FANTASIA ON THE CHILDHOOD OF BUSONI 1981 SECA Award in Film SF MOMA
Chase and Corsaro did their first version of Busoni's opera DOCKTOR FAUST in 1977. For that version, the scenes in Medieval Germany were interwoven (during the interludes) with scenes from Busoni's childhood. Ferrucio Busoni was one of the unusual childhood genius, beginning a career as a pianist when he was nine. His concert tours across Italy, Germany and Austria were planned and executed by his mother, Anna. Chase filmed landscapes in Germany and Italy, always looking for period train stations, scenes in Trieste where the family lived, and moments in cities where they stopped, then returned to San Francisco, to create footage to blend with his European shoot, using actors and creating train station interiors in his studio. He edited the footage into a short film finished in 1981.
STILLS FROM THE FILM
