instance_of ride of the valkyries
Das Rheingold ( The Rhinegold ), WWV 86A , is the first of the ___MASK75___ ___MASK39___ dramas that constitute Richard Wagner ' s " Der ___MASK69___ des Nibelungen ," or in English , ' The ___MASK69___ of the Nibelung .' The German Nibelungen  with the corresponding Old Norse form Niflung ( Niflungr ; pl . Niflungar )  is the ___MASK88___ in Germanic and Norse ___MASK80___ of the ___MASK50___ or ___MASK63___ of the Burgundians who settled in the early 5th century at Worms . A ___MASK14___ is the ___MASK27___ used in , or intended for , an extended ___MASK67___ such as an opera , operetta , ___MASK65___ , ___MASK96___ , ___MASK99___ or musical . The term " ___MASK14___ " is also sometimes used to refer to the ___MASK27___ of major liturgical works , such as the Mass , requiem and sacred ___MASK99___ , or the story line of a ___MASK71___ . In Norse ___MASK80___ , a ___MASK38___ ( from Old Norse " valkyrja " " chooser of the slain ") is one of a host of female figures who choose those who may die in ___MASK25___ and those who may live . Selecting half of those who die in ___MASK25___ , the valkyries bring their chosen to the afterlife ___MASK86___ of the slain , Valhalla , ruled over by the god Odin ( the other half go to the goddess Freyja ' s afterlife field Fólkvangr ). There , the deceased warriors become einherjar ( Old Norse " single ( or once ) fighters "). When the einherjar are not preparing for the events of Ragnarök , the valkyries bear them mead . Valkyries also appear as lovers of heroes and other mortals , where they are sometimes described as the daughters of royalty , sometimes accompanied by ravens and sometimes connected to swans or horses . A polemic is contentious ___MASK84___ that is intended to support a specific position . Polemics are mostly seen in arguments about controversial topics . The practice of such argumentation is called " polemics ". A person who often writes polemics , or who speaks polemically , is called a " polemicist ". The word is derived , . The Bayreuth ___MASK22___ is a ___MASK85___ held annually in Bayreuth , Germany , at which performances of operas by the 19th - ___MASK29___ German composer Richard Wagner are presented . Wagner himself conceived and promoted the idea of a special festival to showcase his own works , in particular his monumental cycle "" and " Parsifal ". Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( 22 ___MASK100___ 181313 ___MASK8___ 1883 ) was a German composer , theatre director , polemicist , and conductor who is primarily known for his operas ( or , as some of his later works were later known , " music dramas "). Unlike most opera composers , Wagner wrote both the libretto and the music for each of his ___MASK16___ works . Initially establishing his reputation as a composer of works in the romantic vein of Weber and Meyerbeer , Wagner revolutionised opera through his concept of the " Gesamtkunstwerk " (" total work of art "), by which he sought to synthesise the poetic , visual , ___MASK43___ and dramatic arts , with music subsidiary to drama . He described this vision in a series of essays published between 1849 and 1852 . Wagner realised these ideas most fully in the first half of the four - ___MASK19___ " Der Ring des Nibelungen " (" The Ring of the Nibelung "). ___MASK34___ ( English plural : " operas "; Italian plural : " opere " ) is an ___MASK58___ in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text ( libretto ) and ___MASK43___ score , usually in a theatrical setting . In traditional opera , singers do two types of singing : recitative , a speech - inflected style and arias , a more melodic style . ___MASK34___ incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre , such as acting , scenery , and costumes and sometimes includes dance . The performance is typically given in an opera house , accompanied by an orchestra or smaller ___MASK43___ ensemble , which since the early 19th century has been led by a conductor . Wagner wrote the ___MASK14___ and music over the ___MASK24___ of about twenty - six years , from 1848 to 1874 . The four parts that constitute the " Ring " cycle are , in sequence : Although individual works of the sequence have occasionally been performed separately , Wagner intended them to be performed in series . The first performance as a cycle opened the first Bayreuth Festival in 1876 , beginning with " Das Rheingold " on 13 August and ending with " Götterdämmerung " on 17 August . The ___MASK31___ is a translation into German of the Old Norse ___MASK42___ "", which in Norse mythology refers to a prophesied war among various beings and gods that ultimately results in the burning , immersion in ___MASK36___ , and renewal of the world . However , as with the rest of the " Ring ", Wagner ' s account diverges significantly from his Old Norse sources . Norse ___MASK80___ is the body of ___MASK80___ of the North Germanic ___MASK59___ stemming from Norse paganism and continuing after the Christianization of Scandinavia and into the Scandinavian ___MASK4___ of the modern ___MASK10___ . The northernmost extension of Germanic ___MASK80___ , Norse ___MASK80___ consists of tales of various deities , beings , and heroes derived from numerous sources from both before and after the pagan ___MASK10___ , including medieval manuscripts , archaeological representations , and folk tradition . A Gesamtkunstwerk ( translated as " total ___MASK62___ of ___MASK95___ ", " ideal ___MASK62___ of ___MASK95___ ", " universal artwork ", " synthesis of the arts ", " comprehensive artwork ", " all - embracing ___MASK58___ " or " total artwork ") is a ___MASK62___ of ___MASK95___ that makes use of all or many ___MASK95___ forms or strives to do so . The term is a German word which has come to be accepted in English as a term in aesthetics . The story of " ___MASK55___ Walküre " is based on the Norse mythology told in the " Volsunga ___MASK26___ " and the " Poetic Edda ". In Norse mythology , a valkyrie is one in a group of female figures who decide which soldiers die in battle and which live . ""' s best - known excerpt is the " Ride of the Valkyries ". Poetic Edda is the modern attribution for an unnamed ___MASK52___ of Old Norse ___MASK98___ poems , which is different from the Edda , written by Snorri Sturluson . Several versions exist , all consisting primarily of text from the Icelandic mediaeval manuscript known as the " ___MASK5___ Regius ". The " ___MASK5___ Regius " is arguably the most important extant source on Norse mythology and Germanic heroic legends , and from the early 19th century onwards , it has had a powerful influence on later Scandinavian literatures , not merely by the stories it contains but also by the visionary force and dramatic quality of many of the poems . It has also become an inspiring model for many later innovations in poetic meter , particularly in Nordic languages , offering many varied examples of terse , stress - based metrical schemes working without any ___MASK54___ rhyme by instead using alliterative devices and strongly - concentrated imagery . Poets who have acknowledged their debt to the ___MASK5___ Regius include Vilhelm Ekelund , August Strindberg , J . R . R . Tolkien , Ezra Pound , Jorge Luis Borges , and Karin Boye . Recitative ( also known by its Italian ___MASK88___ " recitativo ") is a style of delivery ( much used in operas , oratorios , and cantatas ) in which a singer is allowed to adopt the rhythms of ordinary speech . Recitative does not repeat lines as formally composed songs do . It resembles sung ordinary speech more than a formal ___MASK28___ . Bayreuth is a sizeable ___MASK45___ in northern Bavaria , Germany , on the Red Main river in a ___MASK89___ between the Franconian Jura and the Fichtelgebirge Mountains . The ___MASK45___ ' s roots date back to 1194 . In the early 21st ___MASK29___ , it is the ___MASK51___ of Upper Franconia and has a population of 72 , 576 ( 2009 ). It is world - famous for its annual Bayreuth Festival , at which performances of operas by the 19th - ___MASK29___ German composer Richard Wagner are presented . The `` Ride of the Valkyries '' ( German : Walkürenritt or Ritt der Walküren ) is the popular ___MASK57___ for the beginning of act 3 of Die Walküre , the second of the four operas by Richard Wagner that constitute Der ___MASK69___ des Nibelungen . As a separate piece , the `` Ride '' is often heard in a purely instrumental version , which ___MASK100___ be as short as three minutes . Together with the `` Bridal Chorus '' from Lohengrin , the Ride of the Valkyries is one of Wagner ' s best - known pieces .