The Music Lovers

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The Music Lovers
Poster of the movie The Music Lovers.jpg
Film Poster
Directed by Ken Russell
Screenplay by Melvyn Bragg
Based onBeloved Friend, a collection of letters edited by Catherine Drinker Bowen and Barbara von Meck
Produced byKen Russell
Starring Richard Chamberlain
Glenda Jackson
Cinematography Douglas Slocombe
Edited byMichael Bradsell
Music by André Previn
Production
companies
Russ-Arts
Russ Films
Distributed by United Artists
Release dates
  • 6 July 1971 (1971-07-06)(London)
  • 24 July 1971 (1971-07-24)(New York City)
  • 25 July 1971 (1971-07-25)(United States)
Running time
124 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
Budget$2 million [1]

The Music Lovers is a 1971 British drama film directed by Ken Russell and starring Richard Chamberlain and Glenda Jackson. The screenplay by Melvyn Bragg, based on Beloved Friend, a collection of personal correspondence edited by Catherine Drinker Bowen and Barbara von Meck, focuses on the life and career of 19th-century Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. It was one of the director's biographical films about classical composers, which include Elgar (1962), Delius: Song of Summer (1968), Mahler (1974) and Lisztomania (1975), made from an often idiosyncratic standpoint.

Contents

Plot

Much of the film is without dialogue and the story is presented in flashbacks, nightmares, and fantasy sequences set to Tchaikovsky's music. As a child, the composer sees his mother die horribly, forcibly immersed in scalding water as a supposed cure for cholera, and is haunted by the scene throughout his musical career. Despite his difficulty in establishing his reputation, he attracts Madame Nadezhda von Meck as his patron. His marriage to the allegedly nymphomaniacal Antonina Miliukova is plagued by his homosexual urges and lustful desire for Count Anton Chiluvsky. The dynamics of his life lead to deteriorating mental health and the loss of von Meck's patronage, and he dies of cholera after deliberately drinking contaminated water while his wife ends up in an insane asylum.

Cast

Production

Development

Producer Harry Saltzman had seen some of Russell's television work and wanted to collaborate with him. Russell had made many films for television about composers and artists, including Debussy ( The Debussy Film ) and Strauss ( Dance of the Seven Veils ), and suggested a biopic of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, who he had long admired. Saltzman wanted to do something more commercial, leading to Billion Dollar Brain (1967). Following that film, Russell tried to get Saltzman to finance the Tchaikovsky film again but the producer declined as Dimitri Tiomkin was making his own Tchaikovsky film. [2] [3]

Eventually, United Artists agreed to finance following the success of Women in Love. Russell later claimed: "if I hadn't told United Artists that it was a story about a homosexual who fell in love with a nymphomaniac it might have never been financed." [4] [3]

The script was based on a collection of letters from Tchaikovsky, Beloved Friend, published in 1937. [5]

Originally titled Tchaikovsky, Russell's film focused on the years 1874–76, which Russell felt were the most crucial in the composer's life. [6] The title was changed to The Lonely Heart to differentiate from the Russian film released the previous year. [7] The title card ultimately reads Ken Russell's Film on Tchaikovsky and The Music Lovers .

Russell said: "The film is about the fact that Tchaikovsky couldn't love anyone even though he wrote some of the world's most beautiful music. He loved himself really and his sister. The film is about how artists transcend personal problems, how he used these problems and their results to create this particular kind of music." [8] The director later added "there's as much tranquillity in my film on Tchaikovsky as there is in his music." [9]

"Great heroes are the stuff of myth and legend, not facts," he added. "Music and facts don't mix. Tchaikovsky said: 'My life is in my music.' And who can deny that the man's music is not utterly fantastic? So likewise the movie! I sought to honour his genius by offering up my own small portion of his courage to create." [3]

Casting

Russell offered the two lead roles to actors he worked with on Women in Love, Glenda Jackson and Alan Bates. Both accepted, but Bates then changed his mind. Russell felt this was because Bates "thought it might not be good for his image to play two sexually deviant parts in rapid succession." [9]

UA wanted a star to play Tchaikovsky but Russell struggled to find someone willing. Richard Chamberlain was suggested, who had recently relocated to the UK. Russell said "When his name was originally put forward I nearly had a heart attack. I'd only seen him as a bland TV doctor." [9] However, the director changed his mind after he saw the actor in a TV version of The Portrait of a Lady ("I knew we had a contender"). When he learned that Chamberlain was a skilled piano player, the actor was cast. [9]

