“Das Rheingold” by Richard Wagner libretto (English)

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

Scene Four

An open space on a mountain height
(The prospect is shrouded in pale mist, as at the
end of the second scene.)

Loge
There, kinsman, take now thy seat!
Look around thee, there lies the world,
that so fain thou wouldst win for thine own:
what corner, say,
wilt give to me for a stall?
(He snaps his fingers, dancing around Alberich.)

Alberich
Infamous robber!
Thou rogue! Thou knave!
Loosen the rope, let me go free;
or dearly shalt pay for thy trespass!

Wotan
A captive art thou, fast in my fetters;
as thou didst ween the living world
now lay at thy will before thee,
thou liest bound at my feet.
Deny it, trembler, thou canst not!
To make thyself free, now pay me the ransom.

Alberich
O, thou dolt, thou dreaming fool,
to trust blindly the treacherous thief!
fearful revenge shall follow the crime!

Loge
Art thirsting for vengeance?
must first, then, win thyself free:
to a man in bonds the free pay nought for a trespass.
Then dream'st thou of vengeance,
quickly bestir thee,
think of thy ransom betimes!
(He shows him by snapping his fingers
the kind of ransom.)

Alberich
Then say what ye demand!

Wotan
The hoard and thy gleaming gold.

Alberich
Thievish and ravenous gang!
(aside)
But if only I keep the ring,
the hoard I may lightly let go;
for anew were it won, and right merrily fed
were it soon by the spell of the ring;
and a warning it were to render me wise;
not dearly the lesson were paid,
though for its gain I lose the gold.

Wotan
Dost yield up the hoard?

Alberich
Loosen my hand to summon it here.
(Loge unties the rope from his right hand. Alberich
touches the ring with his lips and secretly murmurs a
command.)
Behold, the Nibelungs hither are called!
By their lord commanded
now from the dark to the daylight they bring up the hoard;
then loosen these torturing bonds!

Wotan
Not yet, till all hath been paid.
(The Nibelungs ascend from the cleft, laden with
the treasures of the hoard. During the following the
Nibelungs pile up the hoard.)

Alberich
O shame and disgrace!
that my shrinking bondsmen themselves should
see me in bonds!
(to the Nibelungs)
There let it lie, as I command!
In a heap pile up the hoard!
Dolts, must I help you? Nay, look not on me!
Haste, there! haste!
Then hence with you homeward,
straight to your work! Off to your smithing!
Woe, if idlers ye be!
At your heels I follow you hard!
(He kisses his ring and stretches it out command-
ingly. As if struck with a blow, the Nibelungs rush
cowering and terrified toward the cleft, into which
they quickly disappear.)
There lies ransom; now let me go:
and the tarnhelm there, that Loge yet holds;
that give me in kindness again!

Loge
(throwing the tarnhelm on the hoard)
The plunder must pay for the pardon.

Alberich
Accursed thief! But wait a while!
He who forged me the one makes me another;
still mine is the might that Mime obeys.
Sad it seems that crafty foes
should capture my cunning defense!
Well then! Alberich all has given;
now loose, ye tyrants, his bonds!

Loge
Art thou contented? shall he go free?

Wotan
A golden ring gleams on thy finger:
hear'st thou, dwarf?
that also belongs to the hoard.

Alberich
(horrified)
The ring?

Wotan
To win thee free, that too must thou leave us.

Alberich
(trembling)
My life, but not the ring!

Wotan
(more violently)
The ring surrender:
with thy life do what thou wilt.

Alberich
If but my life be left me,
the ring too must I deliver;
hand and head, eye and ear
are not mine more truly
than mine is this golden ring!

Wotan
Thine own thou callest the ring?
Ravest thou, impudent Niblung?
Truly tell how thou gottest the gold,
from which the bright trinket was shaped.
Was't thine own, then, which thou, rogue, from
the Rhine's deep waters hast reft?
To the maidens hie thee, ask thou of them
if their gold for thine own they have given,
which thou hast robbed for the ring!

