The Ride Of The Valkyries by Richard Wagner Songfacts The Ride Of The Valkyries by Richard Wagner Songfacts Songfacts "The Ride Of The Valkyries" is the popular term for the prelude to Act III of Die Walküre, the second of the four operas by German composer Richard Wagner that comprise The Ring of the Nibelungs (German Der Ring des Nibelungen). The Ring of the Nibelungs is a sequence of four musical dramas based on the Norse saga, which concerns the turbulent family history of a race of gods and their pursuit of a magical golden ring. It began as a single opera focusing on the death of Siegfried but grew into a vast cycle of four operas comprising Das Rheingold (The Rhine Gold), Die Walküre (The Valkyrie), Siegfried and Die Gotterdammerung (The Twilight of the Gods). Wagner's intention for The Ring was to create a "Gesamtkunstwerk," a total work of art that fuses elements of music, drama, poetry, and stagecraft into an indivisible whole.

It was a more ambitious piece of musical theater than any other devised up to that time and it arguably remains the most influential contribution by any composer to opera. The entire cycle was completed in 1874, and the first complete performance of The Ring took place in 1876 at the Bayreuth Festival in a theater especially designed for the production by Wagner. The opera was an immediate success. Richard Wagner devised the Wagner Tuba, a cross between the French Horn and Sax horn to enrich the harmonies for The Ring. Other composers have since written for the instrument, include Anton Bruckner, whose Symphony No. 7 utilizes four of them in memory of Wagner during the slow movement. The main theme for "The Ride Of The Valkyries" itself was first written down on a loose sheet of paper by Wagner on July 23, 1851 and was fully orchestrated by the end of the first quarter of 1856. It introduces the third act, which starts with the Valkyries, warrior maidens raised by the god Wotan, riding back from battle before they gather on a mountaintop.

The complete opera Die Walküre was first performed on June 26, 1870 in the National Theatre Munich and soon the composer was receiving requests for "The Ride" to be performed separately. However, Wagner wrote in his journal that such a performance should be considered "an utter indiscretion" and forbade "any such thing." The best known use of "The Ride" in the media is during the 1979 film Apocalypse Now, where it is the music played as the American helicopters bombard a Vietnamese village. The piece was similarly used in the Vietnam flashback scene in the 2009 Watchmen film, where it soundtracks nuclear superhero Dr. Manhattan obliterating Viet Cong soldiers with his godlike power. Wagner- Ride of the Valkyries - from (The Valkyrie) - YouTube Wagner- Ride of the Valkyries - from (The Valkyrie) Want to watch this again later? Sign in to add this video to a playlist. Need to report the video? Sign in to report inappropriate content. Rating is available when the video has been rented. This feature is not available right now. Please try again later.

Uploaded on Oct 14, 2008 Title : Richard Wagner , Ride of the Valkyries; from (The Valkyrie) From Wikipedia, The Ride of the Valkyries (German: Walkürenritt), is the popular term for the beginning of Act III of Die Walküre by Richard Wagner. The main theme of the ride, the leitmotif labelled Walkürenritt was first written down by the composer on 23 July 1851. The preliminary draft for the Ride was composed in 1854 as part of the composition of the entire opera which was fully orchestrated by the end of the first quarter of 1856. Together with the Bridal Chorus from Lohengrin, the Ride of the Valkyries is one of Wagner's best-known pieces. It stands out in part because of its references in popular culture, where it is used to represent stereotypical Grand Opera and, perhaps more, to accompany military-like exercises in film and television.

In the opera-house, the Ride, which takes around eight minutes, begins in the prelude to the Act, building up successive layers of accompaniment until the curtain rises to reveal a mountain peak where four of the eight Valkyrie sisters of Brünnhilde have gathered in preparation for the transportation of fallen heroes to Valhalla. As they are joined by the other four, the familiar tune is carried by the orchestra, while, above it, the Valkyries greet each other and sing their battle-cry. Apart from the song of the Rhinemaidens in Das Rheingold, it is the only ensemble piece in the first three operas of Wagner's Ring cycle. Outside the opera-house, it is usually heard in a purely instrumental version, which may be as short as three minutes.The complete opera Die Walküre was first performed on 26 June 1870 in Munich against the composer's wishes.

