Mozart's Symphony No. 40

Mozart composed his Symphony No. 40 during the very productive summer of 1788, when he also completed his Symphony No. 39 and Symphony No. 41—the last symphonies he would compose.  After a series of revisions, including Mozart’s addition of clarinet parts for his friend, the clarinetist Anton Stadler, numerous versions existed (including an autograph score, with clarinets, that ended up in the hands of Johannes Brahms), confusing editors until their eventual straightening out of the parts in 1930.  Symphony No. 40 is in the key of G minor is one of only two symphonies Mozart wrote in a minor key, and according to Robert Schumann, has a “weightless, Hellenic grace.”

Beethoven's Symphony No. 3, “Eroica”

The Eroica opened the floodgates for the symphonic outpouring of the nineteenth century—for Beethoven himself, Schubert, Schumann, Brahms, Bruckner, and the rest. The Eroica was the longest symphony ever written when it was unveiled, and listeners and critics commented widely on that fact, to the composer’s frustration. By 1807 nearly all reactions to the piece were favorable, or at least respectful, and critics were starting to make sense of its more radical elements.

Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 5

By the summer of 1809, Napoleon’s French forces, at war with Austria for the fourth time in eighteen years, reached the suburbs of Vienna. “Nothing but drums, cannons, human misery of every sort!” wrote Beethoven to his publisher in Leipzig. But by year’s end, he had completed his Piano Concerto No. 5, Emperor, a magnificent affirmation made in terrible times.

R. Strauss’ "Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks"

Richard Strauss just wanted to give the people in the concert hall a good laugh. His tone poem Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks turned out to be one of the most sophisticated pieces of musical humor ever created.