Chamberlain called the role "easily the biggest challenge of my career." [10] Russell said Chamberlain "had a certain quiet dignity... which I felt the character needed. He was good to work with, very gentle and sweet; he did everything we asked him." [10]

Production notes

Soundtrack

The London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by André Previn, performs excerpts from the following pieces by Tchaikovsky:

Release

Reception

In his review for The New York Times , Vincent Canby stated:

Mr. Russell has told us a lot less about Tchaikovsky and his music than he has about himself as a filmmaker . . . [His] speculations are not as offensive as his frontal – and often absurd – attacks on the emotions. Richard Chamberlain . . . is fine as Tchaikovsky, looking a bit like a haunted faun, and Glenda Jackson is all sinewy nerves as Nina, but they are hard put to match the . . . nonstop hysteria of the production that surrounds them . . . I expect many people may look on The Music Lovers as an advance on the classical musical biographies turned out by Hollywood in the 1940s, but for all of its so-called frankness, there isn't much difference between this kind of sensational, souped-up popularization and the sort of pious, souped-down popularization that cast Cornel Wilde as Chopin and Robert Walker as Brahms. [13]

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times called it "an involved and garish private fantasy" and "totally irresponsible as a film about, or inspired by, or parallel to, or bearing a vague resemblance to, Tchaikovsky, his life and times." [14]

Time commented: "Seventy-seven years have passed since Tchaikovsky's death. In this epoch of emancipated morality, it would be reasonable to expect that his life would be reviewed with fresh empathy. But no; the same malignant attitudinizing that might have been applied decades ago is still at work . . . [the film's] arch tableaux, its unstable amalgam of life and art, make it a director's picture . . . attempting to reveal psychology through music, Russell makes every character grotesque, every bar of music programmatic." [15]

Variety opined, "By unduly emphasizing the mad and the perverse in their biopic . . . producer-director Ken Russell and scripter Melvyn Bragg lose their audience. The result is a motion picture that is frequently dramatically and visually stunning but more often tedious and grotesque . . . Instead of a Russian tragedy, Russell seems more concerned with haunting the viewers' memory with shocking scenes and images. The opportunity to create a memorable and fluid portrait of the composer has been sacrificed for a musical Grand Guignol." [16]

In the Cleveland Press , Toni Mastroianni said, "The movies have treated composers notoriously badly but few films have been quite so awful as this pseudo-biography of Tchaikovsky." [17]

Dave Kehr of the Chicago Reader described the film as a "Ken Russell fantasia – musical biography as wet dream" and added, "[it] hangs together more successfully than his other similar efforts, thanks largely to a powerhouse performance by Glenda Jackson, one actress who can hold her own against Russell's excess." [18]

TV Guide calls it "a spurious biography of a great composer that is so filled with wretched excesses that one hardly knows where to begin . . . all the attendant surrealistic touches director Ken Russell has added take this out of the realm of plausibility and into the depths of cheap gossip." [19]

Time Out New York calls it "vulgar, excessive, melodramatic and self-indulgent . . . the drama is at fever pitch throughout . . . Chamberlain doesn't quite have the range required in the central role, though his keyboard skills are impressive." [20]

In the London Times , John Russell Taylor wrote of Russell when reviewing this film: "His talent, his sheer zest for film-making are not in doubt. But there is no doubt that his unique gifts are matched at times by a unique talent for misapplying them." [21]

Pauline Kael would later say in an interview: "You really feel you should drive a stake through the heart of the man who made it. I mean it is so vile. It is so horrible." [22]

Home media

The Music Lovers was released to DVD by MGM Home Entertainment on 12 October 2011 via its DVD-on-demand service available through Amazon.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky</span> Russian composer (1840–1893)

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky was a Russian composer during the Romantic period. He was the first Russian composer whose music would make a lasting impression internationally. Tchaikovsky wrote some of the most popular concert and theatrical music in the current classical repertoire, including the ballets Swan Lake and The Nutcracker, the 1812 Overture, his First Piano Concerto, Violin Concerto, the Romeo and Juliet Overture-Fantasy, several symphonies, and the opera Eugene Onegin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ken Russell</span> British film director (1927–2011)

