Organization

BBC Proms

Singer

Tenor

Plácido Domingo

Siegmund

Soprano

Waltraud Meier

Sieglinde

Bass

Eric Halfvarson

Hunding

Baritone

Bryn Terfel

Wotan

Lisa Gasteen

Brünnhilde

Mezzo-soprano

Rosalind Plowright

Fricka

Geraldine McGreevy

Gerhilde

Elaine McKrill

Ortlinde

Claire Powell

Waltraute

Contralto

Rebecca de Pont Davies

Schwertleite

Iréne Theorin

Helmwige

Sarah Castle

Siegrune

Clare Shearer

Grimgerde

Elizabeth Sikora

Rossweisse

Conductor

Antonio Pappano

Royal Opera House

Die Walküre -  (The Valkyrie)

London

United Kingdom

Royal Albert Hall

Antonio Pappano, Orchestra of the Royal Opera House (Recorded 18th July, 2005, Royal Albert Hall, London) Siegmund — Plácido Domingo Sieglinde — Waltraud Meier Hunding — Eric Halfvarson Brünhilde — Lisa Gasteen Wotan — Bryn Terfel Fricka — Rosalind Plowright Gerhilde — Geraldine McGreevy Ortlinde — Elaine McKrill Waltraute — Claire Powell Schwertleite — Rebecca de Pont Davies Helmwige — Iréne Theorin Siegrune — Sarah Castle Grimgerde — Claire Shearer Roßweiße — Elizabeth Sikora ===============

0:00:00 — foreplay
0:01:24 — Scene 1: “Hojotoho! Hojotoho! Heiaha! Heiaha!”
0:07:41 — Scene 1: “Protect me and help in dire need!”
0:10:53 — Scene 1: “Don't worry about me”
0:14:01 — Scene 1: “Hurry away, facing east!”
0:16:55 — Scene 2: “Where is Brünnhild, where is the criminal?”
0:20:49 — Scene 2: "Here I am father: command the punishment!"
0:26:11 — Scene 2: "Didn't you hear what I decreed?"
0:29:28 — Scene 3: “Was it so shameful what I committed”
0:35:12 — Scene 3: “I am not wise, but I knew one thing”
0:39:38 — Scene 3: “Thus did you do what I long to do”
0:43:12 — Scene 3: “The foolish maiden was no good for you”
0:46:11 — Scene 3: “You fathered a noble family”
0:51:24 — Scene 3: “Farewell, you bold, glorious child!”
0:55:51 — Scene 3: “The pair of shining eyes”
1:01:49 — Scene 3: “Loge, hör’! Lausche hieher!”

===============

Erica Jeal in The Guardian wrote:

“This, astonishingly, was Plácido Domingo's Proms debut. That alone was enough to create an immense buzz around this wholesale transfer of the Royal Opera's Die Walküre to the Albert Hall, in staged concert form. But the fact that the evening ended with the entire cheering audience on its feet — something that rarely happens here — was down to much more than that.
Not least of these factors was the fact that the orchestra has been so close to this work for so long. Antonio Pappano's fast tempos may occasionally jettison some of the music's spaciousness, but he keeps its energy flowing, and the musical tension crackled.
Responding to each other but not in costume, the singers seemed if anything liberated by the absence of a full staging. And Domingo's Siegmund is indeed extraordinary. His German is not impeccable, and in the more restless passages he can swallow his consonants; but his burnished sound is unmistakable. In the baleful summing-up at the end of his act one narration you could hear exactly why he has been enjoying such an Indian summer in Wagner.
Waltraud Meier's gleaming Sieglinde was a formidable match, and Lisa Gasteen's huge, penetrating soprano made her headstrong Brünnhilde absolutely convincing. Eric Halfvarson's Hunding made the balconies reverberate, and Rosalind Plowright worked hard to ensure Fricka's crucial confrontation with Wotan carried sufficient weight.
It was Bryn Terfel's Wotan, however, that was the heart and soul of all this; though he has barely begun to sing this iconic role, he already has few rivals in it. Singing and acting were so enmeshed, his projection of text and musical nuance so effortless, that it seemed we were tapping directly into his thoughts. An unforgettable performance, capping an unforgettable evening.”

