Composer biopics
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- StarsRichard BurtonVanessa RedgraveMiguel Herz-KestranekA huge panorama of Richard Wagner's life and work, from before the 1848 revolution, through his exile in Switzerland, his rescue by the besotted King Ludwig II of Bavaria, to the final triumph at Bayreuth. Richard Wagner's radical musical and political ideas, his German nationalism, and even his anti-Semitism are set in the context of his life and times.
- DirectorWilliam DieterleStarsYvonne De CarloCarlos ThompsonRita GamThe life and career of German composer Richard Wagner.
- DirectorCarl FroelichWilliam WauerStarsGiuseppe BecceOlga EnglManny ZienerThe story of the great German composer, from his childhood through his great triumphs in orchestral and operatic music.
- DirectorKen RussellStarsRobert PowellGeorgina HaleLee MontagueComposer Gustav Mahler's (Robert Powell) life, told in a series of flashbacks as he and his wife (Georgina Hale) discuss their failing marriage during a train journey.
- DirectorKen RussellStarsRichard ChamberlainGlenda JacksonMax AdrianPiano teacher Peter Ilych Tchaikovsky struggles against his homosexuality by marrying, but unfortunately he chooses a nymphomaniac whom he cannot satisfy.
- DirectorKen RussellStarsRoger DaltreySara KestelmanPaul NicholasComposer and pianist Franz Liszt (Roger Daltrey) attempts to overcome his hedonistic life-style while repeatedly being drawn back into it by the many women in his life and fellow composer Richard Wagner (Paul Nicholas).
- DirectorMilos FormanStarsF. Murray AbrahamTom HulceElizabeth BerridgeThe life, success and troubles of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, as told by Antonio Salieri, the contemporaneous composer who was deeply jealous of Mozart's talent and claimed to have murdered him.
- DirectorPaul MorrisseyStarsWolfgang ReichmannDietmar PrinzJane BirkinIn an effort to provide a secure future for his nephew Karl, Beethoven is fighting his sister-in-law over the custody for the boy. The mother doesn't consider the ageing and irate composer a suitable guardian for her son, and Karl himself shows not much interest in his uncle either.
- DirectorBernard RoseStarsGary OldmanJeroen KrabbéIsabella RosselliniThe life and death of the legendary Ludwig van Beethoven. Besides all the work he is known for, the composer once wrote a famous love letter to a nameless beloved, and the movie tries to find out who this beloved was--not easy, as Beethoven has had many women in his life.
- DirectorSidney GilliatStarsRobert MorleyMaurice EvansEileen HerlieThe common career of W.S. Gilbert,a barrister turned comic writer, and Arthur Sullivan, a classic composer turned converted against his will to light music, who wrote fourteen operettas between 1871 and 1896, to great public acclaim.
- DirectorMike LeighStarsJim BroadbentAllan CordunerDexter FletcherSet in the 1880s, the story of how, during a creative dry spell, the partnership of the legendary musical/theatrical writers Gilbert and Sullivan almost dissolves, before they turn it all around and write the Mikado.
- DirectorTony PalmerStarsBen KingsleySherry BainesMagdalen AsquithThe story of the great Soviet composer Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975) and his life and career during the rule of Stalin.
- DirectorAndrew L. StoneStarsFlorence HendersonToralv MaurstadChristina SchollinBased on the life of Norway's greatest composer Edvard Grieg, and filmed in Norway where he lived. The soundtrack is all Edvard Grieg's music with added lyrics.
- DirectorJulien DuvivierVictor FlemingJosef von SternbergStarsLuise RainerFernand GraveyMiliza KorjusIn 1845 Vienna, Johann Strauss II (Fernand Gravey) - 'Jonahi' to his friends - would rather write and perform waltzes than anything else, this at a time when a waltz is not considered proper society music. After he is fired from his clerical bank job because of his preoccupation with composing, he decides to follow his passion and form an orchestra. After some famed opera singers, including Carla Donner (Miliza Korjus), hear his music, they expose Johani's music to the masses, to royalty and to music publisher Julius Hofbauer (Hugh Herbert). As such, Johani becomes the toast of Vienna. With his new found musical fame, Johani's life, which includes his work in the European Revolutions, changes. He becomes torn for his love for his loving and faithful wife Poldi Vogelhuber (Luise Rainer) and his more emotionally passionate but somewhat destructive love for Carla Donner, who herself is involved with Count Anton Hohenfried (Lionel Atwill).
