Uploaded April 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Sir Georg Solti. For a list of singers: tinyurl.com/28dx3n97
I - Akt I
Vorspiel (0:00) - "Zwangvolle Plage! Müh ohne Zweck!" (3:43) - "Hoiho! Hoiho! Hau ein! Hau ein!" (8:00) - "Du hast du die Stücken, schändlicher Stumpfer!" (9:37) - "Als zullendes Kind zog ich dich auf" (12:01) - "Vieles lehrtest du, Mime" (13:40) - "Einst lag wimmernd ein Weib" (22:14) - "Und diese Stücken sollst du mir schmieden" (27:54) - "Da stürmt er hin!" (29:14) - "Heil dir, weiser Schmied!" (30:59) - "Hier sitz' ich am Herd" (34:39) - "Was zu wissen dir frommt" (45:00) - "Nach eitlen Fernen forschtest du" (53:12) - "Verfluchtes Licht" (55:13) - "Heda! Du Fauler!" (56:15) - "Fühltest du nie im finstren Wald" (59:36) - "Her mit den Stücken" (1:04:47) - "Notung! Notung! Neidliches Schwert!" (1:08:01) - "Hoho! Hoho! Hohei! Schmiede, mein Hammer, ein hartes Schwert!" (1:16:27)
II - Akt II
Vorspiel (1:22:20) - "In Wald und Nacht" (1:27:36) - "Zur Neidhöhle fuhr ich bei Nacht" (1:29:48) - "Mit mir nicht, hadre mit Mime" (1:35:42) - "Fafner! Fafner! Erwache, Wurm!" (1:37:58) - "Nun, Alberich! das schlug fehl" (1:40:45) - "Wir sind zur Stelle!" (1:44:23) - "Daß der mein Vater nicht ist" (1:50:29) - "Aber wie sah meine Mutter wohl aus?" (1:52:12) - "Meine Mutter, ein Menschenweib!" (1:54:44) - "Haha! Da hätte mein Lied!" (2:00:35) - "Wer bist du, kühner Knabe" (2:06:08) - "Zur Kunde taugt kein Toter" (2:10:40) - "Wohin schleichst du" (2:12:54) - "Was ihr mit nützt, weiß ich nicht" (2:15:41) - "Willkommen, Siegfried" (2:18:35) - "Da lieg auch du, dunkler Wurm!" (2:27:32)
III - Akt III
Vorspiel (2:36:25) - "Wache, Wala!" (2:38:25) - "Stark ruft das Lied" (2:40:23) - "Dir Unweisen ruf' ich ins Ohr" (2:50:56) - "Mein Vöglein schwebte mir fort!" (2:55:42) - "Wohin, Knabe, heisst dich dein Weg?" (2:56:07) - "Kenntest du mich" (3:01:26) - "Mit zerfochtner Waffe wich mir der Feige?" (3:06:39) - "Seliger Öde auf wonniger Höh'" (3:10:28) - "Das ist kein Mann!" (3:17:35) - "Heil dir, Sonne!" (3:24:42) - "O Siegfried!" (3:30:51) - "Dort seh' ich Grane" (3:37:33) - "Ewig war ich" (3:45:44)
Wagner's "Siegfried" was sketched first between 1851-2, but put aside to focus on "The Rhine Gold" and "The Valkyrie", the previous parts of the projected tetralogy "The Ring of the Nibelung": a dramatic cycle that is considered the composer's masterpiece. Wagner began writing the music in 1856, but again put the project aside to complete "Tristan and Isolde" and "The Master-Singers of Nuremberg". He finally returned to the score in 1869 and finished it 1871. It was the second to be written but the third to be set to music. It was premiered at the Bayreuth Festival Theatre on August 16 of 1876, conducted by Hans Richter as part of the first complete performance of The Ring cycle. The whole festival was an artistic triumph but a financial disaster.
