English singing translation by Andrew Porter, used in the Goodall-ENO performance below:LOGE: Never one wordof praise or thanks!For your sake alone,hoping to helpI restlessly roamedto the ends of the earthto find a ransom for Freia,one that the giants would like more.In vain sought I,and now I can seein this whole wide world,nothing at allis of greaterworth to a manthan woman's beauty and love!I asked every one living,in water, earth, and sky,one question, sought for the answerand all whom I met,I asked them this question:"What in the worldmeans more to youthan woman's beauty and love?"But wherever life was stirringthey laughed at mewhen they heard what I asked:in water, earth, and sky, nonewould forego the joys of love.But one I found thenwho scorned the delights of love,who valued gold more dearlythan woman's grace.The fair and shining Rhinemaidenscame to me with their tale:The Nibelung dwarf Alberichbegged for their favors,but he begged them in vain;the Rhinegold he torein revenge from their rockand now he holds itdearer than love,greater than woman's grace.For their glittering toythus torn from the deepthe maidens are sadly mourning.Return, Wotan, in anguish, you, forthey ask that you will avenge them;the gold they praythat you will restore it,to shine in the waters forever.So I promised I'd tell you the story,and that's what Loge has done.
[in English] Emile Belcourt (t), Loge; English National Opera Orchestra, Reginald Goodall, cond. EMI-Chandos, recorded live, March 1975Gerhard Stolze (t), Loge; Berlin Philharmonic, Herbert von Karajan, cond. DG, recorded December 1967Ramón Vinay (t), Loge; Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Fritz Stiedry, cond. Live performance, Jan. 26, 1957 by KenAs I explained Friday night, we're headed toward some serious Bruckner, for which we need to make the acquaintance of music's superscout, the demigod Loge, god of fire and of lies. Friday night we encountered him transformed back into his original state, as fire -- specifically, the Magic Fire with which Wotan surrounds the cherished daughter he is abandoning, Brünnhilde.We backtrack now to Das Rheingold, and in a moment we're going to meet Loge at his first appearance, fresh from a scouting mission for the head god, Wotan. Now it sounds as if Loge is merely performing an errand for Wotan, looking for a way out of his bind -- having promised his wife's sister, Freia, as payment to the giants Fasolt and Fafner for their heroic efforts in building Wotan's great castle, Valhalla. But Loge is no errand demigod. As he has already pointed out to Wotan (as we're going to hear in a moment, sticking to Andrew Porter's singing translation:
I roam through the wholewide world as I please!I'm not heldby house or home.
And for me there's an unmistakable "travelogue" quality to Loge's great narrative, which we've just heard in character-tenorish performances by Peter Schreier and Emile Belcourt, a rather more dramatic one by Gerhard Stolze, and a full-fledged Heldentenor's richly sung rendering (admittedly a distinctly baritonish-sounding) from Ramón Vinay.MOVING BACK TO LOGE'S ARRIVAL . . .At the start of Scene 2 of Das Rheingold, Wotan had taken on his lordliest airs to hail the completion of Valhalla, despite the nattering of his wife, Fricka. Then Fasolt and Fafner showed up expecting payment for the job, and Wotan had to sweat it out until Loge's eventual arrival. We return now to that moment, in an excerpt that takes us right up to the start of Loge's narrative.
WOTAN [sees LOGE approaching]: There is Loge!Where have you been,you who assured methat I'd escape from this contract?LOGE [climbing up from the valley]: What? How am I concerned in a contract?You mean that agreementyou have made with these giants?I roam through the wholewide world as I please!I'm not held by house or home.Donner and Frohare dreaming of household joys,if they would wed,a house first they must own.And castle wallsand lofty halls,they were what Wotan craved.Lofty halls,castle walls,a home for the gods,it stands here strongly built.I inspected allthe place myself.It's firmly made,safe and secure:Fasolt and Fafner,excellent work!No stone stirs on its bed.So I was not lazy,like others here;he lies who says that I was.WOTAN: Don't try toescape from the point!If you betray me,if you have tricked me, beware!Recall that Iam your only friend.I took your partwhen the other gods were unkind.So speak, I need your help!When first those giants made termsand asked Freia as payment,you know I only gave my consentbecause you promised you'dfind something elsethat they'd rather have.LOGE: I merely promisedI'd consider how we might save her,and that's all I said.But to discoverwhat can't be found,what never was,who'd ever make such a promise?FRICKA [to WOTAN]: That's the knavewhom you thought you could trust!FROH: Loge, hear me!Your name should be Liar!DONNER: Accursed Loge,I'll quench your flame!LOGE: To conceal his blundersevery fool blames me![DONNER attacks LOGE. WOTAN intervenes.]WOTAN: Now cease reviling, my friend!You know not Loge's ways:his adviceis worth all the more,when we wait on his words.FAFNER: Wait no longer!Pay our wage!FASOLT: Come, no more delay!WOTAN [to LOGE]: Speak out, stubborn one!Keep your word,and tell me now where you've been.