By January of the next year, Wagner was receiving requests for the Ride to be performed separately, but wrote that such a performance should be considered "an utter indiscretion" and forbade "any such thing".However, the piece was still printed and sold in Leipzig, and Wagner subsequently wrote a complaint to the publisher Schott.[2] In the period up to the first performance of the complete Ring cycle, Wagner continued to receive requests for separate performances, his second wife Cosima noting "Unsavory letters arrive for R. requests for the Ride of the Valkyries and I don't know what else." Once the Ring had been given in Bayreuth in 1876, Wagner lifted the embargo. He himself conducted it in London on Saturday 12 May 1877, repeating it as an encore. Within the concert repertoire, the Ride of the Valkyries remains a popular encore, especially when other Wagnerian extracts feature in the scheduled programme.

For example, at the BBC Proms it has been performed as such by Klaus Tennstedt and the London Philharmonic Orchestra on 6 August 1992 and also by Valery Gergiev with the Kirov Orchestra on 28 August 2001. It was also performed as part of the BBC Doctor Who Prom on July 27, 2008. Category Who Composed the Ride of the Valkyries Who Composed the Ride of the Valkyries 07 Feb, 2012 who composed 0 The Ride of the Valkyries is the name given to the piece of music at the beginning of Act III of the opera Die Walküre (The Valkyrie). This opera is the second in a group of four operas known as Der Ring des Nibelungen (The Ring of the Nibelung). The Ride of the Valkyries lasts about 8 minutes, but shortened versions are usually played outside of the opera house. It has become one of the most famous musical compositions of all time. If you want to know who composed this classical piece of music, keep reading to find out. Who composed the Ride of the Valkyries?

The Ride of the Valkyries was composed by the famous German composer Richard Wagner. He composed all of the four operas known as Der Ring des Nibelungen. The main theme of the Ride of the Valkyries was completed in 1851 and the draft was finished in 1854. The complete opera, including this piece of music, was completed in 1856. The opera was first performed in 1870 at the National Theater Munich. The Ride of the Valkyries was instantly popular and Wagner began receiving requests to perform it separately. He was angry at this request and did not give his permission. However, the piece of music was printed and sold by the publisher, which Wagner complained about. After receiving many requests he finally gave his permission in 1876. Related Articles Die Walküre: Ride of the Valkyries | LA Phil Die Walküre: Ride of the Valkyries Last Modified: December 30, 2015 Most of Wagner’s major works had extended gestation periods, and Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (The Mastersingers of Nuremburg) was no exception.

He began thinking about it in 1845 as a comic companion for the just premiered Tannhäuser, another opera about a singing contest. But other projects – Lohengrin, the Ring cycle, Tristan und Isolde – intervened and Die Meistersinger had to wait over 20 years before it reached the stage. A visit to a museum in Venice in 1861 revived Wagner’s interest in the 16th-century world of the mastersingers, and he completed the libretto the following year. He premiered some of the music at the end of 1862, but did not finish the score until 1867. The full work was finally – and triumphantly – staged in Munich in 1868, with Hans von Bülow conducting. A generally mellow and optimistic work, Die Meistersinger is also quite serious about its central issue of musical innovation versus conservative tradition. With the help of the mastersinger Hans Sachs, the young knight Walther wins the singing contest and gets the girl. Both Walther and Sachs were based on historical models, and the work had enormous appeal to burgeoning pan-Germanic sensibilities.

