fixed by the view of the castle.)

Wotan
Achieved the eternal work!
On mountain summit the gods' abode!
proudly stand the glittering walls!
As in dreams 'twas designed,
as by will 'twas decreed,
strong and fair stands it in sight:
hallowed glorious pile!

Fricka
What thee delighteth brings me but dread!
Thou hast thy joy, my fear is for Freia!
Heedless one, dost thou remember
the truly promised reward?
The work is finished and forfeit the pledge:
forgettest thou what thou must pay?

Wotan
I mind me well of the bargain
they made who raised me the walls;
by a bond bound were the rebels in thrall,
that they this hallowed dwelling might build me;
it stands now—thank the workers:
for the wage fret not thyself.

Fricka
O laughing impious lightness!
loveless, cold-hearted folly!
Had I but known of thy pact,
the trick I then had withstood;
but ever ye men kept afar from the women,
that, deaf to us and in peace,
alone ye might deal with the giants:
so without shame ye base ones abandoned
Freia, my loveliest sister,
pleased right well with your pact!
What to your hard hearts is holy and good,
when ye men lust for might?

Wotan
(quietly)
Was like greed to Fricka unknown,
when she for the building did beg?

Fricka
For my husband's truth aye in care
with sorrow must I ponder,
how to hold him beside me,
lured by his fancy afar:
halls fair and stately, joys of the homestead,
surely should bind thee in peaceful repose.
But thou in this work hast dreamed
of war and arms alone:
glory and might ever to win thee,
and ne'er-ending strife to enkindle,
were builded the towering walls.

Wotan
(smiling) Wouldst thou, o wife,
in the fortress then fix me,
to me, the God, must be granted
that, in the castle prisoned,
yet from outside I must win me the world:
ranging and changing love all who live;
forgo that game, then, I cannot!

Fricka
Cold, unloving, pitiless heart!
For the vain delights of power and sway,
thou stakest in insolent scorn
love and a woman's worth?

Wotan
When I for wife sought to win thee,
an eye, as forfeit, placed I wooing in pledge:
how vainly now dost thou chide!
Women I worship e'en more than thou wouldst;
and Freia, the fair one, will I not grant;
in truth, such thought ne'er was mine.

Fricka
(looking anxiously off the stage)
Then shelter her now: defenseless, in fear,
hither she hastens for help.
(Freia enters, as if in hasty flight.)

Freia
Help me, sister! shelter me, brother!
From yonder mountain threatened me Fasolt;
he comes now hither to take me.

Wotan
Let him threat! Saw'st thou not Loge?

Fricka
That thou still on the trickster bestowest thy trust!
Much wrong he ever has wrought,
yet aye again he ensnares thee.

Wotan
Where simple truth serves,
alone I seek no helper.
But, to force the spite of foes to serve me,
guile and cunning alone,
as Loge has learned them, can teach.
He who this treaty designed
gave promise Freia to ransom:
on him I fix now my faith.

Fricka
And he leaves thee alone!
There stride the giants hither in haste:
where lurks thy crafty ally?

Freia
Where linger then my brothers,
when help they should bring me,
now that Wotan abandons the weak!
O help me, Donner! Hither, hither!
Rescue Freia, my Froh!

Fricka
The disgraceful band who betrayed thee,
have all now hidden away!
(Fasolt and Fafner, both of gigantic stature, armed
with strong clubs, enter.)

Fasolt
Soft sleep closed thine eyes;
the while we twain unslumb'ring built the walls.
Mighty toil tired us not,
heavy stones we heaped on high;
lofty tower, gate and door
guard and keep thy castle halls secure.
(pointing to the castle)
There stands what we builded,
shining bright in daylight's beams:
wend ye in, pay us our wage!

Wotan
Name, workers, your wage;
what deems ye fitting guerdon?

Fasolt
The price was fixed, as fit it was deemed;
is all so soon forgot?
Freia, the fair one, Holda, the free one,
the bargain holds, we bear her with us.

Wotan
(quickly)
Has then your bargain blinded your wits?
Other guerdon ask: Freia may I not grant!
(For a moment Fasolt stands speechless with
angry astonishment.)

Fasolt
What say'st thou? ha!
Traitor art thou? thy treaty a trick?
What thy spear wards serves but for sport,
all the runes of weighty bargains?

Fafner
My trusty brother,
seest thou, fool, now his guile?

