"REQUIEM FOR A VIRGIN KING" "PART l THE CURSE" "I am posh Lola the favourite of the season" "I have a pianola at home in my salon" "I proclaim the curse of Lola Montez, the cast-off mistress of Ludwig I, the grandfather." "Cursing all that follows." "The incest of the parents," "Max of Bavaria and Maria of Hohenzollern." "The birth of the second Ludwig, the last king of Bavaria." "in the grip of royal madness, furor paranoicus bavariae." "The House of Prussia will come and annex Bavaria." "Found a German empire." "Curse!" "A new era will come." "And with it the proletarian breed." "I hear the proletarian masses." "I see the fall of the Wittelsbachs." "King Ludwig has no chance." "I proclaim his eternal life in the memory of the people." "I see his torment!" "I see his bliss in another way." "He will return in our dreams!" "The finish:" "Environmental pollution!" " Pressure to produce!" "Crimes against nature!" "Over the span of years the sore ate away the forest." "The leaves yellowed and the tree withered away, sadly the spring dried up." "Cursed be his descendants too." "IN THE LATTER YEARS OF HIS LIFE" "IN THE LATTER YEARS OF HIS LIFE" "LUDWIG II HAD HIMSELF WASHED AND DRESSED WHEN HE ROSE IN THE EVENING." "HE LIVED AT NIGHT." "ON A NIGHT LIKE THIS HE SAW HIS LIFE AS THE LIFE OF ONE NIGHT" "HOW BARON HIRSCHBERG FALLS INTO DISFAVOUR" "De Varicourt, a lovely name." "Cabinet Secretary Eisenhart requests an audience." "Leave me be." "I can't stand the sight of his stupid face any more." "Whoever looks with love upon the night of death, whoever is entrusted with her darkest secrets," "the lies of daytime, honour and glory, power and riches, no matter how dazzling, are all blown away like the vain dust of suns!" "in the glare of the treacherous day he has but one desire." "That slut Bulyowski can go to hell." "Hirschberg," "I'll make you cabinet secretary." "No, you are too pretty to be cabinet secretary." "Then I'd have to annoy you." "Shall I make you a count?" "How about a villa like Wagner or Hornig?" "A saddle-horse would be enough." "And a transfer to the Foreign Office." "I have no possessions." "What belongs to me belongs to everyone." "You belong to me." "I am the King;" "whatever I like is right and proper." "Every subject must submit to his Sovereign's will." "You must be mine." "Let them stay." "I never wish to see him again." "NEWS FROM THE COURT HAIRDRESSER, HOPPE" "NEWS FROM THE COURT HAIRDRESSER, HOPPE" "Without your work, I cannot enjoy my breakfast." "What's new, Hoppe?" "People say that Madame Bulyowski did not reciprocate your affection when you laid" "your head on her shoulder and asked her to stroke your hair." "Apparently at night you sobbed the name of Madame Bulyowski." "What do they say about my fiancée, Duchess Sophie and me?" "A handsome couple." "A handsome couple and that Wagner received her." "He is clever, only he doesn't know" "that I won't marry her." "Go on." "Go on." " Malvine Schnorr von Carolsfeld insulted" "Corsima von Bülow because of her liaison with Richard Wagner." "The "Rhine Maidens" were referred to as aquarium whores in the paper." "There'll be a libel suit." "Count Dürckheim has been posted to the provinces;" "a duel with His Highness" "Prince Arnulf over some woman." "Tell Prince Ludwig not to keep pushing himself forward." "And Prince Luitpold shouldn't address me without being spoken to first." "I am the King." "I still am." "I'll dismiss all my father's old servants." "I want to see only young faces." "THE KING LOVES DE VARICOURT AND IS DISAPPOINTED IN HIM" "THE KING LOVES DE VARICOURT AND IS DISAPPOINTED IN HIM" "Majesty, the people's 12 oldest men are ready." "The ritual of feet washing can now begin." "If the King can ride for 8 to 10 hours without damaging his health, he can also spend a few days with his army." "The princes should lower their heads more." "The Prussian State rewards Bismarck with a million marks for every war he wins." "The loveliest death would be to die for you." "If only this could soon come to pass." "A death more desirable than anything this world can offer." "Varicourt, you sleep while your King is talking to you?" "Take care of him." "I have acted my role as King badly." "LET'S GO ON AND PLAY GAMES WITH THURN AND TAXIS" "LET'S GO ON AND PLAY GAMES WITH THURN AND TAXIS" "A sofa for the decrepit Hartschier." "The poor man can't stand for very long." "Yes, a sofa." "Bismarck is delighted with his war with Austria;" "he can at last kick her out of Germany." "I'm going to the Rose Island." "There is no telephone there." "To play games with Thurn and Taxis." "We've been successful." "Our troops are in Thuringia, and have already consumed 1,500 Prussian beers." "I can't stand the sight of these cropped heads any more." "Let's go." "Let us listen to their kingly babble." "Remove the sofa." "AUDIENCE" "AUDIENCE" "What are Gudden, Holnstein and Lutz doing?" "Gudden, a German intellectual." "Power is nothing, but the power of seduction is, eh?" "Quite correct, Majesty." "All