Sieglinde

Sieglinde, like her twin brother, Siegmund, was fathered in secret by Wotan. As a child, Sieglinde was torn from her family during a violent raid that kills her mother and separates her from her twin brother. She is forced into marriage with Hunding, living in isolation and fear, unaware of her true identity.  

Sieglinde in Die Walküre

“ Du bist der Lenz, nach dem ich verlangte in frostigen Winteröden.”
(You are the spring for which I longed in the frosty, desolate winter.) 
—Die Walküre, Act I, Scene 3

She begins The Ring Cycle as a silenced and captive woman, trapped in an abusive marriage and cut off from her origins. Over the course of Die Walküre, she awakens—emotionally and spiritually—through reunion with her twin, Siegmund.

Their forbidden bond defies the order of the gods: love that cuts across social, legal, and moral boundaries. Sieglinde’s fierce devotion drives her into cunning action against Hunding and leads to the birth of her son Siegfried.

• Biographical Information

  
  Species: Human (Wälsung tribe)

  Residence: Hunding’s House, Sieglinde’s home is described as a rustic dwelling deeply integrated with a massive ash tree, a symbol of the world tree Yggdrasil in Norse myth

  Name Meaning: Gentle Victory

  Cause of Death: In labor to her son, Siegfried

• Family Relationships

  
  Father: Wotan

  Twin Brother & Lover: Siegmund

  Son: Siegfried

  Half-Sister: Brünnhilde

  Husband: Hunding

• Appearances in The Ring

  
  Die Walküre: Unhappily married to Hunding, Sieglinde falls in love with her twin brother Siegmund. She drugs her husband, reveals Siegmund’s name to him and directs him to the powerful sword, Nothung. She runs away with Siegmund. After Siegmund’s death and pregnant with Siegfried, she escapes Wotan’s grasp with Brünnhilde’s help.

• Themes & Leitmotifs

  
  Sieglinde is a central figure of humanity and love in The Ring Cycle. Although her love for her twin brother Siegmund is taboo, it is an important example of love that is unencumbered by the laws of the gods—and in that way—pure. After learning she is pregnant with the hero Siegfried, Sieglinde introduces a leitmotif of redemption that is central to The Ring Cycle.

• Trivia

  
  When Sieglinde learns she is carrying Siegfried, the orchestra introduces a leitmotif often called the “Redemption through Love” motif. It does not return until the final moments of Götterdämmerung, linking Sieglinde’s hope for her unborn child to Brünnhilde’s final act of sacrifice.

• San Francisco Opera History

  
  Leonie Rysanek, a beloved San Francisco Opera artist from 1956 through 1993, was renowned for her unforgettable portrayal of Sieglinde in Die Walküre. Near the end of Act I as Siegmund draws the sword from the ash tree, Rysanek, customarily immersed in her character, often let out an ecstatic outburst, the “Sieglinde Scream.” Though not in Wagner’s score, Rysanek’s interpolation made sound dramatic sense and drove audiences wild. San Franciscans thrilled to Rysanek’s “Sieglinde Scream” in 1956, 1976, 1981, and 1982.