Siegfried's Surprise
Evening Music | May 6, 2010
On the morning of 12/25/1870, Richard Wagner’s wife Cosima was awakened by soft music being played by a 15-piece orchestra assembled on the household stairwell...
...music conducted by her husband. He had written it as a surprise birthday present. The work, “Siegfried Idyll,” was one of Wagner’s few non-operatic works; only later did it acquire that namein honor of their small son, Siegfried, and because it incorporated some themes from the not-yet-premiered opera of the same name. Orchestrated since for much larger forces, this piece is an exceedingly popular concert work, and is played for us this evening by the Vienna Philharmonic under Herbert von Karajan. The highly esteemed Vienna Phil is performing at Carnegie Hall this weekend, and we’ll be carrying the Friday evening program live. Don’t forget to tune in.
...music conducted by her husband. He had written it as a surprise birthday present. The work, “Siegfried Idyll,” was one of Wagner’s few non-operatic works; only later did it acquire that namein honor of their small son, Siegfried, and because it incorporated some themes from the not-yet-premiered opera of the same name. Orchestrated since for much larger forces, this piece is an exceedingly popular concert work, and is played for us this evening by the Vienna Philharmonic under Herbert von Karajan. The highly esteemed Vienna Phil is performing at Carnegie Hall this weekend, and we’ll be carrying the Friday evening program live. Don’t forget to tune in.
