Re: GG: Majesty in Mantua

[Marco Poli <poli@imiucca.csi.unimi.it>]

Dear Junichi,
not knowing the documentary you write of, I can only forward some
hypotheses about the "Majesty in Mantua" film.

Mantua - in Italian it's spelled "Mantova" - is a town in Northern Italy,
about half way between Milano and Venice.   Although presently it's
importance lies mostly in agriculture, the town has a long history, it's
origins antedating by perhaps 2,000 years the Roman empire.   By the way,
the Latin poet Vergilius was born here.
In the Renaissance, Mantua was governed by the Gonzaga family, many of
whose members were very fond of every form of art.  Most of the best
artists of the time visited Mantova: among the painters, Donatello,
Mantegna, Giulio Romano.
Since the Gonzagas also loved music (and, through marriages, were kin to
many important European reigning families), most significant European
musicians of the time were also in contact with the court.
I therefore suppose that the documentary in question might have to do with
the artistic flourishing of the town and of the Gonzaga court.
Given his interests in baroque music, I can very well see GG commenting on
such a film, and would love to know his thoughts on it!

By the way, I think that Clouzot's films of Karajan conducting are still to
be rated among the best - and more respectful of music - musical videos of
any time.


Best regards,



Marco











>A question on a GG letter for translation (the Japanese edition).
>
>Letter to Ronald Wilford dated ca. January 1968:
>
>". . . Beginning February 4th [, 1968] and for seven
>consecutive Sundays thereafter I'm functioning as
>on-camera host and continuity writer for a festival
>of music films (mostly foreign) including
>'Majesty in Mantua' from  the BBC,
>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>and the good Dr.von K.'s 'New World.'"
>
>According to the footnotes of the French edition,
>the TV program "Majesty in Mantua" was broadcasted
>on February 11, 1968.
>
>Do you know or guess what the program is about?
>What does the title mean?
>
>Thank you in advance.
>
>Regards,
>
>Junichi
>
>P.S.  GG mentioned Karajan's "The New World"film
>again in the letter to Helen Whitney dated Sept. 3, 1971:
>
>"There are, on the other hand, instances of the successful
>adaptation of orchestral music to the camera and, [...] by
>far the most impressive of these, to my mind, is the
>set of films made with various directors for the Berlin
>Philharmonic with Von Karajan.  In the best of these
>--I think of the superb Dvorak 'New World' by
>[Henri-Georges] Clouzot."
>
>I found the film (1966) available as a lazerdisc from
>Deutshe Grammophon (Laser Disc 072 282-1 GCE),
>so I bought it.  I enjoyed the film.  It might have
>been a "successful adapatation of orchestral music
>to the camera" in 1960's, but these days it looks
>a rather old-fashioned.
>
>****************************************
>  Junichi Miyazawa, Tokyo
>  walkingtune@bigfoot.com / junichi@poetic.com
>****************************************
>  http://www.geocities.com/Vienna/3739