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A 1991 Documentary series hosted by Andre Previn and Michael Kitchen as reader of Mozart′s letters. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart spent a third of his life travelling, and the 13-part 'Mozart on Tour' series focuses on these journeys and their influence on his life and work, highlighting a piano concerto that demonstrates his musical development at the time of each trip. Mozart on Tour was produced to coincide with the 1991 bicentennial of Mozart′s death. Each episode is centred on a different European city and combines travelogue-style narration with musical excerpts and period re-enactment. Conductor and composer Andre Previn provides the historical and musical background, and actor Michael Kitchen reads from the many letters that Mozart wrote home while on his travels. Each episode includes a full performance of one of Mozart's twenty-seven piano concertos played by an internationally renowned soloist, orchestra and conductor. The performances take place in appropriately historical settings. Episode 1 - DOCUMENTARY SEGMENT: During his childhood, Mozart and his family visited London from April 1764 to July 1765. It was a happy and successful visit in which the court of King George III idolized him and his family and Mozart met and associated with some of the most important musicians of the time. Among them were Johann Christian Bach (1735–1782) and Karl Friedrich Abel (1723–1787), both of whom had spent a significant amount of time in Italy and were influenced by musical developments there. The Mozart family also became friendly with Giovanni Manzuoli (1720–1782), an Italian vocalist residing and performing in London at the time, and became familiar with his style of virtuoso singing. Bach, Abel, and Manzuoli gave Mozart first-hand exposure to the Italian musical style that would influence him for the rest of his life, the Italian school of musical composition, and the pianoforte, a fairly new instrument at the time. These experiences inspired Mozart's style, which culminated in works like 1782′s Piano Concerto No. 12 in A Major. - CONCERT SEGMENT: Piano Concerto No.12 in A Major, performed by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra with soloist and conductor Vladimir Ashkenazy. Recorded in the Great Hall of Lancaster House at Hampton Court Palace, London. Episode 2: https://rumble.com/v4n7glc-mozart-on-tour-mantua-initial-steps-episode-2.html

A 2015 Arts Documentary hosted by Rick Wakeman. Antonio Vivaldi’s the Four Seasons is the most popular piece of classical music of all time. There have been over 1000 different recordings , selling tens of millions of copies. It’s become so ubiquitous – in lifts, as phone ring tones or on call-centre answering machines – that it has been denounced as Muzak for the middle classes.

A 1987 Trilion Pictures production presents George Frederick Handel's "Water Music" from The Banqueting House - Whitehall London. Musicians and dancers perform at the Banqueting House in Whitehall, London in authentic Baroque costume and with period surroundings. English Bach Festival Dancers Choreography by Belinda Quirey Costumes (from original designs) by Derek West The English Bach Festival Orchestra Conducted by and Solo Violinist: Christopher Hirons Director: Derek Hanlon The Water Music (German: Wassermusik) is a collection of orchestral movements, often published as three suites, composed by George Frideric Handel. It premiered on 17 July 1717, in response to King George I's request for a concert on the River Thames. The Water Music opens with a French overture and includes minuets, bourrées, and hornpipes. It is divided into three suites About the Baroque Dance: When we think of "baroque dance", we often think of enormous wigs and frilly dresses, a rond de jambe and graceful entrechats. This is of course true, to a certain extent: as the Belle Danse developed during the 17th century, it was a dance reserved for the nobility and gentlemen, wearing their finest clothes. However, under the reign of Louis XIV, the baroque dance was not only a source of entertainment or a simple pass-time. Quite the contrary, it was a veritable art-form, with a social and political impact. In 17th century France, dance was an integral part of a gentleman's education. The nobility learned to read and to write, to handle weapons, and to dance. But what did baroque dance actually look like? "This dance is built upon the premise that if you can walk, you can dance", explains choreographer Béatrice Massin, advisor to director Gérard Corbiau for the film Le Roi Danse (2000). "Everything is built from very simple elements since the ball dances were necessarily accessible to all, nobody was a professional at this time. The baroque body was a round one, fully capable of taking advantage of the space. A body that takes pleasure both in volume but also in height. On every strong beat, for example, the body rises. There is a particular way of using the arms since the shoulders were not free when wearing court costumes. In the baroque dance, the ports de bras (name of a general arm movement in dance and ballet) thus remains oriented towards the pelvis and the lower part of the body, whilst the bust stretches upward, as if to assert grandeur and ease. As for the steps, the premises of classical dance with entrechats, chassés, and pas de bourrée... All variants that were built from a walking step."

