In the history of European music, certain cities seem to hold a magnetic pull, drawing in talent and capital to create something entirely new. In the late 17th century, that city was Hamburg. Today, we often think of Baroque opera

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is one of the most famous composers in Western music history – and one of the most mythologised. Over the past two centuries, popular culture has transformed Mozart’s legacy into a series of legends: the genius who

In 2022, filmmaker Tim van Beveren and pianist Kyra Steckeweh released a documentary about composer Dora Pejačević called DORA – Flucht in die Musik (or, in English, Dora – Escape Into Music). It’s now widely available through Amazon and other

The twentieth century was the first century in which pianists’ careers intersected with mass media. Perhaps as a result, greatness and influence during this period are inseparable from pianists’ public images. Therefore, this is not a ranking of pianists by

Few works in the piano repertoire have achieved the YouTube popularity of Rachmaninoff’s Second Piano Concerto. What’s striking about the concerto’s YouTube dominance isn’t just the raw view counts; it’s also which performances are generating them. Alongside historic audio of

During the twentieth century, the composition of classical music became an unexpected but vital means of political resistance. As fascist and totalitarian regimes spread across Europe, composers faced censorship, persecution, exile, and, in some cases, death. But rather than retreating

Classical music history is often seen as dignified and serious – all powdered wigs, solemn portraits, and stuffy concert halls. But scratch the surface, and the past turns out to be far stranger. Behind some of the most revered composers

Wikipedia is famous for its rabbit holes: interesting links that lead to other interesting links that lead to other interesting links, and so on. From bizarre musical superstitions to wild concert disasters, Wikipedia is full of fascinating lists, spreadsheets, and