( ' THE VALKYRIE )
ACT III
Relayed from The Royal Opera
House, Covent Garden ;
THE third act begins with the stirring ' Ride of the Valkyries' as the Warrior Maidens gather on their grim rook. It is one of the best. known extracts from the whole Cycle, and is indeed music which is well able to present its own picture without the aid of scenery. Each of the Valkyries has a slain hero across her saddle, whom she is bearing to ValhaUa, but when Briinnhilde, the last to come, reaches the rock, it is Sieglinde whom she is carrying. She hides Sieglinde in the forest, and then Wotan hastens to the crag, in angry pursuit of his disobedient daughter. The sisters plead with him to spare her, but he bids them go, and the last part of the act is a splendid duet between the god and Brunohilde. Gradually she recalls his former pride in her, and prevails on him to let her punishment be less severe than he had thought. She is to be laid to sleep on the summit of the rock with a great fire about her, so that none may come to her save a hero who knows no fear. The opera comes to an end with Wotan's splendid farewell as she is laid to sleep, the wonderful music of the fire blending with the other motives to form one of the finest of all Wagner's conceptions.