An Unlikely Movie

I love to play the piano pieces I'm working on for my friends (especially non-music majors). It's surprising how often I'll learn new things about the piece or about how I play, just by performing it for them.

So one night a couple weeks ago, I was playing a Beethoven piano sonata that I had been working on for a group of friends. The piece is slow, dark, and very dramatic, just like a melodrama or tragedy. So I asked my friends to listen to it like the soundtrack to a story.

When I was done playing, the room burst into sound as my friends all began talking about the stories they had created in their minds from the music. At first they were talking about something like Les Miserables or something along those lines, and then we started modifying it to be about a princess. I don't remember who it was, but someone suggested, "Why don't we make a movie out of this?"

And we're going to do it. Yeah, we're college students with not much time, and yes, we're not theater majors or incredibly awesome actors (at least some of us aren't). But we do have imagination, some legit costumes, and lots of motivation. (And plus, we came up with a pretty awesome name for our "movie company:" ERRonious Productions. Like us on facebook!)

It shall be a silent film in black & white or sepia, with only the piano music as the soundtrack. And yes, it is a tragedy. It's about the trials of a princess who is faced with a dying father, an evil Aunt, and some poison.

Here's the piece, so you can hear for yourself. What kind of story do you hear from this?