Universal Pictures (Firm)

The Romantic movement-a reaction against the orderliness of 18th-century classicism and 19th-century industrialization-strove above all for self-expression. The Romantics composed for themselves and the new bourgeois audiences that now frequented concert halls and were acquiring pianos for their living rooms. Chopin's A-Flat Polonaise is performed in Chopin's house outside Warsaw, Mendelssohn's Elijah and Brahms' Requiem in the halls where they had...

This program covers the impact of the Reformation on the history of music; the work of Johann Sebastian Bach; the importance of church organs and chorale singing. Music of Buxtehude and Bach is performed by James Galway, Peter Hurford, the Vienna Boys' Choir, Salvation Army Band, Hellmuth Rilling and the Stuttgart Orchestra. Contents include excerpts from: Luther's Ein' Feste Burg; Isaac's Innsbruck, ich muss dich lassen; Schutz's The Lord Jesus Christ,...

Until the 19th century, fashionable Russian audiences preferred Western music. Then came Glinka, Balakirev, Mussorgsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, Borodin, Scriabin, and Tchaikovsky. This program covers the distance from folk tradition to the founding of the Russian style of music by Glinka. Performers include James Galway, Osipov's Balalaika Orchestra, and the Kirov, Bolshoi, and Royal Ballets. Contents include excerpts from: Glinka's Russlan and Ludmilla...

James Galway takes us backward through time to demonstrate how ageless and universal the human impulse is to make music. Working chronologically backward from Ligeti to Gregorian chant, Galway outlines the development of Western music. The impishness in his smile and tone are quickly submerged in the depth of his commitment to music and his enthusiastic conviction that knowledge of musical history is a prerequisite to understanding and that understanding...

This program covers Beethoven, the man who changed the course of music and aligned himself with the forces that changed the course of history. Movements or extracts from the Third, Sixth, and Ninth Symphonies, Quartets Opus 18 and 135, Fidelio, the Appassionata are performed by the Los Angeles, Berlin, and Vienna Philharmonics under Giulini, von Karajan, and Bohm. Contents include excerpts from: Quartet Opus 18 No. 1, Symphony No. 3, Fidelio, Symphony...

This silent classic is an adaptation of Victor Hugo's epic novel The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Lon Chaney gives a memorable performance as Quasimodo, the noble bell-ringer who falls in love with the beautiful Esmerelda.

The French Revolution ushered in a century of nationalism and political change throughout Europe; composers identified with causes and expressed them in music. Performances include Berlioz' Requiem, conducted by Leonard Bernstein; Wagner's Meistersinger with the Bayreuth Festival Orchestra; Verdi's Requiem with the La Scala Opera Company. Contents include excerpts from: Berlioz' Requiem; Liszt's Legend, Fantasia on Hungarian Folk Themes; Verdi's "Va...

As we move into the 20th century, music is in transition from Romanticism to Modernism, from self-expression to Realism-or to the attempt to escape from reality to bygone eras. Performers include James Galway and the Vienna Philharmonic under Bernstein, Bohm, and von Karajan. Contents include excerpts from: Puccini's Madama Butterfly; Debussy's Syrinx, La Mer; Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde; Schoenberg's Verklarte Nacht; Wagner's Prelude to Tristan...

In the period between the two World Wars, composers sought to express in music the jarring and discordant sense that civilization was giving way to barbarism. During the same time, jazz burst upon the international musical scene. Performers include the Moscow Classical Ballet Company, Maxim Shostakovich conducting his father's Symphony No. 7, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Sir Peter Pears and Galina Vishnevskaya in Britten's War Requiem, and an electric...

The true story of Homer Hickam Jr., a high school student in rural West Virginia, who seemed destined to repeat his father's harsh life in the coal mines, until he turned his attention to the skies.