Act II. The ominous Motive of the Nibelung's Malevolence introduces

the second act. The curtain rises upon the exterior of the hall of the Gibichungs. To the right is the open entrance to the hall, to the left the bank of the Rhine, from which rises a rocky ascent toward the background. It is night. _Hagen_, spear in hand and shield at side, leans in sleep against a pillar of the hall. Through the weird moonlight _Alberich_ appears. He urges _Hagen_ to murder _Siegfried_ and to seize the ring from his finger. After hearing _Hagen's_ oath that he will be faithful to the hate he has inherited, _Alberich_ disappears. The weirdness of the surroundings, the monotony of _Hagen's_ answers, uttered seemingly in sleep, as if, even when the Nibelung slumbered, his mind remained active, imbue this scene with mystery.

A charming orchestral interlude depicts the break of day. Its serene beauty is, however, broken in upon by the =Motive of Hagen's Wicked Glee=, which I quote, as it frequently occurs in the course of succeeding events.

[Music]

All night _Hagen_ has watched by the bank of the river for the return of the men from the quest. It is daylight when _Siegfried_ returns, tells him of his success, and bids him prepare to receive _Gunther_ and _Brünnhilde_. On his finger he wears the ring--the ring made of Rhinegold, and cursed by _Alberich_--the same with which he pledged his troth to _Brünnhilde_, but which in the struggle of the night, and disguised by the Tarnhelmet as _Gunther_, he has torn from her finger--the very ring the possession of which _Hagen_ craves, and for which he is plotting. _Gutrune_ has joined them. _Siegfried_ leads her into the hall.

_Hagen_, placing an ox-horn to his lips, blows a loud call toward the four points of the compass, summoning the Gibichung vassals to the festivities attending the double wedding--_Siegfried_ and _Gutrune_, _Gunther_ and _Brünnhilde_; and when the Gibichung brings his boat up to the bank, the shore is crowded with men who greet him boisterously, while _Brünnhilde_ stands there pale and with downcast eyes. But as _Siegfried_ leads _Gutrune_ forward to meet _Gunther_ and his bride, and _Gunther_ calls _Siegfried_ by name, _Brünnhilde_ starts, raises her eyes, stares at _Siegfried_ in amazement, drops _Gunther's_ hand, advances, as if by sudden impulse, a step toward the man who awakened her from her magic slumber on the rock, then recoils in horror, her eyes fixed upon him, while all look on in wonder. The Motive of Siegfried the Hero, the Sword Motive, and the Chords of the Hagen Motive emphasize with a tumultuous crash the dramatic significance of the situation. There is a sudden hush--_Brünnhilde_ astounded and dumb, _Siegfried_ unconscious of guilt quietly self-possessed, _Gunther_, _Gutrune_, and the vassals silent with amazement--it is during this moment of tension that we hear the motive which expresses the thought uppermost in _Brünnhilde_, the thought which would find expression in a burst of frenzy were not her wrath held in check by her inability to quite grasp the meaning of the situation or to fathom the depth of the treachery of which she has been the victim. This is the =Motive of Vengeance=:

[Music]

"What troubles Brünnhilde?" composedly asks _Siegfried_, from whom all memory of his first meeting with the rock maiden and his love for her have been effaced by the potion. Then, observing that she sways and is about to fall, he supports her with his arm.

"Siegfried knows me not!" she whispers faintly, as she looks up into his face.

"There stands your husband," is _Siegfried's_ reply, as he points to _Gunther_. The gesture discloses to _Brünnhilde's_ sight the ring upon his finger, the ring he gave her, and which to her horror _Gunther_, as she supposed, had wrested from her. In the flash of its precious metal she sees the whole significance of the wretched situation in which she finds herself, and discovers the intrigue, the trick, of which she has been the victim. She knows nothing, however, of the treachery _Hagen_ is plotting, or of the love-potion that has aroused in _Siegfried_ an uncontrollable passion to possess _Gutrune_, has caused him to forget her, and led him to win her for _Gunther_. There at _Gutrune's_ side, and about to wed her, stands the man she loves. To _Brünnhilde_, infuriated with jealousy, her pride wounded to the quick, _Siegfried_ appears simply to have betrayed her to _Gunther_ through infatuation for another woman.

"The ring," she cries out, "was taken from me by that man," pointing to _Gunther_. "How came it on your finger? Or, if it is not the ring"--again she addresses _Gunther_--"where is the one you tore from my hand?"

_Gunther_, knowing nothing about the ring, plainly is perplexed. "Ha," cries out _Brünnhilde_ in uncontrollable rage, "then it was Siegfried disguised as you and not you yourself who won it from me! Know then, Gunther, that you, too, have been betrayed by him. For this man who would wed your sister, and as part of the price bring me to you as bride, was wedded to me!"