- DirectorAndrew L. StoneStarsHorst BuchholzMary CostaNigel PatrickComposer Johann Strauss becomes the "Waltz-King" and woos a baron's mistress in 19th-century Austria.
- StarsRonald PickupCarla FracciGiampiero AlbertiniGiuseppe Verdi was born in 1813 and lived until 1901, his life spanning nearly a century of political turmoil and considerable personal turmoil. This 1982 biographical television miniseries, as seen on PBS's Great Performances, dramatizes the life of this classic Italian composer known for operas including La Traviata, Rigoletto, and Aida and his Requiem.
- DirectorTony PalmerStarsTrevor HowardDave GriffithsChristopher BramwellAt death's door, George Frederic Handel reflects, rages, and narrates his life. From his womanizing youthful days, to his rise in fame as a composer, God Rot Tunbridge Wells! pulls no punches in this wild romp of a biopic.
- DirectorTony PalmerStarsSimon CallowMichael BallRebecca FrontIn 1960s, a British playwright attempts to reconstruct the life of real life 17th century English composer Henry Purcell even though little is known about him. Purcell's life is reenacted and his music performed.
- DirectorTony PalmerStarsRobert StephensVirginia McKennaJudith HowarthWhen Italian composer Giacomo Puccini is accused of sleeping with his maid, the scandal threatens to destroy his life and career. This biopic intercuts with director Tony Palmer's efforts to stage Puccini's last opera.
- DirectorKen RussellStarsMax AdrianMaureen PryorChristopher GableTraces last 5 years of the life of Frederick Delius through the eyes of the young composer Eric Fenby
- DirectorJan KounenStarsAnna MouglalisMads MikkelsenElena MorozovaParis 1913. Coco Chanel is infatuated with the rich and handsome Boy Capel, but she is also compelled by her work. Igor Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring is about to be performed. The revolutionary dissonances of Igor's work parallel Coco's radical ideas. She wants to democratize women's fashion; he wants to redefine musical taste. Coco attends the scandalous first performance of The Rite in a chic white dress. The music and ballet are criticized as too modern, too foreign. Coco is moved but Igor is inconsolable. Paris 1920, Coco is newly wealthy and successful but grief-stricken after Boy's death in a car crash. Igor, following the Russian Revolution is now a penniless refugee living in exile in Paris. Coco is introduced to Igor by Diaghilev, impresario of the Ballets Russes. The attraction between them is instant and electric. Coco invites Igor along with his wife - now sick with consumption - together with his four children and a menagerie of birds to stay at her new villa, Bel Respiro, in Garches.
- DirectorJames LapineStarsJudy DavisHugh GrantMandy PatinkinIn 1830s France, pianist/composer Frédéric Chopin is pursued romantically by the determined, individualistic woman who uses the name George Sand.
- DirectorAlain CorneauStarsGérard DepardieuJean-Pierre MarielleAnne BrochetThe story of Monsieur de Sainte Colombe, fierce and somber man, grand master of the viola da gamba and professor of Marin Marais, prestigious musician in the court of Louis XIV.
- DirectorTraugott MüllerGustaf GründgensStarsGustaf GründgensLeny MarenbachJohannes RiemannDuring a house concert, the Bach family gets a visit by their son Wilhelm Friedemann, who has just given up his position in Dresden because he no longer could endure the reprisals of his superiors.
- DirectorNorman WalkerStarsWilfrid LawsonElizabeth AllanMalcolm KeenA lavish period drama produced in 1942 by Lord Rank's G.H.W. Productions Ltd.
- DirectorDanièle HuilletJean-Marie StraubStarsGustav LeonhardtChristiane LangPaolo CarliniThe life and music of Johann Sebastian Bach as presented by his wife, Anna.
