All language subtitles for Wagner_1983 Part 2

Yes, a ballet. We must have a ballet.

� sha�� do something about the rather tame
bacchanal in the first act.

�'ve a�ways thought � might make it
more voluptuous, give Venus more.

Let us make Frau Venus a real woman.

Eroticism, music to �ay bare
our most secret passions,

our most sensua� yearnings
to excite our senses.

Yes, yes.

Tasteful, I hope. Tasteful.

Tastefu�?
Do you know, Monsieur Royer,

this is the first time I've been in a theatre,

on the stage of a theatre, for many years.

In the first act...

Yes?

You would put the ballet

in the first act?

That's where it can go.

In Paris, Monsieur Wagner,

the ba��et is a�ways p�aced
in the second act,

in order that the gent�emen of the town
might see it.

�n our experience, ba��et in the first act
is too early, in the third, too late.

The gent�emen of the town have a�ready
gone elsewhere for their...

No, a ba��et in the first act
will not attract the town.

There you have it, Monsieur Wagner.

P�ease meet Petipa.
He will design your ballet.

Please, he will explain.

Monsieur Wagner.

Petipa.

Monsieur Petipa is the ballet master.

Whoremaster.

Might one say, Herr Wagner,

that in Paris, gentlemen dine at 8:00?

Well, the orchestra?

Competent, I think.

Quite a number of them are German.

There you are. They're the best in the world.

Because they dine at 8:00,

they can repair to the opera
in time for the second act,

where they expect to find a ballet,

as they will find tonight with Nabucco,

as you see...

You are ill-advised, Herr Wagner.

I never accept advice.

- � advise you!
- Oh, do you?

From my heart!

Deep-felt?

We're accustomed to a ba��et
in the second act in Paris.

And the members of the Jockey Club,

they wi�� not accept your opera
should it not have...

Let me tell you this, Herr Wagner,

without the Jockey C�ub's attention,
we are lost, lost, lost!

- And that is fact.
- Is it?

Absolutely fact!

Then which act wi�� the Emperor
wish to see?

�f these gent�emen on�y wish
to see a second act,

I shall make that the best act.

I beg your pardon.

The Emperor wi�� wish to see
the entire opera, of course.

Then entire he shall see it.

Note on note, every sound,

every note as � intend it,
in the place I intend it to be.

And that does not mean I shall give way

to gent�emen who'd rather
see Verdi in underthings,

rather �ech among the sprites
than listen to them!

How we�� does Verdi write
second acts for brothels?

Does he prosper?

Brothels?

�f they can do this
to a revolutionary like Verdi,

what are they going to do to me, Hans?

Well, we ain't going to let them, Hans.

Not an inch do we give the whoremasters!

It goes... It goes well.

It is a mistake, is it not, Richard?

I am beyond Tannhauser.

But it is yours, and you are given
this opportunity to do it, here in Paris!

What is this?

Tannhauser.

I'm revising the whole thing. Well, most of it.

Indeed, some of it.

The tone of it. Its colour.

Why?

So it'll seem the more sensual.

This?

A gift from an admirer.

On Wednesdays I am at home.

Minna, it might please you to attend.

I now have a public position,

which you, as wife, must share with me.

But this part of the apartment is mine.

I am your wife!

Yes, of course, you are.

Where has the money come from?

That is no concern of yours.

I must be able to receive people.

My soirees are attended by
brilliant and gifted people with influence.

Women admirers?

Don't be silly!

Admirers, supporters, subscribers.

I cannot appear to be less than they.

Meyerbeer gives money away
by the cartload.

As if it were dung, which indeed it is.

And you do not soi� your hands
in such dung, I take it?

These are going to be your rooms.

� wi�� expect you to stay
in this part of the house.

But � hope you wi�� make an appearance
when we have guests.

Just an appearance.

There's no need to be involved in anything.

You have a maid.

Two pianos?

Where does the money come from?

� have a contract for nine months.
I give concerts.

All these copyists!

You were forced to work as a copyist once,

now you employ them by the regiment!

How can you pay for them?

They are paid. They are necessary.

There is new music. A ballet.

Much to be done
between Venus and Tannhauser.

In French.

If the music sticks,

it's going to be a devi� of a job
to change this back into German.

That awfu� Venus,
I'm never able to accept her!

No, and I doubt you ever will.

Are you given money by Wesendonck?

I have been.

And what are you given by his wife?

� sha�� not suffer that again!
Go to your rooms!

� do not expect you to enter these rooms
unless you are invited.

I must sit down.

I feel faint.

� wou�d not wish you to be
responsible for my death.

Go! Go!

No! Stop! Stop! Stop!

No! No! No!

Again!

One, two.

Four!

Go! And go!

Go!

Stop, stop, stop, stop.

More fire!

Passion!

Gentlemen!

Gentlemen.

Gentlemen!

We are not Prussian soldiers, but free men!

Be so kind as to exp�ain
what you mean by that, sir.

Herr Wagner, the time
has come to say to you,

after interminable rehearsals, sir,

some hundred or so to date, sir,

we refuse to be drilled like Germans!

Even those of us who are Germans!

I shall need more rehearsals from all of you,

not less.

I shall supply you with lunch and wine,

and � sha�� pay you extra,
out of my own pocket.

Bravo! Bravo!

Yes, yes.

Sorry, my fault.

I am Albert Niemann. I will sing Tannhauser.

I'm Richard Wagner.

This is my assistant, Hans von Bulow.

Do you want me?

It is a thought.

I am the greatest!

I hear that you are.

What's the fee?

I shall hear you first.

An audition! To give auditory trial!

Well...

I know the role backwards!

�nteresting. �nteresting.
How does that sound?

By refusing to have a ba��et
in the second act,

you have �ost the services
of the principal dancers.

- That is so.
- Why?

They will not appear.

� can obtain for you
three Hungarian dancers.

Monsieur Wagner,
we beg of you, reconsider!

No.

You wi�� have your ba��et,
but it must be in the first act.

I must portion it in the first act.

You will play to an empty theatre!

You are being used!

That does not happen to me.

There's more to this.

Tannhauser, political complexities...

I rejected politics, they're nothing to me.

There was a secret clause in the peace treaty

which imposed a production
of Tannhauser on Paris.

A German opera, at the command
of the French Emperor,

inf�uenced, some say,
by an Austrian Princess Metternich.

Can't imagine why.

I've heard she can't tell a fugue

from a flugelhorn.

But you must have friends.

�'ve a�ready been approached!
I refuse, I refuse to employ them!

Then you risk a great deal.

All this concertising, simply to make money!

Bits and pieces, my dear, bits and pieces!

Herr Wagner! You deal with a Jewess.

�f you want money, you must sign a note.
It is necessary.

Yes, in the case of such a person as

Madame Schwabe it is certainly necessary.

Why, sir, would it not be? I lend you money.

You are taking a journey
into the music of the future.

Isn't that what he says?

You give me a promissory note.

I do indeed.

For the sum of 2,000 francs.

The whole thing is too long. Too high

and too long.

The score must be cut, Herr Wagner.

We are doomed to failure

unless you cut, cut, cut.

� sha�� want to get through my ro�e
as quickly as possible!

My voice, you see!

This is my opera,

and unless you consider it so,

then scout out for another Tannhauser!

We��, take it down an octave.
Change a few notes.

Anything. It's only music, after all.

Monsieur R oyer,
I must conduct the orchestra myself.

I've had 164 rehearsals with the orchestra,

and now, within days
of giving my Tannhauser,

I'm told I'm not allowed to conduct.

Listen to it, do!

We must a��ow the musica� director
of the opera house

to conduct his own orchestra.

His orchestra? Mine! I sharped it!

And the corps de ballet is a disgrace.

- Oh, it is?
- It is not!

Indeed, it is!

