Tchaikovsky
www.tchaikovsky-research.net
Tchaikovsky's Life in Movies: about that old film
re: "It may be of interest to our readers that this first effort that I know of a Tchaikovsky biography in film came out in 1947...I never heard of it but one day many years ago I saw the ending of it and thought it was pretty awful..." [see this Forum posting from May 2010 – ed.]
At last, I found a reference to the film I saw as a young girl in the early 1950s (in Tel-Aviv), the memory of which is still very vivid in my mind.
The image of a very tormented Tchaikovsky wondering about in deserted streets in a very stormy night, to the pounding sound of what surely was the first movement of his 4th symphony – that scene still flashes through my mind every time I hear this movement played. And never will I forget the final scene, on his deathbed (not unlike Violetta), his patron at his bedside, helpless and heartbroken, her image becoming gradually more blurry and out of focus, while tears run uncontrollably down my cheeks...
Edna Shochat
05/01/2013 09:56
This film called "The Song of My Heart" as I recall (and I only saw the end of it in the 1950's) troubled me among other things because it featured Tchaikovsky wearing a small moustache...aside from all the make believe and untruths..but all those movies made in the 1940's showed an utter disregard for the facts of a composer's life and romanticised everything about them...I can recall movies about Schumann, Chopin, Rimsky Korsakov, Brahms, this one on Tchaikovsky which appeared at the time. Others in the pop field about Jerome Kern and George Gershwin all suffered from the same malady of not sticking to the facts....had very little to do with reality..Not too long ago I started to see "A Song to Remember" about Chopin...it had barely started...I saw the beginning and knew right away this was going to be a slop of make believe and turned it off.....if it was at least an interesting make believe but no..people have the right to enjoy what they wish...but I would urge Ms Shochat to maybe read a book or two about the composer to get a better perspective..in order to distinguish between fact and fiction...
Best Wishes,
Albert Gasparo
13/01/2013 17:44
E 'useless ... Music enthusiasts have always great diffidence for biographies of the musicians in the movies ...
The music is impossible to be represented, more than any other art.
Exceptions in the cinema (and there are) prove the rule.
Antonio Garganese
(Prato, Florence)
16/01/2013 17:47
It is not useless..these are not music enthusiasts ...people with a slight knowledge of music may be satisfied with gross misrepresentations...because they dont know any better..it is either a good movie or a bad movie...those of us who have reviewed these movies have a right to be critical..I have seen good representations of composers...some time ago a life of Verdi was shown as a mini series via BBC..it was quite respectful of the composers life and stayed within the realm of truth and reality while at the same time showing the growth of the composer and his social life with veracity...it was satisfying in every way...and the actor representing Verdi also had a good likeness to the composer giving the series a feeling of veracity...not too long ago I saw a movie on the life of George Gershwin...Rhapsody in Blue...I had not seen it since 1946 when the movie purporting to be the life of the composer first came out....at the time because it was new and fresh and I a child I was very pleased with it being an intro into that composers music....but more recently having read several bios on the composer it was simply unacceptable tripe as Mr. Boyd would say...if you want to show the composers or artists life as it was lived in reality this is possible and not such a difficult an undertaking...if you want to indulge your own subjective fantasies as a director then that is misrepresentation..they are not trying to represent the music...music speaks for itself and as Tchaikovsky said to Madame von Meck when she started to idolize him...do not confuse me with my music...however if you want to create a work of fantasy which still respects the facts of a mans life...that is still possible..and it must be done with conviction...but that is not what is happening here..these are not Art works...there are plenty of analysis of this or that composers work if you want to have a more in depth understanding of the music...but as for these movies I have mentioned in my articles they are nothing but schlock...a movie created to titillate the senses of an unknowing public..it is far easier to make a story up than search ones sources...and we live in a society which is not very cultivated in the arts to begin with...back then it was a simpler age and people were satisfied with less...
