Hans Jürgen Syberberg's 1981 Parsifal will be streamed free for 24 hours on Saturday 11 August on Filmgalerie451.de. (Thanks to Wagneropera.net for the alert).
Essential viewing for anyone interested in Wagner performance practice, it's not a point-and-shoot record of a theatrical performance. Instead Syberberg made a film with actors and fitted it (deliberately loosely) to a pre-recorded soundtrack.
Musically speaking, it's not particularly strong, but cinematically it's arguably the greatest opera film ever made - certainly the most ambitious. Syberberg's visual style and his exploration of the opera's historical and biographical context have proved profoundly influential on later generations of opera directors. Perhaps the most notable of these is Stefan Herheim, whose Bayreuth Parsifal will be shown live in cinemas (German-speaking countries only) on the same day. If you can see both (lucky you), then do.
The other good news is that the DVD, currently only available at astronomical prices will be released again on 28 September.
Syberberg's own website carries streaming versions of his seminal Hitler, a Film From Germany and other work - also well worth checking out.
