DIE WALKURE With " Die Walkiire " or " The Valkyrie " the human interest of the cycle begins. As a spectacle, the drama is picturesque and splendid. The music is a wonderful fabric of guiding themes, so expressive that the auditor familiar with them could follow the complete development of the story, without reference to the libretto.
Siegmund.
Hunding.
Wotan.
Sieglinde.
Brunnhilde.
Fricka.
The eight Valkyries.
There is much that happens between the close of " The Rhinegold " and the opening of the trilogy proper in " The Valkyrie." Wotan, dwelling in Walhalla, has brooded long over Erda's prophecy and his contact with the curse of the ring which has fallen upon the world has engendered in him the lust for power. As Fafner has secured the gold by just contract, Wotan himself cannot recover it. It must be regained by some independ ent agent acting of its own free will. Wotan descends into the domain of the earth goddess to consult her whose wisdom enables her to know everything and there he woos her so successfully that she accepts him as her spouse. To the union are born nine daughters, the Valkyries, who are to assist him in the work the mother predicts for him. He has waved his spear over the earth and unending war and strife have been kindled. It is the mission of the Valkyries to ride forth each day upon flying horses and to choose and carry to Walhalla the bravest of the slain. In their celestial dwelling-place, these revived heroes regale themselves upon boar heads and mead, drunk from the skulls of their enemies, and keep themselves ready to defend Walhalla from the Nibelungs should the need arise. Fafner, meantime, has changed himself into a dragon, the better to guard the ring. Wotan resolves to breed a race of heroes who shall be able to win it from the monster. To this end, he visits the earth in the guise of the man Volse and unites himself to a mortal woman, who bears him the splendid Volsung twins, Siegmund and Sieglinde.
While the children are still young, the savage hunter, Hunding, discovers their hut, which he burns, killing the mother and carrying off the daughter. Volse and Sieg
mund, returning to find this demolition, swear an oath of vengeance upon their enemy. When Siegmund has grown to manhood, his father suddenly disappears, leaving behind only a wolf skin, and the youth is forced to fight alone against the foes which surround him. While one day defending a maiden, he is overpowered by numbers and, losing his sword, is forced to take refuge in a hut. It is here that the action of " The Valkyrie " begins.
It is Hunding's hut where Sieglinde dwells, for much against her will the cruel hunter has forced her to become his wife. She is startled when, while the storm rages without, a disheveled stranger staggers in and falls exhausted before the fire.
Sieglinde brings the intruder food and drink and the two instantly are drawn toward each other by the power of some strange attraction. Hunding enters and, from Siegmund's recital of his story, he discerns in him his mortal foe. Restrained by the sacred traditions of hospi tality, he informs his guest that he will be safe until the morrow, but that at dawn he must be ready to fight for his life. Siegmund, left alone, bemoans the loss of his sword but finally remembers his father's promise that in the hour of greatest need a weapon would be found. Soon Sieglinde, who has drugged her husband's night draught, comes to urge the guest to fly. She points out to him the ash-tree which supports the dwelling and shows him a sword embedded in its trunk. She relates how, on the day that made her an unwilling bride, an unbidden guest strode in and, glancing at her, thrust a sword deep into the trunk of the tree saying that to him who could draw it forth, it should belong. Many guests had come and gone since then, many had tried to loosen the weapon and had failed. Siegmund, feeling his dire necessity for means of defense on the morrow, seizes the hilt and, with a mighty tug, draws forth the sword to which he gives the name of Nothung or Needful. The brother and sister, who now recognize their relationship, fall into each other's arms, knit by a closer and more passionate tie.