Confessions of Winifred Wagner, The

Synopsis

Winifred Wagner was born in Hastings, England. Orphaned, she was adopted by Karl Klindworth, a friend of Richard Wagner. In 1914 she was taken to Bayreuth; one year later she married Richard Wagner’s son, Siegfried. After Siegfried’s death in 1930, Winifred took over the running of the Bayreuth Festival. After the Second World War she was compelled to renounce her directorship of the Festival. Ten years later she returned to Bayreuth and is now engaged in reconstructing the Wagner House, Wahnfried, as a Wagner museum. After thirty years of silence, at the age of 78, she gives an account of a twenty-two year relationship with Adolph Hitler, whose obsession with Wagner and the Bayreuth Festival found expression in National Socialism. Her autobiographical recollections cover a sixty-year period (1914-1974) of German-European culture and the period of the decline of the German bourgeoisie.*

Language

English

Country

Germany

Medium

Film; Film. 16mm. sd. b&w. 104 min.

Technical information

Black-and-white / Sound

Year of production

1976

Availability

Hire

Notes

This is an abridged version of the original five-hour film.

Subjects

Music

Keywords

biographies; Germany; music festivals; Wagner, Winifred

Credits

Director

Hans Jürgen Syberberg

Contributor

Agape Dorstewitz; Dietrich Lohmann

Distribution Formats

Type

Film

Format

16mm

Distributor

Name

Contemporary Films

Phone

020 7255 1444

Fax

020 7436 7950

Address

British Film Institute
21 Stephen Street
London W1P 2LN

Notes

Administrative address: Unit H Spectrum House, Gordon House Road, London NW5 1LP, tel: 020 7482 6204, fax: 020 7284 2809, email: inquiries@contemporaryfilms.com, http://www.comtemporaryfilms.com