We've all heard sad tales of impoverished composers - Mozart's final resting place in a pauper's grave, Beethoven arrested as a tramp, so shabby was his clothes. But is it all true? Is the composer's lot one of endless misery? Then there are the tales of composers who were fabulously wealthy. So who were the cash kings? And which composers were fiscal failures? Based on Classic FM's highly successful Composers' Notes radio series, this book gives you the ins & outs of composers' cashflow.

Published in association with Classic FM, the book of the radio series of the same name, this book takes 27 composers from Bachand Haydn to Rachmaninov and Gershwin, and looks at their financial success (or lack thereof) in a biographical context. It includes a 'rich list' of all 27 composers, from the most solvent (Gershwin) to the least (Mussorgsky).

Tim Lihoreau was born in Leeds in 1965. He is also the author of 'The Incomplete and Utter History of Classical Music with Stephen Fry', and is a contributor to both 'The Daily Telegraph' and 'The Independent'. He now lives in Cambridge with his wife and three children.