OT: Bronenosec Potiomkin, USSR 1926

Director: Sergej Eisenstein

Music: Dmitri Shostakovich

Sergej Eisenstein’s world famous film BATTLESHIP POTEMPKIN commemorates the mutiny on the Tsar’s battleship at Odessa in 1905. At the age of 28 the talented Eisenstein established his famous technique of creating a composite picture with this film. With a sense for rhythm and dynamic, this film is known as a very demanding and vivid work. Controversially, it takes viewers along a path of emotion as an effort to create political awareness.

THE STORY:What begins as a mere protest against bad meat results in a revolutionary upheaval on board the Battleship Potemkin in Odessa, 1905. The Admiral orders that the group of sailors who refused to eat the meat to be shot. Vakulinchik rallies his comrades to rise against the officers who oppress them. The uprising is successful when the officers are killed, yet Vakulinchik pays with his death. His body is revered and hailed as a symbol of the revolution. Odessa’s citizens join the Battleship Potemkin in its revolt until they are killed by Cossaks, in one of the most famous scenes of the film. This ends the revolt in Odessa, yet a battleship fleet is sent by the government to destroy the Potemkin. As the sailors become aware of this, they prepare for what appears to be their final defeat. Soon the battleships near and the comrades aim their cannons at them. They plead with them not to shoot, and as they draw closer to the fleet they discover that their enemy’s cannons no longer aim at them. The sailors of the Potemkin cheer and wave the revolutionary red flag.

Compositions:

Dmitri Shostakovich 1925, arr. by Armin Brunner (1992)

Instrumentation: 3.3.2.3 – 4.4.3.1 – 2timp.5perc.hrp – strings (min 12.10.8.6.5)

Edmund Meisel 1926, adapt. by Helmut Imig (2005)

Instrumentation: 2.2/ca.1BBcl+1EbCl/BCl.1 - 3.3.3.0 - timp.3perc.pno/keyboard/cel - strings (min. 8.7.5.4.3) --- Upon instructions of Eisenstein, Edmund Meisel composed the music for the german premiere version of BATTLESHIP POTEMKIN in 1926.

Edmund Meisel 1926, arr. by Pierre Oser (1990)

Instrumentation: 2 pianos

Dmitri Shostakovich/Frank Strobel, 2009

Instrumentation: 1+1/picc+1/picc.2+1/ca.2 in A and Bb + 1 in A and Bb/bcl +1 in A and Bb/piccCl in Eb.2+1/cbsn - 4.4.3.1 - timp+timp/perc+2perc.cel.2hrp – strings --- In his collage of Shostakovich symphonies, Frank Strobel has now achieved the posthumous synthesis of the two distinguished Soviet artists Dmitri Shostakovich and Sergei Eisenstein, thereby creating the ultimate musical version.

 

This is a production by the EUROPEAN FILMPHILHARMONIC INSTITUTE

contact: Beate Warkentien

Phone +49 (0) 30 27890-194

e-mail: warkentien@filmphilharmonie.de