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Erda Admonishes Wotan

Erda Admonishes Wotan
  • Creator: Arthur Rackham September 19, 1867-September 6, 1939
  • Description:
    This scene is from The Rhinegold in Volume I of Margaret Armour’s translation of Richard Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen. Wagner based his work largely on Old Norse sources preserved in Iceland and to a lesser extent on the German heroic poem Nibelunglied.
    Arthur Rackham's watercolour depicts Erda who has come to warn Wotan that he must add the ring to the ransom pile to hide Freia. She says that the race of gods is doomed if he refuses to give up the ring. The two ravens flying overhead are likely meant to symbolically represent Wotan's, i.e., Óðinn's ravens Huginn and Muninn. Wagner did not give names to these birds in Der Ring des Nibelungen.
    The text for the illustration states,
    • Erda bids thee beware
  • Source: Volume I: The Rhinegold ; & The Valkyrie
  • Folio or Page: [66]
  • Medium: watercolour
  • Date: 1939
  • Dimensions (mm): 176 x 125
  • Provenance:
    This illustration is from Special Collections in the MacPherson Library at the University of Victoria, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. Call number: ML410 W195A7
  • Rights:
    This illustration from The Rhinegold is in the public domain.
  • Research notes, early print reviews, etc.:
    Richard Wagner's Der Ring Des Nibelungen is commonly referred to in English as The Ring Cycle. The individual operas are 1) Das Rheingold (The Rhine Gold), 2) Die Walküre / Die Valküre (The Valkyrie), 3) Siegfried and 4) Götterdämmerung (The Twilight of the Gods).
    Árni Björnsson notes in Wagner and the Volsungs: Icelandic Sources of Der Ring Des Nibelungen that "the names and conduct of the gods are largely consistent with the descriptions given in the Prose Edda of Óðinn, Frigg, Freyja, Freyr, Þórr and Loki (SnE G20-35). The names have, however, existed in various different forms in Germanic dialects, and Wagner creates their characters with considerable freedom" (134).
    Árni Björnsson notes in Wagner and the Volsungs: Icelandic Sources of Der Ring Des Nibelungen that "some of the words of Erda seem to echo lines of the eddic poem Völuspá (28,44,57)...And her final words, "I've warned you - you know enough", are especially reminiscent of the famous warning with which sevveral stanzas of the poem end (28, 33, 35, 39,41, 48, 62, 63). "Vituð ér enn, eða hvat?" "Do you see yet, or what?" (149).
  • Bibliography:

    Primary Source

    Wagner, Richard. Der Ring Des Nibelungen Leipzig: von J. J. Weber 1863.

    Editions and Translations

    Wagner, Richard. The Rhine Gold & The Valkyrie Translated by Margaret Armour, London: William Heinemann Ltd. 1939.

    Secondary Sources

    Björnsson, Árni. Wagner and the Volsungs : Icelandic Sources of Der Ring Des Nibelungen. London: Viking Society for Northern Research, 2003.
  • Identity Number: RngNbLng-V01-066-Plt
  • Download size: 896 KB
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Der Ring Des Nibelungen, The Ring Cycle   Das Rheingold, The Rhinegold   Victorian   Edwardian   Wagner, Richard   Armour, Margaret   Rackham, Arthur   Erda   Huginn   Muninn   hrafn, raven  

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Linked items

Creatures: animals, birds, monsters etc.

Huginn (non.) One of Óðinn´s pair of ravens that he sends out in the morning to gather news and whisper it into his ear when they come back. Huginn's name means "thought." The other raven is named Muninn which means "memory."
Muninn (non.) One of Óðinn´s pair of ravens that he sends out in the morning to gather news and whisper it into his ear when they come back. Muninn's name means "memory." The other raven is named Huginn which means "thought."

Gods and Goddesses

Erda (ger.) Richard Wagner used the Old High German word "erda" which means "earth" for the mother of Donner in The Ring of the Nebilung.
Wotan (ger.) Richard Wagner based Wotan in The Ring of the Nibelung on Óðinn.
Óðinn (non.) Odin (en.) Wotan (ger.)
The chief god of the Æsir in The Prose Edda. However, in Heimskringla he was a mortal who tricks the King of Sweden into believing that he was a god.
Richard Wagner in The Ring of the Nibelung based Wotan on Óðinn.

Nouns

Edwardian (en.)The Edwardian era began with the reign of King Edward VII, 1901 to 1910 (January 22, 1901 - 28 July, 1914). However, the era's end date is sometimes extended to the beginning of World War 1 (28 July 1914).
Victorian (en.)The Victorian era began with the reign of Queen Victoria and ended with her death (June 20, 1837 – January 22, 1901).
hrafn (non.) raven (en.)

Source Materials:

Das Rheingold (ger.) The Rhinegold (en.) Das Rheingold (The Rhinegold): the first opera in Volume One of Richard Wagner's Der Ring Des Nibelungen.
Der Ring Des Nibelungen (ger.) The Ring Cycle (en.) A group of four German operas composed by Richard Wagner that is collectively known as Der Ring Des Nibelungen and in English as The Ring Cycle. The individual operas are 1) Das Rheingold (The Rhinegold), 2) Die Walküre / Die Valküre (The Valkyrie), 3) Siegfried and 4) Götterdämmerung (The Twilight of the Gods) Wagner based his work largely on Old Norse sources preserved in Iceland and to a lesser extent on the German heroic poem Nibelunglied.

Source Persons

Armour, Margaret (en.) b. September 10, 1860
d. October 13, 1943
Nationality: Scottish
Occupation: poet, novelist and translator
In 1910, Armour translated the four operas comprising Richard Wagner's Der Ring Des Nibelungen into English. Her translation was published in two volumes. 1) Volume One: Das Rheingold (The Rhinegold), and Die Walküre / Die Valküre (The Valkyrie) was published in 1910, and Volume Two: Siegfried and Götterdämmerung (The Twilight of the Gods) was published in 1911. The volumes were illustrated by Arthur Rackham with a total of sixty-four colour plates, as well as black and white vignettes and tailpieces.
Rackham, Arthur (en.) b. 1867
d. 1939
Nationality: English
Occupation: illustrator
Residence: London
One of the most prominent illustrators during the Golden Age of British Book Illustration (c. 1880 - 1930). His illustrations of Norse mythology frequently appeared in "Little Folks" which were collected and published in the Land of Enchantment. Rackham also created 64 coloured plates for the English translation of Richard Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen, The Ring of the Niblung. The Rhinegold and the Valkyrie bound with Siegfried and the Twilight of the Gods.
Wagner, Richard (ger.) b. 16 September 1800
d. 4 December 1886
Nationality: German
Occupation: Author, Teacher and Philologist
Residence: Leipzig, Germany
German composer, theatre director, and conductor who wrote both the music and the libretto for Der Ring Des Nibelungen opera.