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- Jealousy and hatred is what separates the Pandavas and Kauravas. The Kauravas fear the Pandavas are after the throne of their father. Yudhishthira of the Pandavas gets told by the deity, Krishna, that he will become king. A war is inevitable.
- Gustav Von Aschenbach, a passionate composer, arrives in Venice as a result of wanderlust and there meets a young man by whose beauty he becomes obsessed.
- Songs, poems and experiences of the Miners' Strike, 1984.
- When Italian composer Giacomo Puccini is accused of sleeping with his maid, the scandal threatens to destroy his life and career. This biopic intercuts with director Tony Palmer's efforts to stage Puccini's last opera.
- Chantal Akerman followed famous Choreographer Pina Bausch and her company of dancers, The Tanzteater Wuppertal, for five weeks while they were on tour in Germany, Italy and France. Her objective was to capture Pina Bausch's unparalleled art not only on stage but also behind the scenes.
- At death's door, George Frederic Handel reflects, rages, and narrates his life. From his womanizing youthful days, to his rise in fame as a composer, God Rot Tunbridge Wells! pulls no punches in this wild romp of a biopic.
- "Every generation needs Ibsen" says Bo Widerberg and presents his version of the classic drama "The Wild Duck" from 1884. As in a thriller we get to follow how the family happiness of the Ekdahls is driven towards a tragic disintegration.
- The first eight cantos of Dante's Inferno (up to the entrance to the city of Dis). The text is read entirely in "talking head" fashion, and punctuated with a kaleidoscopic blend of both newly shot and archival footage.
- The opera tells the story of the downfall of Don José, a naïve soldier who is seduced by the wiles of the fiery gypsy Carmen.
- A commissioned project, made for TV in honor the the 200th anniversary of Mozart's death, this is a highly avant-garde piece of music, theater and dance, set to an original score by the controversial Dutch composer Louis Andriessen (who would later collaborate with Greenaway on the operas "Rosa" and "Writing to Vermeer"). Four nude, powder-white dancers (representing the Gods) appear on a stage designed in the style of an 18th century anatomy theater. A woman sings a list of objects beginning with various letters of the alphabet up to "M"; the Gods then decide to create Man, assembling him from body parts listed as onscreen text. Having created Man, the Gods then give him Movement; so as to give him a reason to move, they create Music; finally, so as to have Perfect Music, they create Mozart.
- An opera by Benjamin Britten, on a libretto by E.M. Forster and Eric Crozier, adapted from the story by Herman Melville. Billy Budd is a young sailor aboard a British man-o'-war, persecuted by his master-at-arms, Claggart. Accused of mutiny, Budd accidently strikes Claggart dead, leaving Captain Vere with no choice but to hang him.
- This opera is set in Persia (present day Iran) in 480 BC and is very loosely based upon Xerxes I of Persia. Apart from the reported infatuation of King Xerxes with a plane tree and his reported construction of a bridge, this tale is pure supposition. Xerxes is engaged to Amatris, but wishes to marry Romilda, the daughter of his successful general. Romilda wants to marry Arsamenes, the brother of the King, but Atalanta - Romilda's sister - wants Arsamenes to be her husband.
- A biographical film of Czech composer Martinu is in two parts: the first part a recurring dream, the second a Freudian analysis of the dream.
- Mephistopheles, knowing Faust's dissatisfaction, makes a wager with the Lord that he, the Devil, can win Faust's soul. Thus it comes about that Faust in his experiments with the supernatural conjures up the Devil himself.
- Mikhail Ivanovich Glinka's magical masterpiece in its entirety, inspired by Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin's poem of a Russian tale. An evil sorcerer Chernomor casts a spell over wedding celebrations for Ruslan and Lyudmila at the court of Svetozar, the Prince of Kiev. Lyudmila vanishes and her father promises her hand and half his kingdom to the knight who rescues her. Ruslan on this quest of rescue encounters the knights Ratmir and Farlaf, the wise wizard Finn, the slave of Ratmir, Gorislava and sorceress Naina before confronting Chernomor in his magic garden. After all the challenges for Ruslan, true love prevails.