The basic plot goes as follows: Siegfried, son of Siegmund and Sieglinde, has grown up — raised by the nasty dwarf, Mime. Siegfried forges anew the fragments of his father’s shattered sword, Nothung. Mime longs to have as his own the ring and the gold that are now guarded by the giant Fafner, who has now become a dragon. Siegfried manages to slay Fafner, taking with him the ring and the magic helmet (the Tarnhelm). Realizing that Mime intends to do him harm, Siegfried kills Mime. As the hero who knows no fear, Siegfried is able to penetrate the magic fire that surrounds Brünnhilde, who had been put to sleep as punishment by her father Wotan — she can be wakened only by a fearless hero. When Siegfried kisses her, she awakens as a mortal woman (no longer a goddess). The two fall ecstatically in love.
Siegfried has many elements of a folk or fairy tale: a dark, menacing forest as a setting; a naive, but heroic foundling, a dwarf, a pet bear who makes a brief appearance, a ferocious dragon and a talking bird. The dragon (Fafner) and bird are actually given voices with which to communicate: the dragon is an offstage bass projected through a speaking tube, and the bird is a coloratura soprano. Siegfried's colourful orchestration also reflects its fairy tale milieu, with its anvil, stage horn, and double-reed effects. The "Forest Murmurs" interlude in Act Two features solo woodwinds in a delightfully tremulous imitation of nature. The addition of a high, bright, penetrating soprano voice as the Wood Bird is almost an instrumental effect as well. The essential fairy tale confrontation between Siegfried and the dragon is preceded and accompanied by a fanciful clash of motives and timbres as Siegfried's horn does vivid battle with Fafner's contrabassoon.
To read the libretto: tinyurl.com/288grz3f
Pictures (from left to right): "The forging of Nothung", "Siegfried kills Fafner", "Siegfried comes upon the sleeping Brünnhilde.". Illustrations by Arthur Rackham.
Sources: tinyurl.com/28n8uwz8 and tinyurl.com/2ddyx3o9
Score: tinyurl.com/27k9zecf
Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Sir Georg Solti. For a list of singers: tinyurl.com/28dx3n97
I - Akt I
Vorspiel (0:00) - "Zwangvolle Plage! Müh ohne Zweck!" (3:43) - "Hoiho! Hoiho! Hau ein! Hau ein!" (8:00) - "Du hast du die Stücken, schändlicher Stumpfer!" (9:37) - "Als zullendes Kind zog ich dich auf" (12:01) - "Vieles lehrtest du, Mime" (13:40) - "Einst lag wimmernd ein Weib" (22:14) - "Und diese Stücken sollst du mir schmieden" (27:54) - "Da stürmt er hin!" (29:14) - "Heil dir, weiser Schmied!" (30:59) - "Hier sitz' ich am Herd" (34:39) - "Was zu wissen dir frommt" (45:00) - "Nach eitlen Fernen forschtest du" (53:12) - "Verfluchtes Licht" (55:13) - "Heda! Du Fauler!" (56:15) - "Fühltest du nie im finstren Wald" (59:36) - "Her mit den Stücken" (1:04:47) - "Notung! Notung! Neidliches Schwert!" (1:08:01) - "Hoho! Hoho! Hohei! Schmiede, mein Hammer, ein hartes Schwert!" (1:16:27)
II - Akt II
Vorspiel (1:22:20) - "In Wald und Nacht" (1:27:36) - "Zur Neidhöhle fuhr ich bei Nacht" (1:29:48) - "Mit mir nicht, hadre mit Mime" (1:35:42) - "Fafner! Fafner! Erwache, Wurm!" (1:37:58) - "Nun, Alberich! das schlug fehl" (1:40:45) - "Wir sind zur Stelle!" (1:44:23) - "Daß der mein Vater nicht ist" (1:50:29) - "Aber wie sah meine Mutter wohl aus?" (1:52:12) - "Meine Mutter, ein Menschenweib!" (1:54:44) - "Haha! Da hätte mein Lied!" (2:00:35) - "Wer bist du, kühner Knabe" (2:06:08) - "Zur Kunde taugt kein Toter" (2:10:40) - "Wohin schleichst du" (2:12:54) - "Was ihr mit nützt, weiß ich nicht" (2:15:41) - "Willkommen, Siegfried" (2:18:35) - "Da lieg auch du, dunkler Wurm!" (2:27:32)
