{"id":50963,"date":"2024-12-27T11:30:00","date_gmt":"2024-12-27T10:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/b6ffed18-3d49-443b-b18b-71f352de6b31"},"modified":"2024-12-27T13:09:20","modified_gmt":"2024-12-27T12:09:20","slug":"gods-kings-and-valkyries-7-epic-wagner-opera-characters-you-should-know","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/rss_feed\/gods-kings-and-valkyries-7-epic-wagner-opera-characters-you-should-know\/","title":{"rendered":"Gods, kings and valkyries: 7 epic Wagner opera characters you should know"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>

By <\/p>

Published: Friday, 27 December 2024 at 10:30 AM<\/p>

\n\n

Read on to discover the 7 amazing and outrageous Wagner<\/a> opera characters you should know…<\/strong><\/p>

Greed, lust and corruption: why Wagner’s epic Ring cycle is still the greatest show on earth<\/a><\/strong><\/li> <\/ul>
Wagner opera characters… Br\u00fcnnhilde<\/h2>
Br\u00fcnnhilde has been part of my life for a long time but every time I sing this role, I find\u00a0out new things about her. From the moment we meet her as this tomboy, a\u00a0petulant teenager in\u00a0Die Walk\u00fcre<\/a><\/strong><\/em> (the second part of Wagner’s Ring Cycle<\/a><\/strong><\/em>), to her final immolation scene at the end of\u00a0G\u00f6tterd\u00e4mmerung<\/a><\/strong><\/em> (the fourth part of <\/em>the Ring<\/em>) she covers the breadth of emotional experience. And as a vocal workout, there\u2019s nothing like this part, both in terms of the stamina it requires, and vocal tessitura: G\u00f6tterd\u00e4mmerung<\/em>\u00a0has everything from top C\u2019s to bottom G\u2019s. To go on that journey is shattering, but amazing.<\/p>

