Eric Kish wrote:

>Of course, opera composers have only themselves to blame for some
>ludicrous lines.  Even without Anna Russell to point it out, Siegfried's
>"Das ist kein Mann" (that is no man) upon beholding the sleeping
>Brunnhilde, is enough to cause the sides of one's mouth to twitch.

Well, pay attention, folks; in the story Siegfried had never seen a girl
before; he'd been brouhgt up exclusively by Mime, a male dwarf.  As far as
he knew, he was the only representative of his race.  (At any rate, the
discussion a little earlier turned to the question of:  other forest
creatures have mates, is there one for me? What will such a one look like?

Of course, in the context of listening to the pure music (thinking of the
text as mere matrix on which to hang the tunes), who cares what the words
mean? If they give one a little amusement, that's fine.  But in context,
that line isn't as inane as it comes out on its own.

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