This piece’s title refers to Siegfried Wagner, the infant son of the composer and Cosima Liszt, rather than the hero of Wagner’s opera. It was composed as a birthday present for Cosima (which fell on Christmas Day), and the piece’s first performance was in the couple’s house in Triebschen, played by a small group of 13 musicians. Wagner intended the piece to remain private, but financial pressures forced him to publish the score in 1878.