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The Mapleson Cylinders - Program Notes

Libretti

Wagner: GÖTTERDÄMMERUNG [Includes RealAudio Selections]

Band 6 [RealAudio available]

Band 6   [Click to Listen]

Act III: Brünnhilde's Immolation excerpt: "Starke Scheite schichtet mir dort" ... "Vollbringt Brünnhildes Wort!"

Lillian Nordica (s), Brünnhilde

Metropolitan Opera Orchestra--Alfred Hertz

February 28, 1903

[Glackens 51.]

At the end of Götterdämmerung, Siegfried has been killed by Hagen, who hopes to gain the Ring, but Brünnhilde takes command of the funeral rites, ordering a pyre to be built by the banks of Rhine.

[original]

BRÜNNHILDE

Starke Scheite
schichtet mir dort
am Rande des Rheins zuhauf!
Hoch und hell
lodre die Glut,
die den edlen Leib
des hehrsten Helden verzehrt.
Sein Ross führet daher,
dass mit mir dem Recken es folge;
denn des Helden heiligste
Ehre zu teilen,
verlangt mein eigener Leib.
Vollbringt Brünnhildes Wort!

[translation]

BRÜNNHILDE

Sturdy logs
gather for me there
piled on the bank of the Rhine!
High and bright
kindle the fire,
that will consume the noble body
of the fairest of heroes.
Bring his horse hither,
that with me it may follow the warrior;
for to share the hero's
most sacred honor
my own body now longs.
Carry out Brünnhilde's bidding!