Opera
Der Ring des Nibelungen
Die Walküre
The Valkyrie
Richard Wagner (1813 – 1883)
Sung in German, with surtitles
Libretto: by the composer
Premiere: 1870 in Munich
Photo: Karl und Monika Forster
Photo: Karl und Monika Forster
Photo: Karl und Monika Forster
Photo: Karl und Monika Forster
Photo: Karl und Monika Forster
Photo: Karl und Monika Forster
Photo: Karl und Monika Forster
Photo: Karl und Monika Forster
Photo: Karl und Monika Forster
Photo: Karl und Monika Forster
Photo: Karl und Monika Forster
Photo: Karl und Monika Forster
Photo: Karl und Monika Forster
Photo: Karl und Monika Forster
“I have been caught in my own trap. I am the least free of all men!”
Wotan’s desperate outcry shows the change in his position since “Das Rheingold”: powerless instead of powerful, gridlocked instead of free, a slave to his own treaties. His unlawful seizure of the great world-dominating ring has only given more power to Alberich and effectively crippled the ruler of the gods. All hopes of world domination now rests on the shoulders of a free-spirited joker-turned-hero, someone quite unaffected by the powerful grip of the gods. In turn, Siegmund and Sieglinde’s free love is to reawaken a counterforce which will revive and invigorate the threatened world. But Fricka, Wotan’s wife and the guardian of wedlock, exposes Wotan’s self-deception: as Wotan’s flesh and blood, Siegmund must be sacrificed to serve his proper purpose in the struggle for power. Forced to act against his own interests, Wotan sends his Valkyries to destroy Siegmund. Brünnhilde rebels against her father’s wrongdoings; her insubordination brings a crucial turnaround. The punishment which Wotan unleashes on his daughter is dreadful, yet it sows the seeds for the salvation of his goal and – eventually – his own downfall. Brünnhilde’s punishment becomes an act of emancipation: the stripping of her Valkyrie status to become a mortal woman, held in a magic sleep on the mountain, encircled by a protective ring of fire – these elements set the scene for the long-awaited arrival of a true free-born hero, who is now to save the world. His name is Siegfried.
The Hessisches Staatstheater Wiesbaden presents three Ring cycles during the 2023/24 season: the first cycle takes place from the end of January, while the second is scheduled for Easter. The final cycle will take place during the 2024 International May Festival.