La Walkiria di R. Wagner: bozzetto per III atto: La cavalcata delle Walkirie

On the occasion of the exhibition The Ring Revolution - Visconti, Ronconi, Chéreau, inaugurated on January 30 at the Teatro alla Scala Museum, some priceless paintings by Marià Fortuny i de Madrazo, better known as Mariano Fortuny, were exhibited. These are large oil sketches that the artist created in 1948, shortly before his death, in preparation for the staging of Richard Wagner's Tetralogy Der Ring des Nibelungen, to be performed in March and April 1950 at La Scala, under the baton of the legendary conductor Wilhelm Furtwängler.
Among these sketches, one has been selected as the most iconic and significant, depicting the scene at the beginning of Act III of The Valkyrie, universally known as the Ride of the Valkyries.
This La Scala production was an original-language performance, truly memorable and courageous, rich in symbolic meanings: almost a sort of “reconciliation” after the great trauma of war. Mariano Fortuny began working on the sketches but had to give up at some point: the cancer that afflicted him gradually weakened his strength, leading to his death on May 3, 1949.
These canvases thus represent a final creative tribute to the composer, who had been the idol and protective spirit of Fortuny's entire career. For the 1950 La Scala performances, Nicola Benois designed the sets (later realized by Carlo Ighina) and costumes, also directing the setup, which was managed by Otto Erhardt.