#082 Ireland...Thanks Paola

These se-tenant stamps was issued on Aug.14,2009 to celebrate four of the world s leading composers with a set of commemorative stamps.

Handel and Mozart feature on two 55c stamps while Chopin and Hayden appear on a pair of 82c (international) stamps.

George Frideric Handel (1685-1759) was born in Halle, Germany. He wrote over forty operas during his lifetime and, in 1741, composed his masterpiece, Messiah. This exuberant, joyful religious work was first performed in Fishamble Street, Dublin in 1742. The stamp features a portrait of Handel c.1736 (oil on canvas) by Thomas Hudson, set against the original score of the Last Folio from the opera Susanna.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) was an Austrian child prodigy, who became an official court composer at the age of just seventeen. He composed an extraordinary number of concerti, symphonies and operas, of which the best known today is The Marriage of Figaro. The stamp features an image of Mozart (oil on canvas) by Grassi, and is set on a background incorporating the manuscript music score of the Overture of the opera Don Giovanni.

These composers were at the heart of the Classical movement. They expanded the scope, range and intensity of emotions that could be expressed in serious musical form, and created a musical legacy which endures to this day.