Each episode is based around a particular date - a world premiere, the anniversary of the birth or death of a musician, or an important historical event - and explores the music accompanying shifting tastes and ground-breaking events.

Did you know, for example, that Smetana's "The Moldau" eventually led to the birth of a nation? Or that Frederick the Great, the Soldier King, played the flute and invited Johann Sebastian Bach to improvise on one of his melodies?

Or that the Beatles owe much of their early success to their gigs in Hamburg's red light district or that Elvis, already hugely popular, came to Germany as a GI in the 1950's? How did Martin Luther come to discover that he could deliver as many sermons as he wanted, but it was the church hymns set to popular tunes of the day that really got the message across? What about the great men and women who set the style and defined the musical idiom for generations to come?

In a fast-paced dialogue of spoken word and music excerpts, Music This Week brings you the stories behind the music.

Music This Week is hosted by Rick Fulker, Louisa Schaefer, Dagmar Breitenbach and Gavin Blackburn.