Fasolt
Son of light, light of spirit!
hear and heed thyself; in treaties aye keep troth!
What thou art, art thou only by treaties;
by bargains bound, bounded too is thy might:
art wiser thou than wary are we,
pledged are we freemen in peace to thee:
cursed be all thy wisdom,
peace be no more between us,
if, no more open, honest and free,
in bargains thou breakest thy faith!
A foolish giant gives this rede:
thou wise one, learn it from him!

Wotan
How sly to take in earnest
what but in sport we have spoken!
The loveliest goddess, light and bright,
what boots you dullards her grace?

Fasolt
Mock'st thou us? ha, how unjust!
Ye who by beauty reign,
hallowed radiant race,
how vainly strive ye for towers of stone,
place for court and hall
woman's beauty in pledge!
We dullards plague ourselves,
sweating with toil-hardened hands
to win us a woman,
who, winsome and sweet,
should dwell aye among us:
and the pact call'st thou a jest?

Fafner
Cease thy foolish chatter;
no gain look we to win:
Freia's charms help little, but much it boots
from 'mongst the gods now to wrest her.
(softly) Golden apples ripen within her garden,
she alone knoweth how they are tended;
the gardens' fruit grants to her kindred,
each day renewed, youth ever-lasting:
pale and blighted passeth their beauty,
old and weak waste they away,
if e'er Freia should fail them.,
(roughly) From their midst let us bear her away!

Wotan
(to himself) Loge lingers long!

Fasolt
Straight speak now thy word!

Wotan
Ask for other wage!

Fasolt
No other, Freia alone!

Fafner
Thou, there! follow us!
(Fafner and Fasolt press toward Freia. Froh and
Donner enter in haste.)

Freia
Help! Help from the hard ones!

Froh
(clasping Freia in his arms)
To me, Freia!
(to Fafner)
Back from her, miscreant!
Froh shields the fair one!

Donner
(planting himself before the two giants)
Fasolt and Fafner, know ye the weight of my
hammer's heavy blow?

Fafner
What means thy threat?

Fasolt
Why com'st thou here?
Strife have we not sought,
nought ask we now but our wage.

Donner
Full oft paid I, giants, your wage.
Approach, and take your due,
weighed with a generous hand.
(He swings his hammer.)

Wotan
(stretching out his spear between the disputants)
Hold, thou fierce one! Nought booteth force!
All bonds the shaft of my spear doth shield:
spare then thy hammer's haft!

Freia
Woe's me! Woe's me! Wotan forsakes me!

Fricka
Is this thy resolve, merciless heart?
(Wotan turns away and sees Loge coming.)

Wotan
There is Loge!
Such is thy haste bargains to mend that
were struck by thy evil counsel?
(Loge has come up out of the valley.)

Loge
How? what bargain have I then counseled?
Belike 'twas the pact that ye with the giants did make?
To hollow and height my whim drives me on;
house and hearth delight me not.
Donner and Froh are dreaming of household joys;
if they would wed, a home e'en must they find.
A proud abode, a castle sure,
thereto leaned Wotan's wish.
House and hall, court and keep,
the blessed abode now standeth firmly built.
The lordly pile I proved myself,
if all be firm, well have I tried;
Fasolt and Fafner faithful I found:
no stone stirs on its bed.
Not idle was I like many here;
who calls me laggard, he lies.

Wotan
Craftily wouldst thou escape?
If thou betray me, truly I bid thee beware!
Of all the gods, as thy only friend,
I took thee up, 'mid the troop who trusted thee not.
Now speak and counsel well.
When as the builders did crave
from us Freia as guerdon,
thou know' st, I only yielded my word
when, on thy faith, thou didst promise
to ransom the hallowed pledge?

Loge
With greatest pains thereon to ponder,
how we might free her, that promise I gave.
But there to prosper
where nought will fit and nought will serve
could e'er such promise be given?

Fricka
(to Wotan)
See what traitorous knave thou didst trust!

Froh
Loge art thou, but liar I call thee!

Donner
Accursed flame, I will quench thy glow!

Loge
Their disgrace to cover,
fools now revile me!
(Donner threatens to strike Loge.)

Wotan
(steps between them)
In quiet leave now my friend!
Ye know not Loge's craft:
richer count I his counsel's worth,
when 'tis haltingly paid.

Fafner
Halt no longer! Promptly pay!

Fasolt
Long waiteth our wage!
(Wotan turns sharply to Loge.)

Wotan
(urgently)
Now hear, crabbed one! keep thy word!
Say truly, where hast thou strayed?

