There have been several movies during the history of film, that have
classical music as their central “theme” (sorry!).  Examples are "They
shall have Music", "Fame", and Mr. Holland's Opus".

I would be interested, please, in a list of other movies (as many as
possible) which deal with the study and/or performance of classical
music.

I am a music teacher, and would love to recommend them to my students.

Thank you.

Hi Igg-ga,

There have been many movies that deal with -- at least in part -- the
study or performance of classical music.  I gather, especially from
the examples you have listed, that you are interested in films that
are centered on the study or performance of classical music, as
opposed to films that have aspects of the study or performance but
don't really focus on it.  (A movie such as Kolya comes to mind; while
two of the characters are cellists, their study or performance of
music is not central to the movie.)

However, not every film with a significant element of classical music
study or performance will be suitable for your students, either
because your students might be too young or because you feel that the
film would not provide students with a useful lesson about music study
or performance.  In other words, a film like The Piano Teacher is, to
say the least, nothing like a Mr. Holland's Opus.

But since I should not be the one to narrow down your choice of films,
I will include even the films with mature or potentially
non-instructive themes.

Here's what I found, in alphabetical order:

Bach in Auschwitz (documentary)
Beethoven Lives Upstairs (television movie)
Carenegie Hall
Farinelli: Il Castrato
Hilary and Jackie
Madame Sousatzka
Paradise Road
The Piano
The Piano Teacher (La pianiste)
Playing for Time (television mini-series)
The Red Violin (Le violin rouge)
Shine
Speaking in Strings (documentary)
Thirty-Two Short Films About Glenn Gould (documentary)
Topsy-Turvy
Tous les matins du monde (All the Mornings of the World)
The Winners (documentary)

(You also might be interested in films that deal with composers and
composition of classical music: Amadeus; Immortal Beloved; Impromptu;
and A Song to Remember.)

You can obtain ratings, short plot-lines, and other information on
these movies from the Internet Movie Database ( http://www.imdb.com/ )
and Amazon.com ( http://www.amazon.com ).

- justaskscott-ga


Search terms used on Google:

"films about classical music"
"movies about classical music"
films "about classical music"
movies "about classical music"

---

Clarification of Answer by justaskscott-ga on 29 Jun 2002 12:25 PDT

I just realized I misspelled one movie title: it's "Carnegie Hall",
not "Carenegie Hall".

---

Clarification of Answer by justaskscott-ga on 29 Jun 2002 12:38 PDT

... and now I have two additional movie titles:  Music of the Heart,
and the documentary on which it was based, Small Wonders.

There is also "Amadeus", it's a movie I enjoyed.

http://us.imdb.com/Title?0086879

Regards,
Dandrick-ga

An IMDb search for 'classical-music' keyword yields 61 results:

http://us.imdb.com/List?tv=on&&keywords=classical-music&&heading=19;classical-music

I wouldn't recommend 'The Piano Teacher' to your students if I were
you, unless they have *very* strong stomachs... it has a lot of very
nasty sexual content as well as piano action!