Wagner’s intimate and intensely personal Christmas gift to Cosima in 1870 was this composition celebrating the couple’s youngest child, Siegfried born in 1869. Originally scored for thirteen instruments, this transcription reduces the orchestration to four with equally challenging material for all four clarinetists. Clarinet 1, 2, and 3 require Bb and A clarinets, with Clarinet 1 requiring D or Eb clarinet for one section. Bass clarinet requires use of low D.