In the summer of 1870 (August 25th) Wagner was married at Lucerne, Switzerland, to Cosima, daughter of Franz Liszt and the Comtesse d'Agoult, and the divorced wife of Hans von Bülow.[186]Siegfried Wagner, the son of Richard and Cosima, was born at Triebschen, near Lucerne, June 6, 1869. In a letter dated June 25, 1870, two months before his marriage to Cosima, Wagner wrote to a friend: "She [Cosima] has defied every disapprobation and taken upon herself every condemnation. She has borne to me a wonderfully beautiful and vigorous boy, whom I could boldly call 'Siegfried': he is now growing, together with my work, and gives me a new, long life [Wagner was then fifty-seven yearsold], which at last has attained a meaning. Thus we get along without the world, from which we have retired entirely.... But now listen; you will, I trust, approve of the sentiment which leads us to postpone our visit until I can introduce to you the mother of my son as my wedded wife."[187]
Cosima, according to Lina Ramann, was born (in Bellagio) "at Christmas," 1837. The "Siegfried Idyl" was written by Wagner as a birthday gift to his wife, and it was first performed December 24, 1871, as anaubade, on the steps of Wagner's villa at Triebschen; the orchestra was a small group of players gathered from the neighborhood. Hans Richter played the trumpet, and Wagner himself conducted.
The themes out of which the "Idyl" is evolved are, with a single exception, motives from theNibelungenmusic-drama "Siegfried,"[188]upon whichWagner was engaged when his son was born; the exception is a German cradle-song,Schlaf, Kindchen, balde, Vöglein flieg'n im Walde.
Wagner dedicated the work to his wife in verses which have been translated as follows:
"Thy sacrifices have shed blessings o'er me,And to my work have given noble aim,And in the hour of conflict have upbore me,Until my labor reached a sturdy frame.Oft in the land of legends we were dreaming—Those legends which contain the Teuton's fame,Until a son upon our lives was beaming,Siegfried must be our youthful hero's name.
"Thy sacrifices have shed blessings o'er me,
And to my work have given noble aim,
And in the hour of conflict have upbore me,
Until my labor reached a sturdy frame.
Oft in the land of legends we were dreaming—
Those legends which contain the Teuton's fame,
Until a son upon our lives was beaming,
Siegfried must be our youthful hero's name.
"For him and thee I now in tones am praising;What thanks for deeds of love could better be?Within our souls the grateful song upraisingWhich in this music I have now set free.And in this cadence I have held, united,Siegfried, our dearly cherished son, and thee.Thus all the harmonies I now am bringingBut speak the thought which in my heart is ringing."
"For him and thee I now in tones am praising;
What thanks for deeds of love could better be?
Within our souls the grateful song upraising
Which in this music I have now set free.
And in this cadence I have held, united,
Siegfried, our dearly cherished son, and thee.
Thus all the harmonies I now am bringing
But speak the thought which in my heart is ringing."