Director: Sergei Eisenstein (1898-1948) Music: Edmund Meisel (1894-1930) Version for salon orchestra
Daniel Grossmann, conductor
JEWISH
Sergei Eisenstein's masterpiece Battleship Potemkin was commissioned: Eisenstein was to make a film for the Soviet state to commemorate the first failed revolution. The result was a visually powerful film that soon attracted attention outside of Russia. Its great success in cinemas around the world would probably not have been possible without the impressive music of the Jewish composer Edmund Meisel would not have been possible.
TODAY Even on its anniversary, Battleship Potemkin is still relevant: the film has shaped the iconography of the uprising for 100 years, and the famous scene on the Odessa steps is known by more than just film buffs. No less relevant is the topic of Russia's handling of its own history - all the more so, when the episode depicted in the film, the mutiny on a warship, took place in what is now contested territory in Ukraine.
FOR ALL Silent films with live music are no longer just for cinematographers and nerds: a broad audience enjoys these evenings between concert and cinema. Moving images from the early days of filmmaking and music from a salon orchestra offer a completely different experience than the technically and Visually ever more 'perfect' cinema of the present. Let yourself be transported back in time.
