# Films About Classical Music



## ando

Got a favorite? Seen one recently? Could be a documentary, drama, comedy or, indeed, horror.  *Share!* 

Here's a good doc which is a kind of intro to the whole world (made fairly recently) -






*Maestro: The Unknown World Of World Class Musicians* (2022, Little Dot Studios)


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## ando

*a late quartet* (2012, yaron zilberman)
*Members of a world-renowned string quartet struggle to stay together in the face of a crisis.*

One of my favorites. Of course, Beethoven's music is utilized as a way to dramatize the relationships of the musicians but it's the central subject around which they struggle to relate to each other. Widely available on streaming platforms including a serviceable copy on YouTube:


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## Rogerx

The Music Lovers (1970)

The Music Lovers is a 1971 British drama film directed by Ken Russell and starring Richard Chamberlain and Glenda Jackson. The screenplay by Melvyn Bragg, based on Beloved Friend, a collection of personal correspondence edited by Catherine Drinker Bowen and Barbara von Meck, focuses on the life and career of 19th-century Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. It was one of the director's biographical films about classical composers, which include Elgar (1962), Delius: Song of Summer (1968), Mahler (1974) and Lisztomania (1975), made from an often idiosyncratic standpoint.
Wiki


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## ando

Rogerx said:


>


Classic. One of my favorites, too.


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## ando

another doc -















*Tanglewood: So You Want To Be A Conductor?* (1985)


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## Rogerx

10. Impromptu
Moving from romantic comedy to Romantic piano music, Hugh Grant is the unlikely choice to play Chopin in this biographical film. It tells the tale of Chopin's love affair with the French novelist known by the pseudonym George Sand.
I love it.


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## ando

Rogerx said:


> 10. Impromptu
> Moving from romantic comedy to Romantic piano music, Hugh Grant is the unlikely choice to play Chopin in this biographical film. It tells the tale of Chopin's love affair with the French novelist known by the pseudonym George Sand.
> I love it.


I've yet to watch this. Thanks for the reminder.

It brings to mind an excellent film involving the historical Sand and Chopin. Excellent. Just need to remember (and find a copy of) the movie...


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## ando

Found it.















*La Note Bleue (The Blue Note)* (1991, Andrzej Zulawski)

Pay no attention to the clueless boobs who dissed it on iMDB. It's exquisite, and I'm guessing (though I've yet to watch it) very different from the Lapine film.


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## elgar's ghost

2005 movie made for TV. High quality cast and despite the mixed reviews I thought it was great fun. There was an admirable attention to detail in evoking not just the painful genesis and attendant fly-on-the-wall psychodrama of _The Rite of Spring_ but also post-_fin de siècle_ Paris in general. All the cast were worthy of note but I think Aidan McArdle deserves special praise for his portrayal of an oft-tetchy Stravinsky.


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## Rogerx

Le Roi Danse

Origin: France / Belgium / Germany
Directed by: Gérard Corbiau
With: Benoît Magimel, Boris Terral and Tchéky Karyo

Original language: French

It's a must see film this, however if you do not like Lully it's a tough one.


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## MAS

*Tous Les Matins Du Monde*, about Marin Marais.
The music is very lugubrious, though.


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## MAS

*Immortal Beloved * about the love of Beethoven's life.


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## MAS

*Duet for One* with Julie Andrews, about a musician who finds out she can no longer controls her hands to play.


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## MAS

*Quartet*, directed by Dustin Hoffman, about a home for retired musicians - Gwyneth Jones has a small part in it.


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## MAS

*Wagner*, an excruciatingly long TV series about that composer, starring a very wooden Richard Burton, with three of the most talented thespians playing King Ludwig's ministers (Ralph Richardson, John Gielgud, Laurence Olivier). A memorable line: "then there's that Ring thing," delivered perfectly by Gielgud.









Oh, yes, Vanessa Redgrave plays Cosima von Bülow Wagner.


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## Rogerx

Suddenly I remember an other member asking about the soundtrack . It's on my wish list


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## elgar's ghost

MAS said:


> *Quartet*, directed by Dustin Hoffman, about a home for retired musicians - Gwyneth Jones has a small part in it.
> 
> View attachment 164463


I enjoyed that. And quite poignant in that quintessentially understated British way.