- DirectorGrigoriy RoshalStarsAleksandr BorisovNikolay CherkasovVladimir BalashovSaint Petersburg, 1858. A group of composers known as The Five meet at Balakirev's. Young Modest Mussorgsky, both a civil servant and a musician, has become a fixture there. He tells about the first opera he plans to compose. Then he goes to the country where he discovers the lowly conditions of the peasants and the bloody conflicts with the rich land owners. He works on Gogol's 'The Marriage', trying to render into music the natural accents of the play's naturalistic dialogue. But his efforts do not pan out. On the other hand, he starts writing his opera on the story of Boris Godunov. The Marinsky Theatre refuses to stage the work. The Five, and Mussorgsky among them, are libeled and the group starts disintegrating. When 'Boris Godunov' is finally performed in 1874, it is a popular success
- DirectorRaffaello MatarazzoStarsPierre CressoyAnna Maria FerreroGaby AndréThe life and loves of great composer Giuseppe Verdi are played against a background of the great operas of the 19th Century. A tender love story of his successful and turbulent life, with more than 20 excerpts from his acclaimed operas.
- DirectorCarmine GalloneStarsFosco GiachettiGaby MorlayGermana PaolieriA biography of the opera composer, from his early struggles and wife's death to his later political involvement, a new relationship, final rejuvenation and acclaim.
- DirectorPeter PatzakStarsOtto SanderTatja SeibtFabienne BabeRichard's Wagner and his wife Cosima.
- DirectorKarl HartlStarsOskar WernerJohanna MatzGertrud KückelmannExplores the mental state of Mozart during production of his final opera "Die Zauberflöte".
- DirectorCharles VidorStarsPaul MuniMerle OberonCornel WildeBiography of Frederic Chopin.
- DirectorClarence BrownStarsKatharine HepburnPaul HenreidRobert WalkerComposer Robert Schumann struggles to compose his symphonies while his loving wife Clara offers her support. Also helping the Schumanns is their lifelong friend, composer Johannes Brahms.
- DirectorJerzy AntczakStarsPiotr AdamczykDanuta StenkaAdam WoronowiczA tangled web of unruly passion lies at the center of this drama, chronicling the stormy affair between the great piano virtuoso Frédéric Chopin and the flamboyant feminist writer George Sand.
- 1954–19971h 36mNot Rated6.4 (80)TV EpisodeDirectorGeorg TresslerStarsKarlheinz BöhmGiulia RubiniIvan DesnyThe life of musical genius and nonconformist composer Ludwig van Beethoven, from his arrival in Vienna in 1792 through the writing of the famous Ninth Symphony.
- DirectorKen RussellStarsAlan ArthurHetty BaynesMaurice BushA biopic about the eminent composer Sir Arnold Bax.
- StarsEdward FoxAlice KrigeJohn Rhys-DaviesA dramatisation of two generations of the Strauss family of Vienna, whose dance music and operettas dominated much of Europe and beyond for most of the 19th century.
- DirectorKen RussellStarsHuw WheldonPeter BrettRowena GregoryA partly dramatised account of the life of Sir Edward Elgar classical composer. Huw Wheldon narrates the life story over backdrops of beautiful mountain scenery, especially memorable is the image of young Elgar riding his horse around Malvern Hills.
- DirectorKen RussellStarsOliver ReedVladek SheybalAnnette RobertsonAn actor is playing Claude Debussy in a film about the composer's life, and finds himself identifying with his subject very closely.
- DirectorJohn StephensonStarsAneurin BarnardJames PurefoySamantha BarksThe incredible tale of Mozart's Prague years.
- DirectorAbel GanceStarsHarry BaurAnnie DucauxJany HoltLyrical biography of the classical composer, depicted as a romantical hero, an accursed artist.
- DirectorCharles VidorGeorge CukorStarsDirk BogardeCapucineGeneviève PageThe romantic story of Hungarian pianist Franz Liszt (Sir Dirk Bogarde), whose scandalous love affair forced him to abandon his adoring audiences.
- DirectorMichael CurtizStarsCary GrantAlexis SmithMonty WoolleyA fictionalized biopic of composer Cole Porter from his days at Yale in the 1910s through the height of his success to the 1940s.
- DirectorIrving RapperStarsRobert AldaJoan LeslieAlexis SmithGeorge Gershwin is a driven composer whose need to succeed destroys his relationship with singer Julie Adams and socialite Christine Gilbert.
- DirectorJeremy KaganStarsBilly Dee WilliamsClifton DavisMargaret AveryDetails the life story of Scott Joplin and how he became the greatest ragtime composer of all time.
- DirectorFranz AntelStarsOliver TobiasMary CrosbyAudrey LandersDrama based of the life of Johann Strauss.
- DirectorAlfred HitchcockStarsEdmund GwennEsmond KnightJessie MatthewsThe story of Johann Strauss the elder and younger.
