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Siegfried Wagner Siegfried with his wife WinifredSiegfried Wagner (6 June 1869 - 4 August 1930) was the son of Richard Wagner and Cosima von Bülow and the grandson of Franz Liszt. He was a very productive opera composer, composing more operas than his father. In 1896 he started conducting at the Bayreuth Festspielhaus and around Germany. Siegfried was the artistic director of the Bayreuth Festival from 1908 to 1930. Though his works are numerous, none has entered the standard repertory. Sexuality Siegfried Wagner was an active homosexual throughout his life. For years, he fought off the increasingly desperate urgings of his mother, Cosima, to marry and have children, to give the Wagner Dynasty some heirs. Around 1913, he was coming ever-closer to a public outing by the journalist Maximilian Harden, who had outed the closest friend of Kaiser Wilhelm II - with problematic repercussions for Kaiser and friend. Siegfried was no longer able to avoid marriage. A woman of prime child-bearing age was found for the bachelor, who was 28 years her senior. In an arranged meeting in 1914 at the Bayreuth Festival, the then-45-year-old Siegfried was introduced to the 17-year-old Winifred Klindworth. On 22 September 1915 they married and it was hoped (in vain) that the marriage would not only end Siegfried's homosexual encounters and the associated costly scandals, but also provide an heir to take charge of the music festival.[1] The couple had four children: Wieland (1917-1966) Friedelind (1918-1991) Wolfgang (born 1919) Verena (born 1920) One of Siegfried's biographers claimed that Siegfried had sired an illegitimate son. No evidence was supplied for either the son or any extra-marital female relationships. The only evidence of the son is the say-so of the biographer. Despite the evidence of Siegfried's active homosexuality and the lack of any evidence of heterosexual activity before 1914, several authors have taken up the story of the illegitimate son. Operas of Siegfried Wagner Der Bärenhäuter (1898) Herzog Wildfang (1900) Der Kobold (1903) Bruder Lustig (1904) Sternengebot (1906) Banadietrich (1909) Schwarzschwanenreich (1910) Sonnenflammen (1912) Der Heidenkönig (1913) Der Friedensengel (1914) An allem ist Hütchen schuld! (1915) Das Liebesopfer (1917) Der Schmied von Marienburg (1920) Rainulf und Adelasia (1922) Die heilige Linde (1927) Wahnopfer (1928) Walamund (1928-29) Wernhart (1929) Das Flüchlein, das Jeder mitbekam (1929) |
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