Simone Young
Sheku Kanneh-Mason Johann Sebastian Bach
Johannes Brahms

In 1738, composer Carl Philip Emanuel Bach was employed at crown prince Fredrik's court in Berlin – Frederik was crowned King of Prussia two years later. In 1747, Carl Philip's father, Johann Sebastian Bach (1658-1750), visited and impressed the king with his playing. King Fredrik challenged J.S. Bach to write a six-part fugue over a given melody. The result was a masterpiece - known as Ricercar from The Musical Sacrifice. The piece has since been arranged by several composers, with Anton Webern's 1935 orchestration being one of the most played.

Edward Elgar's (1857–1934) fame took off during the Edwardian era, a carefree British heyday named after King Edward VII, who reigned from 1901 to 1910. During that decade, Elgar became the first Englishman in centuries to achieve international recognition as a composer. From 1914 on, the First World War shattered dreams and hopes for the future in Great Britain and the rest of Europe. Elgar's Cello Concerto from 1919 contains much of the grief the composer bore after the war years, but the mood brightens throughout the work.

Johannes Brahms (1833−1897) created his Symphony No. 3 during an intense working holiday in the summer of 1883. The four movements have many connections, and Brahms' close friend Clara Schumann wrote to him that they appeared as one piece, "which one heartbeat, each one a jewel." About the third movement, she noted that "it appears like a pearl, but it is gray, surrounded by a tear of melancholy..." The symphony's introduction has features in common with the third symphony of her late husband and Brahms' mentor, Robert Schumann.