Copying Beethoven (2006)

A fictionalized account of the last year of Beethoven's life.

Director:

Agnieszka Holland

Writers:

Stephen J. Rivele, Christopher Wilkinson

Stars:

Ed Harris, Diane Kruger, Matthew Goode

2 wins & 5 nominations.

Cast

Credited cast:
Diane Kruger	...	Anna Holtz
Ralph Riach	...	Wenzel Schlemmer
Matyelok Gibbs	...	Old Woman
Ed Harris	...	Ludwig van Beethoven
Bill Stewart	...	Rudy
Angus Barnett	...	Krenski
Viktoria Dihen	...	Magda
Phyllida Law	...	Mother Canisius
Matthew Goode	...	Martin Bauer
Gábor Bohus	...	Schuppanzigh
Joe Anderson	...	Karl van Beethoven
David Kennedy	...	Neighbor
Nicholas Jones	...	Archduke Rudolph
László Áron	...	Judge
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Márta Hainfart	...	Soloist (Soprano)

Storyline

Vienna, 1824. In the days before the first performance of the Ninth Symphony, Beethoven needs help with copying out the charts, so a promising student of composition, Anna Holtz, 23, is sent to assist him. She not only aids the transcription of the notes, she provides guidance from the orchestra pit as Beethoven conducts the work's debut. During the next two years, the final ones of Beethoven's life, Anna provides assistance to the deaf, temperamental, ailing man. In return, he tutors her in composition and explains to her the ideas and principles of Romanticism. He tries to speak for God.

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Plot Keywords:

music student | music copyist | musical composition | symphony | student | 

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Taglines:

The passion behind the genius

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Genres:

Biography | Drama | Music

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for some sexual elements

Details

Official Sites:

Myriad Pictures

Country:

USA Germany Hungary

Language:

English

Release Date:

8 March 2007 (Hungary)

Also Known As:

L'élève de Beethoven

Filming Locations:

Hungary

Box Office

Budget:

$11,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$70,460, 12 November 2006, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$352,786, 31 December 2006

Company Credits

Production Co:

Sidney Kimmel Entertainment, Myriad Pictures, VIP 2 Medienfonds

Technical Specs

Runtime:

104 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Ed Harris and Diane Kruger also appeared in National Treasure: Book of Secrets (2007).

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Goofs

During the performance of the 9th, the trumpet player is shown playing a European style rotary valve trumpet with clock-spring valves (Riedl?) that were first developed in 1835. The design of the trumpet is also of later vintage, as most trumpets of this era lacked valves, the keyed bugle, Haydn's keyed trumpet and instruments with Stolzel valves being the new technology. Finally, the mouthpiece has a very modern profile, perhaps of the 20th Century.

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Quotes

Ludwig van Beethoven: I'm a very difficult person, Anna Holtz, but I take comfort in the fact that God made me that way.

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Soundtracks

Violin Sonata No. 7 in C minor Op. 30
Written by Ludwig van Beethoven
Performed by David Oistrakh and Lev Oborin
Courtesy of Decca Music Group Limited, part of Universal Music Group International

User Reviews

Beethoven's Ninth or the real HERstory of the early feminist role in nineteenth century musical composition.

Given our modern sensibilities with respect to the role of women in society and, lest we be labeled Calibans, it is no great effort to overlook the anachronism and give the nod to the female copyist at the start of this movie. Not five minutes later, though, we are asked to completely strain the boundaries of credulity and accept that the creativity of the second greatest composer ever to have lived (Mahler being the first) owed its triumph to a twenty-three-year-old inexperienced female "secretary".

It is at this point one realizes that the creation of the Ninth Symphony is a patina, a mere plot device, for the true substance of the movie which is Beethoven's suppressed twentieth century feminist ideology. Alas, if only the maestro himself had realized how truly ahead of his time he was! Is it really only twenty years ago we discovered Beethoven was black?

...and yet, if you love Beethoven, it is all about the music. Whatever the historical flaws in this movie, the anticipation engendered when the Ninth begins and the excitement bursting within as the choristers intone "Freude, schöener Götterfunken" of Schiller's Ode to Joy; any misgivings about the picture are completely over-shadowed by the music itself. Which says more about Beethoven's lasting genius than modern movie-making "talent" ever could.