Richard Wagner His Life and His Dramas / A Biographical Study of the Man and an Explanation of His Work

by W. J. Henderson

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This is an excellent demonstration of the leitmotiv system in its fullest expansion, and it should warn the reader against accepting these themes as merely arbitrary labels. Let him always seek for their musical philosophy and their relations to one another.

When the Rhine maidens appear swimming around the rock in which lies the gold, they sing these cabalistic words and this melodious music:

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RHINE DAUGHTERS.

Weia waga! Woge, du Welle, walle zur Wiege! Wagala Weia! Wallala, weiala, weia!

Presently, as narrated in the story, the gold discloses itself, and we hear the ascending theme of the Appearing Gold:

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