You will appreciate the piece EVEN more if you know...
1) Who's the composer?
2) Purpose for composition of the piece? (To commemorate a loved
one, an occasion, a commission)
3) When it's composed? (To compare the composer's style of
composition at different times of his life)
4) Music of the piece altered because of inability to play by
ancient instruments? (Beethoven's 5th Symphony has been altered
because horns in his time cannot play certain notes)
5) Any influences by other composers, people (Some composers' style
of composition are also influenced by people like another composer
he admired, his mentor, what's fashionable in music at that
time...etc.)
Hmmm.... I think that's all!