Die Walküre

Summary: Wotan fears that the Nibelung, Alberich, might again try to steal the Rheingold. This can only be prevented by a free hero who is not subject to divine laws. Wotan’s earthly twin children, Siegmund and Sieglinde, are to bear witness to this. 1. Act: Siegmund takes shelter from a storm in Hunding’s hut, where his sister also lives as Hunding’s wife, Sieglinde. Because she was forced to marry early, the twins do not recognise each other. Hunding grants him shelter for the night, but demands a duel the next day. Whilst the host is asleep, Sieglinde tells the guest of a sword which is embedded in an ash tree, and that it can only be withdrawn by a chosen one. When Siegmund succeeds in doing this, the siblings recognise each other, and subsequently sire in incestuous passion the free hero, Siegfried. 2. Act: In divine spheres, the gods Wotan and Fricka argue. Wotan wants to send his daughter, the Valkyrie Brünnhilde, to help Siegmund in the duel, but his wife Fricka, as the guardian of the marriage, demands retribution for the sibling love, and for the deception of Hunding. Wotan resignedly gives in and tells Brünnhilde all of the story. She is so fascinated by the love of the twins that she still supports Siegmund and helps the pregnant Sieglinde escape to the Valkyrie cliffs. Furious, Wotan joins in the fight. Hunding kills Siegmund and soon afterwards meets his own death. 3. Act: The daughters of Wotan meet on the Valkyrie cliffs in order to lead the fallen heroes to Valhalla. Brünnhilde reveals to Sieglinde that she will give birth to a hero, and she also gives her the fragments of the shattered sword from the ash tree. As Sieglinde escapes, the daughter stands up to her wrathful father, who, with a heavy heart, robs her of her divinity and banishes her to a mountain peak, swept with flames, from which she can only be saved by a fearless hero.