Franz Liszt e la sua musica nel cinema, Lucca, LIM 2014, XXIV-520 pp.

PRESENTATION:
RadioTre Suite, February 8 2015, radio broadcast with Riccardo Giagni and Luigi Verdi
Bologna, Fondazione Istituto Liszt (November 2 2015)
Roma, Accademia d'Ungheria, Istituto Balassi (November 11 2015), with Flavio Colusso, Maurizio D'Alessandro, Rossana Dalmonte, Roberto Giuliani and Johann Herczog
Genova, Conservatorio di musica "Niccolò Paganini" (November 20 2015), with Tiziana Canfori and Aldo Viganò, within Tre virtuosi a Genova: Liszt, Paganini e Sivori
Bologna, Conservatorio di musica "G.B Martini" (May 19 2016), con Rossana Dalmonte e Annarosa Vannoni, nell'ambito della manifestazione Una musica a Sette facce, Musichepagine

Reviews:
Amadeus, XXVII, 5, maggio 2015 (Piero Mioli)
Colonne sonore.net, 24 agosto 2015 (Roberto Pugliese)
Musica, giugno 2015 (Benedetto Ciranna)
Quaderni dell'Istituto Liszt, 15, 2015 (Roberto Calabretto)
L'informazione bibliografica, Il Mulino, 3, luglio-settembre 2016, pp. 661-662 (Giuseppe Rausa)



Liszt is famous both for his music and for his romantic life, full of unexpected turns and of adventure; this altogether has contributed towards his being a protagonist, also in terms of ‘gossip’. Even when he was alive, a rich, sometimes satirical iconography used to go with him. It is natural for such a personality to have been the focus of such attention in the movies, somehow anticipating some aspects of the star system. In fact, because of the various situations in his life, he has been one of the most portrayed musicians in films. His personality has inspired the movies especially since the 1930s, with the coming of  sound. Since then, there have been about ten films about his life, and another thirty where Liszt features as a secondary character, or he acts as other composers’ ‘support’.
There are at least three hundred films featuring Liszt’s music in the soundtrack. All these documents allow us to outline the appeal of Liszt’s music in popular culture. However, even if the presence of Liszt’s music in the movies is not so different from the use of other ‘classical’ composers’ music, Liszt’s music is extremely cinematographic as, in an exemplary way, it allows symbolic translations which go beyond a simple decorative or descriptive use, and which often become an integral part of the narration in a direct, indirect, explicit or allusive way. Franz Liszt’s life and music ultimately provide the opportunity to develop a more general analysis upon musical biographical films and upon the use of classical music not only in the cinema, but also on TV and in cartoons.

 

INDICE Introduzione Liszt personaggio cinematografico Lisztiana Liszt e Chopin Liszt e Wagner Liszt e Schumann Liszt e gli altri Liszt deus ex-machina Comparsate (in)verosimili Franz Liszt: musica e immagine Cinema e televisione Cartoni animati Elenco dei film in ordine cronologico Film con Franz Liszt Film con musiche di Franz Liszt Abstract: Franz Liszt in the movies Indice delle composizioni nei film Indice dei film con Franz Liszt Indice di episodi biografici salienti Bibliografia sintetica

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