Horst in Translation ([email protected]) "Frühlingssinfonie" or "Spring Symphony" is a West German German-language film from 1983. It was written and directed by Peter Schamoni and is among the filmmaker's most known works. The cast includes a couple big names too, such as Nastassja Kinski, Herbert Grönemeyer and Rolf Hoppe. This 105-minute movie is one of the defining films of Kinski's (daughter's) career as she won her only German Film award for her portrayal of Clara Wieck here, the partner of famous composer Robert Schumann (played by Grönemeyer). The good thing I can say about Kinski's performance here is that it is possibly the best thing about the film and she is certainly much much better than the limited Grönemeyer. But as the film is nothing special, neither is Kinski's performance and this film award honor may have been a bit too much. I also cannot say that this movie got me curious about Schumann or Wieck and what their lives were like. It felt like a very bleak, sterile film and all the parts when Schamoni tried to make an emotional impact, I must say didn't do a lot for me. So like I already wrote in the title of my review, I felt that this became a pretty forgettable watch. Maybe you need to be a big lover of either classical music, or of Schumann in particular to enjoy the watch here, but I just could not take it seriously in the face of Grönemeyer extremely weak portrayal and choosing the path of music may have been the best thing he could have done. I do not recommend the watch. Thumbs down.

FloatingOpera7 Fruhlingsinfonie "Spring Symphony" (1983): Starring Nastassia Kinski, Herbert Gronemeyer, Rolf Hoppe, Andre Heller, Marie Colbin, Margit Geissler, Gidon Kemer, Inge Marschall, Kitty Matern, Uwe Muller, Peter Schamoni's 1983 German film "Spring Symphony" is an intimate, accurate portrayal of the relationship between two composers- Robert Schumann and Clara. It is a wonderful film, with fine acting by the leads Herbert Gronemeyer and Natassia Kinksi, who had been a model and would enjoy further success after this movie. The time is early 19th century (1830-1850)during the Romantic Era craze in classical music. Beethoven opened the gates to the new wave of music, which would be followed by Chopin and Franz Liszt, all mentioned in this film. Robert Schumann is portrayed here as a struggling artist, an idealist who lives from hand to mouth, more along the lines of Mozart. He gets romantically involved with the more wealthier and polished Clara Wieck whose father opposes their love. Even like this, Robert and Clara, who had become lovers through working together as composers, continue to defiantly engage in their relationship. Clara's father is brought to trial but in the end Clara and Robert are married. The film is accurate, and not highly dramatized or romanticized far from the truth. Filmed in Germany, Austria and France, the film follows the career of Schumann quite truthfully - i.e: the fact he was injured and his fingers were paralized and even as such played the piano quite well, his publication of a music magazine under the pen names of Eusebius and Florestan. Eusebius is his practical, balanced side while Florestan is passionate and free-spirited. A beautiful film. Natassia Kinksi plays a fine Clara, strong, independent, refined, romantic, soulful. The costumes and attention to detail are precise, captivating us and hooking us into a new world of historical romance.My favorite scenes are those romantic moments between Clara and Robert, the opening scene with Paganini playing a violin concerto with lightning speed, all the chamber music scenes and recitals Clara has and the finale in which finally, Clara and Robert have married and decide to open their own concert hall..Robert says "I hope this institution is big enough for two instruments" and I think he was referring to their marriage. The music is heaven. Conductor Wolgfang Sawallisch leads his orchestra in brilliant music by both Robert Schumann and Clara.

Carl S Lau Warning: minor spoiler of sorts"Spring Symphony" is the story of Robert Schumann and Clara Wieck. Both were music entities. Robert Schumann turns out to have been a second tier composer, if that, never rising to the heights of a Beethoven or Mozart. In contrast, Clara Wieck was a master technician in the playing of the piano, a composer (probably not at Schumann's level), and was a child prodigy. Clara is a young girl of eight or nine(?) when she first encounters Schumann who is a good ten years plus older than her. Clara's father is her own personal piano teacher who also undertakes the task of training a promising Schumann in the ways of the piano. Very early on, Schumann develops problems with one of his hands that will restrict his ability to ever rise to the level of a successful piano concert player. Fortunately, Schumann has the makings of a composer of sorts. Clara is enchanted by the older Schumann's compositions and makes it a point to play them while on tour with her father as constant companion and chaperon. As Clara grows she eventually morphs into Nastassja Kinski and the stage is set for a struggle between her father and Schumann for her love, loyalty, and attention. Schumann wants to marry her while her father considers him to be a third rate musician who wants to capitalize on Clara's piano skills to support him. Of course, her father is making a nice living with Clara's performances throughout Europe. Clara is underage and needs her father's permission to marry Schumann. This culminates in an actual lawsuit to free her from her father. The movie ends with their marriage and Schumann's first symphony, "Spring Symphony." The movie is historically accurate as far as it goes."Spring Symphony" was a movie for Nastassja Kinski that was in between "Cat People" and "Exposed" - at least in terms of its release date. With Nastassja in long hair, it is possible that "Spring Symphony" was filmed either before or after "Cat People." The real life Clara Wieck was an attractive woman so that Nastassja in her role was not out of line. The "Spring Symphony" DVD is in German with English subtitles. The film is well paced and never seems to drag. Nastassja appears to be more than competent at the keyboard and must have spent many hours practicing. Perhaps this film is her tribute to Ingrid Bergman in "Intermezzo."

playmahler When I saw this dvd in the store, I was thrilled. Rushed home to watch it and was so surprised to find the entire movie in German with no choice of languages or subtitles. I looked the outside cover over many times and there is nothing anywhere indicating that it is in German. My two years of college German are not sufficient for me to follow the story line well.In spite of this language barrier, I thought the movie was well done and I enjoyed it very much. Hopefully, one of my friends who speaks German better than I will watch it with me and translate.