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Arbitrary Wagner/Ring thread. Apologies in advance. Apparently there’s substantial scholarly fuss about why Siegmund sings the “renunciation of love” motif in Walküre when he’s yanking Nothung from Hunding’s living-room tree & verbally pledging himself to “Holiest Love.”
I think this one is super straightforward. Whatever the lyrics say, Siegmund is grabbing another metallic artifact of power, and committing to deploy it in combat with Hunding, rather than just GTFO.
Alberich’s text and music are in synch when he renounces love for power, because he understands the tradeoff he’s making. Siegmund’s text and music aren’t, because he makes the same trade without understanding it.
For the curious yet perplexed, Renunciation motif:
And Siegmund’s version around 2:10 here
As with the identity of “Walse,” the music knows everything, even if the characters don’t. Siegmund belives in his dedication to “Holiest Love” even as he commits to a strategy that dooms it on the altar of performative domination & mastery via superior artifact.
I don’t know if Wagner was consciously thinking in those terms when he composed it, but I’m shocked that’s not just the dumb, obvious canonical read.