Loge
Thankless was ever Loge's toil!
In care but for thee, looked I around,
and restlessly searched to the ends of the world:
to find a ransom for Freia,
fit for the giants and fair.
In vain sought I, and see now full well:
in the world's wide ring nought is so rich
that a man will take it as price
for woman's worth and delight!
(All show astonishment and perplexity.)
Where life ever is moving,
in water, earth and air,
much sought I, asking of all men,
where force doth but stir, and life hath
beginning:
what among men more mighty seems,
than woman's worth and delight?
But where life ever is moving,
still scorned alone was my questioning craft:
in water, earth and air,
none will forgo the joy of love.
(Varied excitement.)
But one I looked on,
who love's delights forswore,
for ruddy gold renouncing all woman's grace.
The Rhine's fair winsome children
told to me all their woe:

the Nibelung, Night-alberich,
seeking in vain grace from the swimmers to win;
the Rhine-gold the robber then stole in revenge:
he deems it now the holiest good,
greater than woman's grace.
For the glittering dross, so reft from the deep,
resounded the maidens' wailing:
to thee, Wotan, turning their prayers,
that thy vengeance fall on the Niblung,
(with growing warmth)
the gold they pray thee now to give them
to shine in the water forever.
This to tell thee I promised the maidens:
and now has Loge kept faith.

Wotan
Foolish art thou, if not e'en knavish!
Myself seest thou in need:
what help for others have I?

Fasolt
(who has listened attentively, to Fafner)
The gold I begrudge the Niblung;
much ill he ever has wrought us,
but slyly still the dwarf has slipped away from
our hands.

Fafner
Still the Niblung broods on new ill
if gold but grant him power.
Listen, Loge! say without lie:
what glory lies in the gold
which the Niblung holds so dear?

Loge
A toy 'tis in the waters sleeping,
serving for children's delight;
but if to a rounded ring it be fashioned,
measureless might it grants,
and wins the world for its lord.

Wotan
(thoughtfully)
Rumors came to me of the Rhine-gold:
runes of booty hide in its ruddy glow;
might and wealth unmeasured a ring would gain.

Fricka
(softly to Loge)
Serves as well the golden trinket's glittering dross
to deck forth a woman's grace?

Loge
Her husband's faith were fixed by the wife
who ever bore the glist'ning charm
that busy dwarves are forging
toiling in thrall to the ring.

Fricka
(caressingly to Wotan)
O, might but my husband win him the gold?

Wotan
(appearing more and more under the
influence of a spell)
Methinks it were wise now
sway o'er the ring to ensure me.
But say, Loge, what is the art
by which the trinket is shaped?

Loge
A rune of magic makes the gold a ring;
no one knows it; but he can use the spell
who blessed love forswears.
(Wotan turns away in ill-humor.)
That likes thee not; too late, too, cam'st thou.
Alberich did not delay.
Fearless the might of the spell he won;
(harsh) and rightly wrought was the ring!

Donner
(to Wotan)
Slaves should we be all to the dwarf,
were not the ring from him wrested.

Wotan
The ring I must win me!

Froh
Lightly now without curse of love were it won.

Loge
(harshly) Right well, without art,
as in children's play!

Wotan
Then counsel, how?

Loge
By theft!
What a thief stole, steal thou from the thief:
couldst better gain aught for thine own?
But with weapons dire fighteth Alberich;
deep and shrewd must be thy working,
if the thief thou wouldst o'er-reach,
so that thou may st render the ruddy dross,
the gold (with warmth) once more to the maidens,
for therefor pray they to thee.

Wotan
The river maidens?
What boots me that rede?

Fricka
Of the watery brood
let nought be spoken;
to my distress, many a man
they lured to their watery lair.
(Wotan stands silently struggling with himself. The
other gods fix their eyes on him in mute suspense.
Meanwhile Fafner has been conferring aside with Fasolt.)

Fafner
(to Fasolt)
Trust me, more than Freia
boots the glittering gold:
eternal youth would be won
if the golden charm were our own.
(Fasolt's demeanor shows that he feels himself
>convinced against his will.
Fafner and Fasolt approach Wotan again.)

Fafner
Hear, Wotan, our word as we wait!
Free with you leave we Freia;
guerdon less great shall content us:
for us rude giants enough
were Nibelheim's ruddy gold.

Wotan
Are ye distraught? What is not mine own,
how can I, ye shameless ones, grant you?

Fafner
Hard labor built yonder walls:
light were't for thy cunning and force
(what our spite e'er failed to achieve:)
to fetter the Niblung fast.

