Path 01
Start here
Ten well-known works to learn the map on, each open in full to everyone.
Pachelbel → Bach → Vivaldi → Mozart → Beethoven → Schubert → Chopin → Dvořák → Debussy
Listening paths · Path 05
Understanding sonata form
The form behind most first movements, heard twelve times, from a small sonata to a symphony.
Sonata form has three parts. The exposition sets out two groups of themes in two keys, the development takes them apart and travels, and the recapitulation brings both groups back in the home key. Keep the section map in view while you listen: each work here makes one part of the plan easy to hear. The path ends with Prokofiev, who in 1917 kept Haydn's plan and teased it.
MozartPiano Sonata No. 16 in C major, K. 545Short and clear. The second theme arrives in G major, and the recapitulation starts in F major instead of C before it finds its way home.
- MozartSerenade No. 13 in G major, K. 525
An exposition you can hardly miss: Theme 1 rises in G major, Theme 2 answers more gracefully in D major, and the whole exposition is played twice. The Development is brief, and the Recapitulation brings Theme 1 home to G.
HaydnSymphony No. 104 in D majorA slow introduction in D minor, then an Allegro whose second group begins with the first theme again in the new key: one theme doing the work of two.
BeethovenPiano Sonata No. 1 in F minor, Op. 2 No. 1A rising arpeggio and a falling answer in A-flat major, easy to tell apart, so you can follow both through the development.
- MozartSymphony No. 40 in G minor, K. 550
The second theme first appears in B-flat major; listen for it to return in G minor in the recapitulation, darker than before.
- BeethovenPiano Sonata No. 8 in C minor, Op. 13
A slow introduction, marked Grave, stands before the fast Allegro – and it does not stay put: it returns at the start of the Development. Note the key of the 2nd Subject, E-flat minor rather than the major you would expect.
- BeethovenSymphony No. 3 in E-flat major, Op. 55
Two chords, no introduction, and the cellos have the 1st Subject. Follow the Development here: it runs longer than the whole exposition, brings in a new theme in E minor, and just before the Recapitulation a horn enters a few bars early.
- BeethovenSymphony No. 5 in C minor, Op. 67
The four-note motif drives the whole exposition. A horn call announces the second theme; in the recapitulation the bassoons play it.
SchubertSymphony No. 8 in B minor, D 759Only two movements. The cellos sing the second theme in G major, and the development is built from the quiet phrase in the low strings that opens the work.
MendelssohnThe Hebrides (Fingal's Cave), Op. 26A concert overture built as a sonata movement. The 1st Subject rolls in B minor, the 2nd Subject is a broad D major melody for cellos and bassoons, and in the Recapitulation that melody returns quietly on a clarinet.
BrahmsSymphony No. 4 in E minor, Op. 98Brahms hides the joins. The exposition is not repeated and adds a 3rd Subject after the 2nd; the Development opens with the main theme in the home key, as if starting again, and later sinks so low that the Recapitulation slips in almost unnoticed.
ProkofievSymphony No. 1 in D major, Op. 25Haydn’s plan, kept and teased. The second theme leaps across the first violins over staccato bassoon, and the Recapitulation starts in the “wrong” key of C major instead of D – compare Mozart’s K. 545 at the start of this path.
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Path 02
Symphonies everyone should know
Twelve symphonies from Mozart's Fortieth to Shostakovich's Fifth, the core of the concert repertoire.
Mozart → Haydn → Beethoven → Schubert → Berlioz → Mendelssohn → Brahms → Mahler → Tchaikovsky → Dvořák → Shostakovich
Path 03
Calm classical music
Twelve slow, quiet pieces, from Chopin's lullaby to Pärt's Fratres.
Chopin → Liszt → Wagner → Debussy → Massenet → Fauré → Grainger → Delius → Vaughan Williams → Rachmaninoff → Pärt
Path 04
Baroque essentials
Ground bass, ritornello, fugue and dance: the Baroque in twelve works, from Purcell to Bach's Musical Offering.
Purcell → Pachelbel → Bach → Vivaldi → Handel → Scarlatti
Path 06
Haydn in London
Haydn's two London visits, 1791–95: six of the symphonies he wrote there, three piano sonatas, and what he took home to Vienna.
Haydn
Path 07
Ten minutes or less
Short, complete works for a single sitting.
Bach → Mozart → Haydn → Beethoven → Schubert → Mendelssohn → Saint-Saëns → Sibelius → Ravel → Debussy → Gershwin → Copland
Path 08
The string quartet, 1772 to 1960
Four players across almost two centuries: Haydn shapes the conversation, Bartók breaks it open, Shostakovich turns it inward.
