Everything You Ever Wanted to Know about Classical Music - Sunday 16 March 2014

'Who were the great Irish composers?' asks Catherine Bott.

It's St. Patrick's Day tomorrow and Catherine Bott is wondering, 'Who were the great Irish composers?' 

There's Michael William Balfe, for example, best-remembered for his opera The Bohemian Girl - but he composed another 37 operas and some 250 songs.  

John Field invented the 'nocturne' - the piano form that was later championed by Chopin. 

And Dublin-born Charles Villiers Stanford (pictured) was largely responsible for the late 19th-century renaissance in British music, teaching Holst and Vaughan Williams.  

So the emerald isle has a lot to be proud of, and Catherine will be sharing its music tonight.