Civilisation: The Pursuit of Happiness
Brief Synopsis
Cast & Crew
Peter Montagnon
Kenneth Clark
Kenneth Clark
Joe Cooksey
Roger Crittenden
Michael Shah Dayan
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
Sir Kenneth Clark's history of Western civilization examines 18th-century music and Rococo architecture, both characterized by qualities of fluidity, symmetry, and decoration, reflecting a less serious attitude toward life than obtained in the previous century. Rococo was preceded by an austere period of classicism in France, although it was more directly influenced by Italian Baroque. The great art of the period remained religious; church music, encouraged by Lutheran reforms and the German bourgeoisie, found its greatest composer in Johann Sebastian Bach, who transcended the Baroque influences to which Handel remained faithful throughout his career. Balthasar Neumann's Vierzehnheiligen Abbey Church at Neresheim was the architectural illustration of the music of Handel and Bach. Watteau's painting reflected the Rococo reaction against classicism and its extension of the Baroque into realms of free association. The two great composers of the second half of the century were Haydn and Mozart; the drama intrinsic to the latter's music spurred the development and popularity of opera, which expressed more complex emotions than Rococo.
Director
Peter Montagnon
Crew
Kenneth Clark
Joe Cooksey
Roger Crittenden
Michael Shah Dayan
Colin Deehan
A. A. Englander
Michael Gill
Dave Griffiths
Basil Harris
Peter Heelas
Maggie Houston
Carol Jones
June Leech
Kenneth Macmillan
Peter Montagnon
Bill Paget
Jesse Palmer
Jack Probert
John Taylor
Ann Turner
Ann Turner
Allan Tyrer
Malcolm Webberley
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
Location scenes filmed in Würzburg and Neresheim, West Germany. First shown in Great Britain on April 21, 1969 on BBC 2; the ninth in Sir Kenneth Clark's series on the history of Western civilization.
