Richard Wagner Movies
The music of this controversial composer has been quoted in approximately 215 films, discounting numerous newsreels and documentaries. Wagner's music has been appreciated for its transcendentally romantic and noble textures, its innovative orchestration, harmonic and melodic originality, and the Gesamtkunstwerk concept (an artistic effort coordinating all the arts, the very definition of a motion picture), yet his opera plots have been criticized for "paganism," absurdity, and proto-Fascist tendencies.The Ride of the Valkyrie from Die Walküre has occurred in at least 27 films, one of the earliest being D.W. Griffith's controversial The Birth of a Nation (1915) (aka The Clansman), admired for its epic brilliance and innovative techniques, and infamous for its racism. This music underscores other breast-beating heroism (pro and con) in Coppola's Apocalypse Now (1979) and Apocalypse Now Redux (2001), and Education for Death (1943). The theme comically chimes in as the Chicago police force racing after bluesmen Jake and Elwood are joined by local neo-Nazis in a hilarious car chase in The Blues Brothers (1980). In the cartoon What's Opera, Doc? (1957), Ride of the Valkyrie appears at the onset as Elmer Fudd, in Viking outfit, casts a huge shadow while conducting a storm scene. He finds a rabbit hole and stabs at it with his spear singing, "Kill the wabbit! Kill the wabbit!" Bugs Bunny inquires, to the tune of Siegfried's Horn Call, "Oh mighty warrior of great fighting stock, might I inquire to ask, eh, what's up, doc?" Bugs later appears as dashing blonde Brunhilde riding a white horse to the tune of the Pilgrim's Chorus from Tannhäuser.
The thrilling overture to The Flying Dutchman has accompanied television's Young Indiana Jones and the Attack of the Hawkmen (1995), Captain Video and His Video Rangers (1949), The Lone Ranger (1949), and the background of a Navy recruitment commercial. The subtle and lovely Liebestod from Tristan und Isolde has graced 18 films (including Romeo and Juliet [1996] and L'Age d'Or [1930]), and the complete opera has received several television productions. The Bridal Chorus (Here Comes the Bride) from Act III of Lohengrin are found in almost any wedding scene, for example, in A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1945) and Andy Hardy's Dilemma (1938).
Wagner's last and most controversial opera, Parsifal, a Grail story mixed with eroticism, was brilliantly interpreted in Hans-Jürgen Syberberg's insightful 1982 production that introduces extra historical and psychological imagery through background and magic lantern-type projections, puppets, scale models, otherworldly lighting, a cavernous set (eventually seen to be a giant death mask of Wagner), alternate male and female Parsifals (with the same voice), and militaristic Christian knights. Wagner's lines concerning the cessation of time and space that Parsifal experiences could describe the viewer's sensations during the film's hypnotic stronghold.
Wagner's opera Tannhaüser is heard in The Gold Rush (1925) and Warhol's Flesh for Frankenstein (1974); Rienzi and Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg in Riefenstahl's notorious Triumph of the Will (1934); Götterdammerung (Twilight of the Gods) in Le Bassin de J.W. (John Wayne's Pelvis, 1997); Das Rheingold and Siegfried have also received many full television and film treatments. Visconti's Ludwig (1972), The Architecture of Doom (1989), The Scarlet Empress (1934), Buñuel's Cet obscur objet du désir (1977), Ken Russell's Lisztomania (1975) depicting Wagner as a satanic revolutionary, Markoupoulos' Ming Green (1966), and The Testament of Orpheus (1960) are but a few significant films employing this influential genius' inspirations. ~ "Blue" Gene Tyranny, Rovi
- 2012
This performance of Wagner's opera Das Rheingold recorded at the Metropolitan Opera House features vocalists such as Bryn Terfel, Richard Croft, Eric Owens, and Stephanie Blythe in the leading roles. ~ Cammila Collar, Rovi
- 2012
This performance of Wagner's opera Die RWalkure recorded at the Metropolitan Opera House features vocalists such as Bryn Terfel, Deborah Voigt, Jonas Kaufman, and Stephanie Blythe in the leading roles. ~ Cammila Collar, Rovi
- 2012
This performance of Wagner's opera Gotterdamerung recorded at the Metropolitan Opera House features vocalists such as Wendy Bryn Harmer, Deborah Voigt, Jay Hunter Morris, and Hans-Peter Konig in the leading roles. ~ Cammila Collar, Rovi
- 2012
This performance of Wagner's opera Siegfried recorded at the Metropolitan Opera House features vocalists such as Bryn Terfel, Deborah Voigt, Jay Hunter Morris, and Gerhard Seigel in the leading roles. ~ Cammila Collar, Rovi
