Beethoven

[Byron In Exile]

A guy who's been stone deaf for 10 years writes the ultimate symphony.

What's that about?

 

[Smiley777]

Irony?

 

[juicylips]

Irony?

Same word dropped in my mind before I read your response.

 

[Byron In Exile]

Irony?

Definitely a by-product.

But have you ever looked at the score of Beethoven's 9th symphony? It is complex beyond belief. And he never was able to hear any of it.

 

[Coolville]

Irony? You want irony?!
That piano guy has the same name as a movie!
That's cool!

 

[Shadowann2]

But have you ever looked at the score of Beethoven's 9th symphony? It is complex beyond belief. And he never was able to hear any of it.

That must have been so frustrating for him! He must have known how great it is, but to never be able to hear it for himself....so sad!

 

[Coolville]

That must have been so frustrating for him! He must have known how great it is, but to never be able to hear it for himself....so sad!

I think that he, like Mozart and other legends, could hear it in their heads. That's the only way they could write them. The whole orchestra playing music in their heads. Amazing thought.
Amadeus shows this rather well. Mozart staring into space and then furiously writing the notes down.

 

[Byron In Exile]

Think about writing music without being able to hear.

Then listen to Beethoven's 9th symphony.

 

[Coolville]

And now our best known composers are all part of the film industry. John Williams, Zbigniew Preisner et al.

edited to change 'greatest' composers to 'best known', although Preisner is an amazing composer.

 

[Byron In Exile]

I think that he, like Mozart and other legends, could hear it in their heads.

Mozart had perfect pitch, Beethoven did not.

 

[Shadowann2]

Rock Me Amadeus by Falco is my all time favorite song...but only the version that has the timeline of his life. We almost named our first son after Mozart. He and my husband share the same birthday and my husband really loves his music.

 

[Coolville]

Mozart had perfect pitch, Beethoven did not.

Sorry, I'm not a baseball fan...

But sounds like you know about such things (the music, I mean). Interesting. It is the creative field I know least about. Moving images are my thing.

One of the most daunting tasks I've had was picking music and working with a composer for a film. But, at the end of the day, we all have gut feelings and emotions and that is music.

 

[Shadowann2]

But, at the end of the day, we all have gut feelings and emotions and that is music.

I've never thought of it that way! I reall like that idea....it's very profound! Kudos to you!

 

[Byron In Exile]

That must have been so frustrating for him! He must have known how great it is, but to never be able to hear it for himself....so sad!

When he wrote his 7th symphony, in 1811, he was already pressing his head against his piano in order to hear what he was playing. By the 8th, in 1814, he was practically stone deaf. He wrote nothing for 10 years, and then, in 1824, published his 9th symphony. He became ill in December 1825, and died in March 1826. There were sketches for a 10th symphony found amongst his papers.

 

[juicylips]

Didn't Gary Oldham (sp) do a movie about him?

Immortal Beloved? or was that a different composer?

 

[Byron In Exile]

Immortal Beloved? or was that a different composer?

That would have been Beethoven.

I never saw that movie.

 

[kotori]

A guy who's been stone deaf for 10 years writes the ultimate symphony.

What's that about?

Maybe he was unencumbered by sound and able to hear pure music in his "mind's ear."

 

[juicylips]

That would have been Beethoven.

I never saw that movie.

I did see it on video a few years ago at my brothers insistence.

I enjoyed it.

 

[Byron In Exile]

Re: Re: Beethoven

Maybe he was unencumbered by sound and able to hear pure music in his "mind's ear."

Something like that apparently happened.

Composers don't normally experience living in absolute silence for a decade.

 

[Coolville]

"It is the power of music to carry one directly into the mental state of the composer."
Beethoven

a quote which is similar to one from one of my great inspirations:

"Film as dream, film as music. No art passes our conscience in the way film does, and goes directly to our feelings, deep down into the dark rooms of our souls."
Ingmar Bergman

yeah, okay, same same but different...

Juicy, the film was about Beethoven's death and the search for the 'immortal beloved' who was cryptically named in his will. A good film.

 

[Byron In Exile]

I did see it on video a few years ago at my brothers insistence.

I enjoyed it.

I've had that one bookmarked, but oftentimes such movies are such painful distortions of history, that I'm hesitant to see them. I thought "Amadeus" was a good movie, though, in spite of being somewhat historically inaccurate.

 

[juicylips]

I've had that one bookmarked, but oftentimes such movies are such painful distortions of history, that I'm hesitant to see them. I thought "Amadeus" was a good movie, though, in spite of being somewhat historically inaccurate.

I feel the same way when some of my favorite books are made into movies. Even if they are fiction, I like for them to at least follow the basic outline of the story. I get more out of reading than watching a film.

I have never seen "Amadeus". I remember it winning an Oscar years back.

 

[Coolville]

I feel the same way when some of my favorite books are made into movies. Even if they are fiction, I like for them to at least follow the basic outline of the story. I get more out of reading than watching a film.

I have never seen "Amadeus". I remember it winning an Oscar years back.

The only successful adaptation from book to screen is the godfather.

Other than that, the screenwriter's only responsibility to to be true to the 'spirit' of the book.

Disappointment is common, but the feeling you got from the book can never be reproduced on celluloid. You have to distance yourself from the book and regard the story in a whole other art form.

 

[Shadowann2]

Disappointment is common, but the feeling you got from the book can never be reproduced on celluloid. You have to distance yourself from the book and regard the story in a whole other art form.

I love books too much to do that. I don't even bother to go see a movie if I've aready read the book anymore! The worst adaptation of book to movie that I ever saw was Clan Of The Cave Bear. A close second was Queen Of The Damned. I would rather read the book after so as not to be dissapointed.

 

[juicylips]

You have to distance yourself from the book and regard the story in a whole other art form.

True.

Nothing competes with my imagination.