Look at that lumpish lump!

Oh, yes!

I compose music for a wild dance.

Wi�d, bo�d, sensua�.
And look! What do I have?

If you will not give a ballet in the second act,

wi�� you consider a dance intermezzo
between the acts

- so that some of the ba��erinas might...
- No! No! No!

...show their charms to the admirers of
a pas de trois.

I am patronised by the Emperor.

Yes, simp�y because he wishes
to placate the republicans

by showing favour to one...
To one such as yourself.

�t is because he is persuaded
by Princess Metternich

that he shou�d hear Wagner
after all these years.

Wagner, do you understand?
Paris is to see Wagner.

Wagner, a serious and dedicated artist
among this!

There is a�so a growing dis�ike
of the influence

of Princess Metternich, who is Austrian.

I know she is Austrian.

We speak the same �anguage,
to some extent.

Petipa! I'm in despair. Look at that!

Monsieur Wagner, � am the finest
ballet master in the whole of France.

Monsieur Sax informs me there are not
12 French horns in the whole of Paris.

It is true.

Then they must be made.

I cannot do it in time! Might I suggest...

Petipa, do you not understand
what I've written?

It is a bacchanal!

Yes. But if � try to do it,
in order to attempt it,

I would need all the premieres danseuses,

and even so, were � to ask them
to give that which you demand,

the passion you expect
and your music indicates, were I to...

Monsieur Wagner, in their tutus,

we would simply end with the cancan!

Can Can!

Paris is the centre of the musical world.

It cannot be helped.

And Paris is not German.

In Europe, a success in Paris is desirable,

scores sold,

works taken up and given.

Wagner was well aware
of the importance of the occasion,

well aware,

as he faced his first opening night

for 16 years.

- Herr Wagner?
- Sir?

I am here to wish you success.

Thank you.

- You are sure of it.
- Thank you.

I can guarantee it.

Sir, I do not intend to pay you anything.

You or any other member of your claque.

Then I can guarantee nothing.

I, however, can guarantee everything.

� am we�� aware that you, sir,
have these in your pocket.

Do you talk to me, sir?

Herr Meyerbeer, I do talk to you.

Wou�d you wish me to speak in Hebrew
so that your friends might understand?

� have never borne you any i�� wi��,
Herr Wagner.

�ndeed, when you were a younger man,
I thought I had done you some service.

The service was indeed s�ight,
but I thank you for what you did,

though � fancy any person of discrimination
would have done the same.

�t was obvious that my work
had to be recommended,

even by you.

There is nothing wrong with
packing the house with friends.

I don't buy friends, or praise.

From what one hears, the f�ow of money
goes one way only, Herr Wagner.

I read your pamphlet on Jewry in music.

It was written with such as you in mind.

You used my name,

several times.

How did you find the argument?

I found it clever, but offensive.

� prefer to consider it
the work of a bitter and frustrated man.

I shall ignore it.

� have had �etters from unfortunate
Jewish musicians who plead with me

to show them a way out of their misery,

thus presented to them.

You shall have no letters from me, sir.

I take it you paid for your ticket?

One shou�d a�ways do one's best
for one's fellow musicians.

A��ow me to reimburse you
for what will probably be

a disappointing evening for you.

Oh, come now.
Tannhauser is quite a good piece.

Overlong, but quite well-crafted.

It is wonderful and wonderfully given.

It is all I would wish it to be.

That will be your disappointment, sir.

Tinkle, tinkle, tinkle.

The things that have happened to us
in the past,

I try to put them out of my mind,

but they are always there
at times such as these.

The frightening, shameful, terrifying things.

We have both fled.

We have both been hunted down
for debt, for intrigue, for debt.

The Cossacks always on our heels.

I know,

even at our moments of greatest security,

even when success trembles...

Please.

Please.

Get on with it, you idiot!

Oh, God,

not again.

Not again.

Well?

Politics.

Niemann wasn't good enough, was he?

Quite.

When you are recovered,
you must go to live in Dresden.

Perhaps. You?

Not sure.

Princess Metternich is attempting
to obtain for me a passport.

Perhaps � sha�� be a��owed
back in Germany at last.

I shall not stay in Paris.

Vienna, perhaps.

I hate the French above all others.

Such disgusting behaviour.

Yes.

If I am accorded a passport, I will visit you.

As you wish.

I intend to take the waters in Soden.

That � knew.
I have it arranged with Pusinelli.

You despise me.

- No.
- I hate you.

Minnerl, Minnerl, you don't.

Perhaps.

Bu�ow is trying to persuade
the Grand Duke of Baden

to have me in Karlsruhe.

I shall... I shall ask for a small pension.

Do we like Karlsruhe?

Perhaps.

Tristan and Isolde, perhaps.

That miserable moan.

That disgusting moan!

My husband wrote that,

that filth, that drug,

when he was besot
with Mathilde Wesendonck.

Culture carrion.

And impossible to perform.

I know.

You will not find a singer to sing it. I know.

Maybe.

Richard.

Promise me no more lewdness with women.

No more infatuations with women
like Frau Wesendonck.

Promise me.

Minnerl.

You're cruel, heartless.

I'm glad I'm going away.

Bulow, what will you do now?

I'm offered a post in Berlin.

They think of starting an orchestra there.

- Ber�in. And you?
- Switzerland, perhaps.

I must leave Paris. That I know.

Paris. Look at it, Bulow.

There's a market for anything in Paris.

Even the �eavings from the tab�es of the rich,
smuggled out by servants,

still sauced by their master's spit, no doubt.

Back-door bones from restaurants.

Paris won't pick on my bones,
even if I have to concertise.

Paris can afford anything, can buy anything.

Anything. Buy it and waste it.

We are gentlemen of the three 'ins', Bulow,

in debt, in danger and in poverty.
Two are enough for any man.

Wagner became a journeyman again,

concertising, seeking a settled existence,
a place to work,

a patron to pick up his bills,

a theatre to offer him welcome.

Always in his mind
there nagged the thought

that somewhere there was
a person with the vision and the courage

to offer him everything he might need

to realise his ideas.

No state in Germany
would open its doors to him.

The insignificant princelings
Wagner and his friends had challenged

were banded against him.

Everywhere that he went,
his piano went as well.

But most of all, he needed time,

money to buy time.

His operas were given, true,

but the income from them was small.

He was becoming increasingly desperate

that he would never be given the chance
to do the great work

he knew would assure his place.

But first he tried Switzerland again,

tried Wesendonck again.

Your wife?

Not good.

Yours?

Frau Wesendonck?

She enjoys excellent health.

Yes, good.

And your health?

Mine?

Your afflictions.

Yes, yes.

The usual.

Your skin.

What do you say?

I hope to complete Siegfried.

And for Rheingold and Valkyrie?

24,000 francs
would be an excellent investment.

� do assure you, Otto,
you will be the person who gains.

The Ring is going to be a tremendous piece.

You are to be my business partner,
insofar as The Ring is concerned.

I'll throw in Meistersinger.

Soon finish that if I can get a pension

and somewhere to live.

Investment in what, Wagner?

I already hold publishing rights to The Ring.

Investment in what?

In me.

In me, damn you, in me!

Perhaps.

Have you tried Vienna?

On the other hand,
I know any reputable money lender

wou�d show you some courtesy
on my encomium.

Thank you, Wesendonck,

but � wi�� not take money from those
who have no conception of my worth.

I'm not a swindler.

The Grand Duke of Baden is thinking
of placing his theatre at my disposal.

Is he?

That's why I'm here in Vienna.

To look for singers for my opera, Tristan.

I shall see you don't find them.

But, Highness, I...

Why not give us your opera here?

But...

In Vienna we can do it so much better.

- Your Highness.
- Herr Hanslick,

this is Herr Wagner.

Your Highness.

