Siegfried Idyll

A chamber orchestra concert piece written before Wagner resumed work on the third act of Siegfried. It was written to celebrate the birth of his son (himself named Siegfried) and played on the event of his wife Cosima's birthday. The Idyll contains a couple of themes that go on to make appearances in the closing act of Siegfried that Wagner went on to compose and in the next and final opera of the cycle, Gotterdamerung. Its unclear whether these themes were sketched for the Ring and included in the piece, or the opposite.