Poems of Asolo

Poems of Asolo (Italian title: “Poemi Asolani”) is a 1985 German-Italian biographical film about the Italian music composer Gian Francesco Malipiero, directed by Georg Brintrup.

"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.

The broken voice of old Malipiero (actor: Heinz Kreuger) delivers 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.

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