The Greatest Love and the Greatest Sorrow

Title: The Greatest Love and the Greatest Sorrow

Written & Directed by Christopher Nupen

Publisher: Teldec Video; 4509-97927-3

Date Published: 1994

Introduction

This is not a typical classical music video. Indeed it is a very atypical music video, but, if you love Schubert, I heartily recommend you to see it. It is the work of Christopher Nupen, whose previous works include the famous video of 'The Trout' with the all star cast of Zuckerman, Perlman, Du Pre, Mehta and Barenboim. That he has a deep affection for Schubert is apparent, not so much by the fact that he has produced Schubert films before, nor even by the fact that he is a member of the SIUK. This film could only be produced by a lover of Schubert.

It was first shown on Channel 4 in the UK in 1994, an event which I regretfully missed, as I could not avoid a long drive at the time - though I did listen to the simultaneous stereo broadcast on the radio. I've now gone out and got the video, which makes the whole thing, which runs for 81 minutes, much more convincing.

It doesn't attempt to be a work about Schubert's life or career. Whilst it does include significant chunks of major works, it's not a video of those either. Instead, it tries, in a unique way, to be a film about his ideas and his music, and in particular the music that he wrote after the death of Beethoven. The title is a quote from a curious document that Schubert left behind, the allegorical tale My Dream (Docs no 298, 3 July 1822). This and other key documents are read out in full or in part in English translations, and the originals are sometimes shown.

The video can be seen as just performances of some of his works, with pictures and scenes, and narration or readings from his wrtings or the words of some of his famous songs. However, it manages to give, in a subtle way, a bit of an insight into the person behind the music, and to the breadth and quality of the works from his final months. Historically, Schubert has often been represented as a bit of an uneducated country bumpkin, the Biedermeier man who was a 'natural' composer, composing without being truly aware what he was doing. He friend Vogl, the first great Schubert song interpreter repeatedly compared his method of composition to 'clairvoyance'. It is very difficult when hearing his words, to agree with this picture.

The film consists of three layers, the music, the visuals and the speech. These run along together, greatly interrelated.

The speech consists of small stretches of narration, and quotes from major documents and letters. To stress the importance of the words of the poems that Schubert set, there are also parts of English translations of the songs.

The visuals are of a number of types. There are some simple 'scenes'; a church and a desk containing Schubert objects such as books, candles , glasses and a copy in German of The Last of the Mohicans, and Schubert and Beethoven tombs. There are many portraits of Schubert and members of his circle, including all the familiar ones. From time to time there is film of the actual documents being read. There are pictures by Caspar David Friedrich and Moritz von Schwind which set the scene, or expand on the words from the current poem. And then, of course, there are the performances. The representation of these is simple, impersonal, and very effective. In most cases it consists just of close ups (bows on strings, fingers on a keyboard), only rarely showing the player. Even the songs are presented in a very impersonal way, typically with Andreas Schmidt, in period dress, simply staring into the camera. He does a tremendous job of maintaining this image whilst singing so beautifully.

The music concentrates on works produced in the last 20 months of Schubert's life, though it does include some earlier works. It starts with the Kyrie from the E flat Mass (Sawallisch and the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and Chorus), but the rest of the works are more personal; trios, quartets, the quintet, piano sonatas and songs. The performers are Vladimir Ashkenazy, Andreas Schmidt, the Petersen quartet with Michael Sanderling and Antje Weithaas. It ends with Lotte Lehmann and Erno Balogh performing Im Abendrot.

Andreas Schmidt is magnificent, and the other performances seem, to me at least, to be very good, except for Lotte Lehmann, who I will excuse.

Out of interest, I've tried to document as many of the pictures and readings as I can (if anyone can fill in the gaps, I'd appreciate it). The following, broken down by the pieces played, contrasts the visuals with any spoken words. The references to the documents and quotes are to the Deutsch: Documentary Biography (known as the Schubert Reader in the USA), and the Deutsch: Memoirs by his Friends however the translations used in the video are not those from these books.

Richard Morris, March 1996