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SOMM Recordings

Siegfried Wagner Conducts Richard Wagner

$37.99

Details

Composer
Richard Wagner, Siegfried Wagner
Artist
Bayreuth Festival Orchestra, Berlin State Opera Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra
Format
CD
Label
SOMM Recordings
Released
Sep 19, 2025
Catalog #
ARIADNE 5043-2
UPC
758871504324

About

SOMM Recordings is immensely proud to present newly restored releases of Siegfried Wagner (1869-1930) conducting the music of his father, Richard Wagner (1813-1883). These recordings of the younger Wagner leading the Bayreuth Festival Orchestra, the Berlin State Opera Orchestra, and the London Symphony Orchestra were made soon after the introduction of the electrical recording process in April 1925. The painstaking audio restoration of these recordings by long-time SOMM collaborator, Lani Spahr, has been so expertly and stunningly achieved that it is difficult to believe they come from a century ago. Siegfried Wagner was named for the young hero in Richard Wagner's Ring Cycle and immortalized in the Siegfried Idyll, included on this release. He was born to Richard Wagner and his future wife, Cosima (nee Liszt), on 6 June 1869. Although Siegfried considered following a profession outside music (and, as a youth, studied architecture in Berlin and in Karlsruhe), it was inevitable that he would follow a career in music given the lineage of both his parents and his grandfather, Franz Liszt. In addition to receiving instruction in music from Liszt, the thirteen-year-old Siegfried began his advanced musical studies in Frankfurt with Engelbert Humperdinck, a true disciple of Richard Wagner. Siegfried became an assistant at Bayreuth in 1892, immersing himself in his father's music under the strong influence of Cosima Wagner and the conductor Hans Richter. In 1895, he made his debut at Bayreuth conducting a complete Ring cycle. The debut was a considerable artistic success, and Siegfried's future as the true guardian of the Wagner inheritance was assured, as he took a greater share in the direction of the Bayreuth Festival. With Cosima's full endorsement, Siegfried assumed the general directorship from his mother in 1908. Siegfried's busy professional life was devoted in the main to Bayreuth in the 1920s, but it was also during this time that he began a recording career devoted almost exclusively to his father's and his own works. Apart from his evident qualities as a conductor of his father's music-heard here in the recorded legacy he left of his performances at Bayreuth and in Berlin and London-he was equally keen to establish himself as a composer. The first of his twelve completed operas, Der Barenhauter (Bearskin) inspired by the German fairytale, met with public and critical acclaim when it was produced in 1899. The acoustic recording of the overture is heard here. Among the Richard Wagner works conducted by Siegfried Wagner on this historic release are well-known selections from Das Rheingold and Die Walkure from the Ring Cycle. Also included are a suite from Parsifal and selections from Tannhauser, Lohengrin, and Tristan und Isolde.

Tracklist 12 tracks

  1. Disc 1
  2. 1 Das Rheingold: Scene 4: Entry of the Gods into Valhalla 06:50
    Track
    1
    Title
    Das Rheingold: Scene 4: Entry of the Gods into Valhalla
    Duration
    06:50
    Composer
    Richard Wagner
    Ensemble
    Staatskapelle Berlin
    Conductor
    Siegfried Wagner
  3. 2 Die Walküre, Act III: Ride of the Valkyries 05:44
    Track
    2
    Title
    Die Walküre, Act III: Ride of the Valkyries
    Duration
    05:44
    Composer
    Richard Wagner
    Ensemble
    Staatskapelle Berlin
    Conductor
    Siegfried Wagner
  4. 3 Die Walküre, Act III: Leb' wohl … Loge hor! Lausche hieher, "Wotan's Farewell" - Feuerzauber (Magic Fire music) 15:50
    Track
    3
    Title
    Die Walküre, Act III: Leb' wohl … Loge hor! Lausche hieher, "Wotan's Farewell" - Feuerzauber (Magic Fire music)
    Duration
    15:50
    Composer
    Richard Wagner
    Ensemble
    Staatskapelle Berlin
    Conductor
    Siegfried Wagner
  5. 4 Parsifal, Act III: Ich sa sie welken, "Karfreitagszauber" 10:40
    Track
    4
    Title
    Parsifal, Act III: Ich sa sie welken, "Karfreitagszauber"
    Duration
    10:40
    Composer
    Richard Wagner
    Performer
    Fritz Wolff, Alexander Kipnis
    Ensemble
    Bayreuther Festspielorchester
    Conductor
    Siegfried Wagner
  6. 5 Parsifal, Act III: Prelude 05:52
    Track
    5
    Title
    Parsifal, Act III: Prelude
    Duration
    05:52
    Composer
    Richard Wagner
    Ensemble
    Bayreuther Festspielorchester
    Conductor
    Siegfried Wagner
  7. 6 Parsifal, Act III: Karfreitagszauber (Good Friday Music) 10:46
    Track
    6
    Title
    Parsifal, Act III: Karfreitagszauber (Good Friday Music)
    Duration
    10:46
    Composer
    Richard Wagner
    Ensemble
    Staatskapelle Berlin
    Conductor
    Siegfried Wagner
  8. Disc 2
  9. 1 Siegfried Idyll 16:14
    Track
    1
    Title
    Siegfried Idyll
    Duration
    16:14
    Composer
    Richard Wagner
    Ensemble
    London Symphony Orchestra
    Conductor
    Siegfried Wagner
  10. 2 Huldigungsmarsch in E-Flat Major 07:30
    Track
    2
    Title
    Huldigungsmarsch in E-Flat Major
    Duration
    07:30
    Composer
    Richard Wagner
    Ensemble
    London Symphony Orchestra
    Conductor
    Siegfried Wagner
  11. 3 Tannhäuser, Act II: Entrance of the Guests 03:58
    Track
    3
    Title
    Tannhäuser, Act II: Entrance of the Guests
    Duration
    03:58
    Composer
    Richard Wagner
    Ensemble
    Staatskapelle Berlin
    Conductor
    Siegfried Wagner
  12. 4 Lohengrin, Act I: Prelude 08:20
    Track
    4
    Title
    Lohengrin, Act I: Prelude
    Duration
    08:20
    Composer
    Richard Wagner
    Ensemble
    Bayreuther Festspielorchester
    Conductor
    Siegfried Wagner
  13. 5 Tristan und Isolde, Act I: Prelude 15:14
    Track
    5
    Title
    Tristan und Isolde, Act I: Prelude
    Duration
    15:14
    Composer
    Richard Wagner
    Ensemble
    Staatskapelle Berlin
    Conductor
    Siegfried Wagner
  14. 6 Der Bärenhäuter (The Man in a Bear's Skin), Op. 1: Overture 08:30
    Track
    6
    Title
    Der Bärenhäuter (The Man in a Bear's Skin), Op. 1: Overture
    Duration
    08:30
    Composer
    Siegfried Wagner
    Ensemble
    Staatskapelle Berlin
    Conductor
    Siegfried Wagner