SCENE ONE. Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven are discovered in Heaven, suffering from ennui; they're not as revolutionary as they used to be; they bicker. All is suddenly made better when Haydn unearths a book - Charles Rosen's The Classical Style - and begins to read.  

SCENE TWO. A young musician comes to pick up Charles Rosen for a Sonata Form symposium. Charles begins to explain the origins of the sonata. Despite the young musician's entreaties and attempted interruptions, Charles warms to his topic: The Birth of the Classical Style.  

SCENE THREE. The Dominant is in a bar, feeling unresolved. The Tonic appears, with an excess of certainty. The bartender comments wryly on this codependent relationship. The Subdominant appears, healing all wounds. Charles is seen in a corner of the stage, explaining the circle of fifths. Mozart happens upon the scene, looking for Charles Rosen, but finds himself attracted to the Subdominant. 

 SCENE FOUR. Charles explains the relationship between sensuality and pathos in Mozart. Before we know it, we are plunged into the opening scene of Don Giovanni, but instead of the Commendatore, a musicologist named Henry Snibblesworth enters, deflating and derailing the plot. Beethoven appears, looking for Charles Rosen, and Snibblesworth explains that Charles will be attending an impending symposium on Sonata Form. The Commendatore, arriving too late, is consoled and irritated by Snibblesworth.  

 SCENE FIVE. The Sonata Form Symposium. Sonata form is discussed by a group of musicologists, to music cast in sonata form. Is it about harmony, or melody? What are the requirements? During the development section, Mozart, Haydn, and Beethoven arrive, with differing notions; Charles does not, causing bewilderment.  

 SCENE SIX. We come upon the Tonic, Dominant, and Subdominant again, trapped in their ongoing love triangle. A mysterious eye-patched visitor, the Tristan Chord, warns them darkly of future developments. Chastened, I, IV, and V decide to enjoy their system of meaning while it lasts.  

 SCENE SEVEN. Having missed the symposium, the young musician prevails upon Charles at least to serve dinner. Charles explains the greatness of late Beethoven. An ominous knock is heard at the door, then another, then another - Mozart, Haydn, and Beethoven. Charles refuses to give them satisfaction, much in the vein of the Don Giovanni dinner scene. They beg Charles to help them recover their freshness and vitality, which he dismisses as ridiculous. A climactic argument. Snibblesworth arrives, the three great composers decide to return to Heaven, Don Giovanni arrives to drag Snibblesworth to Hell. The young musician sneaks off in the artificial confusion. Charles is left alone, narrating the isolation of Beethoven in 1822. But a mysterious Romantic gentleman appears - Robert Schumann; they muse at the piano. Mozart, Haydn, and Beethoven are seen off in Heaven singing the last paragraph of The Classical Style, while Charles and Schumann wonder how such a miracle came to be, and why it had to end.