‘Die Walküre’ conducted by Solti, 1961
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About
Richard Wagner 1813–1883
Die Walküre
First day of Der Ring des Nibelungen in three acts to a libretto by the composer; Königliches Hof- und Nationaltheater, Munich, 26 June 1870.
Die Walküre – An Introduction
In between Das Rheingold and the action of Die Walküre Wotan has sought more advice from the earth goddess Erda who forced him to give up the ring to the giants and warned him that the gods were not immortal.
They became lovers and had nine children – Brünnhilde and eight other Valkyries. (Wagner took the Norse original form of Valkyrie – ‘valkyrja’, ‘chooser of the slain’ – literally and also kept their traditional number – nine.) The slain they choose go to make up the army that Wotan is recruiting to garrison his castle, called Valhalla (‘hall of the chosen ones’).
Like Zeus roaming the earth in disguise in Greek mythology, Wotan has also lived among mortals, disguising himself as a rough woodsman called Wälse, or the Wolf, and having two further children, the twins Siegmund and Sieglinde – this time by a mortal woman. Wotan/Wälse gives his children a hard upbringing in the forest to equip his son for fighting to regain the ring for the gods: Sieglinde is abducted, and her mother murdered, by the Neiding tribe, while Siegmund is abandoned in the forest, left with only the wolfskin his father wore. On the day of Sieglinde’s forced marriage to Hunding, Wotan reappears in disguise as a wanderer, an old, greyhaired pilgrim. Into the trunk of a tree that stands in their hut, he plunges a sword, a gift for whoever is able to draw it out.
Elsewhere in the world, the giant Fafner has turned himself into a dragon in order to guard the ring, the tarnhelm and the Rhinegold. He lives in a cave in the eastern part of the forest. The Nibelung Alberich, plotting like Wotan to regain the ring, has persuaded a mortal woman to bear him a son.
© Mike Ashman
This recording
Recorded live at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden in 1961
Cast
- Siegmund Jon Vickers
- Sieglinde Claire Watson
- Hunding Michael Langdon
- Brünnhilde Anita Välkki
- Wotan Hans Hotter
- Fricka Rita Gorr
- Gerhilde Marie Collier
- Ortlinde Julia Malyon
- Waltraute Margreta Elkins
- Schwertleite Joan Edwards
- Helmwige Judith Pierce
- Siegrüne Noreen Berry
- Grimgerde Maureen Guy
- Rossweise Josephine Veasey
- Covent Garden Orchestra
- Conductor Sir Georg Solti
