Siegfried Idyll

A symphonic piece for small orchestra by Wagner, composed at Triebschen on the Lake of Lucerne in November 1870 and performed on Cosima Wagner's birthday, 25 December, on the staircase of the villa. It was therefore at first entitled Triebschener Idyll and called ‘Treppenmusik’ in the family circle. The thematic material is taken from Siegfried, except the German cradle song ‘Schlaf, Kindlein, schlaf’, but some of it, even though included in Siegfried, dates back to a string quartet of 1864. The musicians had to rehearse in secret, to maintain the element of surprise for Cosima; Hans Richter (six years later to premiere the Ring at Bayreuth in Bavaria) practised his trumpet part from a rowing boat in the middle of Lake Lucerne.