This landmark BBC series, narrated by Kenneth Branagh, presents the lives and works of 7 pivotal figures in Western music, with outstanding performances, dramatizations, and insightful interviews with respected artists and scholars.
Directed by Francesca Kemp. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was without doubt the most prodigiously gifted of all Western composers. More than any other composer, it is his mythological biography - from the archetypal 'Wunderkind' childhood to his early obscure death - that defines our popular conception of a great composer. This film unravels two hundred years of fiction and myth. The deteriorating relationship Mozart had with his father, and his choice of Constanze for his wife are re-assessed in this film which expertly depicts the intrigue and jealousy that surrounded his life. This is shown alongside extracts from the hit film Amadeus based on Peter Shaffer's superb play about the composer. Interviewees include Charles Rosen, Imogen Cooper and Jonathan Miller with extracts from Le nozze di Figaro, Don Giovanni, Die Zauberfl?te, Piano concerto in E Flat and Requiem.
