Created in 1851, 'Ride of the Valkyries' is the prelude to the third act of the music drama 'The Valkyrie'. The purely instrumental version soon found its way onto the concert stages and turned out to be a first-rate attraction. Apart from 'Treulich geführt', 'Ride of the Valkyries' probably is Wagner's most popular melody.More intimate insights, however, are given by 'Siegfried-Idyll'. In 1870, Richard Wagner came up with a rather special birthday present for his wife Cosima. He surprised her with a secretly composed orchestral work the dedication of which alludes to impressions or circumstances at the birth of their common son Siegfried.