Pioneer of opera. Claudio Monteverdi
Transfiguration of the baroque. Johann Sebastian Bach
Composer and impresario. George Frideric Handel
Reformer of opera. Christoph Willibald Gluck
Classicism par excellence. Joseph Haydn
Prodigy from Salzburg. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Revolutionary from Bonn. Ludwig Van Beethoven
Poet of music. Franz Schubert
Freedom and a new language. Weber and the early romantics
Romantic exuberance and classic restraint. Hector Berlioz
Florestan and Eusebius. Robert Schumann
Apotheosis of the piano. Frédéric Chopin
Bourgeois genius. Felix Mendelssohn
Voice, voice, and more voice. Rossini, Donizetti, Bellini
Spectacle, spectacle, and more spectacle. Meyerbeer, Cherubini, Auber
Colossus of Italy. Giuseppe Verdi
Colossus of Germany. Richard Wagner
Keeper of the flame. Johannes Brahms
Master of the lied. Hugo Wolf
Waltz, can-can, and satire. Strauss, Offenbach, Sullivan
Faust and French opera. From Gounod to Saint-Saëns
Russian nationalism and the mighty five. From Glinka to Rimsky-Korsakov
Surcharged emotionalism. Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
From Bohemia to Spain. European nationalists
Chromaticism and sensibilité. From Franck to Fauré
Only for the theater. Giacomo Puccini
Romanticism's long coda. Richard Strauss
Religion, mysticism and retrospection. Bruckner, Mahler, Reger
Sympolism and impressionism. Claude Debussy
Gallic elegance and the new breed. Maurice Ravel and Les Six
The chameleon. Igor Stravinsky
The English Renaissance. Elgar, Delius, Vaughan Williams
Mysticism and melancholy. Scriabin and Rachmaninoff
Under the Soviets. Prokofiev and Shostakovich
German neoclassicism. Busoni, Weill, Hindemith
Rise of an American tradition. From Gottschalk to Copland
The uncompromising Hungarian. Béla Bartók
The second Viennese school. Schoenberg, Berg, Webern
The international serial movement. From Varése to Messiaen
The new eclecticism. From Carter to the minimalists.