Jean Cox was an American heldentenor who spent most of his career in Europe. He spent 10 years at Bayreuth, which is the holy of holies for Wagnerian singing. He had an enormous voice, and did not have the edgy Bayreuth Bark that so many Wagner singers end up with. I am only posting one scene from Siegfried, and given that it’s Wagner and not all that lyrical, I feel that that is enough. Understanding this scene in its context means knowing something about Wagner and the Ring.
Unfortunately, I don’t have it in me to explain the Ring. For those who are interested in the story and where this aria fits in, I refer you to the guide that is linked below.
The aria begins at 0:00 and lasts until 5:33
Wagner, Siegfried, “Notung, Notung, Neidliches Schwert!”
SIEGFRIED
Notung! Notung! Neidliches Schwert!
Was musstest du zerspringen?
Zu Spreu nun schuf ich die scharfe Pracht
Im Tiegel brat’ ich die Spaene
Hoho! Hoho! Hohei! Hohei! Hoho!
Blase, Balg! Blase die Glut!
Wild im Walde wuchs ein Baum
Den hab’ ich im Forst gefaellt:
Die braune Esche brannt’ ich zur Kohl’
Auf dem Herd nun liegt sie gehaeuft
Hoho! Hoho! Hohei! Hohei! Hoho!
Blase, Balg! Blase die Glut!
Des Baumes Kohle, wie brennt sie kuehn;
Wie glueht sie hell und hehr!
In springenden Funken spruehet sie auf:
Hohei! Hohei! Hohei!
Zerschmilzt mir des Stahles Spreu
Hoho! Hoho! Hohei! Hohei! Hoho!
Blase, Balg! Blase die Glut!
MIME
Er schmiedet das Schwert
Und Fafner faellt er:
Das seh’ ich nun sicher voraus
Hort und Ring erringt er im Harst:
Wie erwerb’ ich mir den Gewinn?
Mit Witz und List erlang’ ich beides
Und berge heil mein Haupt
SIEGFRIED
Hoho! Hoho! Hohei! Hohei! Hohei!
MIME
Rang er sich mued mit dem Wurm
Von der Mueh’ erlab’ ihn ein Trunk:
Aus wuerz’gen Saeften, die ich gesammelt
Brau’ ich den Trank fuer ihn;
Wenig Tropfen nur braucht er zu trinken
Sinnenlos sinkt er in Schlaf
Mit der eignen Waffe
Die er sich gewonnen
Raeum’ ich ihn leicht aus dem Weg
Erlange mir Ring und Hort
Hei! Weiser Wand’rer!
Duenkt’ ich dich dumm?
Wie gefaellt dir nun mein feiner Witz?
Fand ich mir wohl Rat und Ruh’?
SIEGFRIED
Notung! Notung! Neidliches Schwert!
Nun schmolz deines Stahles Spreu!
Im eignen Schweisse schwimmst du nun
Er giesst den gluehenden Inhalt des Tiegels in eine Stangenform und haelt diese in die Hoehe
Bald schwing’ ich dich als mein Schwert!
In das Wasser floss ein Feuerfluss:
Grimmiger Zorn zischt’ ihm da auf!
Wie sehrend er floss
In des Wassers Flut fliesst er nicht mehr
Starr ward er und steif
Herrisch der harte Stahl:
Heisses Blut doch fliesst ihm bald!
Er stoesst den Stahl in die Herdglut und zieht die Blasebaelge maechtig an
Nun schwitze noch einmal
Dass ich dich schweisse
Notung, neidliches Schwert!
Wagner, Siegfried, “Notung, Notung, Sword of my Need”
SIEGFRIED
Notung! Notung!
Sword of my need!
What mighty blow once broke you?
I’ve filed to splinters
your shining steel;
the fire has melted and fused them.
Hoho! Hoho!
Hohi! Hohi! Hoho!
Bellows, blow!
Brighten the glow!
Wild in the woodlands
grew that tree
I felled in the forest glade;
I burnt to ashes
branches and trunk;
on the hearth it lies in a heap.
Hoho! Hoho!
Hohi! Hohi! Hoho!
Bellows, blow!
Brighten the glow!
The blackened charcoal
so bravely burns;
how bright and fair its glow!
A shower of sparks
is shooting on high:
Hohi! Hoho! Hohi!
and fuses the splintered steel.
Hoho! Hoho!
Hohi! Hohi! Hoho!
Bellows, blow!
Brighten the glow!
MIME:
(still to himself, sitting apart)
The sword will be forged
and Fafner conquered:
all that I can clearly foresee.
Gold and ring
will pass to the boy:
can I capture them both for me?
By wit and guile
I must obtain them,
and save my head as well.
SIEGFRIED:
(back at the bellows)
Hoho! Hoho!
Hohi! Hohi! Hohi!
MIME:
(in the background, to himself)
After the fight he’ll be tired,
and I’ll quench his thirst with a drink;
from roots of flowers
which I have gathered
I’ll make a dangerous draught.
If he drinks but one drop
of my potion,
sound sleep follows at once.
Then I’ll seize that weapon,
the sword that he’s forging;
I’ll simply chop off his head;
then mine are the ring and gold.
(He rubs his hands in glee.)
Hey, wise old Wanderer,
am I so dull?
Do you not approve
my crafty plan?
Have I found
my path to power?
SIEGFRIED:
Notung! Notung!
Sword of my need!
I smelt your shining steel!
The fiery stream
must fill this mould.
(He pours the glowing contents of the melting-pot
into a mould, which he holds aloft.)
And now you are shaped as my sword!
(He plunges the filled mould into the water-trough;
steam and loud hissing ensue from its cooling.)
In the water flowed
a fiery flood:
fury and hate
hissed from the blade!
That fire was soon quenched
by the fiery flood;
no more it stirs.
Strong, stubborn and hard,
there lies my new-made sword.
Burning blood
soon wets your blade!
(He thrusts the steel into the forge fire, and
vigorously plies the bellows.)
Once more I must heat you,
so I can shape you,
Notung, sword of my need!
(Mime has jumped up in delight; he fetches various
vessels, and from them shakes spices and herbs into
a cooking-pot, which he tries to put on the hearth.
Siegfried, during the work, watches Mime, who
carefully puts his pot on the fire from the other side
of the hearth.)
Jean Cox
January 16, 1922 – June 24, 2012
Cox was an American tenor, born in Gadsen, Alabama. After attending the Univ. of Ala. and the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, he studied with Kitsamer in Frankfurt am Main, Ricci and Bertelli in Rome, and Lorenz in Munich. In 1951 he made his operatic debut as Lensky with the New England Opera Theater in Boston. In 1954 he made his European operatic debut as Rodolfo in Spoleto, and then sang in Kiel (1954–55) and Braunschweig (1955–59). He appeared at the Bayreuth Festivals (1956–75), at the Hamburg State Opera (1958–73), and at the Mannheim National Theater (from 1959). As a guest artist, he sang with various European opera houses, including the Paris Opera (as Siegmund, 1971) and at London’s Covent Garden (as Siegfried, 1975). In the U.S. he appeared at the Chicago Lyric Opera (1964,1970,1973) and made his Metropolitan Opera debut in N.Y. as Walther von Stolzing on April 2, 1976, where he sang for the season before concentrating his career in Europe. He sang various Wagnerian roles, as well as Fra Diavolo, Don Carlos, Othello, Strauss’s Herod and Bacchus, and the Cardinal in Mathis der Maler.