Siegfried Helferich Richard Wagner (6 June 18694 August 1930) was a German composer and conductor, the son of

Richard Wagner Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, polemicist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most op ...

. He was an

opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a librett ...

composer and the artistic director of the

Bayreuth Festival The Bayreuth Festival (german: link=no, Bayreuther Festspiele) is a music festival held annually in Bayreuth, Germany, at which performances of operas by the 19th-century German composer Richard Wagner are presented. Wagner himself conceived ...

from 1908 to 1930.

Life

Siegfried Wagner was born in 1869 to

and his future wife Cosima (née Liszt), at

Tribschen Tribschen (also seen as ''Triebschen'') is a district of the city of Lucerne, in the Canton of Lucerne in central Switzerland. Tribschen is best known today as the home of the German composer Richard Wagner from 30 March 1866 to 22 April 1872. W ...

Lake Lucerne __NOTOC__ Lake Lucerne (german: Vierwaldstättersee, literally "Lake of the four forested settlements" (in English usually translated as ''forest cantons''), french: lac des Quatre-Cantons, it, lago dei Quattro Cantoni) is a lake in central ...

in Switzerland. Through his mother, he was a grandson of

Franz Liszt Franz Liszt, in modern usage ''Liszt Ferenc'' . Liszt's Hungarian passport spelled his given name as "Ferencz". An orthographic reform of the Hungarian language in 1922 (which was 36 years after Liszt's death) changed the letter "cz" to simpl ...

, from whom he received some instruction in harmony. Portrait Siegfried Wagner 1896

Some youthful compositions date from about 1882. After he completed his secondary education in 1889, he studied with Wagner's assistant Engelbert Humperdinck, but was more strongly drawn to a career as an architect and studied architecture in Berlin and

Karlsruhe Karlsruhe ( , , ; South Franconian: ''Kallsruh'') is the third-largest city of the German state (''Land'') of Baden-Württemberg after its capital of Stuttgart and Mannheim, and the 22nd-largest city in the nation, with 308,436 inhabitants. ...

. In 1892 he undertook a trip to Asia with a friend, the English composer Clement Harris. During the voyage he decided to abandon architecture and commit himself to music. Reputedly, it was also Harris who first aroused his

homoerotic Homoeroticism is sexual attraction between members of the same sex, either male–male or female–female. The concept differs from the concept of homosexuality: it refers specifically to the desire itself, which can be temporary, whereas "homose ...

impulses. While on board, he sketched his first official work, the

symphonic poem A symphonic poem or tone poem is a piece of orchestral music, usually in a single continuous movement, which illustrates or evokes the content of a poem, short story, novel, painting, landscape, or other (non-musical) source. The German term ''T ...

''Sehnsucht'', inspired by the poem of the same name by

Friedrich Schiller Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller (, short: ; 10 November 17599 May 1805) was a German playwright, poet, and philosopher. During the last seventeen years of his life (1788–1805), Schiller developed a productive, if complicated, friends ...

. This piece was not completed until just before the concert in which Wagner conducted it in London on 6 June 1895.Peter P. Pachl, booklet notes to

cpo CPO may refer to: Occupations * Certified Professional Organizer * Certified Protection Officer, a professional certification for security officers from the International Foundation for Protection Officers * Chief people officer, a corporate of ...

999 366-2. Though his works are numerous, none entered the standard repertory. He made his conducting debut as an assistant conductor at Bayreuth in 1894; in 1896 he became associate conductor, sharing responsibility for conducting the ''

Ring Cycle (''The Ring of the Nibelung''), WWV 86, is a cycle of four German-language epic music dramas composed by Richard Wagner. The works are based loosely on characters from Germanic heroic legend, namely Norse legendary sagas and the ''Nibelung ...

'' with Felix Mottl and Hans Richter, who had conducted its premiere 20 years earlier. In 1908 he took over as Artistic Director of the Bayreuth Festival in succession to his mother, Cosima. Wagner was

bisexual Bisexuality is a romantic or sexual attraction or behavior toward both males and females, or to more than one gender. It may also be defined to include romantic or sexual attraction to people regardless of their sex or gender identity, whi ...

. For years, his mother urged him to marry and provide the Wagner dynasty with heirs, but he fought off her increasingly desperate urgings. Around 1913, pressure on him increased due to the

Harden–Eulenburg affair The Eulenburg affair, described as "the biggest homosexual scandal ever", was the public controversy surrounding a series of courts-martial and five civil trials regarding accusations of homosexual conduct, and accompanying libel trials, among pro ...

(1907–1909), in which the journalist

Maximilian Harden __NOTOC__ Maximilian Harden (born Felix Ernst Witkowski, 20 October 1861 – 30 October 1927) was an influential German journalist and editor. Biography Born the son of a Jewish merchant in Berlin he attended the '' Französisches Gymnasium'' u ...

accused several public figures, most notably

Philipp, Prince of Eulenburg Philipp, Prince of Eulenburg and Hertefeld, Count of Sandels (german: Philipp Friedrich Karl Alexander Botho Fürst zu Eulenburg und Hertefeld Graf von Sandels; 12 February 1847 – 17 September 1921) was a diplomat and composer of Imperial Germ ...

, a friend of

Kaiser Wilhelm II Wilhelm II (Friedrich Wilhelm Viktor Albert; 27 January 18594 June 1941) was the last German Emperor (german: Kaiser) and List of monarchs of Prussia, King of Prussia, reigning from 15 June 1888 until Abdication of Wilhelm II, his abdication on 9 ...

, of

homosexuality Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions" to peop ...

