In a letter dated June 25, 1870, Wagner wrote of his wife Cosima, “She
has defied every disapprobation and taken upon herself every
condemnation. She has borne to me a wonderfully beautiful boy, whom I
call boldly Siegfried; he is now growing, together with my work [he was
working then on the opera _Siegfried_; hence the name]; he gives me a
new long life, which at last has attained a meaning. Thus we get along
without the world, from which we have wholly withdrawn.”
The composer wrote the music of the _Idyl_—originally called the
_Triebschen Idyl_—as a birthday gift for his wife. On Christmas morning,
1870, Wagner and a group of musicians assembled on the stairs of his
home at Triebschen and performed the lovely music, which, cramped though
the musicians were because of tight quarters, obtained a fine rendering,
according to ear-witnesses.
When the _Idyl_ was first played in Berlin, in 1878, a music critic gave
it as gospel that the music was taken from the second act of the opera
_Siegfried_. The truth of the matter is that the _Idyl_, while based on
several themes from the opera besides that of a folk song, is a complete
entity in itself, for the themes were developed in a manner entirely
different from their treatment in the opera. In addition to which, it
must be remembered that the folk song, _Schlaf’, mein Kind, schlaf’ein_,
does not appear in the opera at all.
[Illustration: “Wagner and the Critics” is the title of this amusing
contemporary caricature.]
Forest Murmurs from “Siegfried”
The music for this sequence is taken from the scene before the dragon’s
cave in the second act of _Siegfried_. In arranging it for concert use,
Wagner gave it the name _Waldweben_ (_Forest Weavings_ or _Forest
Murmurs_). The young hero Siegfried is left to his own thoughts by the
dwarf Mime. The rustling of the leaves is first heard in D minor, then
in B major. Siegfried is daydreaming. He ponders on the question of his
origin. He knows that he is not of Mime’s blood, and the clarinet,
paralleling, and explaining the idea, intones the theme of the Volsungs.
As his thoughts turn to his mother the Love-Life motive emerges through
the ’cellos and violas and double basses, next in all the strings, and
finally horns and bassoons take it over. A solo violin plays a subject
associated with Freia, goddess of youth and love. The rustling of the
leaves is again heard and the theme of the Forest Bird comes in by way
of the oboe, flute, clarinet and other wood winds. The music ends in a
Vivace which incorporates the Fire, the Siegfried, and the Slumber
motives, besides the twittering of the Forest Bird.