J.S. Bach: The Music, The Life, The Legend

The film follows the staging of the opera Olimpiade while at the same time exploring the dramatic life of its composer Josef Mysliveček, a friend and teacher of W. A. Mozart.

Hymn of the Nations, originally titled Arturo Toscanini: Hymn of the Nations, is a 1944 film directed by Alexander Hammid, which features the "Inno delle nazioni," a patriotic work for tenor soloist, chorus, and orchestra, composed by Italian opera composer Giuseppe Verdi in the early 1860s. (For this musical work, Verdi utilized the national anthems of several European nations.) In December 1943, Arturo Toscanini filmed a performance of this music for inclusion in an Office of War Information documentary about the role of Italian-Americans in aiding the Allies during World War II. Toscanini added a bridge passage to include arrangements of "The Star-Spangled Banner" for the United States and "The Internationale" for the Soviet Union and the Italian partisans. Joining Toscanini in the filmed performance in NBC Studio 8-H, were tenor Jan Peerce, the Westminster Choir, and the NBC Symphony Orchestra. The film also included the overture to Verdi's opera La Forza del Destino.

A chronicle of the life of infamous classical composer Ludwig van Beethoven and his painful struggle with hearing loss. Following Beethoven's death in 1827, his assistant, Schindler, searches for an elusive woman referred to in the composer's love letters as "immortal beloved." As Schindler solves the mystery, a series of flashbacks reveal Beethoven's transformation from passionate young man to troubled musical genius.

Two aspiring songwriters finally manage to sell a tune by claiming that it was composed by a reclusive musical genius. When the tune hits the top of the charts, they find themselves having to produce the "real" composer.

The life of Blues and folk singer Huddie Leadbetter, nicknamed Leadbelly is recounted. Covering the good times and bad from his 20s to 40s. Much of that time was spent on chain gangs in the south. Even in prison he became well known for the songs he had composed and sung during and before the time he spent there.

During the 1960s, two American jazz musicians living in Paris meet and fall in love with two American tourist girls and must decide between music and love.

Composer Robert Schumann struggles to compose his symphonies while his loving wife Clara offers her support. Also helping the Schumanns is their lifelong friend, composer Johannes Brahms.

Composer Johann Strauss risks his marriage over his infatuation with a beautiful singer.

John Eliot Gardiner goes in search of Bach the man and the musician. The famous portrait of Bach portrays a grumpy 62-year-old man in a wig and formal coat, yet his greatest works were composed 20 years earlier in an almost unrivalled blaze of creativity. We reveal a complex and passionate artist; a warm and convivial family man at the same time a rebellious spirit struggling with the hierarchies of state and church who wrote timeless music that is today known world-wide. Gardiner undertakes a 'Bach Tour' of Germany, and sifts the relatively few clues we have - some newly-found. Most of all, he uses the music to reveal the real Bach.

To mark the centenary of Benjamin Britten's birth, Britten’s Endgame explores the composer's creativity in the face of death. Those closest to him watched anxiously as he raced to complete his final opera, Death in Venice, in defiance of medical advice, tackling an edgy subject with many resonances in his own life. His eventual heart operation left him incapacitated and prematurely old and frail, yet somehow he rediscovered his creative urge to produce two late masterpieces. This is a rich and poignant film about Britten’s final years, and the impact of what Peter Pears called 'an evil opera'.

BBC documentary. Witness John Williams composing the legendary score for The Empire Strikes Back and conducting the London Symphony Orchestra.

Alban Berg's black, satirical opera is one of the masterpieces of the 20th Century. It charts the rise and fall of a femme fatale "created to make trouble", from life as a society hostess to prostitution and eventual bloody death at the hands of Jack the Ripper. Berg's score is intensely beautiful, and the rich characterisation brilliantly executed.

An impoverished team of composer and songwriter try to secure financial backing for their new musical, with the assistance of a struggling actress working as a housemaid.

From civil rights to the anti-war movement to the struggles of workers, folksinger Phil Ochs wrote topical songs that engaged his audiences in the issues of the 1960s and 70s. In this biographical documentary, veteran director Kenneth Bowser shows how Phil's music and his fascinating life story and eventual decline into depression and suicide were intertwined with the history-making events that defined a generation. Even as his contemporaries moved into folk-rock and pop music, Phil followed his own vision, challenging himself and his listeners. Not one to pull punches, Ochs never achieved the commercial success he desperately desired. But his music remains relevant, reaching new audiences in a generation that finds his themes all too familiar.

A documentary that goes behind the scenes with some of today's most talented songwriters as they make new music based on long-lost, newly discovered lyrics from Bob Dylan's legendary Basement Tapes sessions. T Bone Burnett brings Elvis Costello, Rhiannon Giddens, Taylor Goldsmith, Jim James and Marcus Mumford together in a dramatic two-week studio session in the basement of Capitol Records. Features an exclusive interview with Bob Dylan.

Wycliffe is a British television series, based on W. J. Burley's novels about Detective Superintendent Charles Wycliffe. It was produced by HTV and broadcast on the ITV Network, following a pilot episode on 7 August 1993, between 24 July 1994 and 5 July 1998. The series was filmed in Cornwall, with a production office in Truro. Music for the series was composed by Nigel Hess and was awarded the Royal Television Society award for the best television theme. Wycliffe is played by Jack Shepherd, assisted by DI Doug Kersey and DI Lucy Lane. Each episode deals with a murder investigation. In the early series, the stories are adapted from Burley's books and are in classic whodunit style, often with quirky characters and plot elements. In later seasons, the tone becomes more naturalistic and there is more emphasis on internal politics within the police.