I will say is that Wagner's time is coming." "Lutz, I hear that your intrigues have kept Wagner out, with the help of the press." "But Munich's still become the leading musical centre today, with the help of the press." "Let's make him a minister, otherwise he won't be afraid of me and won't be able to depose me." "Holnstein, we know each other well." "Allow me to introduce my head stableman." "The master of my 200 horses." "My bosom friend and betrayer." "He'll be my guardian." "The son of a bitch, a faux pas of my great-grandfather Wittelsbach." "It stays in the family." "My successors won't have to worry about such things." "I shan't leave any children, apart from my castles, of course." "So, what are we going to do today?" "Bismarck said that after a successful war there's only power and self-interest for him." "King Ludwig is a dreamer, who does he have?" "What does he want?" "according to Bismarck from Prussia." "Don't come so close, I have bad teeth." "Bismarck asks how much is required?" "He refers to the distribution of the Guelph treasure if the Bavarian King offers the King of Prussia the imperial crown." "Stay there and look into the water till it hurts your eyes." "They'll say I am mad because of this as well." "It's an exercise, looking into the water facing the sun." "I want to torment you." "Gentlemen, who's going to break into Rothschild's in Paris, Frankfurt or Stuttgart?" "Nobody?" "All right," "but we do need money." "My teeth are bad." "I know you can't understand me because I'm mumbling, and because you are too far away." "Let the Prussian heir to the throne be punished." "He could be captured after his vacation in Montone." "He could be blinded and tortured." "But take care that he doesn't die too quickly." "But nobody will do it." "I, the mock King, want it that way." "Count Dürckheim," "you have a duel of honour with Prince Arnulf." "You will be promoted and from today be my adjutant." "Until the end, do you understand?" "Majesty, I beg of you, you must be careful of Holnstein." "He is very controversial." "Bismarck drinks nothing but his wines, and his trusty Great Dane, Sulte, is a gift from Holnstein." "Let him be." "Every court needs its intrigues." "It's always been so." "Lutz," "how much beer do you drink?" "Two half-litres a day." "Disgusting." "I hate Munich." "I hate this city!" "I'm a very conservative person." "You take it into account with every sex offender, predisposition and childhood, I mean." "I love the mountains, the forest air, horses," "Richard Wagner," "Edgar Allan Poe." "I love the night, the mystic and inexplicable and believe in the immortality of the soul." "I'm against the pollution of the countryside by English industry, against so-called progress, against the Prussian Empire, against nationalism," "against socialism and against mass meetings of people." "We'll now go out riding." "Tell the princes to stop shooting in my forests." "I want some peace." "His eyes are incredibly beautiful." "His madness to come shines out of them." "THE BASTARD COUNT HOLNSTEIN SINGS THE SONG OF BETRAYAL" "THE BASTARD COUNT HOLNSTEIN SINGS THE SONG OF BETRAYAL I loved kissing women I didn't ask permission" ""Take them," l thought to myself I am one of the King's cast-off lovers." "And that's why he needs me as a guardian." "I will be his guardian." "That's how I'll get my revenge." "You must tempt him to build castles, to run into debt." "Every king falls for that." "He believes in his acquired privileges." "And then the democratic, legal trap will spring." "And he eats out of your hands, whatever you want." "LEGENDS" "LEGENDS in the mountains freedom dwells, in the mountains there is beauty," "Where King Ludwig's castles tower" "Much too soon he had to quit" "The dearest place of all," "Neuschwanstein, proud fortress, you were the King's most precious jewel" "Greetings, friends." "The King!" "Still at work so late?" "300 florins for my peasants and a golden watch to boot." "We'll never forget this!" "We will be loyal to you forever." "Till death." "They are my subjects." "They are loyal to me." "And the American widows, thanks to Mark Twain." "He spoke of me favourably." "Farewell, friends." "With bandages and chloroform" "They came in person" "And you had to leave your castle," "Which you will never climb again" "MORBID FEARS:" "THE TALE OF ANNA VOGEL, THE PEASANT" "MORBID FEARS:" "THE TALE OF ANNA VOGEL, THE PEASANT" "The first time I saw him was in the dead of night." "I can't have been more than eight." "I was dragged out of my bed without being told why I had been wakened." "It must have been something very special." "There was tremendous excitement throughout the whole house." "As nobody bothered about me, I sat by the window and watched the torchlight flickering among the fir trees and lighting up my room and casting huge shadows on the walls." "Suddenly my mother came in and said:" ""Be a good girl, the King is driving past."" "It was really him in his gilded sledge drawn by six horses." "A moment later