Ride of the Valkyries

The Ride of the Valkyries (German: Walkürenritt or Ritt der Walküren) is the popular term for the beginning of Act III of Die Walkure, the second of the four operas by Richard Wagner that comprise Der Ring des Nibelungen. The theme of the Ride, the leitmotif labelled Walkürenritt, was first written down by Wagner on July 23rd, 1851. The preliminary draft for the Ride was composed in 1854 as the part of the composition of the entire opera, which was fully orchestrated by the end of the first quarter of 1856. Together with the Bridal Chorus from Lohengrin, the Ride of the Valkyries is one of the most well known pieces from Wagner.

In the opera house, the Ride, which is about eight minutes long, begins in the prelude to Act one, building up successive layers of accompaniment until the curtain rises to reveal a mountain peak where four of the eight Valkyrie sisters of Brünnhilde have gathered in preparation for the transportation of fallen heroes to Valhalla. As they are joined by the other four, the familiar tune is carried out by the orchestra, while, above it, the Valkyries greet each other and sing their battle-cry. Apart from the song of the Rhinemaidens in Das Rheingold, it is the only ensemble piece in the first three operas of Wagner's Ring cycle. Outside the opera house, it is usually heard in a purely instrumental version, which may be as short as three minutes.

Performance
The complete opera, Die Walkure, was first performed on June 26th, 1870 in the National Theatre Munich much against the composer's intent. By January of the next year, Wagner was receiving respects for the Ride to be performed separately, but wrote that such a performance should be considered "an utter indiscretion" and forbade "any such thing". However, the piece was still printed and sold in Leipzig, and Wagner subsequently wrote a complaint to the publisher in Schott. In the period up to the first performance of the complete Ring cycle, Wagner continued to recieve requests for serenade performances, his second wife Cosmia noting "Unsavory letters arrive for R. - requests for the Ride of the Valkyries and I don't know what else". Once the Ring had been given in Bayreuth in 1876, Wagner lifted the embargo. Wagner himself conducted it himself in London of May 12th, 1877, repeating it as an encore.

Within the concert repertoire, The Ride of the Valkyries remains a popular encore, especially when other Wagnerian pieces are featured in the scheduled program. For example, at the BBC Proms, it was performed as such by Klaus Tennstedt and the London Philharmonic Orchestra on August 6th, 1992 and also by Valery Gergiev with the Kirov Orchestra on August 28th, 2001. It was also performed as part of the BBC Doctor Who Prom on July 28th, 2008.

Source

 * Ride of the Valkyries