Review of Wagner

Wagner (1983): Starring Richard Burton, Vanessa Redgrave, Laurence Olivier, John Gielgud, Ralph Richardson, Lazlo Galfi, Franco Nero, Gemma Craven, Ekkehard Schall, Ronald Pickup, Miguel Herz-Kestranek, Marthe Keller, Vernon Dobtcheff, Daphne Wagner...Director Tony Palmer Released in 1983 for BBC television, this is an extremely long miniseries rich with historic details about the 19th century German composer Richard Wagner. While there were times when I felt this was overly and unnecessarily long, often feeling like we are watching a Wagner opera itself, it has genuine moments of brilliant drama and is exciting and sensational, even if at times inaccurate to the actualities of Wagner's life. For the most part, what we see is truthful. Richard Burton performs his final great role. As Wagner, he becomes the self-proclaimed Prophet of the Music of the Future, a bombastic musical genius and zealous German nationalist. The film opens with his Venetian funeral ceremony as Siegfried's Funeral March plays in the background. Gemma Craven portrays his long-suffering first wife Mina, who endured his continuous infidelities with prominent women, including Mathilde Wessendock (Marthe Keller) who served as his Muse during the making of Tristan and Isolde, and the wife of his patron. He befriends the pianist Franz Liszt (Ekehard Schall, who looks just like the real Liszt!) but eventually marries his daughter Cosima (Vanessa Redgrave). It's delightful watching this drama unfold, and especially satisfying to those familiar with Wagner's life and career and fans of his music. The soundtrack/score loaded with Wagner's music, as conducted by George Solti with the Vienna Philharmonic, and includes Tanhauser and Lohengrin music, The Liebestod finale from Tristan and Isolde, Meistersanger Von Nuremberg Overture, excerpts from his Ring cycle. The constant imagery of the Lohengrin swan-boat, at times gently flowing into a cave or at times burning, represents innocence lost and Wagner's vision of a grand German Empire. Actor Lazlo Galfi portrays the young and eventually insane King Ludwig of Bavaria, who sponsored Wagner and made it possible for him to live richly and to build his Bayreuth Theater. Ronald Pickup is the famous philosopher Nietzche, who suffers Wagner's insults and radical ideas silently until their friendship finally falls apart. Tenor Peter Hoffman and soprano Gwyneth Jones, both Wagnerian singers, play Malvina and Schorr Von Carolsfeld who first sang Tristan and Isolde. Miguel Herz-Kestranek portrays Wagner's favorite conductor, the long-forgotten 19th century maestro Hans Von Bulow. I can't praise this miniseries enough. It's truly a work of art in itself. It was filmed in various European locations associated with Wagner's life, such as the Paris Opera House, Bavaria, Dresden, Venice and other parts of Germany. This film seems to glorify Wagner as one of his own opera heroes, despite the fact that he lead a violent revolt during the 1848 revolution (the people's chanting of "Wagner! Wagner!" sounds disturbingly like "Hitler! Hitler!". Wagner's Anti-Semitism, in its sheer ignorance, is presented here without holding anything back. He has children he names after characters in his own operas- Isolde and Siegfried, whom he claims will be the hero of Germany. He loathes and is envious of Meyerbeer, the famed Jewish composer of grand opera. But also, its interesting to note how he had several Jewish conductors working for him. The final scenes are particularly moving. Wagner, now sickly and old, composes his final work, Parsifal,engages in an affair with a British Flower Maiden in the opera, is abandoned by all his friends and dies in his home with Cosima watching.The movie is designed especially for fans of Wagner. It's overwhelming but rewarding to see in its entirety.