The Prelude to Act I was written before any of the rest of the music, in March of 1862. It opens with themes of great pomp and splendor that will return at the end of the opera, as well as rounding off the Prelude itself. It includes Walther’s ravishing prize song, and the bustling music of the apprentices is worked into a fugato, suggesting both the polyphonic music of the historical era and the academicism of the more conservative mastersingers. Walther’s initial song effort, in Act I, is rejected by all the mastersingers except Sachs, who admires its originality. In Act II Sachs (a cobbler) is in his workshop and clearly still thinking about Walther’s passionate celebration of spring, evoked by the scent of the elder tree in front of his house. His wide-ranging monologue “Was duftet doch der Flieder” (How it smells of elder) touches on Walther’s song in motivic references, as Sachs reflects on his growing appreciation of the song, as well as Sachs’ anger at the hidebound attitude of his mastersinger colleagues and his own love of springtime.

Wagner began sketching ideas for the libretto of Der Ring des Nibelungen in the revolutionary year of 1848. It eventually became a cycle of four operas, for which the Bayreuth Festspielhaus was built. The full cycle did not premiere until 1876, but Wagner had portions of it completed long before then, and selections from Acts I and III of the second of the four operas, Die Walküre (The Valkyrie), were first given on the same concert in Vienna at the end of 1862 as the early Meistersinger excerpts. The Valkyries are Wotan’s daughters (with Erda, the earthy wisdom goddess) and chief among them is his favorite, Brünnhilde. At the beginning of Act III of Die Walküre they are gathered on a mountaintop, collecting slain heroes to take to Valhalla. “The Ride of the Valkyries” on their flying horses is depicted in fiercely martial music of swirling strings and trilling woodwinds, as unison brass blaze a motif associated with Brünnhilde. Brünnhilde, however, is missing at first.

When she appears, she is carrying a woman, not a fallen warrior. In defiance of her father’s orders, Brünnhilde attempted to protect Wotan’s illegitimate son Siegmund and is now fleeing with Sieglinde, Siegmund’s twin sister and lover, pregnant with the future hero Siegfried. Wotan arrives in fury, dispersing the other Valkyries. For her disobedience, Brünnhilde is cast out of the Valkyries and will be put into a magical sleep on the mountain, available to the first man who finds her. Brünnhilde pleads with her father, asking that she at least be surrounded by a fire that would keep away all but the bravest of heroes. Wotan embraces his daughter for the last time, and kisses her eyes to sleep. His deeply affecting “Farewell” brings up loving memories as well as regrets in reflection on his struggle to undo the curse of the Ring that he himself incurred. The scene is an emotional crescendo of grief. At the end, Wotan summons the fire god Loge to blaze around the rock where Brünhilde lies.

The flames spread in the flickering “Magic Fire Music,” derived mostly from Loge’s own motif and brilliantly orchestrated. Tannhäuser has a subtitle: “und der Sängerkrieg auf dem Wartburg” (and the Singer’s Contest at the Wartburg). The Wartburg is the castle of Landgraves of Thuringia and home to famous minnesingers, ancestors of music guilds such as the mastersingers of Nuremburg. Tannhäuser is a minnesinger and knight of the Wartburg who has been held captive by love in the castle of Venus. He breaks free of those emotional bonds and returns to the Wartburg, where the Landgrave’s daughter Elisabeth awaits him. The Landgrave promises Elisabeth in marriage to whoever wins the forthcoming song competition, confident that Tannhäuser will be the victor. When his turn comes, however, Tannhäuser bursts out in renewed praise of Venus, to the horror of all. Tannhäuser is allowed to join a pilgrimage to Rome to seek forgiveness for his heresy. At the beginning of Act III, Elisabeth and Wolfram, another knight and minnesinger, are waiting for the return of the pilgrims.

Elisabeth leaves after a prayer, and Wolfram, who also loves Elisabeth, sings his hymn to the evening star, “O du mein holder Abendstern,” a formally conventional apostrophe of great lyric beauty. Wagner composed most of Lohengrin during his years as Kapellmeister in Dresden (he was second Kapellmeister, actually, but a very active one – sort of general music director for the King of Saxony). The composer sided with the republican rebels in the abortive revolution of 1848, and when Prussian soldiers regained control of the city the following year, Wagner fled, first to the shelter of Franz Liszt in Weimar, then on to Switzerland on a fake passport. There Wagner completed Lohengrin, dedicating it to Liszt, who gave the premiere in Weimar in August 1850, with the composer necessarily absent in exile. (Wagner had led a concert performance of the Act I finale in Dresden in September 1848, during the brief revolutionary era.) The medieval tale of chivalry and betrayal contrasts spiritual purity and striving against worldly evil and machinations.

