The Battle of the Baroque Composers

In 1700, four top composers competed to write music for the same opera script. They were forced to showcase their talent in a high-stakes public contest judged by the audience.

This unique competition for the best setting of The Judgment of Paris was essentially an early music battle. Each composer vied for prestige, but the winner was decided by a panel of noblemen rather than artistic merit alone. Decades later, Thomas Arne revived the libretto, proving the story had lasting appeal. It remains a fascinating relic of how competitive the British music scene was centuries ago.