Siegfried, WWV 86C, is a music drama in three acts composed by Richard Wagner. It is the third of the four parts that make up the 'Der Ring des Nibelungen' (The Ring of the Nibelung) cycle. Originally Wagner intended to write a drama about Sigfried's death, which eventually came to be Götterdämmerung (Twilight of the Gods). He then realized he would need another music drama to act as a preface, telling the story of a young Sigfried (he then continued going backwards in the story to come up with Die Walküre and Das Rheingold). He drafted the first ideas for the libretto in 1851-52 and started composing the music in 1856, although he eventually suspended his work on it to devote his time to 'Tristan und Isolde' and 'Die Meistersinger'. He resumed his work on Siegfried in 1869, composing the third act, and making a final revision of the score in 1871, The premiere was at the Bayreuth Festspielhaus on 16 August 1876, as part of the first complete performance of The Ring cycle.
