Siegfried Idyll

On Christmas morning in 1870 the Wagner household heard the first performance of the Siegfried Idyll as Richard Wagner's gift to Cosima. The musicians assembled on the stairs leading to her bedroom, and Wagner directed the ensemble at the head of the stairs. Siegfried at that time was about six months old.

A selection of articles about Siegfried Idyll

Ensemble. Soft Romanticism - Giuseppe Pennisi listens to Schubert, Wagner and Mozart from Daniele Gatti and the Mozart Orchestra at the Ravello Festival

Ensemble. The Touch of Gatti - Giuseppe Pennisi listens to Wagner and Mahler from the Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Rome

Ensemble. Loony Plot - Mike Wheeler listens to Sinfonia Viva's performances of Wagner, Milhaud, Martinu and Copland

Ensemble. An Epic Opera - Rossini's 'William Tell', from Rome to the BBC Proms, by Giuseppe Pennisi

CD Spotlight. Impeccable - Music by Szymanowski, Webern and Schoeck, recommended by Ron Bierman. 'The quartet plays with authority throughout ...'

Ensemble. Winning Freshness - Music by Bach, Felix and Fanny Mendelssohn, Mozart and Wagner, played by Sinfonia Viva, and heard by Mike Wheeler

Ensemble. A Thrilling Performance - Wagner, Mozart and Schubert from Julian Bliss, Andreas Reiner and the Munich KlangVerwaltung, impresses Mike Wheeler

Why Canton? - On the creation of an international Wagner symposium, by Kelly Ferjutz

Ensemble. Punchy dynamism - Sinfonia ViVA at Derby's Guildhall, enjoyed by Mike Wheeler

DVD Spotlight. Dramatic skill - Wagner's 'Siegfried', reviewed by Robert Anderson. '... when it is sung as beautifully as here, one is humbly grateful.'