A 2016 GEDEON Programmes Documentary directed by Marc Jampolsky. Audio in English, with subtitles in English (click on CC). The best-known and most impressive castle in the Loire valley, Chambord has remained an enigma to generations of researchers. Who was the architect? What significance did King Francois I, who commissioned Chambord, want the castle to have? And what role did his friend and “king’s architect” Leonardo da Vinci play? Conceived by a young monarch who loved hunting and chivalry, this “dream in stone” is still a puzzle to researchers 500 years later, especially since no preliminary designs have ever been found. Why did the King embark on this epic project in the heart of the marshlands in 1519?

A 2009 Arts Documentary narrated by Samuel West. Audio in English with subtitles for the Italian parts. The extraordinary story of one of world's great, lost masterpieces: Caravaggio's "The Taking of Christ". This film traces the painting's journey from its birth in Rome in 1602 to its amazing re-discovery in 1990. "The Taking of Christ" by Italian Baroque master Caravaggio today holds pride of place in the National Gallery of Ireland in Dublin. Its subject is the arrest of Jesus, the moment when the son of God, is betrayed with a kiss - the Judas kiss. 400 years ago the painting was one of the most costly and celebrated artworks of its time, but in a confusion of discarded fashions and lost fortunes, it vanished. Its rediscovery is one of the most extraordinary detective stories in the history of art, traversing time, countries, war, social upheaval and family fortunes.

A 2019 Biography Documentary, written and directed by Markus Auge. Audio in German with English subtitles. He was a patron of science and a reformer on the one hand, a brutal power-seeker on the other. Frederick II of Hohenstaufen, king and Holy Roman Emperor from 1212 to 1250, was a man full of contradictions. He was one of the most fascinating and at the same time most contradictory rulers of the Middle Ages: Frederick II, the last and at the same time the greatest emperor of the Staufers. To some he was the Messiah Emperor and the Prince of Peace, a universal genius with great, creative intelligence, the "Stupor mundi" ("wonder of the world"), but to others he was the beast of the apocalypse that had emerged from the sea, the Antichrist, the beast on the throne. He was a patron of science, a reformer, and might even be called the first modern ruler. Frederick II of Hohenstaufen, ruler of the Holy Roman Empire from 1212 to 1250, was an exceptional figure on the Roman-German imperial throne. Born and raised in the multi- ethnic state of Sicily, his reign was influenced by Byzantine and Norman traditions that allowed Jews and Muslims a large degree of freedom. All the royal houses in Europe are said to have looked up to him in awe. He saw himself as successor to the Roman emperors and ruler by the grace of God – a notion that was bound to collide with the Pope's claim to universal power. Frederick waged a bitter battle to maintain his power with five different popes. The Church excommunicated him several times and branded him a heretic and anti-Christ. Frederick responded with the sword, for the emperor was prepared to resort to brutal violence to defend his supremacy. He even arrested his own son and left him to rot in the dungeon. A ruler rife with contradictions and a man who, 800 years after his death, has lost nothing of his fascination.

Russian Ark (Russian: Russkij Kovcheg) is a 2002 German-Russian co-production experimental historical drama film directed by Alexander Sokurov. Audio in Russian with English subtitles. In Russian Ark, an unnamed narrator wanders through the Winter Palace in Saint Petersburg, and implies that he died in some horrible accident and is a ghost drifting through the palace. In each room, he encounters various real and fictional people from various periods in the city's 300-year history. He is accompanied by "the European", who represents the Marquis de Custine, a 19th-century French traveler. A grand ball follows, featuring music by Mikhail Glinka, with many of the participants in spectacular period costume, and a full orchestra conducted by Valery Gergiev, then a long final exit with a crowd down the grand staircase. The film was recorded entirely in the Winter Palace of the Russian State Hermitage Museum on 23 December 2001 using a one-take single 96-minute Steadicam sequence shot. Russian Ark uses the fourth wall device extensively, but repeatedly broken and re-erected. At times the narrator and the companion interact with the other performers, whilst at other times they pass unnoticed. The film displays 33 rooms of the museum, which are filled with a cast of over 2,000 actors and three orchestras. Cast & Characters: Alexander Sokurov as Narrator Sergei Dontsov (Sergey Dreyden) as the European (Marquis de Custine) Mariya Kuznetsova as Catherine the Great Marksim Sergeyev as Peter the Great Anna Aleksakhina as Alexandra Feodorovna Vladimir Baranov as Nicholas II

