LOVE OVERCOMES CONVENTION:
Wagner's "Winterstürme" Duet
in the Opera Die Walküre, Act I
Rackham, Siegmund and Sieglinde
Siegmund und Sieglinde: "Winterstürme" Duet
[with English translation, below]
For Wagner, the hero, Siegfried, had to be born of passionate, but forbidden, love. Everything is broken, and hence forbidden, after the Gold of the Rhine is stolen from the Rhinemaidens and fashioned into Power in the form of a ring. Power in rivalry with Nature leads to the decline of the Gods. This was the quandary, which Wagner tried to pass off as tragedy, resulting from the God Wotan having lied to the Giants. From that moment, all covenants will be broken, all vows, treaties and promises, so that the hero, who is to set everything to right again, can be born to recover the Ring of the Nibelungs.
In the magnificent duet that is the subject of the video below, and which is unfortunately a little truncated at the end, the passion between Sigmund and Sieglinde, the parents of the hero Siegfried, is first expressed, discovered in fact, during the course of the First Act of the opera Die Walküre. Sieglinde is not only married to Sigmund’s host, Hunding, who sleeps in the next room, but she is also Sigmund’s brother. Both the marriage vow and the taboo on incest are broken in this scene. In the course of their duet they have discovered that they are siblings and that they are passionately in love with one another and must flee. But before their final departure Siegmund sings about the Spring, which is the focus of the video below.
As the feelings of love begin to grow within him, Siegmund, after a stormy passage, which is not heard in this recording, begins to sing about springtime: “The storms of Winter have vanished before Spring!” This is a reference to his growing erotic feelings for Sieglinde, but it is also a paean to Nature and a description of his sensual impressions of the change of seasons. Spring is a ‘decoy for Love,’ which arrives along with it. Siegmund pledges to liberate Sieglinde from her bond by way of his love.
“The sister as bride is freed by her brother.
In ruins lies all that kept them apart.
Joyfully the young couple greet one another.
Love and Spring are united.”
She, aware of her own feelings, will respond: “You are the Spring!”
It is one of the most famous, most romantic, and most accomplished duets in all of Wagner’s operas.
Peter Hoffman and Jeanine Altmeyer, Pierre Boulez at Bayreuth, 1976
Die Walküre: Act I - Duet
SIEGMUND
Winterstürme wichen
dem Wonnemond,
in mildem Lichte leuchtet der Lenz;
auf linden Lüften leicht und lieblich,
Wunder webend er sich wiegt;
durch Wald und Auen weht sein Atem,
weit geöffnet lacht sein Aug': -
aus sel'ger Vöglein Sange süß er tönt,
holde Düfte haucht er aus;
seinem warmen Blut entblühen wonnige Blumen,
Keim und Sproß entspringt seiner Kraft.
Mit zarter Waffen Zier bezwingt er die Welt;
Winter und Sturm wichen der starken Wehr:
wohl mußte den tapfern Streichen
die strenge Türe auch weichen,
die trotzig und starr uns trennte von ihm. -
Zu seiner Schwester schwang er sich her;
die Liebe lockte den Lenz:
in unsrem Busen barg sie sich tief;
nun lacht sie selig dem Licht.
Die bräutliche Schwester befreite der Bruder;
zertrümmert liegt, was je sie getrennt:
jauchzend grüßt sich das junge Paar:
vereint sind Liebe und Lenz!
SIEGLINDE
Du bist der Lenz, nach dem ich verlangte
in frostigen Winters Frist.
Dich grüßte mein Herz mit heiligem Grau'n,
als dein Blick zuerst mir erblühte.
Fremdes nur sah ich von je,
freudlos war mir das Nahe.
Als hätt' ich nie es gekannt, war, was immer mir kam.
Doch dich kannt' ich deutlich und klar:
als mein Auge dich sah,
warst du mein Eigen;
was im Busen ich barg, was ich bin,
hell wie der Tag taucht' es mir auf,
o wie tönender Schall schlug's an mein Ohr,
als in frostig öder Fremde
zuerst ich den Freund ersah.
SIEGMUND
O süßeste Wonne! Seligstes Weib!
SIEGLINDE
O laß in Nähe zu dir mich neigen,
daß hell ich schaue den hehren Schein,
der dir aus Aug' und Antlitz bricht
und so süß die Sinne mir zwingt.
SIEGMUND
Im Lenzesmond leuchtest du hell;
hehr umwebt dich das Wellenhaar:
was mich berückt, errat' ich nun leicht,
denn wonnig weidet mein Blick.
SIEGLINDE
Wie dir die Stirn so offen steht,
der Adern Geäst in den Schläfen sich schlingt!
