To Watch A Short Clip Click Here
Please
click here to download Windows Media Player for MAC.
Over a hundred years after his death, Richard Wagner remains an enigma. His was a rags-to-riches saga with a fairy tale ending. He was loved, yet hated; admired, yet despised. He was a heroic villain who was worshiped and whose fame and exploits were the gossip of Europe. Above all, he was an incurable romantic whose affair with Liszt's illegitimate daughter rivals that of Romeo and Juliet. But he was also a dangerous political revolutionary whose influence penetrated the fabric of German society in the nineteenth century. He was a legend in his own lifetime, and he was one of the greatest composers to ever live.
Only an actor of the stature of the late Richard Burton could measure up to the titanic character of Wagner, and in his last screen appearance, Burton met the most artistically challenging and physically demanding assignment of his career. He captures perfectly the complex mixture of arrogance, selfishness, tenderness and obsession of Wagner's character.
Academy Award® winner Vanessa Redgrave co-stars as Cosima, Wagner's second wife, a woman who had a dramatic impact on German history until her death in 1930. Gemma Craven plays the part of Minna, Wagner's first wife. The incredible supporting cast also includes screen legend Sir Laurence Olivier.
STARRING:
Richard Burton
Vanessa Redgrave
Gemma Craven
Sir Laurence Olivier
Sir John Gielgud
Sir Ralph Richardson
Arthur Lowe
Ronald Pickup
Ekkehardt Schall
Marthe Keller
Lisa Kreuzer
Liza Goddard
Franco Nero
Cyril Cusack
Andrew Cruickshank
London Philharmonic Orchestra
Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra
Budapest Philharmonic Orchestra
Conducted by: Sir Georg Solti
Written by: Charles Wood
Director: Tony Palmer
Producer: Alan Wright
This is a 4 DVD set!
“…a powerful achievement.” – NY Post
“Burton gives one of his finest screen performances.” – USA Today
