Listening guides

Famous classical works

Twenty of the best-loved pieces in classical music, in the order they were written — with the history behind each one and what to listen for.

• Johann Pachelbel · 1690

  Canon in D

  Three violins in canon over a repeating bass line — now a wedding favourite.

• Johann Sebastian Bach · 1721

  Brandenburg Concertos, BWV 1046–1051

  Six concertos, each for a different group of instruments, showing everything the Baroque concerto could be.

• Antonio Vivaldi · 1725

  The Four Seasons (Le quattro stagioni)

  Four violin concertos that paint spring, summer, autumn and winter in sound.

• Johann Sebastian Bach · 1730

  Concerto for Two Violins in D minor, BWV 1043

  Two solo violins in close conversation — one of Bach's most beloved concertos.

• George Frideric Handel · 1742

  Messiah, HWV 56

  An English oratorio telling the Christian story, written in about three weeks.

• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart · 1787

  Eine kleine Nachtmusik, K. 525

  A light serenade for strings that became one of the best-known pieces of music in the world.

• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart · 1791

  Requiem in D minor, K. 626

  Mozart's final work, left unfinished and surrounded by legend.

• Ludwig van Beethoven · 1808

  Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Op. 67

  Four notes that became the most famous opening in music, and a journey from struggle to triumph.

• Franz Schubert · 1822

  Symphony No. 8 in B minor, “Unfinished”, D. 759

  Two complete movements and a mystery: why did Schubert never finish it?

• Ludwig van Beethoven · 1824

  Symphony No. 9 in D minor, “Choral”, Op. 125

  The first major symphony to use voices, setting Schiller's “Ode to Joy” as a hymn to human brotherhood.

• Edvard Grieg · 1876

  Peer Gynt, Op. 23

  Incidental music for Ibsen's play, including “Morning Mood” and “In the Hall of the Mountain King”.

• Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky · 1877

  Swan Lake, Op. 20

  Tchaikovsky's first ballet, a failure at first and later the most famous ballet of all.

• Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky · 1882

  1812 Overture, Op. 49

  A musical battle commemorating Russia's defence against Napoleon in 1812.

• Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky · 1892

  The Nutcracker, Op. 71

  A Christmas ballet whose suite became famous even before the ballet did.

• Antonín Dvořák · 1893

  Symphony No. 9 in E minor, “From the New World”

  Written in America by a Czech composer, it became one of the most loved symphonies ever composed.

• Claude Debussy · 1905

  Clair de lune, from Suite bergamasque

  A moonlit piano piece and the best-known music of Debussy.

• Igor Stravinsky · 1913

  The Rite of Spring

  A ballet of pagan ritual whose premiere is one of music's most famous scandals.

• Gustav Holst · 1918

  The Planets, Op. 32

  A seven-movement suite inspired by the astrological character of each planet.

• Edward Elgar · 1919

  Cello Concerto in E minor, Op. 85

  An elegy written after the First World War, Elgar's last major work.

• Maurice Ravel · 1928

  Boléro

  One melody repeated over a snare drum for fifteen minutes, getting steadily louder.