Wotan
(quickening)
For you shall I deal with the Niblung?
for you fetter the foe?
Insolent and greedy, ye dullards,
are ye made by my debt!
(Fasolt suddenly seizes Freia and draws her with
Fafner to the side.)

Fasolt
To us, maid! We claim thee now!
As pledge stay thou with us
till thy ransom be paid!

Freia
(screaming) Woe's me! Woe's me! Woe!

Fafner
Far from here let her be borne!
Till evening, heed me well!
held is she as a pledge;
at night return we; but when we come,
if at hand lie not the ransom,
the Rhine-gold fair and red.

Fasolt
At end is her shrift then,
Freia is forfeit: forever dwell she with us!

Freia
(screaming)
Sister, Brothers! Save me! Help!
(Freia is borne away by the hastily retreating giants.)

Froh
Up, to her aid!

Donner
Perish then, all things!
(They look at Wotan enquiringly.)

Freia
(in the distance) Save me! Help!

Loge
(looking after the giants)
Over stock and stone they stride down to the vale:
through the water heavily wade now the giants.
Sad at heart hangs Freia,
so roughly borne on their shoulders!
Heia! hei! the churls, how they lumber along!

Now they tramp up through the vale.
First at Riesenheim's bound their rest will they take.
(He turns to the gods.)
How darkly Wotan doth brood?
Alack, what aileth the gods?
(A pale mist fills the stage, gradually growing
denser. In it the gods' appearance becomes in creas-
ingly wan and aged. All stand in dismay and expec-
tation looking at Wotan, who fixes his eyes on the
ground in thought.)
Mists, do ye trick me? Mocks me a dream?
Dismayed and wan ye wither so soon!
From your cheeks the bloom dies out;
and quenched is the light of your eyes!
Courage, Froh! day is at dawn!
From thy hand, Donner, escapeth the hammer!
What grief hath Fricka? Is she in sorrow
for Wotan, gloomy and grey,
who seems already grown old?

Fricka
Woe's me! Woe's me! What has befall'n?

Donner
My hand doth sink!

Froh
My heart stands still!

Loge
I see now! hear what ye lack!
Of Freia's fruit not yet have ye eaten today.
The golden apples that grow in her garden,
have made you all doughty and young,
ate ye them day by day.
The garden's keeper in pledge now is granted;
on the branches droops and dies the fruit,
decayed soon it will fall.
It irks me little;
for meanly ever Freia to me
stinted the sweet-tasting fruit:
but half as godlike am I, ye great ones, as you!
(freely, but quickly and harshly)
But ye set your fortune on the youth-giving fruit:
that wotted the giants well;
and at your lives this blow now is aimed:
to save them be your care!
Lacking the apples, old and grey,
worn and weary,
withered, the scoff of the world,
dies out the godly race.

Fricka
(anxiously)
Wotan, my lord! unhappy man!
See how thy laughing lightness has brought us
all disgrace and shame!

Wotan
(starting up with a sudden resolve)
Up, Loge! descend with me!
To Nibelheim go we together:
for I will win me the gold.

Loge
The Rhine daughters called upon thee:
ah, may they then hope for a hearing?

Wotan
(violently)
Peace, thou babbler,
Freia, the fair one,
Freia needs must be ransomed!

Loge
At thy command, swiftly we go:
down the steeps shall we make way through the Rhine?

Wotan
Not through the Rhine!

Loge
Then swing we ourselves through the sulfur-cleft:
down yonder slip in with me!
(He goes first and disappears at the side in a cleft,
from which, immediately afterward, a sulfurous
vapor arises.)

Wotan
Ye others wait till evening here:
the golden ransom,
to win back our youth will I gain!
(He descends after Loge into the cleft. The
sulfurous vapor issuing therefrom spreads over the
whole stage and quickly fills it with thick clouds.
Those remaining on it are soon hidden.)

Donner
Fare thee well, Wotan!

Froh
Good luck! Good luck!

Fricka
O soon return to thy sorrowing wife!

(The vapor thickens to a quite black cloud, which
rises from below upward; this then changes to a dark,
rocky chasm, which continues to rise so that the
theater seems to be gradually sinking into the earth.)

(A ruddy glow shines from various places in the
distance, increasing clamor, as from smithing, is
heard on all sides.)

(The clang of the anvils dies away. A subterranean
chasm appears, which fills the whole scene and
seems to open into narrow clefts on all sides.)

libretto by Frederick Jameson

Contents: Characters; Prelude And Scene One; Scene Two; Scene Three; Scene Four; Glossary