Above: Villa Tribschen on Lake Lucerne
Donald Runnicles conducts a performance of Wagner's Siegfried Idyll, from the 2012 BBC Proms. Watch and listen here.
The Siegfried Idyll was Wagner's 33rd birthday - and Christmas - gift to his beloved Cosima; it was first performed at Villa Tribschen on the morning of December 25, 1870, where Wagner had assembled a small orchestra on the staircase to play the music as Cosima awoke.
In her diary, Cosima wrote:
“As I awoke, my ear caught a sound, which swelled fuller and fuller; no longer could I imagine myself to be dreaming: music was sounding, and such music! When it died away, Richard came into my room with the children and offered me the score of the symphonic birthday poem. I was in tears, but so were all the rest of the household. Richard had arranged his orchestra on the staircase, and thus was our Tribschen consecrated forever.”
~ Oberon