Hal Leonard

The Composers' Specials Series From Devine Entertainment

Composers: Johann Sebastian Bach, Georges Bizet, George Friedrich Handel, Franz Liszt, Gioachino Rossini, Johann Strauss, Jr.
Format: DVDs
Version: Set of all 6 DVDs

What Happens when a fictional child drops into the life of a great composer?

Bach's Fight for Freedom:
The chapel organist, Johann Sebastian Bach, is enraged. It's bad enough his boss, Duke Wilhelm, stifles his creativity. Now the bumbling fool has given him a servant he suspects is a spy! But soon, the temperamental composer recognizes a kindred soul in his new 10-year-old assistant, Frederick. For both know too well what's its like not to be able to follow your dream.

Set in 1717, Bach's 32nd year, Bach's Fight for Freedom passionately argues that the only master you can serve faithfully is your own heart. Formatted with English, Spanish and French languages. 53 minutes.


Bizet's Dream:
Twelve-year-old Michelle Marin doesn't like her piano teacher. Monsieur Bizet is irritable, forgetful, aloof distracted by a failing marriage and the rigours of composing his new opera. But as the composer begins to tell Michelle the story of the gypsy Carmen, her imagination is captured. For, just as in Bizet's opera, her soldier father is stationed in Seville...and she fears he will never return.

Set in Paris in 1875, Bizet's Dream is the story of an unusual friendship between two people who share the ability to feel life deeply and a beautifully filmed testament to the power of music to set those feelings free. Formatted with English, Spanish and French languages. 53 minutes.


Handel's Last Chance:
It is 1742 and we are in Dublin, where ten-year-old Jamie O'Flaherty and the brilliant composer George Frideric Handel live. Jamie, who comes from a very poor family, has been caught stealing and is in jail. Handel, whose career is failing, needs his newest composition to be a big hit. By a stroke of destiny, the young boy and the composer become unlikely allies. Handel gets Jamie out of jail and the boy lends his golden voice to the first performance of Messiah.

This production is filled with many of Handel's most glorious musical works, and the captivating story reminds us that when you believe in yourself you can make comebacks in life and often get one last chance. Formatted with English, Spanish and French languages. 51 minutes.


Liszt's Rhapsody:
Rich and successful, a dashing young musical superstar so adored that women faint when they meet him in the street, Franz Liszt is restless. He knows that something is missing in his glamorous life as the world's greatest concert pianist. He meets Josy, a naturally gifted young Gypsy street musician, and subsequently wagers that he can turn Josy into a world-class musician. The bet turns into a mighty struggle of wills - the worldly sophisticate against the resourceful Gypsy boy and a conflict of freedom vs. discipline, heart vs. brain, passion vs. technique.

Set in 1846, Liszt's Rhapsody celebrates the miracle of talent and the triumph of dreams fulfilled. Formatted with English, Spanish and French languages. 49 minutes.


Rossini's Ghost:
In a kitchen in Italy in 1862, little Reliana helps her grandmother Rosalie make pasta sauce. As steam swirls magically through the kitchen, Rosalie argues with her oldest friend Martina and tells the story of an opera composer they once both knew. Soon, Reliana finds herself transported through time back to a theatre in Rome nearly 50 years earlier. She is invisible to everyone but the composer, Signor Rossini. She watches in alarm as one of the singers puts a curse on the production and everything begins to go wrong.

Set in 1816, the year The Barber of Seville had its disastrous premiere, Rossini's Ghost is the story of three women who learn that friendship, like opera or a great pasta sauce requires nurturing, patience, and time. Formatted with English, Spanish and French languages. 52 minutes.


Strauss: The King of the Three Quarter Time:
The year is 1868, the city Vienna, the music exhilarating, yet all is not well with Johann Strauss, Jr., the darling of waltzing Vienna. Haunted by the constant pressure to outdo himself with each new composition, Strauss meets Nicholas, a humble stable boy who fears his brutal stepfather.

To their surprise, the composer and the boy find in one another a piece of life's emotional puzzle, discovering the healing bond of trust and embarking on a collaboration that will be music to the world's ears. Formatted with English, Spanish and French languages. 51 minutes.