Many people know the tune as “The Harmonious Blacksmith,” but that’s not what composer George Friedrich Handel called it. In fact, that name didn’t come about until long after his death.

And what about Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 5, known as the “Emperor”? Or the Haydn symphony called “The Bear,” or Tchaikovsky’s “Polish” Symphony?

In the next hour, the stories behind those nicknames, plus those of works by Bach, Mozart, and more.

FEATURED RECORDINGS

Title	Group/Artist	Catalog #	UPC
Handel: The Eight Great Suites [for The Harmonious Blacksmith]	Danny Driver	Hyperion CDA68042	034571280417
Bach: Six Concertos for the Margrave of Brandenburg [for Brandenburg Concerto No. 3]	European Brandenburg Ensemble, Trevor Pinnock	Avie Records  AV 2119	822252211924
Haydn: Complete Symphonies, [for  Symphony No. 82 “The Bear”]	Austro-Hungarian Haydn Orchestra, Adam Fischer	Nimbus NI 1722	0710357172229
Mozart: Haffner-Serenade	Festival Strings Lucerne, Daniel Dodds	Sony Classical 19658725062	0196587250621
Mozart 225, disc 58, track 7 [for the finale of Mozart’s Symphony No. 35, the “Haffner” and Menuet break music]	Orchestra of the 18th Century, Frans Brüggen	Decca/Deutsche Gramophone  483 0000	028948300006
Tchaikovsky Symphonies, etc. [for finale of Symphony No. 3 “The Polish”]	Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, Kurt Masur	Warner Classics 2564 63781-2	825646378128
The Film Music of Richard Addinsell [for Warsaw Concerto (arr. Roy Douglas]	Martin Roscoe, BBC Philharmonic, Rumon Gamba	Chandos CHAN 10046	095115104620
The Beethoven Journey [for Piano Concerto no.5, III. Rondo]	Leif Ove Andsnes, Mahler Chamber Orchestra	Sony Classical 88843058862	888430588622