Hungarian composer Béla Bartók (1881–1945) wrote two ballets, one that has achieved some fame (The Miraculous Mandarin of 1926), but the other has faded from today’s stages. In its time, however, the first ballet, The Wooden Prince, was staged everywhere.

There is a strange phenomenon happening in our modern world. The prominence of slow music in the classical genre. The slowing down of pace, the reduction of notes — and instruments — and the shortening of the music (or the

Leonard Bernstein – composer, conductor, pianist, educator, and more – is remembered as one of the greatest American musicians of all time. His voracious appetite for art extended to his love life. He had many relationships with men, but he

Franz Joseph Haydn is considered the father of the symphony, and John Field (1782-1837), the father of the Nocturne. Although Field was born somewhere between Beethoven and Schubert, his music seems much closer to Chopin, who appeared thirty years later.

In our last blog, we looked at the stories of some unfinished masterpieces being restored. Let us continue our exploration, starting with Mahler’s Symphony No. 10. Mahler: Symphony 10 In 1910, Gustav Mahler was not a happy man. He had

Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (1844-1900) is primarily known as a philosopher who published some groundbreaking books. “Thus Spoke Zarathustra: A Book for All and None,” was published in four volumes between 1883 and 1885, and it spawned a number of philosophical

Deutsche Grammophon. Or DG. Even those who are not familiar with classical music recognise it as a gauge of quality. It is recognisable instantly, thanks to its yellow stamp, but mostly thanks to the impressive catalog of works that it

Composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky had complicated relationships with women. On one hand, for many years, his career was financed by a single wealthy woman, who he poured his heart out to in letters. On the other hand, his gayness meant