This page excerpted from the book and CDROM "Opera on Screen"

WAGNER, RICHARD

German composer (1813-1883)

Richard Wagner is one of the most important and controversial figures in music history. He influenced almost everyone but i is sometimes difficult to separate his music from his ideas and the admiration he inspired in people like Hitler. Wagner wrote his own librettos and composed operas that admirers claim are the ultimate opera experience and detractors say are overblown. He began creating operas in 1832 and his musical genius quickly became evident with Der Fliegende Holländer, Tannhäuser and Lohengrin. As his ideas about unified music drama developed, he turned to pre-Christian Teutonic myth and wrote the longest and most complex work in opera, the Ring Cycle, which consists of four connected operas, Das Rheingold, Die Walküre, Siegfried and Götterdämmerung. Wagner thought so highly of them he built his own opera house in Bayreuth to stage them and his last opera Parsifal was meant to be presented nowhere else. Wagner's life has inspired numerous film biographies since the early days of cinema and he also features prominently in films about his patron King Ludwig II. Among those who have impersonated him on screen are Richard Burton, Trevor Howard and Alan Badel. His music is often used for atmospheric effect in non-operatic films including such classics as L'Age d'Or, Dracula and Apocalypse Now. See also BAYREUTH, DER FLIEGENDE HOLLANDER, GOTTERDAMMMERUNG, LOHENGRIN, LUDWIG II, DIE MEISTERSINGER VON NURNBERG, PARSIFAL, DAS RHEINGOLD, RING CYCLE, SIEGFRIED, TANNHAUSER, TRISTAN UND ISOLDE , DIE WALKURE.

1913 The Life of Richard Wagner

Italian composer Giuseppe Becce stars as Wagner in this feature-length German film about the composer produced by Oskar Messter. Becce, who scored the Wagner music performed with the film, later wrote an influential book about music for silent films. Director Carl Froelich continued to work in German cinema until 1951. The movie reached New York in November 1913. German title: Richard Wagner. Black and white. About 60 minutes.

1925 Wagner

This is a one-reel movie about Wagner's life and career made for the British Music Master series. It features a number of scenes from the operas which were screened with Wagner's music played by a small orchestra. Black and white. About 10 minutes.

1956 Magic Fire

Alan Badel stars as Wagner in this Hollywood-style biography based on a novel by Bertita Harding. It was filmed on location in Germany and describes his life from the age of twenty-one until his death. Yvonne De Carlo plays his first wife Minna, Rita Gam is Cosima, Carlos Thompson is Franz Liszt and Valentina Cortese is his patroness Mathilde. The opera scenes were staged in Munich by Rudolf Hartmann with the Bavarian State Opera and the orchestra conducted by Alois Melichar. Eric Wolfgang Korngold, who appears in the film as conductor Hans Richter, arranged and conducted the rest of the music ("to protect Wagner," he claimed) condensing the music of the Ring to three minutes. Ernest Haller was the cinematographer and Harding, E.A. Dupont and David Chantler wrote the screenplay. Wilhelm Dieterle directed. Color. 94 minutes.

1960 Song Without End

Lyndon March portrays Wagner in this very romantic Hollywood biography of the composer Franz Liszt. Dirk Bogarde plays Liszt. Charles Vidor and George Cukor directed the film. Color. 141 minutes

1982 Wagner and Venice

Orson Welles narrates this documentary film about Wagner's visits to Venice from 1858 to 1883. It uses as text the composer's own letters and poems. Wagner wrote much of Tristan und Isolde in Venice. The film includes a sequence built around Siegfried's Funeral March with the orchestra on a boat on the Grand Canal. Petr Ruttner wrote and directed the film. Color. 43 minutes. Italtoons video.

1975 The Confessions of Winifred Wagner

Hans-Jürgen Syberberg's film about Winifred Wagner, the 78-year-old English-born widow of Wagner's son Siegfried, is fascinating in its exploration of the Wagner-Hitler connection. Hitler attended over 100 performances at Bayreuth which he helped finance when Winifred administered it from 1931 to 1945. Hitler considered Parsifal a mirror of his own philosophy and made annual visits to Wagner's house Wanhfried. The German title of the film is Winifred Wagner und die Geschichte des Hauses Wahnfried 1914-1975. Color. In German. 105 minutes.

1975 Lisztomania

Paul Nicholas portrays Wagner in this extravagant Ken Russell biopic. Veronica Quilligan is seen as Cosima and Roger Daltry plays Liszt. Color. 105 minutes.

1983 Wagner

Richard Burton stars as Wagner in Tony Palmer's epic nine-hour film written by playwright Charles Wood. It was shot on location in two hundred sites in six countries including Ludwig's castles and Wagner's residences. Vanessa Redgrave portrays Cosima, Gemma Craven is Minna, Lászlo Gálffi is Ludwig II and the cast includes Laurence Olivier, John Gielgud, Ralph Richardson, Cyril Cusack, Franco Nero, Marthe Keller, Ronald Pickup, William Walton, Joan Plowright and Arthur Lowe. Vittorio Storaro was the cinematographer and Sir Georg Solti conducted the music. Color. 300 minutes as a film, 540 minutes as a video. Kultur video

1984 Richard Wagner, the Man & His Music

This is a brief biography of Wagner combined with a mini-guide to the Ring Cycle. It explains Wagner's development as an opera composer, shows his relationship with family, friends and King Ludwig and discusses the influences of his stay in Venice. Color. 58 minutes. On video.

1987 Richard and Cosima

Peter Patzak's Austrian film about Wagner and his wife Cosima treats their love story as a romantic drama which becomes a tragic myth. Otto Sander stars as Wagner with Tatja Seibt as Cosima. Anton Peschke was the cinematographer and Reinhard Baumgart wrote the screenplay. The soundtrack music by Wagner and Liszt is played by the SWF Symphony Orchestra conducted by Pierre Boulez and Erich Leinsdorf. Color. In German. 108 minutes.

1988 Wagner Concert in Leipzig

This is a record of a concert of overtures and vocal music from Wagner operas held at the new Leipzig Gewandhous and conducted by Kurt Masur. Theo Adam is featured in excerpts from Die Meistersinger and Karan Armstrong sings the "Liebestod" from Tristan und Isolde. Color. In German. 90 minutes. Kultur video.