Author: David Hackett

For reasons best known to himself, Anton Reicha hated having his compositions either performed or published during his lifetime. The inevitable result was that most of his music would fall into complete obscurity after his death …

Aside from Ludvig Van Beethoven, Joseph Haydn had one other celebrated pupil – or at least celebrated in his day. Although now somewhat forgotten, Ignaz Joseph Pleyel was one of the most popular European composers of the late eighteenth century. For a time, it seemed, his music filled countless salons …

Feted, celebrated and widely regarded as the grand old man of European music… yet Joseph Haydn hadn’t always had it so good. His long career had been something of a “rags to riches” story, offering up plenty of hurdles and hardships to be overcome along the way.

Ludwig Van Beethoven has often been portrayed as the most dysfunctional of geniuses. Abrasive in manner, careless of appearance and deeply eccentric with his habits, it’s sometimes a wonder that he managed to get anything done at all, never mind write such wonderful music …