Rotational Principle as Teleological Genesis in the “Annunciation of Death” Scene from Wagner’s Die Walküre

Abstract

The “Annunciation of Death,” a duet in Act 2, Scene 4 of Wagner’s Die Walküre, is a highlight of this opera and a turning point for the Ring cycle as a whole; in this first encounter between the primary movers of the operatic drama, Brünnhilde learns sympathy from Siegmund’s profound love for Sieglinde; the experience transforms Brünnhilde from a hardhearted, obedient warrior to the woman who eventually sacrifices herself through love to redeem the world at the end of the cycle.

Structured as a dialogue, the scene centers on the changing dramatic relationship between Brünnhilde and Siegmund. The article examines how their narrative dynamic is reflected in the musical architecture; it reads the scene’s overarching form as a three-stage process in which the characters struggle for narrative control, from Brünnhilde’s declaration of Siegmund’s fate to his rewriting of that fate in his favor. The rotational principle is the primary formal function that clarifies the transformations and interactions of leitmotifs in the playing-out of the dramatic narrative. The article thereby demonstrates that the rotational principle of the scene is less a rigid organizational constraint than a becoming process which generates music-drama.