Synopsis Act I A man flees from his foes. He arrives at a house where he is met by a woman, Sieglinde. She is married to the owner of the house, Hunding. The stranger and Sieglinde both find that there is some-thing eerily familiar about the other. Hunding arrives home and asks who the stranger is. The stranger tells them that his family was attacked when he was a child – his mother was killed and his twin sister abducted. He and the father lived as outlaws in the forests until the father disappeared one day. Recently, he defended a young woman in distress – but everything went wrong, and now he is on the run from his persecutors, one of whom is Hunding himself. Hospitality shelters the stranger for the night, but revenge will be sought the next day. Hunding locks up the stranger and goes to sleep with Sieglinde... Sieglinde soon returns. She has given her husband a sleeping potion and tells the stranger that her marriage to Hunding was forced. At their wedding an unknown man suddenly stepped forward and thrust a sword into a large ash tree. The sword was to belong to whoever could draw it. None of the guests were able to shift it, and it still sits in the tree waiting for its owner. Sieglinde realised that the unknown man at the wedding was her father, and that the sword was destined for the man who one day would avenge her. Sieglinde recognises the stranger as her brother, Siegmund, and they embrace passionately. Together Siegmund and Sieglinde flee from Hunding, into the spring. Top   Print Act II The leader of the gods, Wotan, has a plan. The dwarf Alberich had originally stolen the rhinegold and created the ring with the power to rule the world. Wotan stole it from him but had to relinquish it as part of a deal. Since Wotan is himself caught up in a web of deals and contracts that secure his power he is unable to break his promise and steal the ring back. His illegitimate son Siegmund is, on the other hand, a free hero, ignorant of Wotan’s true identity. He grew up alone in the forests. He is able to do what Wotan cannot – kill the dragon Fafner guarding the treasure, seize the ring and make sure that world domination stays in family hands. Wotan demands of his daughter, the Valkyrie Brünnhilde, that she let Siegmund win the battle over Hunding. Enthusiastically she agrees. But Wotan’s wife, Fricka, who is the goddess of matrimony, demands Siegmund’s death because he has abducted Hunding’s wife – Sieglinde’s sister. Fricka hates Brünnhilde and Siegmund, who Wotan has fathered by being unfaithful with different women, so she reveals Wotan’s lie: Siegmund is not a free hero. On the contrary, he was created by and is under the influence of Wotan who through Siegmund seeks to win back the ring. Siegmund must die. Reluctantly, Wotan annuls his order to Brünnhilde and grieves the loss of his son. In the meantime, Sieglinde and Siegmund flee not knowing that their life is part of a grand political scheme. While Sieglinde sleeps, Brünnhilde steps forward and tells Siegmund that he is soon to die and go to Valhalla. But when he hears that Sieglinde cannot follow him, he draws his sword to kill her and the child she carries so that they all three may be united in the kingdom of death. Brünnhilde experiences the power of love for the first time and dares to defy Wotan’s by helping Siegmund in the battle against Hunding. But Wotan arrives and breaks Siegmund’s sword. Hunding kills Sieg-mund. Brünnhilde and Sieglinde flee and Wotan follows them to punish Brünnhilde’s disobedience. Top   Print Act III The Valkyries gather. They seek out the heroes among the dead on the battlefield so to bring their souls to Valhalla. Brünnhilde arrives with Sieglinde who only wants to die. Brünnhilde asks the sisters to protect Sieglinde but they refuse to defy Wotan. Brünnhilde tells Sieglinde that she is to give birth to the world’s most mighty hero and asks her to flee from Wotan. She gives Sieglinde the broken sword that her son Siegfried is to inherit. Wotan arrives and proclaims his judgement over Brünnhilde: she is to be disowned and is no longer a Valkyrie but a common mortal woman. She is to fall into a deep sleep and is to belong to the man who one day wakes her. But Brünnhilde fosters an idea: Wotan is to make sure that Siegfried is the person to wake her. Wotan slowly realises that this is a way of securing the free hero whom he could not create himself, and he concedes to Brünnhilde’s plan by pro-tecting her with a belt of fire that can only be penetrated by the man who knows no fear. With great sorrow, Wotan bids farewell to his favourite daughter, who is left lying there with the flames as her only protec protection. Top   Print The four operas Das Rheingold Die Walküre Siegfried Götterdämmerung Articles Kasper Bech Holten: The Journey Begins Henrik Engelbrecht: Vision and Reality Kasper Bech Holten: Thoughts about The Ring, 2001 Chronology: Wagner, Die Walküre and Der Ring des Nibelungen Gallery See the photos from Die Walküre Biographies The Ring Team... The Cast See the cast Biographies are available at www.kglteater.dk Die Walküre is sponsored by the Bikuben Foundation