Santini's Network (original title: ''La Rete di Santini'') (2014) is a biographical film by German filmmaker

Georg Brintrup Georg Brintrup (born 25 October 1950) is a German-Italian film director, screenwriter and producer, known for his non-narrative film essays on poetry and music as well as his biographical films. Life and career Georg Brintrup had already made ...

on the life of Roman music collector Fortunato Santini (1777–1861) and how his famous private assembly of manuscript scores grew into the greatest music collection of the age.

Plot

The subject portrays an extraordinary story and a fascinating itinerary of survival through unusual episodes in the progress of culture. When, at the turn of the eighteenth century, the Roman clergyman, Fortunato Santini, played by Italian actor

Renato Scarpa Renato Scarpa (14 September 1939 – 30 December 2021) was an Italian film actor. He appeared in 85 films from 1969 to 2019. Scarpa died on 30 December 2021, at the age of 82. Selected filmography * '' St. Michael Had a Rooster'' (1972) * '' ...

, discovers at the age of twenty his fervent passion for music, he decides to dedicate the rest of his life to collecting the manuscript scores of the great composers, either autographs in their own hand or scores written out by professional copyists. These manuscripts kept and preserved the heritage of musical works until their reproduction and publication as printed scores. Over the course of fifty years his music collection swelled to 20,000 titles in 4,500 manuscripts and 1,200 printed copies, making it the most comprehensive collection of its kind anywhere. Santini's secret in preserving all these important works from the history of European music is the elaborate network of friends and acquaintances that he builds. Beginning in the libraries and among the ''cognoscenti'' of Italy, its reach extends throughout Europe, stretching from Rome to Vienna, from Paris to London, from Berlin to Moscow. Through his networking skills during his lifetime Santini became an international celebrity in the world of music Compositions of the first importance in music history, otherwise at risk of disappearing into oblivion, were rescued and preserved through his unremitting efforts. The film deals not only with the inception and growth of Santini's precious collection, but also with its conservation after his death. In 1862 the collection was purchased and transported from Italy to the city of

Münster Münster (; nds, Mönster) is an independent city (''Kreisfreie Stadt'') in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is in the northern part of the state and is considered to be the cultural centre of the Westphalia region. It is also a state di ...

in Germany and lay there forgotten for 40 years. Then in 1902 this trove was rediscovered and brought to the attention of the public through by the work of Edward Dent, the distinguished British musicologist. Subsequently, the collection was saved from firebombs during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, and though partially damaged after the war by a devastating flood, the irreplaceable musical opus of Santini has survived.

Cast

: Fortunato Santini * John Gayford: Edward Dent * Maximilian Scheidt: Felix Mendelssohn * Harald Redmer:

Carl Friedrich Zelter Carl Friedrich Zelter (11 December 1758 15 May 1832)Grove/Fuller-Datei:Carl-Friedrich-Zelter.jpegMaitland, 1910. The Zelter entry takes up parts of pages 593-595 of Volume V. was a German composer, conductor and teacher of music. Working in his ...

* Domenico Galasso: Giuseppe Baini * Claudio Marchione: Giuseppe Jannacconi * Pietro M. Beccatini: Carlo Odescalchi * Antonio Giovannini: Mariano Astolfi * Florian Steffens: young Edward Dent * Emanuele Paragallo: young Fortunato Santini

Film music

The

Soundtrack A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack ...

is composed of musical pieces from Santini's collection, some performed for the first time under conductor Favio Colusso by the Ensemble Seicentonovecento. Some other background music was composed by Flavio Colusso.

Release and reception

''Santini's Network'' premiered at the Auditorium of

Santa Maria dell’Anima , native_name= , image=Santa Maria del Anima I.jpg , caption=Façade of the church. , mapframe=yes , mapframe-caption=Click on the map for a fullscreen view , mapframe-zoom=12 , mapframe-marker=religious-christian , coordinates= , location=Via di ...

in Rome on 1 April 2014 "La Via dell’Anima" Tesori musicali da Roma a Münster, 2014 (pdf) and in Münster's Schloßtheater on 9 April 2014. Film critic Günter Moseler: "A great film about a modest life for the future of Early Music." (Ein großer Film über ein kleines Leben für die Zukunft Alter Musik.)."Verrückt nach Musik" (Crazy for Music) in Münstersche Zeitung on April 11, 2014 First broadcast was in

Westdeutscher Rundfunk Westdeutscher Rundfunk Köln (''West German Broadcasting Cologne''; WDR, ) is a German public-broadcasting institution based in the Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia with its main office in Cologne. WDR is a constituent member of the conso ...

on 28 April 2014.

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, id=3571962, title=Santini's Netzwerk
Presentation of the film

2014 films Biographical films about musicians German biographical drama films Italian biographical drama films 2010s German-language films 2010s Italian-language films 2010s English-language films English-language German films English-language Italian films Films about religion Films set in the 19th century Films shot in Italy Films shot in Germany Cultural depictions of classical musicians Cultural depictions of Italian men 2010s biographical films 2010s German films