AUSTRIA/WEST GERMANY/FRANCE/ITALY 35MM (TWO SHOTS ORIGINALLY IN 16MM) 1.37:1, COLOR, 105′
[Opening credits, black text on white, in German]
– A co-production of Austrian Radio and Tele-vision and the ARD (including West Berlin)
– Under the direction of Hessen Radio
– Produced by Janus-Film & Fernsehen with financing from Straub-Huillet, RAI, ORTF and Taurus-Film
– A German-French co-production of Janus Film & Fernsehen with NEF Diffusion
– Production Management, Direction, Editing: Danièle Huillet, Jean-Marie Straub
– Musical Direction: Michael Gielen; Assistance: Bernard Rubenstein
[Red handwriting on white, 48 frames]
– For Holger Meins, J.-M. S., D.H.
[white text on black]
– Moses und Aron. Opera in three acts by Arnold Schoenberg. Publisher B. Schott’s Söhne
[End credits, white text on black]
– Moses: Günter Reich, Aron: Louis Devos
– Young girl: Eva Csapó, Young Man: Roger Lucas, Other Man: Richard Salter
– Priest: Werner Mann, Ephraimite: Ladislav Illavsky, Sick Woman: Friedl Obrowsky
– Austrian Radio Choir, Preparation: Gottfried Preinfalk
– Austrian Radio Symphony Orchestra
– Sound: Louis Hochet, Ernst Neuspiel, Georges Vaglio, Jeti Grigioni
– Image: Ugo Piccone, Saverio Diamanti, Gianni Canfarelli, Renato Berta
– Technicians: Francesco Ragusa, Alvaro Nannicini, Gianfranco Baldacci
– Assistants: Paolo Benvenuti, Hans-Peter Böffgen, Leo Mingrone, Basti [Sebastian] Schadhauser, Gabriele Soncini, Harald Vogel, Gregory Woods
– “Cantini” Costumes: Renata Morroni, Augusta Morelli, Mariateresa Stefanelli, Hair: Guerrino Todero, Shoes: Ernesto Pompei
– Choreography: Jochen Ulrich, Dancers: Helmut Baumann, Jürg Burth, Nick Farrant, Wolfgang Kegler, Michael Molnar
– Processing and Prints: LV di Luciano Vittori
Arnold Schoenberg’s opera Moses und Aron was written primarily between May 1930 (Berlin) and March 1932 (Barcelona). The third act remained unfinished.
SCRIPT DATED: Berlin, late 1959–Rome, early 1970.
PRE-CREDITS: fragment of page of Luther’s translation of the Bible (1523): Exodus, 32, 25–28.
PRODUCTION DATES AND LOCATIONS: 2 shots in Louxor (Egypt) in May 1973 (shots 42 and 43; pans over the Nile Valley), in 16mm; recording of the orchestra in Vienna, 6 weeks; in the amphitheater in Alba Fucense (Abruzzo, Italy) and Lake Matese (last shot, Act III) in August–September 1974, 5 weeks.
EQUIPMENT: Beaulieu 16mm camera (Louxor shots), Mitchell BNC 300 Blimp camera, 2 Nagra IV and 1 Nagra
III.
FILM STOCK: Kodak 16mm color reversal (Louxor) and Eastmancolor 5254 (35mm, color).
BUDGET: 720,000 DM and the support (orchestra and choir in Vienna) of Austrian Radio and Tele -vision (ORF): about 600,000 DM. SUBTITLED IN ENGLISH by Huillet, Gregory Woods, and Misha Donat, IN FRENCH by Huillet, IN DUTCH by Huillet and Frans van de Staak.
FIRST SCREENING: 1975 Rotterdam Film Festival (February); 1975 Edinburgh Film Festival; 1975 New York Film Festival.
TV PREMIERE: March 29, 1975 (HR III/ WDR III/NDR III, West Germany)
