Beethoven's great love
Beethoven's great love (original title: Un grand amour de Beethoven ) is a French feature film from 1937 , directed by Abel Gance, about the composer Ludwig van Beethoven . Leading actor Harry Baur had played the composer before, in the short film Beethoven made in 1909 .
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Around 1801 the Countesses Therese Brunswick and Giulietta Guicciardi were among Beethoven's piano students. Both have an enthusiastic admiration for their piano teacher. Beethoven, who hopes that marriage will further his compositional inspiration, has fallen in love with Giulietta. A little later, to his bitterness, she informed him that she would soon marry Count Gallenberg. Out of his pain, Beethoven composes the “ Moonlight Sonata ”. Therese and his friend, the violinist Schuppanzigh, fear that he might harm themselves. But you will find him at his favorite place, the mill in Heiligenstadt , where from now on he wants to devote himself to composing, isolated from the people.
A little later he was shocked to discover that he was beginning to have hearing loss and wrote his " Heiligenstadt Testament ". When he can briefly hear again during a storm, he composes his “Pastoral” symphony. The doctor treating him diagnosed, however, that Beethoven's deafness will eventually set in completely.
During Giulietta's wedding ceremony, Beethoven locks himself up in the organ gallery and instead of a wedding march starts a funeral march. In the following years he helps out Gallenberg - having returned to Vienna - by writing music for him. Giulietta leaves Gallenberg when she realizes that it is not he but Beethoven who is the true musical genius.
In the meantime, Beethoven becomes engaged to the overjoyed Therese. Shortly before the engagement party, Giulietta appears and declares her love for Beethoven. Giulietta's declarations of love are having an impact, and Beethoven writes the “ Letter to the Immortal Beloved ”. When Therese discovers the letter, Beethoven tells her it is addressed to her. When she shows the letter to Giulietta, she decides to withdraw and goes to Rome with her newborn daughter Nanette. Over the next few years, Beethoven repeatedly postponed the wedding date. In 1806 - while he was working on his " Eroica " symphony - he finally canceled the wedding.
A few years later, Beethoven - meanwhile completely deaf - has to struggle with financial difficulties, since the audience only wants to hear the music of Gioachino Rossini . Only worrying about his nephew Karl saves Beethoven from despair. Giulietta asks in vain for another chance.
Around 1826 Beethoven was isolated both personally and artistically, and only a few friends remained with him. His music is rejected by the publishers, his nephew Karl - meanwhile Giulietta's new lover - lets himself be endured by him. When Beethoven needed a doctor at the end of February 1827, instead of fetching a doctor, Karl stole Beethoven's money intended for medical treatment. When Beethoven is dying a little later, Schuppanzigh tells him that a concert of Beethoven's music has finally received the applause it deserves.
Reviews
“A biographical film about the composer's unfulfilled love for Therese von Brunswyk, about his numbness and loneliness - made at a time when Abel Gance's work was divided into routine productions and completely experimental work. The performance of the main actor in a melodrama that seems quite arbitrary when dealing with the facts is terrific. (OmdU) "
Web links
- Beethoven's great love in the Internet Movie Database (English)