During the 1920s Paul Hindemith (1895-1963) symbolised everything that was progressive in German music. He explored the potential of radio, electronic music and jazz, and he was feted at the Donaueschingen Festival.

George Frideric Handel (1685-1759) composed 42 operas and 25 oratorios including Messiah with its famous Hallelujah chorus. But he is equally well known for his Water Music and Fireworks Music, which he wrote for the British kings George I and George II.

You just have to love him! Wolfgang Amadé Mozart (1756-1791), the composer of The Magic Flute and Eine kleine Nachtmusik. Mozart took Viennese Classicism to its height and wrote some of the most delightful melodies in the history of music.

Even during his lifetime Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847) was subjected to anti-Semitic smear campaigns. The Nazis even banned his works – but they searched in vain for substitutes for his Violin Concerto and A Midsummer Night's Dream.

For many people, Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) was the greatest composer of all time. The St. Matthew Passion, the Brandenburg Concertos and The Well-Tempered Clavier: these and many other Bach works still provide musicians and composers with inspiration, even today.

Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) was seen as a perfectionist and excessively self-critical. A bachelor all his life, he was intent on composing music of lasting value and despised the trends of the day. He never wrote anything as popular as an opera.

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) has a reputation as the angry Titan of the Classical music period. But Bonn's most famous son, writer of the momentous Fifth Symphony, also composed the touching piano piece Für Elise. His Ode to Joy has been the European anthem since 1972.