Composers

<spoiler> From Singapore clue [1] for composers: "City of Birth",
Here is the list of cities of birth... still trying to figure out from there:

beethoven - bonn

stause - munich

ravel - ciboure

liszt - Doborján

mozart - salzburg

bach - eisenach

bizet - paris

verdi - le roncole

Notes on the music page: certain lines of the music correspond to the writers on the right hand side. Trying to figure out if the star icon and background has any relevance to this as well. </spoiler> <spoiler> Notes from jnm. Johann Strauss was born in Vienna. Richard Strauss was born in Munich. Liszt was born in Doborján which is now called Raiding. Bizet was actually born in and died in Bougival near Paris. Verdi was born in Roncole near Busseto.

Note from leonmj: The only composer of note I can find who was born in LA was John Milton Cage, composer of 4 minutes 33 seconds which is silence for 4 minutes and 33 seconds. The Dvorak of LA is a columnist.

Note from xctrex: Dvorak is also the name of a type of encoding.

Note from rieuwa: This was all my mistake, apologies... My new hypothesis:Cage's most famous work is called 4 minutes 33 seconds, which when converted to seconds is equal to 273 seconds..

It was widely hypothesized that "Cage chose the length deliberately, four minutes and thirty-three seconds being 273 seconds and absolute zero being temperature of −273 °C. " Quote from wikipedia.

Now, if you count the number of notes that appear in the puzzle:- 16*17=272... isn't that rather close to 273? </spoiler> <spoiler> Cities of birth along with lat/long (no connection found)

Beethoven - Bonn, Germany [50.7333 7.1000]
Strauss - Vienna, Austria [48.1514, 16.4575]
Ravel - Ciboure, France [43.3621, -1.6727]
Liszt - Doborján, Hungary (now Raiding, Austria) [47.5663, 16.5303]
Mozart - Salzburg, Austria [47.7393, 13.0737]
Bach - Eisenach, Germany [50.9688, 10.3107]
Bizet - Paris, France [48.8667, 2.3333]
Verdi - Le Roncole, Italy [44.9794, 10.0429]

Transcriptions of each line of music (in http://www.musipedia.org search format for further research)

 1. a'4 a'4 g'4 f'8 g'8 a'8 a'8 gis'8 f'8 e'8 b'8 c''4 b'4 g'16 a'16 g'16
 2. g'8 b'8 b'8 c''4 c''4 b'4 b'8 c'4 g'4 a'8 dis'16 cis'16 d'8 e'8 c''4 b'4
 3. e'4 e'4 f'4 g'4 g'4 f'4 e'4 d'4 c'4 c'4 d'4 e'4. d'8 d'2 b'4
 4. e'4 f'8 fis'4 fis'8 a'4 a'4 f'4 e'4 c''4 e'4 g'8 fis'8 g'4 g'4 f'8 g'8
 5. g'4. d'8 g'4. d'8 g'8 d'8 g'8 b'8 d''2 e''2 g'4 f'4 g'4 f''4 d'8 g'4
 6. g'2 f'2 g'4 c''4 e'8 b'4 f'8 d'8 c'8 a'16 a'4 g'2 b'4 a'4 a'4 f'2
 7. f'4 g'4 f'4 g'4 c'8 e'8 f'4 f'4 d'4 d'8 d'8 d''16 g''4 b'4 a'4 e'16
 8. c'16 b'16 b'16 f'16 d'8 f'8 e'8 b'8 c''8 a'8 c''4 g'2 a'4 g''2 e''8 d''8
 9. a'4 b'4 e'2. dis'8 e'8 fis'8 e'8 dis'8 cis'8 e'4 e'8 cis'8 e'2 f'8 e''4 c'8
10. d'4 e'4 dis'4 e'4 f'8 fis'8 f'8 dis'8 e'4 f'4 b'4 d'4 e'8 e'16 c'16 e''2
11. f'4 f'8. b'8. f'4 g'8 f'2 e'8. g'16 gis'2. f'8 e'16 cis'16 f'4 a'4 bis'4 g'16
12. b'2. ais'2. g'4 dis'2 fis'8 a'16 f'4 c''2 a'16 g'16 b'8 a'8 a'4 fis'4 dis'4 e'4
13. b'8 c''8 a'8 d''4 g'8 a'8 b'8 c''8 d''4 g'4 g'4 dis'4 f'8 fis'4 gis'4 a'4
14. e'2 b'2 a'4 a'4 e'8 e'8 b'8 b'8 a'8 ais'8 dis'8 fis'8 g'4 fis'4 d'4 c'8
15. g'4 f'4 b'4 d'4 f'8 g'4 c''4 d''8. c''16 a'4 a'4 a'8. g'16 a'8. ais'16 a'2
16. f'8 e'2. a'16 c''8 g'16 e''8 f'16 e'16 cis'8 dis'8 e'4 f'4 c'8 g'16 e'16 b'4
17. a'4 g'4 dis'2 g'4 f'4 b'4 a'8 c'8 c'8 e'8 g'4 g'2 c''2 e'2 dis'2 c'1

Here are midi files for each song (wiki site won't allow upload so external links)

 1. http://www.rkuhler.com/vpg/composers_01.midi
 2. http://www.rkuhler.com/vpg/composers_02.midi
 3. http://www.rkuhler.com/vpg/composers_03.midi
 4. http://www.rkuhler.com/vpg/composers_04.midi
 5. http://www.rkuhler.com/vpg/composers_05.midi
 6. http://www.rkuhler.com/vpg/composers_06.midi
 7. http://www.rkuhler.com/vpg/composers_07.midi
 8. http://www.rkuhler.com/vpg/composers_08.midi
 9. http://www.rkuhler.com/vpg/composers_09.midi
10. http://www.rkuhler.com/vpg/composers_10.midi
11. http://www.rkuhler.com/vpg/composers_11.midi
12. http://www.rkuhler.com/vpg/composers_12.midi
13. http://www.rkuhler.com/vpg/composers_13.midi
14. http://www.rkuhler.com/vpg/composers_14.midi
15. http://www.rkuhler.com/vpg/composers_15.midi
16. http://www.rkuhler.com/vpg/composers_16.midi
17. http://www.rkuhler.com/vpg/composers_17.midi

The following have been identified:

 3. Beethoven - Symphony no. 9 'Choral' finale (not last note?)
 5. Mozart - Serenade K525 Eine kleine Nachtmusik (first 9 notes?)
 9. Ravel - Bolero (first 13 notes?)
13. Bach - Minuet, BWV Anh. 114 (middle 9 notes?)
15. Bizet - Carmen Act II: Toreador's song, 2nd theme (last 10 notes?)
17. Strauss - The Blue Danube Waltz (CCEGG near end?)

</spoiler> <spoiler> Solved: City = Los Angeles. </spoiler>

Next book: Letters From Home