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Episode 4: Florence, 1537 - Alessandro de'Medici the Duke of Florence, lies murdered in his bed. His cousin is plucked from obscurity to lead Florence. He is just 17. His rivals think he's a puppet, but despite his youth, Cosimo de'Medici, the new Duke of Florence, is ambitious. The Making Of: https://rumble.com/v4mhknc-the-medici-making-of.html NOTE (on Cosimo I de' Medici): Cosimo I was not a nobody. It is true that up to the time of his accession, Cosimo had lived only in Mugello (the ancestral homeland of the Medici family) and was almost unknown in Florence - although, many of the influential men in the city favoured. However, he was the son of the famous Ludovico de' Medici (known as Giovanni dalle Bande Nere) and his wife Maria Salviati, herself a granddaughter of Lorenzo the Magnificent. He was the grandson of Caterina Sforza, the Countess of Forlì and Lady of Imola, and one of the most famous women of the Italian Renaissance. The reason they chose him was exactly because of his lineage, and because the only male child of Alessandro de' Medici (the first Duke of Florence and the last lineal descendant of the senior branch), was born out-of-wedlock and was only four years' old at the time of his father's death. Thus the senior branch line of the Medici (those descended from Cosimo the Elder) died with Alessandro. Cosimo I united the two branches of the Medici family; the senior branch through his mother Maria Salviati (the daughter of Lucrezia de' Medici, the eldest daughter of Lorenzo de' Medici and Clarice Orsini) and the "junior" branch (the so-called "Popolani" ) who were descended from Lorenzo the Elder, the younger brother of Cosimo de' Medici the Elder. As such, he became the first Grand Duke of Tuscany. Marie de' Medici, Queen of France and Navarre as the second wife of King Henry IV, was his granddaughter.

Episode 3: Florence, 1501 - 26-year-old Michelangelo carves a giant masterpiece which will come to symbolize his struggle against a family he once adored. Raised from a young age alongside the Medici heirs he watched as they were cast into exile with a price on their heads. Now they are searching for a path back to power. Episode 4. https://rumble.com/v4mgwtt-the-medici-godfathers-of-the-renaissance-power-vs.-truth-episode-4.html

Episode 2: Florence, August 1466 - Lorenzo de' Medici, the 17-year-old heir to the dynasty, foils a murderous plot against his father and saves his family from a coup d'Etat. The Medici still dominate Florence, but now take extra precautions, picking a useful bride for Lorenzo. Clarice Orsini, a baron's daughter and cardinal's niece, brings connections, class, and military muscle to the Medici dynasty. In the workshops of Florence, business has never been better. Under Medici patronage, artists like Sandro Botticelli go on to redefine the Renaissance itself. For now, Botticelli's “Adoration of the Magi” confirms his position at the heart of Medici power. Episode 3: https://rumble.com/v4mgc7b-the-medici-godfathers-of-the-renaissance-the-medici-popes-episode-3.html

A 2004 PBS Empire Special, History Documentary narrated by Massimo Marinoni. Audio in English with English subtitles (Click on CC). From a small Italian community in 15th century Florence, the Medici family would rise to rule Europe in many ways. Using charm, patronage, skill, duplicity and ruthlessness, they would amass unparalleled wealth and unprecedented power. They would also ignite the most important cultural and artistic revolution in Western history - the European Renaissance. But the forces of change the Medici helped unleash would one day topple their ordered world. Episode 1: Europe, 1400 - A continent torn apart by war and plague is dominated by the authority of the Catholic Church. In the towns and cities live merchants and entrepreneurs who sense that their world is changing. With increasing trade and wealth an appetite for enlightenment develops. No longer neglected in the shadows of the Church, classical philosophy, poetry, art and sculpture begin to reach a new audience. This is especially true in cosmopolitan cities like Florence, home of Cosimo de'Medici. Episode 2: https://rumble.com/v4mg7qx-the-medici-godfathers-of-the-renaissance-the-magnificent-medici-episode-2.html