In all but _Hagen_ and _Siegfried_, _Brünnhilde's_ words arouse consternation. _Hagen_, noting their effect on _Gunther_, from whom he craftily has concealed _Siegfried's_ true relation to _Brünnhilde_, sees in the episode an added opportunity to mould the Gibichung to his plan to do away with _Siegfried_. The latter, through the effect of the potion, is rendered wholly unconscious of the truth of what _Brünnhilde_ has said. He even has forgotten that he ever has parted with the ring, and, when the men, jealous of _Gunther's_ honour, crowd about him, and _Gunther_ and _Gutrune_ in intense excitement wait on his reply, he calmly proclaims that he found it among the dragon's treasure and never has parted with it. To the truth of this assertion, to a denial of all _Brünnhilde_ has accused him of, he announces himself ready to swear at the point of any spear which is offered for the oath, the strongest manner in which the asseveration can be made and, in the belief of the time, rendering his death certain at the point of that very spear should he swear falsely.

How eloquent the music of these exciting scenes!--Crashing chords of the Ring Motive followed by that of the Curse, as _Brünnhilde_ recognizes the ring on _Siegfried's_ finger, the Motive of Vengeance, the Walhalla Motive, as she invokes the gods to witness her humiliation, the touchingly pathetic Motive of Brünnhilde's Pleading, as she vainly strives to awaken fond memories in _Siegfried_; then again the Motive of Vengeance, as the oath is about to be taken, the Murder Motive and the Hagen Motive at the taking of the oath, for the spear is _Hagen's_; and in _Brünnhilde's_ asseveration, the Valkyr music coursing through the orchestra.

It is _Hagen_ who offers his weapon for the oath. "Guardian of honour, hallowed weapon," swears _Siegfried_, "where steel can pierce me, there pierce me; where death can be dealt me, there deal it me, if ever I was wed to Brünnhilde, if ever I have wronged Gutrune's brother."

At his words, _Brünnhilde_, livid with rage, strides into the circle of men, and thrusting _Siegfried's_ fingers away from the spearhead, lays her own upon it.

"Guardian of honour, hallowed weapon," she cries, "I dedicate your steel to his destruction. I bless your point that it may blight him. For broken are all his oaths, and perjured now he proves himself."

_Siegfried_ shrugs his shoulders. To him _Brünnhilde's_ imprecations are but the ravings of an overwrought brain. "Gunther, look to your lady. Give the tameless mountain maid time to rest and recover," he calls out to Gutrune's brother. "And now, men, follow us to table, and make merry at our wedding feast!" Then with a laugh and in highest spirits, he throws his arm about _Gutrune_ and draws her after him into the hall, the vassals and women following them.

But _Brünnhilde_, _Hagen_, and _Gunther_ remain behind; _Brünnhilde_ half stunned at sight of the man with whom she has exchanged troth, gaily leading another to marriage, as though his vows had been mere chaff; _Gunther_, suspicious that his honour wittingly has been betrayed by _Siegfried_, and that _Brünnhilde's_ words are true; _Hagen_, in whose hands _Gunther_ is like clay, waiting the opportunity to prompt both _Brünnhilde_ and his half-brother to vengeance.

"Coward," cries _Brünnhilde_ to _Gunther_, "to hide behind another in order to undo me! Has the race of the Gibichungs fallen so low in prowess?"

"Deceiver, and yet deceived! Betrayer, and yet myself betrayed," wails _Gunther_. "Hagen, wise one, have you no counsel?"

"No counsel," grimly answers _Hagen_, "save Siegfried's death."

"His death!"

"Aye, all these things demand his death."

"But, Gutrune, to whom I gave him, how would we stand with her if we so avenged ourselves?" For even in his injured pride _Gunther_ feels that he has had a share in what _Siegfried_ has done.

But _Hagen_ is prepared with a plan that will free _Gunther_ and himself of all accusation. "Tomorrow," he suggests, "we will go on a great hunt. As Siegfried boldly rushes ahead we will fell him from the rear, and give out that he was killed by a wild boar."

"So be it," exclaims _Brünnhilde_; "let his death atone for the shame he has wrought me. He has violated his oath; he shall die!"

At that moment as they turn toward the hall, he whose death they have decreed, a wreath of oak on his brow and leading _Gutrune_, whose hair is bedecked with flowers, steps out on the threshold as though wondering at their delay and urges them to enter. _Gunther_, taking _Brünnhilde_ by the hand, follows him in. _Hagen_ alone remains behind, and with a look of grim triumph watches them as they disappear within. And so, although the valley of the Rhine re-echoes with glad sounds, it is the Murder Motive that brings the act to a close.