Volume 32, Number 13 · August 15, 1985
Wagner Goes West
By Joseph Kerman
Der Ring des Nibelungen
by Richard Wagner. produced by the San Francisco Opera, June 1985
Die Walküre, Siegfried, Götterdämmerung
by Nicholas John
Riverrun Press, no. 31, 128 pp., $5.95 each volume (paper)
Gutrune, before she sings these lines near the end of the Ring, has waited in trepidation for Siegfried's return. She screamed and swooned when Hagen brought in Siegfried's corpse, and lamented while Gunther tried to comfort her. She confronts Brünnhilde, only to learn that the husband she is lamenting was a bigamist. Now, in her final words Gutrune blames Hagen, but she also blames herself. If she only had a little more time, understood a little more, she would take responsibility for the murder as well as the magic potion that caused Siegfried to fall in love with her and forget Brünnhilde entirely.
Review, 3290 words
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