- Classic 1986 ENO production. Framed as the bizarre dreams of a sleeping Victorian teenager (Eilene Hannan) who dreams herself as Rusalka, and bargains everything she has with a witch (Ann Howard) for a prince who's love may wane.
- Macbeth, the Thane of Glamis, receives a prophecy from a trio of witches that one day he will become King of Scotland. Consumed by ambition and spurred to action by his wife, Macbeth murders his king and takes the throne for himself.
- This documentary reflects the peaks and troughs of the Swedish super group's popularity over the decades, as well as the quartet's turbulent years together.
- Anna I and Anna II set out on a seven year journey that takes them through a series of varied life experiences while their parents and two brothers remain behind.
- BBC production of 'Sergei Prokofiev (I)''s opera "War and Peace" performed by the Kirov Opera under the baton of Valery Gergiev in St. Petersburg, Russia. The love story of young Countess Natasha Rostova and Count Pierre Bezukhov, is intertwined with the "Great Patriotic War" of 1812 against the invading Napoleon's Armies. People of Russia from all classes of society stand up united against the enemy. Both sides suffer tremendous losses during the war, and Russian society is left irrevocably changed.
- The timid Blanche de la Force decides to retreat from the world and enter a Carmelite convent. The Mother Superior informs her that the Carmelite order is not a refuge: it is the duty of the nuns to guard the Order, not the other way around. In the convent, the jolly Sister Constance tells Blanche (to her consternation) that she has had a dream that the two of them will die young together. The Mother Superior, who is dying, commits Blanche to the care of Mother Marie. The Mother Superior passes away in great agony, shouting in her delirium that despite her long years of service to God, He has abandoned her. Blanche and Mother Marie, who witness her death, are shaken. Sister Constance remarks to Blanche that the Mother Superior's death seemed unworthy of her, and speculates that she had been given the wrong death, as one might be given the wrong coat in a cloakroom. Perhaps someone else will find death surprisingly easy. Perhaps we die not for ourselves alone, but for each other. Blanche's brother, the Chevalier de la Force, arrives to announce that their father thinks Blanche should withdraw from the convent, since she is not safe there (being a member of both the nobility and the clergy). Blanche refuses, saying that she has found happiness in the Carmelite order, but later admits to Mother Marie that it is fear (or the fear of fear itself, as the Chevalier expresses it) that keeps her from leaving. The chaplain announces that he has been forbidden to preach (presumably for being a non-juror under the Civil Constitution of the Clergy). The nuns remark on how fear now governs the country, and no one has the courage to stand up for the priests. Sister Constance asks, "Are there no men left to come to the aid of the country?" "When priests are lacking, martyrs are superabundant," replies the new Mother Superior. Mother Marie says that the Carmelites can save France by giving their lives, but the Mother Superior corrects her: it is not permitted to become a martyr voluntarily; martyrdom is a gift from God. A police officer announces that the Legislative Assembly has nationalized the convent and its property, and the nuns must give up their habits. When Mother Marie acquiesces, the officer taunts her for being eager to dress like everyone else. She replies that the nuns will continue to serve, no matter how they are dressed. "The people has no need of servants," proclaims the officer haughtily. "No, but it has a great need for martyrs," responds Mother Marie. "In times like these, death is nothing," he says. "Life is nothing," she answers, "when it is so debased." In the absence of the new Mother Superior, Mother Marie proposes that the nuns take a vow of martyrdom. However, all must agree, or Mother Marie will not insist. A secret vote is held; there is one dissenting voice. Sister Constance declares that she was the dissenter, and that she has changed her mind, so the vow can proceed. Blanche runs away from the convent, and Mother Marie finds her in her father's library. Her father has been guillotined, and Blanche has been forced to serve her former servants. The nuns are all arrested and condemned to death, but Mother Marie is away (with Blanche, presumably) at the time. The chaplain tells Mother Marie that since God has chosen to spare her, she cannot now voluntarily become a martyr by joining the others in prison. The nuns march to the scaffold, singing Salve Regina. At the last minute, Blanche appears, to Constance's joy; but as she mounts the scaffold, Blanche changes the hymn to Deo patri sit gloria (All praise be yours, O risen Lord).
