Meet The Musicians DVDs

Filmed on the 250th anniversary of Bachâs death, this production guides the audience through the composerâs life. Selections from Bachâs orchestral and religious works are heard and excerpts from many of his masterpieces are performed on the harpsichord, clavichord and piano.

Mozartâs music was the embodiment of the Classical style of late eighteenth century Europe. Teaching himself piano and violin by age four and composing by age five, he went on to dazzle the music world, becoming historyâs prototypical child prodigy.

Until the end of the eighteenth century, a musician in Europe was a skilled craftsman, basically a servant of the aristocracy. Beethoven saw himself as an artist, a creator. He ended the Classical Era of European music (1750-1800) and began a new era where the musicians were free to express themselves.

Born in 1898 in New York City, George Gershwin was the son of a non-musical immigrant family. At a young age, he was fascinated by a friendâs player piano and taught himself popular tunes of the day. Today, many decades after his death, Gershwinâs music is known throughout the world as quintessentially American.

The music of America in the late nineteenth to early twentieth century was Ragtime, and the King of Ragtime was Scott Joplin. Born in 1868 in Texarkana, Texas, he came from a music loving family and began to study piano at the age of seven. By fourteen, he was proficient enough to leave home and travel through the worlds of minstrel, dance halls and vaudeville in Texas, Louisiana, Missouri, Arkansas and Kansas. . .