This Act Iact hinges on hidden identities that are known to the audience. (Wagner uses this situation in operas that are not part of the Ring: in the operas bearing their respective names, Parsifal does not know his own name, and his son Lohengrin is forbidden to reveal his.) The program tells even the first-time viewer the names of the characters, and, from his leitmotif and his covering his missing eye with his hat, the "stranger" or "old man" (described but not seen on stage) and Wotan, Wolfe, and the Wanderer who will appear in Siegfried can be recognized as one and the same individual. Siegmund (whose name means "victory protector or shield") and Sieglinde (meaning "gentle victory") each withhold their own names until the act's climax. (It would appear that, unlike Parsifal, Siegmund does know his own name, though he will not be the first to utter it.)
During a raging storm, Siegmund seeks shelter at the house of the warrior Hunding. Hunding is not present, and Siegmund is greeted by Sieglinde, Hunding's unhappy wife. Siegmund tells her that he is fleeing from enemies. After taking a drink of mead, he moves to leave, claiming to be cursed by misfortune. However, Sieglinde bids him to stay, saying that he can bring no misfortune to the "house where ill-luck lives."
Returning, Hunding reluctantly offers Siegmund the hospitality demanded by custom. Sieglinde, who is increasingly fascinated with the visitor, urges him to tell his tale. Siegmund describes returning home with his father one day, to find his mother dead and his twin sister abducted. He then wandered with his father, until he parted from him as well. One day, he found a girl being forced into marriage and fought with the girl's relatives. However, his weapons were broken and the bride was killed, and he was forced to flee to Hunding's home. Initially, Siegmund does not reveal his name, choosing to call himself 'Woeful'.
When Siegmund finishes, Hunding reveals that he is one of Siegmund's pursuers. He grants Siegmund a night's stay, but they are to do battle in the morning. Hunding leaves the room with Sieglinde, ignoring his wife's distress. Siegmund laments his misfortune, recalling his father's promise that he would find a sword when he most needed it. Sieglinde returns, having drugged Hunding's drink to send him into a deep sleep. She reveals that she was forced into a marriage with Hunding.
During their wedding feast, an old man had appeared and plunged a sword into the trunk of the ash tree in the center of the room, which Hunding and his companions had all failed to remove. She expresses her longing for the hero who could draw the sword and save her. Siegmund expresses his love for her, which she reciprocates, and she begins to grope for where she recognizes him from, and then realizes she recalls his voice and that they resemble each other. When she learns from him the name of his father, Wälse, she tells him that his name is Siegmund, and that the Wanderer left the sword for him.
Siegmund now easily draws the sword forth, and she tells him her own name, Sieglinde, and that they are siblings. He gives the blade the name "Nothung" (or needful, which evokes the dire need for a weapon against Hunding, that it will fill for him). He and Sieglinde flee together from Hunding's house.
This concert hall, which has just completed construction, is the new home of The Hungarian National Philharmonic and The Budapest Festival Orchestra.
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