Cosima, Wagner welcomed her with a small orchestra on the steps of their villa on Lake Lucerne. This was the first performance of Siegfried's Idyll, Richard's gift to his wife stemming from the serenity laboriously achieved by the couple. Tiring was also the serenity that Johannes Brahms obtained in 1857 by immersing himself in the immaculate nature of the Detmold woods, an idyllic nature that was to serve as a panacea for his stormy passions. From this peace flowed the Serenade Op. 11, the first purely orchestral work by the Hamburg composer.
