SOURCE: Corse, Sandra. “The Voice of Authority in Wagner's Ring.” In New Studies in Richard Wagner's ‘The Ring of the Nibelung,’ edited by Herbert Richardson, pp. 19-38. Lewiston, N.Y.: The Edwin Mellen Press, 1991.

In the following essay, Corse demonstrates “how the voice of authority or power is created and subverted in the Ring,” especially through the technique of quotation.

The Ring cycle is a mass of quotations. The most obvious, of course, are the musical quotations, the series of musical reminiscences or leitmotifs. Almost as important, however, are the many instances in the text when characters quote, directly or indirectly, other characters, or when they retell the events of the story. These quotations and embedded narratives, of course, often serve the direct dramatic aim of keeping the audience abreast of the complications of the plot. As such, they are necessary and seem redundant only in retrospect—most...