Two leading motives are employed in this introduction. They are the =Storm Motive= and the =Donner Motive=. The =Storm Motive= is as follows:
These themes are elemental. From them Wagner has composed storm music of convincing power.
In the early portion of this vorspiel only the string instruments are used. Gradually the instrumentation grows more powerful. With the climax we have a tremendous _ff_ on the contra tuba and two tympani, followed by the crash of the Donner Motive on the wind instruments.
The storm then gradually dies away. Before it has quite passed over, the curtain rises, revealing the large hall of _Hunding's_ dwelling. This hall is built around a huge ash-tree, whose trunk and branches pierce the roof, over which the foliage is supposed to spread. There are walls of rough-hewn boards, here and there hung with large plaited and woven hangings. In the right foreground is a large open hearth; back of it in a recess is the larder, separated from the hall by a woven hanging, half drawn. In the background is a large door. A few steps in the left foreground lead up to the door of an inner room. The furniture of the hall is primitive and rude. It consists chiefly of a table, bench, and stools in front of the ash-tree. Only the light of the fire on the hearth illumines the room; though occasionally its fitful gleam is slightly intensified by a distant flash of lightning from the departing storm.
The door in the background is opened from without. _Siegmund_, supporting himself with his hand on the bolt, stands in the entrance. He seems exhausted. His appearance is that of a fugitive who has reached the limit of his powers of endurance. Seeing no one in the hall, he staggers toward the hearth and sinks upon a bearskin rug before it, with the exclamation:
Whose hearth this may be, Here I must rest me.
[Illustration: Lilli Lehmann as Brünnhilde in "Die Walküre"]
Hunding (Parker), Sieglinde (Rennyson), and Siegmund (Maclennan)]
Wagner's treatment of this scene is masterly. As _Siegmund_ stands in the entrance we hear the =Siegmund Motive=. This is a sad, weary strain on 'cellos and basses. It seems the wearier for the burden of an accompanying figure on the horns, beneath which it seems to stagger as _Siegmund_ staggers toward the hearth. Thus the music not only reflects _Siegmund's_ weary mien, but accompanies most graphically his weary gait. Perhaps Wagner's intention was more metaphysical. Maybe the burden beneath which the Siegmund Motive staggers is the curse of _Alberich_. It is through that curse that _Siegmund's_ life has been one of storm and stress.