[in English] Norman Bailey (b), Wotan; Emile Belcourt (t), Loge; Katherine Pring (ms), Fricka; Robert Ferguson (t), Froh; Norman Welsby (b), Donner; Clifford Grant (bs), Fafner; Robert Lloyd (bs), Fasolt; English National Opera Orchestra, Reginald Goodall, cond. EMI-Chandos, recorded live, March 1975Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (b), Wotan; Gerhard Stolze (t), Loge; Josephine Veasey (ms), Fricka; Donald Grobe (t), Froh; Robert Kerns (b), Donner; Karl Ridderbusch (bs), Fafner; Martti Talvela (bs), Fasolt; Berlin Philharmonic, Herbert von Karajan, cond. DG, recorded December 1967Hermann Uhde (b), Wotan; Ramón Vinay (t), Loge; Blanche Thebom (ms), Fricka; James McCracken (t), Froh; Arthur Budney (b), Donner; Dezsö Ernster (bs), Fafner; Kurt Böhme (bs), Fasolt; Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Fritz Stiedry, cond. Live performance, Jan. 26, 1957NOW WE JUMP A BIT . . .Loge has brought up the subject of the theft of the Rhinegold by the Nibelung Alberich -- which was the central action of Scene 1 of Das Rheingold -- in order to lay their case for help before Wotan. However, mention of the all-powerful ring that can be forged from the gold has gotten the attention of everyone assembled -- Wotan and Fricka, Fricka's brothers Froh and Donner, and the giants Fasolt and Fafner.
FAFNER: You there, Loge,tell me the truth;what glory lies in the gold,that the Nibelung holds so dear?LOGE: A toy while it was in the waters,lighting the Rhinemaidens' games;but when as a shingingring it is fashioned,helped by its magic powerits owner conquers the world.WOTAN [meditatively]: I have heard men tellof the Rhinegold: Charmsof riches lurk in that golden gleam;mighty powersare his who can forge that ring.FRICKA [to LOGE]: Could a woman usethe golden ringfor herself and wearit to charm her lord?LOGE: No husband darebe false to his wifewhen she commandsthat glittering wealth,that busy dwarfs are forging,ruled by the power of the ring.FRICKA: O how can my husbandwin us the gold?WOTAN: And I should possess it!Soon this ring should be Wotan's.But say, Loge,which is the artby which the gold can be forged?LOGE: A magic spell will hange the gold to a ring.No one knows it,but he can use the spellwho only love foreswears.Ha, ha!Could you do that?Too late in any case!Alberich did not delay.He cursed and masteredthe magic spell;and he is lord of the ring!DONNER [to WOTAN]: We shall allbe slaves to the dwarfunless the ringcan be captured.WOTAN: The ring, I must have it!FROH: Easily done,now that love you need not renounce.LOGE: Child's play,at a stroke you can make it yours!WOTAN: Then tell me how!LOGE: By theft!What a thief stole,you steal from the thief!You seize it andmake it your own.But you'll need your witsfighting Alberich;he'll defendwhat he has stolen,so be skillful, swift, and shrewdif you'd please the Rhinemaidensand then restoretheir gold back to the waters;they yearn and long for their gold.
[in English] Clifford Grant (b), Fafner; Emile Belcourt (t), Loge; Norman Bailey (b), Wotan; Katherine Pring (ms), Fricka; Norman Welsby (b), Donner; Robert Ferguson (t), Froh; English National Opera Orchestra, Reginald Goodall, cond. EMI-Chandos, recorded live, March 1975Karl Ridderbusch (b), Fafner; Gerhard Stolze (t), Loge; Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (b), Wotan; Josephine Veasey (ms), Fricka; Robert Kerns (b), Donner; Donald Grobe (t), Froh; Berlin Philharmonic, Herbert von Karajan, cond. DG, recorded December 1967Dezsö Ernster (bs), Fafner; Ramón Vinay (t), Loge; Hermann Uhde (b), Wotan; Blanche Thebom (ms), Fricka; Arthur Budney (b), Donner; James McCracken (t), Froh; Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Fritz Stiedry, cond. Live performance, Jan. 26, 1957BUT A CONTRACT IS A CONTRACTAnd it doesn't matter that Wotan never intended to honor the contract. The terms are clear, and the giants now carry Freia off. What happens then to the gods was in fact foreseen by Fafner, who knows that Freia tends the golden apples that keep the gods young.