One of the most important critics in Vienna,
Herr Wagner.

I have a great admiration for you, sir.

Dr Hanslick is a very prominent critic.

I know him, ma'am.

My dear Wagner,
we must all learn to deal with our critics.

Artists and royalty are expected to smile.

He has attacked me and my work,
Tannhauser,

viciously and persistently.

He is a pedant, a time-server.

One day � sha�� show him what he is.
I'll put him in a synagogue.

My dear Wagner,

the Grand Duke is not interested
in Tristan and Isolde.

He is interested in you.

He sees you as a political feather in his cap.

He has told me as much.

You are the German composer

who was patronised
by the Emperor Napoleon.

You wi�� find that carries
a great deal of weight

with minor German princelings.

Frau Kapellmeisterin.

Sir.

Herr Doctor, is that...?

Yes.

He owes me money.

He owes us all money.

Is she ill?

Yes.

She comes every day to petition
the Minister to allow Wagner back.

Were we not a�� revo�utionaries,
I ask you that?

I was his oboist, heaven help me.

I sought change, heaven help me.

I really want to help, but...

We��, if there's nothing in Ber�in,
I may as well try Russia.

Tristan?

In Vienna? With the Princess? Hopeless.

I continue to work on it.

It's a simple piece, but the difficulties...

That tenor will never be able to sing it.

He doesn't understand a word of it.

Never been in love in his life.

I rewrite and rewrite to suit his voice.

Meistersinger is the thing.

Some money, anyway,

and a household around me.

�'ve arranged it for piano.
It might be something.

You could sell your fur coat.

He can't go to Russia without a fur coat.

Got it cheap. From a Jew in Vienna.

He asked 220 tha�ers.
I told him,

I explained to him

that �'d on�y been given
200 thalers for the concert.

So therefore he knocked
20 thalers off the price.

I could sell this,

if only I could find a Jew in Berlin.

The Grand Duke of Baden gave it to me.

� asked him for a pension, a house,
a modest retainer,

so that I might settle to Meistersinger,

and he gave me that!

In Vienna they told me

that Tristan is unperformable.

Rheingold, Valkyrie,

two acts of Siegfried, almost.

But not the music, not yet.

But it's there,

if only I can settle long enough.

I'm so weary.

I came near to doing away with myself.

Maybe I shall.

Not unti� you've at �east heard
my piano arrangement of Meistersinger.

Weitzman is your Jew.

He can sell anything.

I shall take it to him now.

At �east you wi�� have some money
to get you to St Petersburg.

My dear fellow.

Frau Kapellmeisterin,

the Minister is not able to see you today.

Would it be convenient...

Might you call back tomorrow?

Illness keeps us apart.

I would like to be with my husband,

but I cannot travel.

Well, my poor good Mutz,
my Minnerl, my good soul,

how do you find yourself?

I work and work in Russia,

find myself soaked to the skin
on numerous occasions,

find myself enduring
all the so-called joys of travel.

Always beset by companions,

wherever I can find someone
will let me stand

in front of an orchestra and wave a baton,

a wretched baton.

How does your health?

Be patient and it will improve,
of that I'm sure.

Let me know all of your treatments in detail.

I am interested in their workings.

I still suffer, but so it goes.

So keep fond of me.

Goodbye, good old Frau Minna.

Warmest sympathy from your Richard.

You're afraid.

Yes, I am.

The way you would wish
to change everything.

Think more of your position, Richard,
and less of changing everything.

You hack away and hack away
and you're not in a position to.

You sit in the branch and hack at the tree.
I'm in the tree with you.

My worst enemy is here in my own house.

Oh, no.

Not I.

He's so... So always in a turmoil.

Schemes, ideas, not his business!

It is his business
to present music for the King.

That's all and enough for anyone.

Dresden is one
of the foremost theatres in Germany.

We are so lucky.

Kindness! I don't want kindness.
I want money and I want a theatre.

I have plays, ideas for plays,
ideas for reform.

They are good, well-thought-out ideas.
What happens to them?

My report on the state
of the royal orchestra, what about that?

Three months to prepare! Three months.
Not even read by the King.

My ideas for a national theatre of Germany,
what about that?

Not taken seriously.

Well, if there isn't a Germany...

Bakunin, these,
calling on the soldiers not to fight us.

Idiots...

You know that nobody will be able
to stage it.

Do I?

- Yes.
- You...

- Me?
- Yes, you.

You mock me for my seriousness,

but if one's not serious about work,
what then? Desolation.

There is a stage, it is out there,
it is going to happen.

But Wagner did go back to Vienna,

destitute again,

all he had earned gone

and very little coming in.

But once again, he found friends,

sought out Jews who would advance him
on security of his friends.

Found another woman.

Settled to his stated task of mounting

Tristan and Isolde in Vienna.

While here in Dresden
we began to listen sympathetically

to the pleadings of Frau Wagner,

her husband employed
seamstresses by the score,

stitching him into silk.

I was an enormous success in St Petersburg.

Oh, really?

This modest establishment in Vienna,

my favourite city in the world,

where all my friends are.

But I do need that our house,

your house, now my house,
be kept in order,

the cellars full.

To this end, my present wife being unwell,

unable to take care of me,

perhaps I will divorce her.

I ask you to marry me, Friederike.

- R ichard.
- Thank you.

His Majesty has again
considered the case of Herr Wagner,

and in view of the great esteem

that your husband is afforded
throughout Germany,

His Majesty is inclined to grant an amnesty

so that Herr Wagner might visit you
here in Dresden,

in the city which was first
to recognise his genius.

How dare you?

Sister.

How dare you come into
the same theatre as me?

I.

And why not?

I have my reputation to think of.

You are his mistress.

� sha�� not rehearse
while you are in the building.

Herr Wagner, Master, I am unwell.

My voice is in shreds.

I am not able to sing Tristan.

I am free.

I am free.

I can go back.

Minna?

Minna?

It is I. Richard.

You have come.

Yes.

How is it here?

Pleasant, when I am well.

And you are not?

I'm better now.

We have prepared a bedroom for you.

Natalie.

Richard?

Richard, she is very proud to have recovered

your old desk here in Dresden.

Yes.

She hopes you still remember it.

Will you stay?

A study...

I expect you still owe everyone money.

I expect I do.

You demand 2,000 marks a year from me

and what do you provide in return?

A settled household?

Vienna is an opportunity.

The best I've had yet.

The city is welcoming,

the theatre is...

Oh, it's a chance, Minna.
A chance, a good chance.

If I can manage to put Tristan on...

Why, it's a simple piece,

written to appeal to the public

and be taken up and done everywhere.

There's nothing very complicated about it.

It must be very successful.

Though it is, as I say, a hazard.

The work is immoral.

A�� � wish from you
is that you run my house for me

so that I might work, nothing else.

And what do you offer in return?

�'ve a�ways offered you
respect and friendship.

You once offered love.

You once gave love.

I was always at your side.

Your devoted wife.

You cannot attack me.

I do.

I accuse you of cruelty,

of infidelity and inadvertence.

A�� that � ask is that you provide
a home for me, a settled home.

For you to come back to?

Perhaps.

You have thrown away
every opportunity offered to you.

A respectab�e �ife
under the patronage of the court.

In Dresden.

Yes.

Where I was a liveried servant.

I was respected as Frau Kapellmeisterin.

Now you are respected as Frau Wagner.

I am

Frau Wagner.

Yes, you are.

You are.

You are.

"In the morning I shine in rosy radiance

"Soon all is lost from blood and fragrance

"What was won quickly is soon turned sickly

"Open to all was this garden of mine

"Both to the beastly and to the fine

"Just bearably in this space I'll be

"Coinage, lead juice are the fruits of my fee

"From pillories the aspirant calls me

"On airy paths hang I from the tree"

Second chapter.

