The Black Mozart

Le Mozart Noir is the French name of this documentary about Joseph Boulogne, Le Chevalier de Saint-Georges, who was the son of a French aristocrat by his black mistress.

He was born in Guadeloupe which was an island in the Caribbean where sugar cane and coffee were grown by French colonials with the help of African slave labor. There were no opportunities for mulattos in that place, so his father took his son to Paris to be educated and raised in privilege. The boy became an excellent swordsman and musician, excelling as a violinist and a composer.

This documentary film includes some historical enactments, musical interludes of performances of his compositions and narration about the history and customs of that era. It paints a vivid picture of a man who though he was very accomplished, exotic and charming was still not totally accepted and was unable to live a normal life as befit a nobleman. He was unable to marry even though women found him interesting and attractive.

His music was lost and then rediscovered. The Tafelmusik Orchestra is featured, playing selections of his music. There are also interviews with musicians about the complexity of technique required to play his music competently and about the emotions that his music evoked.

This Canadian-produced documentary includes a talented, unusual man to the history of great European musical artists and composers.

Here are some scenes from this film.:

I just recently found this link on YouTube where you can watch it. 

Film Review: Glass

Glass: a portrait of Philip in twelve parts is a fascinating documentary about composer Philip Glass. Whether you love or hate his music, I think that you'll find this award-winning documentary very interesting.

This composer is quite the Renaissance man because he has such a wide variety of interests. He's a vegetarian and he practices Qi Gong He worked with Ravi Shankar before the Beatles did! He's also very good friends with artist Chuck Close who did a portrait of Philip Glass.

If you watch the DVD, there are  lots of extra features included that director Scott Hicks didn't include in his film. This director also made the award-winning film Shine which was based on the real life of concert pianist
David Helfgott.

In my opinion, Philip Glass has found himself a good niche as a composer by creating the music for many films, some of which have been nominated for and even won awards. To get a better idea of what kind of music Glass composes, it would be a good idea to watch some of these films.
Here are a few films he's composed music for:

• The Hours 
• Kundun
• Notes on a Scandal
• The Truman Show
• The Illusionist 
• The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara 
• The Thin Blue Line 
• Koyaanisqatsi

Music is a very important part of most films.  I believe that the wrong music can ruin a potentially good film and the right music can make a good film even better!

Until next post, enjoy viewing films! I'd love to hear comments or suggestions from any readers out there!

First thought, best thought. --attributed to Allen Ginsberg by Philip Glass