"The Valkyrie" Complete Music Drama Richard Wagner

Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Sir Georg Solti. For a list of singers: https://tinyurl.com/2abnocey

I - Akt I
Vorspiel (0:00) - "Wes Herd dies auch, hier muß ich rasten" (3:13) - "Kühlende Labung gab mir der Quell" (7:15) - "Müd am Herd fand ich den Mann" (16:49) - "Friedmund darf ich nicht heißen" (21:57) - "Aus dem Wald trieb es mich fort" (26:22) - "Ich weiß ein wildes Geschlecht" (32:24) - "Ein Schwert verhieß mir der Vater" (38:05) - "Schläfst du, Gast?" (44:15) - "Winterstürme wichen dem Wonnemond" (51:01) - "Du bist der Lenz" (53:58) - "Wehwalt heißt du fürwahr?" (1:00:42)

II - Akt II
Vorspiel (1:05:54) - "Nun zäume dein Ross, reisige Maid" (1:08:07) - "Der alte Sturm, die alte Müh'" (1:10:57) - "So ist es denn aus mit den ewigen Göttern" (1:15:40) - "Nichts lerntest du" (1:18:35) - "Was verlangst du?" (1:24:12) - "Schlimm, fürcht ich, schloß der Streit" (1:30:09) - "Was keinem in Worten ich künde" (1:34:51) - "Ein andres ist 's: achte es wohl" (1:41:00) - "O sag, künde, was soll nun dein Kind?" (1:51:30) - "Raste nun hier; gönne dir Ruh!" (1:58:33) - "Hinweg! Hinweg! Flieh die Entweihte!" (2:01:58) - "Siegmund! Sieh auf mich!" (2:10:07) - "Hehr bist du, und heilig" (2:17:21) - "So wenig achtest du ewige Wonne?" (2:23:17) - "Zauberfest bezähmt ein Schlaf" (2:28:24) - "Kehrte der Vater nur heim" (2:32:23)

III - Akt III
"Hojotoho! Heiaha!" (2:38:44) - "Schützt mich und helft in höchster Not" (2:47:05) - "Nicht sehre dich Sorge um mich" (2:50:23) - "Steh, Brünnhild'" (2:55:43) - "Wo ist Brünnhild', wo die Verbrecherin?" (2:56:39) - "Hier bin ich, Vater" (3:00:47) - "Wehe! Weh! Schwester, ach Schwester!" (3:04:57) - "War es so schmählich?" (3:09:22) - "Nicht weise bin ich, doch wusst' ich das eine" (3:14:42) - "So tatest du, was so gern zu tun ich begehrt" (3:19:30) - "Du zeugtest ein edles Geschlecht" (3:26:20) - "Leb wohl, du kühnes, herrliches Kind" (3:31:52) - "Denn einer nur freie die Braut" (3:34:11) - "Loge, hör! Lausche hieher!" (3:44:23)

Wagner's "The Valkyrie" (Die Walküre) was composed between July 1852 and March 1856. It is the second part of the "The Ring of the Nibelung": a tetralogy of music dramas that is considered the composer's masterpiece. "The Valkyrie" was the third to be written but the second to be set to music. It was premiered as a single opera at the National Theatre of Munich on June 26 of 1870, staged against Wagner's wishes but being very well-received. It received its first performance as part of the Ring cycle at the Bayreuth Festival Theatre on August 14 of 1876. The whole festival was an artistic triumph but a financial disaster.

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, particularly in Act III, when the Valkyries engage in frequent ensemble singing. In the work, Wagner achieved equality of music and words with flexible ease.

The plot goes as follows: Siegmund and Sieglinde are the mortal children of Wotan, king of the gods, and are separated early in their lives. In a storm, Siegmund seeks shelter in the home of Sieglinde and her husband, Hunding. The siblings recognize each other, fall in love, and run away together. Fricka, Wotan's wife and goddess of marriage, is appalled, and insists that Wotan side with Hunding, against his son. Wotan orders his Valkyrie daughter, Brünnhilde, to inform Siegmund that he will lose in his battle with Hunding. Impressed by Siegmund's courage, Brünnhilde disobeys by supporting him in the fight, but Wotan intervenes and Siegmund is killed. The distraught Sieglinde is ecstatic upon hearing from Brünnhilde that she is carrying Siegmund's child, Siegfried. The Valkyrie helps Sieglinde to escape Wotan's wrath, but Brünnhilde submits to her own punishment: Wotan puts her to sleep on a fire-surrounded rock, where only the world's bravest hero will be able to reach her.

To read the libretto: https://tinyurl.com/2cjsdxup

Pictures (from left to right): "Brünnhilde", "Wotan turns and looks sorrowfully back at Brünnhilde", "Ride of the Valkyries". Illustrations by Arthur Rackham (1910).

Sources: https://tinyurl.com/2xhwloo9 and https://tinyurl.com/24d38x2y

Score: https://tinyurl.com/22rbwjnd