Why did Beethoven's monumental work, the Missa Solemnis, Opus 123, premiere in St. Petersburg and not in Vienna? 

Fred Haight explores the role of Gottfried Leibniz, a mentor of Benjamin Franklin, in the creation of a new culture in Peter the Great's Russia, through music and science. Leibniz saw both North America and Russia as the hinterlands of the day, sufficiently removed from the fray and corruption of the European Courts to be able to create new, more beautiful ideas in human affairs.

Part 2 continues the discussion of the great choral tradition of Russia into the 19th century.

Part 3 Tchaikovsky in America