Die Walküre

Die Walküre (The Valkyrie), WWV 86B, is the second of the four operas that form the cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen (The Ring of the Nibelung), by Richard Wagner. Die Walküre's best-known excerpt is the "Ride of the Valkyries".

Wagner took his tale from the Norse mythology told in the Volsunga Saga and the Poetic Edda.

It received its premiere at the National Theatre Munich on 26 June 1870 at the insistence of King Ludwig II of Bavaria. It premiered in Wagner's Bayreuth Festival as part of the complete cycle on 14 August 1876. The opera made its United States premiere at the Academy of Music in New York on 2 April 1877.

History
See main article: History of Die Walküre

Composition
See main article Composition of Die Walküre

Act 1


During a raging storm, Siegmund (at this point of the story, unnamed) seeks shelter at the house of the warrior Hunding. Hunding is not present, and Siegmund is greeted by Sieglinde, Hunding's unhappy wife. Siegmund tells her that he is fleeing from enemies. After taking a drink of water and then of mead, he moves to leave, claiming to be cursed by misfortune. But Sieglinde bids him stay, saying he can bring no misfortune to the "house where ill luck lives".

Returning, a suspicious Hunding reluctantly offers Siegmund the hospitality demanded by custom. Sieglinde, increasingly fascinated by the visitor, urges him to tell his tale. Siegmund describes returning home with his father one day to find his mother dead and his twin sister abducted by the rival Neidings. He and his father then fought the Neidings off until parting from him as well. One day he found a girl being forced into marriage and fought with the girl's relatives. His weapons were broken and the bride was killed, and he was forced to flee to Hunding's home. Initially Siegmund does not reveal his name, choosing to call himself Wehwalt, 'the woeful."

When Siegmund finishes, Hunding reveals that he is one of Siegmund's pursuers. He grants Siegmund a night's stay, but they are to do battle in the morning. Hunding leaves the room with Sieglinde, ignoring his wife's distress. Siegmund laments his misfortune, recalling his father's promise that he would find a sword when he most needed it.

Sieglinde returns, having drugged Hunding's drink to send him into a deep sleep. She reveals that she was forced into a marriage with Hunding. During their wedding feast, an old man appeared and plunged a sword into the trunk of the ash tree in the center of the room, which neither Hunding nor any of his companions could remove. She expresses her longing for the hero who could draw the sword and save her. Siegmund expresses his love for her, which she reciprocates, and as she strives to understand her recognition of him, she realises it is in the echo of her own voice, and reflection of her image, that she already knows him. When he speaks the name of his father, Wälse, she calls him Siegmund, "the victorious", and that the Wanderer left the sword for him.

Siegmund now easily draws the sword forth, and she tells him she is Sieglinde, his twin sister. He names the blade "Nothung" (or needful, for this is the weapon that he needs for his forthcoming fight with Hunding). As the Act closes he calls her 'bride and sister', and draws her to him with passionate fervour.

Act 2
Wotan is standing on a rocky mountainside with Brünnhilde, his Valkyrie daughter. He instructs Brünnhilde to protect Siegmund in his coming fight with Hunding. Fricka, Wotan's wife and the guardian of wedlock, arrives demanding the punishment of Siegmund and Sieglinde, who have committed adultery and incest. She knows that Wotan, disguised as the mortal man Wälse, fathered Siegmund and Sieglinde. Wotan protests that he requires a free hero (i.e., one not ruled by him) to aid his plans, but Fricka retorts that Siegmund is not a free hero but Wotan's creature and unwitting pawn, and is therefore destinef to break Wotan's deal with Fafner, an act which would relinquish Wotan's power. Backed into a corner, Wotan promises Fricka that Siegmund will die. Fricka exits, leaving Brünnhilde with a despairing Wotan. Wotan explains his problems: troubled by the warning delivered by Erda (at the end of Das Rheingold), he had seduced the earth-goddess to learn more of the prophesied doom; Brünnhilde was born to him by Erda. He raised Brünnhilde and eight other daughters as the Valkyries, warrior maidens who gather the souls of fallen heroes to form an army against Alberich and Hella's host. Valhalla's army will fail if Alberich should ever wield the ring, which is in Fafner's possession. Using the Tarnhelm the giant has transformed himself into a dragon, lurking in a forest with the Nibelung treasure. Wotan cannot wrest the ring from Fafner, who is bound to him by contract; he needs a free hero to defeat Fafner in his stead, for which purpose he beget Siegmund and purposefully raised him to a life of hardships. But as Fricka pointed out, he can create only thralls (i.e. servants) to himself. He also says that he heard that Alberich had used his risidual wealth to buy a woman (later revealed to be Grimhild) and beget a son (later revealed to be Hagen) to aid him in his attempt to retrieve the Ring. Bitterly, Wotan orders Brünnhilde to obey Fricka and ensure the death of his beloved child Siegmund.