Alberich
Infamous tricksters! Shameful deceit!
Thief, dost cast in my teeth the crime,
so dearly wished for by thee?
How fain wert thou to steal
the gold for thyself,
were but the craft to forge
it as easily gained?
How well, thou knave, it works for thy weal,
that the Niblung, I, from shameful defeat,
and by fury driven,
the terrible magic did win
whose work laughs cheerly on thee!
Shall this hapless and anguish-torn one's
curse-laden, fearfullest deed
but serve now to win thee this glorious toy?
Shall my ban bring a blessing on thee?
Heed thyself, o'erweening god!
If I have sinned, I sinned but against myself:
but against all that was, is and shall be
sinn'st, eternal one, thou
if rashly thou seizest my ring!

Wotan
Yield the ring! No right to that
can all thy prating e'er win.
(He seizes Alberich, and with violence draws the
ring from his finger.)

Alberich
(with a horrible cry) Ha!
Defeated! Destroyed!
Of wretches the wretchedest slave!

Wotan
(contemplating the ring)
This ring now lifts me on high,
the mightiest lord of all might.
(He puts on the ring.)

Loge
(to Wotan)
Shall he go free?

Wotan
Set him free!
(Loge sets Alberich entirely free.)

Loge
(to Alberich)
Slip away home!
Not a fetter holds thee:
free, fare thou now hence!

Alberich
(raising himself)
Am I now free?
(enraged laughing)
Free in sooth?
Thus greets you then this, my freedom's
foremost word!
As by curse came it to me,
accurst be aye this ring!
As its gold gave measureless might,
let now its magic deal death to its lord!
Its wealth shall yield pleasure to none,
to gladden none shall its luster laugh!
Care shall consume aye him who doth hold it,
and envy gnaw him who holdeth it not!
All shall lust after its delights,
yet nought shall it boot him who wins the prize!
To its lord no gain let it bring;
yet be murder drawn in its wake!
To death devoted, chained be the craven by fear:
his whole life long daily wasting away,
the treasure's lord as the treasure's slave!
Till again once more
in my hand regained I shall hold it!
So blesses, in sorest need,
the Nibelung now his ring:
then hold it fast,
(laughing)
ward it with heed!
(angrily)
But my curse canst thou not flee.
(He vanishes quickly in the cleft.)
(The thick mist in the foreground
gradually clears away.)

Loge
Didst thou listen to love's farewell?

Wotan
(sunk in contemplation of the ring on his hand)
Let him give way to his wrath!
(It becomes continually lighter.)

Loge
(looking to the right)
Fasolt and Fafner hitherward fare:
Freia bring they to us.
(Through the dispersing mist Donner, Froh and
Fricka appear and hasten toward the foreground.)

Froh
See, they have returned!

Donner
Now welcome, brother!

Fricka
(anxiously to Wotan)
Bring'st thou joyful tidings?

Loge
(pointing to the hoard)
By cunning and force the task is done:
there Freia's ransom lies.

Donner
From the giant's hold neareth the fair one.

Froh
What balmiest air wafteth to us,
blissful enchantment fills every sense!
Sad, in sooth, were our fortune,
forever sundered from her,
who painless, ne'er-ending youth and
rapturous joy doth bestow.
(The foreground has become bright again, and
the aspect of the gods regains in the light its former
freshness. The misty veil, however, still covers the
background so that the distant castle remains
invisible.)
(Fasolt and Fafner enter, leading Freia between
them. Fricka hastens joyfully toward her sister.)

Fricka
Loveliest sister, sweetest delight!
art thou to us once more given?

Fasolt
(restraining her)
Hold! Touch her not yet! Still we claim her ours.
On Riesenheim's fastness of rock took we our rest;
in truth and honor the treaty's pledge tended we.
Though sorely loth, to you I bring her;
now pay us brothers the ransom here.

