" When you look at the Austro-Germanic tradition of music, you find an unbroken line of great composers, starting with Johann Sebastian Bach, CPE Bach, F.J. Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann, Brahms, Wagner, Mahler, and Strauss. If you look at English-born composers, however, you find a big gap between Henry Purcell (died 1695) and Elgar (born 1857). Yes, there were English composers in between, but the English line is hardly as impressive as the previous one.

So, it does seem true that while there are great musicians in every country, music tends to be more of an Austro-Germanic art form. Part of the reason is socio-economic. The great cultural centers in history are usually in rich places which are politically stable, where people can afford to spend money on composers, musicians, and educational systems which create great music. There were some great musicians in Venice, for instance (Vivaldi, Monteverdi, etc.), back when it was rich. There were not many great composers in Germany (Schutz excepted) during the Thirty Years War, as a contrast. This does not explain everything, of course, but it is a factor. It explains why Chopin left Poland and Liszt left Hungary, and why Mozart and Beethoven both settled in Vienna. This happens today, of course--artists seem to congregate in wealthy, stable cities.

Culture must also play a role in this historical pattern. Literature is dominated by the English. Painting is dominated by the Italians and later the French. And music is dominated by the German/Austrian tradition. That doesn't mean that there aren't great works of Spanish or French literature, or wonderful paintings by the Dutch, and so on. It is simply how things have worked out over time.

Why is it that that there have been so many more English writers and playwrights than German writers over history? Is it the culture of political discourse and debate in England? Is it something about the subtlety and indirectness of the English language itself that makes English speakers better at crafting the written language? (By the way, the beauty of the Italian language, with its pure vowels and easiness of rhyming, must play a factor in why it is the home for opera). Is it due to the influence of Shakespeare that other Englishmen want to follow in his footsteps? Or is it something else? I don't have the answers to any of these questions, nor can I answer why, all other things being equal, so many composers are from Germany and Austria and so many painters are from Italy and France. " http://qr.ae/TUpq0d