Meistersinger.

Hanslick, you're portrayed in it.

You should feel very proud.

�t's not often a critic
is advanced for immortality.

I've called him Beckmesser.

I had thought of calling him Arselick,

as in Hanslick...

...perhaps the theory is all.

Ouch, that was my backside,
booted by the next original genius

with something new to say...

Is this the house of Richard...

- Wagner.
- Wagner?

Thank you.

It's a dressing gown.

Where does he find the money
to pay for it all?

He has been to every Jew in Vienna.

And this is what he does with it?

All of this?

Richard, how can you afford all this?

The simp�e answer is,
my dear Peter, that I can't.

My dear Tausig. You look so unwell.

Oh, �'ve just agreed
to stand surety for Richard.

Signed as much.

I have agreed to cover some of his debts.

We're looking for Mr Wagner.

Frau Schott, Frau Schott.

Frau Schott, wife to my publisher,

meet Dr Standhartner,
physician to the Empress.

You will have lots to talk about.

Herr Schott, Herr Schott,
you know Cornelius.

Peter, Herr Schott refuses
to advance me any more money.

- Any more.
- I am not...

No, you are not, you are not.

Peter.

Peter, you are the only real friend here.

Listen. We must live together. We must.

Live with you?

R ichard, you destroy your friends.
Look at them.

You are generous, yes. Too generous.

But you take everything from your friends.
Everything.

Their money, their women, their love.

Everything.

What are friends for?

They've set the bumbees on me.

They're here to dun me.
I'm ruined. What can I do?

A mirac�e must happen,
otherwise it is finished.

- Then you must run.
- Where?

You've had your last penny from me.

What kind of a publisher are you?

You don't need a publisher.

You need a rich banker
or a prince with bottomless coffers.

I'll talk to them.

You go, Richard. Go.

My name is Tausig.
I'm surety for Herr Wagner.

And who, if � may ask,
is surety for you, Mr Tausig?

- Gent�emen.
- Mr Tausig.

Good heavens.

Your Majesty.

The strangers list from the Chief of Police.

Every stranger in Munich today...

Is he on it, Pfistermeister?

No, Your Majesty, a�though there are
several Wagners and even one Richard.

After all, it is a very common name.

But this one is far too young,
a mere youth of 19, a boy...

Then if he isn't going to come to us,
you'll have to go to him.

Majesty.

I can't wait another minute.

Not another day.

24,000 francs
would be an excellent investment.

I do assure you, Otto,
you will be the person who gains.

The Ring is going to be a tremendous piece.

You are to be my business partner,
insofar as The Ring is concerned.

I'll throw in Meistersinger.

Soon finish that if I can get a pension

and somewhere to live.

Investment in what, Wagner?

I already hold publishing rights to The Ring.

Investment in what?

In me. In me, damn you, in me!

Herr Wagner.

A gent�eman has been
making enquiries about you.

- Name?
- Not given.

Official?

Very.

Come up for my �uggage in 10 minutes.
I'm leaving.

Thank you, Wesendonck,

but I will not take money from those
who have no conception of my worth.

I'm not a swindler.

I can't live like this,

the miserable life of a town organist,

like Master Bach.

I must have beauty, splendour,
light around me.

I am not as others.

I have nerves that are as sensitive as touch.

The world owes me a consideration,

and yes, yes, luxury.

Is it such a shocking request that I,

who have so much enjoyment
to give the world,

should ask for some little comfort in return?

Come in, my luggage is ready.

Herr R ichard Wagner,
musician and composer?

Yes, yes, I am he.

My card, sir.

Private secretary to the King of Bavaria?

I have that honour.

Pfistermeister, sir.

A young man, just come to the throne,

everything before him.

He has everything he needs,
he is denied nothing.

As the ruby glows in the ring,

so the heart of His Majesty burns with desire

to greet the poet of Lohengrin.

His portrait.

He wishes to see you at once.

He desires you to accompany me to Munich.

Can you be ready for the 5:00 train?

Herr Wagner, I shall expect you.

Good day, sir.

Yes.

Yes.

It was a fascinating time.

Bavaria had a new young King,

brought to the throne of Bavaria

by the early sad death of his father.

I knew him.

So,

high hopes,

the things that were expected
of young Ludwig.

On the surface
all was expectation and anticipation.

A strong young King and a strong people.

Strong enough to depose
young Ludwig's grandfather

when he shocked them
by his liaison with a person,

shocking,

a lady called Lola Montez.

But Germany was still in a turmoil,
not yet united,

and Prussia intending to prevail

by force of arms if necessary.

The only state strong enough to stand
in Prussia's way was Bavaria.

Here in Saxony, Dresden,

well, Prussia had never forgiven us

for allowing our little

revolution.

But Bavaria, her strength lay in her people,

eager to be led by their young King,

looking to a new golden age.

Aware that politicians
were jostling for power,

putting themselves forward
for recognition by the new young King.

Aware that these politicians
would seek to influence the King,

perhaps towards a treaty with Prussia.

Perhaps towards a surrendering
of Bavaria's sovereignty

for the sake of a united Germany at last.

Into this cauldron of politics
stepped Wagner,

seeing only the calm surface,

not the simmerings and seethings.

Seeing only his Swan King,

his perfect patron at last.

Herr Wagner,

we have searched for you everywhere.

Vienna. We heard you were there.

Russia, Paris, Switzerland. Everywhere.

Since Lohengrin, as a boy,

I have wished to meet you.

We intend to give you everything.

I have found you

and � sha�� be true to you
to the ends of time.

My debts are considerable.

They amount to considerab�e sums.
Considerable to me.

To His Majesty they are,
of course, as nothing.

� had to se�� my snuff box
to buy my train ticket to get here.

Do you have a note of that?
My refund, of course.

A house, the Briennerstrasse.

Fashionable but quiet, near to the King.

Big enough for me and my assistant,
von Bulow, his wife, her children.

His Majesty has offered me
everything I need to perform my works.

He owns me and my works.

So together,
we shall give to the world a model.

First things, a theatre.

We must build a theatre, a real theatre.

This is the Grail Room, the thinking room.

Yes.

You understand?

Yes.

It is so called because... Because here...

You will find sanctuary.

We will find sanctuary.

Watch it.

Semper is to be sent for from Zurich
to make a start on the plans.

� am to comp�ete The Ring,
then an opera called The Victors,

then Parsifal in 1872,

then in 1872, my happy death.

As far as the wor�d is concerned,
I'm dead already.

Work is the on�y thing.
There shall be no distraction.

Nothing the world can do can obtrude,

because we are under
the protection of a prince.

The first time I saw it.

Where? Where did you see it?

Here, in Munich.

I was a boy, but I knew when I saw it.

It was what I'd always known.

How was that?

Since...

Oh, from the first awareness,

Lohengrin must be about us, my family, us.

I know, I know.

In Bavaria, everything comes together.

The purest luck.

� intend to make up for
what you have suffered in the past.

Though you cannot know,

you have been the sole source of my delight

from my earliest boyhood.

� have �ived in waiting for the day
that I might give you life.

See here.

You, who spoke to my heart as no other,

you are to be simply my 'friend',

no duties, no official appointments.

Simply... simply, Majesty,

that I shall be the 'friend'.

Every day, come to me. Every day.

For ever.

Look over here. See?

Everything is known to me.

� have read everything there is to read
on the Sagas.

My imagination pictures them all.

Siegfried, Brunnhilde, Parsifal.

But most of all, for I am he,

Lohengrin, the Swan Knight.

We will breathe life into them all together,

better than this, better.

R ea� f�esh and b�ood,
and sounds, what sounds!

First, because we are sti�� in mourning,
a few concerts.

Yes. Of course, of course.
Whatever Your Majesty commands.

