Brünnhilde by Odilon Redon, 1885.
Das Rheingold is an adroit feat of multilevel storytelling, moving between three distinct worlds — the Rhine, Valhalla, Nibelheim — and requiring fourteen singing parts. Die Walküre, although larger in scope, has a simpler structure. The three acts unfold in fixed settings — a domestic interior, a mountain landscape, a mountain summit — and involve six principal characters, plus a squad of Valkyries. It is, in a way, more conventional in operatic terms, particularly in its sustained, intimate exchanges: between lovers, between husband and wife, between father and daughter. The romantic charge of the first act, in particular, did much to make the work one of Wagner's most popular creations; the now universally recognized "Ride of the Valkyries" in Act III effectively sealed the deal. At the same time, Walküre touches on regions of psychological complexity that the composer had not previously broached. Three scenes in particular — Wotan's debate with Fricka in Act II; his subsequent spiritual collapse; and his wrenching farewell to Brünnhilde at the end of Act III — encapsulate why so many people still bother Wagner, despite all the problems he brings.
Josef Hofmann's design for Act I of Walküre, from the 1876 Bayreuth production.
Wotan does not appear until the second act, but his scheming has set up the situation that unfolds in the first. In the final scene of Rheingold, the god took the ring from Alberich and then reluctantly surrendered it to the giants, as compensation for the building of Valhalla. The treaties etched on Wotan’s spear prevent him from reneging on the deal, but in the span of time between Rheingold and Walküre he finds an apparent loophole: with a mortal woman, he sires Siegmund, who, acting independently of his father’s will, can in theory win back the Ring. Siegmund has a twin sister, Sieglinde; Wotan raises the two in human guise, going by Wolfe or Wälse. Then tragedy strikes: the warlike Neidings murder the mother, and Sieglinde disappears. She ends up as the wife of Hunding, an oppressive, controlling member of the Neiding clan. Wotan carries on a wild forest life with his son but eventually withdraws, attempting to stage-manage a world in which Siegmund acts freely. Before the god returns to Valhalla, though, he plants the mighty sword Nothung in a tree that grows within Hunding's forest hut; he knows that Siegmund will make his way there. Siegmund, for his part, gets himself mixed up in other feuds and lives a life on the run. He is another in Wagner's gallery of cursed wanderers and restless questers: he goes by the name Wehwalt, the woeful.
At the beginning of Act I, amid a raging storm, a bedraggled Siegmund stumbles into Hunding's hut. Sieglinde greets him, and although the two do not recognize each other they immediately feel a physical and spiritual bond. At 14:24, as Sieglinde indicates the unhappiness of her marriage, we hear the motif of the sufferings of the Wälsung clan, as the children of Wotan/Wälse are known. It will occur many more times in the cycle, notably at the beginning of Siegfried's Funeral Music. Hunding enters, and Siegmund proceeds to describe his travails. A fine example of Wagner's leitmotivic storytelling occurs at 25:06: when Siegmund says that he could no longer find his father, a quiet intonation of the Valhalla motif tells us that the god has gone home. The noble, somber principal motif of the Wälsungs resounds at 31:00. Hunding realizes that this newcomer is in league with his enemies; hospitality requires that the guest be allowed to spend the night, but they will fight the next day. In a wordless exchange, Sieglinde tries to direct Siegmund's attention to the sword in the tree; at 35:40 the sword motif gleams. Sieglinde takes Hunding to bed, giving him a draught that will make him sleep soundly. In a solo scene, Siegmund ponders what weapon he will fight with. After he cries out his father's name — "Välse! Välse!" (39:30) — the sword gleams more loudly (40:00). While Hunding sleeps, Siegmund and Sieglinde talk at length and begin to recognize that they are brother and sister. Siegmund sings a lilting aria in praise of spring ("Winterstürme," at 50:27), and Sieglinde answers with "Du bist der Lenz" ("You are the spring," at 53:42). Just before Siegmund seizes the sword, the Renunciation of Love motif from Rheingold mysteriously recurs (1:06:26)— a sign that Alberich's cursed Ring lurks behind the entire scenario. Siegmund triumphantly cries out "Nothung! Nothung!" (1:02:52), over the same descending octave to which he sang "Välse!" A climactic burst of passion brings the curtain down.
Wotan enters Act II full of confidence; his scheme is in motion. His Valkyrie daughter Brünnhilde sings her greeting. But Fricka arrives to conduct a withering cross-examination of her husband. HHis rationalizations fall to pieces, and Fricka makes him swear an oath not to protect Siegmund in the coming fight, sealing the hero's doom. Brünnhilde, too, must not intervene: "Your eternal spouse's sacred honor her shied must defend today" (21:40). A ten-bar orchestral interlude follows, one of the most beautiful passages in the Ring (23:15). Here is the music with the score:
Simone Young conducting the Hamburg Philharmonic, from a recording of Die Walküre on the Oehms label; Jeanne Piland is Fricka, Falk Struckmann is Wotan.
I wrote at some length about this moment in a 2011 New Yorker article. After Fricka leaves, Wotan experiences his majestic downward spiral, wavering between brooding dejection and self-flagellating rage. Here are two classic moments: his outburst "O heilige Schmach" ("Oh righteous rage") and his cry of "Das Ende!"
Brünnhilde is distraught by the spectacle of her father's collapse, but goes about the mission of delivering the sentence of death to Siegmund. This is the scene commonly described as the Todesverkündigung, or Annunciation of Death. She is soon overcome, however, by the man's devotion to his sister-wife: he refuses to go to Valhalla if he is to be parted from her. Disobeying her father, she attempts to save Siegmund, who nonetheless falls to Hunding's spear. The disgusted god dispatches Hunding with a curt "Geh!" ("Go!").
.Act III begins with the cosmic gallop of the Ride. The Valkyries are in turmoil because Wotan is on his way to punish Brünnhilde, enraged at her disobedience. Brünnhilde hastily arranges for Sieglinde, pregnant with the future hero Siegfried, to escape. Before departing, Sieglinde hails the Valkyrie with the great wheeling of melody of "O hehrstes Wunder! O herrliche Maid!" (""O noblest wonder! Glorious woman!").
Wotan storms in, announcing, to the great distress of the Valkyries, that he will strip Brünnhilde of her godly powers and send her to sleep on the rocky summit; the first man who comes upon her will possess her. Brünnhilde begs not to be subject to that shame; let at least a fire surround her, so that only the most fearless man can win her hand. Wotan, relents, and sings his extraordinary "Leb' wohl": "I kiss your godhead away." Loge is summoned to create the ring of fire. Here is the farewell sequence from the great Chéreau production of the Ring at Bayreuth.
