Plot
The composer Richard Wagner and the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche were good friends but on the day of Richard Wagner's greatest triumph, the opening of his Opera House at Bayreuth, Nietzsche walked away from the friendship and later threatened to kill Wagner. Soon after these bizarre events Wagner died and Nietzsche went raving mad, The details of the quarrel between these giants of 20th century culture is revealed when the Ghost of Richard Wagner materializes to the raving Nietzsche within the walls of the Turin Lunatic Asylum.
Keywords: friedrich-nietzsche, richard-wagner, ring
Madness, Betrayal and Redemption in the Turin lunatic asylum
His Scandalous Affairs Shocked the World!
Countess Marie: I met Franz at a musical party. I remember he played a ballade in A-flat major by Chopin. I thought I'd never seen anything as beautiful as Franz looked when he sat at the piano. I... I wanted to cry. He watched me as he played; Franz never fails to notice a pretty woman in his audience. Afterward, he followed me into the hall. I remember he said, "May I escort you somewhere, madame?" And I said, "Yes." And he said, "Where?" And I said, "Paradise." He didn't smile - he said, "I'll call a carriage."::Princess Carolyne: Did he?::Countess Marie: What?::Princess Carolyne: Drive you there - to paradise?::Countess Marie: [a pause, and a meaningful look as she turns to leave the room] He doesn't know the road, madame.
Plot
King Ludwig II of Bavaria is frustrated, having to accept parliament's will to join Bismarck, rather he his cultured Habsburg friends, in wars. His love-life being as fruitless, he seeks comfort in art. But building fairytale castles and an even grander opera for his musical idol Wagner proves so expensive, his cabinet ends up resorting to formally challenging his mental health, plausible as his beloved brother Otto contracted schizophrenia earlier. Tragedy now lurks in Ludwig's prison-castle.
Keywords: brother-brother-relationship, local-blockbuster, medical-examination, ritual
Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( /ˈvɑːɡnər/; German pronunciation: [ˈʁiçaʁt ˈvaːɡnɐ]; 22 May 1813 – 13 February 1883) was a German composer, conductor, theatre director and polemicist primarily known for his operas (or "music dramas", as he later called them). Wagner's compositions, particularly those of his later period, are notable for their complex texture, rich harmonies and orchestration, and the elaborate use of leitmotifs: musical themes associated with individual characters, places, ideas or plot elements. Unlike most other opera composers, Wagner wrote both the music and libretto for every one of his stage works. Perhaps the two best-known extracts from his works are the Ride of the Valkyries from the opera Die Walküre, and the Wedding March (Bridal Chorus) from the opera Lohengrin.
Initially establishing his reputation as a composer of works such as The Flying Dutchman and Tannhäuser which were broadly in the romantic vein of Weber and Meyerbeer, Wagner transformed operatic thought through his concept of the Gesamtkunstwerk ("total work of art"). This would achieve the synthesis of all the poetic, visual, musical and dramatic arts and was announced in a series of essays between 1849 and 1852. Wagner realized this concept most fully in the first half of the monumental four-opera cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen. However, his thoughts on the relative importance of music and drama were to change again, and he reintroduced some traditional operatic forms into his last few stage works, including Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg.
Richard Wagner
(Wesendonck-Lieder)
In der Kindheit frühen Tagen
hört' ich oft von Engeln sagen,
die des Himmels hehre Wonne
tauschen mit der Erdensonne.
DaÃ, wo bang ein Herz in Sorgen
schmachtet vor der Welt verborgen,
daÃ, wo still es will verbluten,
und vergehn in Tränenfluten,
DaÃ, wo brünstig sein Gebet
einzig um Erlösung fleht,
da der Engel niederschwebt,
und es sanft gen Himmel hebt.
Ja es stieg auch mir ein Engel nieder,
und auf leuchtendem Gefieder