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## Chibi Ubu

*My partial memoryof this is still distinct...*

One of the very 1st exposures to classical music of any kind I had was when I was 6 or 7. I watched a music movie drama in black & white made somewhere in the '30s or maybe '40s on our old tube TV sometime in the '50s. It featured *Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2* as the _theme_ throughout the film.

The lead actor was a struggling pianist wanting to rise to fame, romance, & love. He was dealing with his demons while learning to conquer the concerto. He succeeds in the end, and the movie ends with his triumphant performance. I loved it, and still do.

Can anybody identify the movie from what I speak?:tiphat:
---------------------------------------------
Researching this out, I may be confused as to the details of the movie, its been over 60 years ago after all!


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## ando

elgars ghost said:


> 2005 movie made for TV. High quality cast and despite the mixed reviews I thought it was great fun. There was an admirable attention to detail in evoking not just the painful genesis and attendant fly-on-the-wall psychodrama of _The Rite of Spring_ but also post-_fin de siècle_ Paris in general. All the cast were worthy of note but I think Aidan McArdle deserves special praise for his portrayal of an oft-tetchy Stravinsky.


Thanks! Found a watchable copy.


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## ando

Chibi Ubu said:


> One of the very 1st exposures to classical music of any kind I had was when I was 6 or 7. I watched a music movie drama in black & white made somewhere in the '30s or maybe '40s on our old tube TV sometime in the '50s. It featured *Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2* as the _theme_ throughout the film.
> 
> The lead actor was a struggling pianist wanting to rise to fame, romance, & love. He was dealing with his demons while learning to conquer the concerto. He succeeds in the end, and the movie ends with his triumphant performance. I loved it, and still do.
> 
> Can anybody identify the movie from what I speak?:tiphat:
> ---------------------------------------------
> Researching this out, I may be confused as to the details of the movie, its been over 60 years ago after all!


Got me. The closest thing I could find (or remember) is this 1946 Frank Borzage film Based on real life _female_ concert pianist, torn between her attraction to her arrogant but brilliant maestro and her love for a farm boy she left back home:









*I've Always Loved You *

Looks dreadful.  But it features Rachmaninoff No. 2 and there's a fine YT copy -






Good luck with the search.


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## ando

MAS said:


> *Tous Les Matins Du Monde*, about Marin Marais.
> The music is very lugubrious, though.
> View attachment 164457


Big Like.  My introduction to Marais and Jordi Savall.


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## MAS

How could I have forgotten *Amadeus*? A film about composer Salieri's deadly envy of Mozart's heavenly music and his rage at God for his own lack of talent.


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## MAS

There is also a film about a Czech soprano with a revolutionary bent, and one about Alma Mahler (wife of the composer). There are also several tv programs about music with Leonard Bernstein and Michael Tilson Thomas (separately).

Not to forget *Mr. Holland's Opus*, about a would-be composer.


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## SanAntone

The Competition










The plot, a romantic dramady, involves two pianists in the same competition. One a 30-year old man (Richard Dreyfus), cynical and disillusioned competing in his last competition, risking losing his new job, and a 23-year old female virtuoso with an ambitious, accomplished, and cutthroat teacher (Lee Remick).

Of course these two characters are both in competition against each other, but also falling in love ....


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## pianozach

Fine. I'll post the elephants in the room.

*Fantasia (1940)





Allegro non troppo (1976) 





Fantasia 2000*





I have loved all three of these.

In retrospect, they're kind of like early MTV for Classical Music.


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## ando

SanAntone said:


> The Competition
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The plot, a romantic dramady, involves two pianists in the same competition. One a 30-year old man (Richard Dreyfus), cynical and disillusioned competing in his last competition, risking losing his new job, and a 23-year old female virtuoso with an ambitious, accomplished, and cutthroat teacher (Lee Remick).
> 
> Of course these two characters are both in competition against each other, but also falling in love ....


Is it Prokofiev's 3rd Piano Concerto that's showcasd in this one? At any rate, good film that shows its age a bit but a great ensemble overall. And, wow, I _just_ found a YT copy after a long time of it being impossible to find streaming _*anywhere*_. Well, got my film for the night! Thanks. 






