''Beethoven's Great Love'' (French: ''Un grand amour de Beethoven'' is a 1936 French
historical musical drama film
In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super ...
directed by
Abel Gance and starring
Harry Baur
Harry Baur (12 April 1880 – 8 April 1943) was a French actor.
Initially a stage actor, Baur appeared in about 80 films between 1909 and 1942. He gave an acclaimed performance as the composer Ludwig van Beethoven in the biopic ''Beethoven's Gr ...
,
Annie Ducaux
Annie Ducaux (10 September 1908 – 31 December 1996) was a French actress, who appeared in 40 film and television productions between 1932 and 1980. Ducaux was a shareholder in the state theater Comédie-Française from 1948, and played in n ...
and
Jany Holt.
It portrays the career of the composer
Ludwig van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classic ...
. In Britain and the United States it was sometimes
alternatively titled ''The Life and Loves of Beethoven''.
It was shot at the
Cité Elgé Studios in
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...
. The film's sets were designed by the
art director Jacques Colombier.
Synopsis
In
Vienna
en, Viennese
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, postal_code_type = Postal code
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, timezone = CET
, utc_offset = +1
, timezone_DST ...
in the early 1800s while working as a musical tutor, two of Beethoven's pupils are in love with him. One ends up marrying a
count
Count (feminine: countess) is a historical title of nobility in certain European countries, varying in relative status, generally of middling rank in the hierarchy of nobility. Pine, L. G. ''Titles: How the King Became His Majesty''. New York: ...
instead while the other spends years of unrequited love as his fiancée. Beethoven moves to
Heiligenstadt to dedicate himself to his music, and overcoming his growing
deafness
Deafness has varying definitions in cultural and medical contexts. In medical contexts, the meaning of deafness is hearing loss that precludes a person from understanding spoken language, an audiological condition. In this context it is written ...
, composes a series of
masterwork
A masterpiece, ''magnum opus'' (), or ''chef-d’œuvre'' (; ; ) in modern use is a creation that has been given much critical praise, especially one that is considered the greatest work of a person's career or a work of outstanding creativity, ...
s.
Cast
*
Harry Baur
Harry Baur (12 April 1880 – 8 April 1943) was a French actor.
Initially a stage actor, Baur appeared in about 80 films between 1909 and 1942. He gave an acclaimed performance as the composer Ludwig van Beethoven in the biopic ''Beethoven's Gr ...
as Ludwig van Beethoven
*
Annie Ducaux
Annie Ducaux (10 September 1908 – 31 December 1996) was a French actress, who appeared in 40 film and television productions between 1932 and 1980. Ducaux was a shareholder in the state theater Comédie-Française from 1948, and played in n ...
as Thérèse de Brunswick
*
Jany Holt as Juliette Guicciardi
*
Jean-Louis Barrault
Jean-Louis Bernard Barrault (; 8 September 1910 – 22 January 1994) was a French actor, director and mime artist who worked on both screen and stage.
Biography
Barrault was born in Le Vésinet in France in 1910. His father was 'a Burgundia ...
as Karl van Beethoven
*
Jean Debucourt
Jean Debucourt (19 January 1894 – 22 March 1958) was a French stage and film actor. He appeared in more than 100 films between 1920 and 1958.
Selected filmography
* '' The Little Thing'' (1923)
* '' Jean Chouan'' (1926)
* '' Madame Réca ...
as Le comte Robert Gallenberg
*
André Nox
André Nox (1869–1946) was a French film actor.Goble p.28
Selected filmography
* '' The Jackals'' (1917)
* ''Vertigo'' (1917)
* ''Sharks'' (1917)
* '' The Fugitive'' (1920)
*'' After Love'' (1924)
* ''Count Kostia'' (1925)
* '' The Nude Woman'' ...
as Humpholz
*
Gaston Dubosc as Anton Schindler
*
Sylvie Gance as La mère de l'enfant mort
*
Georges Paulais
Georges Paulais (16 September 1884 – 12 December 1967) was a French film actor. He appeared in more than 140 films between 1910 and 1956. He was born in Guimps, Charente, France and died in Chabanais, Charente, France.
Selected filmograp ...
as Le médecin
*
Georges Saillard as Breuning
*
Jean Pâqui
Jean may refer to:
People
* Jean (female given name)
* Jean (male given name)
* Jean (surname)
Fictional characters
* Jean Grey, a Marvel Comics character
* Jean Valjean, fictional character in novel ''Les Misérables'' and its adaptations
* J ...
as Pierrot
*
Jane Marken as Esther Frechet - la cuisinière
*
Marcel Dalio as L'éditeur Steiner
*
André Bertic
André — sometimes transliterated as Andre — is the French and Portuguese form of the name Andrew, and is now also used in the English-speaking world. It used in France, Quebec, Canada and other French-speaking countries. It is a variation ...
as Johann van Beethoven
*
Roger Blin
Roger Blin (Neuilly-sur-Seine, France, 22 March 1907 – Évecquemont, France, 21 January 1984) was a French actor and director. He staged world premieres of Samuel Beckett's '' Waiting for Godot'' in 1953 and ''Endgame'' in 1957.C. J. Ackerle ...
as de Ries
*
Dalméras as Franz Schubert
*
Lucas Gridoux
Lucas Gridoux (16 April 1896 – 22 April 1952) was a Romanian-born French stage and film actor.Lanzoni p. 99
Biography
He was born in 1896 in Herța, at the time in Dorohoi County, Kingdom of Romania. After emigrating to France, Gridoux began h ...
as Nikolaus Zmeskall
*
Yolande Laffon
Yolande Laffon (1895–1992) was a French stage and film actress.Goble p.38
Selected filmography
* ''Love Songs'' (1930)
* '' Suzanne'' (1932)
* ''Mayerling'' (1936)
* '' Beethoven's Great Love'' (1937)
* '' The Mysteries of Paris'' (1943)
* ''Th ...
as La coumtesse Guicciardi
*
Lucien Rozenberg as Le comte Guicciardi
*
Paul Pauley as Schuppanzigh
See also
*
List of films featuring the deaf and hard of hearing
There is a body of films that feature the deaf and hard of hearing. The ''Encyclopedia of Film Themes, Settings and Series'' wrote, "The world of the deaf has received little attention in film. Like blindness... it has been misused as a plot gimmi ...
References
Bibliography
* King, Norman. ''Abel Gance: A Politics of Spectacle''. Bloomsbury Academic, 1984.
External links
*
*
French historical musical films
French musical drama films
French black-and-white films
Films directed by Abel Gance
1930s historical musical films
1930s musical drama films
Depictions of Ludwig van Beethoven on film
Cultural depictions of Franz Schubert
Films set in the 1800s
Films set in the 1810s
Films set in the 1820s
Films set in Vienna
1936 films
1936 drama films
1930s French films
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