One day, electricity just stopped working and the world was suddenly thrust back into the dark ages. Now, 15 years later, a young woman's life is dramatically changed when a local militia arrives and kills her father, who mysteriously—and unbeknownst to her—had something to do with the blackout. An unlikely group sets out off on a daring journey to find answers about the past in the hopes of reclaiming the future.

Once Upon a Time… Man is a French animated TV series from 1978 directed by Albert Barillé. It is the first in the Once Upon a Time... franchise. The series explains world history in a format designed for children. The action focuses around one group. The same familiar characters appear in all episodes as they deal with the problems of their time. The series' opening and ending title sequences famously used Johann Sebastian Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D minor as the main title theme music. Shortening the piece to only 2 minutes in length, the introduction uses the very beginning, which jumps into the start of the middle section and finally the dramatic ending to coincide with the destruction of Earth at the end of the intro.

La Piovra is an acclaimed Italian Television drama miniseries about the Mafia. The story was by Sandro Petraglia. The production was designed by Luigi Perelli. The soundtrack was by Riz Ortolani and later by Ennio Morricone, who went on to compose music for several sequels. All 10 series have been released in Australia on DVD by Aztec International Entertainment, with English subtitles, having been originally aired on the Special Broadcasting Service television channel. It was also broadcast on MHz Networks in the United States. The first three series were shown in the UK on Channel 4. The TV drama was wildly successful in the USSR, where it appeared on state TV in 1986 and in Bulgaria, where is also appeared in the end of the 1980s bg:Октопод, offering to the viewers of both countries thrills and dark drama from beyond the Iron Curtain. La Piovra was also shown in 1987–1988 in communist Albania, where it became a huge hit and remains to date a cult film, whose characters and expressions have permeated culture, language and society.

Howard Goodall examines the work of The Beatles, Cole Porter, Bernard Herrmann and Leonard Bernstein.

An exploration of the world's music. Yehudi Menuhin has created this expansive survey of musical traditions from five continents. With panoramic vision and infectious enthusiasm, he takes us from primeval rhythms of Africa to the symphonies of Beethoven, from plainsong to jazz, from Swiss yodeling to Irish jig, from steel drum to electronic synthesizer. The Music of Man was a series of eight hour-long specials with host Yehudi Menuhin, following the development of music from its beginnings at the dawn of history to the electronic experiments, jazz and rock of our own time. Menuhin, the renowned violinist, conductor and humanist, participated both as violin soloist and conductor throughout the series, and was also co-writer.

Take a journey back in time and immerse yourself in a 150-year-old battle that nearly split our nation in two. This three-part series explores famous and little known aspects of the Civil War, from the perspectives of the Union, the Confederacy and the millions of enslaved people struggling for freedom. Hosted by Ashley Judd, Trace Adkins, and Dennis Haysbert, all of whom had ancestors greatly affected by the war, this series delivers fresh insights and untold tales, brought to life through dramatic recreations and the Smithsonian Institution's vast collection of artifacts.

An unusual, real-world romance involving relatable people, with one catch - there are three of them! You Me Her infuses the sensibilities of a smart, grounded indie rom-com with a distinctive twist: one of the two parties just happens to be a suburban married couple.

With humour and compassion, Annie et ses hommes  shows us the ups and downs of a modern family, focusing on the emotions and experiences of a woman in her forties. This dramatic comedy is a subtle portrait of a singular woman, Annie, and her clan. It’s a thought-provoking exploration of family life.

The battling egos, power struggles and inter-band rivalries that split up The Beatles, The Supremes, Fleetwood Mac, The Eagles, The Beach Boys, N.W.A, Van Halen and Sonny and Cher. From crippling drug addictions to scandalous affairs, we uncover the incredible true stories by recreating the key moments the cameras missed in addition to using rare band interviews and off-stage footage to piece together each dramatic tale.

Professor Brian Cox explores the dramatic lives of the eight majestic planets/worlds that make up our solar system.

Rue des Pignons was a French-Canadian TV series which ran from 1966 to 1977. Radio-Canada has reportedly lost most of the episodes of the series, only managing to trace about 35 of the 427 episodes from 1966 to 1977. The program's theme song was composed and recorded by Pierre Brabant who also played much of the show's background music.

The 10 webisodes, entitled "The Face of the Enemy," tell a story that takes place between seasons 4.0 and 4.5 of Battlestar and follow Lt. Gaeta when he is sent off in a Raptor with a handful of strangers and one of them mysteriously dies. The psychological human-vs.-Cylon struggle is played out in the restrictive confines of a Raptor as everyone is a suspect, and paranoia sets in among the group.

Audiences are invited to look back at The 2010s, a turbulent era marked by political and social upheaval, culminating in the single most dramatic year of the 21st century: 2020. It was a decade in which social media transformed society and streaming upended entertainment, resulting in genre-defying music and ushering in the era of "peak TV".

A cinematic ode to jazz legend, Wayne Shorter. Depicted in 3 portals, the viewer is transported into prolific periods of Shorter's life and how through adversity, he grew to greatness, shattered the limitations of jazz, and became one of the most influential musicians and composers in American music.