*Edit*: ^^ Alas, a terrible copy. For a nice one go here, but have a good ad blocker in place. Have a great weekend.


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## ando

pianozach said:


> Fine. I'll post the elephants in the room.
> 
> *Fantasia (1940)*
> 
> *Allegro non troppo (1976)*
> 
> *Fantasia 2000*
> 
> I have loved all three of these...


Haha. Tempted to get the Disney Free Trial just to watch 'em in HD.


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## Rogerx

Hilary and Jackie" (1998)
The tragic story of Jacqueline du Pre, a brilliant cellist who succumbed to multiple sclerosis at age 42

Saw it twice, bit over the top.


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## Chibi Ubu

ando said:


> Got me. The closest thing I could find (or remember) is this 1946 Frank Borzage film Based on real life _female_ concert pianist, torn between her attraction to her arrogant but brilliant maestro and her love for a farm boy she left back home:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> *I've Always Loved You *
> 
> Looks dreadful.  But it features Rachmaninoff No. 2 and there's a fine YT copy -
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Good luck with the search.


Yep, you nailed it. This has got to be the one. So much for my fuzzy memory.


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## jegreenwood

ando said:


> Is it Prokofiev's 3rd Piano Concerto that's showcasd in this one? At any rate, good film that shows its age a bit but a great ensemble overall. And, wow, I _just_ found a YT copy after a long time of it being impossible to find streaming _*anywhere*_. Well, got my film for the night! Thanks.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> *Edit*: ^^ Alas, a terrible copy. For a nice one go here, but have a good ad blocker in place. Have a great weekend.


It's where I first heard Prokofiev's 3rd.


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## Xenophiliu

*England, My England* (1995)

This follows the career of *Henry Purcell* alongside the reign of Charles II (played by Simon Callow).

It has been since the 90's since I saw it last, but I remember odd 4th Wall breaking from the major players or contemporary interpolations. I could be misremembering too.


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## Andrew Kenneth

*Richard Wagner* (1913)

This film is the first full length biopic ever made.


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## Andrew Kenneth

*Interrupted Melody* (1955)

(Marjorie Lawrence biopic starring John Ford & Eleanor Parker)

trailer =>


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## Andrew Kenneth

*The Artist & the Pervert* (2018) - documentary

Documentary about composer Georg Friedrich Haas and his wife Mollena Williams.









trailer =>


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## Rogerx

Mein Name ist Bach -Mu name is Bach

Mein Name ist Bach is a penetrating portrait of two great personalities: Johann Sebastian Bach and Frederick II of Prussia. Based on true events, the film tells of the stormy meeting between a famous musician and a legendary king, a father and a son.
While visiting one of his sons in Potsdam, Bach is ordered to make an appearance at the royal palace. There he meets the brilliant, talented young prince Frederik. He recognizes the genius in the other, but at the same time he does not tolerate being overshadowed. His younger sister Amalia longs for freedom and is madly in love with Bach's eldest, rebellious son. During the encounter, convention is thrown overboard and an emotional battle between egos ensues, accompanied by the harmonies and dissonances of subdued music.

Not so very famous - speaking German, has Dutch = French subtitles .
4 stars


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## MAS

The, of course, there is *Farinelli* about the great _castrato_ and his brother, composer Carlo Broschi.


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## Rogerx

Alas only in German

Franz Schubert: Mit meinen heißen Tränen -With my hot tears

n three parts ("The Wanderer", "In the Kingdom of the Garden", "Winter Journey") the life of Franz Schubert is told in atmospherically dense pictures.

In the first part, set in the summer of 1823, Schubert is portrayed as a syphilis sufferer surrounded by invalids from the "French Wars".
The second part describes a "country trip" through the Vienna Woods in the autumn of 1827, on the way to a party in a castle. This part also features the painter Moritz von Schwind and the young composer Johann Strauss.
The third part depicts the last days of Franz Schubert's life in the autumn of 1828. This is figuratively designed as a "chamber play" and takes place exclusively in Schubert's apartment


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## Rogerx

La Symphonie Fantastique (1942)
Drama / Muziek | 95 minuten
3,00
2 stemmen
2 reacties 
Alternatieve titel: The Fantastic Symphony
I have in on borrow from a neighbour, a must see he says.


