Richard Wagner. The Ring of the Nibelung. Day One. Valkyrie

"The Ring of the Nibelung" is a cycle of four epic operas by Richard Wagner: "Das Rheingold", "Valkyrie", "Siegfried", "Götterdämmerung". The total performance time of all four operas is more than 15 hours. The creation of the tetralogy took the composer almost a quarter of a century. Wagner's concept is based on the motifs of folk legends, sagas, literary monuments of the Middle Ages, the great German epic poem of the 13th century "The Song of the Nibelungs", Scandinavian songs "Edda", etc. The librettos of the parts of the tetralogy, written by the composer, were created in reverse order - from the last opera to the first. In the original concept, Siegfried reigned supreme, young, bright and pure. He was supposed, according to the composer, "to teach humanity the knowledge of injustice, its eradication and the construction of a just world in place of the world of evil." However, later the tragic image of the king of the gods Wotan, who, like Siegfried, submits to fate, acquired great significance. The root cause of evil is the curse of gold, which leads to crimes, murders and ultimately to the destruction of the world. The power of gold is stronger than people and gods.

All four operas were first performed in August 1876 in Bayreuth.

"The Valkyrie" is the first day and the second part of the tetralogy "The Ring of the Nibelung", an opera in three acts.

Now Wotan seeks to protect himself. Nine Valkyries (the main one is Brunnhilde, his daughter by Erda) help Wotan gather an army of warriors who can protect him from Alberich, even if the Nibelung ever gets hold of the ring again.

Under the name of Wälse, Wotan falls in love with a mortal woman, and she gives him twins - Siegmund and Sieglinde, who have lived apart from each other since childhood. Alberich also had intercourse with a mortal woman, whom he had seduced with his gold. In Hunding's hut. The exhausted Siegmund seeks refuge here from the storm. Hunding's wife Sieglinde greets him hospitably, although the stranger does not give his name. Both look at each other tenderly. The returning husband notices that the stranger and Sieglinde resemble each other and wants to know who his guest is. Siegmund, without giving his name, tells that enemies burned his house, killed his mother and kidnapped his sister; since then he wandered the world with his father, nicknamed the Wolf, but then lost sight of him. In the last skirmish he remained unarmed. Hunding realizes that this man is his enemy, born from Wotan's marriage to a mortal woman from the Welse family. Sieglinde, his twin sister, kidnapped during the attack, was forced to become Hunding's wife. The next day, Hunding decides, Siegmund must fight him. Left alone, Siegmund remembers that his father once promised him an invincible sword. Sieglinde, having slipped a sleeping potion into her husband, reveals to the guest that once a one-eyed stranger (Wotan) plunged a sword into an ash tree, which no one has ever managed to pull out. Siegmund understands that this is his father's sword. The spring wind throws open the door; the young people recognize each other, they are overcome by uncontrollable passion. Siegmund snatches the sword - he calls it Nothung - and flees with Sieglinde.

Wild and harsh terrain in the mountains. Wotan sees the escape of the lovers from above and calls his beloved Valkyrie Brunhilde (the Valkyries carry the fallen heroes to Valhalla), so that she will grant Siegmund victory in his duel with Hunding. But as soon as Brunnhilde leaves, Wotan's wife Fricka appears and demands that Siegmund be punished. Wotan defends him as a possible conqueror of the Nibelungs, free from the laws established by the gods. But Fricka notes that Siegmund, Wotan's son, is subject to the same laws. Therefore, he must die, and his sword must break. Wotan understands that he cannot break the laws (the sanctity of marriage, the inadmissibility of incest). He calls Brunnhilde again. A hero free from the contract with Fafner and capable of taking the Ring from him has not yet been born. Siegmund will not escape punishment, and woe betide Brunnhilde if she does not strike him with her sword.

Siegmund and Sieglinde appear in the depths of the gorge. Sieglinde, exhausted, persuades Siegmund to leave her. Finally, calmed by him, Sieglinde falls asleep. Brunhilde appears before Siegmund with the news of death. But his passion and despair, his readiness to kill himself and Sieglinde, arouse Brunhilde's sympathy, and she decides to save the hero. Hunding appears. He attacks Siegmund. Siegmund defends himself with the sword Nothung. A duel ensues. Wotan appears and sees Brunhilde covering Siegmund with her shield. Seeing her disobedience, Wotan smashes Siegmund's sword into pieces with his spear. Hunding kills Siegmund, who falls dead. At the right moment, Brunnhilde collects the fragments of Nothung's sword and escapes on horseback, taking Sieglinde with her. Wotan orders Hunding to tell Fricke that he has fulfilled her request, and kills him with a wave of his hand. Coming to his senses, Wotan in a rage threatens to find and punish Brunnhilde. The Valkyries ride on horseback in the midst of the storm caused by Wotan's anger. They see Brunnhilde riding on horseback in the distance with Sieglinde. Brunnhilde asks her sisters to shelter her and Sieglinde from Wotan's anger, but they do not dare to protect their guilty sister. To the grief-stricken Sieglinde, Brunnhilde reveals that she (Sieglinde) is pregnant by Siegmund and their son, named Siegfried, will become the greatest hero, and that he will be able to restore the wonderful sword. The Valkyries help Sieglinde to take refuge in the forest, where Fafner, transformed into a serpent, guards the Rhine gold.

The gloomy Wotan appears. He tells Brunnhilde that she will no longer be a Valkyrie, will fall into a magical sleep and will become the wife of the first person who wakes her. Brunnhilde begs her father to surround her with a barrier that only a hero could overcome. Wotan, taking pity on his beloved daughter, surrounds her with a fiery ring and sadly leaves.

PERFORMERS:

Siegmund - Robert Gambill

Hunding - Attila Jahn

Wotan - Jan-Hendrik Ruthering

Sieglinde - Angela Denock

Fricka - Tichina Von

Brünnhilde - Renate Bächle

The Walküre:

Gehilde - Eva-Maria Westbroek

Ortlinde - Wiebke Goetjes

Waltrauta - Stella Kleindienst

Schwertleitha - Helen Ranada

Helmviga - Magdalena Schäfer

Sigrun - Nydia Palacios

Grimgerda - Marie-Therese Ullrich

Rossweisse - Margit Diefenthal

State Orchestra Stuttgart

Conductor - Lothar Zagrosek

State Opera Stuttgart, Stuttgart, 2003