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Part I - Wagner is a 1983 television miniseries (10 episodes / 4 remastered parts) on the life of Richard Wagner with Richard Burton in the title role. It was directed by Tony Palmer and written by Charles Wood. [ TEMPUS Collection Remastering - Maximianno Cobra's Selection ] Other main roles were played by Vanessa Redgrave, John Gielgud, Laurence Olivier, and Ralph Richardson . The cast also includes the composer William Walton, and his wife Susan Walton, in the roles of the royal couple Frederick Augustus II of Saxony and Maria Anna of Bavaria. Watch Part I: Watch Part II: Watch Part III: Watch Part IV: PART I - IV - from 1849 to 1850s - The Full Series Opening in 1849, Richard Wagner is a respected composer living in Dresden, where he works as royal court conductor for the King of Saxony, Friedrich August II, and he is trying to arrange the first performance of his recently composed opera Lohengrin. Although his wife, Minna, enjoys their life and status, Wagner is bored with his work for the ageing king and spends most of his time writing revolutionary pamphlets against the establishment and aristocracy. Eventually, the May Uprising breaks out and Wagner becomes an important figure behind it. When Saxon and Prussian troops crush the uprising, Wagner becomes a wanted man and is forced to flee to Zürich. In the 1850s, Wagner's health deteriorates and he has to be cured in a sanatorium, where he reads Arthur Schopenhauer's work Die Welt als Wille und Vorstellung. At his return, Mathilde Wesendonck, the wife of wealthy silk merchant Otto Wesendonck, becomes yet another one of his patrons and offers him the cottage on her estate as his residence. Once installed in the cottage, Wagner begins a passionate correspondence with Mathilde, which upsets both Mathilde's husband, Otto, and Wagner's wife, Minna, who seeks solace in increasing amounts of laudanum. Wagner, who starts composing Tristan und Isolde for Mathilde, is also visited by his good friend Hans von Bülow, and his new bride Cosima, Liszt's daughter. After a while, Minna works up the courage to confront Wagner and Mathilde about their correspondence. CAST Richard Burton as Richard Wagner Vanessa Redgrave as Cosima von Bülow, later Wagner Gemma Craven as Minna Planer, later Wagner Sir John Gielgud as Franz Seraph von Pfistermeister Sir Laurence Olivier as Sigmund von Pfeufer [de] Sir Ralph Richardson as Baron Karl Ludwig von der Pfordten Ronald Pickup as Friedrich Nietzsche Sigfrit Steiner as King Ludwig I of Bavaria Miguel Herz-Kestranek as Hans von Bülow László Gálffi as King Ludwig II of Bavaria Zoltán Gera as Lüttichau Ekkehard Schall as Franz Liszt Marthe Keller as Mathilde Wesendonck Richard Pasco as Otto Wesendonck [de] Peter Hofmann as Ludwig Schnorr von Carolsfeld Dame Gwyneth Jones as Malvina Schnorr von Carolsfeld Jess Thomas as Albert Niemann Vernon Dobtcheff as Giacomo Meyerbeer Gabriel Byrne as Karl Ritter Sir William Walton as King Frederick Augustus II of Saxony Lady Susan Walton as Maria Anna of Bavaria, wife of Frederick Barbara Leigh-Hunt as Queen Marie of Bavaria Marie of Prussia Daphne Wagner as Princess Pauline von Metternich Dame Joan Plowright as Mrs Taylor Corin Redgrave as Dr Pusinelli Prunella Scales as Frau Pollert Andrew Cruickshank as the Narrator ONLINE STORE - Digital Distribution - DSD 64 - 128 - 256 : all orders include two file standards: .dsf and .dff CD PCM 192 kHz 32 bit : all orders include two file standards: .wav CD CD - 44 kHz 16 bit : all orders file standard .wav MP3 Bonus MP3 Portable file : 320 kbps best MP3 quality
