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Die Walküre

on May 22, 2022
This is the page for the performance on May 22, 2022.
Music Richard Wagner → Erster Tag des Bühnenfestspiels "Der Ring des Nibelungen"

Cast 22.05.2022

Conductor Axel Kober
Production Sven-Eric Bechtolf
Stage Design Rolf Glittenberg
Costume Design Marianne Glittenberg
Video fettFilm (Momme Hinrichs und Torge Möller)
Siegmund Stuart Skelton
Hunding Dmitry Belosselskiy
Wotan John Lundgren
Sieglinde Lise Davidsen
Brünnhilde Nina Stemme
Fricka Monika Bohinec
Helmwige Regine Hangler
Gerhilde Aurora Marthens
Ortlinde Tamuna Gochashvili
Waltraute Margaret Plummer
Siegrune Ulrike Helzel
Grimgerde Szilvia Vörös
Schwertleite Noa Beinart
Roßweiße Stephanie Maitland

Details

Synopsis: The Valkyrie Brünnhilde goes against the explicit orders of her father Wotan and carries out his actual will: Together with the pregnant Sieglinde, she rescues their child Siegfried, who as the future hero could secure the Nibelungen ring from Alberich's grasp.

With the four-part »Ring« cycle, Wagner created the most powerful coherent work in the history of opera to date, born out of the spirit of early socialism in a creative process lasting more than 25 years. It is a parable that is world spanning and openly critical of capitalism and is about the irreconcilable opposition of power and love. The second part, »Die Walküre«, which has often been detached from the enormous »Ring« cycle and performed or reproduced separately, unites a number of the most popular musical sections of the tetralogy, such as Siegmund's Spring Song »Winterstürme wichen dem Wonnemond«, the Annunciation of Death, the Ride of the Valkyries or Wotan's Farewell. 

Act 1

Completely exhausted whilst trying to escape from his pursuers, Siegmund the Wälsung reaches Hunding’s hut. Sieglinde, Hunding’s wife, shelters the hero and gives him something to drink. When Hunding returns home, Siegmund tells him of a life filled with tragedy. Hunding soon realizes that the man before him is the one he had set out to kill. Bound by the laws of hospitality, he puts of his fight with the unarmed Siegmund until the next morning. Sieglinde gives her husband a sleeping potion, and helps Siegmund to obtain an enchanted sword which a mysterious stranger once drove into the trunk of an ash tree. A passionate love develops between Siegmund and Sieglinde, who realize that they are twin brother and sister, and that their incestuous, adulterous love is in contravention of the laws of hospitality.


Act 2

The mysterious stranger was Wotan, the chief god and guardian of all pledges. He once fathered the twins Siegmund and Sieglinde by their mortal mother. He now resolves to send the Valkyrie Brünnhilde – a daughter from his marriage to the goddess Erda – to the scene of the fight to give Siegmund victory in his combat with Hunding. However, Wotan’s wife Fricka intervenes: surely the lord of all pledges cannot tolerate such unlawfulness as adultery and incest? Wotan sees his hopes dashed that a hero may one day win back the Ring of the Nibelung. Against his own wishes, he orders the Valkyrie Brünnhilde to kill Siegmund. Brünnhilde tells Siegmund of his impending death, but promises him a glorious entry into Valhalla. Siegmund declines when he learns that Sieglinde cannot follow him there. Brünnhilde, touched by his love, disobeys Wotan’s order and fights for Siegmund. Wotan is forced to kill Siegmund himself.


Act 3

Brünnhilde then rescues Sieglinde, who is heavy with child. Sieglinde and Siegmund’s son will bear the name Siegfried, and Brünnhilde gives him his father’s sword, shattered in the struggle with Hunding and Wotan.

Furious with his recalcitrant Valkyrie, Wotan takes away her divinity and condemns her to become the wife of the first man she encounters. Finally he relents and changes his verdict to the bravest man she encounters. He surrounds the sleeping woman with a wall of fire that only the bravest man will be able to penetrate to awaken Brünnhilde again.

Sponsor

This production is sponsored by