. In this climate, the family found it suitable to arrange a marriage with a 17-year-old Englishwoman, Winifred Klindworth, and at the Bayreuth Festival of 1914 she was introduced to the then-45-year-old Wagner. The two married on 22 September 1915.

Brigitte Hamann Brigitte Hamann (; 26 July 1940 – 4 October 2016) was a German-Austrian author and historian based in Vienna. Biography Born in Essen, Germany, Hamann studied history in Münster and Vienna. She worked as a journalist in her native Essen for ...

. ''Winifred Wagner: A Life at the Heart of Hitler's Bayreuth''. Harcourt, Orlando, Florida (2005). The couple had four children: # Wieland (1917–1966) # Friedelind (1918–1991) # Wolfgang (1919–2010) #

Verena Verena of Zurzach, mostly just called ''Saint Verena'' (c. 260 – c. 320) is an early Christian consecrated virgin and hermit. She is especially venerated in Switzerland, where her cult is attested in Bad Zurzach, the reported place of he ...

(1920–2019) Though the marriage provided for the dynastic succession, the hope that it would also bring an end to his homosexual encounters and the associated costly scandals was disappointed, as Wagner remained sexually active with other men.

Geoffrey Wheatcroft Geoffrey Albert Wheatcroft (born 23 December 1945) is a British journalist, author, and historian. Early life and education Wheatcroft is the son of Stephen Frederick Wheatcroft (1921–2016), OBE, and his first wife, Joyce (née Reed). He w ...

"A Widow's Might"
''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', 11 March 2007. , one of Siegfried's biographers, asserted that Siegfried had sired an illegitimate son, Walter Aign (1901–1977); several recent authors, such as Frederic Spotts and

, have taken it up. Wagner died in

Bayreuth Bayreuth (, ; bar, Bareid) is a town in northern Bavaria, Germany, on the Red Main river in a valley between the Franconian Jura and the Fichtelgebirge Mountains. The town's roots date back to 1194. In the 21st century, it is the capital of U ...

in 1930 aged 61, having outlived his mother by only four months. Since his two sons were still only adolescents, he was succeeded at the helm of the Bayreuth Festival by his widow Winifred.

Works

Operas

See List of operas by Siegfried Wagner

Orchestral works

* March for ''Gottfried der Spielmann'' (c. 1882) * Orchestration of ''Ekloge'' from Liszt's ''Années de Pèlerinage'' (1890) * ''Sehnsucht'', symphonic poem after Schiller (1892–1895) * Concertino for flute and small orchestra (1913) * Violin Concerto (1915) * ''Und wenn die Welt voll Teufel wär'', scherzo for orchestra (1922) * ''Glück'', symphonic poem (1922–23) edicated to the memory of Clement Harris* Symphony in C major (1925, rev. 1927). (First version used the Prelude to ''Der Friedensengel'' as the slow movement, whereas a new movement was composed for the revised version. The scherzo is based on the sketches for an unfinished orchestral tone poem, ''Hans im Glück''Peter P. Pachl, notes to Classic Produktion Osnabrück cpo 999 531-2)

Vocal music

* 1890 "Abend auf dem Meere", for soprano and piano – text: Henry Thode * 1890 "Frühlingsglaube", for soprano and piano – text:

Ludwig Uhland Johann Ludwig Uhland (26 April 1787 – 13 November 1862) was a German poet, philologist and literary historian. Biography He was born in Tübingen, Württemberg, and studied jurisprudence at the university there, but also took an interest i ...

* 1890 "Abend am Meer" – text: Alfred Meissner * 1897 "Schäfer und Schäferin" * 1913 "Das Märchen vom dicken fetten Pfannekuchen", for solo voice and orchestra * 1918 "Wahnfried-Idyll" * 1919 "Nacht am

Narocz Lake Narach ( be, На́рач, ''Narač'' ; russian: На́рочь, ''Naročj''; lt, Narutis, pl, Narocz) is a lake in north-western Belarus (Myadzyel District, Minsk Region), located in the basin of the Viliya river. It is the largest lake ...

", for tenor and piano – text: Günther Holstein * 1922 "Ein Hochzeitslied für unseren Erich und seine liebe 'Dusi' " * 1927 "Dryadenlied" * 1927 "Weihnacht" * "Frühlingsblick" – text:

Nikolaus Lenau Nikolaus Lenau was the pen name of Nikolaus Franz Niembsch Edler von Strehlenau (13 August 1802 – 22 August 1850), a German-language Austrian poet. Biography He was born at Csatád (Schadat), Kingdom of Hungary, now Lenauheim, Banat, then p ...

* "Frühlingstod" – text: Nikolaus Lenau

Notes

External links

* *
Siegfried Wagner, the Last Romantic – a documentaryInternational Siegfried Wagner Society
Naxos Records * {{DEFAULTSORT:Wagner, Siegfried 1869 births 1930 deaths 19th-century classical composers 19th-century German composers 19th-century German male musicians 20th-century classical composers 20th-century German composers 20th-century German male musicians Bisexual men Bisexual musicians German male classical composers German opera composers German Romantic composers German people of French descent German people of Hungarian descent LGBT classical composers LGBT classical musicians LGBT musicians from Germany Male opera composers Pupils of Engelbert Humperdinck

Siegfried Siegfried is a German-language male given name, composed from the Germanic elements ''sig'' "victory" and ''frithu'' "protection, peace". The German name has the Old Norse cognate ''Sigfriðr, Sigfrøðr'', which gives rise to Swedish ''Sigfrid' ...