# Movies about Composers?



## Duke (Mar 11, 2011)

I am searching for movies about composers. Do you have any suggestions?

So far I have seen: 

"Amadeus" - Saw this movie many years ago and remember that it was pretty good. Mozart was pretty funny.

"Immortal Beloved" - Movie about the life of Beethoven 
Saw this movie last week and the music is really great ; they have choosen Beethovens music and made a pretty good selection. The movie it self is pretty average though and the thing that they actors speak english with austrian accent makes ruins the movie a little bit.


----------



## Pieck (Jan 12, 2011)

Copying Beethoven


----------



## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

What immediately occurred to me are the ones you shouldn't bother with unless you are morbidly curious - Ken Russell's 'Mahler' and 'Lisztomania' immediately spring to mind.

I liked 'Amadeus' and 'Immortal Beloved' despite whatever degree of artistic license was taken in both.

Another Beethoven 'goodie' is the made-for-BBC production 'Eroica' (2003) in which the Ludster (Ian Hart) and his pupil Ries are shown preparing the 3rd symphony for a first performance at the palace of Prince Lobkowitz in Vienna against the backdrop of a lull before the impending Napoleonic storm and featuring some of Beethoven's own character flaws and a reference to his encroaching deafness. Frank Finlay has a cameo role as an aged Haydn and the music is played by musicians of the ORR.

Another good one of recent times is 'Riot at the Rite' which is an often funny film about the preparation of the soon-to-be-infamous 'The Rite of Spring' for performance at Diaghilev's theatre and the prime movers involved. The film is more about the relationship between the camp and inwardly insecure Diaghilev and an occasionally unhinged Nijinsky (who seems determined to suffer for his art) rather than it being a portrayal of Stravinsky himself (although he is included often and the look on his face as the orchestra get something wrong in rehearsal is worth the price of admission alone). 

I think it's high time a big budget film about DSCH was considered - in fact, there was enough drama in his life and his country to warrant a trilogy.


----------



## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

_Impromptu_ is a lurid tale of the relationship between Chopin and George Sand with Hugh Grant cast in the unlikely role of Chopin, though more plausible than Ed Harris as Ludwig in _Copying Beethoven_.

_A Song to Remember_, an older movie about Chopin casts Cornel Wilde in the title role. It is an oddly named movie as there are no songs involved, but it was nominated for several awards.

A very short feature aimed at children or young adults is _Beethoven Lives Upstairs_. I found it quite entertaining, telling almost the entire story of Beethoven in 50 minutes, omitting the more sordid details.

_England, My England_ is a movie allegedly about Henry Purcell. It is more artsy metaphorical than about the composer's life and was not to my taste at the time I watched it. Usually I like weird experimental movies, but this is merely dull.


----------



## Sebastien Melmoth (Apr 14, 2010)

British director *Ken Russell* made a couple of films about composers (probably impossible to find now on DVD):

really very good was his major motion picture about *Tchaikovsky* entitled, _The Music Lovers_
http://www.amazon.com/Music-Lovers-...1-3099827?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1300631933&sr=1-1

I've not see the one on *Mahler* but it appears to be on DVD
http://www.amazon.com/Russells-Mahl...1-3099827?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1300631933&sr=1-5

Plus, Russell made two short films for the BBC (1hr.)--one on *Bax* (Russell played the composer himself); the other on *Bruckner*--which I did see and which was really very good. Too bad it's OOP. It dealt with Bruckner's nervousbreakdown and recovery at a private sanitorium.

Also, someone did a big film on *Wagner*--not bad with Burton:
http://www.amazon.com/Wagner-Comple...4-6739264?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1300632294&sr=1-1


----------



## Sebastien Melmoth (Apr 14, 2010)

Looks like there's a more recent BBC film on Tchaikovsky:
http://www.amazon.com/Wagner-Comple...4-6739264?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1300632294&sr=1-1

Also another one on Chopin
http://www.amazon.com/Chopin-Desire-Love-Jadwiga-Baranska/dp/B00031TXC2/ref=pd_cp_d_3

_Impromptu_'s not bad
http://www.amazon.com/Impromptu-Judy-Davis/dp/B00005UJYA/ref=pd_cp_d_2

Here's another version of Russell's film on Mahler
http://www.amazon.com/Mahler-Region-2-Robert-Powell/dp/B002HG2WCO/ref=pd_sbs_v_3


----------



## toucan (Sep 27, 2010)

Trevor Howard makes a credible Wagner in Luchini Visconti's _Ludwig_, dedicated to Wagner's patron, Ludwig, king of Bavaria.

