Rent Classic Artist and Composers: Constable (1991)
2.0 of 5 from 8 ratings
0h 52min
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- Synopsis:
Constable was born in East Bergholt, Suffolk and it was at school in Lavenham that his talent for drawing was first encouraged. Later, after a year working in the family business his father finally relented and let him go to London, with a small allowance, to be trained in his chosen profession as an artist. Constable's work, being unfashionable, was never to find real success during his lifetime, so he relied on his allowance, and later a £200 a year inheritance to subsidise his income as an artist. At forty, after a seven year engagement, he married Maria Bicknell who was to bear him seven children during their short 12 year marriage. In 1820 he began to work on 'The Hay Wain' which was finished the next year, but when it was shown at the Royal Academy it didn't create much interest. The picture was finally bought by a French dealer. After settling in Hampstead for a few years in 1824 the King of France awarded him a gold medal for 'The Hay Wain'. That year too, for the first time, he sold for the asking price, 'The Lock' a six footer on exhibition at the Royal Academy. Just as it seemed he was about to achieve professional independence his wife Maria began to show signs of pulmonary tuberculosis. Constable sent her to Brighton where, on vistis to her, painted a number of marine scenes. In 1828 during the last year of her life Maria's mother died leaving her £20,000. It was the end of their financial worries but after Maria's own death Constable said "I shall never again feel as I have felt, the face of the world has totally changed to me". Constable went on painting until he died nine years after his beloved Maria, who he was buried beside in Hampstead. In this portrayal, while listening to the music of contemporary composers, and looking at Constable's works, we visit East Bergholt, Dedham and Flatford.
Composers
Beethoven: Ode to Joy from the 4th Movement of the 9th Symphony in D Minor
Schubert: Unfinished Symphony No 8 in D Minor
Chopin: Prelude in E Minor Op 28 No 4
Liszt: Hungarian Rhapsody No 5
Mendelssohn: Midsummer Night's Dream - Nocturne Op 16/7
Strauss II: Blue Danube Waltz
Beethoven: Fur Elise - Bagatelle for Piano No 25 in A Minor
Mendelssohn: The Hebrides - Overture (Fingal's Cave)
Schubert: Ave Maria - Elizabeth Schumann- Actors:
- John Constable
- Studio:
- IVL
- Genres:
- Documentary, Special Interest
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Reviews (2) of Classic Artist and Composers: Constable
not classic DVDs for artists and composers - Classic Artist and Composers: Constable review by CP Customer
This series of DVDs about artists with a Classical music soundtrack is rather amateurish. The colour of the paintings looks wrong, perhaps a fault of printed reproductions that seem to have been used rather than the paintings themselves. Filming of places painted or connected with the artist hasn't received a lot of thought. The editing is clumsy. The music is only vaguely matched to the artist. TV is never this bad. The sequences of an artist creating a water-colour landscape are potentially interesting.
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My first cinema paradiso regret.. - Classic Artist and Composers: Constable review by CP Customer
... was renting this - I thought this would give an insight into the man and his art. I turned it off after 3 minutes.
All we get is shoddy camera work showing us the buildings and landscapes used then a 10second glimpse at the paintings. This was no better than buying a books of postcards and listening to classic FM.
0 out of 0 members found this review helpful.