the procession halted." "His arrival cast such a glow that our home was illuminated like the altar of the Blessed Virgin." "Our dogs howled and barked." "An outrider banged on our door and shouted:" ""A glass of water for His Majesty!"" "My mother looked for a glass but couldn't find one suitable for the King." "So she took a coffee cup with a rose pattern which seemed close to being worthy of His Majesty." "She ran to the well, filled a carafe and carried everything to the sledge." "I was alone in the room, enchanted by the fantastic sight." "The King used to travel in a sledge from the era of Louis XIV." "Suddenly I made a decision and walked down the stairs in my nightgown, with bare feet on the cold floor;" "it had been snowing both day and night." "I was entranced as I stood in front of him." "For me he was an archangel." "I only heard the stamping of the steeds, the tinkling of their silver harnesses." "The bells on the horses' harnesses sounded like church bells." "The foam-covered beasts shook their manes." "Atop their heads plumes of white feathers danced." "I was intoxicated by that magnificent sight." "Suddenly I felt dizzy and when I came to myself again, I found myself next to the King, who looked at me with his big blue eyes, like in a fairy-tale." "He was still holding the funny cup." "He made me drink some water and kissed me with no more ado." "Then he got out and asked to see the house." "Why is It that a woman should have no love affairs?" "No love affairs no love affairs lf she's pretty they will say she's bound to have one anyway, she's bound to have one anyway lf not it'd be a shame" "Let the human race fear the gods!" "Their eternal hands hold firm the power, which they can draw on as they like." "Let him whom they raise up be doubly afraid!" "On rocks and clouds seats are prepared around" "tables of gold." "Battistella." "Battistella." "Battistella?" "A robber and murderer." "His appeal lies before the King." "A dangerous type, definitely should be executed." "My dear Lutz, if I know Ludwig he will not sign." "He is against any form of bloodshed." "I can't... I can't... I can't stand it any longer," "being stared at by thousands of people." "Asking people questions that don't interest me, and hearing answers that have nothing to do with me." "No, no," "I can no longer leave my solitude." "Sometimes when I've read until I am tired and all is quiet I need to hear a human voice." "Then I send for a lackey or a stable boy to talk to me about his family and his home." "Otherwise I'd lose the habit of speech." "I often send them home so that they can tell me afterwards what the other life outside is like." "Descend upon us / O night of love Give forgetfulness / That I might live." "O sink down" "Night of love" "Give forgetfulness" "That I might live." "Take me up" "Into your bosom," "Release me from the world!" "Extinguished now the last glimmers" "What we thought" "What we imagined" "All thought" "All remembering" "The glorious presentiment of sacred twilight extinguishes imagined errors... world-redeeming." "In our bosom..." "The young King is splendid company." "I have never experienced such an urge to learn and such eagerness to live." "At last a love affair that will not entail torments." "Could I give up women completely?" "A glance at his portrait helps me too." "What a delightful boy." "Now he is everything to me;" "woman, child, the world." "TO RICHARD WAGNER:" "I SHALL RAISE YOU ABOVE WORLDLY TOIL, MY BELOVED, I SHALL NEVER LEAVE YOU TILL MY DEATH." "LUDWIG" "This "Tristan" will be dreadful." "They'll ban the opera unless a bad performance makes a parody of it all." "... unless a bad performance makes a parody of it all." "Only a mediocre performance can save me." "Good performances drive people crazy." "It's the only way." "To think that this is what I've come to." "They say that after the performance..." "They say that after the performance of "Tristan"" "he stopped the night train, got out and walked through the woods and continued the journey in the locomotive sitting with the stoker in front of the open firebox." "Where else could I find such a royal audience?" "He ordered Cabinet Secretary Pfistermeister to find me and bring me to him." "As the first official act of his government, he ordered Cabinet Secretary Pfistermeister to find me and bring me to him." "Even though I was an unsuccessful composer and a revolutionary wanted by the police." "He was 18 at the time." "A king with royal presents for an artist who from now on was to place his work at the King's service." "Unique, saintly being, what delight, what perfection!" "So overcome by rapture!" "To drown, to sink, unconscious, ineffable delight." "Divine work." "ELISABETH, THE EMPRESS OF AUSTRIA, PRAYS FOR LUDWIG:" "ELISABETH, THE EMPRESS OF AUSTRIA, PRAYS FOR LUDWIG:" "BEWARE, BEWARE, SOON THE NIGHT WILL FLEE" "The horizon grows ever darker, the glaring light of day agonizes unspeakably." "Joyfully I give up crown and glory." "Often I am shaken with