Some private studyings of Siegfried.

- Bu�ow?
- Yes.

Yes, Bulow. I shall appoint him.

My Prime Minister Pfordten shall arrange it.

Eighteen years ago,
when you were born, Majesty...

Friend!

Friend. Friend, yes.

Then I had not done anything.

Rienzi, Dutchman.

Yes, yes, but Rienzi was f�awed,
haunted by the ghost of Meyerbeer.

Your music makes Kings.

Not too many of them, I hope, in Bavaria.

There is only one King in Bavaria, only one.

You wi�� adore Tristan.
It's so simple, easy to stage.

The Dutchman first.

Of course, of course.
Whatever you command.

I am very angry.

You are?

Your husband Bu�ow
is an old friend and pupil.

Apart from the pain it wi�� cause to Bu�ow,
to Minna, to all of us,

this amour you dec�are
could be very dangerous.

You are under the patronage of
Ludwig Il, King of Bavaria,

and that is something

quite,

quite splendid.

Now you wi�� know how wonderfu�
life can be, la vie,

perhaps, yes,

as it has to some extent been for me,

under the patronage of the Grand Duke,
le duc.

But there are certain obligations.

He asks nothing of me.

I don't have to wear livery.

� don't have to perform for him
like a monkey on a stick.

He asks nothing of me but friendship.

I see. Well... Well...

Maintenant, I must confess some...

Envy?

Cosima is my daughter. Ma fille, Richard.

Her mother and I... Well...

We��, if your friendship with Ludwig ��,
le roi, is...

Is fast, safe, true.

He is a god. A young god.

Surely that is something,

je ne sais quoi, to be cherished.

Cosi,

you must understand.

Munich is not a great and cosmopolitan city

like Paris or Berlin.

The people can be scandalised,

shocked by a �iaison
such as you appear to contemplate.

Surely you understand that if this happens,

it wi�� damage your standing with Ludwig,
destroy everything,

the great opportunity you, Wagner,

are at last presented with...

And there is the religious aspect.

The what?

Yes.

The spirit.

Oh, I have always been concerned

with the spirit.

There is much work to be done.

Yes, there is.

When Bu�ow is better,
he will be of tremendous help.

- �s he unwe��?
- Yes, poor fellow, his nerves are shattered.

Shattered. He ree�s
from one sickness to another.

I've obtained a position for him at the court.

It will pass, Majesty,

and even if it doesn't,
the King, your son, can hardly come to harm

by consorting with a composer of operas,

some of considerable merit, I am told.

All of them very German.

Is he political?

There was Dresden.

However, the Saxons have now seen fit
to permit him to return.

We are...

Yes?

...not disturbed.

Well, I am.

Born a Saxon. Imprisoned for debt, I hear.

Ran away from his creditors. Stateless.

Swiss passport, probably forged.

Now a Bavarian citizen.

I ask you...

Your nephew, sir, the King,
is filled up with romantic intentions.

He sees knights with f�ags
trot down every lane, cross every mountain.

Not, � venture to hazard, a bad thing
for a new young King not yet married.

The more he thinks romantic,
the less he will come to harm.

Youth, I value it.

He is not, this Wagner,

not too much artistically inclined?

No, no, he is a person
of quite ordinary tastes.

Except...

Except?

Well, his work, his music,

it is considered sensual, erotic.

Young people are seduced by it.

But there is no reason to believe

that they are seduced to acts wayward.

The King's mind wi�� be fi��ed
with thoughts of Swan Knights,

maidens aswim in the Rhine,

Venus.

Why not? Why not?

The sooner he gets married, the better.

Indeed.

Wagner must not be allowed to influence

unduly.

At the first sign.

Very well.

Sire, might � present to you
one of the sins of my youth?

Das Liebesverbot, one of the first
by a young man of 22,

never properly heard to this day.

First performed, if that is the word,

in Magdeburg in 1826.

The tenor could remember very little of it.

At the time...took refuge in chunks of other...
Other operas.

Wou�d not have happened at a�� had my wife
not sold her bracelet to pay the copyist.

There. That is the ship you sailed in.

Yes. Yes, it's wonderful.

- But...
- What?

- May � suggest...
- Of course.

It must be right.

Chased out by Russian Cossacks, we were.

Debts, debts.

From Riga.

On the run. No escape but the boat.

The boat.

And then caught in a storm.

A storm so vio�ent
that it dashed against the protecting rocks,

throwing up a great barrier of spray
against the leaden sky.

Then the calm.

Peace.

A great stillness.

The fee�ing that we were �ost
without a resting place,

like the Dutchman,

alone,

time standing still.

The beginning of a quest.

Peace.

A great stillness.

No, no, no, no, no.

Look, if you �ook after the �itt�e notes,
the big ones will look after themselves.

So try it again now.

No, no, no, no, no."Bist du mein?"
Do you realise what it means?

"Art thou mine?" �t's a confession of �ove.
Now, let's have some passion in it.

Now try it again.

No, no, no.

Just remember the words.
Remember what the words mean.

Forget the music for a second.
Just look at the words.

You must remember that the words
are equally as important

as the music.
It is, after all, meant to be poetry.

I hope it is poetry.

So let us think the words,

and the meaning wi�� then
be perfectly obvious to the audience.

We mustn't just get me��if�uous
like those funny Italian operas.

Let's try again.

Maestro, does this high C have to be there?
It's very difficult to get.

If you can't sing the high C,

- we wi�� put it �ower for you.
- Do we have to keep in tempo there?

You can take it a �itt�e faster
and you can make it a little softer.

You don't need to be fortissimo.

�gnore what �'ve written down here.
Try it again.

I don't know whether your voices are tired,

but you're shouting now, you're not singing.
You're shouting.

But it's so high, Maestro.

- We're a�most forced to.
- There's no line.

How can we sing this top C
and these things?

If you cannot sing the top C,

we'�� find somebody who can sing the top C.
Shall we?

We��, �'�� think you'�� find it rather difficu�t
at this particular moment...

We��, �et's try it again.
Let's not lose our tempers, let's try again.

- Yes.
- Shall we?

Right turn and forward!

Good, good, good...

Very good.

That's it.

That's it. Now, you see how it works?

It is, Your Majesty,

as if you were ab�e to see your dreams,
I would hope,

by p�acing of a proscenium
within a very wide proscenium,

directing the gaze of the spectator
towards the object, the illusion,

a world focusing and refocusing

until one is drawn into the illusion.

Wonderful.

Every seat in the theatre is the best seat.
Everything can be seen.

- The orchestra?
- U nder, under.

U nseen in a great bowl under the stage.

An amphitheatre in the Greek fashion.

Semper, can we flood it?

Well...

Herr Wagner!

You must help me to protect him.

- Who?
- Our King.

- �s he in danger?
- He has a great destiny.

- �t's written in the stars.
- Really?

Now you, Herr Wagner,
you must protect him.

- Yes.
- You...

You do believe in the stars?

Of course, of course.

Herr Wagner! Herr Wagner!

Oh �ook here. Somebody ought to do
something about that woman. Oh look here.

- Dangerous.
- No, no. Just silly.

Wagner is very dangerous, in my opinion.

No, no. Just ambitious.

Aren't you?

Aren't we all?

Majesty.

- �t is taking so �ong.
- Majesty?

Tristan. Aren't you longing to hear Tristan?

Oh longing, Majesty. Longing.

There must be more room for the orchestra.

How can we find more room?

Are you not used to fu��-size orchestras
in Munich?

Remove those seats.

Seats?

Yes, the first few rows of seats.

Or do you wish us to go back
to the Residenz Theatre?

Surely, surely, Herr Bulow...

Surely?

We would lose more than 20 seats!

Does that matter?

Does it matter whether we have
20 Munich Schweinehunde in the audience,

more or less?

