The origins of Western music -- 1600-1699 : the flowering of Baroque music. The birth of opera in Italy ; Venice : musical capital of the world ; The early German Baroque ; Carissimi and the oratorio ; On distant shores ; The triumph of Italian opera ; France and the Italian influence ; Music for all occasions ; Lully arrives in France ; Schütz and the German oratorio ; Lully reigns supreme ; Corelli and the violin tradition ; Legrenzi in Venice ; Purcell, the British Orpheus ; Keiser and opera -- 1700-1799 : from Baroque to Classicism. Enter Bach and Handel ; Handel takes Italy by storm ; Vivaldi and Venice ; The genius of Bach ; Bach moves to Leipzig ; The international perspective ; A time for reflection ; The apotheosis of Vivaldi ; Handel's Messiah ; Bach's last works ; Opera war in Paris ; Haydn : composer in residence ; The Mozart touring prodigies ; Haydn, 'darling of the nation' ; Mozart's Italian years ; Gluck reforms opera ; Mozart dismissed ; Beethoven makes his appearance ; Mozart and Haydn ; Figaro and Don Giovanni ; Vienna : musical focus of Europe ; Haydn goes to England -- 1800-1899 : the Romantic century. Beethoven shocks the public ; Enter Rossini ; Schubert's first songs ; Rossini, king of comic opera ; The beginnings of Romanticism ; Beethoven's late works ; Paris : a new musical metropolis ; Bel canto : Bellini and Donizetti ; The flowering of Romanticism ; The rebirth of opera ; Liszt : the archetypal Romantic ; Wagner and Verdi ; Offenbach : opera's lighter side ; International Romanticism ; The music of Eastern Europe ; Brahms : a new Bach or Beethoven? ; Bizet enlivens French music ; Mussorgsky : the voice of Russia ; The new French spirit ; The golden age of light music ; Bruckner : the last Romantic ; Tchaikovsky in Florence ; Realism and symbolism ; The end of Romanticism ; The Romantic legacy -- 1900-today : the centuy of modernism. The old and new worlds unite ; The lure of Paris ; The European symphonic tradition ; Russian ballet conquers the West ; The softer voice of Spain ; The twilight of Romantic opera ; The turbulent twenties ; Breaking the mould ; Novelty and diversity ; Music in America ; In time of war ; The post-war years ; The electronic age ; Freedom and restraint ; The middle way ; New forms of patronage ; The resurgence of opera ; A new discipline ; Towards the millennium.