feverish anger and turn away from an outside world full of wrath." "Isn't that understandable?" "Perhaps I'll make my peace with the world when all of my ideals, when their sacred fire which I carefully feed, has perished." "May that never be." "I wish to remain a perpetual mystery to myself and others." "We two, we can do what we like." "Poor King Ludwig." "Perhaps I ought to marry?" "Or go to war under Otto von Bismarck?" "A vassal for the cousins of Prussia?" "Or should I become a democrat, I, the King?" "Sometimes I think of Sitting Bull and General Custer at Little Big Horn." "Sitting Bull had no chance either against the progress of the Christian religion, as his people were massacred." "But he had the sympathy due to a hero in his defeat by railway, telephone and alcohol." "I now take photographs." "Also I want to build a flying machine that can fly me over the Alps." "That will also get me certified as insane later." "A flying peacock throne... I have given Wilhelm Bauer, the inventor of the submarine, a commission." "He is underestimated." "With boats like that we can defy the Prussian fleet;" "we can prevent the world war that will greatly be due to the German fleet's arrogance." "Shakespeare's fools, too, were the only sensible people." "Tonight, I dragged my father from his tomb." "Tonight, I slapped my father." "Tonight, I threw him down the stairs." "Tonight, I broke a carafe over my mother's head!" "Tonight, I kicked my mother." "I kicked her in the breasts!" "On a night like this, I kicked my mother in the breasts." "On a night like this," "my mother spoiled a performance of "Lohengrin" with her chatter." "Now my brother Otto is of age, I can retire to Switzerland, to Wagner." "They can tell the public I've gone out of my mind." "MINISTER VON DER PFORTEN TO LUDWIG I" "MINISTER VON DER PFORTEN TO LUDWIG I" "Richard Wagner received 4,000 florins, and then 8,000." "Also, to settle his debts;" "another 16,000 and then another 40,000." "Also a villa." "70,000 florins as costs for "Tristan,"" "29,000 florins for "Tannhäuser" and "Lohengrin,"" ""Mastersingers" 45,800 florins," ""Valkyries"" "41,500 florins." "It's for art." "No, for operas nobody wants to see." "It is not good music." "The people don't like this music." "They want to see the King." "And what does the King do?" "He takes trips to the mountains, organizes separate theatre performances" "just for him." "And he's not even musical." "It is incestuous music," "Wagner music." "Scandalous and amoral." "My grandson pays it out of his private purse." "The salary of a high court judge is 2,800 florins." "That of a teacher, 2,200 florins." "That of an assistant secretary, 3,900 florins a year." "Take into account the recent rise in the price of beer and the financial debacle after the Spitzeder scandal." "But it's for art." "Art is the serenest form of existence." "As Brecht says, or was it Goethe?" "THE SUN KING OF BAVARIA:" "THE VIRGIN KING" "THE SUN KING OF BAVARIA:" "THE VIRGIN KING" "I, King by the grace of God." "The impossibility of actually falling is hereby ruled out." "If there are more kings like this, soon there won't be any at all." "Am I right?" "Of all the lovely women here my mother is the loveliest." "She receives what I have yet to give her:" "love." "But she doesn't treat me like a king." "I don't like it!" "I don't like it." "Hornig got married." "Majesty?" "Losing him is worse than the whole Franco-Prussian War." "DINER A QUATRE OR PLEASURE IS A PLEASURE" "DINER A QUATRE OR PLEASURE IS A PLEASURE" "Do you know the valleys of the Hindu Kush?" "Afghanistan?" "Wagner should write his most magnificent opera on an oriental subject." "India and Buddhism have for me something indescribably attractive" "which evokes pleasure and longing." "Intoxication would be complete." "Pleasure comes from pleasure and pleasure's a pleasure." "WAXWORKS" "WAXWORKS" "Richard Wagner'll have to go." "He disturbs our peace." "If that's the future of art, we can do without it." "I have acquired some property on Lake Starnberg, with his help," "and I'm interested in building roads along the lake." "Impossible as long as he's king." "The industrialization of Bavaria is on its way." "I need a branch in Berlin and some Prussian shareholders under cheap domestic conditions." "The forest will have to go." "We need a modern Bavaria." "Trees mean too many dead leaves." "Besides, the King has the habit of greeting trees and stone columns like people." "He chats with invisible people, calling them Marie Antoinette and Cousin Louis." "An art exhibition for Munich and he refuses because he wants his peace and quiet." "Exhibitions attract international royalty and he has to retreat to the mountains to avoid receiving them." "Crazy." "Rabbit and dog exhibitions, yes, but not art like Kaulbach and Piloty." "I'm a good monarchist but I love art, too." "He has no manners." "We need progress, our Bavaria, for roads, for automobiles, international art, connection with the Empire, investments." "I am a man