Customer Reviews

Spring Symphony [VHS]

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

The writer and director of this film is Peter Schamoni, not Alfred Hirschmeier as reported in another customer review, and he took most of the dialogue from the correspondence and other documentation of Robert,Clara and Friedrich Wieck. Anyone with knowledge of Schumann's correspondence, his love of poetry and dramatic narrative and the world of 19th century German romanticism will recognize the accuracy and faithfulness of the dialogue used throughout this wonderful film.

The look and sound of the pianofortes used is another example of the care lavished on presenting Robert and Clara's world as accurately as possible.

Good performances, excellent photography and glorious music. No complaints from this Schumann fanatic. Highly recommended.

Peter Schamoni's 1983 German film "Spring Symphony" is an intimate, accurate portrayal of the relationship between two composers- Robert Schumann and Clara. It is a wonderful film, with fine acting by the leads Herbert Gronemeyer and Natassia Kinksi, who had been a model and would enjoy further success after this movie. The time is early 19th century (1830-1850)during the Romantic Era craze in classical music. Beethoven opened the gates to the new wave of music, which would be followed by Chopin and Franz Liszt, all mentioned in this film. Robert Schumann is portrayed here as a struggling artist, an idealist who lives from hand to mouth, more along the lines of Mozart. He gets romantically involved with the more wealthier and polished Clara Wieck whose father opposes their love. Even like this, Robert and Clara, who had become lovers through working together as composers, continue to defiantly engage in their relationship. Clara's father is brought to trial but in the end Clara and Robert are married. The film is accurate, and not highly dramatized or romanticized far from the truth. Filmed in Germany, Austria and France, the film follows the career of Schumann quite truthfully - i.e: the fact he was injured and his fingers were paralized and even as such played the piano quite well, his publication of a music magazine under the pen names of Eusebius and Florestan. Eusebius is his practical, balanced side while Florestan is passionate and free-spirited. A beautiful film. Natassia Kinksi plays a fine Clara, strong, independent, refined, romantic, soulful. The costumes and attention to detail are precise, captivating us and hooking us into a new world of historical romance.

My favorite scenes are those romantic moments between Clara and Robert, the opening scene with Paganini playing a violin concerto with lightning speed, all the chamber music scenes and recitals Clara has and the finale in which finally, Clara and Robert have married and decide to open their own concert hall..Robert says "I hope this institution is big enough for two instruments" and I think he was referring to their marriage. The music is heaven. Conductor Wolgfang Sawallisch leads his orchestra in brilliant music by both Robert Schumann and Clara.

The first thing to keep in mind with this movie about Robert and Clara Schumann is that it's entirely in GERMAN although English sub-titles are available. I actually preferred it that way and there is no English dubbing available although, as stated, English sub-titles can be turned on or off via the DVD machine. You might recall Herbert Grönemeyer as Leutnant Werner, the 'Kriegsberichter' or war correspondent on the German submarine, in the excellently done movie "Das Boot" some years ago.

As Robert Schumann, he does an excellent portrayal as does Nastassja Kinski as Clara Wieck-Schumann. Equally engrossing throughout the film is Clara's, shall we say, ultra no nonsense and rather dour and humorless father, Friedrich Wieck, played by Rolf Hoppe. The court scene where Friedrich tries to legally prevent the marriage of his daughter Clara to Robert Schumann and his perceived 'reasons' for same are particularly engrossing.

In this one, Schumann's right hand finger problem is attributed to the 'mechanical device' he concocted to strengthen his fingers yet stories still abound about the alleged 'real' cause of same but these kind of things [read: conjectures] happen with most world known personalities indeed to the point of utter speculation as to, in another well known personality, Beethoven's "Immortal Beloved" where, in my opinion, pure speculation is all too often passed off as alleged historical fact for the sake of the plot more so than any verifiable historical reality! Or proof of the cinematic contention.

The music is excellent and the note fingerings very good and believable. A few of Clara's zoom-in hands on the keys were done by a double although Grönemeyer himself plays the piano so he was able to quickly adapt to the requisite Schumann music note fingerings. So, if you want to keep up your German [or use the sub-title English] while enjoying a decently realistic portrayal of Robert and Clara Schumann, this movie is a good bet! The supporting cast is equally good and the movie moves along nicely. Note too, if only for the sake of curiosity, some of the suggested 'cures' for the finger problem and you'll be rather gratified at today's medical advances!

Doc Tony

Frühlingssinfonie, is a mellow, lush in senses movie, with a Schumann
soundtrack, following the composer's footsteps at crucial moments in
his career.

The movie perhaps downplays Schumann's importance, by assigning him
to a secondary role, compared to the protagonist Clara Wieck, played
by Nastassja Kinski, aged 24 at the time, back in 1983 when his
picture was made.

This is a European, obviously state-funded production, of the
highest professional quality, as it was often the case back then, when
movie houses, television, technical professionals in the movie
industry had immense experience, skills, and education due to the
sponsorship they had from the governments, before the collapse of the
Cold War.