Albert Gasparo
17/01/2013 06:55
This is the first film about Tchaikovsky:
Es war eine rauschende Ballnacht, 1939, Carl Froelich, Germany
interpreter the famous singer and Swedish actress Zarah Leander:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=N39JiGGhf1k
Of course with Tchaikovsky has little to do, but it is a curiosity.
How to writes well Mr. Gasparo then people was content to little.
Antonio Garganese
18/01/2013 19:52
Madame(s)/Monsieur(s)
if we're having a contest about who can name the WORSE bio/drama about a composer, I would like to suggest "Night And Day." The film purported to be about the life of Cole Porter, starring Cary Grant, Alexis Smith(?).
A surprising member of the cast is Monty Woolley! One of Porter's real life (and also homosexual) friends!
Woolley must have read the script and laughed all the way to the bank. Porter, publicly, said as much.
Porter & Woolley were "cruising" buddies-- if you get my drift.
Hide your sailors! (Hahahahahah!)
Then, of course, we have the lovely "De-Lovely" with Kevin Kline and Ashley Judd, (another Porter Bio-drama).
Threw-up your hands!
Have no fear, however, (with all modesty) I'm going to write the definitive Tchaikovsky movie! I have a plan and I know it will work.
I realize in a previous email I said a QUALITY bio/drama of T., could only be produced on stage.
I was wrong.
However-- back to the present topic. Can anyone top the movie, 'Night and Day" for pure Bulls**t?
Although Mr. Gasparo has done his best to name them all.
Regards to all,
George Boyd
Montreal
19/01/2013 14:57P.S.: Please do not ask me why films fail composers. Films seem to have a lot more success with novelists, playwrights and the like. But consider this: SCREENWRITERS are in the same sorority/fraternity as novelists and playwrights.. Much more empathy and care is utilized when writing about a member. And I suppose, I know, screen/playwrights are intimidated by composers for reasons I can't fathom. (One being most can't even read music). But composers? The intimidation is there. Same goes for painters. Filmakers never get them right either.
Thanks to Mr. Garganese suggestion I was able to see the German film which came out in 1939..."Es war eine rauschende Ballnacht"...which was supposed to be about Tchaikovsky's life....it is about one hour and twenty minutes long..shown in ten minute segments....well in truth this had little to do with the composers life...if you don't understand German there are no sub titles to help you...so all you get is the gist of the action....in this one there appears to be two love interests....a blonde whom he marries but leaves her on the marriage night to get drunk with some friends...etc..the other is a brunette which appears again at the last scene...throughout there are bits and pieces of Tchaikovsky's music..tho some of the music sung is not his...the attractive blonde he marries is portrayed as being a ballet dancer very normal in appearance...the last scene is somewhat affecting...here as happened the composer is conducting the Adagio Lamentoso from the Pathetique...before he can complete it he gets faint and must retire to an adjoining room...there he dies...as the brunette sheds tears along side of him..and so he dies with the Adagio playing in the background...that was most fitting....other than that this had nothing to do with the composers life...non of the other characters were real...it was a total construct about a man called Tchaikovsky....and some of his music...the person playing the composer sports a mustache at first...is presented as being firm and with a hard edge...it was well acted and directed but that was all...maybe there are restraints about making a movie about a real person...you might have to deal with their heirs...and so here again you had a movie about much ado about nothing...even less here than in the others we had mentioned...
Albert Gasparo
22/01/2013 00:54
Okay Mr. Gasparo!
You win the contest! (Hahahahahahah!)
Just the storyline of that movie: "Es war eine rauschende Ballnacht" makes the pulse grow very weak.
Feel sorry for you-- having to sit through it. Must have been an hour and a half of torture!
Regards,
George Boyd
25/01/2013 13:26
But not as bad as.. the reward for the worse movie Ive ever seen goes to the Tchaikovsky effort from the Soviet Union directed by Talankin...that to me was the low end of cinematography...came out in 1970...never thought I could ever say about anything..."This is the worse movie ever."
from "boring" to "boringest"...poor in acting, directing, story line and photography...very amateurish...no redeeming grace..
