Siegfried 鈥� the plot essentials
Act 1
The action moves to a forest setting, and forward to the time of Siegfried's youth he, unwitting, is the offspring of Siegmund and Sieglinde, and grandson of Wotan. The Nibelung dwarf Mime (brother of Alberich) is Siegfried's guardian, and skilful and accomplished blacksmith. Mime has tried repeatedly to forge a new sword for Siegfried. Siegfried forces Mime to reveal the true identity of his parents. Cajoled into providing proof, Mime shows him the broken fragments of his father's sword; Siegfried orders Mime to repair the sword and heads off into the forest. Wotan, in the guise of the Wanderer, appears and engages Mime in a deadly game of riddles. Mime risks losing his head when he is unable to answer who will forge the sword fragments together again. The answer is "only one who has never felt fear" – Mime's head will be forfeit to such a hero.
Mime determines to save himself by teaching Siegfried fear. He will introduce him to the dragon Fafner who guards the ring, the Tarnhelm and the golden hoard. Siegfried returns and manages to repair the sword – Nothung – himself, and so shows his potential as a hero. Mime now plots to get Siegfried to win back the all-powerful ring, before getting rid of him ...
Act 2
Alberich, the first owner of the ring, is staking out Fafner's cave, hoping to retrieve the ring. The Wanderer appears, and, knowing that the forthcoming events are inexorable, prompts Alberich to waken Fafner to persuade him to part with the ring in return for a warning that he might shortly be murdered; Fafner refuses to stir. Mime and Siegfried arrive; Siegfried kills the dragon and retrieves the ring and Tarnhelm. Mime tries to trick Siegfried into taking poison, but the dragon's blood has given Siegfried the power to read Mime's mind, and he kills Mime in disgust. Siegfried, now alone amid nature, asks the Woodbird to send him a companion. The Woodbird tells Siegfried about Brünnhilde, who can only be claimed by a fearless hero; the bird flies off to show Siegfried the way.
Act 3
The Wanderer (Wotan) summons Erda the Earth-Goddess (and mother of Brünnhilde and the Valkyries) to ask her advice in slowing down the world's destiny – the inevitable end of the Gods. She has no solution to offer. Siegfried arrives and the crucial confrontation between the enlightened but doomed god and the ignorant but vigorous young hero ends with Siegfried using his sword, Notung, to split asunder Wotan's spear (carved from the World Ash Tree and totem of his rule over the universe). With the twilight of the Gods a certainty, the now powerless and despairing Wanderer exits the scene, and the series of Ring operas. Siegfried sets off in search of Brünnhilde, reaches the Valkyrie rock, but finds his way barred by its surrounding magic wall of fire. Siegfried plunges through the fire and is surprised by what he finds on the other side ... He removes the protective armour from the slumbering warrior and finds Brünnhilde, who returns to life from her slumbers. Her fears over losing her fierce independence are overcome by the power of Siegfried's love, and they conclude the opera in a long duet of ecstatic abandon.
© Graeme Kay/大象传媒
