Hardback.

Completing the trilogy begun with the "marvellous" (Early Music Review) Haydn, Mozart and the Viennese School, 1740-1780 (ISBN 978 0 393 03712 8) and continued in Music in European Capitals: The Galant Style, 1720-1780 (ISBN 978 0 393 05080 6), Daniel Heartz concludes his extensive chronicle of the Classical Era with this much-anticipated volume.

By the early nineteenth century, "Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven" had become a common expression signifying musical excellence. Indeed, even in his early career, Beethoven was hailed as the only musician worthy to stand beside Haydn and Mozart.

In this volume, Heartz winds up the careers of Haydn and Mozart (with their most famous and greatest works) and describes Beethoven's first decade in Vienna, during which he began composing by patterning his works on the two masters. The tumult and instability of the French Revolution serves as a vivid backdrop for the tale.