- DirectorHarald BraunStarsHilde KrahlMathias WiemanFriedrich KayßlerA movie about Clara Schumann, wife of Robert Schumann. Originally Zarah Leander should have played the lead role!
- DirectorBasil DeanStarsStephen HaggardVictoria HopperJohn LoderThe story of Mozart and his wife Constance, set against a background of court intrigue and professional jealousy, with music conducted by Sir Thomas Beecham.
- DirectorAnthony AsquithWilli ForstStarsMártha EggerthHelen ChandlerHans JarayComposer Franz Schubert--broke, struggling and unhappy--gets a break when a wealthy friend wangles him an invitation to a command performance in front of a princess of the royal family. Schubert performs a version of his new work, "Symphony in B Minor", for the princess, but a misunderstanding results in Schubert storming out of the concert in a rage. Complications ensue.
- DirectorKarl HartlStarsHans HoltIrene von MeyendorffWinnie MarkusA film relating to the life of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. [This is from the US copyright record, which is public domain.]
- DirectorKarl HartlFrank WisbarStarsHans HoltWinnie MarkusWilton GraffStory of the life and work of famed composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
- DirectorGérard CorbiauStarsBenoît MagimelBoris TerralTchéky KaryoCorbiau repeats the Farinelli formula, artistic rivalry and social private drama expressed in dazzling, sometimes excessively lavish baroque scenery, music and costume, but this time in its ultimate setting: Versailles. There are two protagonists - first the title character, Louis XIV, the French sun-king who has two passions, establishing absolute rule over the realm -after decades of religious/civil wars- by divine right and artistic brilliancy as a dancer (like Nero wrote and performed musical poetry), and starts asserting himself against the entourage of his Medici mother, the regent during his minority, by building his palace complex and launching a 'fitting' new, mainly musical display of baroque show. Secondly the musical genius Gianbattista Lulli ('Jean-Baptiste') Lully, a Florentine upstart of unbridled ambition, quickly gains the king's absolute trust, despite the nationalist and aristocratic opposition to a low-born Italian, and thus turns the normally socially humble post of court composer into a 'ministerial portfolio of culture' of Cabinet rank, complete with a monopoly which kills of his artistic rivals in operatic theater. The script also weaves a complex web of court scheming for individual power and social interests, and even a sadistic but accidental murder on a young valet, producing a sensuous and sumptuous drama too complex for this format, ending in a freakish but fatal accident. Louis XIV's mother was Ana de Austria (in French, Anne d' Autriche), the daughter of one of the Hapsburgh Kings of Spain. Maria di Medici (in French, Marie de Médicis) was his grandmother, his father's mother. She was dead before Louis XIV reached the throne. Please correct the reference to "his Medici mother"
- DirectorMikhail KozakovStarsAnatoliy GrachyovMikhail KozakovEvgeniy SteblovBased on Paul Barz "Handel's Ghosts" novel. Leipzig, 1747. Famous composer George Frideric Handel invites his not very well known colleague Johann Sebastian Bach for a supper.
- DirectorDominique de RivazStarsVadim GlownaJürgen VogelKaroline HerfurthComposer Johann Sebastian Bach is introduced to King Frederick II of Prussia in 1747. The aging composer and the young monarch clash and a battle of egos ensues.
- DirectorColin NearsStarsBrian CoxPolly HemingwayMichael GoughThe life of German composer Johann Sebastian Bach.
- StarsStuart WilsonAnne StallybrassBarbara FerrisA seven-part mini-series produced in England about Vienna's Strauss family in the 19th-century. Members of the London Symphony Orchestra provided the music.
- DirectorAndrew L. StoneStarsAllan JonesMary MartinWalter ConnollyA fictionalized version of famous opera composer Victor Herbert where he witnesses the romance, stardom, parenthood, and troubled experiences of his star singers.
- DirectorPaul L. SteinStarsRichard TauberJane BaxterCarl EsmondThe film spotlights famed composer Franz Schubert, who loves a woman from afar. He stands by in quiet desperation as his beloved is married to a dashing military officer, then pours his sorrow (and his love) into his work. To avoid royalty payments, most of the Sigmund Romberg score is jettisoned, replaced by authentic Schubert themes.
- DirectorStanley DonenStarsJosé FerrerMerle OberonHelen TraubelBiographic movie about the American composer Sigmund Romberg.