The brilliantly jubilant Prelude to Act III, another example of Wagner’s deft hand with a brass melody blazing through a whirl of strings, introduces the wedding of Lohengrin and Elsa (and is followed in the opera by the famous bridal march). — John Henken is Director of Publications for the Los Angeles Philharmonic Association. Wagner- Ride of the Valkyries - from (The Valkyrie) - PS3 Youtube Wagner- Ride of the Valkyries - from (The Valkyrie) Added: October 14, 2008 (over 8 years ago) Duration (5:38) Views: 114,317 by Classical Music Only Category: Music Likes: 707 Dislikes: 7 Video Description Title : Richard Wagner , Ride of the Valkyries; from (The Valkyrie) From Wikipedia, The Ride of the Valkyries (German: Walkürenritt), is the popular term for the beginning of Act III of Die Walküre by Richard Wagner. The main theme of the ride, the leitmotif labelled Walkürenritt was first written down by the composer on 23 July 1851.

The preliminary draft for the Ride was composed in 1854 as part of the composition of the entire opera which was fully orchestrated by the end of the first quarter of 1856. Together with the Bridal Chorus from Lohengrin, the Ride of the Valkyries is one of Wagner's best-known pieces. It stands out in part because of its references in popular culture, where it is used to represent stereotypical Grand Opera and, perhaps more, to accompany military-like exercises in film and television. In the opera-house, the Ride, which takes around eight minutes, begins in the prelude to the Act, building up successive layers of accompaniment until the curtain rises to reveal a mountain peak where four of the eight Valkyrie sisters of Brünnhilde have gathered in preparation for the transportation of fallen heroes to Valhalla. As they are joined by the other four, the familiar tune is carried by the orchestra, while, above it, the Valkyries greet each other and sing their battle-cry. Apart from the song of the Rhinemaidens in Das Rheingold, it is the only ensemble piece in the first three operas of Wagner's Ring cycle.

Outside the opera-house, it is usually heard in a purely instrumental version, which may be as short as three minutes.The complete opera Die Walküre was first performed on 26 June 1870 in Munich against the composer's wishes. By January of the next year, Wagner was receiving requests for the Ride to be performed separately, but wrote that such a performance should be considered "an utter indiscretion" and forbade "any such thing".However, the piece was still printed and sold in Leipzig, and Wagner subsequently wrote a complaint to the publisher Schott.[2] In the period up to the first performance of the complete Ring cycle, Wagner continued to receive requests for separate performances, his second wife Cosima noting "Unsavory letters arrive for R. requests for the Ride of the Valkyries and I don't know what else." Once the Ring had been given in Bayreuth in 1876, Wagner lifted the embargo. He himself conducted it in London on Saturday 12 May 1877, repeating it as an encore. Within the concert repertoire, the Ride of the Valkyries remains a popular encore, especially when other Wagnerian extracts feature in the scheduled programme.

For example, at the BBC Proms it has been performed as such by Klaus Tennstedt and the London Philharmonic Orchestra on 6 August 1992 and also by Valery Gergiev with the Kirov Orchestra on 28 August 2001. It was also performed as part of the BBC Doctor Who Prom on July 27, 2008. Die Walküre — Productions — Royal Opera House Susan Bullock as Brunnhilde and Bryn Terfel as Wotan in Die Walküre © Clive Barda/ROH 2012 Die Walküre The second opera in the Ring cycle contains some of Wagner's most memorable music. Love and power collide in Keith Warner's multi-layered production. Most recent performance There are currently no scheduled performances of Die Walküre. It was last on stage 26 September—28 October 2012 as part of the Autumn 2012/13 season. Introduction A dangerous ring that grants its owner unlimited power has been forged. Wotan, ruler of the gods, is forced into a series of increasingly desperate compromises to try to retrieve it.

