Episode 1 - Familiar Strangers (Act 1)

Soft Valkyrie

Note: to hear Soft Valkyrie with live English, German or Dutch subtitles, please go to Youtube.
Click here for the full-score and for the libretto.

Welcome to Soft Valkyrie, a podcast version of Die Walküre, the second and most intimate opera of Wagner’s Ring cycle. You are entering a realm of gods, dwarves, giants, horses, money, contracts, and dogs.

In this episode, we meet Siegmund (Bryan the Mensah). On the run from his enemies, he seeks shelter in a house in the woods. There he meets Sieglinde . He does not immediately recognize her as his long-lost twin sister, but the two feel an instant emotional connection.

Previously on The Ring

Need a quick recap of the events of Das Rheingold, the first installment of the Ring? We’ve got you.

Supreme god Wotan has hired two giants to build a castle for him in the sky, Walhalla. But when they come to collect their pay, Wotan has nothing to pay them with and the giants take his wife’s sister, the goddess Freia, whom he has offered as collateral.

Wotan then travels to the Nibelheim, where the Nibelung Alberich has stashed a large amount of gold stolen from the Rhine, as well as a magical ring he has forged from it. Wotan steals the gold, including the ring, and hopes to pay off the giants with just the gold. They also demand the ring, and Wotan reluctantly hands it to them. Then Erda, mother Earth herself, makes an appearance to warn Wotan that the end is near. Slightly confused, the company of gods crosses the rainbow bridge into Walhalla.

Between the events of Das Rheingold and Die Walküre, some years have passed and Wotan, the supreme god, has had some time to decide on strategy. His chosen route? Procreation. Apart from nine divine Valkyries born of his affair with Erda, he has fathered twins with a mortal woman to whom he called himself Wolf. From his mortal offspring, Wotan hopes a hero will arise who, unencumbered by the treaties that bind the god himself, will obtain the ring for him.

These mortal siblings, Siegmund and Sieglinde, have grown up separately and completely unaware of each other. And that is where we start off…
Soft Valkyrie
Presented and commissioned by Holland Festival in collaboration with Staatsoper Hannover and Dutch National Opera.
Full Credits
Music and libretto - Richard Wagner
English translation - Frederick Jameson
Direction & MIDI arrangement - David Kanaga
VOICES
Siegmund - Bryan the Mensah
Sieglinde - Hailey Clark
Hunding - Attila Csihar
Wotan - Mattijs van de Woerd
Fricka - Nadine Secunde
Brünnhilde - Claron McFadden
Valkyries - Mercedes Arcuri (Gerhilde, Helmwige), Clara Nadesdin (Ortlinde, Siegrune), Weronika Rabek (Waltraute, Grimgerde), Monika Walerowicz (Rossweisse, Schwertleite)
INSTRUMENTS
MIDI Piano, Act 1 - Marc Evanstein
MIDI Piano, act 2 and 3 - Ernst Munneke
Additional Flute on Siegmund’s “Winterstürme” - Jonas Pologe
SFX packs - Ableton, SOPHIE, Spectrasonics
PRODUCTION
Casting - David Kanaga, Christian Carlstedt
Dramaturgy - Laura Roling, Manon Schreurs
Commissioned and co-produced by Holland Festival, Dutch National Opera, Staatsoper Hannover
With the support of NTR Radio 4
Special thanks to Sound department Staatstheater Hannover, Soho Square Studios London, Splendor Amsterdam, Jochem Valkenburg, Jasper Berben