Goshu est un violoncelliste d'orchestre maladroit et timide, toujours réprimandé par son professeur. Il va être aidé dans la préparation de son concert par la visite d'une succession d'animaux : un chat, un coucou, un tanuki et un mulot, chacun lui apportant des vertus telles que la patience, le goût de la communication et la rigueur. Le chat, provocateur, insolent et chapardeur, révèle à Goshu sa faculté d'exprimer sa colère. L'oiseau chantant son fameux « coucou » sur deux notes est un modèle pour Goshu qui tentera de multiples variations sur cet air ; le tanuki approfondit l'enseignement du rythme avec son tambour. Enfin, la souris suppliera Goshu de jouer pour la guérison de son souriceau malade, ce qui sera l'occasion pour Goshu de faire montre de sa compassion et de sa générosité. Ces animaux, dans leur comportement authentique, auront tous contribué, par l'échange, à l'apprentissage intime du jeune héros.
Tom Selznick was an up-and-coming concert pianist until he developed stage fright while attempting to play a complex piece, "La Cinquette". Five years later, he is slated to reappear in public for a comeback performance in Chicago, dedicated to the memory of his late mentor, pianist and composer Patrick Godureaux. Godureaux posthumously acquired massive media coverage due to the mysterious disappearance of his vast fortune. Selznick's return to the stage is due to the encouragement of his actress-singer wife, Emma.
The film is divided into two sections, the first telling events from Hilary's point of view and the second from Jackie's. It opens with Hilary and Jackie as children being taught by their mother to dance and play musical instruments, the cello for Jackie and the flute for Hilary. Jackie does not take practising seriously at first, but when she does, she becomes a virtuoso, quickly rising to international prominence. Marriage to pianist and conductor Daniel Barenboim follows.
In New York City, a performance by noted violinist Paul Boray (John Garfield) is cancelled. At his apartment, Boray is at rock bottom emotionally. His manager Frederic Bauer (Richard Gaines) is angry with him for misunderstanding what a performing career would be like, and for thinking that music is no longer part of his life. To the more sympathetic Sid Jeffers (Oscar Levant), Boray says he has always wanted to do the right thing, but has always been "on the outside, looking in," and cannot "get back to that happy kid" he once was.
Mama Kantor est comblée car son jeune fils Leon montre un grand talent pour le violon. Après des années de pratique, Leon, devenu adulte, est devenu un violoniste renommé, ce qui lui permet de faire déménager sa famille du ghetto juif vers les beaux quartiers. Il demande en mariage la camarade de jeux de son enfance, Minnie Ginsberg, maintenant connue sous le nom de Gina Berg. Alors qu'il est au faite de sa carrière, la guerre est déclarée. Leon s'engage et est envoyé en France où il est sérieusement blessé au bras droit. Convaincu qu'il est handicapé à vie et ne sera plus capable de jouer, Leon rompt ses fiançailles avec Gina. Le cœur brisé, la jeune femme s'évanouit et Leon, se précipitant pour la retenir, l'attrape dans ses bras. Réalisant que sa force est revenue, Leon prend son violon et commence à jouer.
Since getting divorced, Baroness Amantine-Lucile-Aurore Dupin, previously Baroness Dudevant, the successful and notorious writer of sensational romance novels now living under the pseudonym George Sand, in Paris, has been in the habit of dressing like a man. In her romantic pursuit of the sensitive Chopin, whose music she fell in love with before seeing him in person, George/Aurora is advised that she must act like a man pursuing a woman, though she is also advised to avoid damaging his health by not pursuing him at all. With this advice Sand is deterred by a fellow countrywoman who pretends to be smitten with Chopin, the mistress of Franz Liszt, the Countess Marie d'Agoult. Whether the Countess is really in love with Chopin is unlikely; she seeks only to prevent a relationship between Chopin and Sand.
Sir Alfred de Carter (Rex Harrison) is a world-famous symphony conductor who returns from a visit to his native England and discovers that his rich and boring brother-in-law, August Henshler (Rudy Vallee), has misunderstood Alfred's casual instruction to watch over his much younger wife Daphne (Linda Darnell) while he was away, and instead hired a detective named Sweeney (Edgar Kennedy) to follow her. Alfred is livid, and ineptly attempts to destroy any evidence of the detective's report.
Christine Radcliffe (Bette Davis) runs up the stairs of a college concert hall in the rain. The hall is filled with enraptured students, and her eyes fill with tears as she recognizes the cellist on stage: Karel Novak (Paul Henreid) who spent the war trapped in neutral Sweden. After the performance, Novak is mobbed by well-wishers, and a student reporter questions him about his favorite composers. Novak lists some famous ones, then adds, "And, of course, Hollenius."
The short begins by showing a map of Music Land, before zooming in to show the Land of Symphony. The Land of Symphony is a classical music-themed kingdom, where the princess (an anthropomorphized violin) grows bored with the slow ballroom dancing and sneaks out.