An Interpretive Approach to Siegfried’s Horn Call

A good place to start when studying the horn calls from Siegfried or the Rhine Journey is within the character of Siegfried himself. The Ring and its roots in Nordic mythology are a huge interpretive resource. Building this story in your mind — whether it be for an audition, an orchestral performance or in an actual opera production — is a sure-fire way to tap into the Ring’s bigger picture.

Siegfried is a conflicted and complicated hero on a tragic path. His story deserves your undivided attention. Get your thinking cap on.

Mighty Valhalla!**

Epic Epic-ness

The Long Call is without a doubt, epic.

It is an epic piece of writing, featuring a solo horn at a pivotal harmonic moment (F major), in an epic opera, within a epic cycle of operas.

We love it. We dream about it. We win and lose jobs with it.

That being said, opinions on the horn call from Siegfried and how it should be played can spark cult-like obsessions and frothing at the mouth. A tendency too perhaps is to blindly philosophize on Siegfried’s horn with a sledgehammer, before thinking in detail about the story and its subtleties.

To begin interpreting your own inner Siegfried it certainly helps to look at it in terms of mythic proportion.

We can start this discussion with two classic archetypes.

Siegfried, the Lion-heart

Siegfried is in his youthful prime and does not know the meaning of fear. He is full of bravado and energy. He and Nothung (his sword) are akin to Thor and his mighty hammer.

Siegfried is a product of a very sheltered upbringing. He is easily exploited and when provoked, can do radical things that upset the universal balance. This balance is what separates the humans from the gods, heaven from earth.

His combined bravado and naivete lead him deeper and deeper into what becomes the inevitable fall of Vahalla itself.

While playing his Call, he roars proudly at the little birdie in the tree – and in the process wakes up a Dragon. He slays it con mucho gusto and tastes its blood to absorb its magical spirit.

Boy meets girl, lion meets lamb

His horn call characteristics:

• aggressive and heroic
• performed like a Shakespearean soliloquy
• slowly paced and deliberate
• played more like Mahler, less like Mozart
• Dionysian

Siegfried, the Lamb

In a sense, Siegfried is a tool.

This is not to say that he is unintelligent or slow, but rather extremely naive and easily influenced. Our hero is the product of a very sheltered (and perhaps twisted) childhood, having had the devious Mime as his father figure. He is a tragic hero with flaws.

His destiny is on a predetermined path. He is the sacrificial lamb – an unwitting tool within the greater power struggle to obtain the all-powerful Ring.

Ultimately, his life is extinguished. His corruption and death become the catalyst for the Nordic apocalypse.

Siegfried is a child of the Forest and in talking to the Bird with his horn, he is being earnest in his attempt to communicate. His first try at bird-talk after all – before the Call — is with an improvised, flute-like instrument made from a stick.

It is his innocence in this case really, that gets him in trouble. He has been tricked and lead to this place to stumble upon the Dragon, to slay it and to obtain the Ring.

Siegfried, in his own mind, slays the Dragon simply because it is a corrupt monster that should be extinguished.

His horn call characteristics:

• earnest and innocent
• performed as an attempt at dialogue
• lightly paced, sometimes even a little impatient
• played more like Mendelssohn, less like Star Wars
• Apollonian

Food for thought

Are you getting serious about Siegfried and his horn? Siegfried is much more than a rebellious teenager, and deep ideas like these are something to devote serious thought to.

Think carefully too about adhering solely to one extreme or the other. Siegfried, much like ourselves, is a character on a continuum shaded with tones of gray.

Related articles/summary so far:

• The Ego-Driven Music Teacher
• Siegfried Poll
• Slaying the Dragon; Before & After the Long Call
• Forging the Sword; Excerpts from Act I

* * ...actually, the Wallaha museum in Regensburg, Germany. Photo credit: istockphoto.com.