Albert Gasparo
27/01/2013 10:19
Since it here and elsewhere, there has been talk of the Russian film directed by Talankin, some readers of the Forum might be curious to see it.
This is the link to the official channel of Mosfilm:
http://www.youtube.com/movie?v=dyp4p9dfHbg&feature=mv_sr
(Part I)
http://www.youtube.com/movie?v=DtCtiBPl1Ws&feature=mv_sr
(Part Two)
The film is in original with English subtitles: just select the option on the bottom right. The film also has a dubbing in English and French.
A DVD edition with these dubbing (plus the original language) and subtitles in various languages can be found from "Amazon" (check DVD Regions).
I just mention, without going into critical analysis, because any criticism is vitiated by personal taste.
However, the enthusiast needs to know to be able to talk and discuss. For this reason I pointed out the link of the German film (a rarity) and now I write again.
The film Talankin, however, has had two Academy Award nominations and not just (although the prizes are relative value):
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0065127/awards
Innokenty Smoktunovsky (who plays Tchaikovsky, in the film directed by Talankin) was a great Russian actor:
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0810550/bio
http://www.russia-ic.com/people/general/s/171
What do be expected from German film of 1939?
"Es war eine rauschende Ballnacht" of course, was a great success.
Was consistent with the "melodrama" in cinema, a taste for Greta Garbo, Marlene Dietrich and Hollywood with a star as Zarah Leander.
The director, Carl Froelich, is one of the fathers of cinematography.
Unfortunately it was also a convinced National Socialist and widely at the top in the German cinema of the time.
As noted by Mr. Albert Gasparo, the film has technical values (direction, acting) as well as a very good photograph, which is not fully appreciated in the clip on Youtube.
At the beginning of the film a warning says exactly:
"This film is due to the immortal music of Tchaikovsky. The themes of the movie have been freely developed in close connection with real data."
This can today be cause for discussion, but you could not expect in 1939, wish there were inserted details as in Ken Russell's film ...
Moreover, in the film directed by Forelich, alludes to the relationship between Tchaikovsky and Madame von Meck, some characteristics of the musician can be found, although all of this to the present day is not enough.
The biographical narratives of musicians, detailed (falsely detailed), have created works highly questionable as in the long Italian television film (1982) about the life of Giuseppe Verdi (9 episodes of 70 minutes each):
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0087621/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
see youtube (only 7 clips):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCfS7iMt8gY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KAlXxWAQOhU
etc. I have no information of Russian films (Soviet) before the film directed by Talankin of 1969-70. This is quite strange because the Soviet film, has created many biographical films around the artists.
However, I found a passage which says that the Russians have made to circulate many classic German UFA after April 1945, so the movie made by Froelich was very popular in Russia.
There are also two other biopics around Tchaikovsky.
For one of these, I only know the title and the director (news from Wikipedia in Russian):
"Tchaikovsky" by Philip Degtyarev (after 2004???).
And then this one:
Апокриф: музыка для Петра и Павла
APOCRYPHA: MUSIC FOR PETER AND PAUL
Directed by: Adel Al-Haddad
Year: 2004
Country: Russia
Production: Federal Agency for Culture and Cinematography
Duration: 140 min.
Format: col., 35mm, Dolby Digital
View: game
Genre: Biopic
Premiere: 23/02/2006 - Issue screen
Screenwriter Yuri Arabs
Operator Andrew Shepelev
Production Designer Anatoly Kochurov
Costume Eugene Chervonskaya
Composer RybnikovFESTIVALS AND AWARDS
2005 KF "Amur Fall" in Blagoveshchensk Award for his directorial debut (Adel Al-Hadad)
2005 KF "Window to Europe" in Vyborg Prize "Silver Boat" screenwriter of feature films in competition (Yuri Arabs)
Andrew Savostyanov is Tchaikovsky.The story imagines a journey of the musician at age 38 by her sister on the occasion of the premiere of a new composition.
This is the link in Russian, from which I drew the above data. There are also long excerpts from reviews that can give you an idea of of the work.
http://www.russiancinema.ru/films/film13695/
From what we read, even for this film are many doubts on adaptation.
