# Movies about classical music



## Raphaël-A. (Feb 20, 2008)

I don't know how else to call them but I'm talking about movies such as Amadeus, The Music Lovers, Copying Beethoven, Tous les matins du monde (All the World's Mornings) or Le maître de musique (The Music Teacher). Basically, any movie with a main focus on classical music.

Are there any other fans of these kinds of films around here?


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## GothicBard (Jan 8, 2008)

I haven't seen many, so I can't quite consider myself a fan yet, but there is one French film about a chorus director at an all boys' school back in the mid-1800s, I believe. The headmaster is corrupt and takes credit for the instructor's successes himself, and ends up firing the instructor after a fire at the school (the reason was unrelated to the fire).

I wish I could remember what it was called, but I don't do well with remembering things like that. I really enjoyed it, though.


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## EricIsAPolarBear (Aug 18, 2007)

A pretty good film that I can recommend is called Shine, about a virtuosic Australian pianist whose conflicting relationship with his father drives him past the brink.


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## BuddhaBandit (Dec 31, 2007)

GothicBard said:


> I haven't seen many, so I can't quite consider myself a fan yet, but there is one French film about a chorus director at an all boys' school back in the mid-1800s, I believe. The headmaster is corrupt and takes credit for the instructor's successes himself, and ends up firing the instructor after a fire at the school (the reason was unrelated to the fire).
> 
> I wish I could remember what it was called, but I don't do well with remembering things like that. I really enjoyed it, though.


It's Les Choristes (English- "The Chorus"), directed by Christophe Barratier. Really fine film.


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## trojan-rabbit (Nov 27, 2007)

SHINE!

hehe, good ol' Rachmaninoff


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## shsherm (Jan 24, 2008)

There are a large number of movies not only about music but also about musicians. Older movies include "The Great Caruso" with Mario Lanza. I have many recent films to mention including "Impromptu" about Chopin, "Chopin-Desire For Love" a Czech film, "The Pianist' which won the Academy Award for Adrien Brody, "Immortal Beloved" about Beethoven, "Spring Symphony" about Robert Schumann and Clara Wieck, and "Taking Sides" with Harvey Keitel as an American military officer investigating Wilhelm Furtwangler played by Stellan Skaregaard and trying to implicate him as a Nazi in post-war Germany.


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## opus67 (Jan 30, 2007)

_The Pianist_ is a wonderful film, although it's main theme is the Holocaust. I recently saw _Impromptu_, which is about "M.George Sand" and her affair with Chopin.


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## Morigan (Oct 16, 2006)

About Lully, Molière and the Sun King: _Le Roi danse_. A fabulous and fairly recent French film.

Oh, and there's always _Farinelli_


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## Raphaël-A. (Feb 20, 2008)

Brilliant! now I'll have to get my hands on all of those films haha.


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## 3rdplanetsounds (Nov 23, 2006)

Ken Russel made a film about Mahler featuring Robert Powell who really looked like him.It is a mixture of fantasy involving his music to imagary and gritty realism looking back to his life.A very interesting film.Also he made a TV film about Brucker,potraying a stay in a hospital to try and cure his OCD ,apparently he was obsessed with counting numbers.All in all,good films.


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## SalieriIsInnocent (Feb 28, 2008)

Immortal Beloved -Is about the love letters that beethoven(Gary Oldman) sent to his love that nobody clearly knows who. It is an excellent film if you exclude the intro


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## YsayeOp.27#6 (Dec 7, 2007)

Testimony features Ben Kingsley in the role of Dmitri Shostakovich.

The BBC recently produced two docu-movies about Mozart and Beethoven: "The genius of ...".


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## Morigan (Oct 16, 2006)

YsayeOp.27#6 said:


> The BBC recently produced two docu-movies about Mozart and Beethoven: "The genius of ...".


And these were very enjoyable. I remember they made one about Tchaïkovsky too.


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## Rondo (Jul 11, 2007)

Salieri=Innocent said:


> Immortal Beloved -Is about the love letters that beethoven(Gary Oldman) sent to his love that nobody clearly knows who. It is an excellent film if you exclude the intro


Enter my avatar.


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## Chi_townPhilly (Apr 21, 2007)

I'll show a little more of my age here, and bring up three old UHF experiences-

One is *Song of Norway*... topic (you guessed it): Grieg.

