Siegfried Wagner

Concert Piece

Siegfried Wagner's name seems insignificant compared with that of his famous father, Richard Wagner, and his own son, Wolfgang Wagner, at present Director of the Bayreuther Festspiele. His compository work has nearly fallen into oblivion, reminiscences of his works as a director faded with the changes in the spirit of the times. Siegfried Wagner was born in 1869 as the third child and only son to Richard and Cosima Wagner. First, he studied architecture, then music with Engelbert Humperdinck among others. After his mother's death in 1909, he took over the directorship of the Bayreuther Festspiele. In 1915, he got married to Winifred Williams, who managed the Festspiele after his death in 1930. He composed a series of traditional operas and fairy tale ones, based on his own stories, symphonic works, a concert for violin, repertoire for choirs and chamber music. The concert piece presented here was written in 1913. It consists of one movement and marks the end of the romantic and fairy-like sound of music prevailing in the 19th century; it is characterized by rhythmic finesse and jocular elements.