Lars Von Trier's Melancholia, a meditation on depression and the end of the world, stars Kirsten Dunst as an emotionally troubled newlywed named Justine, whose sister Claire (Charlotte Gainsbourg) throws her a lavish wedding party. While her lack of emotional stability begins to take a toll on Justine's new marriage as well as the party -- and old wounds are exposed -- Claire's wealthy husband John (Kiefer Sutherland) also knows a great deal about a planet that is on a possible collision course with Earth, further muddying the waters. The second half of the movie focuses on Claire, who ends up taking her sister in after the marriage collapses, and also begins to fear that John is hiding apocalyptically bad news. John Hurt and Charlotte Rampling co-star. Melancholia screened at the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival. ~ Perry Seibert, Rovi
- 2011
This musical release from ICA Classics captures a series of live performances, recorded at Royal Albert Hall in between 1963 and 1985. Pieces in the performance include Richard Strauss's "Don Juan", Beethoven's "Symphony No. 5 in C. minor, Op. 67", and more. ~ Cammila Collar, Rovi
- 2010
This musical release captures highlights from the Europa Konzert recorded April 30th, 2010 at Sheldonian Theatre in Oxford. The performance features the Berliner Philharmoniker, along with soloists Alisa Weilerstein and Daniel Barenboim and more, performing Wagner's "Symphony Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg", Edward Elgar's "Cello Concerto in E Minor", and Brahms' "Symphony No. 1 in C minor".
~ Cammila Collar, Rovi
- Starring:
- Alisa Weilerstein
- 2010
- NR
Jewish actor/comedian Stephen Fry explores the dubious associations between Richard Wagner, one of his favorite classical composers, and Adolf Hitler, the 20th century dictator who cited Wagner's music as a motivating factor in waging genocide against the Jews during World War II. Traveling throughout Europe to explore Wagner's life and music, Fry examines the roots of "The Ring Cycle," engages conductor Valery Gergiev in a conversation about Wagner's popularity in Russia, and travels to Nuremberg to find out just how Hitler so effectively appropriated some of Wagner's most famous compositions. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
- 2010
This performance of Richard Wagner's opera Fliegende Hollander was recorded at the De Nederlandse Opera, under the conduction of Hartmut Haenchen, with the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus of De Nederlandse Opera, and features vocalists such as Robert Lloyd and Catherine Naglestad in the leading roles. ~ Cammila Collar, Rovi
- Starring:
- Robert Lloyd, Catherine Naglestad, (more)
- 2009
The Palau de les Arts in Valencia, Spain mounted Richard Wagner's massive Ring Cycle of operas in 2008, with a somewhat unusual modernized approach that employed heightened visual fantasy, lighting, technology including 3D computer projections, and props often comprised of human actors ala Cirque du soleil. The final installment, Wagner's 1876 Götterdämmerung, stars Lance Ryan as Siegfried, Ralf Lukas as Gunther, Franz-Josef Kapellmann as Alberich and Jennifer Wilson as Brünnhilde. Carlus Padrissa directs for the stage (taking over for Roland Olbeter in the previous installment), while Olbeter designed the sets; Chu Uroz did the costumes. Zubin Mehta conducts the Orqestra de la Comunitat Valenciana, and Francesc Perales serves as chorus master. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi
- Starring:
- Lance Ryan, Ralf Lukas, (more)
- 2009
Legendary French conductor Georges Pretre leads this classical concert, mounted on New Year's 2009, with orchestral music by The Orchestra and Chorus of the Teatro La Fenice and vocal solos by tenor Massimiliano Pisapia and Mariella Devia. The innumerable selections include compositions by Wagner, Rossini, Verdi, Offenbach, Bellini and Bizet. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi
- Starring:
- Mariella Devia, Massimiliano Pisapia, (more)
- 2009
The Bayreuth Festival mounted this 2009 production of Richard Wagner's 1865 opera Tristan und Isolde, with Michael Beyer directing. It stars Robert Dean Smith as Tristan, Iréne Theorin as Isolde, Michelle Breedt as Brangäne and Robert Holl as King Marke. The Bayreuth Festival Orchestra and Chorus lend musical accompaniment, under the baton of Peter Schneider, while Anna Viebrock designed the costumes and the sets; Cristoph Marthaler produced. The production at hand opened the 2009 Bayreuth Festival. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi
- Starring:
- Robert Dean Smith, Iréne Theorin, (more)
- 2008
