Date/Time
Saturday 20 Jul 2024
3:00 pm to 5:00 pm
This meeting will feature an extended extract from Tony Palmer’s 1983 film on the life of Richard Wagner. The original film was nearly 8 hours long (and a shorter 5 hour version was later released) as well as a 9 hour mini-series in 10 episodes. The film was enthusiastically received by critics at the time for both the beautiful cinematography (filmed on authentic locations in Germany, France and Switzerland) and the quality of the cast. Narrated by Andrew Cruickshank, the cast includes Richard Burton as Wagner, Gemma Craven as his first wife, Minna, Vanessa Redgrave as Cosima, Ekkehard Schall as Franz Liszt, Marthe Keller as Mathilde Wesendonck, and Sir John Gielgud, Sir Laurence Olivier and Sir Ralph Richardson as King Ludwig’s advisers. This afternoon we shall be showing an extended extract pertaining to a decisive period of Wagner’s life, from his revolutionary activities in the Dresden uprising through to his exile in Switzerland and his relationships with Otto and Mathilde Wesendonck.