Wotan
At hand lies the ransom:
in goodly measure the gold shall be meted.

Fasolt
To lose the woman,
know ye, my spirit is sore:
if from my heart I must tear her,
the treasure hoard heap ye then so,
that from my sight the blossoming maid it may hide!

Wotan
By Freia's form, then, measure the gold!
(The two giants place Freia in the middle. They
then stick their staves into the ground in front of
Freia, so that they give the measure of her height and
breadth.)

Fafner
Fast fixed are our poles there
to frame her form;
now heap the hoard to their height!

Wotan
Haste with the work: sorely it irks me!

Loge
Help me, Froh!

Froh
Freia's shame straight must be ended.
(Loge and Froh hastily heap up the treasure
between the poles.)

Fafner
Not so loosely piled be the gold.
(He roughly presses the treasure together.)
Firm and close fill up the gauge!
(He stoops down to look for crevices.)
Here still I see through:
come, stop me these crannies!

Loge
Away, thou rude one!

Fafner
Look here!

Loge
Touch thou not aught!

Fafner
Look here! this cleft must be closed!

Wotan
(turning away moodily)
Deep in my breast burns this disgrace!

Fricka
See how in shame
standeth the glorious maid:
for release beseeches her suffering look.
Heartless man!
our loveliest bears this through thee!

Fafner
Still more! Pile on still more!

Donner
I bear no more; foaming rage
wakens the rogue in my breast!
Come hither, hound! wouldst thou measure,
then take thy measure with me!

Fafner
Patience, Donner! roar where it serves:
thy thunder helps thee not here.

Donner
(aiming a blow)
It will serve, scounderel, to crush thee.

Wotan
Peace, my friend!
Methinks now Freia is hid.
(Fafner measures the hoard closely with his eye,
and looks for crevices.)

Loge
The hoard is spent.

Fafner
Yet shines to me Holda's hair:
there, yonder toy throw on the hoard!

Loge
What? e'en the helm?

Fafner
Quickly, here with it!

Wotan
Let it go also.
(Loge throws the Tarnhelm on the pile.)

Loge
Then all is now finished! Are ye contented?

Fasolt
Freia, the fair one, see I no more:
then, is she released? must I now lose her?
(He goes close up and peers through the hoard.)
Ah! yet gleams her glance on me here;
her eyes like stars send me their beams;
still through a cleft I look on their light.
(beside himself)
While her sweet eyes shine upon me,
from the woman will I not turn!

Fafner
Hey! I charge you,
come stop me this crevice!

Loge
Ne'er contented! see ye then not,
all spent is the hoard?

Fafner
Nay, not so, friend! on Wotan's finger
gleams the gold of a ring:
give that to fill up the crevice!

Wotan
What? this my ring?

Loge
Hear ye counsel!
the Rhine daughters should own the gold;
and to them Wotan will give it.

Wotan
What pratest thou there?
The prize that I have won me,
without fear I hold for myself!

Loge
Evil chance befalls the promise
I gave the sorrowing maids!

Wotan
But thy promise bindeth me not:
as booty mine is the ring.

Fafner
But here for ransom must it be rendered.

Wotan
Boldly ask what ye will,
all I will grant you; for all the world
yet I will not yield up the ring!

Fasolt
(angrily pulls Freia from behind the hoard)
All's at end! as erst it stands;
now ours is Freia forever!

Freia
Help me! Help me!

Fricka
Cruel god! give them their way!

Froh
Hold not the gold back!

Donner
Grant them the ring then!
(Fafner holds back Fasolt who is pressing to go. All
stand confounded.)

Wotan
Leave me in peace: the ring will I hold!
(Wotan turns angrily away from them.)
(The stage has again become dark.)
(From a rocky cleft on one side breaks forth a
bluish light in which Erda becomes suddenly visible,
rising from below to half her height.)

Erda
(stretching her hand warningly toward Wotan)
Yield it, Wotan! Yield it!
Flee the ring's dread curse!
Hopeless and darksome disaster
lies hid in its might.

