Opera Assignment - Die Walküre

Eamonn Keenan

Art 211 Fall 2017

Opera Assignment

Die Walküre Response

            In the opera, Die Walküre, stories are told from Norse Mythology.  Stories of love, betrayal, and hardships are told in 3 Acts that add to a total of 3 hours and 56 minutes.  Considering it was my first opera I have ever watched in full I will say it definitely had interesting moments throughout.  The specific opera that I watched used a semi-circle, wooden ramp as a stage that curled around the orchestra.  They also used minimal props, which I found to force the viewer to use their imagination throughout the Acts.

            For Act 1, We have a story about Sigmund, a Norse Mythology hero, who is travelling through a storm and is wounded.  He passes out in a yard from exhaustion and is discovered by Hunding’s wife, Sieglinde.  Whether it is from pure boredom or is truly sincere, she has an attraction to Sigmund.  He tells her he was wounded in a battle and was fleeing from enemies.  She gives him water and tries to convince him to rest at her place, but he denies claiming that misfortune follows him.  She gives him mead and after drinking it he seems to change his mind.

            This scene was interesting because of how slow it began.  There was a long and drawn out beginning that focused on the orchestra to develop the scene.  The heavy music gave a feeling of anxiety almost and was a good way to create the abstract feeling of a storm.  Also the minimal prop use in this scene and all the rest of the scenes was more prevalent because of it being the first scene.  There is only a bowl and a very minimally detailed house in the distance.

Shortly after Hunding returns home from his journey to find Sigmund at his home with his wife.  They begin talking and Sieglinde starts pressing Sigmund on his story.  He reveals that he was with his father one day and they came home to find his mother dead and his twin sister was abducted.  His father and he travelled all over trying to find his sister, but got separated from his father as well.  Sigmund then goes on to talk about finding a woman who was being forced into a marriage.  He decided to kill the girl’s family and she died in the process.  As this story is being told Hunding is becoming suspicious of Sigmund.

Once he is done telling the story, Hunding tells Sigmund that he was hired to kill Sigmund for the crime he committed.  Then in one of the stranger interactions I have encountered, allows Sigmund to stay in his home for the night, but that he better arm himself.  Come sunrise he was planning on killing Sigmund.  Now this was strange to me for several reasons, the most dominant being why would you invite a murderer to sleep under your roof?  I understand it was the customary thing to do back then, but with all the facts out in the open, it does not seem like the most wise.

After the formalities were handled, Sieglinde is ordered to get her husband his evening drink and wait for him in the bedroom.  She drugs his evening drink then waits for him to fall asleep.  Once he does she sneaks to me Sigmund.  She tells him her marriage was forced and at the wedding a man with a sword wedged it into a tree.  She said she dreamed of a man who could take that sword out of the tree because nobody in Hunding’s family could and save her.  Sigmund of course decides hes the one to get the sword from the stump and then they both confess love for each other.  The biggest twist is when the two talk further and discover that Sieglinde is Sigmund’s sister, the sword barer was their father, and the whole act ends on them in the house about to have sex.  Strange ending, but I did enjoy how the house was pushed forward over the orchestra to emphasize being inside the house and in another location.

Act 2 at first was difficult to understand due to the Nordic Mythology that was not really addressed, but starts with Wotan, a Nordic god, ordering someone to protect Sigmund in his battle with Hunding.  Wotan’s wife Fricka is furious with him for protecting Sigmund.  She wants him and Sieglinde punished for their incest and adultery.  They argue back and forth and it is then revealed Wotan is the father of the two.  He ends the argument agreeing that Sigmund will die.  It was frustrating at first to not understand what was going on, but after a little bit of back story research it was quite clear. 

Wotan then starts talking to the one that will protect Sigmund about his issues and frustrations.  As he talks these out he begins to explain a prophecy and battle that he has that is difficult to follow.  He ends the discussion by telling the guardian to let Hunding win.  The guardian then goes to Sigmund and Sieglinde warning them of his impending death.  They argue for a bit that was hard to follow, but at the end the guardian changes their mind and will give Hunding the defeat instead.

When Hunding shows up him and Sigmund battle.  Its going Sigmund’s way until Wotan appears and destroys his sword.  Hunding stabs Sigmund to death.  Sieglinde flees with the guardian while Wotan kills Hunding.  It was overall a very interesting scene because of the minimal use of technology.  A lot was left to the imagination of the viewer, which I am sure gives every viewer a different viewing of the show. 

The last Act was the conclusion of this story, but the beginning of a hero in Nordic Mythology named Siegfried.  The Act starts with all of the guardians together with dead heros when the guardian in the story shows up with Sieglinde.  The guardian tries to get help but fails.  She ends the scene by telling Sieglinde that she is pregnant with Sigmund’s child and it has to be named Siegried.  As Sieglinde vanishes Wotan arrives and he is pissed.  He starts telling the guardian that she is stripped of all her powers and will be forced to be a mortal woman.  Not only that though, he finishes it off by telling her she is going to be under a spell her whole life and will be “taken by” any man who finds her.  She pleads with Wotan telling Sigmund’s story of bravery and that her keeping him alive was her just obeying the true commands of what Wotan wanted.  Wotan’s wife is who wanted Sigmund and his sister dead, not Wotan.  Agreeing to this he still takes all her powers and leaves her under a spell, but leaves her on top of a mountain that is surrounded by fire so that only a hero could get to her.  That hero of course is Siegfried, making this the end of one story, but beginning of another.

Overall I was interested in the story, but feel I would like the story even more if it was told in a different way.  Opera is difficult for me due to its pace.  I did enjoy the entire opera though and do not seem to be alone on that thought.  Every review I found loved the story, highlighting the suspense and drama throughout the entire show.  If I were to make it more interesting for myself, I would probably make it a videogame.

The premise of the videogame would be a puzzle style game.  The main character would be stuck having to stop at a random house and from there answer questions to make it through the night and discover all the info of the story.  The second act would be more of an interactive cinematic like companies are now making games.  As the guardian you would have to maneuver through the conversation with Wotan to save Sigmund’s life. Then for the third Act the videogame would be set on dirt roads travelling and again answering questions and making your way through the puzzle of information that the story unfolds.  Then the main boss would be Hunding and after defeating him you would die, like Sigmund does.