Katharine Hepburn: Song of Love

Appearing as the 19th-century musical prodigy Clara Schumann (née Wieck) in the 1947 film, Song of Love, Katharine Hepburn starred opposite Paul Henreid (Casablanca) and Robert Walker (Madame Curie) as Robert Schumann and Johannes Brahms respectively. Fact and fiction, as in so many biopics, merge in memorable and occasionally clichéd ways. Yet when presented contextually to a more contemporary 21st-century audience, the film still manages to move viewers and captures the modernity of Clara Schumann for her own time as well as Hepburn's foresight and sensitivity in portraying the gifted artist and complex woman. This session revisits the 1947 film, examines the music contained within, and offers insight into the characterization of this renowned triumvirate against more recent findings about all three celebrated musicians.  

NOTE:  The film resides within the public domain and is available here: https://archive.org/details/song-of-love.