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Studio portrait of Florence Austral wearing a two-pronged helmet and carrying a spear and shield, in costume as Brunnhilde.
Florence Austral

‘Hojotoho’, Brunhilde’s battlecry from the Ring cycle by Florence Austral

Music and words by Richard Wagner, conducted by Spencer Clay, recorded by His Master’s Voice (unpublished), September 1922
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Presenters: Florence Austral

Lyrics

Hojotoho! hojotoho! heiaha! heiaha!
Hojotoho! hojotoho! heiaha! heiaha!
Hojotoho! hojotoho! hojotoho! hojotoho!
Heiaha ha! hojoho!

On a high peak she stops, looks into the gorge
at the back, and calls to Wotan:

Take warning, Father, look to thyself;
Storm and strife must thou withstand.
Fricka comes to thee here,
Drawn hither in her car by her rams.
Hei! how she swings the golden scourge!
The wretched beasts are groaning
with fear;
Wheels furiously rattle;
Fierce she fares to the fray.
In strife like this I take no delight,
Though I take joy in the fights of men;
Then take now thy stand for the storm:
I leave thee with mirth to thy fate.

Hojotoho! hojotoho! heiaha! heiaha!
Hojotoho! hojotoho! heiaha! heiaha!
Hojotoho! hojotoho! hojotoho! hojotoho!
Heiaha ha!

Florence Austral, Australian Dictionary of Biography

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