Relayed from The QUEEN'S HALL, LONDON
(Sole Lessees, Messrs. Chappell and Co., Ltd.)
Wagner
FLORENCE AUSTRAL
NORMAN ALLlN
THE B.B.C. SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
(Principal First Violin, CHARLES WOODHOUSE)
Conducted by Sir HENRY WOOD
Overture, The Mastorsingers
Venusborg Music (Taunhauser) Siegfried Idyll
NORMAN ALLIN and ORCHESTRA Hagen's Watch (Dusk of the Gods) Hagen's Call
HAGEN'S, WATCH occurs in the first act of The Dusk of the Gods, the last opera of The Ring of the Nibelung. Siegfried, having been treacherously -given the draught of forgetfulness, has - forgotten Brynhilda and has plightod his troth with' Gutrune moreover, he has undertaken to . impersonate Gunther, the Lord of the Gibichungs, and to win Brynhilda for his bride. Siegfried and Gunther have just left for the Valkyrie's Rock for this purpose. Hagen remains behind to guard the Hall. Hagen is the son of Alberieh, from whom, in an earlier opera, the magic ring was wrested. He fully intends to recover this ring, of which ho knows the power. It was lie who drugged the potion givon to Siegfried as part of his sinister plot, and as he watches he soliloquizos, confessing his villainous intention and prophesying tile success of his scheme.
Hagen's Call occurs in the next act. Siegfried, disguised as Gunther, has been successful in winning Brynhilda for the Gibichung Lord,
-and as Hagen looks up towards the river, he sees the returning ship approaching. He summons the vassals with a hoarse ' Ifoi-ho,' and discordant blasts on his cow-horn. The wild figures of the clansmen appear in answer to the call, asking for what purpose they have been summoned and declaring themselves ready for the fray they are expecting. Hagen undeceives them, and with sinister joviality assures them that all they are called for is to assemble in welcoming their lord, who brings back his newly-won bride, and Siegfried, who is to wed Gutrune. In the opera the vassals sing in chorus, but in this version their grotesque music is transferred to the orchestra.
ORCHESTRA
Funeral March (Dusk of the Gods)
SIEGFRIED has been hunting with Hagen,
Gunther, and the vassals, and they have paused to rest and refresh. Hagen, in pursuance of his sinister plot, has given Siegfried the draught of remembrance, anil memory, which the draught of forgetfulnoss obliterated, has come back to him. Innocently he relates how, before ho had met Gunther, lie had wooed and won Brynhildu. Gunther is appalled at his apparent treachery, so that when Hagen rises and mortally spears Siegfried from behind, it looks as though lie had done only justice. Thus his plot appears to have succeeded. The vassals take up the body of Siegfried and march off with it in slow procession. It is here that this magnificent Funeral March is heard.
FLORENCE AUSTRAL and Orchestra
Closing Scene (Dusk of the Gods)
THE Closing Scene of The Dusk of the Gods is also the end of The Ring Cycle. The body of Siegfried has been set upon a funeral pyre at Brynhilda's behest. She now calls for her horse, - Crane, and to some of the most superb music in the Cycle she pronounces Siegfried's epitaph and the doom of the gods. She takes the Ring from Siegfried's finger and places it on her own, then seizes a torch and fires the logs. Mounting her horse, she urges him forward and leaps with him into the flames. As the fire blazes and spreads to the Hall itself, the Rhine overflows its banks, bringing with it the Rhine Maidens who have come for the Ring. Hagen attempts to seize it from them and is drawn by them into the flood. Meanwhile, the flames seem to have spread to the heavens and have reached even the distant Castle of Valhalla, where Wotan, with the gods seated round him, is seen surrounded by the flames which presently destroy them all. The ' Curse ' has been fulfilled.