of the people." "If you do that, gentlemen, do you even know what this will mean for Bavaria?" "This death, it must look like a struggle" "with Prof. Gudden who had tried to hold him back." "Get hold of a boat and four sticks." "Attach the two men's shoes to the ends so that you can," "from inside the boat so as not to leave your own imprints, leave imprints of a struggle in the sand." "They will lead to the spot in the lake that you choose to be the place where His Majesty breathed his last." "His Majesty's damaged clothing must be recovered." "The body must be dressed in undamaged clothes." "There must be no witnesses." "I hope I have made myself clear." "Police records must be confiscated." "We will seize" "His Majesty's personal archives." "Do not forget that no records, no advice, nothing from his architects, no records at all that could possibly suggest any serious work of Ludwig's must be made known to the public." "This would destroy his image as a king of kitsch." "Ludwig can only remain harmless as a kitsch king." "And most important of all, don't make a martyr of him." "Incidentally, I won't appear at all." "I have not said anything." "I have not heard anything." "As Prince Regent in charge of succession, I could easily be suspect." "I will withdraw from this twilight of hell and be happy in the twilight of the gods in the solitude of the mountains." "Far from the day, the hated enemy." "Far from the daylight's torrid shine." "Far from the profane world of every day, from the hopeless politics which smothers me and suffocates all poetry." "LUDWIG IN THE STUDIO OF THE SCULPTRESS ELISABETH NEY" "LUDWIG IN THE STUDIO OF THE SCULPTRESS ELISABETH NEY" "Don't make the horns of the sledge too high or branches will catch on them." "Carve cherubs on these horns that can hold the crown, sceptre, and the other royal regalia, and if at all possible, the King's robes." "The nymphs drawn on the front shouldn't be holding the lamps, or be the colours of flowers." "I want elegant herding scenes on the sides of the sledge." "Mr. Hofrat should bring all the copper engravings in the style of Boucher, Baudoin and..." "Fragonard with him to the next meeting." "The drapes hanging from the sledge shouldn't be so pointed." "They should be more like scarves and be attached like those at the Residence Theatre." "The triton at the end of the sledge is too far away from the body." "The sledge must be kept as short as possible." "The seat held up by the triton is too high." "It'll detract from the rest." "It is not necessary for the coachman to have a seat." "A board to stand on would be sufficient." "Send 42,000 florins to Johann Jakob Mayr." "Words cannot describe my pain." "The old song resounds in my ears." "I forgot it and forgot it without regret, the song which the Fates sang with horror when Tantalus fell from his golden throne:" "They suffered with their noble friend;" "grim were their hearts and wild their song." "in our youth the nurse sang it to me and my brothers and sisters." ""Let the human race fear the gods." "Their eternal hands hold firm the power, which they can draw on as they like." "Let him whom they raise up be doubly afraid!" "On rocks and clouds seats are prepared around tables of gold."" "Lola Montez cursed me." "She hated the face of my father." "I will leave no progeny." "She is now being exhibited in a circus as the King of Bavaria's mistress." ""When discord arises, the guests, shamed and insulted, plunge into depths of darkness and fettered in gloom await in vain their just judgement." "But the others remain at their eternal feasts at tables of gold." "They stride from peak to peak:" "From yawning chasms they breathe the sulphurous breath of the Titans, rising in light clouds like sacrificial smoke." "The rulers turn their indulgent gaze away from whole families to avoid seeing in their descendants the once mutely loved traits of their forbears."" "Do you know what rape is?" "Or a bastard son?" "Women are angels with wings, aren't they?" "But you can dream of them as such." "Recite Iphigenia." ""When the heavenly powers assign to a mortal a life full of changes" "and prepare for him changes from joy to sorrow" "and sorrow to joy, a deeply shattering experience:" "Then they find for him near the town or on a distant shore" "to help him in moments of distress a calm and faithful friend."" "BROTHER OTTO AND PROF." "GUDDEN'S MEDICAL NURSES" "BROTHER OTTO AND PROF." "GUDDEN'S MEDICAL NURSES" "I'm Albert, the court photographer." "I have a studio and over 200 employees." "I am going to photograph the King from his childhood to his deathbed." "Attention!" "Thanks." "Otto, what's left of your cheap pleasures:" "The ballet, hunting, the army?" "Only evil memories torture you." "They will declare me insane and make you king in your lunatic asylum" "so that Uncle Luitpold can reign, just as the law dictates," "and call it logic since you have already absconded." "Alas, Shakespeare is no more." "I live in vain." "I live in vain." "END OF