DESCRIPTION:
"Siegfried" is the third part of the ninth music drama by Wagner, "Der Ring des Nibelungen". It was composed between 1856 and 1871 and was premiered in 1876, in the whole performance of the cycle. It took that long because, when he finished the second act, he was so attracted to the history of "Tristan and Isolde" that he abandoned the big work. Because of his fight with Minna, he left Zurich and wandered across Europe from 1858 to 1864. In this time, he gave up composing The Ring Cycle, and composed "Tristan und Isolde" and "Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg". In 1865, with the patroness of Ludwig II of Bavaria, he again believed in the work of The Ring. But he was composing "Die Meistersinger" at that time, so he only resumed the work on the third act of "Siegfried" in 1869.
The overture is spectacular: it depicts the realm of the world of the nibelungs. Its chromaticism and peculiar orchestration transports the listener to that realm.
Music: overture to "Siegfried"
Composer: Richard Wagner
Orchestra: Herbert von Karajan with the Berlin Philharmonic
Pictures gotten from Google.