Poems of Asolo

"Poems of Asolo" (Poemi Asolani) is also the title of a musical composition by Gian Francesco Malipiero, who was born in Venice but lived most of his life in Asolo, a small town in the Veneto region. The film offers a portrait of the composer and the town, he chose as his favorite place to live. Like a “musical with no singing” [2] the film features instrumental music and a speaker. The broken voice of old Malipiero (actor: Heinz Kreuger) is an inner monologue which covers the most interesting stages of a life entirely lived by the motto: “I have constantly, inevitably, rejected and destroyed whatever was the outcome of my will instead of my intuition.” [3]

It seems that the real protagonist of the film is Malipiero's music. Each shot and scene have its own precise number of bars or musical notes. The action and the camera movements have been done according to the rhythm of the musical compositions. Environmental noises are often at the origin of Malipiero's music. In the film, in fact, these noises have the same value as the music. The volume of the direct sound is always kept at the same level as the music.

• Philippe Nahoun – young Malipiero
• Mario Perazzini – old Malipiero
• Alessandro Bertorello –Malipiero as a child
• Paola Guccione – Malipieros mother
• Lucia Casagrande – Malipieros first wife
• Pino Costalunga – friend of Malipiero
• Giovanni Todescato – friend of Malipiero
• Roberto Giglio – friend of Malipiero / mask
• Roberto Cuppone – friend of Malipiero / mask
• Mauro Sassaro – friend of Malipiero / mask
• Giuliana Barbaro – mask
• Gino Gorini – pianist

The film’s soundtrack is made up of musical compositions by Malipiero, except for one piece by Igor Stravinsky:

• San Francesco d'Assisi, mistero per soli, coro e orchestra (1920–1921, New York 1922)
• La bottega da caffè (1926)
• Impressioni dal vero (il capinero) (1910)
• Impressioni dal vero (il chiù) (1910)
• Le sacre du printemps di Igor Stravinsky (1913)
• Impressioni dal vero (il picchio) (1915)
• Poemi asolani (1916)
• Pause del silenzio I, (1917); II Sul fiume del tempo, L'esilio dell'eroe, Il grillo cantarino, (1925–1926)
• Quartetto per archi n.1 "Rispetti e strambotti" (1920)
• Sinfonia n. 1 "In quattro tempi, come le quattro stagioni" (1933)
• Sinfonia n. 6 "Degli archi" (1947)
• L'Orfeide (1919–1922, Düsseldorf 1925), in tre parti:

• I "La morte delle maschere",
• II "Sette canzoni",

• Sinfonia n. 7 "Delle canzoni" (1948)

“Poems of Asolo” was first shown at the 1985 “Salso Film & TV Festival” [4] in Salsomaggiore,[1] as well as at the 1985 Prix Italia. The film was also shown at the “Festival Internazionale d’Oriolo” on 24 July 1986, where it won for best photography.,[5][6][7]

• Poemi Asolani at IMDb
• Film presentation