Mir zagt es vor der Wonne, die mich entzückt!
Ein Wunder will mich gemahnen:
den heut' zuerst ich erschaut,
mein Auge sah dich schon!
SIEGMUND
Ein Minnetraum gemahnt auch mich:
in heißem Sehnen sah ich dich schon!
SIEGLINDE
Im Bach erblickt' ich mein eigen Bild
und jetzt gewahr' ich es wieder:
wie einst dem Teich es enttaucht,
bietest mein Bild mir nun du!
SIEGMUND
Du bist das Bild,
das ich in mir barg.
SIEGLINDE
O still! Laß mich der Stimme lauschen:
mich dünkt, ihren Klang
hört' ich als Kind.
Doch nein! Ich hörte sie neulich,
als meiner Stimme Schall
mir widerhallte der Wald.
SIEGMUND
O lieblichste Laute,
denen ich lausche!
SIEGLINDE
Deines Auges Glut erglänzte mir schon:
so blickte der Greis grüßend auf mich,
als der Traurigen Trost er gab.
An dem Blick erkannt' ihn sein Kind -
schon wollt' ich beim Namen ihn nennen!
Wehwalt heißt du fürwahr?
SIEGMUND
Nicht heiß' ich so, seit du mich liebst:
nun walt' ich der hehrsten Wonnen!
SIEGLINDE
Und Friedmund darfst du
froh dich nicht nennen?
SIEGMUND
Nenne mich du, wie du liebst, daß ich heiße:
den Namen nehm' ich von dir!
Makert, Siegmund et Sieglinde dans la cabane de Hunding, 1883
Die Walküre: Act I - Duet
SIEGMUND
Wintry storms have vanished
before Maytime;
in a gentle light springtime shines out.
On balmy breezes light and lovely
it weaves miracles as it wafts.
Through woods and meadows its breath blows,
wide open its eyes are smiling.
Lovely birdsong sweetly proclaims it.
Blissful scents exhale its presence.
Marvellous flowers sprout from its hot blood,
buds and shoots grow from its strength.
With an armoury of delicate charm it conquers the world.
Winter and storms vanish before their stout defence.
At these bold blows, of course,
the stout doors yielded too,
for stubbornn and hard they kept us from the spring.
To its sister here it flew.
Love decoyed the spring.
In our hearts it was hidden deep;
now it smiles joyfully at the light.
The sister as bride is freed by her brother.
In ruins lies all that kept them apart.
Joyfully the young couple greet one another.
Love and Spring are united.
SIEGLINDE
You are the spring for which I longed
in the frosty winter time.
My heart greeted you with holy terror
when first your glance lighted upon me.
I had only ever seen strangers;
my surroundings were friendless.
As if I had never known it
was everything that befell me.
But you I recognized plain and clear;
when my eyes saw you, you belonged to me.
What I hid in my heart, what I am,
bright as day it came to me,
like a resounding echo it fell upon my ear,
when in frosty lonely strangeness
I saw my friend.
SIEGMUND
O sweetest bliss, most blessed woman!
SIEGLINDE
O let me come close up to you
and clearly see the noble light
that shines in your eyes and from your face,
and sweetly grips my senses.
SIEGMUND
In the spring moonlight you shine brightly,
nobly haloed with waving hair:
what enchanted me I can easily guess,
for rapturously my eyes gloat on you.
SIEGLINDE
Look how your forehead broadens out,
and the network of veins winds into your temples.
I tremble with the delight that enchants me.
It brings something strange to my mind:
though I first saw you today,
I've set eyes on you before.
SIEGMUND
A dream of love comes to my mind as well:
burning with longing I have seen you before.
SIEGLINDE
In the stream I've seen my own likeness;
and now I see it again.
As once it appeared in the water
so now you show me my likeness.
SIEGMUND
You are the likeness that I hid in myself.
SIEGLINDE
Hush! let me listen to your voice.
Its sound, I fancy, I heard as a child,
but no! I heard it recently-
when the echo of my voice sounded back through the forest.
SIEGMUND
O loveliest sound for me to hear!
SIEGLINDE
The fire in your eyes has blazed at me before.
So the old man gazed at me in greeting
when to my sadness he brought comfort.
By his look his child recognized him,
I even wanted to call him by name.
Are you really called Woeful?
SIEGMUND
I am not called that since you love me:
Now I am full of purest rapture.
SIEGLINDE
And "Peaceful" may you not, being happy, be named?
SIEGMUND
Name me what you love to call me.
I take my name from you.
Meretta, Siegmund and Sieglinde, 2004
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