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Stephen Fry: Wagner and Me

Stephen Fry confronts Wagner's troubled legacy and explores his fascination for this controversial composer against the backdrop of preparations for the Bayreuth Festival.

Stephen Fry explores his passion for history's most controversial composer in an extended feature-length version of a film first broadcast in Spring 2010. Stephen is Jewish and lost family in the Holocaust - can he salvage Richard Wagner's music from its dark associations with Hitler and anti-semitism?

Stephen's quest takes him behind the scenes at the legendary Bayreuth Festival Theatre, where he eavesdrops on rehearsals and discovers its backstage secrets. He also travels to the other landmarks of Wagner's extraordinary life and career in Germany, Switzerland and Russia.

Finally, he confronts the composer's dark side, investigating how Hitler appropriated Wagner's music and meeting a cellist who played in the prisoners' orchestra at Auschwitz, where some of Stephen's relatives died. What does she think of Stephen's passion for Hitler's favourite artist?

1 hour, 30 minutes

Last on

Sat 11 Jun 201122:30
BBC HD

Credits

PresenterStephen Fry
DirectorPatrick McGrady
Executive ProducerAdam Barker
Executive ProducerLucy Ward

Broadcasts

  • Sun 5 Dec 201021:00
    BBC Four
  • Sun 5 Dec 201023:00
    BBC HD
  • Mon 6 Dec 201002:30
    BBC Four
  • Tue 7 Dec 201000:00
    BBC Four
  • Sun 12 Dec 201000:10
    BBC Four
  • Sat 11 Jun 201122:30
    BBC HD