[prybeng]

I would maybe look at this a bit differently.

Where are the great classical artists in even the rest of Europe? The great classical composers of the 18th century were all German and all made their careers in Vienna, Austria in the 1700s. This was where you wanted to be. Its like the musical equivalent of silicon valley in the 2000s. Vienna was among the wealthiest cities in the world. Habsburg nobility had an unusual fascination with funding arts and culture. Spurs competition to push the art to its limit, in hopes of attracting the wealthiest backers. Budding industrial revolution make the production of complicated musical instruments more viable.

[1718627440]

In addition to the sibling comment https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46012832, German(y) wasn't a state back than but a much larger common cultural term. People living in different parts of Europe would understand themself to be German, even if they wouldn't be considered to be now by their ancestry. It was simply the cultural lingua franca of Central Europe at that time, the countries were smaller and quite numerous. People used to speak German in the same way as they now speak English.

I think the mobility at that time is underestimated, it was very common to relocate to a place where the innovation happens and the other great minds were. It was more common to tour through Europe as part of the Education, than it is now. Sure a journey would take a week instead of a few hours, but you also don't relocate every day.

[lodovic]

Your argument is ignoring musical geniuses such as Vivaldi, Chopin, Rachmaninoff, none of them came from Vienna or Germany.