Lothar Zagrosek, the conductor of this recording, was named Conductor of the Year by Opernwelt in both 1997 and 1999.
Composition History
Richard Wagner completed the text for Die Walküre in 1854 and the full score by 1856, but it took 14 years before it was performed and 20 years for the entire Ring cycle to be staged.
Recording & Production
This recording of Die Walküre is the second part of Wagner's Ring cycle, recorded live during Stuttgart Opera's 2002/2003 season, where each of the four operas was staged with separate producers and casts for the first time in the cycle's history.
Compositional Technique
Wagner's Die Walküre, part of the Ring des Nibelungen, uses recurring leading motifs associated with characters, events, and ideas to unify the entire work.
Historical Context
The sources for Wagner's Ring des Nibelungen, including Die Walküre, were Icelandic sagas, the 13th-century Middle High German Das Nibelungenlied, and the Old Norse Thidreks Saga af Bern, with the structure and curse theme owing a debt to Aeschylus and Greek tragedy.
Notable Performances
The complete Ring des Nibelungen, a tetralogy by Richard Wagner, was first performed in August 1876 at the new Festspielhaus in Bayreuth, an opera house of novel design specially created for the cycle.
