My 1st Time Hearing DIE WALKURE

Above: Birgit Nilsson as Brunnhilde

The Met’s 1961 broadcast of Wagner’s DIE WALKURE marked the first time I ever heard this opera which became, over time, my favorite of the composer’s operas. A recording of the broadcast was recently posted on YouTube. Listen here.

I remember that some scenes seemed endless to me, and that while the music was at times very exciting, it was the story that most intrigued me…especially the ending, where Brunnhilde was left sleeping in the middle of a ring of magic fire.

We had had a substantial snowfall the night before, and I went out to the field behind our house with the sound of the feuerzauber alive in my head. I made a circle of all the empty packing boxes and other trash from my father’s drugstore and set it afire. It was then that I realized I was in the center of the circle and would have to wait until the flames died down before I could escape. At supper, my mother scolded me for bringing a smokey smell into the house. It took a few days for the odor to dissipate.

Metropolitan Opera House ~ December 23,1961

Cast: Brünnhilde: Birgit Nilsson; Siegmund: Jon Vickers; Sieglinde: Gladys Kuchta; Wotan: Otto Edelmannl Fricka: Irene Dalis; Hunding: Ernst Wiemann; Gerhilde: Carlotta Ordassy; Grimgerde: Mary MacKenzie; Helmwige: Heidi Krall; Ortlinde: Martina Arroyo; Rossweisse: Margaret Roggero; Schwertleite: Gladys Kriese; Siegrune: Helen Vanni; Waltraute: Mignon Dunn

Conductor: Erich Leinsdorf