DIE WALKÜRE Bayreuth 1980 Boulez McIntyre Hofmann Altmeyer Jones Salminen
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DIE WALKÜRE – Der Ring des Nibelungen (1.Tag) by Richard Wagner
Festpielhaus, Bayreuth, Germany
1980
CAST
Wotan: Donald McIntyre
Siegmund: Peter Hofmann
Sieglinde: Jeannine Altmeyer,
Brünnhilde: Gwyneth Jones
Hunding: Matti Salminen
Fricka: Hanna Schwarz
Waltraute: Gabriele Schnaut
Gerhilde: Carmen Reppel
Ortlinde: Karen Middleton
Schwertleite: Gwendolyn Killebrew
Helmwige: Katie Clarke
Siegrune: Marga Schiml
Grimgerde: Ilse Gramatzki
Rossweise: Elisabeth Glauser
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Conductor: Pierre Boulez
Orchester der Bayreuther Festspiele
Chor der Bayreuther Festspiele
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Director: Patrice Chereau
Stage Designer: Richard Peduzzi
Costume Designer: Jacques Schmidt
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Die Walküre (German pronunciation: [diː valˈkyːʁə]; The Valkyrie), WWV 86B, is the second of the four epic music dramas that constitute Richard Wagner’s cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen (English: The Ring of the Nibelung). It was performed, as a single opera, at the National Theatre Munich on 26 June 1870, and received its first performance as part of the Ring cycle at the Bayreuth Festspielhaus on 14 August 1876.
As the Ring cycle was conceived by Wagner in reverse order of performance, Die Walküre was the third of the four texts to be written, although Wagner composed the music in performance sequence. The text was completed by July 1852, and the music by March 1856.
Wagner largely followed the principles related to the form of musical drama, which he had set out in his 1851 essay Opera and Drama under which the music would interpret the text emotionally, reflecting the feelings and moods behind the work, using a system of recurring leitmotifs to represent people, ideas, and situations rather than the conventional operatic units of arias, ensembles, and choruses. Wagner showed flexibility in the application of these principles here, particularly in Act III, when the Valkyries engage in frequent ensemble singing.
As with Das Rheingold, Wagner wished to defer any performance of the new work until it could be shown in the context of the completed cycle, but the 1870 Munich premiere was arranged at the insistence of his patron, King Ludwig II of Bavaria. Die Walküre has achieved some popularity as a stand-alone work and continues to be performed independently from its role in the tetralogy.
The story of Die Walküre is based on the Norse mythology told in the Völsunga saga and the Poetic Edda. In this version, the Volsung twins Sieglinde and Siegmund, separated in childhood, meet and fall in love. This union angers the gods, who demand that Siegmund must die. Sieglinde and the couple’s unborn child are saved by the defiant actions of Wotan’s daughter, the title character, Valkyrie Brünnhilde, who as a result faces the gods’ retribution.
Synopsis
Prior history
During the lengthy time that has passed since the gods entered Valhalla at the end of Das Rheingold, Fafner has used the Tarnhelm to assume the form of a dragon, and guards the gold and the ring in the depths of the forest. Wotan has visited Erda seeking wisdom, and by her has fathered a daughter, Brünnhilde; he has fathered eight other daughters, possibly also by Erda. These, with Brünnhilde, are the Valkyries, whose task is to recover heroes fallen in battle and bring them to Valhalla, where they will protect the fortress from Alberich‘s assault should the dwarf recover the ring. Wotan has also wandered the earth, and with a woman of the Völsung race has fathered the twins Siegmund and Sieglinde, who have grown up separately and unaware of each other. From the Völsungs Wotan hopes for a hero who, unencumbered by the gods’ treaties, will obtain the ring from Fafner.
Act 1
Prelude to Act I
Scene 1
As a large storm rages, Siegmund finds shelter from his enemies in a large dwelling built around a massive ash tree. Unarmed and wounded, he collapses with exhaustion. Sieglinde enters; she gives Siegmund some water and some honeyed mead, and tells him that she is the wife of Hunding, and that he may rest there until Hunding’s return. As they talk, they look at each other with growing interest and emotion. Siegmund gets ready to leave, telling Sieglinde that misfortune follows him, and he does not want to bring it on her; she replies that misfortune dwells with her already.
Orchestral Interlude
Scene 2
Hunding returns and questions Siegmund’s presence. Calling himself Wehwalt (“woeful”), Siegmund explains that he grew up in the forest with his parents and twin sister. One day he found their home burned down, his mother killed and his sister gone. Recently he fought with the relatives of a girl being forced into marriage. His weapons were destroyed, the bride was killed, and he was forced to flee. Hunding reveals that he is kin to Siegmund’s pursuers; Siegmund may stay, he says, but they must fight in the morning. Before leaving, Sieglinde gives a meaningful glance to a particular spot on the tree in which, the firelight reveals, a sword is buried to the hilt.