But for an artist in general (and his art course) particularly for Tchaikovsky, the transposition of his life is really hard. The director will refer to many things and only an educated public (I mean informed, already introduced) will understand or can imagine. In the films of Russell and Talankin this happens: for this reason they generate many reservations, paradoxically above all by those who know the subject concerned.
While film "quiet" as the German or the other American directed by Glazer (1948) were fun at the time, even though they were misleading and today they are just a curiosity to know if anything.
The difference between the fictionalized film of 1939 and 1948 and the others mentioned here, lies in being-Russell, Talankin, etc-"paraphrases" artistic (also not good), but not documentary or didascalic reconstructions such as the Italian, around Verdi (1982).
Please excuse my English.
I appreciate the passion of the editors and participants in this forum.
P.S. Another curiosity: here's what realized, in 1913, the director Carl Froelich (the same director of the film "Es war eine rauschende Ballnacht")
around Wagner:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_9PzkzsQxc
The film was made for the centenary of the birth of Wagner.
Was the first movie made by Froelich as a director.
Antonio Garganese
(Prato, Florence)
29/01/2013 20:30
Antonio (Garganese):
What would we ever do without you?
Merci, Monsieur!
I, too, appreciate the passion and sense of excitement one gets/sends/receives from this "Forum."
I used quotations because I hope they editors do not get miffed by the fact that certain topics we discuss, more or less turn our "forums," into a "chat room."
Again, congrats, Antonio.
I think we can all name the top 5 BAD Tchaikovsky biopics. I personally would rank the Russell in there, and definitely the Talankin. Academy Award nominations you say? (The Academy must be smoking "funny" cigarettes! Hahahahahah! ) I turn, for a moment, to the documentary form.
Again they do our man no justice. There was one I saw from the BBC which seemed to be accurate and honest, (the name fails me now). It went about asking Russian muscians and singers why they loved Tchaikovsky. I found it somewhat insightful to tell you the truth, so I researched the doc.
One interviewer asked the host of the documentary how HE thought T died. And his off-the-cuff reply was simple and rude. Something to effect that Tchaikovsky had probably performed a sexual favor with his tongue to the posterior of some little, infected (cholera) boy.
I am not kidding! (Hope you're not eating as you read this! Hahahahah!)
This totally turned me off from the host/conductor of the documentary. And if that famed conductor ever comes to Montreal to conduct the MSO I shall boycott. Do they say such things, (especially to the media, for the world to see/read) about heterosexuals who've died of cholera?, (with proper substitutions of course).
As you must know, privately T., was very comfortable with his sexuality, (especially after his marriage debacle). Publicly, the stigma, the family persecution, not to mention a divorce from friends such as von Meck(?) pierced his endurance and would have been insufferable.
As for this esteemed, host/conductor to come out, (pardon the pun! Hahahahahah) and utter such ignorant, prejudiced, barroom-blather is totally inexcusable, not to mention unfathomable.
So what are we to make of the documentary unnamed?
Made by bigot. The same person, (white), who only plays and appreciates Motown records, yet detests, (to put it mildly), the very ground President Obama treads upon.
I threw my copy of the DVD away.
Best to you all,
George Boyd
Montreal
31/01/2013 18:11P.S.: I mentioned this doc somewhere else (by name) in these pages, but don't have the time to look it up right now.
Dear George (Boyd),
it is difficult resist your interventions!
Far be it from me to want monopolizing this discussion between us. But there are more debates in the forum with many interventions, so I hope that my extra replication is allowed. Not only to make clear that in the substance (or good part) agree with you, but to give other data for the benefit of users. Are those that I have collected over time and as early as Forum, you and Mr. Albert Gasparo (and still others) have in part mentioned. Perhaps we can now summarize them here.
Here then-after movies that we have mentioned-a list of documentaries about Tchaikovsky, almost complete.