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## ando

Xenophiliu said:


> *England, My England* (1995)


A favorite! Thanks.


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## ando

*concerto: a beethoven journey* (2015, phil grabsky)


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## ando

Rogerx said:


> Alas only in German
> 
> Franz Schubert: Mit meinen heißen Tränen -With my hot tears
> 
> n three parts ("The Wanderer", "In the Kingdom of the Garden", "Winter Journey") the life of Franz Schubert is told in atmospherically dense pictures.
> 
> In the first part, set in the summer of 1823, Schubert is portrayed as a syphilis sufferer surrounded by invalids from the "French Wars".
> The second part describes a "country trip" through the Vienna Woods in the autumn of 1827, on the way to a party in a castle. This part also features the painter Moritz von Schwind and the young composer Johann Strauss.
> The third part depicts the last days of Franz Schubert's life in the autumn of 1828. This is figuratively designed as a "chamber play" and takes place exclusively in Schubert's apartment


Thanks. There's a copy of all three parts on YouTube (with no English subs) not in the best shape but the German isn't difficult.


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## hammeredklavier

part 1: 



part 2: 



part 3:


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## Kreisler jr

I vaguely remember a movie I have seen in the early-mid 1990s on German TV. It must have been fairly recent back then (so maybe mid-late 1980s or early 90s) but it probably was an international movie. There was one character who was a violinist and I think there was classical music in the soundtrack. I am pretty sure it was mostly fictional, not about a famous player, certainly not about a famous composer. In fact the violinist storyline might not even have been the main plot...

It probably took place around/before WW II or some other 20th century war (I think that one major point was a conflict of being drafted, fight in the war vs. play the violin but maybe there were other obstacles and the war was not that central) and there was of course also a love story. The problem is that all these recollections are way to vague to help finding out what movie this could have been.

Any clues would be helpful; no big deal but it's been bugging me for years not to be able to identify that movie.


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## Rogerx

Kreisler jr said:


> I vaguely remember a movie I have seen in the early-mid 1990s on German TV. It must have been fairly recent back then (so maybe mid-late 1980s or early 90s) but it probably was an international movie. There was one character who was a violinist and I think there was classical music in the soundtrack. I am pretty sure it was mostly fictional, not about a famous player, certainly not about a famous composer. In fact the violinist storyline might not even have been the main plot...
> 
> It probably took place around/before WW II or some other 20th century war (I think that one major point was a conflict of being drafted, fight in the war vs. play the violin but maybe there were other obstacles and the war was not that central) and there was of course also a love story. The problem is that all these recollections are way to vague to help finding out what movie this could have been.
> 
> Any clues would be helpful; no big deal but it's been bugging me for years not to be able to identify that movie.


I did read this now three times, every time one name springs to mind: Ladies in Lavender.



Wild guess, but you never know.


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## pianozach

Kreisler jr said:


> I vaguely remember a movie I have seen in the early-mid 1990s on German TV. It must have been fairly recent back then (so maybe mid-late 1980s or early 90s) but it probably was an international movie. There was one character who was a violinist and I think there was classical music in the soundtrack. I am pretty sure it was mostly fictional, not about a famous player, certainly not about a famous composer. In fact the violinist storyline might not even have been the main plot...
> 
> It probably took place around/before WW II or some other 20th century war (I think that one major point was a conflict of being drafted, fight in the war vs. play the violin but maybe there were other obstacles and the war was not that central) and there was of course also a love story. The problem is that all these recollections are way to vague to help finding out what movie this could have been.
> 
> Any clues would be helpful; no big deal but it's been bugging me for years not to be able to identify that movie.


*Google* and *Wikipedia* are our friends. 