The final episode is devoted to Puccini, the worthy successor to Verdi. Puccini's operas are cinematic in their scale with ravishing, passionate and clever music, as he took Italian opera into the 20th century. Pappano looks at five of Puccini's most popular operas - La Boheme, Tosca, Madame Butterfly, Gianni Schicchi and Turandot. He travels to Rome to meet stage director Franco Zeffirelli and talk about Puccini and Zeffirelli's famous production of Turandot. Pappano also talks to one of the great Puccini interpreters, the soprano Renata Scotto, about the composer, Madame Butterfly and the role of Mimi in La Boheme. Also featured are soprano Angela Gheorghiu, tenors Jonas Kaufmann and Roberto Alagna and baritone Sir Thomas Allen.

The second episode focuses on Verdi, whose operas are central to Pappano's conducting repertoire and the backbone of the international opera scene. It shows how Verdi's music was influenced by composers such as Bellini and particularly Donizetti, whose gothic masterpiece Lucia di Lammermoor is explored with the help of soprano Diana Damrau. Pappano looks at six of Verdi's most famous works - Nabucco, Rigoletto, Don Carlo, Otello, Falstaff and La Traviata, the last of which Pappano rehearses and conducts at the Royal Opera House with the starry cast of Renee Fleming, Joseph Calleja and Thomas Hampson. Pappano travels to Le Roncole in northern Italy where Verdi was born amidst a turbulent political environment, and politics became a major influence on Verdi's operas in later life. He conducts Va Pensiero from Nabucco at a vast open-air concert in Naples, a chorus which was to become a powerful symbol of political unity for the Italian people. Episode 3: https://rumble.com/v4m6uo5-opera-italia-the-triumph-of-puccini-episode-3.html

A 2010 Arts Documentary hosted by Antonio Pappano. Audio in English with English subtitles (Click on CC). Three-part series tracing the history of Italian opera presented by Antonio Pappano, world-renowned conductor and music director at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. The series features sumptuous music, stunning Italian locations and some of the biggest names in opera as contributors. In the first programme, Pappano takes a whistle-stop tour of the beginnings of opera, from Monteverdi to Rossini. He also looks at the works of two non-Italian composers, Handel and Mozart, both of whom were pivotal in the development of the art form. Along the way he enlists the help of some of the world's greatest singers - Juan Diego Florez, Joyce DiDonato, Danielle de Niese, Sarah Connolly and Pietro Spagnoli. Episode 2: https://rumble.com/v4m6i88-opera-italia-viva-verdi-episode-2.html

Otello is a 1986 film based on the Giuseppe Verdi opera of the same name, which was itself based on the Shakespearean play Othello. Audio in Italian with English and Italian subtitles (click on CC for subtitles). The film was directed by Franco Zeffirelli and starred Plácido Domingo in the title role, Katia Ricciarelli as Desdemona and Justino Díaz as Iago. For the film's soundtrack, Lorin Maazel conducted the Orchestra and Chorus of the Teatro alla Scala. The film was nominated for a Bafta Award and a Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film. In the same category, it was also nominated for a Golden Globe. The film was also entered into the 1986 Cannes Film Festival. With only a few exceptions, the film follows the same plot as the opera. Iago plots and brings about Otello's downfall by convincing him that his wife Desdemona is engaged in an affair with the young lieutenant Cassio, provoking Otello to murder her in a blind rage. However, in a major change from the opera, Otello kills Iago at the end by throwing a spear at him, while in the stage version he only wounds him with his sword. Cast & Characters: Plácido Domingo as Otello Katia Ricciarelli as Desdemona Justino Díaz as Iago Petra Malakova as Emilia Urbano Barberini as Cassio Massimo Foschi as Lodovico Edwin Francis as Montano Sergio Nicolai as Roderigo Remo Remotti as Brabantio Antonio Pierfederici as Doge For the most part, the film follows the original score of the opera with several noticeable exceptions. The entire "Willow Song" ("Salce, salce"), Desdemona's solo aria, which is largely considered one of the most beautiful moments in the work, is omitted. However, her "Ave Maria", which follows immediately, is retained in the film. There are, at various points, smaller additional cuts in the music, such as the moment at the end of the storm scene when the chorus is cut short and the film skips to the recitativo between Iago and Roderigo. This contrasts with stage productions of Otello, where the opera is rarely cut. There are also two additions: the extra music from the rarely performed third act ballet (written for the opera's Paris premiere) is inserted into the festivities of the first and third acts in the film. In some scenes, Zeffirelli was able to use the medium of film to show aspects of his interpretation that could not be done onstage. In the movie, when Iago is informing Otello about Cassio's supposed dream in which he apparently said to Desdemona, "Let us hide our loves", we see Cassio singing the words, not Iago, as in the original stage version. Here Zeffirelli is showing the audience the image of Iago's fabricated dream as Otello is imagining it. Another of Zeffirelli's interpretive decisions was to show, complete with screams and sound effects, a flashback of marauding soldiers attacking an African village and snatching Otello (as a baby) from his mother, while the adult Otello and Desdemona sing their Act I love duet.

