This music comes between the Prologue and the first act. It is
frequently referred to as a “scherzo.” Siegfried has taken leave of his
wife Brünnhilde and, exhorted by her, sallies forth on new adventures.
The music brings up the hero’s past achievements, whose themes are
presented in new guises. They are cleverly interwoven, the pattern being
rich in colors and effects as well as in sonorities. Through the
orchestral web may be detected threads akin to such thematic ideas as
Siegfried’s horn call, the Rhine motive, the motive of Renunciation, the
motive of the Rhine Daughters, the motive of the Rheingold and, last,
that of the Nibelungs’ Servitude. Climactic and exultant, the music yet
gives forth many implications of impending tragedy.