FULL DIE NIBELUNGEN Silent Movie Fritz Lang Germany 1924 Music by Huppertz

Information on the Performance

• Work Title: DIE NIBELUNGEN  
• Composer: Huppertz Gottfried   
• Libretto: Thea von Harbou  
• Venue & Opera Company: Studio and on location Germany  
• Recorded: 1924
• Type: Movie
• Singers: N/A
• Conductor:   
• Orchestra:
• Stage Director: Fritz Lang  
• Costume Designer:   

Information about the Recording

• Published by: Ufa  
• Date Published: 1924  
• Format: Broadcast
• Quality Video: 4 Audio:4
• Subtitles: nosubs  

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON THIS PERFORMANCE

DIE NIBELUNGEN is a German epic film directed by Fritz Lang in 1924 , consisting of two parts: Siegfried (sometimes also Siegfried’s Death ) and Kriemhild’s Revenge . The screenplay was written by the director’s then-wife, Thea von Harbou , loosely based on motifs from the Middle High German Nibelungenlied .

The tinted silent film premiered on February 14 (Part 1) and April 26, 1924 (Part 2) at the Ufa-Palast am Zoo in Berlin and became a milestone in film history.

MUSICAL NOTES
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Huppertz is credited with helping elevate film music to a respected art form. His work is considered a “Holy Grail” for film score collectors and a predecessor to the “Golden Age” of Hollywood scoring.
This work laid the foundation for the future of film music, directly influencing later masters like Erich Korngold and Max Steiner. While heavily inspired by Richard Wagner’s Ring Cycle, Huppertz’s score served as an artistic response and critique of Wagnerian ideas, reworking them for the novel technical conditions of 1920s cinema. It is at the same time a testament of traditional legacy, but also the necessity of authentic insight and fresh development.

Because silent films were often edited or lost, Huppertz’s original, through-composed score—which includes over 1,000 precise synchronization points—became the primary blueprint for modern historians. It was the essential tool used to reconstruct the film to its original 1924 runtime and pacing for high-definition releases in the 2010s.

During the Weimar Republic, the soundtrack and film were intended to inspire Germany by drawing on legendary past ideals following the trauma of WWI.

Nibelungen Theme: Represents the core legacy and tragedy of the Nibelung line.
Revenge Theme: Dominates Part II, tracking Kriemhild’s transformation.
Fire Motif: Accentuates the final cataclysmic destruction of the Burgundian court.
Death Fanfare: Signals the inevitable fate of the protagonists.

STORY
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PART 1: SIEGFRIED

Siegfried, a prince and master blacksmith, travels to Worms to win the hand of the beautiful Princess Kriemhild. Along the way, he slays the dragon Fafnir and bathes in its blood to become invulnerable—except for one spot on his back where a linden leaf fell.

To marry Kriemhild, her brother King Gunther demands that Siegfried help him win the warrior queen Brunhild. Using a magic helmet of invisibility (Tarnhelm), Siegfried secretly defeats Brunhild in tests of strength and later subdues her in the bridal chamber so Gunther can consummate the marriage.

Years later, a bitter rivalry between Kriemhild and Brunhild leads Kriemhild to reveal the truth of the deception. Feeling humiliated, Brunhild demands Siegfried’s death. Gunther’s vassal, Hagen von Tronje, tricks Kriemhild into marking Siegfried’s vulnerable spot on his tunic and murders him with a spear during a hunt.

PART II: Kriemhild’s Revenge

Consumed by grief and a thirst for justice, Kriemhild marries Etzel (Attila the Hun) to gain the power of his armies. Hagen, meanwhile, steals the Nibelungen treasure and sinks it in the Rhine to prevent Kriemhild from using it against them.
Kriemhild invites her brothers and Hagen to Etzel’s court for a feast.

Despite Hagen’s warnings, the Burgundians (now called the Nibelungs) travel to Hungary, where Kriemhild instigates a brutal conflict by having their retinue attacked and later witnessing the murder of her own son by Hagen.

A massive battle erupts, culminating in the Burgundians being besieged in a burning palace. Gunther and Hagen are eventually captured. When Hagen refuses to reveal the location of the treasure as long as his king lives, Kriemhild has Gunther beheaded. She then executes Hagen herself with Siegfried’s sword. Horrified by her cruelty, the warrior Hildebrand kills Kriemhild, leaving the court in total ruin.

CAST:
Paul Richter: Siegfried
Margarete Schön: Kriemhild
Hans Adalbert Schlettow: Hagen von Tronje
Theodor Loos: König Gunther
Hanna Ralph: Brunhild
Rudolf Klein-Rogge: König Etzel
Rudolf Rittner: Rüdiger von Bechlarn
Bernhard Goetzke: Volker von Alzey
Gertrud Arnold: Königin Ute
Hans Carl Müller: Gerenot
Erwin Biswanger: Giselher
Frida Richard: Die Runenmagd
Hardy von François: Dankwart
Georg John:
Mime, der Schmied
Alberich, der Nibelung
Blaodel, Etzels Bruder
Georg Jurowski: Der Priester
Iris Roberts: Edelknabe
Fritz Alberti: Dietrich von Bern
Hubert Heinrich: Werbel, der Spielmann
Georg August Koch: Hildebrand
Annie Röttgen: Dietlind

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