Started them off on light chamber music (can't go wrong with Bach, Mozart, Haydn, and so on), past the Beethovens and Faurés and Schuberts and Dvořáks, through to the Russian nationalists and modernists, and then I don't really have a plan. Frankly, I am amazed they have accepted this for the past two Fridays.
I've drawn a rough arc from baroque to classical to romantics, perhaps explore the more obscure composers of each era. But you have to stamp in the basics first
Also, I am letting the inimitable wikipedia guide me here, massive resource with composers of each era many of which are totally unknown to me
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classical_music
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Baroque_composers
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Romantic_composers
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...ical_composers
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...ical_composers
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of..._era_composers
So suggestions are warmly welcomed