Henry Kenneth Alfred Russell was a British film director, known for his pioneering work in television and film and for his flamboyant and controversial style. His films were mainly liberal adaptations of existing texts, or biographies, notably of composers of the Romantic era. Russell began directing for the BBC, where he made creative adaptations of composers' lives which were unusual for the time. He also directed many feature films independently and for studios.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Antonina Miliukova</span> Wife of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1848–1917)

Antonina Ivanovna Miliukova was the wife of Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky from 1877 until his death in 1893. After marriage she was known as Antonina Tchaikovskaya.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nadezhda von Meck</span> Russian businesswoman

Nadezhda Filaretovna von Meck was a Russian businesswoman who became an influential patron of the arts, especially music. She is best known today for her artistic relationship with Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, supporting him financially for thirteen years, so that he could devote himself full-time to composition, while stipulating that they were never to meet. Tchaikovsky dedicated his Symphony No. 4 in F minor to her. She also gave financial support to several other musicians, including Nikolai Rubinstein and Claude Debussy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Symphony No. 4 (Tchaikovsky)</span> Symphony by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 4 in F minor, Op. 36, was written between 1877 and 1878. Its first performance was at a Russian Musical Society concert in Moscow on February 22, 1878, with Nikolai Rubinstein as conductor. In Central Europe it sometimes receives the nickname "Fatum", or "Fate".

<i>Capriccio Italien</i> Fantasy for orchestra by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

Capriccio italien, Op. 45, is a 15-minute fantasy for orchestra by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. Composed between January and May 1880, it premiered on 18 December that year in Moscow with Nikolay Rubinstein conducting the Orchestra of the Imperial Russian Musical Society. The dedicatee was cellist Karl Davydov. The work's initial name was Italian Fantasia, after Mikhail Glinka's Spanish pieces.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Piano Concerto No. 2 (Tchaikovsky)</span>

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 2 in G major, Op. 44, was written in 1879–1880 and dedicated to Nikolai Rubinstein, who had insisted he perform it at the premiere as a way of making up for his harsh criticism of Tchaikovsky's First Piano Concerto. But Rubinstein never played it, as he died in March 1881, and the work has never attained much popularity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky and The Five</span> Ideological dispute among Russian composers

In mid- to late-19th-century Russia, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky and a group of composers known as The Five had differing opinions as to whether Russian classical music should be composed following Western or native practices. Tchaikovsky wanted to write professional compositions of such quality that they would stand up to Western scrutiny and thus transcend national barriers, yet remain distinctively Russian in melody, rhythm and other compositional characteristics. The Five, made up of composers Mily Balakirev, Alexander Borodin, César Cui, Modest Mussorgsky, and Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, sought to produce a specifically Russian kind of art music, rather than one that imitated older European music or relied on European-style conservatory training. While Tchaikovsky himself used folk songs in some of his works, for the most part he tried to follow Western practices of composition, especially in terms of tonality and tonal progression. Also, unlike Tchaikovsky, none of The Five were academically trained in composition; in fact, their leader, Balakirev, considered academicism a threat to musical imagination. Along with critic Vladimir Stasov, who supported The Five, Balakirev attacked relentlessly both the Saint Petersburg Conservatory, from which Tchaikovsky had graduated, and its founder Anton Rubinstein, orally and in print.

<i>Tchaikovsky</i> (film) 1970 Soviet Union film

Tchaikovsky is a 1970 Soviet biopic film directed by Igor Talankin. It featured Innokenty Smoktunovsky in the role of Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. It was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film as well as the Academy Award for Original Song Score and Adaptation.

The Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom is an a cappella choral composition by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, his Op. 41, composed in 1878. It consists of settings of texts taken from the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom, the most celebrated of the eucharistic services of the Eastern Orthodox Church. Tchaikovsky's setting constitutes the first "unified musical cycle" of the liturgy.

This article lists appearances of the composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky in popular media.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vladimir Davydov</span> Tchaikovskys nephew (1871–1906)

Vladimir Lvovich Davydov was the second son of Lev and Alexandra Davydov, and nephew of the composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, who called him "Bob".

The Grand Piano Sonata in G major, Op. 37, was written by Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky in 1878. Though initially received with critical acclaim, the sonata has struggled to maintain a solid position in the modern repertoire. Nevertheless, the sonata has been recorded numerous times and is recognized as one of the composer's masterworks. It is dedicated to Karl Klindworth.

