The son of Richard Wagner and his future wife Cosima, daughter of Liszt, Siegfried Wagner followed, in his operas, something of the example of his teacher Humperdinck. Banadietrich, like Der Bärenhäuter and Schwarzschwanenreich, is set in the mysterious magic world of the Dark Ages, with the warrior Dietrich, excommunicated for his impious laughter, finally saved by his mysterious water-maiden wife, whom he had once betrayed.