- Pride of Prejudice, 1993, UK (a realization radio BBC Radio 3 on disputes relating to the death of Tchaikovsky);
- Who Killed Tchaikovsky?, 1993, UK (a documentary by Anthony Holden, for the television series "Omnibus" of BBC 1, with the same topics);
5 clips on Youtube.
The first:
- Tchaikovsky ("Great Composers"), 1997, UK (BBC in association with RAI Thematic Channels) by Simon Broughton, (documentary of a British television series dedicated to the greatest musicians). Are mixed music and biographical events, by filming in Russia, interviews with musicians and performers as well as experts, joined by a narrative and by the "voice" of the composer, Sir Ian McKellen:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tEW1T5foR1g
- L'homme de verre, 2000, Raymond Saint-Jean.
- La 'Pathétique' de Tchaikovsky - Tschaikowskys 'Pathétique' , 2006, France, a documentary written and produced by Iossif Pasternak, a co-production 13 Production / ARTE France. The latest symphony of musician analyzed in all its aspects musical, expressive and aesthetic inside and outside Tchaikovsky: is underlined modernity the composition reached by the author, with links from Wagner to Schoenberg. Very vintage movies and interviews with specialists. Narrated in Russian, partial subtitles in French. Youtube posted on the official website of "Novosibirsk Philharmonic" (channel: Live Novosibirsk Philharmonic).
- Tchaikovsky: The Creation of Greatness and Fortune and Tragedy, 2007, UK (a "docu-drama" in two parts over the life of the musician, the BBC series The Tchaikovsky Experience. Directed by Matthew Whiteman is commented by the conductor and composer Charles Hazlewood.
In the "fiction" the musician is played by Ed Stoppard, not physically so similar with that of Smoktunovskij in the film by Talankin, but effective.
The reconstruction is credible in its didactic limit, with certain loans to the film by Ken Russell. Interventions made by conductor Hazlewood, verbal and musical. The part documentary was filmed in Russia, in real places, including Klin. The production-subject to copyright-you can easily find on the Internet (keywords: discovering Tchaikovsky).
Above Youtube the 7 parts of the first and second part (14 clips).
The first of part I (The Creation of Greatness):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yA5enI0J82I
The first of Part II (Fortune and Tragedy):
- Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. Two films. Part One: Tchaikovsky's Women Part Two: Fate, 2009, UK Christopher Nupen. With the Russian conductor Vladimir Davidovich Ashkenazi at the head of the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra. The first part investigates the relationship life-art about women that regularly punctuate its production (Francesca, Tatiana, Odette ...).
The second part continues more directly about the report with the Baroness von Meck, and the presence of the "Fate" perpetual torment of the composer. The films were broadcast by the BBC with critical acclaim and they utilize a technique of representation with actors "not reciters," but they accompanied by the words of musician himself or his friends, and-of course-music. The director is a well-known author of the TV documentary genre of music.
About the "revelations" made by Tom, Dick and Harry (Pierre ou Paul Jacques - Fulano, Zutano, y Mengano Perengano - Hinz und Kunz - Ivanov, Petrov, Sidorov or Titius, Gaius et Sempronius) on details of the life intimate of Tchaikovsky (things for which I was aware), suggested by specialized bibliography and precisely by the media, we must actually say that is reached, not the paradoxical, but perhaps even more emptiness (the useless).
However, I am always of the opinion that a student (but also a fervent fan) must collect all the data, information and judgments, and then reprocess everything in a synthesis, in order to to find the "true".
In this perspective, the films made by Froelich, Glazer, Talankin, Russell, Al-Haddad and the documentaries above, they are useful.
A cordial greeting (and excuses to my english)!
P.S. - Even Wal Disney has made a documentary about Tchaikovsky!
Walt Disney in 1959 for the launch of its animated film Sleeping Beauty (The Sleeping Beauty), whose soundtrack is based on an arrangement capable of George Bruns of the music of the ballet, he made-in the television series Disneyland - a short film: "The Peter Tchaikovsky Story". This brief film was designed by the Disney staff, under the direction headed by Charles Barton and was introduced by Walt himself on the screen, with promotional intentions for what was ll'ultima creation of Disney Studios. The biographical episodes mentioned are completely correct, but folded and synthesized for the occasion, with obvious infidelity but not without success. It was included in the "Special Features" 2008 edition DVD of the cartoon (and later the "Blu-Ray").
