Debut of the Valkyrie

In the second musical drama of The Ring, Siegmund stumbles into the hunting cottage of the fierce Hunding. Here, Sieglinde, the wife of Hunding, offers her brother Siegmund a drink. The siblings, the offspring of Wotan and a she-wolf, were separated in their childhood, and do not recognize one another. Later in the opera, Hunding returns home and angrily promises to wage battle with Siegmund the following day and then departs. Siegmund then proclaims his romantic love for Sieglinde, removes Wotan's sword from the magic tree, and the couple retreats into the night.