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The EssayMusic in Its TimeEpisodes

    Music in Its Time - Handel: Music for the Royal Fireworks

    10/10The spectacular state-of-the-art first performance of Handel's Royal Fireworks.

    Music in Its Time - Beethoven: Piano Concerto No 4

    9/10Stephen Johnson on Beethoven's decision to unveil three new works at one public concert.

    Music in Its Time - Shostakovich: Symphony No 5

    8/10Stephen Johnson considers how Shostakovich's Fifth Symphony surprised its audience.

    Music in Its Time - Byrd: Mass for Four Voices

    7/10The secret performances of Byrd's masses in Elizabethan England.

    Music in Its Time - Mahler's Symphony No 8

    6/10The 1910 premiere of Mahler's Eighth Symphony, for which he hired impresario Emil Gutman.

    The Firebird

    5/10Stephen Johnson on the reactions of the first audiences to Stravinsky's The Firebird.

    Bach: St Matthew Passion

    4/10Exploring the impact of Bach's St Matthew Passion on its first audiences in Leipzig.

    Scenes from Childhood

    3/10Exploring how Schumann's Scenes from Childhood were listened to by their first audiences.

    Victoria: Lamentations

    2/10Exploring the impact of Victoria's Lamentations on listeners in Counter-Reformation Rome.

    Haydn: Symphony No 100 (Military)

    1/10Exploring the impact of Haydn's Military Symphony on its first audiences in 1790s London.