Musicians have a close relationship to their instrument. The music tells a story, but so does the musician – through the score and through their instrument. For musicians and listeners alike, music can be so much: a break from daily struggles, or a moving adventure. Music requires enormous dedication from musicians and they may occasionally doubt whether it is truly worth the thousands of hours it takes to learn an instrument in depth. At the same time, even the greatest love for music can be subjected to other obstacles – for example, history’s numerous neglected and stonewalled female composers and musicians. 

In this episode, we hear music by Pyotr Tchaikovsky, Benjamin Dale, Henry Fillmore, Johannes Brahms, Johann Sebastian Bach, Laura Netzel, Franz Liszt and Germaine Tailleferre. 

Mankind and Music is a series about western classical music with various themes. Why does music exist? What happens to us when we listen to music, and how are we affected by playing an instrument and making music with other people?