Die Walküre

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Die Walküre (German pronunciation: [diː valˈkyːʁə]; The Valkyrie), WWV 86B, is the second of four epic music dramas that constitute Richard Wagner's cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen (The Ring of the Nibelung). It was premiered as a standalone opera at the National Theatre Munich on 26 June 1870 and within the Ring cycle at the Bayreuth Festspielhaus on 14 August 1876. As Wagner conceived the cycle in reverse order of performance, Die Walküre was the third of the four texts to be written, although Wagner composed the music in performance sequence. The text was completed by July 1852, and the music by March 1856. Wagner largely followed the principles related to the form of musical drama, which he had set out in his 1851 essay Opera and Drama under which the music would interpret the text emotionally, reflecting the feelings and moods behind the work, using a system of recurring leitmotifs to represent people, ideas, and situations rather than the conventional operatic units of arias, ensembles...

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