Opera in two parts
Stage Director: Valery Raku
Conductors: Evgeny Kolobov, Anatoly Gus
Set Designer: Sergey Barkhin
Costume Designer: Tatyana Barkhina
Choirmasters: Natalya Popovich, Sergey Lysenko
Running time: 2 hours 20 minutes with one intermission
Premiered on 16 January 1997
Based on the story by Wilhelmina von Hillern.
The story is set in a picturesque village in Tyrol. When celebrating his birthday, Stromminger, father of the heroine, insults Hagenbach, the hero, and the two men start a fight. Dashing to her father's aid, Wally recognizes Hagenbach as a secret love of her youth. Hagenbach is stunned by the girl's beauty. When her father dies, Wally inherits his fortune, and by this time Hagenbach is engaged to Afra. For a bet he kisses Wally and immediately realizes that it is she whom he really loves. In an angry response Wally demands that Gellner punish Hagenbach for his impertinence. She repents her hasty action after finding that Gellner has done her bidding and in the darkness has pushed Hagenbach into a snowy abyss. She sets out to find her lover, descending on a rope to rescue the unconscious youth. She asks the devoted Afra to take care of the injured Hagenbach and, acknowledging her responsibility for what happened, decides to stay in the mountains for ever. Hagenbach suddenly appears and declares his love for her. But an avalanche sweeps him away and Wally throws herself after him without hesitation.
