Main content
Key Changes: Radio 3's Essential History of Classical MusicEpisodes Available now

1832: En Pointe
1832, Paris: the first dancer on pointe shoes ushers in the age of Romantic ballet.

1828: Playing with Fire
1828, Vienna. Virtuoso violinist Paganini puts the soloist centre-stage.

1822: Opera Fever
1822, Vienna. Rossini fever sweeps the opera world.

1816: Engineering Music
1816, Bavaria. Music meets machine.

1814: A Viennese Whirl
1814, Vienna. The waltz sweeps through Europe.

1808: Yes, we will have a pianoforte
1808, Hampshire. Jane Austen joins a growing craze for the pianoforte.

1807: A New Quartet
1807, Vienna. Beethoven pushes the string quartet into new territory.

1794: Les enfants de la patrie
1794, Paris. A pianist faces the Revolution's most feared tribunal.

1786: The Figaro Revolution
1786, Vienna. Two servants take on their master in Mozart’s greatest opera.

1772: The Symphony Laboratory
1772. The remote court of Esterháza. Haydn expands the possibilities of the symphony.