Saturday 21 December 2013

Wagner in Venice the "lost" Symphony

"On the evening of Christmas day in 1882, within the Apollonian halls of the “La Fenice” Theater, Richard Wagner led an orchestra formed by the teachers and students of the “Benedetto Marcello” Conservatory. On that night, he proposed some music which, until that time, had been never revealed. It was his last concert, but also a wish that finally came true: re-listening to the score, fifty years from its first performance, on the birthday of Cosima, his loving wife to which the event was dedicated and kept as a secret.  Wagner wrote the symphony at the age of 19 and lost track of the manuscript after having sent it to Felix Mendelssohn. Only in 1877 were certain instrumental parts found in an attic in Dresda within a trunk; Anton Seidl, the young assistant of Wagner at the time, re-composed the score in 1878 under the instructions of Wagner. This episode, which is not very well known, is the main topic of the documentary of Gianni Di Capua, produced by Kublai Film"

"....A cross-media work (it is, in fact, a documentary app for Android, iPhone and iPad and will soon become a theatrical work) which rediscovers new moments of the last Venetian stay of Richard Wagner and the relationship between the great German composer and the city which he most loved: Venice." Read more HERE.

And watch the documentary in full HERE. It's in Italian, biut easy enough to follow

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