Scene 3
Sieglinde returns, having drugged Hunding’s drink. She reveals that she was forced into the marriage and that during their wedding feast, an old man appeared and plunged a sword into the trunk of the ash tree which neither Hunding nor any of his companions have been able to remove. She is longing for the hero who will draw the sword and save her. When Siegmund expresses his love for her, she reciprocates, and when he speaks the name of his father, Wälse, she recognises him as Siegmund, and realises that the sword was left for him. Siegmund then draws the sword from the tree. She reveals herself as Sieglinde, his twin sister. Siegmund names the sword “Nothung” and declares that it will be her protection. The two sing of their passionate love for each other, as the act ends.
Act 2
Prelude to Act 2
Scene 1
On a high mountain ridge, Wotan instructs Brünnhilde, his Valkyrie daughter, to protect Siegmund in his forthcoming battle with Hunding. Fricka arrives, and in her role as goddess of family values demands that Siegmund and Sieglinde be punished for their adultery and incest. She scorns Wotan’s argument that he requires Siegmund as a “free hero”, who can further his plans to recover the ring from Fafner, uninhibited by Wotan’s contracts. She retorts that Siegmund is not free but is Wotan’s pawn, whose every move the god seeks to direct. Realising that Siegmund is indeed not the free hero he needs for his grand plan, Wotan reluctantly agrees that he will not protect his son.
Scene 2
After Fricka leaves, the troubled Wotan gives Brünnhilde the full story, and with great sorrow rescinds his earlier instruction; he orders her to give the victory to Hunding and then departs.
Orchestral Interlude
Scene 3
Sieglinde, who has suffered a panic attack during the night, is running away from Siegmund, who is pursuing her in alarm. He catches up with her, and she reveals that she regards herself as unworthy of her brother’s love due to her forced marriage with Hunding. Siegmund tries in vain to comfort her. With a vision of Hunding’s dogs pulling Siegmund down by his feet, Sieglinde faints, consumed with guilt and exhaustion.
Orchestral Interlude
Scene 4
Brünnhilde suddenly appears to Siegmund and tells him of his impending death; he refuses to follow Brünnhilde to Valhalla when she tells him Sieglinde cannot accompany him. Siegmund still believes that his father’s sword will assure him of victory over Hunding, but Brünnhilde tells him it has lost its power. Siegmund threatens to kill Sieglinde rather than abandon her, friendless, after his death. Brünnhilde attempts to dissuade him by revealing that Sieglinde is pregnant with their child, but Siegmund simply prepares to kill both Sieglinde and the unborn child. Much moved, Brünnhilde decides to defy her father and grant victory to Siegmund.
Scene 5
Hunding’s horn is heard; he arrives and attacks Siegmund. Under Brünnhilde’s power, Siegmund begins to overpower Hunding, but Wotan appears and shatters Siegmund’s sword with his spear. Hunding stabs Siegmund to death. Brünnhilde gathers up the fragments of the sword and flees on horseback with Sieglinde. Contemptuously, Wotan kills Hunding with a simple wave of hand, and sets out in pursuit of Brünnhilde, vowing to punish her harshly for her disobedience.
Act 3
Prelude to Act 3 – Walkürenritt (The Ride of the Valkyries)
Scene 1
The Valkyries congregate on the mountain-top, each carrying a dead hero and chattering excitedly. Brünnhilde arrives with Sieglinde, and begs her sisters for help, but they dare not defy Wotan. Sieglinde tells Brünnhilde that without Siegmund she no longer wishes to live. Brünnhilde tells Sieglinde that she is pregnant by Siegmund, and urges her to remain alive for her child’s sake, and to name the child Siegfried. Brünnhilde gives the fragments of the sword Nothung to Sieglinde, who thanks her for her loyalty and comfort, and resolves to save the child. As she departs, Wotan is heard approaching with great wrath.
Scene 2
When Wotan arrives, the Valkyries vainly try to hide Brünnhilde. He faces her and declares her punishment: she is to be stripped of her Valkyrie status and become a mortal woman, to be held in defenceless sleep on the mountain, prey to any man who finds her. The other Valkyries protest, but when Wotan threatens them with the same, they flee.
Orchestral Interlude
Scene 3
In a long discourse with Wotan, Brünnhilde explains that she decided to protect Sieglinde knowing that this was Wotan’s true desire. Wotan consents to her request that he surround her resting place with a circle of fire that will protect her from all but the bravest of heroes. He bids her a loving farewell and lays her sleeping form down on a rock. He then invokes Loge, the demigod of fire, and creates a circle of perpetual fire around her. Before slowly departing, Wotan pronounces that anyone who fears his spear shall never pass through the fire.
Quoted from Wikipedia