There are peop�e waiting
to see you, Richard.

- Who?
- Two people.

They want you to ask the King for mercy
on behalf of their son,

- who's been condemned to death.
- Me?

What is she...

Tell her to go away.

They've tried everyone else.

In the matter of the King's life...

His life is dearer to me than my own.

He must be protected!

Is he not protected?

Do you want me to tell them to go away?

There are more important things.

Are there indeed?

�t is your duty
to help this wonderful young man

to fulfil his destiny.

You must understand, Frau...?

I spoke to his father and his grandfather.

I advised them

that they wou�d fa�� to the machinations
of evil men and be destroyed.

They would not listen to me.

I can see it in the stars.

You

are his destiny!

Do you want to see these people?

People...

- R ichard.
- Richard.

- Bu�ow.
- Richard.

- �t goes we��?
- Yes, thank you.

This is Ferdinand Lassa��e,
who wishes you to intervene on his behalf

so that he might marry the daughter
of Baron...

Well, sir, it is because he's Jewish.

Herr Wagner,
our son is condemned to death, sir.

Can we not go somewhere else?

Franz, get rid of them.

Our son, sir, condemned!

I know Herr Lassalle is a friend

and that he's deep�y invo�ved in this affair
of the daughter of von...

We wish only to keep our son alive.

We love each other, Herr Wagner.

You must understand that, you of all people.

� must te�� you this, sir.
You are an ambitious...

The sort of man
who does not scruple to use friends,

who does not scrup�e
to use anybody and anything

for private means.

Without her, I shall die.

Perhaps, perhaps.

Herr Wagner!

Our King!

You must he�p him
through the morass of evil influence,

false advice given by politicians

interested only in self-advancement,

owing allegiance only to Prussia.

You are his hope!

Condemned to death, Herr Wagner.

Herr Wagner, help us to keep our son alive.

Get rid of them! Get rid of them!

Yes, I said it.

It is not you, not you.

They're beginning to how�, the dogs,
consumed with jealousy for me.

The musicians,
those that call themselves musicians,

they had nothing worthwhi�e in Munich
until we came.

They wi�� have everything when we �eave,
because we give instead of take.

Give rather than take.

That is the truth of it.
What are we trying to do, what?

A schoo� so that we might produce singers
like Schnorr here,

who can sing as well as act.

A theatre big enough, what?

Nothing that is not essential,

food, wine, c�ean and soft c�othes
so that I do not erupt in...

I am sorry.

� suggest that you apo�ogise
to the people of Munich.

My apology is that I have failed you.

But if you wish me to,
I shall apologise to them.

You must.

Nothing must spoil what we have.

All right. Isolde.

Filth and money!

The artwork of the future
is filth and money, Wagner! I know it!

Is Bulow still here?

Who gets into his wife's petticoats?

Bulow!

Who is it who worms into your bed?

Excellent.

Everyone else is a blockhead.

Wagner is the only intelligent man I know.

Indeed, sire.

There is a question of the bill for 1,000...

Paul, ask Wagner to come and see me.

Majesty.

...guilders.

What bill?

The bill for the artist's commission.

I apologise,

and � have written my apo�ogy
so that it might be published.

When I spoke of Schweinehunde,

� was not referring to
the cultivated Munich public,

who have a�ways shown
a proper appreciation

of the work of this man
you are privileged to have in your midst.

Paying to have in our midst!

Yes, paying!

Why should you not?

I call you Schweinehunde.

You who scheme and plot against Wagner!

You who seek to undermine his friendship
with the King!

- Herr Wagner.
- Sir?

You wait?

The King has sent for me, sir.

Not today, thank you.

Your wares are not required today,
Herr Wagner.

The King wishes to see me, sir.

His Majesty will not see you.

His Majesty sent his ADC to bring me to him.
I was at rehearsal.

That man... That man is my enemy!

No, no. But, you see, the portrait...

The King does not like it?

Yes, but in the matter of the bill...

He doesn't regard it as the action of a friend.

- � beg your pardon?
- No, not the action of a friend

to send His Majesty a portrait
and then ask His Majesty to pay for it.

But he asked me to have it painted.
My boy commissioned it.

His Majesty regards this as a gift.
He's very displeased that you should ask...

Even chorus gir�s
who give to the King anything, anything,

they are reimbursed, are they not?

Certain�y so.
But you are no chorus girl, Herr Wagner.

We must remember Lola Montez.

Must we?

She is sti�� fresh in the memory
of the people of Bavaria.

That �itt�e business between her
and the King's grandfather, you know.

�s that any reason
why I should be concerned?

Oh, yes, Herr Wagner, oh, yes.

You are a�ready being spoken of
as another such as she.

How disgusting.

And there are stories being circulated

about your re�ationship
with the Baronin von Bulow.

How petty.

How true?

I cannot answer.

� am set back on my hee�s a�ways
by scurrility.

� am astounded
that such things should be said.

The house is being bombarded,
stones at the windows. Why?

Herr Wagner, we �ove our King.
We are jealous of him. He is ours.

You come from nowhere,
bring others with you,

foreigners, Protestants,
people who are not the people of Bavaria.

It is a very ancient kingdom.

There is a bond between
monarchy and people

you have been seen to come between.

He, our young King, seems to prefer
your company to that of others,

to the proper exercise of his duties.

Seems to. Now, that is not altogether wrong,

provided that you are
an influence for the good.

Like the beautiful Princess Sophie.

How well he rides with her.

Oh, do �ook at them.
He delights in her company.

The pleasure they take in each other.

Altogether good, altogether proper.

Tea, Herr Wagner? Tea?

I must go back to the theatre.

How goes the opera?

How goes it? How is it? How goes it?
If I told you, would you understand?

Perhaps not. I was simply being polite.

� wi�� now be somewhat �ess than po�ite
and ask...

Well, whilst the whole of Munich

waits with bated breath
for your Tristan and Isolde,

or Siegfried, is it,
or whatever else in years to come

you will slowly and labouriously,

and, I have no doubt, very well do,

is it anywhere in your nature to be
a little quicker and a little less extravagant?

Sufficient comfort and food
and reasonable wealth

should surely be enough for any artist.

Actors, singers, dancers...

Some of them can be very good
on very little.

Horses do wonders with a little kindness.

I am not a horse.

No, no, why should you be?

But there are those
who would have me removed.

Me, your friend.

Pfordten jostles. Influence.

If you could see your way

to influence the King...

After a��, you have your house, money,
a very snug jointure,

heavens, anything you wish,

would you be so kind as to

present certain po�itica� facts
that I shall give you

to His Majesty on my behalf?

Minister, what do you suggest?

As if � were some paid hire�ing,
some little actress,

some kept and remunerated creature
in an apartment on the Briennerstrasse,

waiting on visits and chocolates,

legs spread, arse cushioned,

whispering your requests

- into the ear of my roya� paramour!
- Herr Wagner!

I assure you, sir, I am no Lola Montez.

Lolotte?

There are suggestions,

gossip...

Do not listen. I do not, not to gossip.

Wagner's love of silk?

That he corrupts the minds of the young
with his music.

That he wraps himself in dress lengths

like a woman.

A revolutionary once, a pederast now.

Such nonsense.

Herr Wagner loves only himself.

Well?

�f he refuses to see me,
it will be all over Germany in weeks.

I shall be ruined.

I have said, humbly,

"Do I stay? Shall I go?

"Shall I stay? Your will is mine."

If I go, it will be to some distant land.

I will never return to Germany.

For my works, I will do what I can.

Please, it's for six cases of champagne...

But I will sever completely
the connection between the man

and the glorious youth.

No...

You will hear more of this, I'm sure.

My master, Herr Wagner...

Your master had his �ast bi�� paid
by my King.

It is well-known.

"So it is for the Friend...
Friend....to decide.

