Editing Die Walküre (section)

== Writing history ==
===Text, sources, characters===
{{Main|Der Ring des Nibelungen: composition of the text}}
Wagner's original title for the work was ''Siegfried und Sieglind: der Walküre Bestrafung'' ("Siegfried and Sieglinde: The Valkyrie Punished"), but he quickly simplified this to ''Die Walküre''.{{sfn|Millington|2006|pp=106–107}} Prose sketches for the first two acts were prepared in November 1851, and for the third act early in the following year. These sketches were expanded to a more detailed prose plan in May 1852, and the full libretto was written in June 1852. It was privately printed, with the other ''Ring'' libretti, in February 1853.{{sfn|Millington|2006|p=107}}
[[File:Brynhild och Gudrun by Anders Zorn.jpg|thumb|upright= 0.8|Brünnhilde in the ''Eddas'' – "superhuman strength"]]
Wagner constructed his ''Die Walküre'' libretto from a range of ancient Norse and Germanic sources, principally the [[Völsunga saga]],  the [[Poetic Edda]], the [[Prose Edda]],  the [[Nibelungenlied]] and other fragments of [[Teutons|Teutonic]] literature.{{sfn|Scruton|2017|p=27}} From this plethora of material he selected particular elements and transformed them, to create his own narrative through the compression of events, the rearrangement of chronology and the fusion of characters. For example, in the Völsunga saga Siegmund is not Wotan's son, although he arranges the latter's conception by a Völsung woman.  Sigurd (Siegfried) is not the child of Siegmund's incestuous marriage to his sister, but of a later wife who preserves the sword fragments.{{sfn|Cooke|1979|p=114}} Likewise, in the sagas Sieglinde is a somewhat different character, Signy; she is Siegmund's twin sister, but the son she bears him is not Siegfried, and the manner of her death is quite different from that depicted by Wagner.{{sfn|Holman|2001|p=210}}  Hunding is a conflation of several characters in the sagas, notably Siggeir who is wedded to Signy, and the villainous King Hunding who is Siegmund's mortal enemy in the Poetic Edda.{{sfn|Holman|2001|pp=212–213}}

Wotan (Odin) appears in the northern sagas as the god of all life as well as of battles, although he is by no means omnipotent.{{sfn|Holman|2001|pp=179–180}}  Fricka (Frigg) has most of the hallmarks of her counterpart in the Poetic and Prose Eddas, as wife of Wotan and goddess of family values.{{sfn|Holman|2001|pp=184–185}} [[Brünnhilde]] is a less central figure in the sagas than she is in the ''Ring'' cycle.{{sfn|Holman|2001|pp=214–215}}  In an early [[Heroic lay|lay]], she is sought as a wife by Gunther, who seeks the help of Siegfried in overcoming her superhuman strength.{{sfn|Cooke|1979|p=92}} Certain aspects of her ''Ring'' character appear in the Eddas and the Nibelungenlied, such as  her encirclement by Wotan in a ring of fire, and her rescue by a hero without fear.{{sfn|Holman|2001|p=215}}

The Valkyries have a basis in historical fact, within the primitive Teutonic war-cult.  According to Cooke, originally they were "grisly old women who officiated at the sacrificial rites when prisoners were put to death."{{sfn|Cooke|1979|p=317}}  They became entwined in legend: in the Poetic Edda they emerge as supernatural warrior maidens carrying out Odin's orders as to who should die.{{sfn|Cooke|1979|p=317}} In the Poetic Edda the Valkyries are given names: Skuld, Skogul, Gunn, Hild, Gondul and Geirskogul. Some of these names differ in other sources.{{sfn|Cooke|1979|p=318}} The names that Wagner gave to his Valkyries were his own invention, apart from [[Brünnhilde]] and Siegrune.{{sfn|Holman|2001|p=220}}

Wagner effected a number of changes between his original draft and the final text. For example, in the first sketch, Wotan appeared in person in Act I to drive the sword into the tree. Siegmund withdrew the sword much earlier in the act, and in Act II Hunding was not slain by Wotan, but left alive to follow Wotan's instruction: "Get hence, slave! Bow before Fricka."{{sfn|Newman|1949|pp=466–467}}

===Composition===
{{Main|Der Ring des Nibelungen: composition of the music}}

Apart from some rough sketches, including an early version of what became Siegmund's "Spring Song" in Act I of ''Die Walküre'', Wagner composed the ''Ring'' music in its proper sequence.{{sfn|Knapp|1977|pp=272–273}}{{sfn|Millington|2006|p=107}}  Having completed the music for ''Das Rheingold'' in May 1854, he began composing ''Die Walküre'' in June, and  finished the full orchestral score nearly two years later, in March 1856.{{sfn|Holman|2001|p=34}} This extended period is explained by several concurrent events and distractions, including Wagner's burgeoning friendship with [[Mathilde Wesendonck]], and a lengthy concert tour in London at the invitation of the [[Royal Philharmonic Society]], when he conducted a full season amid some controversy, although his own ''[[Tannhäuser (opera)|Tannhäuser]]'' overture was well received.{{sfn|Jacobs|1980|p=69}}

The system of [[leitmotif]]s, integral to the ''Opera and Drama'' principles, is used to the full in ''Die Walküre''; Holman numbers 36 such motifs that are introduced in the work.{{sfn|Holman|2001|p=108}}  The well-known "Valkyrie" motif,  used to introduce Brünnhilde in Act II, forms the basis of the famous [[Ride of the Valkyries]] that opens Act III.{{sfn|Holman|2001|p=135}} Wagner wrote the concert version of the Ride in 1862, for performance in concerts at Vienna and Leipzig.{{sfn|Jacobs|1980|pp=209–210}}