PART 1" "PART II ONCE UPON A TIME I WAS" "There's only one way to deal with a Prussian:" "Tread on his toes till he understands us." "There's only one way to deal with a Prussian:" "Tread on his toes till he understands us." "Where are the pussies?" "He means the women in the famous gallery of beauties." "Who was that?" "Crown Prince Frederick William of Prussia in the summer of 1871." "Rhythm, everybody's got to dance to it..." "Save me from these old women with their cream cakes and moneybags." "I have belonged to youth and revolution since 1848." "I succeeded against the philistines, with my own theatre and 6-hour performances, in forming a 19th century musical underground." "Only when Niki de St. Phalle, Jim Dine," "Werner Schroeter, Magdalena Montezuma and Ernst Fuchs produce the "The Ring" will I be free again." "And though it be my last wish, may you see flying over your empire from rock to sea, your eagle." "May has come, the trees are in leaf." "Whether there or here you're feeling very queer from morning till night... I," "Karl May, have just heard from Winnetou" "that in Buffalo Bill's western show" "Sitting Bull was accidentally shot dead while the public roared with laughter." "Thanks to your specialised knowledge of Wagner's works you know of the unfortunate capabilities of your people." "You have lovely eyes." "You have lovely eyes." "If only they could come together soon." "He does not love me." "What a lovely pair." "Fresh water from Bavaria." "It's a rare thing." "She will hand me the glass on my last journey" "when all have abandoned me." "You write out the treaty of Bavaria's incorporation into the German Empire." "His Majesty is so busy." "Oh, unhappy strife that turns Germany's will against Germany itself." "He is too honest." "What do treaties mean when there is no choice?" "Who does he have?" "Who?" "Marshal!" "Bismarck!" "Annex me." "Photo please, with embrace." "Just like Hanover, Hesse etc." "What will you pay?" "If you're going to do it, do it right." "And now for the proclamation:" "No more politics from now on." "I can't hear it anymore!" "I won't see anyone unless... it is my bidding." "I'll bequeath all my castles and lakes," "after the violent death I shall choose for myself, to the Bavarian national trust so that the poorly endowed Office of Historical Monuments" "can finish the other tasks with the income from my castles, 3 million a year," "which I now" "intend to build for 31 million for the world and all of my friends." "They'll help to keep up the other extravagant buildings of my Wittelsbach relatives," "with their success with the public." "That's his death sentence." "They'll never forgive him that." "MADAME BULYOWSKI REMEMBERS" "MADAME BULYOWSKI REMEMBERS" "What was he really like?" "When I was in my dressing room after a private performance for the King, all alone... a lackey came in and brought me a necklace of diamonds and sapphires." "I thanked him, but he said I had to thank the King in writing." "I was tired so I said that I would, but he insisted I do it right away." "So I sat down and, as usual, the lackey dictated my thanks." "Whether the King knew?" "Honestly, he was the most grateful spectator I've ever had." "All sensuousness, ideals," "sensibility, not a movement throughout." "That's what makes art a divine service, makes the artist a priest, and the stage a pulpit." "But I couldn't concentrate before the empty auditorium." "The contact between audience and artist was missing;" "the electric spark that ignites in the presence of a very large audience" "and springs over to a very large audience igniting the final strength." "And then I asked myself if he actually existed." "Whether this isn't our own invention," "created with a business sense for our own glory." "That's all I can say about me, if you ask me about Ludwig." "HOW TWO HISTORICAL PHOTOS OF LUDWIG AND KAINZ CAME ABOUT" "HOW TWO HISTORICAL PHOTOS OF LUDWIG AND KAINZ CAME ABOUT" "You were snoring, Kainz." "Melchtal's speech again, please." "I'm tired." " Just once more, as a favour to me." "I, the King, order you." "Go and get stuffed." "All right then." "PRAYER OF A FAIRY-TALE KING" "PRAYER OF A FAIRY-TALE KING" "Sacred oath sworn on New Year's Eve, 1873." "In the name of the King I swear." "I swear and pledge by the sacred, pure seal of the royal lily, that within the impenetrable, invulnerable balustrades that enclose the King's bed, in the course of the year which has just begun, as far as possible" "to resist all temptation." "And as far as it is possible, to never give in, neither in words or actions, not even in thought, and in this way cleanse myself of all imperfections inherent in human nature and thus make myself worthier of the crown" "God has endowed me with." "I should get out of the habit as much as possible." "Never again lower my hands, at least not before June 3rd." "Last embraces, happily without kisses." "In the name of the great King, for the last time, Richard, definitely for the last time," "I will neither