The String Quartet No. 2 in F major, Op. 22, by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, was composed between December 1873 and January 1874. It premiered on 22 March 1874.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Iosif Kotek</span> Russian composer and musician

Iosif Iosifovich Kotek, also seen as Josef or Yosif, was a Russian violinist and composer remembered for his association with Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. He assisted Tchaikovsky with technical difficulties in the writing of the solo part in his Violin Concerto in D.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tchaikovsky State House-Museum</span>

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Władysław Pachulski was a Polish violinist, pianist and amateur composer who was the secretary to and later son-in-law of Nadezhda von Meck, the patroness for 13 years of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. Pachulski was often the intermediary between composer and patroness, who had agreed never to meet face to face but to conduct an epistolary relationship. He played a significant role in the events surrounding the sudden break between them in 1890, and probably even instigated it.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Theory of attempted suicide by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky</span> Theory of Tchaikovskys attempted suicide

A number of researchers, based on the memoirs of Nikolai Kashkin, a professor at the Moscow Conservatory, suggest that in 1877, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky made a suicide attempt and attribute it to the composer's stay in Moscow between September 11 and September 24, 1877. He went into the cold water of the Moskva river with the firm intention of falling ill with a severe cold or pneumonia. The circumstances of this event are described in the memoirs of Nikolai Kashkin, the composer's colleague and friend, which were written shortly after the composer's death. The publication of their journal version in the Russkoye Obozreniye began in September 1894 and was completed in December 1895. In 1920, in the collection The Past of Russian Music. Materials and Studies, Nikolai Kashkin's article From Memories of P. I. Tchaikovsky was published. In it, he described in detail the circumstances under which Tchaikovsky himself, according to Kashkin's assertion, described the circumstances of a failed attempted suicide.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tatiana Davydova</span> Aleksandra Tchaikovskys daughter and Pyotr Tchaikovskys niece

Tatiana Lvovna Davydova was the niece of Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. She is the elder sister of Vladimir and Yuri Davydovs.

References

  1. ↑ The Oscar of His Dreams Is Wilde. Haber, Joyce. Los Angeles Times 30 Apr 1972: d15.
  2. ↑ Russell p. 55
  3. 1 2 3 Russell, Ken (1 July 2004). "A film about Tchaikovsky? You must be joking Ken Russell looks back on his battle to make The Music Lovers". The Guardian.
  4. ↑ Russell p. 56
  5. ↑ The Story of Tchaikovsky and Nadejda von Meck, The New York Times, 31 January 1937 p. 91
  6. 1 2 Lennon, Peter. Russell's time The Guardian 1 November 1969 p. 7.
  7. ↑ Tiomkin Goes Home for Film Blume, Mary. Los Angeles Times 14 December 1969: r. 34.
  8. ↑ Kahan, Saul. Ken Russell: A Director Who Respects Artists Los Angeles Times 28 March 1971, n. 18.
  9. 1 2 3 4 Russell p. 57
  10. 1 2 Siegel p 76
  11. 1 2 She Began in a Furor: Rex Reed. The Washington Post and Times-Herald 31 January 1971: E6.
  12. ↑ From Humdrum to an Oscar. Champlin, Charles. Los Angeles Times 4 June 1971: f1.
  13. ↑ Canby, Vincent (25 January 1971). "Ken Russell's Study of Tchaikovsky Opens". The New York Times. Retrieved 13 January 2012.
  14. ↑ Ebert, Roger (1 January 1971). "The Music Lovers". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved 4 June 2022.
  15. ↑ Time review
  16. ↑ Rick. (27 January 1971). "Film reviews: The Music Lovers". Variety. p. 17. Retrieved 23 January 2024.
  17. ↑ Cleveland Press review
  18. ↑ Chicago Reader review
  19. ↑ TV Guide review
  20. ↑ Time Out New York review Archived 10 March 2008 at the Wayback Machine
  21. ↑ Taylor, John Russell (24 February 1971). "Russell's Pathetic fallacy" . The Times. p. 10. Retrieved 4 June 2022.
  22. ↑ Malko, George (1996). "Pauline Kael Wants People to Go to the Movies: A Profile". In Brantley, Will (ed.). Conversations with Pauline Kael. Literary Conversations Series. Jackson, Miss.: University Press of Mississippi. p. 28. ISBN   0-87805-899-0. OCLC   34319309.

Bibliography

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