READ Chapter 13 in Kelly. WATCH the 7-minute Author Video in which Kelly explains Wagner's concept of the leitmotif. Then PRINT the questionnaire and fill it out as you LISTEN to the very brief excerpts from Act I of Wagner's opera Die Walküre (The Valkyrie). Die Walküre, comprising four hours of music, is the second in Wagner's four-opera cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen (The Ring of the Nibelungs), which at sixteen hours in length was surely longer than any musical work ever before written.
Listening via the Interactive Listening Guides (iLG) from the website (or compact disc) of the Kelly text is highly recommended, as they explain the story line, give texts and translations, and point out leitmotifs, all in real time. If you don't have access to Kelly, follow along with the libretto and translation here.
Here, for easy reference, are some of the major leitmotifs in Die Walküre.
Storm Thunder Siegmund Sieglinde Hunding Valhalla Sword Frustration Love (what Kelly calls Love 1 at 0'00, Love 2 at 0'16)
From Die Walküre, Act I
with Robert Gambill (Siegmund), Angela Denoke (Sieglinde),
Attila Jun (Hunding), and the
Stuttgart State Opera Orchestra conducted by Lothar Zagrosek
Prelude (3'05)
Interactive
Listening Guide
The curtain opens to reveal a thunderstorm raging and Siegmund,
a wet and exhausted fugitive, unlatching the large front door of
Hunding's timbered house.
From Scene 1: Wess' Herd dies auch sei (4'57)
Interactive
Listening Guide
The sleeping Siegmund is awakened by Hunding's wife,
Sieglinde. She offers him a drink of water, and they instantly
fall in love.
From Scene 2: Mit Waffen wehrt sich der Mann (4'00)
Interactive
Listening Guide
As Sieglinde's husband, Hunding, prepares to go to bed,
Sieglinde decides to slip him a sleeping potion and elope with
Siegmund. ("Wölfling" is the false name that Siegmund has
given Hunding.)
From Scene 3: Winterstürme wichen dem Wonnemond (4'03)
Interactive
Listening Guide
Siegmund and Sieglinde sing of their love for one another.
From Scene 3: Siegmund heiss' ich (3'59)
Interactive
Listening Guide
Siegmund and Sieglinde discover that they are brother and
sister. He pulls the sword "Nothung" from the central tree
trunk supporting the hall (from which no one else could dislodge
it) and they rapturously embrace as the curtain falls.