Ride of the Valkyries

The Ride of the Valkyries (German: Walkürenritt or Ritt der Walküren) is the popular name of the prelude to the first scene of the third and last act of Die Walküre, the second of the four epic music dramas that constitute the operatic cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen (English: The Ring of the Nibelung), composed by Richard Wagner.

The preliminary draft for the "Ride" was composed in 1854 as part of the composition of the entire opera, which was fully orchestrated by the end of March 1856.

[1] In the Walküre opera, the "Ride", which takes around eight minutes, begins in the prelude to the third act, building up successive layers of accompaniment until the curtain rises to reveal a mountain peak where four of the eight Valkyrie sisters of Brünnhilde have gathered in preparation for the transportation of fallen heroes to Valhalla.

[7] The "Ride" features as diegetic music in Apocalypse Now (1979),[8] where the 1/9 Air Cavalry squadron plays it on helicopter-mounted loudspeakers[9] during their assault on a Viet Cong-controlled village as psychological warfare and to motivate their own troops.

[12] Ride of the Valkyries has been used as the tune for the official theme song of Mimosas and Pancakes, an annual Super Bowl Breakfast event in Anaheim California, since 2002.