The Places
The Canton of Ticino (German Tessin) is the only Swiss canton to have Italian as its official language. It is bounded on three sides by Italy and boasts spectacular mountain scenery, with waterfalls, rivers and lakes. The capital of the canton is now Bellinzona, but was earlier shared with Locarno and Lugano. A feature of the landscape lies in the great lakes that are within its territory, including part of Lago Maggiore, into which the Ticino and Maggia flow.

The Music
Robert Schumann was born in 1810 in Saxony, studied in Leipzig, lived in Dresden and, in 1850 moved to Düsseldorf as director of music to the city. He died in 1856, after a severe mental breakdown, from which he never recovered. In 1840, in spite of the objections of her father, he married the young pianist Clara Wieck, daughter of his former teacher. It was particularly after this marriage that he turned his attention to larger scale compositions, of which his Piano Concerto is an example, inspired by his wife. The other work heard here, the Intermezzi, Op. 4, dates from an earlier period, devoted in particular to the composition of shorter piano pieces, when a career as a pianist still seemed possible for him.

Picture format: NTSC 4:3
Sound format: PCM Stereo
Region code: 0 (worldwide)
Running time: 51 mins
No. of DVDs: 1

The Places - Vienna was already an ancient Celtic town called Vindobona when around 15 BC the Romans fortified it with a military camp. The town prospered and grew, undergoing considerable further development under the Emperor Marcus Aurelius, who died there in AD 180. In later times Vienna assumed the greatest importance as the capital of the Habsburg Empire and as a bulwark defending Western Europe from invasion from the East, although it failed to repel Napoleon, who occupied the city twice in the first decade of the 19th century. The Music; the eldest son of Johann Strauss I, the younger Johann Strauss was born in 1825, the year in which his father established his popular dance orchestra. The father intended other professions for his sons, but in 1844, two years after his father had abandoned his wife in favor of his mistress, the younger Strauss set up his own orchestra, an enterprise in which he later compelled his younger brothers, Joseph and Eduard, to share. In 1863 Strauss was appointed Imperial Music Director for the balls held at court, a position he held until 1871, when he was succeeded by his brother Eduard. He then began writing a series of operettas, including in 1874 the best known of all, Die Fledermaus. He died in 1899 after a busy and successful career, having composed some five hundred pieces of music; Waltzes, Polkas, Marches, Quadrilles and Stage works.

The Places: The tour relates to the life of Mozart, from his native Salzburg to his final precarious independence in Vienna. There are glimpse of the Salzburg Church of St Peter and of the Cathedral, with which Mozart and his father, members of the musical establishment of the ruling Prince-Archbishops of Salzburg, were closely concerned. Memorials of Mozart and other composers are seen in Vienna, while a brief detour to Belgium to the idiosyncratic Musée Wiertz and to the Tournai Musée des Beaux Arts, brings another aspect to the journey. The Music: Mozart's Requiem Mass was commissioned anonymously in July 1791 by Count Franz Walsegg zu Stuppach, who sought to commemorate the recent death of his wife by the performance of a work of this kind that he might, at least by implication, claim as his own. An initial fee of sixty ducats was paid, with promise of a further sum when the Requiem was completed. But in November Mozart was taken ill and within a fortnight he was dead. His widow, Constanze, who needed the rest of the fee for the work, asked Joseph Eybler, who had assisted Mozart in rehearsals for Cose fan tutte, to finish the composition and the scoring. He later gave up the task and the unfinished score finally came into the hands of Franz Xaver Süssmayr, so that the best known form of the Requiem is that started by Mozart, continued briefly by Eybler and completed by Süssmayr.

The Places: In the peace treaty of 1919 the Tyrol was divided into three regions, Southern Tyrol being ceded to Italy. The Eastern Tyrol, Austrian territory, is bounded to the south by the Lienz Dolomites, with the town of Lienz the regional capital. The region is popular with summer visitors, it's climate relatively mild, in spite of it's height above sea level. There is also a glimpse of the Earth Pyramids at Ritten (Renon) in the Italian Southern Tyrol. The Music: Music for the tour is by Franz Schubert, the son of a schoolmaster who had settled in Vienna. Although his life was chiefly spent in Vienna, he was, nevertheless, able to enjoy the Austrian countryside, during country holidays spent with friends. The beauty of the landscape is reflected in his music and, in particular, in his songs. The tour of the Lienz Dolomites is accompanied by music by Schubert for piano trio, written towards the end of his short life.

