It\u2019s no surprise that Richard Wagner\u2019s music is a popular choice for cinematic moments of intense dramaticism, humor, horror, suspense, philosophical gravity, and pleasure. From the many comical moments in the 1957 Warner Bros\u2019 film, “<\/span>What\u2019s Opera, Doc?<\/span><\/a>,” Werner Herzog\u2019s sobering 1992 documentary experience, “<\/span>Lessons of Darkness<\/span><\/a>,” the endearing 1930 film, “<\/span>Fire At The Opera<\/span><\/a>,” or the 1950 biofilm about the soprano Nellie Melba, “<\/span>Melba<\/span><\/a>,” finding Wagner\u2019s music is hardly a needle in the haystack. Instead, it seems the natural step for any film looking to add subtext without lots of heavy lifting getting in the way. That’s where music comes in, a perfect resource!<\/span><\/p>\n Unfortunately, the diversity of choices seems, when looking at it in the abstract, thanks to the resources <\/span>available<\/span><\/a>, hardly diverse at all. As LA Times Jon Burlingame noted in 2010, one of the most famous examples of contemporary cinematic usage of Wagner\u2019s music, specifically the “Ride of the Valkyries” from the eponymously titled second opera of Wagner\u2019s tetradic epic, “<\/span>Der Ring des Nibelungen”<\/span><\/a>\u00a0(or <\/span>The Ring Cycle<\/span><\/i>), is found in the helicopter scene from the 1970 film, “<\/span>Apocalypse Now<\/span><\/a>.” But what if I told you there are WAY more than one might think, so many in fact that documenting all of them would be impossible for one article alone, let alone a book.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Instead of going through each, from the most recent (<\/span>T\u00e1r<\/span><\/a>, 2022) to some of the earliest (<\/span>The Birth of a Nation<\/span><\/a>, 1915), let\u2019s instead look at <\/span>what<\/span><\/i> music is used, what kinds of films use it, and what it possibly says about the attractiveness of Wagner\u2019s musical-philosophical worldview. It is no surprise that Wagner\u2019s ideals about the world are full of provocative and controversial perspectives and fans, from his <\/span>anti-Semitism<\/span><\/a> to “<\/span>total work of art<\/span><\/a>“ (colloquially, Gesamtkunstwerk, although Wagner hated the term), to his <\/span>laudation<\/span><\/a> by Nazi leaders, the presence of Wagner\u2019s music in a film is hardly neutral but neither can it be considered purposefully political either.<\/span><\/p>\n However, the counterargument is the idea of separating the art from the artist, a topic whose central argument is that an artist can have done harmful things but their art stands above or not in opposition to their personal actions. Of course, as one <\/span>Reddit user<\/span><\/a> noted, \u201cbad people do, however, make good art, and that they do bad things is not a mutually exclusive fact\u201d but \u201cwe just can’t separate the art from the artist. This will always be a problem.\u201d What to do, what to do. Can we enjoy Wagner\u2019s music in films and stand aloof from the creator\u2019s personal beliefs? Maybe it doesn\u2019t matter or maybe it matters a lot. As the controversies around J. K. Rowling demonstrate, valuing art does not have to come at the expense of holding its authors accountable. Instead, personal fallibilities add depth to art.<\/span><\/p>\n If you take a look at the Wikipedia page entitled, “List of films using the music of Richard Wagner,” you\u2019ll find a lot of very interesting things. First, you\u2019ll notice that most of the films seem to use the same music. Either its the “<\/span>Ride of the Valkyries<\/span><\/a>,” the glorious prelude to “Tristan und Isolde,” the “<\/span>Siegfrieds Trauermarsch<\/span><\/a>“ from “G\u00f6tterd\u00e4mmerung,” the famous <\/span>prelude<\/span><\/a> from “Parsifal,” or the overture to “Tannh\u00e4user.” However, on the rare occasion it\u2019s something else, you\u2019ll find less common choices employed like music from Wagner\u2019s early operas like “Rienzi” from 1838 or non-operatic literature like his WWV 103, or the symphonic poem, “<\/span>Siegried Idyll,<\/span><\/a>” based on the operatic character.<\/p>\n You would then notice that the film\u2019s dates seem noticeably consistent, almost like using Wagner\u2019s music in films is an industry standard as opposed to a creative quirk. There are a few names who repeat on the list, some being the Spanish director <\/span>Luis Bu\u00f1uel<\/span><\/a> and German director <\/span>Hans-J\u00fcrgen Syberberg<\/span><\/a>. Other than these two, it is a rather eclectic mixture of names, from Americans like <\/span>D. W. Griffith<\/span><\/a> and <\/span>Todd Field<\/span><\/a> to more worldy figures like Werner Herzog, <\/span>Yukio Mishima<\/span><\/a>, <\/span>Elem Klimov<\/span><\/a>, and <\/span>Baz Luhrmann<\/span><\/a>. Thus, the attraction to Wagner is hardly located in one country but seems something universal, as if Wagner\u2019s music speaks to themes and topics which strike up relationships with other concepts, from Schopenhauer <\/span>philosophical pessimism<\/span><\/a> to the <\/span>law of fate and destiny.<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n Some of the early 20th-century films like Rouben Mamoulian\u2019s 1930 film, “<\/span>City Streets<\/span><\/a>,” an altruistic crime drama, Leni Riefenstahl\u2019s 1935 Nazi propaganda film, “<\/span>Triumph of the Will<\/span><\/a>,” and Harold French\u2019s 1942 spy lovestory, “<\/span>Secret Mission<\/span><\/a>,” ironically, all use music from the same opera, “Die Meistersinger von N\u00fcrnberg.” One of the earliest films to use “The Ride of the Valkyries” was the 1935 film, “R.A.F.” by <\/span>Gaumont-British<\/span><\/a> Picture Corporation. Later, in 1936, “Tarzan” writer <\/span>Edgar Rice Burroughs<\/span><\/a> would try his hand at using the iconic music in his 1936 film, “<\/span>The Lion Man<\/span><\/a>.” After WWII, one would think Wagner\u2019s music would become more, not less, controversial and used but instead, the opposite happened. After 1945, the use of Wagner\u2019s music in films skyrocketed considerably. <\/span><\/p>\n Jean Negulesco<\/span><\/a>, director of “Titanic” (1953), led the charge with his iconic 1946 film, “<\/span>Humoresque<\/span><\/a>,” followed by iconic films like the 1957 film starring Audrey Hepburn, “<\/span>Love in the Afternoon<\/span><\/a>,” the 1972 historical drama, “<\/span>Ludwig: Requiem for a Virgin King<\/span><\/a>,” and the 1981 Medieval fantasy, “<\/span>Excalibur<\/span><\/a>,” my personal favorite. During the 2000s, the trend continued but the kinds of films radically diversified. The 2005 film, “<\/span>The New World<\/span><\/a>,” directed by <\/span>Terrence Malick<\/span><\/a> could be considered one of the new directions in American cinema\u2019s relationship with Wagner, now bringing the narrative and usage of Wagner back home and as topical as ever. In recent years, “Army of Thieves” (2021) and “Promising Young Woman” (2020) have reignited Wagnerian music\u2019s lighter side, comedies being the new direction.<\/span><\/p>\n So, here we are in 2024, and the legacy of Wagner\u2019s music is as robust as ever. Will there ever be a time when his music is NOT a favorite among directors? Probably not. In any case, let\u2019s relax until the Valkyries come in and the ring is given back to the Rhein (PS: You’ll know it has been returned when the world comes crashing down).<\/span><\/p>\nA Tale of (Many, Many) Films<\/h3>\n
Listen<\/h2>\n