Antonio Garganese
(Prato, Florence)
01/02/2013 22:25
A new addition to the discussion.
I am looking wanting to satisfy my curiosity and perhaps of other, something more around film, quoted below:
Апокриф: музыка для Петра и Павла
APOCRYPHA: MUSIC FOR PETER AND PAULDirected by: Adel Al-Haddad
Year: 2004
In Youtube I found two short pieces of the film.
Are in original language and obviously too short in order to judge, but they can give you an idea of how it was done and the film's style.
No intention documentary, nothing fictionalized biography in the style Froelich, Glazer, and not even a middle way as in the films made by Talankin and Russell.
Very grotesque, very paradoxical ... it would seem.
In the first piece, Tchaikovsky (Andrew Savostyanov) discusses with a Mozart (Alex Maklakov):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-OUD9ZskO8
In the second, the servant "Peter" (played by Alexander Oleshko), speaks with a Tchaikovsky, in a carriage, while the musician is sitting at the bottom, drowned out by the luggage ...:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQUYAo-_c9U
Little, of course, but perhaps Mr. Gasparo and especially Mr. Boyd, they will say something.
I asked for more clips by Russian friends and who knows you are unable to see more tracks.
Around documentaries that I mentioned in my last post, I want to add that on Youtube, there are two the most comfortable clip of the first and second part of the documentary
Tchaikovsky: The Creation of Greatness and Fortune and Tragedy, 2007
instead of many clips (14 clips):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_rcidGsRbDs
(first part, 57 minutes)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13wfDXnnzQM
(second part of 59 minutes)
In English with English subtitles.
The documentary:
Who Killed Tchaikovsky?, 1993, UK
is also placed it on Youtube in only part (49 minutes), instead of 5 clips:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJK42il__UU
This, too, in English with English subtitles.
I also found on Youtube the documentary made by Christopher Nupen:
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. Two films. Part One: Tchaikovsky's Women Part Two: Fate, 2009, UK
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ECZxehQOOhQ
(Part 1; 1 hour and 11 minutes)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8qZzeNF5Fg
(Part 2; 1 hour and 26 minutes)
This latest documentary is in English, but the commercial DVD is subtitled in German, Spanish, French, Italian, Japanese.
I point to (in addition to what I wrote in my last post) this documentary, more musical:
Tchaikovsky Uncovered (DVD) (120 minuti, English)
In this programme Charles Hazlewood explores both versions of the score, allowing us to follow the final transformation of Tchaikovsky from aspiring composer into fully fledged classical master. Comparison of these two scores gives a unique insight into his compositional process - how he developed themes and ideas; how he painstakingly revised his music; which ideas he rejected and which he chose to keep. But the central thrust of the programme is Charles unpacking of the final version of Romeo and Juliet which guides us through both its detail and its architecture, and explores how the composer transformed descriptive 'programme music' within textbook 'classical form' ((from the website "BBC shop").
A step into Youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KjznEkrFryk
The clip on Youtube, however, are always subject to removal.
Amazon (search into USA, Europe) has many of these films / documentaries, for those who want the original dvd.
I think this is the last post of this discussion for four voices.
So, if I may (even against my habits), I want to add to the opinions and comments of friends (Mrs. Edna Shochat, Mr. Albert Gasparo and Mr. George Boyd) my thoughts: I judge the movie made by Ken Russell, a masterpiece (with "Amadeus" made by Miloš Forman), while the documentary made by Christopher Nupen among all realized, the better.
But, of course, "De gustibus non est disputandum".
And then the music is above all.
