DVD Videos

Music for the tour is by Telemann, a friend and contemporary of Johann Sebastian Bach, founder of the Leipzig Collegium Musicum later directed by Bach, godfather to Bach’s second son and for many years in charge of music in Hamburg, where he was later succeeded by his godson. The music here includes a Suite for recorder and strings, and two concertos from his Tafelmusik, one for three violins and the other for two horns.

Bavaria, in south Germany, in earlier times ruled by an Elector, whose capital was Munich, is a region of the greatest variety. The places seen here start with the Bavarian Forest and its traditional craft of glass-blowing. Other scenes are of the great palace of the Thurn und Taxis Princes at Regensburg and the fine baroque monastery church of St George and St Martin at Weltenburg.

Aspect Ratio 4:3

NTSC – No Region Coding

DTS 5.1 • Dolby Digital 5.1 • PCM Stereo 2.0

Music for the visit is by Chopin, with his piano Preludes, written principally during the winter of 1838–39 that he spent in Mallorca with his mistress, the writer George Sand. The stay there brought many difficulties, not least the early signs of the illness that was to bring about Chopin's death ten years later. Other music included is Chopin’s Variations brillantes, written in 1833, based on a melody from an opera by Hérold and Halévy.

The Museo Vela is at Ligornetto in the Swiss-Italian canton of Ticino. The galleries have remarkable collections of the works of the Vela family, Lorenzo, Vincenzo and his son Spartaco. The principal part of the collection includes the works in gesso of Vincenzo (1820-1891), figures later reworked in stone. The Museo Vela houses the largest such exhibition in the world.

Aspect Ratio 4:3

NTSC – No Region Coding

DTS 5.1 • Dolby Digital 5.1 • PCM Stereo 2.0

Running Time 67:07 • Aspect Ratio 16:9

NTSC – No Region Coding

Audio: Dolby Digital 2.0 / Dolby Digital 5.1 / DTS 5.1

Running Time 59:49 • Aspect Ratio 16:9

NTSC – No Region Coding

Audio: Dolby Digital 2.0 / Dolby Digital 5.1 / DTS 5.1

Running Time 63:39 • Aspect Ratio 16:9

NTSC – No Region Coding

Audio: Dolby Digital 2.0 / Dolby Digital 5.1 / DTS 5.1

Running Time 61:27 • Aspect Ratio 16:9

NTSC – No Region Coding

Audio: Dolby Digital 2.0 / Dolby Digital 5.1 / DTS 5.1

Running Time 61:08 • Aspect Ratio 16:9

NTSC – No Region Coding

Audio: Dolby Digital 2.0 / Dolby Digital 5.1 / DTS 5.1

The Places

The tour of Norway takes us from the countryside between Gaupne and Sogndal to Bergen, the birthplace of Edvard Grieg, and its surrounding countryside. Trolls make their presence known, and there are views of traditional farm buildings and stave churches from the open-air museum at Maihaugen.

The Music

The music chosen for this tour of Norway is by Norwegian composers, of whom the best known is Edvard Grieg. His Holberg Suite, Norwegian Dances and Erotikon from his Lyric Pieces are heard on this video. Other composers featured are Christian Sinding, composer of the famous Rustle of Spring, and Johan Svendsen.

The Places

The tour starts at the great Augustinian foundation, Kloster Neustift (Novacella), at Brixen (Bressanone) in Southern Tyrol, with its rococo church interior and collection of late medieval paintings. This is followed by a visit to Innsbruck, the capital of the Tyrol, with its famous Goldenes Dachl (Golden Roof) and rococo Wilten Basilica and Collegiate Church.

The Music

The music chosen for this tour of Brixen and Innsbruck is by Mozart and includes two symphonies, with other works. Symphony No. 40 is the second of the group of three final symphonies, written in Vienna in 1787, and Symphony No. 28 was written in Salzburg in 1773 or 1774. Other works included are overtures to the early opera Il rè pastore, to The Abduction from the Seraglio, Mozart’s first operatic success in Vienna, and the overture to La clemenza di Tito, written in 1791, a few months before his death.

The Places

The tour starts in Vienna at the Christkindl Market and other Christmas scenes include the grotesque Krampus masqueraders, with St Nicholas, in Steyr. In Switzerland we see the great monastery church at Einsiedeln and in Bavaria the Abbey Church at Ottobeuren. In Austria scenes of Salzburg and its Christmas market are followed by Christmas cribs at Steyr and in the great cathedral at Linz, ending gazing upwards at the great Christmas fresco that decorates the dome of the monastery church at Einsiedeln.

The Music

The music chosen for this tour is principally taken from the works of Handel and Johann Sebastian Bach, including excerpts from the former’s Messiah and from two organ concertos, and from Bach’s Christmas Oratorio, with the carol Silent Night heard in its original setting at the little church in Oberndorf, for which it was written.