Richard Wagner did not only leave us some of the most important operas ever composed, but also a tremendous wealth of writings and letters, giving us enormous insight into his life and philosophy. It is no surprise that the 1983 film Wagner, in its entirety, runs nearly nine hours- we know enough about his life that a depiction of it easily became a sweeping, grand-scale movie, no less dramatic than a full cycle of Der Ring des Nibelungen, his unprecedented four-opera epic. Wagner was no devotee of subtlety or restraint; his only goal was to bring as much fulfillment and wonder to his audiences (and especially in Wagner’s case, to himself) as possible, using a combination of multiple arts and daring levels of intensity in his work never experienced before. However, he placed special emphasis on music as a uniquely critical practice- elevating it to the point of mythical godhood, as though it had an agenda of its own.