Background Die Walküre had its premiere in Munich in 1870. It was conceived by Richard Wagner as the first day of the Ring, following the 'prelude' of Das Rheingold. Its music includes the lyrical 'Spring Song' and surging 'Ride of the Valkyries', one of Wagner's most instantly recognizable melodies. Die Walküre is the most performed individual opera in the cycle. Its complex exploration of familial relations has provided inspiration for many writers, including George Bernard Shaw, James Joyce, Thomas Mann and Angela Carter. Wotan's voyage of self-discovery and acceptance of the impossibility of his predicament are at the heart of Keith Warner’s production. Wotan’s great monologue in Act II – in a ruined hall of the gods that reflects his inner decline – is set to some of the most dramatic and experimental music Wagner created. By contrast, Siegmund and Sieglinde’s blossoming love is expressed in beautiful duets of great lyricism and fluidity, as is Wotan’s farewell to his beloved daughter Brünnhilde. Visual motifs recur throughout The Royal Opera’s production.

They parallel Wagner’s innovative use of musical leitmotifs and bring unity to the cycle as a whole. News and features Die Walküre: Ride of the Valkyries | Hollywood Bowl Die Walküre: Ride of the Valkyries Last Modified: December 30, 2015 Most of Wagner’s major works had extended gestation periods, and Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (The Mastersingers of Nuremburg) was no exception. He began thinking about it in 1845 as a comic companion for the just premiered Tannhäuser, another opera about a singing contest. But other projects – Lohengrin, the Ring cycle, Tristan und Isolde – intervened and Die Meistersinger had to wait over 20 years before it reached the stage. A visit to a museum in Venice in 1861 revived Wagner’s interest in the 16th-century world of the mastersingers, and he completed the libretto the following year. He premiered some of the music at the end of 1862, but did not finish the score until 1867.

The full work was finally – and triumphantly – staged in Munich in 1868, with Hans von Bülow conducting. A generally mellow and optimistic work, Die Meistersinger is also quite serious about its central issue of musical innovation versus conservative tradition. With the help of the mastersinger Hans Sachs, the young knight Walther wins the singing contest and gets the girl. Both Walther and Sachs were based on historical models, and the work had enormous appeal to burgeoning pan-Germanic sensibilities. The Prelude to Act I was written before any of the rest of the music, in March of 1862. It opens with themes of great pomp and splendor that will return at the end of the opera, as well as rounding off the Prelude itself. It includes Walther’s ravishing prize song, and the bustling music of the apprentices is worked into a fugato, suggesting both the polyphonic music of the historical era and the academicism of the more conservative mastersingers. Walther’s initial song effort, in Act I, is rejected by all the mastersingers except Sachs, who admires its originality.

In Act II Sachs (a cobbler) is in his workshop and clearly still thinking about Walther’s passionate celebration of spring, evoked by the scent of the elder tree in front of his house. His wide-ranging monologue “Was duftet doch der Flieder” (How it smells of elder) touches on Walther’s song in motivic references, as Sachs reflects on his growing appreciation of the song, as well as Sachs’ anger at the hidebound attitude of his mastersinger colleagues and his own love of springtime. Wagner began sketching ideas for the libretto of Der Ring des Nibelungen in the revolutionary year of 1848. It eventually became a cycle of four operas, for which the Bayreuth Festspielhaus was built. The full cycle did not premiere until 1876, but Wagner had portions of it completed long before then, and selections from Acts I and III of the second of the four operas, Die Walküre (The Valkyrie), were first given on the same concert in Vienna at the end of 1862 as the early Meistersinger excerpts.

