WAGNER GÖTTERDÄMMERUNG Gun-Brit Barkmin Daniel Brenna Shenyang Eric Halfvarson Amanda Majeski Michelle DeYoung Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra Jaap van Zweden Prologue 0Scene 2 Götterdämmerung 1 Wer ist Gibich’s Sohn? (The Twilight of the Gods) 2 Vorspiel (Prelude) 2:22 ! (Siegfried, Gunther, Hagen) 1:56 3 Welch’ Licht leuchtet dort? (Three Norns) 14:35 Begrüße froh, o Held The Third Day 4 Zwischenspiel: Tagesgrauen (Dawn) 3:59 @ (Gunther, Siegfried, Hagen) 3:43 of 5 Zu neuen Taten, teurer Helde (Brünnhilde) 2:16 Willkommen, Gast, in Gibich’s Haus! Der Ring des Nibelungen Mehr gabst du, Wunderfrau # (Gutrune, Siegfried, Gunther) 3:41 (The Ring of the Nibelung) 6 (Siegfried, Brünnhilde) 9:34 Hast du, Gunther, ein Weib? by Siegfrieds Rheinfahrt $ (Siegfried, Gunther) 3:10 (Siegfried’s Rhine Journey) 5:09 Blut-Brüderschaft schwöre ein Eid! Richard Wagner % (Siegfried, Gunther, Hagen, Gutrune) 6:30 (1813 –1883) Act I Hier sitz’ ich zur Wacht (Hagen) 5:02 ^ The Three Norns . Sarah Castle, Stephanie Houtzeel, Jenufa Gleich 7Scene 1 Zwischenspiel (Entr’acte) 5:57 Brünnhilde . Gun-Brit Barkmin, Soprano Nun hör’, Hagen, sage mir, Held (Gunther, Hagen, Gutrune) 5:59 Scene 3 Siegfried . Daniel Brenna, Tenor 8 & Was weckst du Zweifel und Zwist? Altgewohntes Geräusch Gunther . Shenyang, Bass-baritone 9 (Gunther, Hagen, Gutrune) 4:27 * (Brünnhilde, Waltraute) 8:10 Hagen . Eric Halfvarson, Bass Vom Rhein her tönt das Horn ( Seit er von dir geschieden (Waltraute) 9:38 Gutrune . Amanda Majeski, Soprano (Hagen, Gunther, Siegfried) 3:14 Da sann ich nach: von seiner Seite (Waltraute, Brünnhilde) 7:10 Waltraute . Michelle DeYoung, Mezzo-soprano ) Blitz und Gewölk, vom Wind getragen Alberich . Peter Kálmán, Bass-baritone ¡ (Brünnhilde, Siegfried) 10:03 Woglinde . Eri Nakamura, Soprano Jetzt bist du mein (Siegfried, Brünnhilde) 3:02 Wellgunde . Aurhelia Varak, Mezzo-soprano Floßhilde . Hermine Haselböck, Mezzo-soprano Bamberg Symphony Chorus • Latvian State Choir Hong Kong Philharmonic Chorus Eberhard Friedrich, Principal chorus master Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra Jaap van Zweden Act II Act III Richard Wagner (1813–1883) ™ › Vorspiel (Prelude) 3:23 Vorspiel (Prelude) 2:47 Götterdämmerung Wagner’s tetralogy, Der Ring des Nibelungen (The Ring of Fate, sitting on Brünnhilde’s rock, near the entrance to a £Scene 1 fiScene 1 the Nibelung) was first performed as a whole in August 1876 cave, resolved to spin and sing. They tell how, once, a Schläfst du, Hagen, mein Sohn? Frau Sonne sendet lichte Strahlen at the new Festspielhaus in Bayreuth. The complete cycle brave god came to the sacred ash-tree and paid with one consists of a Prologue, Das Rheingold (The Rhinegold), of his eyes to drink there from the well of wisdom. From (Alberich, Hagen) 8:59 fl (Woglinde, Wellgunde, Floßhilde) 3:21 Ich höre sein Horn (Rhinemaidens, Siegfried) 4:07 followed the next day by Die Walküre (The Valkyrie), and the tree he cut a branch, from which he made a spear. The ¢ ‡ then by Siegfried , leading up to the final Götterdämmerung motifs here recall Wotan’s dreams of Valhalla and his Zwischenspiel (Entr’acte) 2:29 Was leid’ ich doch das karge Lob? (Twilight of the Gods). Wagner’s first sketches for the libretto promise to pay for the building of Valhalla. The tree died, (Siegfried, Rhinemaidens) 8:44 of the fourth projected opera, initially under the title Siegfrieds the third Norn ends her tale, throwing the rope she holds to ∞Scene 2 Tod (Siegfried’s Death), and later Götterdämmerung the second Norn, who continues the story. She tells how Hoiho, Hagen! Müder Mann! °Scene 2 (Twilight of the Gods), is dated 1848. To this he found it Wotan engraved the words of his agreement on the spear, (Siegfried, Hagen, Gutrune) 4:49 Hoiho? – Hoihe! necessary to add an explanatory prologue, for which he how a young hero broke the spear in battle and how · (Men’s voices, Siegfried, Hagen, Gunther) 6:48 made the first musical sketches in 1850. He interrupted his Wotan sent heroes from Valhalla to cut the sacred tree up work in order to draft the three earlier operas of the cycle, into logs. The first Norn continues, telling how these logs §Scene 3 Mime hieß ein mürrischer Zwerg then returning to Götterdämmerung , in which he now made are piled around the fortress of Valhalla, to be set ablaze Hoiho! Ihr Gibichs-Mannen, machet euch auf! ‚ (Siegfried, Hagen, Men) 8:03 (Hagen, Armed Men) 8:35 Was hör’ ich! (Gunther, Hagen, Men) 2:15 considerable changes. The first complete draft of the work and bring about its end. They see Loge, transformed again a was written between 1869 and 1872 and the full score was into fire, guarding Brünnhilde’s rock, but