A questionable aspect of the movie, is the need to intertwine an
ephemeral part of the composer's life, which is his personal, sensual
relationship, (played by the actor Herbert Gronemeyer), with the
performer of his pieces, Clara.

The stronger aspects of this movie, is the excellence in its
representation of 19th century Europe, (horse and carriage,
panoramic views of the countryside, palaces, city neighborhoods in
Germany, Austria, for example, the way people dressed, carried
themselves, their outlook on life, the pressure of high density
cities to the inhabitants from early on, the privileges of the upper
classes in having time to learn to enjoy, and attend concertos, etc.

The charm of Kinski, which is mostly improvised as far as I can
tell, and not mechanical or rehearsed, obviously has something to say for
the promotion and acclaim this work received at the time. All
dialogue is in German. Rolf Hoppe, playing Wieck's father, does
a tremendous job, lending enormous credibility to the movie.

I am a Schumannite - he is one of my 2 favorite composers and I was REALLY looking forward to this movie. However, the best thing I can say about the movie was that the sets, dress and pianos all seemed to be authentic. I am told that the movie is also accurate historically - the conversations, dialog and events are also accurate. Swell. Beyond that it was dismal. Boring. The acting was competent at best. The screen play was abysmal. And forget cinematography - there isn't any.The movie centers on the courtship between Robert and Clara but is almost totally lacking in convincing passion and there is nearly zero chemistry between the two alleged lovers. The viewer is left to wonder: why are these two going on like this? The only convincing portrayal is delivered by Herr Wieck - he is realistically unlikeable.Finally, Robert & Clara marry and then we should get to see how inspired Robert is. Historically speaking he churned out a ton of his best work in the first year of the marriage, but there is only one scene where Robert barks at Clara while composing. Then the movie ends! It's as if the production company ran out of money! Just one scene of the first performance of Symphony #1 and zero mention of any other symphony. We hear a few strains from the first movement of the piano concerto, but never a word mentioning if. Not a single scene that shows Robert's mental illness. And no mention of the asylum he is sent to or his death. I was utterly disappointed. Robert Schumann deserves a FAR better biopic than this.

I got ripped off .... there were no subtitles availiable or offered on my dvd copy ... shame on you amazon for not letting us know
Well the few minutes I saw looked good anyway

What happens when Westerners get to shoot a film behind the Iron Curtain? A very nice romantic bio pic of one the greatest classical composers. However, don't watch it around the kids, and take the "history" with a spoonful of salt. The film indulges in all sorts of liberties that will leave the history buff steaming mad. Clara's the saint, and Robert's something else. In addition, watching it brought back memories of Amadeus - Director's Cut (Two-Disc Special Edition). Friedrich Wieck must be the new Antonio Salieri.

This is a pretty good biopic about Clara and Robert Schumann, who met when he was studying with her father and becoming a composer. Clara was a piano prodigy, whom Schumann wished to use to promote his music, at least in the eyes of her business manager father. They fall in love, or as much in love as the narcissitic Schumann could be, and blunder into a terrible conflict with Clara's father, who brings a law suit to prevent the marriage. The story is OK and the actors, in particular the wonderfully beautiful Kinski in her prime, are good, but the whole film is presented as a rather idiotic melodrama. By the end, we were practically laughing at it, it had so completely lost us. Still, the music is good, the evocation of the times is fun, and the facts are interesting to know.

I would recommend renting this if you really want to see it, as you won't watch it much if you own it.

I teach a piano literature course, and in my research I learned of this movie. I watched it and found that the writers did a good job of following the facts. It made the lives of Robert Schumann and Clara Wieck truly come to life, and easier to understand. I liked that they used period instruments, and the sound track is largely Schumann's own music. The story of the movie stops at the marriage of Robert & Clara, so their lives as a married couple, and later Schumann's insanity and attempted suicide are not part of this. It is a FOREIGN LANGUAGE film, and it doesn't say that anywhere on the cover, so be sure to know this in advance. If you don't speak German, you will need to turn on the subtitle function using your DVD player menu (there's no menu provided on the DVD itself to activate this function). It's also not rated. I think if it were an American film, it would probably be PG-13, or even R because of nude or nearly nude excerpts.

Leck mich am Arsch! Clara Schumann bei mehr als 120 Millionen Menschen mit Deutsch als Muttersprache in 8 Ländern, überrascht es kaum, dass die tatsächliche Sprachverwendung variiert. Wie Englisch, ist Deutsch eine plurizentrische Sprache mit 3 nationalen Zentren der Sprachverwendung: Deutschland, Österreich und die Schweiz. Die sprachliche Schumann Situation in der Schweiz unterscheidet sich deutlich von der Situation in Deutschland und Österreich. 'Switzertütsch', die durchgängig verwendete Umgangssprache, wird auch von Deutschen und Österreichern kaum bzw. nicht verstanden. Das Verhältnis zwischen Switzertütsch und Hochdeutsch ist eines der Zweisprachigkeit. Aus diesem Grund bezieht Brahms sich der folgende Überblick nicht auf die Situation der Schweiz.