From the Metropolitan Opera House, New York. Wagner's romantic opera is about the shining white knight Lohengrin, who appears on a swan to defend the honour of the pure Elsa against the machinations of the evil Ortrud and Telramund, and who has to return to the castle when Elsa forces him to reveal his identity as a knight of the Holy Grail. The opera has always exerted a strong hold on audiences, with its highly perfumed mysticism and stark delineation of good and evil. Tonight's performance features some of the leading Wagner interpreters of our time, including the Heldentenor Ben Heppner.
Chorus and Orchestra of the Metropolitan Opera, New York, conductor James Levine
Actl
6.35 Neuschwanstein
Philip Brady visits one of King
Ludwig ll's legendary castles, at the foot of the Bavarian Alps. He wonders if tourism has killed romanticism and discusses the survival of Ludwig's dream today with art historian
Dr Hans Ottomeyer and film-maker Hans Jurgen Syberberg. Repeat
7.10 Act 2
8.35 The Met Opera Quiz
William Livingstone quizzes
John Ardoin , Fr Owen Lee and Alan Wagner.
9.00 Act 3
SOUNDING THE CENTURY