The journey starts in the Austrian region of Muhlviertel, shows the Lippizaner horses of Piber in Styria and the storks and vineyards of Rust by the Neusiedlersee. The music of the tour consists of two of Beethoven's best known sonatas for violin and piano, the Spring Sonata and the Kreutzer Sonata.

AUSTRIA
The Places
The journey takes us from the vineyards of Grinzing, to the spa of Baden and to Gumpoldskirchen, famous for its wine. Scenes from the Salzkammergut lead to Steyr, Styria and Upper Austria.

The Music
Unlike other great classical composers who worked in Vienna—Haydn, Mozart or Beethoven—Franz Schubert was born there and spent much of his short life in the city. At the same time he took pleasure in the Austrian countryside, reflected in his Trout Quintet, written for friends in Steyr whom he had met during a summer holiday.

Picture format: NTSC 4:3
Sound format: PCM Stereo
Region code: 0 (worldwide)
Running time: 51 mins
No. of DVDs: 1

The tour visits the Tin Soldier Museum at Kulmbach, the National Army Museum, the Wellington Memorial, and St. Paul's Cathedral in London, and the Bavarian Army Museum at Ingolstadt, with it's relics of the Thirty Years War and of conflicts with the Ottoma Empire. The tour brings Beethoven's musical celebration of Wellington's victorious campaign in Spain, Liszt's Battle of the Huns and a Georgian war march by Ippolitov-Ivanov. The tour ends with two military works by Rimsky-Korsakov, King Dodon on the Battlefield, from his last opera, The Golden Cockerel, and the Massacre at Kerzhenets from The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh.

The musical tour starts in the Bernese Alps, which offer some of the finest scenery in Switzerland, with glaciers and snow-covered expanses, waterfalls, mountain lakes, and the towering Matterhorn. The Nymphenburg Palace and Park, in Munich, present a contrast, in their baroque elegance. The tour ends with glimpses of the Chiemsee, the largest of the Bavarian lakes, with it's three wooded islands, on one of which Wagner's patron, King Ludwig II, built his folly, the Schloss Herrenchiemsee. Music for the tour is taken from Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1 in B flat minor, one of the best known of all romantic concertos. This is followed by his 'Souvenir d'un lieu Cher,' three pieces originally for violin and piano, but here orchestrated by the composer Glazunov.

The Places
• The journey is concerned largely with places of importance in the life of Anton Bruckner, his birth-place, the monastery of St Florian where he was trained and worked, and Vienna, where he spent his final years.

The Music
• A man of modest origins, the composer Anton Bruckner continued and developed the symphonic tradition of Vienna in a series of imposing works that also drew inspiration from Wagner.

Picture format: NTSC 4:3
Sound format: PCM Stereo 2.0
Region code: 0 (worldwide)
Running time: 68 mins
No. of DVDs: 1

CHRISTMAS IN AUSTRIA

The Places
The tour starts in Steyr, in Upper Austria, bringing scenes associated with Christmas there, in Salzburg, the Salzkammergut and finally Switzerland.

The Music
The music chosen for this tour is principally taken from baroque concertos evoking Christmas.
Picture format: NTSC 4:3
Sound format: PCM Stereo 2.0
Region code: 0 (worldwide)
Running time: 57 mins
No. of DVDs: 1

The principal place visited is Cordoba, with it's historical records of it's Moorish past and of the reconquest. The music includes works by Russian and French composers, with only two pieces by Spanish composers. Nevertheless all the music breathes the very spirit of Spain.

The Places: Brittany and Normandy, in Northern France, have a character all their own, preserving, as they do, ancient Celtic traditions in a countryside bounded on one side by a rocky coast-line. The great Abbey of Mont St-Michel remains a centre of pilgrimage and secular interest, and in Normandy we catch glimpses of the Bayeux Tapestry, with it's near contemporary record of William of Normandy's successful expedition in 1066 to conquer England. The Music: The music chosen for this tour of Northern France is the Organ Symphony of Camille Saint-Saens, a work written in memory of Franz Liszt that takes it's name from the use of the organ in it's grandiose final movement. The other music to be heard is an orchestral version of the Belgian-born composer Cesar Franck's Prelude and Chorale, written two years earlier, in 1884, and the Romance in C major, Op. 48, of Saint-Saens.

