In the 19th century, the rise of Napoleon and the threat he posed to all of Europe (and Russia) cannot be underestimated. As his victorious armies swept from border to border, whole nations fell under his sway. Those with revolutionary

In our current musical world, we can hear, literally, anything at anytime. Want a string quartet – The Kronos is on call. Want a piano recital – voilá, Lang Lang appears (if that’s who you want). A full orchestra can

In 1876, when Swan Lake was given its premiere in Moscow, it wasn’t the hit that we consider it today. The prima ballerina was involved in a scandal with a government official (he gave her jewels, she married someone else

Beethoven’s incidental music to Goethe’s play Egmont, being given at the Royal Imperial Court at Vienna was late. The play opened on 24 May 1810 and the only mention of the incidental music comes at the time of the third

In 1870, Richard Wagner (1813-1883) married his second wife, Cosima Liszt. His first wife, Minna, had died in 1866 but he’d had a relationship with Cosima, the illegitimate daughter of Franz Liszt and Marie d’Agoult, since 1863 when she was

Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) discovered the music of Hungary through the Hungarian violinist Ede (Eduard) Reményi, who was in Germany after being banned from Austria following his participation in the Hungarian Revolution of 1848. Brahms, 15 at the time of their

Leoš Janáček (1854-1928) was not one of the usual child musical prodigies. He was a gifted child as a pianist and organist but it wasn’t until he was in his 50s that he made his name in music with his

Born on 27 January 1806, Juan Crisóstomo de Arriaga y Balzola shares his birthday (and his middle name) with Mozart, but at a 50-year remove. Like Mozart, his career was cut short; he didn’t even get the 34 years of