"Ride of the Valkyries"
Queen Street West, Toronto
You could place your camera and sort of tell a story with parked or locked bicycles. - Mike
*****
"The Ride of the Valkyries (German: Walkürenritt), is the popular term for the beginning of Act III of Die Walküre by Richard Wagner. The main theme of the ride, the leitmotif labelled Walkürenritt was first written down by the composer on 23 July 1851. The preliminary draft for the Ride was composed in 1854 as part of the composition of the entire opera which was fully orchestrated by the end of the first quarter of 1856. Together with the Bridal Chorus from Lohengrin, the Ride of the Valkyries is one of Wagner's best-known pieces.
In the opera-house, the Ride, which takes around eight minutes, begins in the prelude to the Act, building up successive layers of accompaniment until the curtain rises to reveal a mountain peak where four of the eight Valkyrie sisters of Brünnhilde have gathered in preparation for the transportation of fallen heroes to Valhalla. As they are joined by the other four, the familiar tune is carried by the orchestra, while, above it, the Valkyries greet each other and sing their battle-cry. Apart from the song of the Rhinemaidens in Das Rheingold, it is the only ensemble piece in the first three operas of Wagner's Ring cycle. Outside the opera-house, it is usually heard in a purely instrumental version, which may be as short as three minutes.
...The Ride of The Valkyries has been used to accompany moving pictures since the earliest days of Hollywood. The original score for D. W. Griffith's film The Birth of a Nation (1915), compiled by Joseph Carl Breil and Griffith, used the music in the climactic scene of the third act, when 'The former enemies of North and South are united again in defense of their Aryan birthright' against liberated former black slaves after the end of the American Civil War. The beleaguered white group are rescued by the Ku Klux Klan to the sound of the music.
Since then, 'The Ride of the Valkyries' has been used in a scene in Apocalypse Now where a squadron of helicopters attacks a Vietnamese village. Lieutenant Colonel Bill Kilgore (Robert Duvall), commander of the 1/9 AirCav, orders its use because 'Charlie hates Wagner!' In the 2009 film Watchmen, it is used in a similar scene portraying Dr. Manhattan and the Comedian's service in Vietnam.
Through the music, this scene has been parodied and referenced in television and film since, such as the 1998 movie Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and the 2009 movie Watchmen as well as in the final episode of the third season of the American crime drama The Wire.
The theme was also prominently featured in Chuck Jones's 1957 animated short What's Opera Doc? starring Elmer Fudd and Bugs Bunny, and featuring the lyrics 'Kill the wabbit! Kill the wabbit! Kill the wabbit!' sung to the main theme.
In the film Valkyrie (2008) 'Ride of the Valkyries' is heard playing on a record player as Colonel Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg and his family hide in their shelter during an air raid. It is 'Ride of the Valkyries' that inspires von Stauffenberg to amend Operation Valkyrie in an attempt to assassinate Adolf Hitler and end the Second World War.
...A group of German tanks are said to have played 'Ride of the Valkyries' on their shortwave radios just before an assault launched in World War II. The scenario is described in the book The Forgotten Soldier, written in late 1940s and first published in French in the 1960s, which claims to be a personal account of the author, Guy Sajer, and his experience as a soldier of the German 'Großdeutschland Division'. He describes standing next to the tanks in the Battle of Memel (now Klaipeda) where he was gathering together with a ragtag force to attempt a breakout from a surrounded position, and says in the book that it was 'a fitting accompaniment to supreme sacrifice'.
'Ride of the Valkryies' was used to accompany several editions of Die Deutsche Wochenschau, the German wartime newsreel. The films in question were typically narrated by Harry Geise and featured sequences of Luftwaffe bombings." en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ride_of_the_Valkyries
"Ride of the Valkyries"
Queen Street West, Toronto
You could place your camera and sort of tell a story with parked or locked bicycles. - Mike
*****
"The Ride of the Valkyries (German: Walkürenritt), is the popular term for the beginning of Act III of Die Walküre by Richard Wagner. The main theme of the ride, the leitmotif labelled Walkürenritt was first written down by the composer on 23 July 1851. The preliminary draft for the Ride was composed in 1854 as part of the composition of the entire opera which was fully orchestrated by the end of the first quarter of 1856. Together with the Bridal Chorus from Lohengrin, the Ride of the Valkyries is one of Wagner's best-known pieces.
In the opera-house, the Ride, which takes around eight minutes, begins in the prelude to the Act, building up successive layers of accompaniment until the curtain rises to reveal a mountain peak where four of the eight Valkyrie sisters of Brünnhilde have gathered in preparation for the transportation of fallen heroes to Valhalla. As they are joined by the other four, the familiar tune is carried by the orchestra, while, above it, the Valkyries greet each other and sing their battle-cry. Apart from the song of the Rhinemaidens in Das Rheingold, it is the only ensemble piece in the first three operas of Wagner's Ring cycle. Outside the opera-house, it is usually heard in a purely instrumental version, which may be as short as three minutes.
...The Ride of The Valkyries has been used to accompany moving pictures since the earliest days of Hollywood. The original score for D. W. Griffith's film The Birth of a Nation (1915), compiled by Joseph Carl Breil and Griffith, used the music in the climactic scene of the third act, when 'The former enemies of North and South are united again in defense of their Aryan birthright' against liberated former black slaves after the end of the American Civil War. The beleaguered white group are rescued by the Ku Klux Klan to the sound of the music.
Since then, 'The Ride of the Valkyries' has been used in a scene in Apocalypse Now where a squadron of helicopters attacks a Vietnamese village. Lieutenant Colonel Bill Kilgore (Robert Duvall), commander of the 1/9 AirCav, orders its use because 'Charlie hates Wagner!' In the 2009 film Watchmen, it is used in a similar scene portraying Dr. Manhattan and the Comedian's service in Vietnam.
Through the music, this scene has been parodied and referenced in television and film since, such as the 1998 movie Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and the 2009 movie Watchmen as well as in the final episode of the third season of the American crime drama The Wire.
The theme was also prominently featured in Chuck Jones's 1957 animated short What's Opera Doc? starring Elmer Fudd and Bugs Bunny, and featuring the lyrics 'Kill the wabbit! Kill the wabbit! Kill the wabbit!' sung to the main theme.
In the film Valkyrie (2008) 'Ride of the Valkyries' is heard playing on a record player as Colonel Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg and his family hide in their shelter during an air raid. It is 'Ride of the Valkyries' that inspires von Stauffenberg to amend Operation Valkyrie in an attempt to assassinate Adolf Hitler and end the Second World War.
...A group of German tanks are said to have played 'Ride of the Valkyries' on their shortwave radios just before an assault launched in World War II. The scenario is described in the book The Forgotten Soldier, written in late 1940s and first published in French in the 1960s, which claims to be a personal account of the author, Guy Sajer, and his experience as a soldier of the German 'Großdeutschland Division'. He describes standing next to the tanks in the Battle of Memel (now Klaipeda) where he was gathering together with a ragtag force to attempt a breakout from a surrounded position, and says in the book that it was 'a fitting accompaniment to supreme sacrifice'.
'Ride of the Valkryies' was used to accompany several editions of Die Deutsche Wochenschau, the German wartime newsreel. The films in question were typically narrated by Harry Geise and featured sequences of Luftwaffe bombings." en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ride_of_the_Valkyries