| start of Act III, as the Valkyries gather the soldiers' bodies, and clip ends a bit after Brünnhilde's entrance. Wagner used the Valkyries of the Norse Sagas, rather than the depiction of them in the Nibelungenlied. Women of death and warfare, as Chéreau understood well. from Darraðarljóð (Njál's saga Chap. 156.): Vindum, vindum vef darraðar, þars er vé vaða vígra manna! Látum eigi líf hans farask; eigu valkyrjur vals of kosti. Wind we, wind swiftly Our warwinning woof. sword-bearing rovers To banners rush on, Mind, maidens, we spare not One life in the fray! We corse-choosing sisters Der Ring des Nibelungen, a famous production from Bayreuth 1976, recorded 1980. Carmen Reppel as Gerhilde Gabriele Schnaut as Waltraute Gwendolyn Killebrew as Schwertleite Karen Middleton as Ortlinde Gwyneth Jones as Brünnhilde Katie Clarke as Helmwige Ilse Gramatzki as Grimgerde Jeannine Altmeyer as Sieglinde Elisabeth Glauser as Rossweisse Marga Schiml as Siegrune Conducted by Pierre Boulez Directed by Patrice Chéreau, who had very little experience with opera, and his only exposure to Wagner on stage was a performance of Die Walküre at the Paris Opéra that he slept thru. Scenic design by Richard Peduzzi, who had never designed a Wagner opera Costumes by Jacques Schmidt, who had never dressed a Wagner opera Der Walküren-Ritt La Chevauchée des Walkyries |