===============

Die Walküre is a music drama in three acts by Richard Wagner with a German libretto by the composer. It is the second of the four works that form Wagner's cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen. It received its premiere in Munich on 26th June, 1870.

Antonio Pappano, Orchestra of the Royal Opera House (Recorded 18th July, 2005, Royal Albert Hall, London) Siegmund — Plácido Domingo Sieglinde — Waltraud Meier Hunding — Eric Halfvarson Brünhilde — Lisa Gasteen Wotan — Bryn Terfel Fricka — Rosalind Plowright Gerhilde — Geraldine McGreevy Ortlinde — Elaine McKrill Waltraute — Claire Powell Schwertleite — Rebecca de Pont Davies Helmwige — Iréne Theorin Siegrune — Sarah Castle Grimgerde — Claire Shearer Roßweiße — Elizabeth Sikora ===============

0:00:00 — foreplay
0:01:58 - Scene 1: "Nun zäume dein Ross, travel Maid!"
0:04:33 — Scene 1: “The old storm, the old trouble!”
0:09:18 — Scene 1: “So it is over with the eternal gods”
0:13:48 — Scene 1: “You want to deceive me with a deep meaning!”
0:18:07 — Scene 1: "What do you require?"
0:23:55 — Scene 2: “Bad, I'm afraid, the quarrel closed”
0:29:27 — Scene 2: “As a young love my lust faded”
0:34:29 — Scene 2: “It is something else: pay attention to it”
0:39:35 — Scene 2: "But the Wälsung, Siegmund, doesn't he work himself?"
0:44:40 — Scene 2: “So take my blessing, Niblungen son!”
0:49:05 — Scene 2: “I never saw Siegvater like this”
0:52:14— Scene 3: “Rest here now; give yourself rest!"
0:55:30— Scene 3: “Away! Away! Flee the defiled!"
0:58:38— Scene 3: “Listen! the horns, do you hear the call?”
1:02:27— Scene 4: “Siegmund! look at me!”
1:07:20 — Scene 4: “Where are you leading the hero who follows you now?”
1:12:28 — Scene 4: “You saw the Valkyrie's severe gaze”
1:15:16 — Scene 4: “So little do you respect eternal bliss?”
1:19:44 — Scene 5: “Magic festival tames a sleep”
1:23:44 — Scene 5: “Wehwalt! Wehwalt!”

===============

Erica Jeal in The Guardian wrote:

“This, astonishingly, was Plácido Domingo's Proms debut. That alone was enough to create an immense buzz around this wholesale transfer of the Royal Opera's Die Walküre to the Albert Hall, in staged concert form. But the fact that the evening ended with the entire cheering audience on its feet — something that rarely happens here — was down to much more than that.
Not least of these factors was the fact that the orchestra has been so close to this work for so long. Antonio Pappano's fast tempos may occasionally jettison some of the music's spaciousness, but he keeps its energy flowing, and the musical tension crackled.
Responding to each other but not in costume, the singers seemed if anything liberated by the absence of a full staging. And Domingo's Siegmund is indeed extraordinary. His German is not impeccable, and in the more restless passages he can swallow his consonants; but his burnished sound is unmistakable. In the baleful summing-up at the end of his act one narration you could hear exactly why he has been enjoying such an Indian summer in Wagner.
Waltraud Meier's gleaming Sieglinde was a formidable match, and Lisa Gasteen's huge, penetrating soprano made her headstrong Brünnhilde absolutely convincing. Eric Halfvarson's Hunding made the balconies reverberate, and Rosalind Plowright worked hard to ensure Fricka's crucial confrontation with Wotan carried sufficient weight.
It was Bryn Terfel's Wotan, however, that was the heart and soul of all this; though he has barely begun to sing this iconic role, he already has few rivals in it. Singing and acting were so enmeshed, his projection of text and musical nuance so effortless, that it seemed we were tapping directly into his thoughts. An unforgettable performance, capping an unforgettable evening.”

