My Musical Life

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text excerpt

Of the spiritual beauty of the "Rainbow scene," which is. pictorially, worthy of TURNER, I can hardly speak. Yet even here the fateful curse that hangs over the Rheingold and all who touch it here, in the hour of joy and god-like splendour there is a hint of the final overthrow of the Walhalla and the "Dusk of the Gods." It is to be seen in the crimson Niebelheim light upon the mighty ramparts and towers a light that gives a sober tinge even to the rainbow it is to be heard in the haunting cry of the Rhine daughters over their lost treasure, which makes even the happy gods pause on the threshold of Walhalla. It is felt in the mingled undertones of the orchestra, breaking forth at last into the strong closing bars of the Rheingold. A terrible firmness of purpose, beyond the control even of the gods themselves, is urging forward the course of all things in heaven and earth; none may go back; none may look behind. The old Anangke or Necessity of the Greeks is at the bottom of all, and seems to say alike to the Rhine daughters, the dwarfs, the giants, and the gods, "Go forward; the end must come; what will be, will be."

The Rheingold lasts for two hours and a half at a stretch, during which time there is no pause in the music, but there is also no sign of fatigue in the audience who sit in rapt attention to the close.

excerpt from 'My Musical Life' pp. 511 (253 words)

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