Having fled Hunding's hall, Siegmund and Sieglinde enter the mountain pass, where Sieglinde faints in guilt and exhaustion. Brünnhilde approaches Siegmund and tells him of his impending death. Siegmund refuses to follow Brünnhilde to Valhalla when she tells him Sieglinde cannot accompany him there. Brünnhilde insists that all who see the Valkyrie's gaze must die and in their ensuing argument, Brünnhilde reveals to Siegmund that Sieglinde is pregnant with his child. He draws his sword and threatens to kill both Sieglinde and the unborn child. Impressed by his passion, Brünnhilde relents and agrees to grant victory to Siegmund instead of Hunding.

Hunding arrives and attacks Siegmund. Blessed by Brünnhilde, Siegmund begins to overpower Hunding, but Wotan appears and shatters Nothung (Siegmund's sword) with the power of his spear. While Siegmund is thus disarmed and helpless, Hunding stabs him to death. Wotan looks down on Siegmund's body, grieving, and Brünnhilde gathers up the fragments of Nothung and flees on her flying steed, Grane, with Sieglinde. Wotan strikes Hunding dead with a contemptuous gesture, and angrily sets out in pursuit of his disobedient daughter.

Act 3
The other Valkyries assemble on the summit of a mountain, each with a dead hero (including Sintolt, the Hegeling and his foe Witting, the Irming) in her saddlebag. They are astonished when Brünnhilde arrives with Sieglinde, a living woman. She begs them to help, but they dare not defy Wotan. Brünnhilde decides to delay Wotan and advises Sieglinde to flee to the vicinity of Fafner's cave, which is the one place Wotan will never chase her to. She also reveals that Sieglinde is pregnant by Siegmund, and names the unborn son Siegfried, "he who rejoices in triumph."

Wotan arrives in wrath and passes judgement on Brünnhilde: she is to be stripped of her Valkyrie status and become a mortal woman, to be held in a magic sleep on the mountain, prey to any man who happens by. Dismayed, the other Valkyries flee. Brünnhilde begs mercy of Wotan for herself, his favorite child. She recounts the courage of Siegmund and her decision to protect him, knowing that was Wotan's true desire. With the words 'Der diese Liebe mir ins Herz gehaucht' (He who breathed this love into me), introducing the key of E major, she identifies her actions as Wotan's true will, briefly almost winning him over before his frustration and rage get the better of him again.

Finally, after entreating Wotan to kill her rather than submit her to this shameful fate, Wotan consents to her last request: to encircle the mountaintop with magic flame, which will deter all but the bravest of heroes (who, as shown through the leitmotif, they both know will be the yet unborn Siegfried). Wotan lays Brünnhilde down on a rock and, in a long embrace, kisses her eyes closed into an enchanted sleep. He summons Loge to take the guise of magic fire that will protect her, then slowly departs in sorrow, after pronouncing: "Whosoever fears the point of my spear shall not pass through the fire." The curtain falls as the Magic Fire Music again resolves into E major.

Noted excerpts

 * Prelude to Act I (The opening storm)
 * Siegmund Spring Song and duet with Sieglinde (Winterstürme wichen dem Wonnemond) (Act I)
 * Prelude to Act II
 * Wotan's Monologue (Act II)
 * Brünnhilde's Announcement of Siegmund's Death (Act II)
 * "Ride of the Valkyries" (Prelude and scene 1 ("Hojotoho! Heiaha") from Act III)
 * Brunnhilde's pleading (War es so schmählich) (Act III)
 * Wotan's Farewell (Leb' wohl) (Act III)
 * Magic Fire Music (Act III)