"One word and joyfully accept my fate."
What?

"My spiritual forces are
at their utmost tension.

"I must know by which decision,
to go or to stay,

"will bring peace to you,

"my dear one."

What? The boy is an innocent.

He will never understand our love.

Bulow looks forward to the birth of his child.

Bulow. Dear Bulow.

There must be no more gossip.
Nothing more must reach the King.

Your boy.

How is the child?

Strong.

- You?
- Exultant.

I want to claim that child.

A gentleman here to see you, Herr Wagner.

The name given as Dr Schauss.

Are they all gathering? Vultures?

Schauss! Shit!

Do you all gather on the carcass?

Herr Wagner,
Madame Schwabe simply requests payment

of the few francs extended to you in Paris.

� know what she requests,
that grotesque Jewess! I know.

R ather than send a c�erk or a distraint,
I came myself.

- Now that you have come into substantia�...
- I am a kept man! I am a kept man!

But sure�y the King and a�� this
and your great opera about to open...

Madame Schwabe has the greatest
admiration for you, would always...

She charges... She charges interest!

That is consequent on you putting
your name to stamped paper, Herr Wagner.

This... This... This is because...

Has come about simp�y because
you've all heard I was spurned by the King!

- Sure�y not...
- Spurned for a paltry few hundred guilders.

Damn you, �'�� pay for the portrait myse�f!
Interest! She charges interest!

This b�oody woman!
This bloody Jewess charges interest!

The theatre alone will bankrupt the state.

If we allow it to be built.

� do not, for the �ife of me,
see how it can be prevented.

We can.

He started so well.

Well? Who?

Our young King. So well.

Did he, though?

Did he not?

I always thought he was a regular chap.

Well, at least he has all his wits.

Not �ike his brother, Otto,
wandering naked around altars.

At least he does have all his wits.

Let us see if he's able to keep them.

Yes, there is something in that.

Well, there is something in that.

Richard must be reconciled with the King.

It must happen for his good
and for the good of the world.

How I hope for it soon.

Tristan and �so�de must enter
the lives of everyone.

It will change them.

Show them how to suffer through love,

how to die in love,

how to live

in the natural condition of ecstatic pain.

And it can only reach the stage
if Ludwig gives it his full support

and embraces Wagner again
as a friend and genius.

Our hope is that this summons to the castle
at Hohenschwangau

is not another cruel rejection,

not another plot by our enemies
who surround us here in Munich.

Dear Hans, devoted Hans,
he works and works.

Will not be taken from his task,
as he sees it,

a simple task,

to show Wagner complete and perfect,

down to the last dot and quaver,

for the first time ever, love.

The King must not fail to respond.

He must feel it also.

All goes well.

It will be soon.

And now that we work together again,
Majesty,

it will be a work of real magic.

The changing of hatred into love.

Tristan and Isolde.

Does von Bulow keep up his strength?

His is a task.

�t is, Majesty,
and he is indefatigable in his devotion.

He is my second self.

Wonderful. That is devotion.

At one rehearsa�,
he so concentrated his energies

that they drained from him on completion.

He fainted clean away.

I shall reward it as I shall reward you all.

You most of all.

You, my friend.

Day of rapture!

Tristan! Pen, paper! Tristan!

It's a girl.

Isolde.

A letter from His Majesty.

From the King.

"How I long for this evening.

"Tristan, if only it were here.

"My love for you,

"I need not repeat it, will endure forever."

There must be another letter from the King.

- Who are you?
- Herr Wagner,

we are bai�iffs
come on distraint of goods and chattels,

by authority of the court, to exercise...

- And monies...
- Monies.

- Monies owing one Frau...
- Schwabe.

Schwabe.
For which repeated requests were made.

Do you rea�ise that today is the day of the
first performance of Herr Wagner's opera

by command of the King?

� am by way of being a musician myse�f,
and I have every sympathy.

� must say here and now,
before saying anything else,

that your music sounds a bit difficu�t,
but maybe was worth the effort.

Our cart is arriving for such items
as we feel might fit the bill.

- The bi��, yeah.
- The bill.

We have taken the �iberty
of taking out your excellent piano.

Am I allowed to leave?

Where do you go,
if one might ask respectfully?

Money.

You require money?

My dear �ady,
we're bailiffs employed to collect, you see?

The law. Just a law, Madame Hans.

I shall get the money.

No, no, no.

It's too humiliating.

No, no, no.

You can't.

It's all over. You can't.

Nothing in connection with you or your work
affords me anything other than satisfaction.

You need money. � sha�� demand it.
It is my duty.

Attar of roses, I believe,

some 10 ounces remaining.

Which can be arranged.
You are musicians. Here.

This note wi�� ensure tickets for
the first performance of Tristan and Isolde.

Thank you, sir, thank you.

�t wou�d be unthinkab�e
to perform without the master.

Come now, sir.

On�y the perpetrator of this opera
is kept under restraint.

The practitioners are still in situ.

Frau Wagner?

Then I shall not embarrass you.

No.

You may sign any name you wish
in receipt of...

� sha�� sign my own name,
Baronin von Bulow.

Wife to the famous person

who's mentioned so much
in the pages of the newspapers?

Am I to have the money?

You are.

The King's coffers are seeming�y
as the wealth of the fields and hedgerows

in respect to Herr Wagner.

He may pluck as he will.

However,

it must be accounted
for the eventual reckoning.

Schnorr? Why are you not in the theatre?

- Ma�vina?
- She can't...

A bath...

The steam...

Her voice?

Completely hoarse.

I'm fit for nothing more in this world!

The performance postponed.

Just the better.

All that, all that...

I spoke to one brave soul

who attended the private rehearsa�
at the special request of the King.

It went on and on and on and on,

and not a tune in it.

"One fe�t it wou�d go on and on
and on forever,"

said the poor soul.

Five hours

of barbaric passion.

- Something simp�e!
- Well, I, for my part...

You know... You know,

� doubt it if we cou�d have guaranteed
protection for von Bulow.

� be�ieve it must have been postponed,
I do believe,

for fear of von Bulow being torn to pieces

by the Schweinehunde.

I, for my part, am sorry.

The King was so looking forward to it.

He will be impossible, impossible.

No, no. No, no. We can provide protection.

We can...

The principal singer lost her voice.

She'll never sing again, I'm told.

Her voice is ruined by the vi�e rubbish
she was asked to utter.

That innocent people should suffer!

The whole thing's gone too far.

We��, �, for my part, am nonethe�ess sorry.
The King had to have his opera.

The sooner, the better, surely.

Simp�y to postpone means that
we should have to go through

long, tediously long agonies of frustration.

He wi�� not sett�e to anything
'til he has had his opera.

And a new theatre.

� have gone on the supposition that,
given the extremely boring nature

of the opera work
undertaken by Herr Wagner,

enough will very soon be enough

for a high-spirited young man
like our dear King.

He wi�� soon be more interested
in other things.

Ladies, soldiers,

leading his army,

taking the concern of his ministers.

Then we might point out
what all this is costing,

this monumental stone theatre,

this new music school,

and then the financing of Herr Wagner
for years to come. Years to come!

What's more, there is this Ring thing.

We heard of it even in Dresden.

The delays, the scandals,

the difficulties of mounting
Wagner's latest "simple, practical opera".

In any event, they moved
from the old Residenz Theatre

as too small, not just for the orchestra,

but for the storm of sound

Wagner had created.

All this for an opera
the score of which had been published

for at least five years.

Only tried once before, in Vienna.

Disaster, disaster.

Wagner had at one time thought of writing

Tristan and Isolde

in the form of the Italian opera.

But he did not.

He wrote it as a single, writhing thread

with not a break from its spell.

Not at all simple, or practical, not at all.

I looked forward to it.