The Palau de les Arts mounted this production of Richard Wagner's 1876 Siegfried (the penultimate installment in his massive Ring Cycle) in 2008. As directed for the stage by Roland Olbeter, with costumes by Chu Oroz, this unusual version utilizes a tremendous amount of visual fantasy, technology, lighting, and props (often though not always comprised of human actors), as well as an extensive number of 3D computer projections. It stars Lance Ryan as Siegfried, Juha Uusitalo as Der Wanderer, Franz-Josef Kapellmann as Alberich and Jennifer Wilson as Brünnhilde. The legendary Zubin Mehta conducts the Orqestra de la Comunitat Valenciana. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi
- Starring:
- Lance Ryan, Gerhard Siegel, (more)
- 2008
February 26, 2008 marked a historic date for music and global culture per se
- Starring:
- Lorin Maazel
- 2007
In the classical performance release New Year's Concert in St Petersburg - shot on New Year's Day 2007 at St. Petersburg's Mariinsky Theatre Concert Hall - Russian maestro Valery Gergiev leads the Orchestra of the Mariinsky Theatre in interpretations of symphonic works by Wagner, Strauss, Verdi, Rachmaninov and a number of other composers. Two soloists - alto vocalist Yuri Bashmet and concert pianist Yefim Bronfman - provide added musical support. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi
- Starring:
- Bashmet, Yefim Bronfman, (more)
- 2007
The legendary Patrice Chéreau (Intimacy, Queen Margot) directed this production of Richard Wagner's moody opera Tristan und Isolde at the Teatro alla Scala in 2007. It stars Ian Storey, Waltraud Meier, Gerd Grochowski and Michelle DeYoung; the Orchestra and Chorus of the Teatro Alla Scala provide musical support, under the baton of Daniel Barenboim. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi
- 2007
The Opera National de Paris mounted this production of choreographer Roland Petit's ballet Proust: Or How the Heart Skips a Beat, adapted from Marcel Proust's A La Recherche du temps perdu. The production stars Eleonora Abbagnato, Hervé Moreau, Stéphane Bullion and Manuel Legris and features music by such composers as Beethoven, Debussy, Fauré and Franck. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi
- Starring:
- Eleonora Abbagnato, Hervé Moreau, (more)
- 2006
Filmmaker Steve Furman captures an event in nature rarely seen by human eyes in this short film detailing the annual ritual of the reclusive Hooded Merganser. This reclusive breed of duck is found exclusively in North America; the female Hooded Merganser lays her eggs in a nest high in the treetops of the Great Lakes region every spring. Later, after the hatchlings emerge, the tiny ducklings have just 24 hours to adjust to their new lives before they are forced by their mother to make the arduous leap to the ground far below. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Steve Furman
- 2004
This performance of the ballet Dance of Death, adapted by John Neumeier from Thomas Mann's novella Death in Venice was recorded at the Hamburg Ballet, combining intimate emotion with grand theatricality, all channeled through some of the best dancers in the world. ~ Cammila Collar, Rovi
This production of Richard Wagner's Tannhauser stars Peter Seiffert in the title role. Franz Welser-Most leads the Zurich Orchestra through the performance that co-stars Alfred Muff, Roman Trekel, and Jonas Kaufman. ~ Perry Seibert, Rovi
- 2003
One of the best-respected artists of his generation, David Hockney is well known for his paintings, prints, and portraits, but he's also developed a reputation as a set designer for some of the world's leading opera companies. A passionate enthusiast of classical vocal music, Hockney's interest in opera has helped to transform the visual aspect of how the pieces are presented, from his bright use of color to his insistence on making lighting cues an integral part of his design. However, there's also an irony to Hockney's success in opera -- at the age of 67, Hockney began losing a significant amount of his hearing, which would not only impact his ability to create for a medium that has earned him so much acclaim, but rob him of his ability to appreciate the music that means so much to him. David Hockney: The Colors of Music is a documentary which examines the artist's unique approach to set design, how the music informs his life, and his feelings as he becomes aware each design project could well be his last. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- David Hockney, Max Charruyer, (more)
- 2002
This performance of Wagner's opera Das Rheingold was recorded live at the Staatsoper Stuttgart in September and December of 2002. ~ Cammila Collar, Rovi
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