In this podcast, Christoph Vratz discusses »Die Walküre«, whose first act Loriot summarised as »incest and adultery, how exciting!«.
But what is the first day of the Ring really about, given that »Das Rheingold« was »only« the eve? It deals with Wagner's most important themes: contracts, the divine order, guilt and loyalty.
And musically? In »Die Walküre«, Richard Wagner's ideas of music of the future, leitmotif technique and the Gesamtkunstwerk are refined: the connection between language and music, gestures and stage design, space and sound increasingly creates an artistic unity.
In addition, Die Walküre not only contains the most popular showpiece in Wagner's tetralogy with the longest G (the record holder since 1940 is Lauritz Melchior with a legendary 17 seconds), but also Grimm's fairy tale »Sleeping Beauty« and probably the most famous passage in the entire Ring: Wotan's meeting with his daughters on a rock, the »Ride of the Valkyries«.