"The Kreutzer Sonata" (movie)...

[Preston]

Bernard Rose, the director of "Immortal Beloved", is coming out with a new movie based on the novella, "The Kreutzer Sonata", by Leo Tolstoy, that was inspired by Beethoven.

There have already been at least five movies based on the novella.

To my understanding, the novella is primarily about how people should avoid carnal love, sex out of wedlock, and how chastity provides guidance and direction. Here is the Epilogue to "The Kreutzer Sonata", it tells a lot about the novella.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Kreutzer_Sonata

The movie is supposed to be out sometime in 2008.

Preston

[Peter]

Thanks for that Preston - I'm a great fan of Tolstoy, especially War and Peace which I've seen in the superb Russian version and I'm almost through reading the tome - a great novel. As for Tolstoy himself, although a lover of music he wasn't actually a great Beethoven fan. I look forward to this Kreutzer sonata, but does anyone know about Bernard Rose's film from last year?

[Chris]

Hm...sounds interesting. Thanks for the heads up.

[Joy]

Thanks for letting us know. I will be on the lookout for it!

[Preston]

Thanks for that Preston - I'm a great fan of Tolstoy, especially War and Peace which I've seen in the superb Russian version and I'm almost through reading the tome - a great novel. As for Tolstoy himself, although a lover of music he wasn't actually a great Beethoven fan. I look forward to this Kreutzer sonata, but does anyone know about Bernard Rose's film from last year?

I have been watching the Russian version also that comes on three discs. I ordered it from Amazon and thought that the dialog was English but it is in Russian and the subtitles are in English, . Still watching it though.

I thought Tolstoy was a somewhat of a fan of Beethoven because of what Michael wrote sometime ago on the forum, that Tolstoy would praise Beethoven's sonata's some of the time.

[Preston]

It seems you are right Peter, about Tolstoy not being to fond of Beethoven. I just read from a book preview on the internet and it talks about some things concerning Tolstoy and Beethoven.

[Michael]

I thought Tolstoy was a somewhat of a fan of Beethoven because of what Michael wrote sometime ago on the forum, that Tolstoy would praise Beethoven's sonata's some of the time.

I had just been reading a biography of Tolstoy and it appears he could not make up his mind about Beethoven and art music in general. For such an extremely intelligent man, he was subject to all sorts of fads and half-baked ideas and at one stage he said that the only real music was Russian folksong, etc. His novella, "The Kreutzer Sonata" is an example of his ambivalent attitude to Beethoven in that it shows the disastrous effect that music can have on human beings.
Just to confuse things, Janacek wrote a string quartet called "The Kreutzer Sonata" which is inspired by the Tolstoy work, not the Beethoven violin sonata.

[PDG]

I had just been reading a biography of Tolstoy and it appears he could not make up his mind about Beethoven and art music in general. For such an extremely intelligent man, he was subject to all sorts of fads and half-baked ideas and at one stage he said that the only real music was Russian folksong, etc. His novella, "The Kreutzer Sonata" is an example of his ambivalent attitude to Beethoven in that it shows the disastrous effect that music can have on human beings.
Just to confuse things, Janacek wrote a string quartet called "The Kreutzer Sonata" which is inspired by the Tolstoy work, not the Beethoven violin sonata.

Hi Mike. Who cares what Tolstoy thought? Who cares what J K Rowling thinks? These people are not any better qualified to evaluate great musical genius than are you or me.
Btw, did Janacek himself name his quartet? If so, it smacks of ingratiation. And not with the book...
Regards, etc...

[Michael]

Hi Mike. Who cares what Tolstoy thought? Who cares what J K Rowling thinks? These people are not any better qualified to evaluate great musical genius than are you or me.
...

Hi, PDG! Yes, who cares indeed. But I'm fascinated by Tolstoy because I think "War and Peace" is the greatest novel I have ever read. I know it sounds like a cliche but it really is astounding and I have read it four times (so far!) I expected the writer to be a great and wise man and I got a hell of a shock when I read his biography.
I should have been prepared, though. I know of a composer like that .......

[Preston]

Just to confuse things, Janacek wrote a string quartet called "The Kreutzer Sonata" which is inspired by the Tolstoy work, not the Beethoven violin sonata.

I think that the novella was inspired by Beethoven because Pozdnyshev's wife plays Beethoven's Kreutzer with the man she cheated on Pozdnyshev with.

Yeah, what I read about Tolstoy was that he thought Beethoven was artificial! Of all the things to call Beethoven artificial, when he was a man tormented by problems and was very real, in my opinion.

Although, I do respect and admire Tolstoy very much. It is just different people have different understandings and beliefs, and Tolstoy's were wrong about Beethoven.

Tolstoy made a lot of remarks that probably are not right by today's understandings and knowledge but I feel that he was a brilliant man.

Best Regards,
Preston

[Preston]

Who cares what Tolstoy thought? Who cares what J K Rowling thinks?

Now those are two very very different people! One a spiritual man and the other a practically joke writer.

[Peter]

Hi, PDG! Yes, who cares indeed. But I'm fascinated by Tolstoy because I think "War and Peace" is the greatest novel I have ever read. I know it sounds like a cliche but it really is astounding and I have read it four times (so far!) I expected the writer to be a great and wise man and I got a hell of a shock when I read his biography.
I should have been prepared, though. I know of a composer like that .......

I agree with you Michael - I think the two greatest books I've read are 1)War and Peace and 2) Les Miserables. I've yet to read Manzoni's The betrothed but Verdi thought that the greatest book ever - it's next in my reading queue!

[Michael]

I agree with you Michael - I think the two greatest books I've read are 1)War and Peace and 2) Les Miserables. I've yet to read Manzoni's The betrothed but Verdi thought that the greatest book ever - it's next in my reading queue!

The strange thing is that I discovered Tolstoy at the exact period I discovered Beethoven (early 1968 when I was but a lad of twenty odd summers - some of them very odd ). Apart from the book itself, I would recommend the BBC twenty-episode adaptation of "War and Peace" which went out in 1972 with Anthony Hopkins as Pierre. It's available on DVD but is a bit pricey.
Speaking of Victor Hugo, a few weeks ago I watched the same Anthony Hopkins playing Quasimodo.
(Quickly back to Beethoven: he is not referred to in "War and Peace" but there is a mention of him in "Anna Karenin".)

[Megan]

I was most intrigued by discovering Preston's post, about Tolstoy's book and film entitled, the Kreutzer Sonata.
The link he gave to the film doesn't seem to work.



Didn't Tolstoy leave his wife or something and become a peasant and lived in Russian forest?



.

[AeolianHarp]

I expected the writer to be a great and wise man and I got a hell of a shock when I read his biography.
I should have been prepared, though. I know of a composer like that .......

I do hope you were NOT referring to a certain German composer Michael....