Björn Andresen, Adagio assai

First in a series. Advisory: This video is in no way a synopsis of “Death In Venice,“ Luchino Visconti’s 1971 masterpiece film adaptation of Thomas Mann’s novella, a film which enchants me with its exceptional beauty and pathos. At or very near the center of this enchantment is the charismatic Björn Andrésen, as Tadzio, to whom Dirk Bogarde’s autobiography ascribes “an almost mystic beauty.“ But the film at normal speed does not allow the viewer a full appreciation of Björn’s incomparable beauty, so I have included the devices of slow motion and the freeze to enhance the aesthetic experience. I have also added a worthy substitute music movement, to create the right mood. I find three intertwining threads woven into the lives of both Aschenbach and Tadzio: loss, loneliness, and longing. Here, Art imitates Life. But I have provided a happier ending, by converting Aschenbach’s wishful thinking scene into an act of blessing upon Tadzio (which