The Places • The tour starts in the formal gardens of the Palace of Versailles and moves on to the Château ofChantilly. In Paris Montmartre presents a simpler world, with scenes from the Canal Saint-Martin. The writerRabelais is celebrated in Chinon, his birth-place, and there is a glimpse of Bluebeard’s castle before weenter the traditional brasserie, La Cigale, in Nantes. In Paris again, the restaurant, the Train Bleu, celebratesan earlier age of luxury and from the historic railway stations of the capital we continue to Père LachaiseCemetery, before finally visiting the Place de la Concorde and the major sights of Paris.The Music • In 1809 Vienna was once again under attack from the forces of Napoleon. Most of the leadingfamilies, including the imperial family, had taken refuge elsewhere, the occasion of Beethoven’s sonata LesAdieux. On 12th May the city surrendered, the French occupation bringing with it hardship for the Viennesepeople. In these circumstances Beethoven, now 39 and increasingly deaf, worked on the last of his five pianoconcertos, to be popularly known as the Emperor. It was probably completed inthe following year and was given its first performance in Leipzig in November, 1811.
