Tijl Beckand (49) listened to the music of world-famous composer Richard Wagner for no less than 224 hours, in preparation for the 6-part series Tijl in the footsteps of Richard Wagner, which can be seen on NPO2 from Wednesday, March 6.
Tijl Beckand is about to leave for Thailand with a crew of 35 people The perfect picture traveling . How different the recordings of his new program were Tijl in the footsteps of Richard Wagner , which, as a great lover of classical music, he produced himself with a small team. He went back to the most important places in the eventful life of the German revolutionary. A musical genius, who fought against the established order and was convinced anti-Semitic. After his death in 1883, Wagner even gained a controversial fan, Adolf Hitler.
“I’m a bit of a Harry Potter fan who goes to the studios,” says Beckand enthusiastically about the special journey he has made. He already made a series for the AvroTros in 2019 In the footsteps of Bach , now he guides the viewer through Wagner’s life. “He is a visionary with an unpleasant character,” he briefly summarizes the eventful life of the composer, who was 69 years old. “There is something addictive about his music. It doesn’t let you go, just like you can binge a Netflix series in one go.”
Mind control
Wagner’s influence on opera and theater has been great. The German composer is the founder of, among other things, the ‘leitmotif’, a leading theme in a piece of music. He put on mind control , says Beckand. “Not only in his music but also in the people around him. He has made a lot of progress in his life. He had a conductor who could perform his music best. Wagner became involved with his wife and got her pregnant several times. Later this conductor said about everything that had happened: if it had not been Wagner, I would have killed him. That says something about the way he managed to hypnotize people.”
In the series, Beckand wonders out loud: can you still like Wagner’s music if you know what he thought about Jews? “Soprano Eva Maria Westbroek, who collaborates on this series, said to me: ‘I believe that there is another dimension that has contact with people like Bach and Wagner. They are exposed to so much good music.’ Wagner wrote no less than 56 hours of opera. Insane considering how poorly he had organized his life. You don’t have to like these people to like their works.”
New contract
RTL allows Beckand to make a trip to the AvroTros for the series about Wagner. His contract with the commercial channel expires in August. “I don’t want to say that everything is in place for an extension, but we are already thinking about a new season of The traitors . That has become an iconic program.” Yet the current season, in which unknown participants participate for the first time, has significantly lower viewing figures than previous editions. Beckand: “It is still too early to draw conclusions about whether this version will be successful. We will do that in a few weeks.”
In The traitors the group of participants is divided into traitors and loyalists. They compete with each other for a stack of silver bars. Beckand is amazed every season by the impact the game has on the group. “I spoke to a candidate who had problems for weeks after his participation. He was supposed to leave the parental home after the recordings, but postponed this. These unknown participants are not used to being treated like stars on set. Everything is arranged for them by production. The disappointment in an elimination is also much greater than among celebrities, because they know that they will not soon get the opportunity to participate in such a program again.”
Overkill?
The presenter reveals that he will be appearing again this summer with the quiz What is it about? He is also working on a new season of It perfect picture when traveling . How does he ensure that Tijl Beckand on television does not become an overkill? “That is always a point of attention. I just have programs with many seasons.” The presenter is regularly criticized for being ‘too present’. “I read everything that is written. When people say you’re a jerk, you can say it doesn’t bother you, but it’s never fun. I take all reactions seriously because, after all, I work for the viewer.”
Tijl in the footsteps of Richard Wagner, from Wednesday March 6 on NPO2, 8:30 PM