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Alberich Fleeing with the Rhinegold

Alberich Fleeing with the Rhinegold
  • Creator: Arthur Rackham September 19, 1867-September 6, 1939
  • Description:
    This scene is from The Rhinegold in Volume I of Margaret Armour’s translation of Richard Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen. Wagner based his work largely on Old Norse sources preserved in Iceland and to a lesser extent on the German heroic poem Nibelunglied.
    Arthur Rackham's watercolour depicts the Rhinemaidens, Wellgunde, Woglinde and Flosshilde pursuing Alberich who is fleeing with the Rhinegold.
    The text for the illustration states,
    • Seize the despoiler!
    • Rescue the gold!
    • Help us! Help us!
    • Woe! Woe!
  • Source: Volume I: The Rhinegold ; & The Valkyrie
  • Folio or Page: [16]
  • Medium: watercolour
  • Date: 1939
  • Dimensions (mm): 180 x 125
  • Provenance:
    This illustration is from Special Collections in the MacPherson Library at the University of Victoria, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. Call number: ML410 W195A7
  • Rights:
    This illustration from The Rhinegold is in the public domain.
  • Research notes, early print reviews, etc.:
    Richard Wagner's Der Ring Des Nibelungen is commonly referred to in English as The Ring Cycle. The individual operas are 1) Das Rheingold (The Rhine Gold), 2) Die Walküre / Die Valküre (The Valkyrie), 3) Siegfried and 4) Götterdämmerung (The Twilight of the Gods). Wagner based his work largely on Old Norse sources preserved in Iceland and to a lesser extent on the German heroic poem Nibelunglied.
    Árni Björnsson notes in Wagner and the Volsungs: Icelandic Sources of Der Ring Des Nibelungen that Wagner derived Alberich's name from Albrich in the heroic poem Das Nibelungenlied, and that Alberich is associated with Andvari in the Icelandic Prose Edda and in the Old Norse saga,Volsungs Saga, as well as Álfrekr in the Old Norse saga, Þiðreks saga af Bern (c. 1250) (132).
    Árni Björnsson notes in Wagner and the Volsungs: Icelandic Sources of Der Ring Des Nibelungen that Wagner invented the names for the Rhinemaidens and that they were "largely Wagner's own creation, though they may have been based on various folk tales...The 'Rhinegold' name is Wagner's own idea, but all of the sources used for comparison here, except Þiðreks saga mention gold in the river Rhine, a prize which men strive to possess (132-33).
    Árni Björnsson notes in Wagner and the Volsungs: Icelandic Sources of Der Ring Des Nibelungen that "the Poetic and Prose Eddas mention two magic rings, wrought by dwarves. One is the gold ring Draupnir (SnE S35, cf SnE S49)...The other is which Loki takes from the dwarf Andvari(SnE S39, cf R.4.1)...In both cases, the power of the ring is solely that it can more wealth. There is no mention of foreswearing love for wealth, which is Wagner's own idea, and indeed a common motif in Romantic literature" (134).
  • Bibliography:

    Primary Source

    Wagner, Richard. Der Ring Des Nibelungen Leipzig: von J. J. Weber 1863.

    Editions and Translations

    Wagner, Richard. The Rhine Gold & The Valkyrie Translated by Margaret Armour, London: William Heinemann Ltd. 1939.

    Secondary Sources

    Björnsson, Árni. Wagner and the Volsungs : Icelandic Sources of Der Ring Des Nibelungen. London: Viking Society for Northern Research, 2003.
  • Identity Number: RngNbLng-V01-016-Plt
  • Download size: 1.4 MB
  • Source code of this document: [XML]
Der Ring Des Nibelungen, The Ring Cycle   Das Rheingold, The Rhinegold   Victorian   Edwardian   Wagner, Richard   Armour, Margaret   Rackham, Arthur   Rheintöchter, Rhinemaidens   Flosshilde   Wellgunde   Woglinde   Alberich   Rheingold, Rheingold  

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Linked items

Artifacts

Rheingold (ger.) Rheingold (en.)Richard Wagner invented the treasure of gold that the Rhinemaidens guard in Der Ring Des Nibelungen. It can only be taken from them by someone who has renounced love.

Creatures: animals, birds, monsters etc.

Flosshilde (ger.)One of Richard Wagner's three Rhinemaidens, who live in the Rhine and guard its gold, in Der Ring Des Nibelungen.
Wellgunde (ger.)One of Richard Wagner's three Rhinemaidens, who live in the Rhine and guard its gold, in Der Ring Des Nibelungen.
Woglinde (ger.)One of Richard Wagner's three Rhinemaidens, who live in the Rhine and guard its gold, in Der Ring Des Nibelungen.

Dwarves and Elves

Alberich (ger.) The dwarf in Richard Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen who steals the Rhinegold from the Rhinemaidens and fashions The Ring of the Nibelung from it. He places a curse on the ring when Wotan takes it from him.

Nouns

Edwardian (en.)The Edwardian era began with the reign of King Edward VII, 1901 to 1910 (January 22, 1901 - 28 July, 1914). However, the era's end date is sometimes extended to the beginning of World War 1 (28 July 1914).
Rheintöchter (ger.) Rhinemaidens (en.)Wagner invented three water nymphs who lived in the Rhine and guarded its gold.
Victorian (en.)The Victorian era began with the reign of Queen Victoria and ended with her death (June 20, 1837 – January 22, 1901).

Source Materials:

Das Rheingold (ger.) The Rhinegold (en.) Das Rheingold (The Rhinegold): the first opera in Volume One of Richard Wagner's Der Ring Des Nibelungen.
Der Ring Des Nibelungen (ger.) The Ring Cycle (en.) A group of four German operas composed by Richard Wagner that is collectively known as Der Ring Des Nibelungen and in English as The Ring Cycle. The individual operas are 1) Das Rheingold (The Rhinegold), 2) Die Walküre / Die Valküre (The Valkyrie), 3) Siegfried and 4) Götterdämmerung (The Twilight of the Gods) Wagner based his work largely on Old Norse sources preserved in Iceland and to a lesser extent on the German heroic poem Nibelunglied.

Source Persons

Armour, Margaret (en.) b. September 10, 1860
d. October 13, 1943
Nationality: Scottish
Occupation: poet, novelist and translator
In 1910, Armour translated the four operas comprising Richard Wagner's Der Ring Des Nibelungen into English. Her translation was published in two volumes. 1) Volume One: Das Rheingold (The Rhinegold), and Die Walküre / Die Valküre (The Valkyrie) was published in 1910, and Volume Two: Siegfried and Götterdämmerung (The Twilight of the Gods) was published in 1911. The volumes were illustrated by Arthur Rackham with a total of sixty-four colour plates, as well as black and white vignettes and tailpieces.
Rackham, Arthur (en.) b. 1867
d. 1939
Nationality: English
Occupation: illustrator
Residence: London
One of the most prominent illustrators during the Golden Age of British Book Illustration (c. 1880 - 1930). His illustrations of Norse mythology frequently appeared in "Little Folks" which were collected and published in the Land of Enchantment. Rackham also created 64 coloured plates for the English translation of Richard Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen, The Ring of the Niblung. The Rhinegold and the Valkyrie bound with Siegfried and the Twilight of the Gods.
Wagner, Richard (ger.) b. 16 September 1800
d. 4 December 1886
Nationality: German
Occupation: Author, Teacher and Philologist
Residence: Leipzig, Germany
German composer, theatre director, and conductor who wrote both the music and the libretto for Der Ring Des Nibelungen opera.