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 Alberich using the power of the ring, that he
has created from the Rhinegold, to force his brother Mime, who is a smith, to
forge the Tarnhelm for him.
The text for the illustration states,
Mime howling. "Ohé! Ohé!
Oh! Oh!
Source: Volume I: The Rhinegold ; & The
Valkyrie
Folio or Page: [38]
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).
Árni Björnsson notes in Wagner and the Volsungs: Icelandic
Sources of Der Ring Des Nibelungen that
"the names and conduct of the gods are largely consistent with the
descriptions given in the Prose Edda of Óðinn,
Frigg, Freyja, Freyr, Þórr and Loki (SnE G20-35). The names have, however,
existed in various different forms in Germanic dialects, and Wagner creates
their characters with considerable freedom" (134).
Árni Björnsson notes in Wagner and the Volsungs: Icelandic
Sources of Der Ring Des Nibelungen that "the Poetic and Prose Eddas and Völsunga saga all mention an ægishjámr ('helmet of
terror') which had belonged to Hreidmarr, and was stolen from him by Fáfnir.
Though feared by all it is not said to confer invisibility (Fáfnismál 16-17; Reginsmál, prose
after stanza 14; SnE S40; Völsunga
saga chs 18,20)" (144).
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.
Tarnhelm (ger.)
The Helm of Awe or the Helm of Terror in Richard Wagner's 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.
Mime (ger.)
The dwarf who is Alberich's brother and Siegfried's foster-father in
Richard Wagner's Der Ring Des
Nibelungen. Alberich forced Mime to make the Tarnhelm for
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).
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.