<\/div> <figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"> Anne Evans as Br\u00fcnnhilde in the ‘Immolation Scene’ at Bayreuth Festival, conducted by Daniel Barenboim <\/figcaption> <\/figure> <ul class=\"wp-block-list\"> <li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/works\/wagner-operas-inspire-great-artists\">Leading musicians name their favourite Wagner operas<\/a><\/strong><\/li> <\/ul> <h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Wagner characters… Isolde<\/h2> <p>Another marathon lady: Isolde hits the ground running. We see her at the beginning of <em><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/works\/guide-wagners-tristan-und-isolde\">Tristan und Isolde<\/a><\/strong><\/em>, raging about having to go to Cornwall and about the way she\u2019s being treated by Tristan. She is tempestuous and emotional but also intelligent and loving. The moment when she\u2019s standing there with Tristan, the man she really loves, while the man she\u2019s married to, King Mark, is pouring his heart out about how much she means to him is heartbreaking. She is multifaceted and such a fantastic character to play.<\/p> <ul class=\"wp-block-list\"> <li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/composers\/wagner-why-the-music-of-the-brilliant-german-composer-is-often-misunderstood-and-considered-difficult\">Wagner: why the music of the brilliant German composer is often misunderstood or considered difficult<\/a><\/strong><\/li> <\/ul> <h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Wagner opera characters… Wotan<\/h2> <p>As a father, Wotan is a hero to Br\u00fcnnhilde, and there\u2019s an underlying dignity and godlike\u00a0strength to his music. Even though everyone is warning him against it, he can\u2019t overcome his need for power that only the Ring will give him. Then he gets that power, and he watches everything disintegrate around him: when we see him in\u00a0<em>Die Walk\u00fcre<\/em>\u00a0he is increasingly conflicted and no longer the person that we met in\u00a0<em><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/works\/guide-wagners-das-rheingold\">Das Rheingold<\/a><\/strong><\/em> (the first part of the<em> Ring<\/em>) The end of\u00a0<em>Die Walk\u00fcre<\/em>\u00a0is especially emotional \u2013 parting from Br\u00fcnnhilde is killing him. At that point in the show, there are always tears.<\/p> <figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube\"> <div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\"> <iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Wagner: Wotan\u2019s Farewell \/ Terfel \u00b7 Harding \u00b7 Berliner Philharmoniker\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Ag3rjWFhohM?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen=\"\"\/> <\/div> <figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"> Bryn Terfel sing’s ‘Wotan’s Farewell’ with the Berlin Philharmonic <\/figcaption> <\/figure> <ul class=\"wp-block-list\"> <li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/works\/wagners-siegfried-idyll\">Wagner’s Siegfried Idyll: the story behind the composer’s Christmas gift of love<\/a><\/strong><\/li> <\/ul> <h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Wagner characters… Siegfried<\/h2> <p>What I love about Siegfried is his freshness. He\u2019s a pure child of nature: in Act Three of <em><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/works\/guide-wagner-siegfried\">Siegfried<\/a><\/strong><\/em> (the third part of the <em>Ring<\/em>), having already been singing for around five hours, he then has an amazing scene where he has to wake up Br\u00fcnnhilde. He doesn\u2019t know who she is, how to treat her, how to be with her. They spend that last hour dancing around each other and falling in love. For me that\u2019s a real study in meeting the world \u2013 without fear, without any preconditioning. And there\u2019s something incredibly moving about it.<\/p> <ul class=\"wp-block-list\"> <li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/musical-terms\/leitmotif\">What is a leitmotif?<\/a><\/strong><\/li> <\/ul> <h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Wagner opera characters… Sieglinde<\/h2> <p>To me, Sieglinde is all things woman: she\u2019s emotional, feminine, open and intuitive. She immediately recognises something in Siegmund \u2013 and then it turns out that they are twins who fall in love. The music reflects these qualities, not least in the third act of\u00a0<em>Die Walk\u00fcre<\/em>\u00a0after Br\u00fcnnhilde has urged Sieglinde, who is pregnant with the future hero Siegfried, to escape with her. Before she leaves, Sieglinde sings the stunning \u2018O hehrstes Wunder!\u2019. It is so expansive, full of emotion and warmth.<\/p> <figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube\"> <div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\"> <iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"O hehrstes Wunder! Jessye Norman in Walk\u00fcre\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/vb_g8GXrZPc?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen=\"\"\/> <\/div> <figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"> Jessye Norman as Seglinde in \u2018O hehrstes Wunder!\u2019 <\/figcaption> <\/figure> <ul class=\"wp-block-list\"> <li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/works\/parsifal\"><em>Parsifal<\/em>: a guide to Wagner’s most grippingly transcendent experience<\/a><\/strong><\/li> <\/ul> <h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Wagner characters… Tristan<\/h2> <p>When we first see Tristan in <em>Tristan und Isolde<\/em>, he\u2019s very aloof. He\u2019s trying to keep his distance, to save Isolde\u2019s marriage to King Mark and to remain loyal to his king. He wrong foots Isolde so many times when she thinks she\u2019s found a way in. And yet he\u2019s an incredibly passionate, loving man, who sees in Isolde everything that he really wants. He is brave, complicated and enigmatic, and the audience really has to work to figure out who he is.<\/p> <figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube\"> <div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\"> <iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\""Liebesnacht" "Love duet" Tristan und Isolde (Wagner) - Jerusalem, Meier, Barenboim\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/kSGyexK9a-0?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen=\"\"\/> <\/div> <figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"> ‘Liebesnacht’ from <em>Tristan und Isolde<\/em>, with Siegfried Jerusalem as Tristan and Waltraut Meier as Isolde <\/figcaption> <\/figure> <ul class=\"wp-block-list\"> <li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/works\/guide-wagners-lohengrin\">A guide to Wagner’s <em>Lohengrin<\/em><\/a><\/strong><\/li> <\/ul> <h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Wagner opera characters… Brang\u00e4ne<\/h2> <p>I used to sing\u00a0lot of Cio-Cio Sans and the relationship between <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/articles\/madam-butterfly\">Madam Butterfly<\/a><\/strong> and Suzuki reminds me of that between Isolde and Brang\u00e4ne in <em>Tristan und Isolde<\/em>. Brang\u00e4ne is loyalty, she\u2019s dedication, and she only ever wants to do the right thing. When she gives Tristan and Isolde the love potion, instead of the death drink, it comes from a good place. She soon realises that she has unleashed a disastrous situation that can never be put back in the box. There\u2019s something very poignant in that.<\/p> <ul class=\"wp-block-list\"> <li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/works\/what-happened-at-the-premiere-of-madame-butterfly\">What happened at the premiere of Madam Butterfly?<\/a><\/strong><\/li> <\/ul> <h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Who is Susan Bullock?<\/h2> <p>Susan Bullock has sung in opera houses all over the world. Attracted to roles of dramatic heft and complexity, she is closely associated with late-Romantic and 20th-century German repertoire, and has a particular affinity with the music of Richard Wagner: a marathon achievement was singing Br\u00fcnnhilde in all\u00a0 the performances of <em>The Ring <\/em>at <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rbo.org.uk\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Covent Garden<\/a><\/strong> in the London Olympic year of 2012. Next summer she will play Cosima Wagner at the <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/lfo.org.uk\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Longborough Festival<\/a><\/strong> in a new opera about the Wagner family by the Israeli-born composer Avner Dorman.<\/p> <figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube\"> <div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\"> <iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"BBC Proms 2011: Susan Bullock sings Wagner at the Last Night\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/q8iHDhFiRSw?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen=\"\"\/> <\/div> <figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"> Susan Bullock sings the ‘Immolation Scene’ from Wagner’s <em>G\u00f6tterd\u00e4mmerung<\/em> at the Last Night of the BBC Proms 2011 <\/figcaption> <\/figure> <p\/> <\/body><\/html>\n<hr class=\"no-tts wp-block-separator\"\/>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Published: Friday, 27 December 2024 at 10:30 AM Read on to discover the 7 amazing and outrageous Wagner opera characters you should know… Greed, lust and corruption: why Wagner’s epic Ring cycle is still the greatest show on earth Wagner opera characters… Br\u00fcnnhilde Br\u00fcnnhilde has been part of my life for a long time […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":50964,"template":"","categories":[1],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"5"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/12\/gods-kings-and-valkyries-7-epic-wagner-opera-characters-you-should-know.jpg",1200,800,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/12\/gods-kings-and-valkyries-7-epic-wagner-opera-characters-you-should-know-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/12\/gods-kings-and-valkyries-7-epic-wagner-opera-characters-you-should-know-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/12\/gods-kings-and-valkyries-7-epic-wagner-opera-characters-you-should-know-768x512.jpg",768,512,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/12\/gods-kings-and-valkyries-7-epic-wagner-opera-characters-you-should-know-1024x683.jpg",800,534,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/12\/gods-kings-and-valkyries-7-epic-wagner-opera-characters-you-should-know.jpg",1200,800,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/12\/gods-kings-and-valkyries-7-epic-wagner-opera-characters-you-should-know.jpg",1200,800,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By Published: Friday, 27 December 2024 at 10:30 AM Read on to discover the 7 amazing and outrageous Wagner opera characters you should know… Greed, lust and corruption: why Wagner’s epic Ring cycle is still the greatest show on earth Wagner opera characters… Br\u00fcnnhilde Br\u00fcnnhilde has been part of my life for a long time…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/50963"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50964"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50963"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50963"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}