Sincerely (and apologies for my mistakes with the English language and typing),
Antonio Garganese
(Prato-Florence)
08/02/2013 14:12
Thanks to Mr. Garganese exhaustive research we may once again review in some manner the question of bios in film...I did see once again Talankin's Tchaikovsky of 1970....Mr Garganese points out to the awards this film has garnered two nominations for the Academy Award for foreign film but did not win the awards...it won a lesser award from the San Sebastian International Film Festival...as best actor for the Tchaikovsky role played by Smoktunovskiy...1970...then Mr Garganese says that he will not go "into critical analysis,because any criticism is vitiated by personal taste."....well then is any movie or production going to be free of criticism for that reason....I dont think so....in viewing the film for the second time I must admit that it does for the most part adhere to the actual facts of the composers life...which is more than I can say for the Russell endeavor.."The Music Lovers"...then Mr. Garganese gives us the reviews of the lead actors life and career..which points out that it was an illustrious one...the lead actor does bear a striking resemblance to Tchaikovsky and being a handsome man on his own right...no one is questioning his capacity as an actor...its just that the script that he followed was not of the best...and so I will modify my review...the film had a measure of truth in showing his initial infatuation with the opera singer Desiree Artot and her running off with another...how the composer first became aware of Antonina and how she embarrased him at a party they gave in his honor ...how he then walked into the Moscow River hoping to catch cold etc...how Madame von Meck first became interested in him...here they fudged a bit bringing in Pachulski early on when in fact he was hired by von Meck much later and asked if Pachulski could have his compositions reviewed by Tchaikovsky..the composer merely became irritated by this no talent person in real life...it was Nikolai Rubinstein in fact who brought to von Mecks attention Tchaikovsky's pecuniary issues hoping she could help and she did...they completely left out as far as I can see Modest the composers favorite brother and a person he was very close to...replacing him with a much older Alyosha his servant and giving this character an importance he did not have in real life..other than the composers fondness for him..totally ignored was the composer's homosexuality, anathema to the Soviet regime....the photography wasn't bad...but as I pointed out the film simply did not hold my interest...nor did I ever hear of it at the time it was released....I will continue with my review of Mr Garganese praiseworthy efforts to bring to our attention some of the lead actors in the movie industry who invested their time in exploring the more famous composers...Mr Garganese ends his presentation with a complete version of a movie made about Wagner for his 100 anniversary,,,,1913..by the same German director that was to give us in 1939 a movie somewhat based on the life of Tchaikovsky that we have already discussed...I look forward to reviewing the Wagner movie...once I've seen it..
It would be interesting to get someone else's veiwpoints on Talankin's Tchaikovsky...my question is this..is anyones life really that interesting on a day by day basis?...i dont think so..for a creator its his inner unseen life that is of interest..but how are we going to get into that?..that could be another reason why so many of these bios fail...,most peoples lives simply arent that interesting in retelling...unless you have someone like Van Gogh who had one crises after the other making his life very melodramatic and giving him an edge in presenting his biography...and "Lust for Life was a great film and the most important about an artist that I'm aware of...but that is personal and subjective...Tchaikovsky after the Antonina affair lived a life of a country gentleman to whom nothing of a dramatic nature occurred...except perhaps for his death which was quick and untimely...he lived comfortably and all his needs were taken care of...he was not in need or hard pressed in any manner..so how can we make a drama out of this?...let a good script writer figure that one out...
Many Thanks,
Albert Gasparo
25/02/2013 00:14
Tchaikovsky puppet
I couldn’t find the full version
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQ2KdShvQH4
Mr Purves talking about his film
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jjJnErPDZs
Julia Curl
27/02/2013 08:25
dOc DVD Review: Tchaikovsky (1969)
We have already covered this subject in some depth on previous occasions as in the above subject title...here in a rather in depth review we get a good accounting of the Talankin's Tchaikovsky movie biography put out in 1969...there may be some who will be interested in this movie critics assessment of the film..I also entertain the views of the author with some reservations...its simply a bad movie with few redemptive qualities...
Albert Gasparo
05/09/2013 01:43
http://forum.tchaikovsky-research.net
Please note that we are not responsible for the content of external web-sites