III - Akt III
Vorspiel (2:36:25) - "Wache, Wala!" (2:38:25) - "Stark ruft das Lied" (2:40:23) - "Dir Unweisen ruf' ich ins Ohr" (2:50:56) - "Mein Vöglein schwebte mir fort!" (2:55:42) - "Wohin, Knabe, heisst dich dein Weg?" (2:56:07) - "Kenntest du mich" (3:01:26) - "Mit zerfochtner Waffe wich mir der Feige?" (3:06:39) - "Seliger Öde auf wonniger Höh'" (3:10:28) - "Das ist kein Mann!" (3:17:35) - "Heil dir, Sonne!" (3:24:42) - "O Siegfried!" (3:30:51) - "Dort seh' ich Grane" (3:37:33) - "Ewig war ich" (3:45:44)
Wagner's "Siegfried" was sketched first between 1851-2, but put aside to focus on "The Rhine Gold" and "The Valkyrie", the previous parts of the projected tetralogy "The Ring of the Nibelung": a dramatic cycle that is considered the composer's masterpiece. Wagner began writing the music in 1856, but again put the project aside to complete "Tristan and Isolde" and "The Master-Singers of Nuremberg". He finally returned to the score in 1869 and finished it 1871. It was the second to be written but the third to be set to music. It was premiered at the Bayreuth Festival Theatre on August 16 of 1876, conducted by Hans Richter as part of the first complete performance of The Ring cycle. The whole festival was an artistic triumph but a financial disaster.
The basic plot goes as follows: Siegfried, son of Siegmund and Sieglinde, has grown up — raised by the nasty dwarf, Mime. Siegfried forges anew the fragments of his father’s shattered sword, Nothung. Mime longs to have as his own the ring and the gold that are now guarded by the giant Fafner, who has now become a dragon. Siegfried manages to slay Fafner, taking with him the ring and the magic helmet (the Tarnhelm). Realizing that Mime intends to do him harm, Siegfried kills Mime. As the hero who knows no fear, Siegfried is able to penetrate the magic fire that surrounds Brünnhilde, who had been put to sleep as punishment by her father Wotan — she can be wakened only by a fearless hero. When Siegfried kisses her, she awakens as a mortal woman (no longer a goddess). The two fall ecstatically in love.
Siegfried has many elements of a folk or fairy tale: a dark, menacing forest as a setting; a naive, but heroic foundling, a dwarf, a pet bear who makes a brief appearance, a ferocious dragon and a talking bird. The dragon (Fafner) and bird are actually given voices with which to communicate: the dragon is an offstage bass projected through a speaking tube, and the bird is a coloratura soprano. Siegfried's colourful orchestration also reflects its fairy tale milieu, with its anvil, stage horn, and double-reed effects. The "Forest Murmurs" interlude in Act Two features solo woodwinds in a delightfully tremulous imitation of nature. The addition of a high, bright, penetrating soprano voice as the Wood Bird is almost an instrumental effect as well. The essential fairy tale confrontation between Siegfried and the dragon is preceded and accompanied by a fanciful clash of motives and timbres as Siegfried's horn does vivid battle with Fafner's contrabassoon.
To read the libretto: tinyurl.com/288grz3f
Pictures (from left to right): "The forging of Nothung", "Siegfried kills Fafner", "Siegfried comes upon the sleeping Brünnhilde.". Illustrations by Arthur Rackham.
Sources: tinyurl.com/28n8uwz8 and tinyurl.com/2ddyx3o9
Score: tinyurl.com/27k9zecf
