Ken Russell (director) THE MUSIC LOVERS [working title: THE LONELY HEART] (1969) Final shooting script

London: Russfilms Limited, 1969. Vintage original film script, quarto, plain wrappers with die cut window showing title, 105 pp. With many pages of revisions on pink paper laid in. Actor Richard Chamberlain’s copy, signed by him on title page, with numerous holograph notations in his hand including changes to dialogue. Many pages (but most especially the laid in revision pages) show considerable wear at their edges, but virtually no printed text is affected. Script has working title THE LONELY HEART. Very good-.

Richard Chamberlain’s annotated script for a landmark British gay film about the life of Pyotr Tchaikovsky. This was a daring part for Chamberlain to take on, since he was still a heavily closeted man in his personal life.

Much of the film is without dialogue and the story is presented in flashbacks, nightmares, and fantasy sequences set to Tchaikovsky’s music. As a child, the composer sees his mother die horribly, forcibly immersed in scalding water as a supposed cure for cholera, and is haunted by the scene throughout his musical career. Despite his difficulty in establishing his reputation, he attracts Madame Nadezhda von Meck as his patron. His marriage to the allegedly nymphomaniacal Antonina Miliukova is plagued by his homosexual urges and lustful desire for Count Anton Chiluvsky. The dynamics of his life lead to deteriorating mental health and the loss of von Meck’s patronage, and he dies of cholera after deliberately drinking contaminated water. (Wikipedia)