Wotan
What woman warneth me thus?

Erda
All that e'er was know I;
how all things are, how all things will be
see I too:
the endless world's all-wise one, Erda,
warneth thee now.
Ere the world was,
daughters three of my womb were born;
what mine eyes see,
nightly the Norns ever tell thee.
But danger most dire calleth me hither today.
Hear me! Hear me! Hear me!
All that e'er was endeth!
A darksome day dawns for your godhood:
be counseled, give up the ring!
(Erda sinks slowly as far as the breast. The bluish
light begins to fade.)

Wotan
With mystic awe fills me thy word:
go not till more thou tellest!

Erda
(disappearing)
I warned thee; thou know'st enough;
brood in care and fear!
(She completely disappears.)

Wotan
If then care shall torment me,
thee must I capture, all must thou tell me!
(Wotan tries to go into the chasm to stay Erda.
Froh and Fricka throw themselves in his way and
hold him back.)

Fricka
What wouldst thou, raging one?

Froh
Go not, Wotan!
Touch not the Wala, heed well her words!
(Wotan gazes thoughtfully before him.)

Donner
(turning to the giants with resolution)
Hear, ye giants! come back and wait ye!
the gold shall be your guerdon.

Freia
Dare I then hope it?
Deem ye Holda truly such ransom worth?
(All look attentively at Wotan; he, rousing himself
from deep thought, grasps his spear and brandishes
it in token of a bold decision.)

Wotan
To me, Freia! Thou shalt be freed.
Bought with the gold,
bring us our youth once again!
Ye giants, take now your ring!
(He throws the ring on the hoard. The giants let
Freia go: she hastens joyfully to the gods, who for
some time caress her in turn, with the greatest delight.)
(Fafner meanwhile spreads out a huge sack and
goes to the hoard, preparing to pack it all up.)

Fasolt
(to Fafner)
Stay, thou greedy one!
Something give me too!
Justice in sharing fits us brothers.

Fafner
More for the maid than the gold
hungered thy lovesick look;
I scarce could bring thee, fool, to the bargain;
as without sharing Freia thou wouldst have wooed,
if now I share,
trust me to seize on the greater half for myself.

Fasolt
Shame on thee, thief! Tauntest thou me?
(to the gods)
You call I as judges:
say how the hoard shall justly be halved!
(Wotan turns contemptuously away.)

Loge
The hoard let him ravish;
hold but thou fast to the ring!
(Fasolt throws himself on Fafner, who has mean-
while been busily packing up.)

Fasolt
Away! Thou rascal! mine is the ring;
mine was it for Freia's glance!
(He snatches hastily at the ring. They struggle together.)

Fafner
Touch thou it not! the ring is mine!
(Fasolt wrests the ring from Fafner.)

Fasolt
I have it, fast I hold it!

Fafner
(striking out with his staff)
Hold it fast lest it should fall!

(With one blow he stretches Fasolt on the ground:
from the dying man he then hastily wrests the ring.)
Now gloat thou on Freia's glance!
For the ring seest thou no more!
(He puts the ring into the sack and quietly goes on
packing the hoard. All the gods stand horrified. A
long solemn silence.)

Wotan
(deeply stirred)
Fearful now, appeareth the curse's power!

Loge
Thy luck, Wotan, where were its equal?
Much was gained when the ring thou didst win;
but that now thou hast lost it
boots thee yet more:
for thy foe-men—see!—murder their friends
for the gold thou hast let go.

Wotan
What dark boding doth bind me?
Care and fear fetter my soul:
how I may end them, teach me, then, Erda:
to her must I descend!

Fricka
(caressing him cajolingly)
Where stay'st thou, Wotan?
Lures thee not friendly the fortress proud?
Now it awaits with kindly shelter its lord.

Wotan
(gloomily)
With evil wage paid was the work!

