Copying Beethoven

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Copying Beethoven

Theatrical Poster
Directed by Agnieszka Holland
Produced by Christopher Wilkinson
Written by Stephen J. Rivele
Starring Ed Harris
Diane Kruger
Distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release date(s) November 10, 2006
Running time 104 min.
Language English
Budget ~ US$11,000,000
IMDb profile

Copying Beethoven is a dramatic film directed by Agnieszka Holland which gives a fictional take on the triumphs and heartaches of Ludwig van Beethoven's last years.

Contents

[edit] Cast

[edit] Synopsis

A fictionalised exploration of Beethoven's life in his final days working on his Ninth Symphony. It is 1824. Beethoven, played by Ed Harris, is racing to finish his new symphony. However, it has been years since his last success and he is plagued by deafness, loneliness and personal trauma. A copyist is urgently needed to help the composer finish in time for the scheduled first performance - otherwise the orchestra will have no music to play. A fictional character is introduced in the form of a young conservatory student and aspiring composer called Anna Holtz (Diane Kruger). The mercurial Beethoven is skeptical that a woman might become involved in his masterpiece but slowly comes to trust in Anna's assistance and in the end becomes quite fond of her.

By the time the piece is performed, her presence in his life is an absolute necessity. Her deep understanding of his work is such that she even corrects mistakes he has made, while her passionate personality opens a door into his private world.

[edit] Artistic licenses

The working manuscript of the score is attributed to two copyists [1], both of whom were male, not female as depicted in the film.

The copyists neither contributed to nor altered the score. In fact, they were berated by Beethoven for any deviation that occurred from the original score.

The movie is set in 1824 during the composition of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. Throughout the movie Beethoven is shown to be hard of hearing but quite capable of understanding people who speak loudly. In reality, Beethoven had lost much of his hearing seven years earlier (1817). Beethoven never experienced permanent deafness; his condition fluctuated between total silence and terrible tinnitus. The Ninth Symphony was composed at a time when Beethoven's hearing had deteriorated severely. At this point in his life, most of Beethoven's conversations were facilitated by the use of notebooks. It can be argued, however, that he was also able to read people's lips, evidenced by his insistence that people face him when they spoke to him.

In the film, Beethoven makes an allusion to the Moonlight Sonata. This is an anachronism as the Sonata No. 14 "quasi una fantasia" was not named "Moonlight" until several years after his death.

[edit] The Ninth Symphony premiere

Much of the film centers around Beethoven's insistence on conducting his own work, particularly the premiere of his Ninth Symphony (1824). The arrangement of sharing the work of conducting so that Beethoven could appear on the podium and influence the performance despite his deafness, actually did take place. Beethoven's colleague was named Michael Umlauf, the musical director of the Kärntnertor theater where the premiere took place. The two stood together on the podium; Umlauf did not lurk secretly amid the orchestra players as in the film.

The tale that Beethoven had to be turned around to be aware of the audience's applause is apparently authentic, though this may have occurred after one of the movements, not at the end of the work.

For further details on the premiere, see Symphony No. 9 (Beethoven).

[edit] External links