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The Rhinemaidens are the three water-nymphs (''Rheintöchter'' or "Rhine daughters") who appear in Richard Wagner's opera cycle ''Der Ring des Nibelungen''. Their individual names are Woglinde, Wellgunde and Flosshilde (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. 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. The Rhinemaidens are the first and the last characters seen in the four-opera cycle, appearing both in the opening scene of ''Das Rheingold'', and in the final climactic spectacle of ''Götterdämmerung'', when they rise from the Rhine waters to reclaim the ring from Brünnhilde's ashes. They have been described as morally innocent, yet they display a range of sophisticated emotions, including some that are far from guileless. Seductive and elusive, they have no relationship to any of the other characters, and no indication is given as to how they came into existence, beyond occasional references to an unspecified "father". The various musical themes associated with the Rhinemaidens are regarded as among the most lyrical in the entire ''Ring'' cycle, bringing to it rare instances of comparative relaxation and charm. The music contains important melodies and phrases which are reprised and developed elsewhere in the operas to characterise other individuals and circumstances, and to relate plot developments to the source of the narrative. It is reported that Wagner played the Rhinemaidens' lament at the piano, on the night before he died in Venice, in 1883.〔Gutman, p. 634〕 == Origins == Alone of the ''Ring's'' characters, the Rhinemaidens do not originate from the ''Poetic Edda'' or ''Prose Edda'', the Icelandic sources for most of Norse mythology.〔Holman, p. 174〕 Water-sprites (German: ''Nixen'') appear in many European myths and legends, often but not invariably in a form of disguised malevolence. Wagner drew widely and loosely from those legends when compiling his ''Ring'' narrative, and the probable origin of his Rhinemaidens is in the German ''Nibelungenlied''.〔Cooke (1979), p. 139〕 In one part of the ''Nibelungenlied'' narrative Hagen and Gunther encounter certain "wise women" (thereafter described as water-sprites), bathing and refreshing themselves in the waters of the Danube. Hagen creeps softly towards them, but he is seen, whereupon the sprites retreat and mock him from a distance. Hagen then steals their clothes. To obtain the return of these, one of the sprites, Hadeburg, promises falsely that Hagen and Gunther will find honor and glory when they enter Etzel's kingdom. After their clothes are returned, another sprite, Sigelinde (a name Wagner would adopt again for use elsewhere), tells Hagen that her sister has lied. If they go to Etzel's land, they will die there.〔Mowat translation, stanzas 1528–54, pp. 142–43〕 This story, itself unrelated to the ''Ring'' drama, is echoed by Wagner both in the opening ''Das Rheingold'' scene and in the first scene in Act III of ''Götterdämmerung''. Wagner first adapted the story for use in his early libretto of ''Siegfried's Death'' (which eventually became ''Götterdämmerung''), introducing three unnamed water-maids (''Wasserjungfrauen''),〔The number of sprites in the ''Nibelungenlied'' plot is not specified. Two are named, and the text suggests the possibility of a third.〕 and locating them in the Rhine, where they warn Siegfried of his impending death.〔Cooke, p. 139〕 Later these water-maids became Rhinemaidens (''Rheintöchter''), and were given individual names: Flosshilde, Wellgunde, and Bronnlinde.〔Newman, p. 464〕 As Wagner continued working on his reverse chronology from Siegfried's death, he arrived at what he determined was the initial act of the drama—Alberich's theft of the Rhine gold. Believing that a simple abduction of the unguarded gold would lack dramatic force, Wagner made the Rhinemaidens the guardians of the gold, and he introduced the "renunciation of love" condition.〔 Bronnlinde became Woglinde, probably to avoid confusion with Brünnhilde.〔 Wagner may also have been influenced by the Rhine River-based German legend of Lorelei, the lovelorn young maiden who drowns herself in the river and becomes a siren, luring fishermen onto the rocks by her singing.〔Cooke, p. 138〕 Further possible sources lie in Greek mythology and literature. Similarities exist between the maiden guardians in the Hesperides myth and the Rhinemaidens of ''Das Rheingold''; three females guard a highly desired golden treasure that is stolen in the telling of each tale.〔Cooke, p. 140〕 Wagner was an enthusiastic reader of Aeschylus, including his ''Prometheus Bound'' which has a chorus of Oceanids or water nymphs. One author, Rudolph Sabor, sees a link between the Oceanids' treatment of Prometheus and the Rhinemaidens' initial tolerance of Alberich.〔Sabor pp. 91–2〕 Just as in Greek myth the Oceanids are the daughters of the titan sea god Oceanus, in Norse mythology—specifically the ''Poetic Edda''—the jötunn (similar to a giant) sea god Ægir has nine daughters. The name of one of these means "wave" (''Welle'' in German) and is a possible source for Wellgunde's name.〔 Wagner's operas do not reveal where the Rhinemaidens came from, or whether they have any connection to other characters. Whereas most of the characters in the cycle are inter-related, through birth, marriage, or sometimes both,〔Exceptions are Fasolt and Fafner who are only related to each other, and the Woodbird who is alone.〕 the Rhinemaidens are seemingly independent. The identity of their father who entrusted them with the guardianship of the gold〔"Father ... ordered us cleverly to guard the bright treasure...": Flosshilde in ''Das Rheingold'', Scene 1 (p. 26)〕 is not given in the text. Some Wagnerean scholars have suggested that he may be a "Supreme Being" who is the father of Wotan and all the gods—indeed, of all creation.〔 Others take the German ''Rheintöchter'' literally and say that they are the daughters of the Rhine River.〔Spencer p. 31〕 Whatever is surmised, the Rhinemaidens are in a different category from Wotan and the other gods, who are destroyed by fire at the end of ''Götterdämmerung'', while the Rhinemaidens swim happily away in the river, bearing their recovered treasure. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Rhinemaidens」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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