Phil Grabsky's In Search of Mozart is a straightforward documentary about Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart that follows a linear chronology in looking at his life and music. If you are looking for a film with a unique style or impressionistic flair, you will not find it here. What you will find, however, is gorgeous color, valuable commentary, visits to ten European capitals, and Mozart's glorious and inspired music. Reduced to a foul-mouthed clown by Peter Shaffer's fictional Amadeus, the true genius and stature of Mozart emerges in Grabsky's two-hour documentary. Narrated by British actress Juliet Stevenson, the film includes interviews with musicologists and artists, the revelation of Mozart's personal letters, and performances of eighty of his works, played with rare passion by some of the world's greatest orchestras and singers. Although I have been known to cry at movies before, rarely have there been this many tears of unadulterated joy tinged with sadness for his short life.
In Search of Mozart traces Mozart's life from his childhood in Salzburg to his death in Vienna in 1791 at the age of thirty five from rheumatic fever and kidney failure. Mozart was already a gifted pianist and composer at age five, a boy who could play the piano with amazing dexterity for one so young. By age eighteen, he had already composed twenty eight symphonies, many of which are still performed. Sensing that his son was a genius, his father Leopold, a prominent composer in his own right, took him on the road, visiting courts in Germany, Paris, Austria, and Italy hoping for a court appointment but it was not to come. The film takes us on the 25,000 mile journey along every route Mozart that followed and the cinematography is stunning, though scenes of busy contemporary European life intermixed with drawings of the eighteenth century seem jarring and out of place.
Though he had some prosperous years, Mozart struggled financially for most of his life and had considerable debts at the end. When he finally did obtain a position as a court composer in Vienna with Emperor Joseph, he earned only a middle class salary, not the wages of a nobleman. His happiest years were in Vienna from 1780-82 after his marriage to Constanze Weber, but when his first born died, followed soon after by the death of his parents, his music became more introspective, especially in the reflective slow movements of his later piano concertos and the melancholic G-minor string quintet. The high point of his music to many of course are his magnificent operas including Marriage of Figaro, Don Giovanni, and The Magic Flute, which are shown in live operatic performances with English subtitles.
Grabsky makes it a point to state that Mozart was not poisoned, did not die a pauper, and had a faithful and loving relationship with Constanze his entire life. The film discusses Wolfgang's strained relationship with his father and his scatological letters but points out that they were written when he was very young and that the rest of his family used the same kind of base humor. Marking the 250th anniversary of Mozart's birth, In Search of Mozart, the first major feature-length documentary of Mozart's life, is worth going the extra step to see whether you are a fan of classical music or hip-hop. It is a stunning celebration filled with the unyielding mystery of genius. Picking up the pieces from the wreck left by Amadeus, In Search of Mozart does justice to the man and his music.
In Search of Mozart traces Mozart's life from his childhood in Salzburg to his death in Vienna in 1791 at the age of thirty five from rheumatic fever and kidney failure. Mozart was already a gifted pianist and composer at age five, a boy who could play the piano with amazing dexterity for one so young. By age eighteen, he had already composed twenty eight symphonies, many of which are still performed. Sensing that his son was a genius, his father Leopold, a prominent composer in his own right, took him on the road, visiting courts in Germany, Paris, Austria, and Italy hoping for a court appointment but it was not to come. The film takes us on the 25,000 mile journey along every route Mozart that followed and the cinematography is stunning, though scenes of busy contemporary European life intermixed with drawings of the eighteenth century seem jarring and out of place.
Though he had some prosperous years, Mozart struggled financially for most of his life and had considerable debts at the end. When he finally did obtain a position as a court composer in Vienna with Emperor Joseph, he earned only a middle class salary, not the wages of a nobleman. His happiest years were in Vienna from 1780-82 after his marriage to Constanze Weber, but when his first born died, followed soon after by the death of his parents, his music became more introspective, especially in the reflective slow movements of his later piano concertos and the melancholic G-minor string quintet. The high point of his music to many of course are his magnificent operas including Marriage of Figaro, Don Giovanni, and The Magic Flute, which are shown in live operatic performances with English subtitles.
Grabsky makes it a point to state that Mozart was not poisoned, did not die a pauper, and had a faithful and loving relationship with Constanze his entire life. The film discusses Wolfgang's strained relationship with his father and his scatological letters but points out that they were written when he was very young and that the rest of his family used the same kind of base humor. Marking the 250th anniversary of Mozart's birth, In Search of Mozart, the first major feature-length documentary of Mozart's life, is worth going the extra step to see whether you are a fan of classical music or hip-hop. It is a stunning celebration filled with the unyielding mystery of genius. Picking up the pieces from the wreck left by Amadeus, In Search of Mozart does justice to the man and his music.