"Music critic Matthew Guerrieri reaches back before Beethoven's time to examine what might have influenced him in writing his Fifth Symphony, and forward into our own time to describe the ways in which the Fifth has, in turn, asserted its influence."--

No understanding of the modern movement in architecture is possible without knowledge of its master builder, Mies van der Rohe. Together with documentation of his life, this film shows all his major buildings, as well as rare film footage of Mies explaining his philosophy. Phyllis Lambert relates her choice of Mies as the architect for the Seagram building. Mies's achievements and continuing influence are debated by architects Robert A.M. Stern, Robert...

Sixty miles southwest of Chicago is one of the great houses of the world, the Farnsworth House, built by Mies van der Rohe for a Chicago physician, Edith Farnsworth. Lord Peter Palumbo, second owner of the house, tells of his passion for this masterpiece, built in 1951. The 21 minute documentary reveals the history of the commission, the achievement of the design, the problems of the site, including flooding, and the involvement of the client, Dr....

The community of Lafayette Park in downtown Detroit, built in the late 1950s and early 1960s, demonstrates a workable solution for urban sprawl. Lafayette Park is listed in the National Register of Historic Places because of the excellence of its urban design and the quality of its community planning. Mies van der Rohe created a neighborhood of townhouses, courthouses, and apartments that has been called "nothing less than a working model for future...

Edward Dusinberre, first violinist of the renowned Takács Quartet, offers a rare peek inside the workings of his ensemble, while providing an insightful history of Beethoven's sixteen string quartets and their performance. Founded in Hungary in 1975 and now based in Boulder, Colorado, the Takács is one of the world's preeminent string quartets, and performances of Beethoven have been at the center of their work together for over forty years. Using...

Chicago is famous for its role in fostering modern architecture, owing to the legacy of Louis Sullivan and Frank Lloyd Wright in the late 1900s, and Mies van der Rohe in the mid-20th Century. Jeanne Gang, founder of Studio Gang, gave the epithet "Chicago School" a new meaning. Gang, who started her architectural practice in Chicago in 1997, completed Aqua, an 82-story apartment tower, overlooking the city's Millennium Park in 2009. She differentiated...

Mystery based on the search for the identity of the one great love of composer Ludwig van Beethoven

In 1886, King Ludwig II, the King of Bavaria, was deposed on grounds of mental incapacity without any medical examination. His diagnosis remains controversial among historians to this day. Soon after his fall from power, Ludwig died under mysterious circumstances, leaving the eccentric and beautiful fairytale castles he had built as his only remaining legacy. While putting away books from an estate sale purchase, rare book-dealer Steven Lukas finds...