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Stephen Johnson considers how five seminal pieces of music would have been appreciated by the audiences who heard them first. He probes the societies and cultures that shaped the experience of those original listeners to reveal what our modern ears might be missing.

The British love a grand Royal celebration and this one promised to be spectacular: a state-of-the-art, open-air entertainment with mechanical wonders, pyrotechnics and a massive orchestra led by London's own George Frederick Handel. The music he wrote for the occasion has endured as one of his most popular works, meaning those 'Royal Fireworks' continue to live in our imagination. But what really happened that night?