Siegfried is the third of the four music dramas that constitute Der Ring des Nibelungen (The Ring of the Nibelung), by Richard Wagner. It premiered at the Bayreuth Festspielhaus on August 16, 1876, as part of the first complete performance of The Ring cycle.
The libretto of Siegfried was drafted by Wagner in November–December 1852, based on an earlier version he had prepared in May–June 1851 and originally entitled Jung-Siegfried (Young Siegfried), later changed to Der junge Siegfried. The musical composition was commenced in 1856, but not finally completed until 1871.
The libretto arose from Wagner's gradual reconception of the project he had initiated with his libretto Siegfrieds Tod (Siegfried's Death) which was eventually to be incarnated as Götterdämmerung, the final section of the Ring cycle.
Full work was finally commenced on the music of Siegfried, as the composer henceforth referred to it, in 1856, when Wagner prepared concurrently two drafts, a complete draft in pencil and a version in ink on up to three staves in which he worked out details of instrumentation and vocal line. The composition of Acts I and II was completed by August 1857. Wagner then left off work on Siegfried to write the operas Tristan und Isolde and Die Meistersinger. He did not resume work on Siegfried until 1869, when he composed the third act. The final revision of the score was undertaken in February 1871. Performance was withheld until the first complete production of the Ring cycle, at Bayreuth in August 1876.
Cast:
Siegfreid - Siegfried Jerusalem
Mime - Graham Clark
The Wanderer (Wotan in desgiuse) - John Tomlinson
Alberich - Gunter von Kannen
Fafner (The Dragon) - Philip Kang
Brunnhilde - Anne Evans
Erda - Birgitta Svenden
Forest Bird - Hilde Leidland
Daniel Barenboim - conductor
The Bayreuth Festival Orchestra
Teldec - 1991