give in to sin or weaken," "God will help me." "Amen." "SLAUGHTERING THE KING" "SLAUGHTERING THE KING I," "Johannes Lutz, son of a village schoolmaster, owe everything to the King." "I am his official and should have said years ago:" "Majesty, now stop," "we've got no more money." "There will be an accident if you keep this up." "But I didn't say it because it wasn't in my interest." "Now it gets dangerous." "If I tender my resignation and he accepts," "I'll be thrown out and the opposition will get in." "Now I've got to act." "The King will have to go, if Luitpold lets me act," "and he will let me act" "if I help to make him regent." "So let's slaughter the King for his time has come." "But who shall do the deed?" "Not even Bismarck knows the answer." "The monarchy is in danger." "We mustn't hesitate to use the Press." "The intellectuals must act too." "We'll have to arrest him." "I'm afraid there'll be some dirty washing." "I'm a scientist and we need facts." "The monarchy is in danger and the monarchy's all we have." "it is our livelihood." "If I'm questioned about the King, I'll report everything to him." "Then we'd better talk about the weather." "Lakai Hesselschwert," "King's orders;" "leave for London at once to borrow money from Rothschild whatever the cost." "Impossible." "I've been trying to borrow from the King of Naples, whatever the cost, by order of the King." "WE ARE THE PEOPLE'S CONSCIENCE" "WE ARE THE PEOPLE'S CONSCIENCE" "What has really happened?" "The truth, of course, is out of the question." "Now nothing about homosexuality, masturbation, drugs, teeth falling out or brutality?" "Our readers don't want that." "Fine, we understand." "Just report about his money squandering, we will do the rest." "So, exclusively for you," "4.5 million is the civil list, debts 1884: 7.5 million." "One year later, 14 million." "Now in 1886 he's asking for 20 million partly from houses of monarchy or by burglary if necessary." "All for castles in which he and his lackeys reign." "We have no access." "He lives alone in a world full of servants and extravagant expenses." "And what do we expect of him?" "Not to build any more castles?" "No more private performances at the opera?" "No more paying for Wagner or Bayreuth?" "Is he to move to the city?" "Shall he live alone in the royal court?" "Is he to leave the mountains?" "You're talking about our King!" "Ludwig lives for us, just as we have to live." "He lives a fairy-tale life for us." "He is our luxury." "He's just different." "He is our King!" "Our King!" "Do you want to kill what's best in us?" "Do you want to force him to be like everyone else?" "As we have to live..." "Without him our happiness is lost." "We are the people's conscience." "The principle of monarchy must not be violated." "Ludwig despises dogs, dislikes children, or Hamlet, loves swans and peacocks." "Peacocks." "Think of the East, foreign workers, Turks." "He gave an opera singer costly jewellery and didn't even sleep with her." "Are there any documents on how Bavaria joined the Empire?" "After all, it affects the happiness of every citizen." "What percentage are you getting?" " 30,000 a year from the Guelph fortune." "Let's focus on how he handles his lackeys, subjects, taxpayers." "He rules the country with a court of lackeys." "The nobility is powerless." "So is the Royal Family, the Church." "Crazy." "He sent a lackey riding on a donkey through the village with a sign round his neck:" ""l am the King."" "Oh well, if only he was an artist." "His successor, Prince Luitpold, is the best republic." "Is that enough?" "WAGNER IS DEAD" "WAGNER IS DEAD" "TO DROWN, TO SINK UNCONSCIOUS, INEFFABLE DELIGHT!" "Those were his uncle's coronation robes." "King Otto of Bavaria." "What's the time?" "It's early, Your Majesty, time for supper." "It's nightfall already." "Did you see him?" "He's wearing a mask because he once saw me" "in my socks, holding my shoes in my hand." "He'll betray me with notes from my waste basket." "I can't live without him." "He's made himself indispensable." "That's a crime against the King!" "Spit on Rutz three times because he was base enough to look at me," "to point at me!" "So you really saw animals?" "Yes?" "Frogs?" "It's night and everybody deceives me." "Kick that Häussler, pull his ears," "bang his head on the wall, tie his hands behind his back," "and three days without food." "Cabinet Secretary Ziegler requests an audience." "That social-democratic nonsense in England and America should be stopped." "Didn't you hear something?" "Noises?" "I warn you, Hesselschwert!" "Again, disgrace!" "Well at last Rutz's ears should be pulled!" "Cabinet Secretary Ziegler should be assassinated by bandits in Bozen," "or at least given a good thrashing!" "He's a part of it." "Once upon a time I was." "What time is it?" "An editor got sentenced to 6 months for writing that the King was mentally sick." "My assistant, Dr. Müller, was in a strange mood." "He had to restrain himself from shouting for joy when he heard he'd