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, essayist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most o ...

. He was an

opera Opera is a form of History of theatre#European theatre, Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by Singing, singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically ...

composer and the artistic director of the

Bayreuth Festival The Bayreuth Festival () is a music festival held annually in Bayreuth, Germany, at which performances of stage works by the 19th-century German composer Richard Wagner are presented. Wagner himself conceived and promoted the idea of a special ...

from 1908 to 1930.

Life

Siegfried Wagner was born in 1869 to

and his future wife Cosima (née Liszt), at Tribschen on

Lake Lucerne Lake Lucerne (, literally 'Lake of the four Waldstätte, forested settlements' (in English usually translated as ''forest cantons''), , ) is a lake in central Switzerland and the fourth largest in the country. Geography The lake has a compli ...

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

Franz Liszt Franz Liszt (22 October 1811 – 31 July 1886) was a Hungarian composer, virtuoso pianist, conductor and teacher of the Romantic music, Romantic period. With a diverse List of compositions by Franz Liszt, body of work spanning more than six ...

, 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 German, South Franconian: ''Kallsruh'') is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, third-largest city of the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, after its capital Stuttgart a ...

. 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 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 ( ...

''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, philosopher and historian. Schiller is considered by most Germans to be Germany's most important classical playwright. He was born i ...

. 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 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'' 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 romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior toward both males and females. It may also be defined as the attraction to more than one gender, to people of both the same and different gender, or the attraction t ...

. 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 (also called the Harden–Eulenburg affair) was a public controversy surrounding a series of courts-martial and five civil trials regarding accusations of homosexual conduct, and accompanying libel trials, among prominent mem ...

(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'' ...

accused several public figures, most notably Philipp, Prince of Eulenburg, a friend of

Kaiser Wilhelm II Wilhelm II (Friedrich Wilhelm Viktor Albert; 27 January 18594 June 1941) was the last German Emperor and King of Prussia from 1888 until his abdication in 1918, which marked the end of the German Empire as well as the Hohenzollern dynasty ...

, of

homosexuality Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or Human sexual activity, sexual behavior between people of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexu ...

. 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. ''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 (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'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', 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 Brigitte Hamann, have taken it up. Wagner died in

Bayreuth Bayreuth ( or ; High Franconian German, Upper Franconian: Bareid, ) is a Town#Germany, town in northern Bavaria, Germany, on the Red Main river in a valley between the Franconian Jura and the Fichtel Mountains. The town's roots date back to 11 ...

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'' () * 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 * 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", 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 * "Frühlingstod" – text: Nikolaus Lenau

References

External links

* *
Siegfried Wagner, the Last Romantic – a documentaryInternational Siegfried Wagner Society
Naxos Records * {{DEFAULTSORT:Wagner, Siegfried 1869 births 1930 deaths 19th-century German classical composers 19th-century German male musicians 20th-century German classical composers 20th-century German male musicians Bisexual male musicians Bisexual composers German opera composers German Romantic composers German people of French descent German people of Hungarian descent LGBTQ classical composers LGBTQ conductors (music) German bisexual men German bisexual musicians German LGBTQ composers German 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' ...