# What is your favourite/s film/s about a composer/musician?



## JSBach85 (Feb 18, 2017)

Yesterday I saw Amadeus (1984) for the second time, a film depicting the life and works of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart as well as Salieri. Have you ever seen other films depicting the life/works of other composers?


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## Strange Magic (Sep 14, 2015)

Ken Russell's 1975 totally over-the-top _Lisztomania_ is a must-see. Like _Amadeus_, it is a very irreverent cartoon, and is to be approached as such, so as not to get all bent out of shape at the lack of awed worship of the composers depicted. Some of the oddest bits in Lisztomania are strangely accurate--the backsides on the walls of Princess Caroline's entryway, releasing their colored gas into the room, depict metaphorically the cigar-smoking Caroline's loathing of fresh air and her having her guests de-freshen themselves before they enter her presence. A wild, nutty, funny, weird film!


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## Tchaikov6 (Mar 30, 2016)

I tried watching the movie made on Mahler- now that is one of the strangest, most bizarre movies I have ever seen (or tried to watch).


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## Meyerbeer Smith (Mar 25, 2016)

The nine hour Wagner series starring Richard Burton is pretty good.


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

The two I like most are http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0066109/ fictional about Tchaikovsky.
and http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0226224/
Hugh Grant playing Chopin.


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## Gordontrek (Jun 22, 2012)

I have to go with Amadeus. Obviously not historically accurate but a darn good movie.


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## David Phillips (Jun 26, 2017)

Ken Russell's early TV films on Debussy, Elgar and Delius are nice.


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## Pat Fairlea (Dec 9, 2015)

OK, he's not CM, but the movie 'Ray', a biopic of Ray Charles, was memorably good.


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## The Great Duck (Aug 25, 2017)

JSBach85 said:


> Yesterday I saw Amadeus (1984) for the second time, a film depicting the life and works of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart as well as Salieri. Have you ever seen other films depicting the life/works of other composers?


I found the film to be a bit boring and disappointing when I saw it. However, F. Murray Abraham was great in it. 
This and Immortal Beloved (on Beethoven) remain the only two films about composers I've seen so far.


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## norman bates (Aug 18, 2010)

my favorite si probably Song of summer about the last years of Delius, another Ken Russell work. The movie is very well done and accurate for what I've read, and the actor who does Delius is simply perfect in the role.


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## Marinera (May 13, 2016)

I watched Amadeus several times and I liked it when I saw it. That was over a decade ago, I haven't watched any other biographic movies related to music. There is one film that I liked in particular 'The Legend of 1900'. It's fictional story about pianist 1900 who was born and grew on the transatlantic ship in the beginning of the 20th century. Tim Roth played the pianist.


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## Tallisman (May 7, 2017)

Shine (1996) is a pretty good movie. I really want to see the Richard Burton Wagner series, though.


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## Granate (Jun 25, 2016)

1984s Amadeus is the standard biopic for any classical musician out there. Marriner refused to play the score if the editors didn't fit the scenes to complete movements of Mozart's music. That's some pretty serious filmmaking.

In my opinion it's difficult to interpret in the cinema the life of great musicians like Beethoven (his biopic was a failure) without seeming yet another snobbish story about Coco Chanel or another 19th or 20th Century celebrity.

A Wagner film would be thrilling but I wouldn't watch it because his story is of a guy that got away with everything. Verdi has no more drama (even self-indulgent) than the Nabucco composition because everything else could be interesting but also a boring path of red roses and national glory. I'm afraid that independent baroque films are not on trend, so either an HIP or Romantic biopic of J.S. Bach's life is far away from taking place.

Where I do see some nice material for a biopic is in some musicians like Maria Callas, Wilhelm Furtwängler (1st film had poor reviews) and Arturo Toscanini, not Herbert von Karajan. For composers, I would turn to Anton Bruckner, Tchaikovsky, and Shostakovich. Beethoven and Mahler could have better biopics in the future.

_To be clear, I'm not talking here like a Classical Music lover, but a pedestrian film watcher that could pass out from Classical Music and just be curious for the film, and if the filmmaking and acting isn't good there is no great composer that can save this._


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## TxllxT (Mar 2, 2011)

Farewell to St. Petersburg about Johann Strauss






Svatoslav Richter acting as Ferenc Liszt






Rimsky Korsakov






Mussorgsky

With 'settings' you can get instant translation in all languages...


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

Marinera said:


> I watched Amadeus several times and I liked it when I saw it. That was over a decade ago, I haven't watched any other biographic movies related to music. There is one film that I liked in particular 'The Legend of 1900'. It's fictional story about pianist 1900 who was born and grew on the transatlantic ship in the beginning of the 20th century. Tim Roth played the pianist.


I heard on a reliable source of fake news website that it was really Mozart portraying himself. They figured since he was such a messed up business person, they could get him much cheaper than a Hollywood actor.


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