been chosen to attend the King." "Medically speaking, it's certainly an impressive case." "I had no choice." "I was under pressure from the" "Viennese psycho-analytical school of Sigmund Freud and his colleagues." "Sociology, childhood theories etc." "I had to take steps to oppose them, to act quickly, purely scientifically." "I had my own methods, of course." "Card-indexes, interrogations etc." "Besides, our holiday was already planned at Dr. Müller's in Franconia to take care of an inheritance matter, so Müller insisted on hurrying." "Poor Ludwig." "Who could imagine he'd end like that?" "One example." "They say that in Oberammergau, shattered by the Crucifixion, he confessed:" ""l, too, can see myself dying nailed to the cross, ogled, stabbed in my side, with a crown of thorns on my head."" "IN THE NAME OF THE KING" "IN THE NAME OF THE KING" "7 courses, 40 litres of beer, 10 bottles of champagne, for 6 people." "The gentlemen have dined on the occasion of their honourable mission." "In the name of the King... it is done." "You have come to arrest me." "It's all just a question of money." "A few million and everything would be taken care of." "I mean," "I'd like to see anyone declaring me insane then." "Including your payment Prof. Gudden, of course." "I want to dupe you." "What happens if I pay?" "Money's no problem for a king, is it?" "Your wars cost a lot more." "I'm a conservative who's failed and you are progress." "But not for long;" "others will follow." "I'm a jurist, it is my nature." "In the name of the King..." "Let's stop this." "Blow up all my castles, that's an order, a legacy." "Alfons," "what do you think of the immortality of the soul?" "You see?" "I can't believe that nothing remains, that nothing remains of what was." "Here's my watch," "my hatpin." "The cheque to pay off my misdeeds." "Bismarck advises me to flee." "They don't understand." "I've nothing in common with them." "I am a king." "I've got to return." "War Minister's orders." "Ask my uncle, the Prince Regent, if he'll leave you with me." "He knows how much I love you." "You should order me as a king, my King." "Not your King, I am the King." "Latest report from Munich:" "They maintain there are red flags in the streets and that our proclamation has been published by the social democrats to confuse the people." "To keep calm, the first civic duty." "Poor Uncle Luitpold." "He has a terrible time trying to rule." "I had a dream." "During a performance of the "Twilight of the Gods,"" "the audience got up." "A lady stood up, looked at me insolently, and began to sing a song impromptu." "Disgusting." "THE KING IS DEAD." "LONG LIVE THE REGENT" "THE KING IS DEAD." "LONG LIVE THE REGENT" "The King is dead." "Committed suicide in Lake Starnberg." "Red flags in Munich." "A socialist proclamation on the walls of the residence." "You don't really believe that." " Majesty!" "Fine, so the King went bathing and lost his kingdom." "Majesty!" "According to the constitution, you are now King." "Me?" "Me?" "Prince Luitpold, the Prince Regent, will reign until your death, in your name." "Everybody out!" "The King is dead!" "Long live the King!" "MAYR THE LACKEY ONCE MORE:" "WHAT WOULD WE BE WITHOUT HIM" "MAYR THE LACKEY ONCE MORE:" "WHAT WOULD WE BE WITHOUT HIM" "This is the original mask." "Actually I wanted to swear but no offence meant." "Beer, that's all I have to say." "But how could he hate beer?" "In Bavaria!" "He didn't know a thing about art." "Look at those fat women in Wagner's operas." "No grasp of the popular taste of the time." "But didn't we all live on him?" "And not badly." "And we still do." "Listen, I knew him, that alone is enough." "Otherwise I'd have long since been forgotten." "Honestly, lackey to a modern head of state... just imagine that job!" "But in those days with King Ludwig..." "Hops and malt our King preserve." "Incidentally, after checking the bills it was discovered that the final total of debts was only 13 million." "The very great number of visitors to the King's castles even in the year of his death, 1886," "suggested the idea of safeguarding this source of revenue, despite the immediate disposal of the furniture and so on." "Alfons Weber, who on the night before King Ludwig's death had received from him, together with some jewellery, a cheque for 25,000 gold marks, even had to give back two clasps, one of which belonged to the Treasury." "And he was paid off with 9,000 marks." "THE END OF A FAIRY-TALE KING" "THE END OF A FAIRY-TALE KING" "Here we go!" "Quietly the day comes to an end and the lights go out one by one" "Hops and malt, our King preserve!" "Just as our Saviour rose again, so he will return." "Just as our Saviour rose again, so he will return." "Our Father in Heaven, give us this day our daily nostalgia and comfort us in our homesickness and deliver us from melancholy for Thine is the madness world without end." "Amen." "REQUIEM FOR A VIRGIN KING" "REQUIEM FOR A VIRGIN KING" "subtitles:" "TlTELWERK supervision:" "annie GROSSJOHANN"