Herschel und die Musik der Sterne
West Germany,
1985, 96 min
Shown in 1986
CREDITS
- dir
-
Percy Adlon
- prod
-
Eleonore Adlon
- scr
-
Percy Adlon
- cam
-
Raimund Maxsein
- cast
-
Josef Meinrad, Rolf Illig, Karin Anselm, Edgar Selge
- source
-
Bayerischer Runfunk, Munich
- premiere
-
U.S. Premiere
OTHER
During Joseph Haydn’s first visit to England in 1792, he went to see the giant telescope built by the astronomer, Friedrich Wilhelm Herschel, his brother Alexander and sister Caroline. In Percy Adlon’s delightful new video, it was this visit—and Haydn’s first look at the cosmos—that inspired the composer to write The Creation. These two giants of music and science are wonderfully portrayed by Adlon regular, Rolf Illig as Herschel and the great Austrian actor, Josef Meinrad as Haydn. The superb nuances and timing of all the performances, together with Haydn’s music (in both orchestral and electronic forms) and Adlon’s inventive use of video combine to make this “chamber piece” a treat for the eye, ear and the mind. This is the latest work by Adlon whose Celeste, Five Last Days, The Swing and Sugarbaby have highlighted past Festival events.
–Anneliese Goldman
FACTOID #85
In 1996, Harvey Keitel was the first recipient of the Peter J. Owens Award, honoring “brilliance, independence and honesty” in acting. Honest he was. During the clip show at his tribute Keitel, unhappy with one of the clips, began waving his arms and shouting until the screen went black. The screen lit up with a new clip and the tribute continued.
