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Composer Biopics: Complete List
with starred ratings of the films
Wed Jan 3 08:31:11 UTC 2024 added Maestro
Lully Marais Purcell Vivaldi Handel Bach Mozart Beethoven Paganini Rossini Schubert Berlioz Strauss I, Johann Chopin Schumann Liszt Wagner Verdi Bruckner Strauss II, Johann Brahms Bizet Tchaikovsky Sullivan Grieg Rimsky-Korsakov Elgar Puccini Mahler Debussy Delius Strauss, Richard Williams Rachmaninoff Bartok Stravinsky Bax Martinu Prokofiev Shostakovich Bernstein

Stephen Foster John Philip Sousa Paul Dresser Victor Herbert W.C. Handy George M. Cohan Jerome Kern Gus Kahn Sigmund Romberg Irving Berlin Richard Rodgers Cole Porter George Gershwin

Lully (b. 1632)
Le Roi Danse (2000)

Marais (b. 1656)
Tous les Matins du Monde (1991) [★★★★★]

Purcell (b. 1658)
England, My England (1995) [★★]

Vivaldi (b. 1678)
Antonio Vivaldi, un prince à Venise (2006) [French only]
Vivaldi (was to appear in 2013, but never did)

Handel (b. 1685)
The Great Mr. Handel (1942)
A Cry of Angels (1963)
Handel: Honour, Profit and Pleasure (1983)
Farinelli (1985) [★★★★]
God Rot Tunbridge Wells (1985)
Handel's Last Chance (1996) [★★★★]

Bach (b. 1685)
Chronicle of Anna Magdalena Bach (1968) [★★★] ·
Johann Sebastian Bach (1985) [German only]
Bach's Fight for Freedom (1995)
Mr. Bach Comes to Call (2007) [★★★]

Mozart (b. 1756)
Amadeus (1984) [★★★★★]
Mozart's Sister (2012) [★★★★]

Beethoven (b. 1770)
Un Grand Amour de Beethoven (1938)
Eroica (1949)
The Magnificent Rebel (1961)
Beethoven's Nephew (1985)
Beethoven Lives Upstairs (1992) [★★★★]
Immortal Beloved (1995) [★★★★]
Copying Beethoven (2006) [★★★★]
Beethoven Confidential (2007) [novelization of a never made film ★★★★★]

Paganini (b. 1782)
The Magic Bow (1946) [★★★★]
Kinski/Paganini (1990)

Rossini (b. 1792)
Rossini! Rossini! (1991)
Rossini's Ghost (1996) [★★★★]

Schubert (b. 1797)
Das Dreimädlerhaus
(1918)
Leise flehen eine Lieder (Unfinished Symphony) (1933)
Blossom Time (April Romance) (1934)
New Wine (Melody Master) (1941)
Franz Schubert (1953)
Das Dreimädlerhaus (1958)
Mit Meinen heißen Tränen (1986)
The Double Life of Franz Schubert (1997) [★★]

Berlioz (b. 1803)
La Symphonie Fantastique (1942)
La vie de Berlioz
(1983)
I, Berlioz (1992)
Moi, Hector Berlioz (2003)

Strauss I, Johann (b. 1804)
The Great Waltz (1972)

Chopin (b. 1810)
A Song to Remember (1945) [★★★★]
Impromptu (1991) [★★★★]
The Strange Case of Delfina Potocka (1999)
Chopin: Desire for Love (2004) [★★★]

Schumann (b. 1810)
Song of Love (1947) [★★★★] (also Brahms)
Spring Symphony (1986)
Schumann's Lost Romance (1996)

Liszt (b. 1811)
Lisztomania (1975)
Song Without End (1960) [★★★★]
Liszt's Rhapsody (1996)

Wagner (b. 1813)
Magic Fire (1954) [★★★★]
Wagner (1983) [★★★]

Verdi (b. 1813)
The Life of Verdi (1982) [★★★★★]

Bruckner (b. 1824)
The Strange Affliction of Anton Bruckner
(1990)

Strauss II, Johann (b. 1825)
A Waltz By Strauss (1925)

