Instrumentation
2(=picc).2(=ca).2(II=Ebcl+bcl).2(II=cbsn) - 4300 -timp - perc(2): BD/BD+cym (with foot ped)/TD/2 SD/cyms/susp.cym/tam-t/gong/2 tgl/tamb/sleigh bells/glsp/t.bells - harp - strings (8.6.4.4.2)
Availability
Full score and parts for hire
Programme Notes
Starring: Ramon Novarro, Norma Shearer
Director: Ernst Lubitsch
Production Company: MGM USA, 1927
Film Print: 35mm print including two original tinted sequences available from Photoplay Productions (Film Speed: 20-24 frames per second)
Recorded for Video
Based on Romberg's Broadway-smash operetta The Student Prince, the film is set in a storybook German principality at the turn of the century. A crown prince leaves the formalities of the court for university in Heidelberg, where he discovers the joys of ordinary life and falls in love with the innkeeper's daughter. After the death of his uncle, the l(ing, he is recalled from Heidelberg to be crowned; but when he eventually returns to the university, he finds that now he is an outsider. This bittersweet romantic masterpiece is a perfect example of what became known as 'the Lubitsch touch'. Carl Davis's lush romantic orchestral textures, interspersed with German folk and student drinking songs to accompany the boisterous scenes of university life, perfectly complement the spirit of this poignant romance.