A 1980 Documentary written and directed by James S. Ackerman. The influence of Palladio also reached to the United States, where the architecture and symbols of the Roman Republic were adapted for the architecture and institutions of the newly independent nation. The grand buildings of Washington, D.C. would look quite different were it not for the work of a Renaissance architect and his influence on Thomas Jefferson The Massachusetts governor and architect Thomas Dawes also admired the style, and used it when rebuilding Harvard Hall at Harvard University in 1766. Palladio's villas inspired Monticello, the residence of the third U.S. President, Thomas Jefferson, himself an architect. Jefferson organized a competition for the first United States Capitol building. It was won by William Thornton with a design inspired in part by Palladio and La Rotonda. The One Hundred Eleventh Congress of the United States of America called him the "Father of American Architecture" (Congressional Resolution no. 259 of 6 December 2010). His influence can also be seen in American plantation buildings.

A 1978 TV programme narrated by Tim Benton. A guided tour through three Italian villas designed by Renaissance architect Andrea Palladio. Andrea Palladio (November 30, 1508 – August 19, 1580) was an Italian architect. He was born in Padua and died at Maser, near Treviso. Palladio, influenced by Roman and Greek architecture, primarily Vitruvius, is widely considered to be one of the most influential individuals in the history of architecture. While he designed churches and palaces, he was best known for country houses and villas. His teachings, summarized in the architectural treatise, The Four Books of Architecture, gained him wide recognition. Palladio is known as one of the most influential architects in Western architecture. His architectural works have "been valued for centuries as the quintessence of High Renaissance calm and harmony". The city of Vicenza, with its 23 buildings designed by Palladio, and 24 Palladian villas of the Veneto are listed by UNESCO as part of a World Heritage Site named City of Vicenza and the Palladian Villas of the Veneto. The churches of Palladio are to be found within the "Venice and its Lagoon" UNESCO World Heritage Site.

ACT III Figaro stalls Marcellina by telling her that he is of noble birth and cannot marry without his parents' consent. He reveals a birthmark on his arm, whereupon Marcellina realizes that she and Bartolo have found their long-lost son. They embrace just as Susanne enters. She is furious, but once the situation is explained she joins in the celebration. After the countess has dictated the note that Susanna is to pass to the Count, a double wedding is prepared - Susanna and Figaro being joined by Marcellina and Bartolo. ACT IV Figaro encounters Barbarina, the gardener's daughter, who inadvertently reveals that Susanna has received a message from the count. Figaro assumes the worst, and decides to catch his errant wife when she arrives for her tryst in the garden. The countess and Susanna appear in each other's clothes (Susanne has now taken Cherubino's place in the subterfuge) and much mistaken identity ensues in the darkness (Cherubino is there to meet Barbarina too). Eventually Figaro realizes his wife is faithful and the count realizes he has been tricked. He begs for his wife's forgiveness, and receives it.