La valse de l'adieu (1928)
Der Walzerkönig (1930)
Strauss' Great Waltz (1934) (aka Waltzes from Vienna) [★★★+] (directed by Alfred Hitchcock)
The Great Waltz (1938) [★★★]
Walzer von Strauss (1952)
Ewiger Waltz (Eternal Waltz) (1954)
The Great Waltz (1955)
The Waltz King (1963)
The Strauss Family (1972) [★★★★★]
Johann Strauss - The King Without a Crown (1987)
The Strauss Dynasty (1991)
Strauss: The King of 3/4 Time (1995)
Johann Strauss - The Waltz King

Brahms (b. 1833)
Brahms
(1927)
Brahms and the Little Singing Girls (1996)
Brahms Gets Laid [novelization of a never made film ★★★★★]

Bizet (b. 1838)
Bizet's Dream (1994)

Tchaikovsky (b. 1840)
Song of My Heart (1948)
The Peter Tchaikovsky Story
(1959)
The Music Lovers
(1970) [★★★★]
Tchaikovsky (1972) [★★★]

Sullivan (b. 1842)
The Story of Gilbert and Sullivan (1953)
Topsy-Turvy (2000) [★★★★★]

Grieg (b. 1843)
Song of Norway (1970) [★★★]

Rimsky-Korsakov (b. 1844)
Song of Scheherezade (1947)

Elgar (b. 1857)
Elgar (1962)
Elgar: Fantasy of a Composer on a Bicycle (2002)
Elgar's Tenth Muse (2007)

Puccini (b. 1858)
Puccini (1952) [★★★]
Tony Palmer's Film About Puccini (1985)
The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones: The Perils of Cupid (2007) [★★★★]

Mahler (b. 1860)
Bride of the Wind (2001)
Mahler (1974) [★★★★]
Mahler on the Couch (2010)

Debussy (b. 1862)
The Debussy Film (1965)

Delius (b. 1863)
Song of Summer (1962)

Strauss, Richard (b. 1864)
Dance of the Seven Veils (1970)

Williams (b. 1872)
Ralph Vaughan Williams
(1986)

Rachmaninoff (b. 1873)
Harvest of Sorrow (1997)

Bartok (b. 1881)
Bartok
(1964)

Stravinsky (b. 1882)
Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky (2009) [★★★★]

Bax (b. 1883)
The Secret Life of Arnold Bax
(1992)

Martinu (b. 1890)
The Mystery of Dr. Martinu
(1991)

Prokofiev (b. 1891)
Prokofiev
(1968)
A House in Bayswater (1960)

Shostakovich (b. 1906)
Testimony - Tony Palmer's Story of Shostakovich (1988)


Movies About American Writers of Popular Song

Stephen Foster (b. 1826)
Harmony Lane (1934)
Swanee River (1939)
I Dream of Jeanie (1951)

John Philip Sousa (b. 1854)
Stars and Stripes Forever (1952)

Paul Dresser (b. 1857)
My Gal Sal
(1942)

Victor Herbert (b. 1859)
The Great Victor Herbert
(1939)

W.C. Handy (b. 1873)
St. Louis Blues
(1958)

George M. Cohan (b. 1878)
Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942)

Jerome Kern (b. 1885)
Till the Clouds Roll By (1946)

Gus Kahn (b. 1886)
I'll See You in my Dreams (1951)

Sigmund Romberg (b. 1887)
Deep in My Heart (1954) [★★★+]

Irving Berlin (b. 1888)
Alexander's Ragtime Band (1938) [★★★★★]

Richard Rodgers (b. 1902)
Words and Music (1948) [★★★★]

Cole Porter (b. 1891)
Night and Day (1946) [★★★★]
De-Lovely (2004) [★★★★★]

George Gershwin (b. 1898)
Rhapsody in Blue (1945) [★★★★★]

Leonard Bernstein (b. 1918)
Maestro (2023) [★★★★]

See also the book Composers in the Movies: Studies in Musical Biography.
See here for excerpts of its contents.


Created Wed 06/24/2009
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