The period of musical history from c. 1750 to c. 1830, generally known as the "Classical" era, gave birth to a body of works that has come to be regarded as the indestructible foundation of the modern repertory of Western Music. It is the period of such masterpieces as Mozart's "The Magic Flute", Haydn's "The Creation" and Beethoven's "Choral Symphony"; of Gluck's innovative operas and the flamboyant ones of Rossini; and of fascinating and beautiful works of all kinds from such composers as C.P.E. Bach, Weber, and Schubert. But as Julian Rushton reminds us, there are many composers less celebrated today (Jommelli, Traetta, Hummel, Spontini, Mehel, to name a few) whose contribution is still being evaluated. Rushton illuminates all of these composers and their works within the cultural background of the Encyclopaedists, of Goethe and Schiller, of Neoclassicism and incipient Romanticism. 50 illus.