Haydn → Mozart → Schubert → Beethoven → Dvořák → Debussy → Reger → Bartók → Shostakovich
Path 09
Fifteen kinds of work
One work for each kind in the catalog, from the symphony to choral music.
Beethoven → Vivaldi → Debussy → Holst → Dvořák → Mozart → Chopin → Scarlatti → Bach → Schubert → Strauss → Handel
Path 10
Beethoven's nine symphonies
From the First of 1800 to the Choral of 1824, in the order Beethoven wrote them.
Beethoven
Path 11
The concerto, 1721 to 1959
Soloist and orchestra across two and a half centuries, from Bach's harpsichord to Rostropovich's cello.
Bach → Vivaldi → Mozart → Beethoven → Mendelssohn → Tchaikovsky → Dvořák → Rachmaninoff → Ravel → Shostakovich
Path 12
Romantic piano
Eleven short pieces from Field to Grieg, each holding one mood.
Field → Schubert → Mendelssohn → Chopin → Schumann → Liszt → Tchaikovsky → Rachmaninoff → Brahms → Grieg
Path 13
The art song, from Schubert to Strauss
A poem, a voice and a piano, later an orchestra: from Schubert's first masterpieces to Strauss's last songs.
Schubert → Schumann → Wagner → Mahler → Debussy → Fauré → Strauss
Path 14
Variations and fugue
Two ways of making much from little: a theme changed again and again, and a subject passed from voice to voice.
Bach → Mozart → Haydn → Beethoven → Mendelssohn → Brahms → Elgar
Path 15
Paris around 1900
Fauré, Satie, Debussy, Chausson, Dukas and Ravel, from 1887 to 1920.
Fauré → Satie → Debussy → Chausson → Dukas → Ravel
Path 16
Russian voices
From Glinka to Shostakovich: a century of Russian music, in the order it was written.
Glinka → Balakirev → Mussorgsky → Borodin → Rimsky-Korsakov → Tchaikovsky → Rachmaninoff → Scriabin → Prokofiev → Shostakovich
Path 17
Chopin's piano music
Nocturne, étude, mazurka, scherzo, ballade, polonaise, waltz: Chopin's genres in twelve works, in the order he wrote them.
Chopin
Path 18
Essential Mozart
Mozart in twelve works, from a motet written at sixteen to the Requiem he left unfinished.
Mozart
Path 19
Essential Brahms
Brahms in twelve works, from the First Piano Concerto to the last of his piano pieces.
Brahms
Path 20
The piano sonata, from Mozart to Prokofiev
Twelve piano sonatas from Mozart and Haydn to Prokofiev's war sonata of 1942.
Mozart → Haydn → Beethoven → Schubert → Chopin → Liszt → Berg → Bartók → Prokofiev
Path 21
Debussy and Ravel
Two French composers side by side, often compared and often confused, from 1891 to Boléro in 1928.
Debussy → Ravel
Path 22
Romantic violin concertos
Ten violin concertos, from Beethoven's of 1806 to Sibelius's of 1904.
Beethoven → Paganini → Mendelssohn → Wieniawski → Bruch → Lalo → Brahms → Tchaikovsky → Dvořák → Sibelius
Path 23
Mahler, Bruckner and Strauss
The late Romantic orchestra at its largest: Bruckner's and Mahler's symphonies and Strauss's tone poems, 1880 to 1945.
Bruckner → Mahler → Strauss
Path 24
Music of the nations
Folk songs, dances and landscapes, from Liszt's Hungary to Márquez's Mexico.
Liszt → Smetana → Grieg → Albéniz → Dvořák → Sibelius → Elgar → Vaughan Williams → Janáček → Villa-Lobos → Rodrigo → Márquez
Path 25
Choral masterpieces
Choirs from Handel's coronation anthem to Ligeti's cloud of voices: masses, requiems and psalms, 1727 to 1966.
Handel → Mozart → Brahms → Verdi → Fauré → Orff → Messiaen → Bernstein → Ligeti
Path 26
Famous overtures
Twelve overtures from Mozart's Figaro to Bernstein's Candide, each a complete piece in a few minutes.
Mozart → Beethoven → Rossini → Weber → Mendelssohn → Wagner → Berlioz → Offenbach → Brahms → Tchaikovsky → Bernstein
Path 27
20th-century classical music
Twelve directions the century took, from Schoenberg's Verklärte Nacht of 1899 to Piazzolla's tango of 1982.
Schoenberg → Ives → Bartók → Holst → Gershwin → Barber → Prokofiev → Copland → Ligeti → Górecki → Piazzolla
Path 28
Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier
A prelude and fugue in every major and minor key: Book I complete, then eleven pairs from Book II.
Bach