Ride of the Valkyries ... Not

It's that time of year again, and on the so-called "Grüner Hügel" (green hill), in Bayreuth, Germany, the operas of Richard Wagner are being playing live for those who ordered tickets before they were born. This year, Tannhaeuser, Tristan und Isolde, Die Meisersaenger von  Nuernberg, Lohengrin, and Parsifal are being performed at the100th anniversary of the Bayreuther Festspiele. The Valkyries won't be riding this year, since Wagner's Ring trilogy will next be performed in 2013 to its 100th anniversary. Certainly, the so-called Ride of the Valkyries (Ritt der Walkueren) is arguably one of the most well known pieces of Wagner's music. You can hear it here: Ride of the Valkyries at Project Gutenberg.

Valkyrie with slain warrior - Walkuere mit gefallenem Krieger

In German mythology, the Valkyries were maidens (i.e. virgins), their commander was the goddess Freya (whose name gives us our day Friday - Freya's Day, get it?) and it was the job of the Valkyrie to pick up those slain in honor from the battle field and carry them off to Valhalla. So, what does Valkyrie mean, anyway? Well, let's take a look. The German word is Walkuere which is a compound word with wal and kuere. Val/Wal come from the Old Norse valr meaning "those slain in battle" which is related to the latin word volnus for "wound." (In films, Vikings are always yelling about going to Valhalla. This is the hall (halla) of those honorably slain in battle (val.)) Kuere means "choose" and is, in fact, related to that modern English word, coming from the anglo-saxon ciosan. In Dutch, kiezen is "to choose", and "choice" can be both keus or keur. In modern German, we have the word Kuer which we find in the word Kur-fuerst. A Kurfuerst was a Fuerst (prince) who was one of those few princes in the Holy Roman Empire responsible for electing a Kaiser (Emperor). Traditionally (13th century-17th century) there were 7 of these - 3 archbishops and 4 worldly princes.