One thought about Sieglinde drugging Hunding's drink. Hunding doesn't strike me as the type who thinks he needs a drug to rape his wife. He'll just make his demands, knowing that she will give in to his superior threat of violence. Just as he doesn't worry about this unarmed enemy in his house. He just bars the door and goes to bed, after openly telling Siegmund that he will give him the bare minimum of hospitality demanded by law or custom and kill him in the morning. If they run off? There's no place for an unarmed person to seek safety near by. Not only is the house isolated, any dwellings in easy range are occupied by his kinsmen. If they run, he'll just get his dogs and track them down, and he is utterly confident in his ability to do that.
No, when Sieglinde goes to get the drug, my thought is: she knows where the drug is because she's done this before. Some herbs she's gathered in the nearby forest, perhaps. She's used it to give herself an occasional night's respite from her husband's demands, on a night when she's feeling just too desperate and just can't stand any more. He'll nod off without knowing why he couldn't stay awake that night, and she'll get a decent night's sleep for once. And so, when this stranger shows up with his tale of how he tried to rescue a woman being forced into a loveless marriage, she does it again to give the stranger as much time as possible to claim the sword and get away, if he can, hoping against hope that he might also spare a thought for her own dilemma.
Love the musical introduction to act 2 scene 3 - how the first couple of minutes are almost the same as the start of act 2 scene 1, the build-up until it resolves into Wotan's entrance (underrated by the way: https://youtu.be/hcnKLpReSOk?si=VDm9Q8bVE6Xajw8a) - but now instead of power and majesty, it resolves into the desolation and despair of being abandoned by the gods (although they don't know it yet) - and we left the twins on such a high note too!
Don't have anything to add to your main point here, in fact I've not paid careful attention to the words in die walkure yet (been doing that backwards from gotterdammerung). But it certainly makes that scene more tragic, great read thanks
'Born from immanence, condemned to enigmatic nothing not once, but twice, immanence will reclaim her. Sieglinde must return to earth, to the soil, and serve her purpose as one of many mother-sacrifices of mankind'
"Sterben die Menschenmütter an ihren Söhnen alle dahin? Traurig wäre das, traun!"
One thought about Sieglinde drugging Hunding's drink. Hunding doesn't strike me as the type who thinks he needs a drug to rape his wife. He'll just make his demands, knowing that she will give in to his superior threat of violence. Just as he doesn't worry about this unarmed enemy in his house. He just bars the door and goes to bed, after openly telling Siegmund that he will give him the bare minimum of hospitality demanded by law or custom and kill him in the morning. If they run off? There's no place for an unarmed person to seek safety near by. Not only is the house isolated, any dwellings in easy range are occupied by his kinsmen. If they run, he'll just get his dogs and track them down, and he is utterly confident in his ability to do that.
No, when Sieglinde goes to get the drug, my thought is: she knows where the drug is because she's done this before. Some herbs she's gathered in the nearby forest, perhaps. She's used it to give herself an occasional night's respite from her husband's demands, on a night when she's feeling just too desperate and just can't stand any more. He'll nod off without knowing why he couldn't stay awake that night, and she'll get a decent night's sleep for once. And so, when this stranger shows up with his tale of how he tried to rescue a woman being forced into a loveless marriage, she does it again to give the stranger as much time as possible to claim the sword and get away, if he can, hoping against hope that he might also spare a thought for her own dilemma.
Love the musical introduction to act 2 scene 3 - how the first couple of minutes are almost the same as the start of act 2 scene 1, the build-up until it resolves into Wotan's entrance (underrated by the way: https://youtu.be/hcnKLpReSOk?si=VDm9Q8bVE6Xajw8a) - but now instead of power and majesty, it resolves into the desolation and despair of being abandoned by the gods (although they don't know it yet) - and we left the twins on such a high note too!
Don't have anything to add to your main point here, in fact I've not paid careful attention to the words in die walkure yet (been doing that backwards from gotterdammerung). But it certainly makes that scene more tragic, great read thanks
'Born from immanence, condemned to enigmatic nothing not once, but twice, immanence will reclaim her. Sieglinde must return to earth, to the soil, and serve her purpose as one of many mother-sacrifices of mankind'
"Sterben die Menschenmütter an ihren Söhnen alle dahin? Traurig wäre das, traun!"
Incredible read. Thank you very much.
Diaphanous, happy essay. Much love from Colombia.