Jordi Savall became a celebrity after playing the viol in the film *Tous les Matins au Monde*, centered upon the life of Marin Marais.

Werner Herzog devoted a film to Carlo Gesualdo. It is called *Death for Five Voices*.


----------



## Fsharpmajor (Dec 14, 2008)

elgars ghost said:


> I think it's high time a big budget film about DSCH was considered - in fact, there was enough drama in his life and his country to warrant a trilogy.


There is a film about him, _Testimony: The Story of Shostakovich_:

*http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Testimony_(film))*

I haven't seen it myself, but it's available on DVD. I have a CD of the soundtrack.


----------



## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

Shows how much of a film buff I am - that's the first I've heard of it! Thanks for the link.


----------



## Huilunsoittaja (Apr 6, 2010)

Fsharpmajor said:


> There is a film about him, _Testimony: The Story of Shostakovich_:
> 
> *http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Testimony_(film))*
> 
> I haven't seen it myself, but it's available on DVD. I have a CD of the soundtrack.


It's on youtube even, I've seen clips. The actor for Shostakovich looks quite like him.


----------



## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

Though not about a specific composer, the actor playing the main character in Visconti's Death in Venice is basing it on Gustav Mahler.


----------



## SuperTonic (Jun 3, 2010)

There is a recent movie out about Stravinsky's relationship with Coco Chanel. I haven't seen it yet, but it is in my Netflix queue.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1023441/plotsummary


----------



## Meaghan (Jul 31, 2010)

elgars ghost said:


> What immediately occurred to me are the ones you shouldn't bother with unless you are morbidly curious - Ken Russell's 'Mahler' and 'Lisztomania' immediately spring to mind.


I was morbidly curious enough to try Russell's _Mahler_, even though I'd heard only bad things about it, and it is pretty weird.


----------



## Saul_Dzorelashvili (Jan 26, 2010)

I always wanted to see a movie about Mendelssohn...


----------



## mamascarlatti (Sep 23, 2009)

Le Roi Danse about the relationship between Lully and Louis XIV.


----------



## Meaghan (Jul 31, 2010)

mamascarlatti said:


> Le Roi Danse about the relationship between Lully and Louis XIV.


We watched parts of that in my music history class and the professor kept pausing it to tell us how they wouldn't actually have played violins outside, etc.  ("The _vingt-quatre violons du roi_ performed at _indoor_ events; the music of the Great Stable played outside!") I have a feeling I would have been better able to enjoy the film, despite its historical inaccuracies, had I watched it outside of class.


----------



## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

SuperTonic said:


> There is a recent movie out about Stravinsky's relationship with Coco Chanel. I haven't seen it yet, but it is in my Netflix queue.


I only saw a preview clip, but my first impression is, they're being very kind to Stravinsky - I don't think anyone believes he was that good-looking. The BBC's Riot of Spring does a better job of depicting him as he was.


----------



## 52paul (Sep 13, 2009)

*Films about Composers*

I have a page 'Films about Composers' on my 52composers website.
I have split the list into Films by the Brits Ken Russell, Tony Palmer and 'Others'.
I have included feature films and TV documentaries, many of which are available on YouTube.]
I am still working on it and it is incomplete so I would appreciate any suggestions, additions, corrections.

A book on the subject 'Composers in the Movies' has been published by the Yale University Press. It is by a Prof.John C.Tibbetts and has a forward by Simon Callow.


----------



## Sebastien Melmoth (Apr 14, 2010)

I remembered a film about Alma Mahler which featured Mahler and also had at least one interesting scene at Klimt's studio with Zemlinsky and Schönberg present.

_Bride of the Wind_
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00005Q2YS/ref=cm_cr_asin_lnk

Oh, yes--there is a very good film I can recommend, not about a music composer, but about a space composer, which features Beethoven's music.

http://www.amazon.com/Frank-Lloyd-W...8-0121067?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1300762369&sr=1-1


----------



## classidaho (May 5, 2009)

I'm a sucker for old movies anyway, and so I must say I absolutely love 'Song of Norway'......of course, Edward Grieg:tiphat:


----------