To fulfil the wish
of my royal patron and 'friend',

King Ludwig II of Bavaria,

I am undertaking my autobiography.

The contents of these volumes
will be written down

by my friend,

who wishes me to tell her
the story of my life.

As the value of this autobiography

consists in its unadorned veracity,

which under the circumstances
is its only justification,

there can be no question of publication
until sometime after my death.

I was born at Leipzig
on the 22nd of May 1813.

Same year as Verdi, did you know that?
No need to mention him.

It was in a room on the second floor
of the Red and White Lion.

Two days later I was baptised
at St Thomas' Church.

Well, I wasn't, in fact, not quite,
but it will do.

My father, Friedrich Wagner,

and, to tell you the truth, he was not,
but we'll say he was,

died in October of the same year,

from the exertions of

police work during the Battle of Leipzig.

I do not truly remember it,
but I must have heard it.

Did I?

Our family was not given
to outward manifestations of affection,

yet the fact that I was brought up
entirely among feminine surroundings

must have developed
the sensitive side of my nature.

And then, well, it happened, it happened.

Disgust at the sensuous nature
of the music was to come.

Feeling had no place in the theatre.

All must be bright and light
and as frivolous as possible.

Poor Ludwig.

His opera, you know, or so he believed.

And so it was.

He drowned himself years later,
murdered his doctor

and drowned himself,
seeking, begging, redemption.

Out of death, life itself,

just as in his opera.

At the first performance, I'm told,

the poor King became so excited

that he left before the end,

aboard his train, into the night.

Quite extraordinary.

Richard.

Schnorr is dead.

Which Schnorr?

Which?

Oh, God.

Schnorr.

Oh, God.

He was the on�y tenor,
the only singer, the only artist.

The first singer � ever admired,
the first singer with a brain.

They said no tenor
could ever sing Tristan.

They'll say Tristan

- ki��ed him.
- He could. Schnorr could.

He was triumphant. He was Tristan.

I shall not permit another.

Art is, perhaps, a crime.

Well?

Majesty.

A King must be seen by his people.

They are jea�ous of him,
they want him as their own.

My people loved me.

Indeed, they did, sire.

They also destroyed me.

Indeed, they did.

Oh, come now, sire.

Herr Pfeuffer, as Chief of Police,

what, in your opinion, is the mood
of the people in regard to Herr Wagner?

This meddler. This one-time revolutionary.

Come now, we might all recall...

Might we?

We��, to be a revo�utionary is often
the sign of an artist.

And His Majesty pardoned
all revolutionaries

on the occasion of the premiere of Tristan.

Yes.

There are those who dislike Wagner

and his Prussian henchman, Bulow,

because they are foreigners,

what's more, Protestants.

Second, there are those
who despise the luxury

that Wagner lives in.

Of course, the King is using his own money.

� mean, it is not as if
there is profit to be made

in this music.

But third, there is the time

that the King gives to Herr Wagner.

These are the po�itica�, mi�itary
and academic classes,

who may perhaps agree

that art is all right in its way.

Even the King's cast�es,
if you like that sort of thing.

But not today, not in this day and age.

To devote oneself to music and castles

in the midd�e of the 19th century is,
perhaps, perhaps

foolish of the King!

The King is not a hermit.

He is the leader of society.

He should attend court balls.

There is deep resentment
among the people of Bavaria

because of what they see

in this

young King's

infatuation with this...

Well?

Good morning, Herr Wagner.

The King desires to know
that you slept well.

Herr Cabinet Secretary Lutz.

A poem, written by His Majesty.

"Still true to thee I stay, imperilled friend

"Thy deed revealed nobility to me

"Might I but thy protector be
and end the evil trail

"that doth encircle thee"

Ah Majesty. Your wonderfu� poem.
I shall attempt a reply,

in verse.

What of the music? Lohengrin?

I awoke to it.

Yes, yes.

Lutz, get out.

Ministers!

I am giving a pageant tonight on the lake.

And this, this for you.

May the blue of the sapphire

be a symbol of our eternal faith.

He is asking for more money,
don't you know?

Let me say, � have a great regard
for Herr Wagner.

� �ike his fee�ing for the fab�es,
for the past that is Germany.

I like his feeling for the folk.

But as a man, Herr Wagner does
seem to leave a lot to be desired.

�'m to�d the man boasts
he'll reconstruct the Cabinet.

Boasts of his unshakeab�e friendship
with the King.

Boasts that he, Richard Wagner,

has unlimited access to the privy purse.

It's unthinkable, unthinkable.

The effrontery of it.

My God, what's all this going to cost?

We a�� have our own incomes, we're peop�e
of not inconsiderable worth, but...

We are not c�erks,
civil servants, lackeys, but...

Compared to my emolument...

I must however say...

Indeed...

After all the years we've served the state...

He earns more

than the three of us put together.

It is suggested

that I should replace Herr Pfistermeister

as your personal contact with His Majesty.

You have the ear of the King.

Money will be found for you.

R id yourse�f of these peop�e,
Lutz, Pfistermeister, Pfordten.

Be a monarch, be a prince.

Surround yourse�f with trusted men.
Seize the initiative.

Use the banner � am weaving.
Hold it high above the land.

From Munich,
go forth to lead a united Germany.

Become Lohengrin.

Your Majesty.

Friend.

My en�ightened German prince
must be the leader of his people.

We too, the common people,
have ancestors.

And their vassalage, the oppressions
and indignities they have suffered

are writ reeking in letters of blood!

Their blood, our blood banner!

There is something to being German
altogether curious, you know.

We can take a song like
Among the Meadows and Woods

and set it to music in such a manner
that we all dissolve in tears.

And yet, when we look about us and see,
instead of a united fatherland,

a hotchpotch of 34 kingdoms
and principalities,

we are unmoved.

Why?

Are we little people, mere servants,

ruled by and subservient to our betters?

As Christ says,

"If thy right hand offend thee, cut it off!"

Cut it off! Cut it off!

Your fatherland is called Germany.

Love it above all, and more through action
than through words.

Germany must have its place in the sun!

Wagner! Wagner!

Your Majesty,

this is quite simp�y
a fearful and decisive moment.

We must arm ourselves against Bismarck.

Prussia is at the gates. War is imminent.

You must decide
between the love of your people

and your friendship
with this man called Wagner,

this man who is

despised by the Bavarian people,

by every section of the community,
no matter what their standing.

They despise him
for his ingratitude and shamelessness

with which he openly exploits

the undeserved favour of Your Majesty.

This person ca��ed Wagner
must be got rid of at once.

His Majesty commands that I hand you this.

His Majesty commands
that you leave Munich forthwith.

His Majesty commands...

May I have time to pack?

His Majesty commands...

- His Majesty commands...
- Bastards, bastards, the lot of you.

Jews, sodomites!

Hebrews, Hebrew Jews, sodomites!
Arseholes!

The whole pack of you are filth. Filth!

That's why you have snouts,
so you can find where the truffles are.

- You swine. No-good swine.
- Control yourself, man!

- You're swine! You're swine!
- I am here in an official capacity!

Control yourself, man!

- � am here in an officia� capacity.
- Swine! Pigs!

Swine! Get out!

Poor Wagner,

thrown out now from Munich,

this time without even Minna
to comfort him.

Minna,

Minna, who had always been at his side.

Chased by Cossacks again.

I remember,

I remember, chased from Riga,

the clumsy conveyance
upset near a farmyard,

and you were so severely hurt
by the accident.

After this,

I could have no children,

remember?

No.

I don't have the facts of it,
and of course she always loyally denied it,

but the truth is,

when he was being kept by the King,
by Ludwig,

I'm afraid he, Wagner,
kept her very short of money.

Just not true. It is not!

And I do regret to say it,

he did not even go to her

when she died.

I could not.

I did not.