- Punk rock is an anti-establishment rock music genre and movement that emerged in the mid-1970s. Preceded by a variety of protopunk music of the 1960s and early 1970s, punk rock developed between 1974 and 1977 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia, where groups such as the Ramones, Sex Pistols, and The Clash were recognized as the vanguard of a new musical movement.
- A documentary introduction about John Cage and his epoch-making music, precedes the performances with the Ensemble Modern with solists Hermann kretzschmar and David Tudor playing "Concerto for Prepared Piano and Chamber Orchestra' and "Concerto for Piano and Orchestra". David Tudor helped Cage pioneer "live' electronic music in the 1960's and took part in several first performances of the composer's work.
- This is a documentary tribute with the widows of four British composers: William Walton, Bernard George Stevens, Benjamin Frankel, and Humphrey Searle; and with performances of each composer's work played by THE BOURNEMOUTH SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA.
- A documentary given worldwide exclusive access to behind the scenes at Celebration, a town 'imagineered' by Disney and built on acres of former Florida swampland on the Disneyworld site.
- The ups and downs of ballet star Rudolf Nureyev's career.
- Susana, a beautiful young girl living in 1990, is happily looking forward to her forthcoming marriage - and has bought an antique mirror to grace her future home. Three weeks before the wedding, the mirror is delivered to her Grandmother's home and taken to Susana's room. Later that day, when looking into the glass, Susana is startled to see the image of a handsome soldier, Nicolas (from 1863), instead of her own reflection. It soon becomes obvious that he can see Susana as clearly as she can see him - and life, for them both, is never quite the same again.
- Rodney Greenbergs's portrait of Lalo Schifrin. From his origins in Argentina to Los Angeles today. Lalo the composer, conductor and pianist is best known for award winning film and television scores such as Cool Hand Luke, Bullit, The Fox and Mission Impossible Theme, amongst many others. The documentary includes film clips from these classics and his own relections of over thirty years of work in music. At the featured concert performance in Cannes, France conducting the Orchestre National de Lyon he is joined by the legendary performers Dizzy Gillespie, Grady Tate, Ray Brown and Julia Migenes.
- A documentary introduction from musicologist Michael Nupen which places the Symphony and the life and work of Shostakovich in the context of its time. The performance of Symphony No.5 in D minor OP.47 played by The Russian Federation State Symphony Orchesta conducted by Yevgeni Svetlanov.
- Opera about the life and work of Mohandas K. Gandhi, named after his technique of passive resistance that he began in South Africa and employed in his native India.
- The first filmed performance by the DV8 Physical Theatre dance company,
- Titus Vespasian, Emperor of Rome, has succeeded to the throne that his father, Vespasian, usurped from the Emperor Vitellius. Vitellia, daughter of Vitellius, urges her boyfriend Sextus to join the conspiracy against Titus and his consort Berenice. Sextus, however, is loyal to Titus. The other players include Annius, Sextus's friend; Servilia, Sextus's sister; and Publius, captain of the guard. When Sextus sees the Capitol in flames, he runs to save Titus, but thinks himself too late when he comes upon a dying man wearing the royal purple. Sextus prepares to kill himself, but Annius tells him it is the conspirator Lentulus who is disguised in the robes. Sextus exchanges cloaks with Annius, since his own bears the badge of the conspirators. Unfortunately, this means that Annius is arrested for treason. He is willing to take the fall for Sextus, but the dying Lentulus tells the truth, Annius is freed, and Sextus is arrested. Sextus, too, maintains silence to protect Vitellia. Vitellia confesses everything to Titus to save Sextus from execution. Titus shows clemency and pardons everyone, and observes that since Vitellia and Sextus are so much in love, they should marry.
- The Prince suffers from severe hypochrondria and melancholy, and only laughter can save him. However, there is a plot, by his ambitious cousin, to keep the Prince feeling depressed.
- Macbeth, the Thane of Glamis, receives a prophecy from a trio of witches that one day he will become King of Scotland. Consumed by ambition and spurred to action by his wife, Macbeth murders his king and takes the throne for himself.