The Places: The tour starts in the formal gardens of the Palace of Versailles and moves on to the Cheóteau of Chantilly. In Paris Montmartre presents a simpler world, with scenes from the Canal Saint-Martin. The writer Rabelais is celebrated in Chinon, his birth-place, and there is a glimpse of Bluebeard's castle before we enter the traditional brasserie, La Cigale, in Nantes. In Paris again, the restaurant, the Train Bleu, celebrates an earlier age of luxury and from the historic railway stations of the capital we continue to P+¿re Lachaise Cemetery, before finally visiting the Place de la Concorde and the major sights of Paris. The Music: In 1809 Vienna was once again under attack from the forces of Napoleon. Most of the leading families, including the imperial family, had taken refuge elsewhere, the occasion of Beethoven's sonata Les Adieux. On 12th May the city surrendered, the French occupation bringing with it hardship for the Viennese people. In these circumstances Beethoven, now 39 and increasingly deaf, worked on the last of his five piano concertos, to be popularly known as the Emperor. It was probably completed in the following year and was given it's first performance in Leipzig in November, 1811.

The Places ò the tour of France takes US to Burgundy to the Pays de la Loire to Franche-Comté and elsewhere and includes glimpses of the 17th century Château de Cheverny with it's hunting museum and souvenirs of the chase and the Château d'Arlay with it's site for falconry. The Château de Bussy-Rabutain was rebuilt in the middle of the 17th century by Count Roger of Bussy-Rabutain exiled from the French court after his scandalous Histoire amoureuse des Gaules a literary preoccupation reflected in his collection of pictures. The restored gardens of the Château de Villandry are seen in their formal lay-out. The Music ò the music chosen to accompany the tour of the fertile and varied landscapes of France is by Beethoven and consists principally of his Pastoral Symphony a work that reflects his feelings as he recollects a visit to the countryside.

The Places - the places visited are on the coast of Southern France, from Frejus and Cannes to Marseille. They include the Cheóteau of King Renein Tarascon and the famous island Cheóteau d'If, where the fictional Edmond Dantes was held prisoner in the Count of Monte Cristo. There is particular attention given to the flat marshland of the Camargue, with it's wild horses and it's associated festivities in Arles. The Music - the music that accompanies the tour is all by French composers, from Saint-Saens and Offenbach to Debussy and Ravel. Included are Gabriel Faures evocative Berceuse, Sicilienne and Pavane, and Ravel's nostalgic Pavane sur une infante defunte. The tour starts in cheerful mood with Chabrier's Marche Joyeuse.

Our journey takes US principally to the city of Genoa, for centuries an independent republic, held by Austria, seized by Napoleon, and later joined to Piedmont. Violinist, priest and most prolific composer, Antonio Vivaldi was born in Venice in 1678 and spent most of his life there, associated for much of the time with the Ospedale della Pieta, a charitable institution for girls, with a strong musical tradition. The music for the tour is taken from concertos for various instruments.

GERMANY



The Places
The city of Nuremberg owes its importance partly to its geographical position, which made it a significant centre for trade. In spite of considerable damage, its old medieval city, now restored, remains as a monument to its importance in the late Middle Ages. By the 16th-century Nuremberg had become a centre of trade and of artistic activity. In art it could boast the presence of Albrecht Dürer and in poetry Hans Sachs and the Guild of Mastersingers, later to be celebrated by Wagner.
The Music
The son of Leopold Mozart, the Deputy Kapellmeister at the court of the Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart had grown up at the archiepiscopal court, to be employed there, like his father, in a childhood and early adolescence interrupted by long concert tours as an infant prodigy. He excelled as a pianist, but was also a proficient violinist, and two of the three Violin Sonatas included here date from years in which he tried briefly to escape from Salzburg and find employment elsewhere, with the third written in 1781, when he was first establishing himself in independence in Vienna, where he was to die ten years later.



Picture format: NTSC 4:3
Sound format: PCM Stereo 2.0 / Dolby Digital 5.1 / DTS 5.1
Region code: 0 (worldwide)
Running time: 53 mins
No. of DVDs: 1