*Films about violins and violinists*

0-9

12 Years a Slave (film)

B

Broken Strings (film)

C

Canone inverso
Chicken with Plums (film)

D

The Devil's Violinist
Dreaming Lips (1932 film)
Dreaming Lips (1937 film)
Dreaming Lips (1953 film)

G

Golden Boy (1939 film)

H

A Heart in Winter
Humoresque (1920 film)
Humoresque (1946 film)

I

Intermezzo (1936 film)
Intermezzo (1939 film)

K

Kannukulle

L

Ladies in Lavender
Lăutarii

M

The Magic Bow
Music of the Heart
My Love Came Back

P

Paganini (1923 film)
Paganini (1934 film)
Paganini (1989 film)
Paganini in Venice
Phantom of the Opera (1943 film)
The Phantom of the Opera (1989 film)

R

The Red Violin
The Return of the Tall Blond Man with One Black Shoe

S

The Soloist

T

The Tall Blond Man with One Black Shoe
They Shall Have Music
To Joy (film)
Together (2002 film)

V

The Violin Maker of Mittenwald
The Violin Player (film)
The Violin


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## Rogerx

Richard Wagner - Bayreuth und der Rest der Welt

Wagner Bayreuth - and the rest of the world is neither a biography of Richard Wagner nor a musicological analysis of his work. Rather, it is a documentary film that deals solely with the fascination that this man arouses worldwide. How could such a hype and cult arise around such a controversial artist? The full-length documentary shows how life is lived in Bayreuth with Wagner's legacy from festival to festival, how enthusiastic Wagnerians all over the world celebrate their composer and what people who deal intensively with his work or as active artists at the festival have to tell interpret stage.

Language: Deutsch, Englisch, Japanisch
Laufzeit: 97 Min.
Sound Format: stereo / DTS 5.1
Picture: 16:9
Subtitles: Deutsch, Englisch, Japanisch, Koreanisch


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## ando

Rogerx said:


> Richard Wagner - Bayreuth und der Rest der Welt
> 
> Wagner Bayreuth - and the rest of the world is neither a biography of Richard Wagner nor a musicological analysis of his work. Rather, it is a documentary film that deals solely with the fascination that this man arouses worldwide. How could such a hype and cult arise around such a controversial artist? The full-length documentary shows how life is lived in Bayreuth with Wagner's legacy from festival to festival, how enthusiastic Wagnerians all over the world celebrate their composer and what people who deal intensively with his work or as active artists at the festival have to tell interpret stage.
> 
> Language: Deutsch, Englisch, Japanisch
> Laufzeit: 97 Min.
> Sound Format: stereo / DTS 5.1
> Picture: 16:9
> Subtitles: Deutsch, Englisch, Japanisch, Koreanisch


Thanks. Tough finding a streamer for this. KinoOnDemand has it for a modest fee.


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## Kreisler jr

pianozach said:


> *Google* and *Wikipedia* are our friends.


Of course I had already tried normal searches? "film with violin" way too unspecific. 
Ladies in Lavender is impossible as this is from 2004 and as I wrote, I saw the movie on German TV, probably around 1990, so even if I am slightly mistaken, it cannot be later than ca. 1994, more likely from the late 1980s.


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## ThaNotoriousNIC

I have seen a couple of films regarding classical music, composers, performers, ballet, etc over the past several years that I would like to share:

1) Amadeus (of course)
2) Fantasia and Fantasia 2000 (of course)
3) Copying Beethoven (2006): sae parts of this movie in pieces a few years back. Not a very well regarded movie but one I have seen nonetheless
4) The Red Shoes and The Tales of Hoffman movies by by Powell & Pressburger (of course)
5) Rhapsody (1953): has Elizabeth Taylor in a romance role. Don't remember too much else
6) Phantom of the Opera (Claude Rains version): several opera acts within the movie
7) The Money Pit (1986): Tom Hanks rom-com with a classical music angle
8) Rhapsody in Blue (1945): Gershwin Biopic
9) Intermezzo: A Love Story (1936): famous movie starring Ingrid Bergman. Also a romance
10) The Great Caruso (1951): biopic of Enrico Caruso starring Mario Lanza

Of course plenty of documentaries to go around. I have heavy interest in opera so I've seen the Wagner and Me documentary and more recent ones on Pavarotti and Callas.

I am also on the idea recently that Moonstruck is very much a modern retelling of a classic opera buffa plot even beyond the heavy use of opera music and the Met in the film.


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## Andrew Kenneth

Les Folies Offenbach (1977)
Jacques Offenbach biopic mini-series (6 episodes)

dvd => 









trailer =>


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