Opera Title: Le nozze di Figaro Composer: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Librettist: Lorenzo da Ponte Premiere: 1 May 1786, Vienna (Burgtheater) Language: Italian Translation(s): English & Italian subtitles (Click on CC) Synopsis: https://www.opera-arias.com/mozart/le-nozze-di-figaro/synopsis/ Le nozze di Figaro Act III-IV: https://rumble.com/v4l82nf-mozart-le-nozze-di-figaro-act-iii-iv-freni-te-kenawa-prey-fischer-dieskau-b.html Le nozze di Figaro (English: The Marriage of Figaro), K. 492, is an opera buffa (comic opera) in four acts composed in 1786 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, with an Italian libretto written by Lorenzo Da Ponte. It premiered at the Burgtheater in Vienna on 1 May 1786. The opera's libretto is based on a stage comedy by Pierre Beaumarchais, La folle journée, ou le Mariage de Figaro ("The Mad Day, or The Marriage of Figaro"), which was first performed in 1784. It tells how the servants Figaro and Susanna succeed in getting married, foiling the efforts of their philandering employer Count Almaviva to seduce Susanna and teaching him a lesson in fidelity. The opera is a cornerstone of the repertoire and appears consistently among the top ten in the Operabase list of most frequently performed operas. Cast & Crew: Hermann Prey as Figaro Mirella Freni as Sussana Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau as Il Conte di Almaviva Kiri Te Kanawa as La Contessa di Almaviva Maria Ewing as Cherubino Paolo Montarsolo as Bartolo Heather Begg as Marcellina John van Kesteren as Basilio Hans Kraemmer as Antonio Janet Perry as Barbarina Willy Caron as Don Curzio Wiener Philharmoniker Conductor: Karl Böhm Director: Jean-Pierre Ponnelle Producer: Fritz Buttenstedt Cinematography: Ernst Wild Costume Design: Jean-Pierre Ponnelle

Casa Ricordi (House of Ricordi) is a 1954 French-Italian historical biographical melodrama film based on the early history of the Italian music publishing house Ricordi. It is directed by Carmine Gallone and stars Märta Torén, Marcello Mastroianni and Micheline Presle. Audio in Italian with English subtitles. The film traces the fictionalized history of the great dynasty of music publishers (at first only through scores and then records) Ricordi, which took place throughout the nineteenth century with Giovanni, the founder, and then his son Tito and his grandson Giulio. The film's sets were designed by Mario Chiari. It was shot at the Cinecittà Studios and on location in Milan, Paris and Rome. The House of Ricordi, great music publishing family of Milan, fed the spark that flamed into the Golden Age of Italian Opera. It unleashed a tide of genius by fostering the careers of some of the greatest composers of all time. The film describes meetings with the great protagonists of Italian opera: from Rossini to Bellini, from Donizetti to Verdi, ending with Puccini at the beginning of the twentieth century, all of whom passed through Ricordi publishers to have their works printed. Casa Ricordi is a publisher of primarily classical music and opera. Its classical repertoire represents one of the important sources in the world through its publishing of the work of the major 19th-century Italian composers such as Gioachino Rossini, Gaetano Donizetti, Vincenzo Bellini, Giuseppe Verdi, and, later in the century, Giacomo Puccini, composers with whom one or another of the Ricordi family came into close contact. Founded in Milan in 1808 as G. Ricordi & C. by violinist Giovanni Ricordi (1785–1853), the Ricordi company became a totally family-run organization until 1919, when outside management was appointed. Four generations of Ricordis were at the helm of the company, Giovanni being succeeded in 1853 by his son Tito (1811–1888) (who had worked for his father since 1825). Tito's son was Giulio (1840–1912). He had also worked for his father, beginning full-time in 1863, and then took over from 1888 until his death in 1912. Finally, Giulio's son, also named Tito, (1865–1933) replaced his father until 1919. By the 1840s and throughout that decade, Casa Ricordi had grown to be the largest music publisher in southern Europe and in 1842 the company created the musical journal the Gazzetta Musicale di Milano. Cast & Characters: Paolo Stoppa as Giovanni Ricordi Renzo Giovampietro as Tito I Ricordi Andrea Checchi as Giulio Ricordi Roland Alexandre as Gioachino Rossini Roldano Lupi as Domenico Barbaja Märta Torén as Isabella Colbran Marcello Mastroianni as Gaetano Donizetti Micheline Presle as Virginia Marchi Maurice Ronet as Vincenzo Bellini Myriam Bru as Luisa Lewis Nadia Gray as Giulia Grisi Fosco Giachetti as Giuseppe Verdi Elisa Cegani as Giuseppina Strepponi Gabriele Ferzetti as Giacomo Puccini Danièle Delorme as Maria Fausto Tozzi as Arrigo Boito Operas used in the movie: 1. Il barbiere di Siviglia - Composed by Gioachino Rossini (1816) Sung by Tito Gobbi and Giulio Neri 2. L'elisir d'amore - Composed by Gaetano Donizetti (1832) 3. I puritani - Composed by Vincenzo Bellini (1835) 4. Un ballo in maschera - Composed by Giuseppe Verdi (1859) 5. Otello - Composed by Giuseppe Verdi (1887) Final aria sung by Mario Del Monaco 6. La bohème - Composed by Giacomo Puccini (1892-1895) Sung by Renata Tebaldi as Mimi 7. Nabucco - Composed by Giuseppe Verdi [Opera Excerpt] Singers: Mario Del Monaco, Tito Gobbi, Renata Tebaldi, Giulio Neri, Italo Tajo, Gianni Poggi, Giulietta Simionato, Gino Mattera, Marinella Meli. Conductors: Franco Capuana, Gianandrea Gavazzeni, Gabriele Santini, Franco Ferrara; Choirmaster Giuseppe Conca. Historical inaccuracies: - The death of Vincenzo Bellini takes place on the evening of the premiere of the opera I puritani. In reality the opera was performed for the first time on 24 January 1835 but Bellini died on 23 September of that same year. - In the episode of Verdi, when a bitter Verdi goes to the countryside where he will write Othello, in reality there are still about twenty years left and great successes to tell. - In the film the date of the first move of the Ricordi headquarters towards the Casa degli Omenoni is indicated as 23 March 1848 by Tito Ricordi who we see hanging the portrait of his late father on a wall. In reality Giovanni Ricordi died only in 1853. - In the film it is said that Giulio Ricordi fought at the age of sixteen on the barricades of the Five Days of Milan, but in reality in 1848 he was just 8 years old.

