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Wotan is on stage for the opening of “Die Walküre,” an act earlier than Wagner wrote, making sure Siegmund and Sieglinde meet in the forest, then handing mead to her to give to her brother and future lover.

Soprano Daniela Köhler was a vocally gripping Sieglinde and bass-baritone Christopher Purves a menacing Alberich, their acting and singing riveting in the compact space.

At a recent performance, the message seemed like a follow-up to the first act, a way to explain the presence of a wolflike dog that stalked Sigmund and Sieglinde like an angel of death.

Along with his wife, Dr. Talbott is survived by two daughters, Sieglinde Peterson and Alexandra Morrel; six grandchildren; and a sister, Cherry Talbott.

Davidsen excels in repertoire — mostly Wagner and Strauss — somewhere between the achingly human and the otherworldly: the saintly Elisabeth in “Tannhäuser,” the mythical title character in “Ariadne auf Naxos,” the forlorn Sieglinde in “Die Walküre.”