WOTAN'S INVOCATION OF ERDA

This excerpt is Act 3, Scene 1 of "Siegfried," the music-drama 
for the third night of Richard Wagner's Ring Cycle (The Ring of 
the Nibelung), a religious/theatrical/musical festival in the 
ancient Greek tradition.  This scene is Wotan's (Odin's) 
invocation and dismissal of Erda, the Earth Mother.  

Here is some background:  Long ago Wotan established his 
authority by means of a spear made from a branch ripped from 
the World Ash Tree; the tree has since begun to wither and die.  
At a later time, Wotan seduced Erda and fathered on her the 
eight Valkyries, the wisest of whom is Brunnhilde, whom he 
has put into a "magic sleep" for her disobedience.  Erda has 
previously told Wotan that his reign is doomed by its internal 
corruption and contradictions, but he has tried to forestall the 
inevitable.  Brunnhilde is fated to be the goddess who will bring 
about a new, free world, cleansed by fire and water.  In the 
process, Brunnhilde will return to Nature the magic Rhinegold, 
which was wrested from Nature by the Nibelung Alberich, and 
which, by cursing Love, he made into a Ring of domination.

Note:  The Old High German word "Wala" (Norse, "Volva") means 
wise-woman, witch, or prophetess; it is used here as a title for 
Erda (Norse, Jord).

The scene opens at the foot of a rocky mountain.  It is night, 
and there is a lightening storm with violent thunder.  The 
thunder ceases after a while, but lightening continues to flash 
through the clouds.  Wotan enters, dressed as The Wanderer:  he 
wears a long dark-blue cloak and a wide, round-brimmed hat 
pulled low over his face.  He strides resolutely to a vault-like 
cavernous opening in a rock and stands there, leaning on his 
spear, while he calls towards the mouth of the cave.

WOTAN:
  Waken, Wala!
  Wala, waken!
  From lasting sleep
rise and appear at my call!
  I summon Thee forth!
  Arise!  Arise!
  From earth's hidden caves,
where prisoned Thou sleepest, arise!
  Erda!  Erda!
  Deathless woman!
  From silence and darkness
soar to the day!
  With song I rouse Thee;
  arise and answer.
  Thy slumbering wisdom
  I would awake.
  All-Knowing One!
  Wisdom's Guardian!
  Erda!  Erda!
  Deathless Woman!
  Waken, waken,
  Thou Wala!  Awaken!

(The cavern begins to glow with a bluish light.  During the 
following Erda rises very gradually from the depths.  She 
appears to be covered with hoarfrost; her hair and garments 
throw out a glittering shimmer.)

ERDA:
Loud is the call;
mighty spells have roused me.
  From Wisdom's dream
  awakened am I.
  Who scares my sleep from me?

WOTAN:
  The Sleepbreaker am I;
  with Spells I stir Thee
  that waken surely
what slumber's fastness holds.
  O'er Earth I wandered,
  far have I roamed
  knowledge to win me,
world-wisdom's redes ever seeking.
  No one on Earth is wiser than Thou;
  Thou knowest all
  that the deeps do hide,
  what hill and dale,
air and water do hold.
  Where Life doth wake,
  moveth Thy Spirit;
  where brains are brooding,
  you stir their thoughts.
  All things, men say,
  known are to Thee.
That I may win me Thy council,
Thee I wake from Thy sleep!

ERDA:
  My sleep is dreaming;
  my dreaming, brooding;
my brooding, working of Wisdom.
  But while I sleep
  the Norns are waking;
  they wind the rope
and truly weave what I know:
the Norns will give Thee answer.

WOTAN:
  In thrall to the World,
  thus do the Norns weave,
and nought their knowledge maketh or mendeth.
  To Thee I come to
  learn of Thy Wisdom,
how to hinder a rolling wheel?

ERDA:
  Deeds of Men
have beclouded all my thoughts;
  my Wisdom itself
once felt a conqueror's force.
  A Wishmaiden
  I bore to Wotan:
  at his command
brought she heroes to Walhall.
  Bold is she
  and wise as well:
  why wak'st Thou me
  and seek'st not council
from Erda's and Wotan's child?

WOTAN:
  The Valkyrie mean'st Thou,
  Brunnhild' the maid?
She flouted the Lord of the Tempests
when in truth he himself had subdued:
  What the Ruler of Fights
  in fervent longing,
  thwarting his wishes,
  forbore to achieve,
  Brunnhilde proud,
  rashly defiant,
in fire and fury of battle,
strove for Herself to perform.
  Warfather
  punished the maid:
he closed her eyelids in sleep;
on the fell she slumbers fast:
  the Holy Maid
  will waken alone
that She as wife may mate with a Man.
What then can be learned from Her?

(Erda has become absorbed in thought, and replies after a 
considerable silence.)

ERDA:
  Dazed am I
  since I awoke:
  wild and strange
  seems the World.
  The Valkyrie,
  the Wala's Child,
lay in fetters of sleep,
while her all-knowing mother slept?
  Doth then pride's teacher
  punish pride?
  He who urged the doing
  punish the deed?
  He who rules by right,
  to whom truth is sacred,
  striketh at right,
  reign by falsehood?
Hold me longer not here!
Sleep enfold now my Wisdom!

WOTAN:
Thou Mother, shalt not go free,
for I wield the magic with might.
  All-wise One,
  care's piercing sting
  by Thee was planted
in Wotan's fearless heart:
  with fear of ruin,
  shameful downfall
  you filled his spirit,
by words of warning and doom.
  If You are the World's
  wisest of women,
  say to me now:
how a god may conquer his care?

ERDA:
  Thou art not
  what Thou hast said!
Why cam'st Thou, stubborn and wild one,
to trouble the Wala's sleep?

WOTAN:
  Thou art not
  what thou hast dreamed.
  All-mother's wit draws
  near its ending.
  At war with my Will
  Thy Wisdom waneth.
Know'st Thou what Wotan wills?

(There is a long silence.)

  Thou Unwise One,
  learn what I will,
then carefree You may sleep in peace!
  The Eternals' ending
  gives me no anguish;
since it works my Will!

What in my spirit's fiercest anguish
despairing once I resolved,
  freely and gladly
I shall now bring to pass.
Once I decreed in my loathing
the Nibelung might claim all the World;
  today to the Walsung
I have bequeathed my realm.
  One who knew me never,
  though chosen by me,
  a youth of dauntless daring,
  all untaught by my council,
has gained the Nibelung's Ring.
  Free from hate,
  gladdened by love-dreams,
  that youth is not harmed by
  Alberich's Curse,
for he knows nought of fear.
  She whom Thou hast borne,
  Brunnhild,
wakes to that hero's kiss.
  Then Thy wisdom's
  child will achieve
a deed to set free the World.
  Then slumber Thou now,
  close fast Thine eye-lids;
dreaming behold my ending.
  What e'er shall befall them,
  to the ever young
in gladness yieldeth the god!
  Away then, Erda!
  All-mother Fear!
  All-sorrow!
  Away!  Away,
  to endless sleep!

(Erda has already closed her eyes and begun to gradually 
descend; she now disappears entirely.  The cavern has again 
become quite dark; the Moon lights the scene; the storm has 
quite subsided.)

                   End of Scene 1.

The translation is based mostly on those by Frederick Jameson 
(1896) and Andrew Porter (1976), with bits and pieces from 
that by Frederick and Henrietta Corder (c. 1882).

                                    -- Johann Opsopaus