O hehrstes Wunder! Herrliches Maid! (Oh noblest miracle! Glorious maiden!) Thus sings Sieglinde to Brünnhilde, who has rescued her from the battlefield, against Wotan's orders, brought her to Valhalla, to the horror of the other valkyries, and told her she is carrying the child of Siegmund (her brother - whom Wotan prevented Brünnhilde from backing in the battle). (Listen here to Jesseye Norman as Sieglinde with Hildegard Behrens as Brünnhilde.)
It's the pivot point in Wagner's second Ring Cycle opera, die Walküre, titled for Brünnhilde. And it's the confirmation that Brünnhilde, who has hitherto been a playful, loyal handmaiden to Wotan, has become, as she learned the power of love, an agent of change. Listen here to Jesseye Norman as Sieglinde. You can read the music here.
As often in Wagner, this moment of redemption - the moment Sieglinde fulfils her destiny - comes just after Sieglinde has resigned herself to Death. She pleads to Brünnhilde to let her die and join Siegmund in death, but instead Brünnhilde reveals to her, her final allotted destiny as the mother of the hero Siegfried. This is the turning point of die Walküre from its depth of despair to the glimmer of a hope for salvation. Above all it marks the triumphant introduction of the Redemption through Love Leitmotiv, a theme that will only be fully explored at the end of Götterdämmerung.
Opera is not loaded with character development. Heroes and heroines are usually pretty constant carried by the music through trials and triumphs. And the music that tracks their journeys usually identifies their role and their character through to the (often bitter) end.
Except for Brünnhilde, surely the most changing – and very significantly developing - of operatic characters, and one of the most challenging of all stage roles.
Of course, she does have three very long operas to carry her through her journeys from playful Valkyrie to powerful destroyer of the evil world. But the changes occur within each opera as she is transformed, as a god and then a human, driven by love and learning wisdom.
For those wanting an introduction to the operas and their complex story, here's a splendidly brief synopsis of the entire Ring Cycle to help you work out how this character changes and why she's central to the story.
And here's a piece on this possibly most fascinating character in opera.
Brünnhilde is the test of Wagnerian sopranos. Her music demands extraordinary range and flexibility - and her complex story demands fantastic acting.
Here's a brisk description of why she's the most challenging of all roles for a soprano.
The role was owned from 30s to 40s by Kirsten Flagstadt (left). Listen here as she performs Brunnhilde's laughing entrance in the film The Big Broadcast of 1938. Her recognised successor was Birgit Nilsson (who sang, oddly, Brunnhilde's immolation scene at the opening of the Sydney Opera House.)
Hildegarde Behrens followed (- it's she who presents Jesseye Norman's Sieglinde with the pieces of Siegmund's sword in the recording above of "O hehrstes Wunder!")
We'll be following the very different portrayal of Brunnhilde by Welsh soprano Gwyneth Jones in the Bayreuth Centennial Ring of 1976. (Here, right, she prepares Peter Hofmann, in the role of Siegmund, for death - before choosing to fight for his life.)
Brünnhilde across the centuries
Not surprisingly, this character has graced legends from ancient Norse epics to modern Marvel comics. Google the name and the text hits are all about the epics - while almost the images are all from Marvel. They have in common that she is always a warrior, always combative and always beautiful. (Compare with the figurine below, from Denmark, AD 800.)
Brunhild, and similarly named, similarly heroic female figures, feature in Scandinavian and Germanic mythology. She appears from 1220 (the Prose Edda) to late medieval and early modern Scandinavian ballads and in German from the Nibelungenlied (c. 1200) - where she's a queen of Iceland. The stories from both sources are full of detail of characters and events that were used by Wagner, albeit in very many different ways. Read all about them in this Wiki article.
And then there was Marvel! Not surprisingly, this complicated ancient story, with its aggressive, desirable, immortal, powerful female lead, was perfect material for comics and films - and later video games. The Marvel comics and films recreated Brunnhilde/Valkyrie in 1970, complete with sword and horse and rampant female sexuality. Decades on, her exploits continue on film and video games to this day. But Brunnhilde, the character of change, is changed again - in the latest films, Valkyrie is bisexual and a woman of colour - what would Wagner say? And yes, there are Lego sets.
Read in New Yorker about "How Marvel Swallowed Hollywood"! 'Most [Marvel] plots boil down to “Keep glowy thing away from bad guy,”' observes the author.
Well, that's the Ring Cycle for you.
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