The Valkyries are Wotan’s daughters (with Erda, the earthy wisdom goddess) and chief among them is his favorite, Brünnhilde. At the beginning of Act III of Die Walküre they are gathered on a mountaintop, collecting slain heroes to take to Valhalla. “The Ride of the Valkyries” on their flying horses is depicted in fiercely martial music of swirling strings and trilling woodwinds, as unison brass blaze a motif associated with Brünnhilde. Brünnhilde, however, is missing at first. When she appears, she is carrying a woman, not a fallen warrior. In defiance of her father’s orders, Brünnhilde attempted to protect Wotan’s illegitimate son Siegmund and is now fleeing with Sieglinde, Siegmund’s twin sister and lover, pregnant with the future hero Siegfried. Wotan arrives in fury, dispersing the other Valkyries. For her disobedience, Brünnhilde is cast out of the Valkyries and will be put into a magical sleep on the mountain, available to the first man who finds her.

Brünnhilde pleads with her father, asking that she at least be surrounded by a fire that would keep away all but the bravest of heroes. Wotan embraces his daughter for the last time, and kisses her eyes to sleep. His deeply affecting “Farewell” brings up loving memories as well as regrets in reflection on his struggle to undo the curse of the Ring that he himself incurred. The scene is an emotional crescendo of grief. At the end, Wotan summons the fire god Loge to blaze around the rock where Brünhilde lies. The flames spread in the flickering “Magic Fire Music,” derived mostly from Loge’s own motif and brilliantly orchestrated. Tannhäuser has a subtitle: “und der Sängerkrieg auf dem Wartburg” (and the Singer’s Contest at the Wartburg). The Wartburg is the castle of Landgraves of Thuringia and home to famous minnesingers, ancestors of music guilds such as the mastersingers of Nuremburg. Tannhäuser is a minnesinger and knight of the Wartburg who has been held captive by love in the castle of Venus.

He breaks free of those emotional bonds and returns to the Wartburg, where the Landgrave’s daughter Elisabeth awaits him. The Landgrave promises Elisabeth in marriage to whoever wins the forthcoming song competition, confident that Tannhäuser will be the victor. When his turn comes, however, Tannhäuser bursts out in renewed praise of Venus, to the horror of all. Tannhäuser is allowed to join a pilgrimage to Rome to seek forgiveness for his heresy. At the beginning of Act III, Elisabeth and Wolfram, another knight and minnesinger, are waiting for the return of the pilgrims. Elisabeth leaves after a prayer, and Wolfram, who also loves Elisabeth, sings his hymn to the evening star, “O du mein holder Abendstern,” a formally conventional apostrophe of great lyric beauty. Wagner composed most of Lohengrin during his years as Kapellmeister in Dresden (he was second Kapellmeister, actually, but a very active one – sort of general music director for the King of Saxony).

The composer sided with the republican rebels in the abortive revolution of 1848, and when Prussian soldiers regained control of the city the following year, Wagner fled, first to the shelter of Franz Liszt in Weimar, then on to Switzerland on a fake passport. There Wagner completed Lohengrin, dedicating it to Liszt, who gave the premiere in Weimar in August 1850, with the composer necessarily absent in exile. (Wagner had led a concert performance of the Act I finale in Dresden in September 1848, during the brief revolutionary era.) The medieval tale of chivalry and betrayal contrasts spiritual purity and striving against worldly evil and machinations. The brilliantly jubilant Prelude to Act III, another example of Wagner’s deft hand with a brass melody blazing through a whirl of strings, introduces the wedding of Lohengrin and Elsa (and is followed in the opera by the famous bridal march). — John Henken is Director of Publications for the Los Angeles Philharmonic Association.

“Die Walküre” by Richard Wagner The Valkyrie Premiere / date of written: 26 June 1870 Die Walküre (The Valkyrie), WWV 86B, is the second of the four operas that form the cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen (The Ring of the Nibelung), by Richard Wagner. Die Walküre's best-known excerpt is the "Ride of the Valkyries". Wagner took his tale from the Norse mythology told in the Volsunga Saga and the Poetic Edda. It received its premiere at the National Theatre Munich on 26 June 1870 at the insistence of King Ludwig II of Bavaria. It premiered in Wagner's Bayreuth Festival as part of the complete cycle on 14 August 1876. The opera made its United States premiere at the Academy of Music in New York on 2 April 1877.

