Beethoven (1927)

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Movie
Original title Beethoven
Country of production Austria
original language German
Publishing year 1927
length 70 minutes
Rod
Director Hans Otto Löwenstein
script Emil Kolberg
production Allianz film, Vienna
music Max Hellmann
Richard Siedhoff (2019/20)
camera Viktor Gluck
occupation

Beethoven , also known under the German secondary title Das Leben des Beethoven , is an Austrian silent film biography from 1927. Hans Otto Löwenstein directed it under the pseudonym Hans Otto .

action

The film traces the individual stages in the life of Ludwig van Beethoven : From his childhood in Bonn , where old Joseph Haydn overheard him playing the organ, to his greatest triumphs as a composer, to the last and most dramatic phase of his life, when he was deaf deprived of its creativity. Beethoven's private moments, such as his disappointing love for a student, Countess Giulietta Guicciardi , are not left out either.

Production notes

The film was shot in the Listo film studios in Vienna-Schönbrunn from the summer of 1926. He had five files about 2200 meters long. Beethoven was first shown in January 1927 and saw its mass start on February 18, 1927. In Germany it ran immediately afterwards and was sometimes shown there under the title The Great Lonely .

The reason for this Beethoven film was the upcoming 100th anniversary of the death of the exceptional composer (March 26, 1827).

For Fritz Kortner this was already the second film appearance as Beethoven. He had the composer in co-Austrian production in late 1917 of his heart, the martyr of Emil Justitz played.

Ernst Richter designed the film structures.

The Austrian film commission of the Central Institute for Education unanimously declared the film to be “popular”.

Reviews

The Beethoven film was discussed intensively in the Viennese newspapers in January 1927:

The "Neue Wiener Tageblatt" wrote: "The new film drama" Ludwig van Beethoven "shows how well such personalities can be portrayed through the liveliness of the film. (…) In Fritz Kortner, a very big actor has been won over for the Tonheros. The artist stays away from kitsch and tastelessness and knows how to wonderfully embody the ingenious nature of the mighty. "

In "Der Morgen" it says: “This film, which is particularly topical on the occasion of the upcoming Beethoven central celebration, is a standard work of Austrian production. Refined in the cinematic design of historical events, he portrays the rise and tragic end of a great genius in brief, sharply seen images. His author steered past the cliffs of kitsch with a sure hand and wrote a film book full of the deepest artistic seriousness. Director Otto did not let the poet of the film book down. From the beginning he thankfully refrained from all cinematic antics. "

The "Wiener Allgemeine Zeitung" found: "Hans Otto's direction is also the best to report. The milieu is treated carefully and elegantly, Beethoven sites and relics are used unobtrusively, the mood of old alleys and rooms is reproduced in a downright subtle way. Seldom does a director work so discreetly, but rarely does he achieve such a cohesive effect. (...) Viktor Glück's clear photography should not go unmentioned in this context. "

In the "Neue Freie Presse" one could read: "The Viennese writer Emil Kolberg knew how to avoid all these dangers with extraordinary skill, and with pleasant discretion, with reverent empathy and with great expertise he has an extraordinarily moving picture of this powerful life given. "

In Germany it said:

Heinrich Fraenkel's Immortal Film wrote about Kortner's design: “The tragic note often determines Fritz Kortner's subject, who in the extremely successful mask of Beethoven not only adapted himself physiognomically; He also knew how to convince the tragic fate of the deaf composer ”.

music

In 2019/20 the silent film pianist Richard Siedhoff set the film for chamber orchestra to music on behalf of the Förderverein Filmkultur Bonn eV. Siedhoff used around 70 excerpts from around 50 works by Beethoven, from piano sonatas and string quartets to symphony excerpts, which he assigned to the film and re-orchestrated. The works are mostly heard from the protagonists to whom Beethoven dedicated them. This version was premiered on February 1, 2020 in the Bundeskunsthalle Bonn with the Metropolis Orchester Berlin under the direction of Burkhard Götze.

Individual evidence

  1. Austrian Film Newspaper. 1st year, February 5, 1927, ZDB -ID 2136106-X , p. 14.
  2. Review overview. In:  Österreichische Film-Zeitung , January 22, 1927, p. 16 (online at ANNO ).Template: ANNO / Maintenance / fil
  3. ^ Heinrich Fraenkel : Immortal Film. The great chronicle from the Laterna Magica to the sound film. Kindler, Munich 1956, p. 350.
  4. https://www.stummfilm-magazin.de/1474-urauffuehrung-in-bonn-beethoven-mit-einer-neuen-musik-von-richard-siedhoff.html

Web links