Author & Music Composer | Lecturer | Broadcaster | Cultural Arts Expert |
President of Art Collage JANG, J Music, J Art, and J Books & Media. | Author of 40+ books on Amazon, including “The Crimson Horror Series” and “The Great and Immortal Painters’ Stories Series.” |
Exploring the worlds of art, music, literature, and culture through writing, composition, education, and creative media. |
Creating stories. Composing music. Celebrating the arts.
“Echoes of a
Fading Light” is a breathtaking Classical
Crossover composition that blends emotional depth with elegant simplicity. The
piece opens with a gentle piano motif that sets a sorrowful yet beautiful tone.
As the violin enters with long, expressive phrases, the music unfolds like a
story of lost memories and quiet heartbreak. The cello adds warmth and weight,
grounding the emotion with its rich timbre. This track is a perfect companion
for moments of reflection and emotional release.
Creator/Ownership/Copyright:Seungyong Chang (Steve J) & J Music
Release
date:5 September 1998 (Venice), 30 December
1998 (U.S.), 22 January 1999 (United Kingdom)
Staff
Director:
Anand Tucker
Producer:
Nicolas Kent, Andy Paterson
Written
by:Frank Cottrell Boyce
Music:
Barrington Pheloung
Cinematography:
David Johnson
Edited
by: Martin Walsh
Cast
Rachel Griffiths as Hilary du Pré
Emily Watson as Jacqueline du Pré
James Frain as Daniel Barenboim
David Morrissey as Christopher
Finzi
Summary
“Hilary and Jackie” is a
British biographical film directed by Anand Tucker in 1998, starring Emily
Watson and Rachel Griffiths as the British classical musician sisters
Jacqueline du Pré (cello) and Hilary du Pré (flute). The film covers
Jacqueline's rise to fame, her affair with Hilary's husband Christopher Finzi,
and the struggle of Jacqueline with multiple sclerosis starting in her late
20s.
Jacqueline du Pré
The scenario written by Frank
Cottrell-Boyce claimed in the end credits that the film was based on the memoir
"A Genius in the Family" published in 1997 by Piers and Hilary du Pré
(the book later republished under the title "Hilary and Jackie").
However, the memoir had not yet been published when the film was shot.
Cover of "A Genius in the Family"
In response, Cottrell-Boyce said,
"Hilary was writing the book at the same time as I was working on the
film. When we were working on the script, the film was at a very early
stage." Therefore, the film was instead based on conversations between
Hillary and Pierce, and unlike the book, this film does not claim to be the
true story and contains some fictional incidents.
The film sparked controversy and
criticism for claims that it distorted Jacqueline's life, and some of
Jacqueline du Pré’s friends publicly criticized the film, and Hilary du Pré
publicly defended her version of the story
The film was generally well
received, and Griffiths and Watson were nominated for an Academy Award, for
Best Supporting Actress and Best Actress, respectively.
Movie
Review
“Entertaining and moving story of
two real-life sisters”
“Musical genius, destroyed by
multiple sclerosis”
“Heavy subject, but worth it”
“A good film”
Interesting
stories about the film
1. The film has never been screened
in France to avoid any litigation due to the story of Daniel Barenboim's life
drawn in the film.
2. The role of Jacqueline du Pré
was natural to Emily Watson because she actually learned to play the cello when
she was a child. She practiced so long and so intensively for this film that
she would frequently make her fingers bleed.
