Tune in Today: Myth to Music With Wagner’s ‘Ride of the Valkyries’

An ancient tale of battle and heroism was transformed into one of the most recognizable pieces of Western music.

"Valkyries Riding into Battle," 19th century, by Johan Gustaf Sandberg. Oil on canvas. Nationalmuseum, Stockholm. Public Domain

Valkyries were Nordic female warrior-spirits who escorted dead heroes to Valhalla, the afterlife. As he died in battle, the Nordic warrior could rest assured that a Valkyrie would swoop down on her flying horse and carry him off to his reward. With so many heroes dying, there had to be plenty of Valkyries, and indeed, there were at least 25 of them.

Their names were Brynhild, Geironul, Geirskogul, Goll, Gondul, Gunn, Guth, Herfjotur, Hervor, Hild, Hlathguth, Hlokk, Hrist, Mist, Olrun, Randgrith, Rathgrith, Reginleif, Sigrdrifa, Sigrun, Skeggjold, Skogul, Skuld, Svava, and Thruth.

There will be a test.

Actually, you can skip the test, thanks to composer Richard Wagner.

Wagner’s Valkyries

Wagner reduced the Valkyries to nine and made one of them the heroine of his massive operatic tetralogy, “The Ring of the Nibelung.” Brynhild became Brünnhilde, and the association of German opera with horned helmets and massive breastplates was born.

“The Ride of the Valkyries” opens Act III of the second music-drama of the Ring, “Die Walküre” (“The Valkyrie”). In Act II, the characters of Siegmund and Sieglinde had become true lovers, in defiance of the law that would keep them apart. (Sieglinde is married, and she is Siegmund’s twin.) Because the gods rule in Valhalla, these two must be punished. The punishment falls to Wotan to inflict, and while his sentiments are with the lovers, he bows to the will of the goddess Fricka, protector of marriage. At the end of Act II, Siegmund and Sieglinde die.

Act III opens with this vivid description of the Valkyries racing across the sky on their wild spirit-horses, carrying dead heroes to Valhalla. Eight of them arrive, waiting for their sister, Brünnhilde. The shock of this scene is that Brünnhilde arrives, not with a hero, but with Sieglinde. A struggle ensues for the meaning of love, a struggle that will color the rest of the “Ring.”

Heroes Rising

The popularity of the “Ride of the Valkyries” transcends its use in Wagner’s music-drama. It is a perennial of symphony orchestras, both in classical and pop series. (Listen)

"Valkyrie and a Dying Hero," 19th century, by Hans Makart. Oil on canvas. Nationalmuseum, Stockholm. Public Domain

It opens with groups of short, rapid upward-flowing figures in the strings, accompanied by long, tight trills from the upper woodwinds. The bassoons and horns introduce a distinctive rhythm that will form the basis of the famous melody belted out by the horns at 0:21.

It’s the rhythm that makes it. Wagner writes in German over the melody’s first statement: “Emphasize sharply and clearly throughout.” The time signature is 9/8, a so-called “compound rhythm” that makes possible the feeling of a broad, three-beat frame. This is heavy music, as befits the armor-weighted female warriors on their warhorses.

The big-boned tune develops, and at 1:17 enters a quiet phase that almost immediately gives way to a return of the heroic theme. There is a back-and-forth of quiet and loud until at 2:59 the whole thing begins a massive repeat. Who can get enough of such a good thing?

The fame of this piece made a dark turn in the Francis Ford Coppola film, “Apocalypse Now.” The depiction of helicopter gunships shooting up villages to its strains is stuck in the American imagination and shows no sign of leaving. Consider this Reuters news item from June 21, 2003:

“U.S. troops psyched up on a bizarre musical reprise from the Vietnam war film ‘Apocalypse Now’ before crashing into Iraqi homes to hunt gunmen on Saturday.... With Wagner’s ‘Ride of the Valkyries’ still ringing in their ears and the clatter of helicopters overhead, soldiers rammed vehicles into metal gates and hundreds of troops raided houses in the western city of Ramadi.”

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