Donner
(pointing to the background which is still
wrapped in a veil of mist)
Sultrily mists float in the air;
heavy hangeth the glomy weight!
Ye hovering clouds, come now with lightning and thunder
and sweep the heavens clear!
(Donner has mounted on a high rock by the
precipice and now swings his hammer: during the
following the mists collect around him.)
Heda! Heda! Hedo!
To me, all ye mists! Ye vapors, to me!
Donner, your lord, calleth his hosts!
(He swings his hammer.)
At his hammer's swing hitherward sweep!
Vapors and fogs! Wandering mists!
Donner, your lord, calleth his hosts!
Heda! Heda! Hedo!
(Donner disappears entirely in an ever-darkening
and thickening thundercloud.)
(The stroke of his hammer is heard to fall heavily
on the rock. A vivid flash of lightning comes from the
cloud; a violent clap of thunder follows.)
(Froh has also disappeared into the clouds.)

(unseen)
Brother, to me!
Shew them the way o'er the bridge!
(Suddenly the clouds disperse; Donner and Froh
become visible: from their feet a rainbow bridge
stretches with blinding radiance across the valley to
the castle which now glows in the light of the setting sun.)

(Fafner, who beside his brother's body has
collected the entire hoard, puts the enormous sack
on his back and during Donner's magic thunder-
storm leaves the stage.)

(Froh points with outstretched hand to the bridge
as the way across the valley.)

Froh
(to the gods)
The bridge leads you homeward,
light yet firm to your feet:
now tread undaunted its terrorless path!
(Wotan and the other gods contemplate the
glorious sight, speechless.)

Wotan
Golden at eve the sunlight gleameth;
in glorious light glow fastness and fell.
In the morning's radiance, bravely it glistened,
lying lordless there, proudly luring my feet.
From morning till evening, in care and fear,
unblest, I worked for its winning!
The night is nigh:
from all its ills shelter it offers now.
(as though seized by a great thought, very firmly)
So greet I the home,
safe from dismay and dread!
(He turns solemnly to Fricka.)
Follow me, wife! In Walhall dwell now with me.

Fricka
What meaneth the name, then?
Strange 'tis, methinks, to my hearing.

Wotan
What my spirit has found
to master my dread,
when triumph is won, maketh the meaning clear.
(He takes Fricka by the hand and walks slowly
with her toward the bridge: Froh, Freia and Donner follow.)

Loge
(remaining in the foreground and looking after the gods)
They are hasting on to their end,
who now deem themselves strong in their greatness.
Ashamed am I to share in their dealings;
to flickering fire again to transform me,
fancy lureth my will:
to burn and waste them who bound me erewhile,
rather than blindly sink with the blind
e'en were they of gods the most godlike
not ill were it, meseems!
I must bethink me: who knows what may hap?
(He goes, assuming a careless manner,
to join the gods.)

Rhine Daughters
(in the valley, unseen)
Rhine-gold! Rhine-gold! guileless gold!
how brightly and clear
shimmered thy beams on us!
(Wotan, preparing to set his foot on the bridge,
stops and turns around.)

Wotan
What plaints come hither to me?

Rhine Daughters
For thy pure luster
now lament we:

Loge
(looks down into the valley)
The river children bewailing the stolen gold.

Rhine Daughters
Give us the gold,
give us the gold!

Wotan
Accursed nixies!

Rhine Daughters
O give us its glory again.

Wotan
Cease their clamorous taunts.

Loge
(calling down toward the valley)
Ye in the water! why wail ye to us?
Hear what Wotan doth grant!
Gleams no more on you maidens the gold,
in the newborn godly splendor bask ye henceforth in bliss!
(The gods laugh and cross the bridge during the
following.)

Rhine Daughters
Rhine-gold! Rhine-gold! guileless gold!
O would that thy treasure
were glittering yet in the deep!
Tender and true 'tis but in the waters:
false and base are all who revel above!

(As the gods cross the bridge to the castle,
the curtain falls.)

libretto by Frederick Jameson

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