Everything You Ever Wanted to Know about Classical Music, Sunday 21 June 2015 9pm

Catherine Bott explores the greatest music from the Classical era.

The Classical era has given its name to the entire genre of classical music. But this evening Catherine will be focusing on that particular period in history, which bridged the Baroque and the Romantic, and gave us some of the biggest names in music, including Haydn, Mozart, Schubert and Beethoven.

As the Classical period took over in the mid-1700s and the Baroque era was winding down, a few defining characteristics emerged. Where the music of the Baroque period was ordered, efficient and complex, the new sound of the classical period tended to focus on simplifying things a little bit, but also making them bigger.

DISCOVER: The Classical era >

Basically, when it comes down to it, the Classical period is the sound of delicate order gradually being taken over by human feelings and indulgence. As time went on and musical experiments started to succeed, the sound got more and more lush and emotional - leading perfectly into the Romantic period that followed.

Tonight, Catherine takes us on a journey through this most exhilarating of eras in music.