Heroics: a manual for beginners

Few people – if any – would argue that Siegfried is the high point of the Ring. Wagner himself didn’t quite seem to know what to do with the essential bridge between Die Walküre and Götterdämmerung, which may explain why Wotan shows up in disguise to narrate the plots of the first two operas, and why we are treated to nearly half an hour of Siegfried forging a sword in something close to real-time. If the two operas on either side gain dramatic charge from the inevitable tragedy of their flawed characters, Siegfried’s lack of drama is clearly born of heroic predestination. From the youthful hero’s first appearance, there is never any doubt that he will re-forge his father’s sword, slay the evil dragon, kill the scheming dwarf, climb the fiery mountain and awaken the beautiful sleeping maiden. There are few things less interesting than a…