Classical Destinations: The Great Composers

Johann Sebastian Bach worked in many of the German states until he finally made his home in the ancient Saxon city of Leipzig. There he created some of the greatest music ever written, like the St Matthew Passion.

George Frideric Handel traveled much more widely after his birth in Halle in the Southern part of Saxony. As a young firebrand, he went to Italy where he created a sensation before settling in London for the last 40 years of his life.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born in Austria, in Salzburg. As a child prodigy, he was touted about the courts of Europe by his father, playing violin and piano in all the courts of Europe. The last ten years of his life were spent in the centre of the musical world, in Vienna, where he died.

Ludwig van Beethoven spent most of his life in Vienna, though he was born in Bonn, then a small provincial town. Early deafness robbed him of a performing career, but his world-shattering achievements as a composer changed music forever.

Warsaw and Paris were the cities at the heart of Frédéric Chopin's world: he was one of the first great piano virtuosos, and his piano music helped usher in a new romantic spirit across all the arts.

Edvard Grieg, who, like Chopin, wasn?t afraid to express a new sense of national identity in his art. Grieg?s music breathes the air of Norway, illustrating the northern nation?s landscape, climate, and folklore.