Canton Symphony Orchestra: Ride of the Valkyries Ride of the Valkyries Ride of the Valkyries from Die Walkϋre By Richard Wagner Born May 22, 1813 in Leipzig, Germany Died February 13, 1883 in Venice, Italy If there is a “modern” parallel to Richard Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen (The Ring of the Nibelung) in the world of narrative literature, it can be found in J.R.R. Tolkien’s fantasy trilogy, The Lord of the Rings (1937-1949). Curiously enough, Tolkien denied being directly influenced or inspired by the sheer dramatic sweep or the large roster of mythical characters in Wagner’s magnum opus. But there are nonetheless undeniable similarities between the two. Narrative elements common to both works include, among many others: an all- powerful ring that carries a curse; a magical conquering sword, broken and re-forged; a romantic relationship between a human hero and a female demigod; a fallen hero whose descendant hides in the wilderness but returns to complete his quest.

Wagner found his own initial inspiration in the sagas of Norse and Germanic mythology, and his early intent was to produce an opera that would be a commentary on the sociopolitical turmoil that followed the Revolution of 1848, if not arguably a metaphorical critique of modern society. But what slowly evolved over the course of 26 years (1848-1874) was much larger and complex in scope. Wagner constructed an operatic phenomenon that stands as an astonishingly epic vision of love and nature in a monumental struggle against corrupted power, greed, and deceit. It was a vision that changed the face of not only European opera, but classical music as well. In 1848 Wagner wrote the first of the dramatic poems that would be the basis of the libretti for four operas – a tetralogy called Der Ring des Nibelungen, now commonly known as the ‘Ring Cycle’. Wagner felt that his first poem about the central protagonist, titled Siegfrieds Tod (Siegfried’s Death), warranted more development – another poem. And then another. Each ensuing poem, or explanation if you will, required further explaining.

So it was that he worked backwards, completing the narrative texts for his operas in four years before tackling the music, which he composed in sequence, i.e., Das Rheingold (The Rhine Gold), Die Walküre (The Valkyrie), Siegfried, and Götterdämmerung (Twilight of the Gods). While the operas – or ‘music dramas’ as Wagner preferred to call them - are interdependent, forming a continuous story with shared characters and themes, each can be seen as a complete entity unto itself. The overall plot unfolds around a powerful magic ring, forged by the dwarf, Alberich, with gold he stole from the Rhine Maidens. Alberich places a curse on the ring after Wotan, chief of the gods, steals it from him. But Wotan is compelled to trade it away, and sets in motion a highly complicated progression of schemes, transpiring across generations, to get it back. Wotan’s mortal grandson, Siegfried, eventually acquires the ring, only to be slain by Alberich’s son, Hagen.

Ultimately Siegfried’s lover, the Valkyrie Brünnhilde (who is Wotan’s favorite daughter), retrieves the ring and sacrifices herself to return it to the Rhine Maidens, breaking the curse, resulting in the destruction of the gods and their home, Valhalla, and thus the coming of a new world order founded on love. Wagner designed and built Festspielhaus, a special opera house to present his works, in the Bavarian town of Bayreuth. While previews of Das Rheingold and Die Walküre were presented in Munich in 1869 and 1870 respectively (over Wagner’s objections), the first complete performance of the entire cycle took place at Festspielhaus from August 13 – 17, 1876. Die Walküre is the second opera of the cycle, and Ride of the Valkyries is a prelude to the first scene in Act III. In Norse mythology, the Valkyries were warrior maidens on horseback, given the power to direct the outcome of a battle. They rewarded fallen heroes by delivering them to Valhalla to reside with and protect the gods by defending their fortress.

Here, the Valkyries are nine daughters of chief god Wotan, and his highly beloved Brünnhilde is their leader. The curtain rises on a mountain scene where four waiting Valkyries see their sister Brünnhilde return from the battleground. Wagner paints an utterly thrilling tone picture. The strings swirl and trill in layers - a constant rising and falling of notes conjuring images of misty, windswept cliffs. The thunderous, soaring brass announces the furious galloping of airborne horses and the ominous battle cries of the Valkyries as they prepare to gather their heroic cargo. Over time, the music has become part of the fabric of pop culture, frequently encountered in television and film, including the 1957 Looney Tunes send-up, What’s Opera, Doc? and the helicopter assault scene in the 1979 film, Apocalypse Now. Practically synonymous with a valiant call to victory, this iconic passage is probably the most famous in the entire Ring cycle.

