Siegfried-Idyll

The Siegfried Idyll for chamber orchestra, in the original version of " Idyll with Fidi Tribschener - Vogelsang and Orange Sunrise, as Symphonic Birthday Greeting. His Cosima offered by your Richard. " Called, is a symphonic poem by Richard Wagner. It is one of the best-known orchestral works.

History

Richard Wagner composed the twenty minute orchestral work secretly in the year 1870. He wrote the work for his wife Cosima commemorating the birth of their first son, Siegfried, also called " Fidi ". It was first performed in the immediate family on Christmas Day 1870, which was Cosima's 33rd birthday at the same time, by members of the Zurich Tonhalle Orchestra. The premiere took place on a staircase in Wagner's villa Triebschen near Lucerne, with the limited space made ​​a chamber cast necessary. Since the composition was intended as a present for Cosima, she refused long the publication of the work.

Music

The name of the symphonic poem is related not only with Wagner's son, but also with his music drama Siegfried, which forms the third part of the ring of the Nibelung. Wagner used primarily motifs from this musical drama. It is his only contribution to the genre of the symphonic poem, in its main campaigner, particularly emerged within the New German School and father Cosima, Franz Liszt. Wagner described the composition as his only orchestral work, for which he could have a complete program.

The Siegfried Idyll offers an idyllic and idealized tone colors. It is composed in E major and carries the catalog raisonné number WWV 103

Recordings and literature

• Richard Wagner: Symphony in C major, Siegfried Idyll (CD), edel records GmbH, Berlin, 1999.
• Martin Geck: Richard Wagner, Random House GmbH, Reinbek 2004.
• Richard Wagner: " Siegfried -Idyll " ', Ernst Eulenburg & Co. GmbH, Mainz 2011.