Jeremy Siepmann

Franz Schubert was a beautiful, brilliant, modest boy who sprang to fully fledged genius at the age of sixteen; an unrecognised master who died almost penniless at the age of thirty-one. But, as revealed in this dramatised biography (lavishly illustrated with musical examples), there was a secret, darker side to Schubert which only renders his story that much more fascinating.

Symphonies, quartets, concertos and keyboard works poured from the pen of Joseph Haydn, making him one of the most important figures in classical music. This is the story of the man and his work, enhanced by numerous examples of the music itself.

Ludwig van Beethoven's music helped define the classical style and he is considered by many to be the greatest composer who ever lived. This biographical portrait reveals a titanic personality, both vulnerable and belligerent, comic and tragic, and above all heroic, as he comes to grips with deafness, perhaps the greatest disability a musician can suffer.