Eroica (2003 film)

Eroica
Directed by	Simon Cellan Jones
Written by	Nick Dear
Produced by	Liza Marshall
Starring	Ian Hart, Tim Pigott-Smith, Anton Lesser, Frank Finlay
Music by	Ludwig van Beethoven and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Distributed by	BBC
Release date	2003
Running time	129 min.
Language	English

Eroica - The day that changed music forever is a BBC television film which dramatises the first performance of Beethoven's third symphony, the Eroica.

The film was directed by Simon Cellan Jones, written by Nick Dear and starred British actors including: Ian Hart, Tim Pigott-Smith, Anton Lesser and Frank Finlay. The music was played by Orchestre Revolutionnaire et Romantique and conducted by Sir John Eliot Gardiner.

Plot

The film is set in Vienna on June 9, 1804, the date of the private, first performance of Beethoven’s third symphony, later to be known as the ‘Eroica’. The performance, and most of the action in the film, takes place at the palace of one of Beethoven’s patrons, Prince Franz Lobkowitz. Midway during the performance, Beethoven tries to get his lover, a widow named Josephine von Deym, to marry him, but she refuses because of the unfair laws regarding child custody - she is a member of the nobility, and cannot marry a commoner without losing custody of her children. Later, composer Josef Haydn, now old and feeble, arrives just in time to hear the last movement of the symphony.

During the last few minutes of the symphony, the film flashes forward, and we see Beethoven going to dinner with his pupil, Ferdinand Ries, where he is told that Napoleon has just declared himself Emperor of France, thereby completely betraying Beethoven's faith in him. In a rage, he crumples up the title page of his symphony, which he originally intended to call the "Bonaparte". As he leaves the performance, Haydn is asked his opinion of the symphony, which he describes as "quite new", and then utters his now-famous and prophetic comment, "From this day forward, everything [in music] is changed". The film ends on a grim note; as the performance of the Eroica ends, Beethoven looks at his audience and is momentarily unable to hear any natural sounds - an ominous sign of his approaching deafness.

Cast

The main cast were:

• Ian Hart — Ludwig van Beethoven
• Tim Pigott-Smith — Count Dietrichstein
• Jack Davenport — Prince Franz Lobkowitz
• Fenella Woolgar — Princess Marie Lobkowitz
• Claire Skinner — Countess Josephine von Deym
• Lucy Akhurst — Countess Teresa von Brunswick (Josephine's sister)
• Frank Finlay — Joseph Haydn
• Leo Bill — Ferdinand Ries
• Peter Hanson — Wranitzky (leader of the orchestra in the film and of Orchestre Revolutionnaire et Romantique)
• Robert Glenister — Gerhardt (one of the prince’s servants)
• Anton Lesser — Sukowaty (Beethoven's copyist).

References

http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2003/05_may/19/eroica.shtml

External links

• Eroica at IMDb