Storm and thunder, unbridled passion, incest and divine wrath - all of this is already brewing in the first bars of the orchestral prelude to DIE WALKÜRE and gives a hint of what is to follow. In DIE WALKÜRE, the first day of the stage festival play DER RING DES NIBELUNGEN, Wagner focuses on the generation of Wotan's descendants: On the sibling pair Siegmund and Sieglinde, who, after many years of separation, meet fatefully and fall in love with each other. And on the Valkyries, Brünnhilde and her eight sisters, whose task it is to bring the heroes fallen in battle to Valhalla. When Wotan's wife Fricka learns of the incestuous relationship between Siegmund and Sieglinde, she demands that Wotan put an end to it. So Wotan orders his favourite daughter Brünnhilde to overthrow Siegmund in his battle against his rival Hunding. But Brünnhilde protects Siegmund against Wotan’s command. As punishment, Wotan puts Brünnhilde into a deep sleep and ignites a circle of fire around her, which only one without fear can pass through...

With DIE WALKÜRE, Wagner's musical language reached a new level of his art. In enormous declamatory passages, the protagonists are developed with psychological complexity. At the same time, the music evokes empathy for the characters' inner conflicts and gives expression to their emotions. Not least, DIE WALKÜRE is the part of the tetralogy with the highest concentration of hits: The "Ride of the Valkyries", Siegmund's "Winterstürme wichen dem Wonnemond" and "Wotan's Farewell and Magic Fire Music" enjoy great popularity even beyond the opera stage. DIE WALKÜRE also premiered to much acclaim on 26 June 1870 at the National Theatre of Munich. Director Paul-Georg Dittrich presents DIE WALKÜRE as an intense psychological chamber play that reveals Wotan's experiment on his children to us. Musically, Wagner's score is brought to life once again by conductor Marc Albrecht.