Summary: Handel always knew how to succeed. His Italian operas took London by storm, but when the public rejected music in foreign languages he gave them the oratorio in English. And when the Royal Academy of Music folded, Handel revived it under a scheme of subscriptions and box-office receipts and modern theater was born. This program traces Handel's distinguished career, focusing on his great output...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
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Summary: Inspired by Paganini's dedication to a soloist instrument, the violin, Chopin decided early in his career to write only for piano. This beautifully produced program presents a biography of the Polish-born child prodigy and composer who blended Slavic influences into his works. Sketches, paintings, and cinematic treatments of Chopin and his times complement the music. Archival footage includes...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
View online at AVOD
Summary: Beethoven transformed the sonata, taking it from drawing rooms to concert halls. His third symphony altered the very nature of the genre and launched the heroic style in music. And the fact that he wrote only nine symphonies-far fewer than his predecessors-forcefully demonstrated a fundamental change in composition. In this program, the life and legacy of a genius come alive through letters,...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2007
View online at AVOD
Summary: With its real-life characters and earthly plot, The Marriage of Figaro is the first modern opera and an example of how Mozart took his inspiration from humanity and not God, as his predecessors had done. This program tracks the meteoric career of perhaps the greatest musical genius ever. Musicologist Andre Tubeuf and Mozart scholars Jean and Brigitte Massin discuss the interplay of composition...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2007
View online at AVOD
Summary: His playing too advanced for small-town churches, his cantatas far more complex than those of his contemporaries (and thus under-appreciated), Bach initially found his genius thwarted. This program surveys the amazing achievements of the man of whom Beethoven said: "Not brook but ocean should be his name." Interviews with cellist Pablo Casals and organist Pierre Cambourian complement an array...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2007
View online at AVOD
Summary: In Lohengrin Wagner links arias with recitatives-unbroken musical continuity is born. In Tristan und Isolde he changes the very role of the orchestra. And in The Ring of the Niebelungen he invents the leitmotif. This program charts the fortunes and innovations of the composer who truly revolutionized opera. Beginning with The Flying Dutchman, the video explores the connections between Wagner's...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2007