later to set fire to Brünnhilde! Heilige Braut! (Siegfried) 4:24 finished in 1874. The work was first heard at Bayreuth in the fragments of the spear and set ablaze the logs round ¶Scene 4 b 1876 when the whole of the tetralogy was performed. As Valhalla, at Wotan’s command. What then of the • Heil dir, Gunther (Armed Men) 1:18 Zwischenspiel: Trauermarsch before, leading motifs associated with characters, events Rhinegold, the Ring? The rope has become entangled and Brünnhild’, die hehrste Frau (Entr’acte: Funeral March) 6:49 and ideas in the drama, recur, interwoven to unify the whole now breaks. The Norns know their time has come and they ª (Gunther, Men, Siegfried, Brünnhilde, Hagen) 3:16 conception. must3 return to Erda, goddess of Fate. Was ist ihr? Ist sie entrückt? cScene 3 The sources of the plot were found in Icelandic It grows lighter with the start of dawn, and now day sagas, the 13th-century Middle High German Das breaks. Siegfried and Brünnhilde come from the cave, the º (Men, Siegfried, Brünnhilde, Hagen, Gunther) 8:52 War das sein Horn? Nibelungenlied and the Old Norse Thidreks Saga af Bern , latter leading her horse, Grane. Each is identified by a Achtest du so der eig’nen Ehre? d (Gutrune, Hagen, Gunther, Brünnhilde) 7:34 (Siegfried, Brünnhilde, Men, Women, Schweigt eures Jammer (Brünnhilde, Gutrune) 3:05 but Wagner had recourse to a wide range of other motif, the ho4rse by a reminiscence of the Ride of the e reading, while the structure of the tetralogy and the Valkyries. Brünnhilde has given Siegfried her ⁄ Gunther, Gutrune, Hagen) 3:09 f Starke Scheite schichtet mir dort (Brünnhilde) 8:36 underlying theme of the curse owes a strong debt to knowledge and 5strength and sends him forward to new Helle Wehr, heilige Waffe! g Mein Erbe nun nehm’ ich zu eigen (Brünnhilde) 2:32 Aeschylus and Greek tragedy. deeds of glory. From her Siegfried has learned love, (Siegfried, Brünnhilde, Men) 7:23 Fliegt heim ihr Raben! (Brünnhilde) 3:24 above all, and they sing of their love, with motifs h Synopsis associated with it. Siegfried gives Brünnhilde, as a token Scene 5 Schluß (Conclusion) 5:03 of faith, the ring, the symbol of all he has achieved, and ¤ Prologue she gives him her horse. Thr6ough her power, now, will Welches Unholds List liegt hier verhohlen? 1 Siegfried act, as part of her. He takes his leave and The motifs associated with the Rhine and with Nature, sets out on his Rhine Journey, his own bold motif mingling ‹ (Brünnhilde, Hagen, Gunther) 7:27 Dir hilft kein Hirn first heard at the start of Das Rheingold , are now heard with those of Fire, the Rhinemaidens, the Rhine and the again in the instrumental introduction to Götterdämmerung . ring itself. (Hagen, Gunther, Brünnhilde) 6:46 The Fate motif returns, a hint, as we k2now from Die Walküre , of Siegfried’s impending death. It is night, as the curtain rises to reveal the three Norns, weavers of Act I wife of the one who rescues her. Siegfried at once offers she tells her that she seeks her help in returning the ring. Brünnhilde for Gunther, while remaining true to her. to break through the fire and bring Brünnhilde to be Brünnhilde will never surrender the token of Siegfried’s love Gutrune asks Hagen to call together the men in celebration Scene 1 Gunther’s bride, disguising himself as Gunther $through for her, although Waltraute pleads with her to save Valhalla. of her wedding with Siegfried, while she will call the 7 the Tarn-cap, in return for the hand of Gutrune. They She clings to this sym)b ol of her own happiness and tells her women. Hagen mounts a rock and there sounds his horn. The scene is the hall of the Gibichungs, by the Rhine. swear to be blood-brothers and allow their blood to mingle sister to leave her. Left alone again, as thunderclouds Gunther and Gutrune are seated to one side, with Hagen in a drinking-horn of wine that Hagen holds for them, gather, she bids Waltraute never return. It grows darker and Scene 3 at the table. Gunther asks his half-brother if he has the pledging faith or death and drinking. Hagen takes his the fire from around the rock now grows fiercer. She hears § true fame due a Gibich. Hagen respects him but tells him sword and cuts the drinking-horn in two. Siegfried asks the sound of Siegfried’s horn and a figure appears through Hagen calls on the Gibichung men, who gather, that he could possess greater things and should marry, as him why he has not taken the oath, but Hagen tells him the flames, Siegfried, in the Tarn-cap, having the form of seeking the reason for the summons and the nature of the should Gutrune. For Gunther there is Brünnhilde, on her that his blood is mixed and not so noble. Siegfried now Gunther.