The second music drama of RICHARD WAGNER'S cycle DER RING DES NIBELUNGEN, 1876, premiered at the first Bayreuth Festival.

Die Walküre begins with the meeting of Siegmund and Sieglinde, the long-separated mortal children of Wo tan. Unaware of their kinship, they feel a strong attraction toward each other. Sieglinde shows Siegmund the magical sword, Nothung, which Wotan drove deep into a tree and which can be pulled out only by a hero. Siegmund performs the task. Sieglinde becomes enraptured, and she abandons her brutal husband, Hunding, and flees with her brotherly lover.

But Wotan has to come to the aid of Hunding and orders his nine warlike daughters, the Valkyries, to attack the lovers. Wotan's favorite Valkyrie, Brünnhilde, disobeys Wotan's orders by trying to help Siegmund. However, Siegmund is killed by Hunding when Wotan shatters the magic sword in Siegmund's hands. (Wotan rewards Hunding by killing him with a wave of his hand.) As Brünnhilde's punishment, Wotan takes her immortality away, places her on a high rock, puts her to sleep, and surrounds the rock by a ring of fire. Only a hero can break through the fire and rescue her. As the following opera of the Ring (Siegried) relates, this hero will be Siegfried, son of Sieglinde, who died in childbirth.

The most famous symphonic episode from the opera is The Ride of the Valkyries, in which the sturdy Teutonic amazons disport themselves on top of cloud-covered rocks. Wagner's thematic use of the arpeggiateci AUGMENTED TRIADS here is notable. The Magic Fire, illustrating Brünnhilde's imprisonment by a fiery ring, is another popular tableau in the opera. In it, the most important leading motives of the opera, including Wotan's imperious command, Brünnhilde's lament, the slumber motive, and the sparkling magic fire itself, are all combined in a gorgeous Wagnerian mixture.