Rhinemaidens
Sign in to savethumb|upright=1.2|The three Rhinemaidens at play in the waters of the Rhine. Illustration from Stories of the Wagner Opera by [[H. A. Guerber, 1905.]] The Rhinemaidens are the three nixies sisters (Rheintöchter or "Rhine daughters") who appear in Richard Wagner's opera cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen. Their individual names are Woglinde, Wellgunde and Flosshilde, although they are generally treated as a single entity and they act together accordingly. Of the 34 characters in the Ring cycle, they are the only ones who did not originate in the Old Norse Eddas. Wagner created his Rhinemaidens
Article
12 sectionsContents
- Origins
- Nature and attributes
- Role in the Ring Operas
- Das Rheingold, Scene 1
- Das Rheingold, Scene 4
- Götterdämmerung, Act 3 Scene 1
- Götterdämmerung, Act 3 Scene 3
- Rhinemaidens' music
- On stage
- See also
- Explanatory notes
- References
thumb|upright=1.2|The three Rhinemaidens at play in the waters of the Rhine. Illustration from Stories of the Wagner Opera by [[H. A. Guerber, 1905.]] The Rhinemaidens are the three nixies sisters (Rheintöchter or "Rhine daughters") who appear in Richard Wagner's opera cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen. Their individual names are Woglinde, Wellgunde and Flosshilde, although they are generally treated as a single entity and they act together accordingly. Of the 34 characters in the Ring cycle, they are the only ones who did not originate in the Old Norse Eddas. Wagner created his Rhinemaidens from other legends and myths, most notably the Nibelungenlied which contains stories involving water sprites (nixies) or mermaids of the Danube.
The key concepts associated with the Rhinemaidens in the Ring operas—their flawed guardianship of the Rhine gold, and the condition (the renunciation of love) through which the gold could be stolen from them and then transformed into a means of obtaining world power—are wholly Wagner's own invention, and are the elements that initiate and propel the entire drama.