Ride of the Valkyries

Written by	Richard Wagner
Date	1870
Source	Die Walküre (opera)
Publisher	public domain

Miss Piggy in the sterotypical Brünnhilde costume.

The Muppets Audition Night

1980 Milton Bradley puzzle

"Ride of the Valkyries" is a song by Richard Wagner from his opera Die Walküre. Although it was originally written with lyrics, the song has been used as an instrumental in popular culture, and is often associated with Brünnhilde, and her stereotypical opera costume.

Musical references

• In Episode 0018 of Sesame Street, Mr. Hooper shows Gordon one of his plans of how to properly launch a rocket. His Rube Goldberg-like blueprints includes a man watching an opera on TV. A Brünnhilde-like singer is depicted on the TV, and Gordon points out it's Die Walküre; Mr. Hooper incorrectly calls it an Irish opera.

• Sweetums sings the lyrics, while holding standard Wagnerian weaponry, to a reluctant John Cleese in The Muppet Show episode 223.

• An electronic version of the music is used in the Muppet Babies episode "It's Only Pretendo" to underscore the video game antics of Baby Gonzo in The Legend of Imelda.

• The Muppet Babies episode "Sing a Song of Superheroes" uses the music briefly over it's opening title card.

• Later in the episode, Baby Piggy appears on horseback as a Valkyrie and sings a song threatening the Phantom of the Opera with new lyrics set to the tune.

• Robin delivers a singing telegram to the tune in Muppets Studios Presents: You're the Director.

• A group of chickens cluck the tune in episode 106 of Muppets Tonight.

• Whoopi Goldberg plays the music by rubbing her fingers on crystal glasses filled with water in episode 109 of Muppets Tonight.

• The song serves as an underscore to Telly Monster in Sesame Street Episode 3802 when he travels back and forth to run errands.

• In the Farscape episode "Crackers Don't Matter," John Crichton hums the tune after being dressed in protective gear to confront T'raltixx.

• The Flying Monkeys in The Muppets' Wizard of Oz sing the tune as they leave The Wicked Witch of the West's castle, much to the annoyance of their boss, to capture the film's heroes.

• Leonard Birdseed leads the Birdapest Symphony Orchestra in performing the song in the album Elmo and the Orchestra.

• Another instrumental version is used for a film segment in Happy Healthy Monsters showing athletes performing a number of feats.

• Miss Piggy's appearance at the "Fireworks Finale" at the Hollywood Bowl in 2006 featured an excerpt from the song, with Piggy in full Brünnhilde attire.

• Miss Piggy briefly appears as Brunhilde in the video for OK Go's 2011 version of "The Muppet Show Theme".

• The Muppet Babies reboot episode "Monster Next Door" features a brief instrumental interlude of the song during Camilla's attempt to rescue Potato from Sweetums.

Visual references

• The 1980 View-Master reel "The Muppets Audition Night" features two pictures of Miss Piggy performing as a Valkyrie, spoofing a scene from the opera. The images were also used for puzzles by Milton Bradley in 1980.

• Another one from the line shows her in the same costume, backstage.