===============

Die Walküre is a music drama in three acts by Richard Wagner with a German libretto by the composer. It is the second of the four works that form Wagner's cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen. It received its premiere in Munich on 26th June, 1870.

Antonio Pappano, Orchestra of the Royal Opera House (Recorded 18th July, 2005, Royal Albert Hall, London) Siegmund — Plácido Domingo Sieglinde — Waltraud Meier Hunding — Eric Halfvarson Brünhilde — Lisa Gasteen Wotan — Bryn Terfel Fricka — Rosalind Plowright Gerhilde — Geraldine McGreevy Ortlinde — Elaine McKrill Waltraute — Claire Powell Schwertleite — Rebecca de Pont Davies Helmwige — Iréne Theorin Siegrune — Sarah Castle Grimgerde — Claire Shearer Roßweiße — Elizabeth Sikora ===============

0:00:00 — foreplay
0:03:51 — Scene 1: “Whatever hearth this may be, here I must rest”
0:06:37 — Scene 1: “The spring gave me cooling refreshment”
0:11:38 — Scene 1: “You refreshed an unfortunate”
0:14:41 — Scene 2: “Tired at the stove I found the man”
0:19:13 — Scene 2: "I can't be called Friedmund"
0:24:32 — Scene 2: “The so wearisome fate decreed thee”
0:28:05 — Scene 2: “I know a wild sex”
0:33:37 — Scene 3: “The father promised me a sword”
0:38:34 — Scene 3: “Are you sleeping, guest?”
0:44:53 — Scene 3: “Winter storms gave way to the blissful moon”
0:47:29 — Scene 3: “You are the Lenz I longed for”
0:49:21— Scene 3: “O sweetest bliss! Blessed woman!”
0:55:05 — Scene 3: “Siegmund heiß’ ich, und Siegmund bin ich!”

===============

Erica Jeal in The Guardian wrote:

“This, astonishingly, was Plácido Domingo's Proms debut. That alone was enough to create an immense buzz around this wholesale transfer of the Royal Opera's Die Walküre to the Albert Hall, in staged concert form. But the fact that the evening ended with the entire cheering audience on its feet — something that rarely happens here — was down to much more than that.
Not least of these factors was the fact that the orchestra has been so close to this work for so long. Antonio Pappano's fast tempos may occasionally jettison some of the music's spaciousness, but he keeps its energy flowing, and the musical tension crackled.
Responding to each other but not in costume, the singers seemed if anything liberated by the absence of a full staging. And Domingo's Siegmund is indeed extraordinary. His German is not impeccable, and in the more restless passages he can swallow his consonants; but his burnished sound is unmistakable. In the baleful summing-up at the end of his act one narration you could hear exactly why he has been enjoying such an Indian summer in Wagner.
Waltraud Meier's gleaming Sieglinde was a formidable match, and Lisa Gasteen's huge, penetrating soprano made her headstrong Brünnhilde absolutely convincing. Eric Halfvarson's Hunding made the balconies reverberate, and Rosalind Plowright worked hard to ensure Fricka's crucial confrontation with Wotan carried sufficient weight.
It was Bryn Terfel's Wotan, however, that was the heart and soul of all this; though he has barely begun to sing this iconic role, he already has few rivals in it. Singing and acting were so enmeshed, his projection of text and musical nuance so effortless, that it seemed we were tapping directly into his thoughts. An unforgettable performance, capping an unforgettable evening.”

===============

Die Walküre is a music drama in three acts by Richard Wagner with a German libretto by the composer. It is the second of the four works that form Wagner's cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen. It received its premiere in Munich on 26th June, 1870.

Die Walküre Wagner,Richard

The Valkyrie

Approved

The Valkyrie by Wagner, Richard, From (2005/2005), Conductor Antonio Pappano, Royal Albert Hall, London, United Kingdom

Performance credits (Cast & Crew )

Cast

Co-Producer

Program, About & Synopsis

Photos

Further reading

Performance Dates & Venues

Venues