Claudio Abbado at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Rome (2001) with the Berlin Philharmonic, and hosted by Wulf Konold who analyzes the composer Ludwig van Beethoven's most famous works. Audio in English, with subtitles for the German parts. The first four momentous notes of Ludwig van Beethoven's Fifth Symphony are perhaps the most instantly recognized in all of Western classical music. 'Thus Fate knocks at the door!' announced the composer- at least, according to the apocryphal story. Since then the symphony, from the dramutic opening bars to the blazing C major finale, has come to symbohize Beethoven at his most gloriously heroic. The influential critic and theorist A.B. Marx (1795-1866) even went so far as to proclaim that the work embodied 'the decisive fate of all mankind'. Yet the symphony itself is altogether more complex und enigmatic than such declarations suggest. Following the premiere of the Fifth, Beethoven's reputation as a composer continued to flourish. Even the encroaching deafness that would, by 1814, become virtually absolute could not dampen his genius. In defiance of his hearing loss, he went on to produce such masterpieces as the choral Ninth Symphony, the Missa Solemnis and the late quartets - music of extraordinary beauty, grace und visceral power. He was soon firmly established as one of the most famous and revered musical figures of the age, and became almost an object of pilgrimage for aspiring young composers. The conversation books, which due to his deafness were his primary means of communication, record many of these encounters. In late 1826 Beethoven fell seriously ill, and, on 26 Murch of the following year, he died. Such was his renown that more than 20,000 people came to pay tribute to him at his funerul three days later, including Franz Schubert, who was one of the torchbearers.

