From the sublime splendours of Bach to the romantic agonies of Berlioz, and from the cosmopolitan triumphs of Handel to the politically fraught career of Shostakovich in Soviet Russia, the lives of the great composers are as varied and multifaceted as the works of creative genius they produced.

Writing with verve and passion, Jeremy Nicholas offers a sequence of elegant and often affectionate biographical profiles of 50 of the greatest composers in the history of classical music. Presented in chronological order, the biographies describe the life, artistic development and creative output of each composer. Boxed features explore some fascinating and little-known aspects of the composers' lives and works, shedding sometimes unexpected light on the great names in music history. In addition, shortlists of 'must-hear' masterpieces for all 50 composers provide the reader with all the information they need to begin to build a brilliant classical music collection.

Taken together, the 50 profiles contained in The Great Composers amount to a concise and readable history of 500 years of Western classical music. Accessible and entertaining, but also informative and authoritative, this is the perfect introduction to the world of classical music for the general reader.