FREIA: Sister! Brothers!Save me! Help![The GIANTS drag her away quickly.]FROH: On, to her aid!DONNER: Everything's ended![They look questioningly at WOTAN.]FREIA [distant]: Save me! Help!LOGE [gazing after the GIANTS]: Over rock and stone they stride,down to the vale;through the Rhine they forge ahead,waddling and wading.Sad at hearthangs Freia,while borne on the backsof those ruffians!Heia! ha! hei!They stumble and stride on their way!Now they're through,climbing the slope.They'll not resttill they've reached roughRiesenheim's bounds.Why is Wotanbrooding and sad?Alas, what's troubling the gods?[A thin mist fills the scene with growing density; it gives the gods an increasingly pale and aging appearance. Fearful and expectant, they all stand gazing at WOTAN, whose eyes are fixed thoughtfully on the ground.]Mists, d'you deceive me?Is this a dream?How gray you've grown,so weary and weak!From your cheeks the bloom dies out;the flash from your eyes fades away!Come, my Froh!Day is still young!From your hand, Donner,you're dropping the hammer!What's wrong with Fricka?Can she be mourningthat Wotan, gloomy and gray,should suddenly seem old?FRICKA: Sorrow! Sorrow!What can it mean?DONNER: My hand is weak!FROH: My heart is still!LOGE: I see how!Hear what is wrong!Of Freia's fruityou've not yet eaten today.The golden applesthat grown in her garden,they kept you so vigorous and young,eating them every day.But she who tended themnow is a hostage;on the branches droopsand dies the fruit.So I'm not godlike,I'm not so glorious as you!But you staked your futureon that youth-giving fruit;the giants knew that all too well,and at your livesthis blow has been aimed.So think how to escape!Lacking the apples,old and gray,worn and weary,withered and scorned by the world,the gods grow old and die.FRICKA: Wotan, my lord!Unhappy man!See how your selfishfolly has brought ussore disgrace and shame!
[in English] Lois McDonall (s), Freia; Robert Ferguson (t), Froh; Norman Welsby (b), Donner; Emile Belcourt (t), Loge; Katherine Pring (ms), Fricka; English National Opera Orchestra, Reginald Goodall, cond. EMI-Chandos, recorded live, March 1975Simone Mangelsdorff (s), Freia; Donald Grobe (t), Froh; Gerhard Stolze (t), Loge; Josephine Veasey (ms), Fricka; Berlin Philharmonic, Herbert von Karajan, cond. DG, recorded December 1967Mariquita Moll (s), Freia; James McCracken (t), Froh; Arthur Budney (b), Donner; Ramón Vinay (t), Loge; Blanche Thebom (ms), Fricka; Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Fritz Stiedry, cond. Live performance, Jan. 26, 1957And now Wotan prepares to execute the only plan open to him: sliding down to the bowels of the earth, to Nibelheim, to find a way to steal the ring from Alberich.NOW LET'S LISTEN TO THE WHOLE SCENEThat is to say, from our starting and stopping points, but including the connective tissue left out above.[in English] Norman Bailey (b), Wotan; Emile Belcourt (t), Loge; Katherine Pring (ms), Fricka; Robert Ferguson (t), Froh; Norman Welsby (b), Donner; Clifford Grant (bs), Fafner; Robert Lloyd (bs), Fasolt; Lois McDonall (s), Freia; English National Opera Orchestra, Reginald Goodall, cond. EMI-Chandos, recorded live, March 1975John Tomlinson (bs), Wotan; Graham Clark (t), Loge; Linda Finnie (ms), Fricka; Kurt Schreibmayer (t), Froh; Bodo Brinkmann (b), Donner; Philip Kang (bs), Fafner; Matthias Hölle (bs), Fasolt; Eva Johansson (s), Freia; Bayreuth Festival Orchestra, Daniel Barenboim, cond. Teldec, recorded live, June-July 1991George London (b), Wotan; Karl Liebl (t), Loge; Irene Dalis (ms), Fricka; Robert Nagy (t), Froh; Norman Mittelmann (b), Donner; Ernst Wiemann (bs), Fafner; Jerome Hines (bs), Fasolt; Heidi Krall (s), Freia; Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Erich Leinsdorf. Live performance, Dec. 16, 1961NEXT WEEK IN SUNDAY CLASSICSWe hear Anton Bruckner performing what always seem to me like Loge-ish scouting functions as we explore his unfinished final symphony, his Ninth.#For a "Sunday Classics" fix anytime, visit the stand-alone "Sunday Classics with Ken."