At St. Irene Church, Istanbul (2001) with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Mariss Jansons and hosted by Robert Levin who analyzes the composer Joseph Haydn's most famous works. Famous for the sudden fortissimo chord in the middle of its second movement— the 'surprise' of the title - Haydn's Symphony No. 94 is one of his most beloved masterpieces. Various theories have been advanced to account for this unusual interruption. The apocryphal story goes that Haydn simply wanted to wake up his drowsy audience, but the composer him self gave a different explanation, indicating that professional rivalry may have been at the heart of the matter: I was interested in surprising the public with something new, and in making a brilliant debut, so that my student Pleyel, who was at that time engaged by an orchestra in London and whose concerts had opened a week before mine, should not outdo me.' The composer was affectionately known by his colleagues as 'Papa Haydn', and contemporaries often wrote about his good sense of humour. Haydn was a master of misdirection, guiding us through each playful eccentricity as it occurs. This episode explores each 'artificially embarrassing moment' - where the composer deliberately pretends to make clumsy mistakes - in turn, discussing the music in terms of harmony, form, textural contrast, phrase-length and overall mood. Haydn wants to 'play poker with the London public' by continually surprising them. The documentary compares Haydn to Mozart, both musically and in terms of character, and puts both in the historical context of the Enlightenment - in which music was broadly conceived as a civilising influence - und the emerging middle class. It frames Haydn as 'the father of the symphony', discussing his profound influence on future generations of composers. Episode 5: https://rumble.com/v4k3nuq-masters-of-classical-music-discovering-beethovens-symphony-no.-5-episode-5.html

With the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Claudio Abbado at the Philarmonie, Berlin (2005) and hosted by Wulf Konold who analyzes the composer Ludwig van Beethoven's most famous works. The 'Ode to Joy', which crowns the finale of Beethoven's iconic 'Choral' Symphony, is set to one of the most memorable melodies in the entire symphonic repertoire. 'Freude, schöner Götterfunken, Tochter aus Elysium' ('Joy, beautiful spark of God, Daughter of Elysium') - the opening lines of Friedrich Schiller's (1759-1805) ecstatic poem - seem almost inseparable from Beethoven's jubilant theme. Grand, wonderful and mysterious, the Ninth Symphony has perplexed and delighted its listeners since its premiere in 1824. Described by one critic as 'the most wonderful musical revelation that could be desired, or that is ever likely to be devised', and by another as 'a monstrosity', it continues to overwhelm us today. With this symphony he evolves from the mysterious, indefinite opening of the first movement - with its avoidance of a clear tonal centre -through the middle movements, in which a few anticipatory inklings of the 'Ode to Joy' theme appear - to the celebratory finale, in which the full theme emerges in all its splendour. Episode 4: https://rumble.com/v4k3iy0-masters-of-classical-music-discovering-haydns-symphony-no.94-surprise-episo.html

Konzerthaus, Berlin (2005) with the Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach Chamber Orchestra conducted and hosted by Hartmut Haenchen who analyzes the composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's most famous works. Audio in English, with subtitles in English for the German parts. Mozart completed his Symphony No. 41 in C major, K. 551, on 10 August 1788. The longest and last symphony that he composed, it is regarded by many critics as among the greatest symphonies in classical music. The work is nicknamed the Jupiter Symphony, probably coined by the impresario Johann Peter Salomon. The autograph manuscript of the symphony is preserved in the Berlin State Library. The symphony is scored for Flute, 2 Oboes, 2 Bassoons, 2 Horns in C and F, 2 Trumpets in C, Timpani in C and G, First and Second Violins, Violas, Cellos and Double Basses. Symphony No. 41 is the last of a set of three that Mozart composed in rapid succession during the summer of 1788. No. 39 was completed on 26 June and No. 40 on 25 July. Nikolaus Harnoncourt argues that Mozart composed the three symphonies as a unified work, pointing, among other things, to the fact that the Symphony No. 41, as the final work, has no introduction (unlike No. 39) but has a grand finale. in the summer of 1788 Mozart completed his last three symphonies in E-flat major, G minor and C major, the last of them lated described as his "Jupiter" Symphony. Mozart bequeathed to an astonished posterity music of altogether otherworldly perfection, music which, dismayingly beautiful , is "not of this world". The Swiss theologian Karl Barth even susggested that the angels probably play Bach whenever they want to praise God but that among themselves and for their own pleasure they doubt play Mozart. Even though Mozart's life and works are uncommonly well documented, not least in the form of countless letters that attest to the composer's verbal wit and unconventional thinking, as a person and as a historical figure he reimains and insoluble riddle, and inexplicable phenomenon. "it often seems as if Mozart lived and loved and suffered with an all-consuming intensity," wrote Hermann Hesse, "and then again one has the impression that he did not live at all and that each provocation and appeal of reality immediately and without further ado became music in this blessed spirit. Episode 3: https://rumble.com/v4k3dji-masters-of-classical-music-discovering-beethovens-symphony-no.-9-episode-3.html