How are you? Modigliani Institute Korea (MIK) is currently introducing artworks of Amedeo Modigliani one by one every week. The 16th work to introduce for this week is “The Cellist (1909)”. This work is, a portrait of an expressionist style and an oil painting on canvas with the size of 130 x 80 cm, painted by Modigliani in 1909. This work used differentiated colors to express the moment when the cellist is immersed in his playing of cello. This work has a strong influence on ‘Paul Cézanne’, and it even creates the illusion that the work mimics the characters of ‘The Card Players’ by Cézanne. Also in this work, the unusually elongated cellist's arms suggest the beginning of an elongated drawing style that later becomes one of Modigliani's characteristic painting styles. For the cellist in this work, the viewers are indifferent beings, and he is so immersed in the performance that he has no interest in anything but the instrument. The model in this work was a poor cellist who lived there when Modigliani had a studio in Falguière. This work also has a study work, but even in the case of the study work, although some parts of it were not painted, it feels like a completed work. In 1910, Modigliani exhibited both completed and study works in the ‘Salon des Indépendants’, which was his second and last. The painting in the background of this work is a portrait of sculptor ‘Brancusi’, who was Modigliani's friend. It looks like the model, the cellist, is talking to his cello and, as the cello whispers, his body is in tune according to the instrument. In general, musicians tend to prioritize their instruments rather than themselves, and in this work, the player feels like he is wrapping his instrument in a devoted manner with the intention of protecting it in any case. It also looks like that the player and the instrument is a whole body, not knowing whether the player leads the cello by playing or vice versa. In this work, Modigliani blunted the presence of the bow of the cello by blurring it compared to the cello. The reason seems that the cello is a musical instrument with a bow, but in order to convey the idea to the viewer that the musical performance in this picture is a communication between the cellist and the cello, not by bow but by dialogue between the two. This work also highlights the choice of colors. The model in this work was a poor musician at the time. Therefore, in order to highlight his harsh and difficult life, it seems that Modigliani used blue color for his attire because ‘blue’ also means ‘gloomy’ as well as color. Such choice of the attire’s color is a concept similar to ‘black’ color, which Modigliani used for the attire of the model who was rich and well-educated. Also, in the background colors that Modigliani selected in order to avoid disturbing the performer who is immersed in the playing of the musical instrument, and allow the viewers to concentrate on the performer with being almost indifferent to the background, we can feel the thoughtfulness of Modigliani for the performer as well as his artistic genius for the colors. It was Belle Époque era in Paris when Modigliani painted this work. Modigliani, however, did not follow the trend of the time and went his own way as a convincing artist. In 1909, an artist, who was an acquaintance of Modigliani, Kurt Störmer, visited his studio in Paris. At that time, Störmer saw this work as a completed painting, and he was impressed by this fantastic work, which showed Modigliani’s artistic genius in color selection. Thank you.
How are you? Modigliani Institute Korea (MIK) is currently introducing artworks of Amedeo Modigliani one by one every week. The 11th work to introduce this week is “The Beggar of Livorno (1909)”, an oil painting on canvas having a size of 66 cm x 52.7 cm. This was the only work Modigliani painted in his hometown, Livorno, longing for returning to Paris while staying in Livorno. In the title of this work, Livorno is sometimes replaced with “Leghorn”, which is the English term for Livorno. After Modigliani painted this work, he hung it for several months on the wall of his studio in Rue Falguière until it was exhibited at the Salon des Independants in 1910. In the early years, Modigliani's favorite subjects were portraits of friends and the poor. The main reason for such model selection was because Modigliani was not able to pay for the model. But in addition to the issue of model fees, other reason can be found in literary works that have had a great influence on the formation of Modigliani's life values. Because until just before his death (including when he was able to pay model fees), Modigliani's favorite models were the common and poor people such as children, peasants, and working-class men and women, and he painted mainly the poor throughout his life. The evidence for this is that the works Modigliani had painted wealthy people are few, except for some of his works including “The Bride and Groom” in 1915. The year of 1909, when Modigliani painted this work was a time when he was fascinated by Cézanne's work, and Cézanne was one of the most influential artists for an entire generation of painters. Fascinated by Cézanne's work at the time, Modigliani clearly showed Cézanne's influence in this work along with other work, "The Cellist", which he painted in the same year. In other words, the structure of the model's face and the intense brush strokes of blue and green colors in particular in this work are reminiscent of Cézanne's style. It is believed that the reason why Modigliani hung this painting on the wall of his studio for several months before the exhibition was to pay respects to Cézanne as well as the preciousness of this work. Thank you.