The second is *Song of Scheherazade*... same formula, different composer (Rimsky-Korsakov).

The third is *Rhapsody in Blue*... a pseudo-biopic of George Gershwin- fictionalized to the point of distortion.

An internet search of these old pics showed that they were all mid-to-late 1940s.

Off-topic- My "google-enhanced" search in Rimsky-Korsakov revealed a sponsored advertisement for an alcoholism treatment. Did they think I meant to look up Mussorgsky?!


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## miller64917 (Mar 22, 2008)

I'll definitely check out a few of these movies 

________________________


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## Cyclops (Mar 24, 2008)

> Tous les matins du monde (All the World's Mornings)[\quote]
> Is that the one about Corelli or a baroque composer fromm that time?


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## Isola (Mar 26, 2008)

More to add:

*The Red Violin
The Legend of 1900
August Rush*

All brilliant.


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## Methodistgirl (Apr 3, 2008)

Ever heard of Electric dreams? There is a piece in it written by Bach.
A Motown group the Toys did it as Lovers Concerto.
judy tooley


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## missmaestro (Mar 13, 2008)

Classical Music Movies!

*Amadeus*

*Copying Beethoven*

*Mr. Holland's Opus*

Watch them theyre good


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## matsoljare (Jul 28, 2008)

Don't miss The Red Violin... absolutely amazing direction, beautifully filmed, and great all original score by John Corigliano. It really makes the passion that musicians feel for music, and their instruments, come alive.


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## Elaryad (Jul 29, 2008)

Cyclops said:


> > Tous les matins du monde (All the World's Mornings)[\quote]
> > Is that the one about Corelli or a baroque composer fromm that time?
> 
> 
> ...


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## Ciel_Rouge (May 16, 2008)

I would add Lisztomania - another one by Ken Russel:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0073298/


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## marinermark (Aug 23, 2008)

"I've Always Loved You" from the fifties; about a budding pianist. Rachmaninov's 2nd Piano Concerto is the centerpiece. There's a new movie coming out "The Soloist." From the previews it appears to be about a down-and-out cellist.


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## Isola (Mar 26, 2008)

*Thirty Two Short Films About Glenn Gould*, directed by François Girard who also directed *The Red Violin*. Well, this 32 Gould variations of docu-drama seems to be a wonderful concept, but, after I'd seen quite a few documentaries on DVD about Gould, I just can't see some guy pretending to be Gould without feeling goose-bumpily in a bad way. Because Glenn Gould is _unique_, and we know through many documentaries how he looked, played, talked and moved. Even watching Hugh Grant's British version of Chopin I don't feel so terrible, no one knows how Chopin really looked anyway. If the film was made earlier with Gould playing Gould, that'd be good.


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## Ciel_Rouge (May 16, 2008)

Isola said:


> Even watching Hugh Grant's British version of Chopin I don't feel so terrible, no one knows how Chopin really looked anyway.


But we DO know THAT:

http://www.geocities.com/Vienna/Choir/5479/chopin2.jpg

The photo was taken by Bisson around 1849. Photography was present in the 19th century, many other famous public figures were photographed at the time, also including writers etc.


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## Christi (Nov 21, 2008)

Mr . Holland's Opus


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## Lang (Sep 30, 2008)

3rdplanetsounds said:


> Ken Russel made a film about Mahler featuring Robert Powell who really looked like him.It is a mixture of fantasy involving his music to imagary and gritty realism looking back to his life.A very interesting film.Also he made a TV film about Brucker,potraying a stay in a hospital to try and cure his OCD ,apparently he was obsessed with counting numbers.All in all,good films.


Yes, and of course, there were the wonderful Elgar and Delius films.


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## Lang (Sep 30, 2008)

Salieri=Innocent said:


> Immortal Beloved -Is about the love letters that beethoven(Gary Oldman) sent to his love that nobody clearly knows who. It is an excellent film if you exclude the intro


The intro, as I recall it, sets up a premise which is played out in the film, and explains Beethoven's most tempestuous relationship. Given that the premise is probably not true, it is at very least plausible. I watching it being prepared to scoff, and finished up enjoying it very much.


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## Lang (Sep 30, 2008)

There is also a film called 'Passion' about the weird life of Percy Grainger.


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