-Tom Wachunas The Valkyrie WWV 86 B - The Ride of the Valkyries - Orchestra - study score - (ETP 807): Amazon.co.uk: Richard Wagner: 9790200207071: Books Product Description About the Author The childhood of Richard Wagner (born on 22 May 1813) was divided between Dresden and Leipzig, where he had his first composition lessons in 1831/32 from Christian Theodor Weinlig, cantor at the Thomasschule. In 1833 he became chorus master at the Würzburg theatre. Later he held brief appointments as music director at theatres in Bad Lauchstädt, Magdeburg, and Königsberg, where he married the actress Minna Planer in 1836. A conducting engagement took him to Riga in 1837, but in 1839 Wagner and Minna left Riga and his creditors under cover of night, heading for Paris over the stormy Baltic Sea. There he remained for three hard years, completing Rienzi (1840).

His years in Paris turned into a bitterly disappointing experience. He eked out something less than a living by doing musical hack-work and writing articles. His first success with Rienzi in Dresden in 1842 led to his appointment as musical director (Hofkapellmeister) at Dresden in 1843, and shortly afterwards Der fliegende Holländer as well as his innovative Tannhäuser were performed for the first time. Some of his outstanding achievements were a performance of Beethovens Ninth Symphony and his revised version of Glucks Iphigenie in Aulis.In May 1849, having taken part in the revolt in Saxony, Wagner had to flee abroad, and after failing to establish himself as opera composer in Paris he settled with his wife in Zurich in 1857. They lived in a house on the Wesendonck estate under the patronage of the financier Otto von Wesendonck. While in Zurich he published various theoretical writings and composed Das Rheingold, Die Walküre and two acts of the opera Siegfried. While working on the Ring cycle, Wagner had fallen in love with Mathilde Wesendonck, the wife of his wealthy patron.

The Ring Cycle work was interrupted in 1857 and not continued until 12 years later. He shifted his interest to a new subject, the love tragedy Tristan und Isolde. In an untenable situation in 1858 he moved first to Venice, then to Lucerne, Paris and Vienna. Although he was composing what would become some of the most famous pieces in music history, Wagner struggled financially until 1864, when Ludwig II of Bavaria called him to Munich and began supporting him. So, in 1865 Tristan und Isolde and in 1868 Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg were premiered in Munich. Already by 1866 Wagner had fallen into disfavour amongst members of the court, who were suspicious of his influence on the king. He left Munich and went to Tribschen (near Lucerne), where he married Cosima von Bülow in 1870, the daughter of his friend Franz Liszt, who always supported him humanly and artistically. Around that time Die Meistersinger was finished, and he worked steadily at the unfinished portion of Der Ring des Nibelungen and further evolved the intellectual framework for his towering mature masterpieces.

In 1872 Wagner, his wife and the three children Isolde, Eva and Siegfried settled in Bayreuth. Wagner was anxious to have a special Festival Theatre for the complete cycle and spent much energy trying to raise money for it. Finally, King Ludwig II provided the necessary support. In 1872 the cornerstone was laid on Bayreuths Green Hill and the opera house was built to his personal specifications and suited to the massive fusion of music, staging, text, and scene design that his later operas entailed. The first festival an artistic triumph but a financial disaster was held there in 1876, when the complete Ring was given conducted by Hans Richter. In 1882 the second Bayreuth Festival took place with sixteen performances of Parsifal under Hermann Levi, which were financially successful. After that, Wagner and his family who had already spent the winter in Italy for some years, went to Venice where he died on 13 February 1883 of the heart trouble that had been with him for some years. Customer Reviews

Question: Who composed "The Ride of the Valkyrie" which premired in Munich in 1870?
Answer: Richard Wagner