Kirsten Flagstad: Wagner Götterdämmerung, 'Brunhilde's Immolation'

Kirsten Målfrid Flagstad (12 July 1895 - 7 December 1962) was a Norwegian opera singer and a highly regarded Wagnerian soprano. She ranks among the greatest singers of the 20th century, and many opera critics called hers "the voice of the century." Desmond Shawe-Taylor wrote of her in the New Grove Dictionary of Opera: "No one within living memory surpassed her in sheer beauty and consistency of line and tone."... en.wikipedia.or...
Lyrics & English Translation
Fly home, you ravens!
Recount to your master
what you have heard here by the Rhine!
Pass
by Brünnhilde's rock:
direct Loge, who still
blazes there, to Valhalla;
for the end of the gods
is nigh.
Thus do I throw this torch
at Valhalla's vaulting towers.
Grane, my steed,
greetings!
Do you too know, my friend,
where I am leading you?
Radiant in the fire,
there lies your lord,
Siegfried, my blessed hero.
Are you neighing for joy
to follow your friend?
Do the laughing flames
lure you to him?
Feel my bosom too,
how it burns;
a bright fire
fastens on my heart
to embrace him,
enfolded in his arms,
to be one with him
in the intensity of love!
Heiajoho! Grane!
Greet your master!
Siegfried! Siegfried! See!
Your wife joyfully greets you!
(She has jumped on to the horse and with one bound leaps into the burning pyre. The flames immediately crackle and flare up high, so that the fire fills the whole space in front of the hall and seems to seize on this too. Terrified, the men and women press to the extreme foreground.)
(When the entire stage appears to be completely filled with flame, the glare suddenly dies down, soon leaving only a cloud of smoke which drifts towards the background and lies on the horizon like a dark pall of cloud. At the same time the Rhine greatly overflows its banks, and its waters inundate the area of the fire. The three Rhinemaidens swim past on the waves and appear above the pyre. Hagen, who since the incident of the ring has been watching Brünnhilde's behaviour with growing anxiety, is filled with the utmost terror at the sight of the Rhinemaidens. He hastily throws aside his spear, shield and helmet and plunges, as if insane, into the flood.)
A link to this wonderful artists personal website: www.allmusic.co...
Please Enjoy!
I send my kind and warm regards,