Today, Sara Itzig Levy is probably best known as the great-aunt of Felix Mendelssohn. However, she was so much more than that. She was also one of the brightest lights of Berlin salon culture, a patron of some of the

I. A Peasant’s Ambition in the Eternal City When Antonio Vivaldi arrived in Rome for the 1724 Carnival season, he was a composer determined to conquer the prestigious and notoriously fickle Roman opera market. His weapon of choice was Il

It is never easy to be the child of a great composer. Many children wilt under the pressure of being related to a genius: look at what happened to Mozart‘s failed composer son, Franz Xaver, or Robert and Clara Schumann‘s

Today, we remember Johann Sebastian Bach as one of the most prolific composers in music history. However, a significant portion of his output – about half – has not survived. These lost works span categories including sacred and secular cantatas,

The harp is one of the oldest forms of string instruments, with multiple birthplaces and a long presence throughout the history of music, from ancient civilisations to the present day. Yet despite this long lineage, it is not as commonly

Twenty-five years ago, on 3 February 2001, the Polish parliament enacted legislation for the protection of Chopin’s cultural heritage, writing the name of this legendary composer directly into national law. Following the decree, the Fryderyk Chopin Institute (Narodowy Instytut Fryderyka

We tend to think of classical masterpieces as fixed monuments: works that arrived fully formed and have remained unchanged ever since. In reality, many of the most famous classical works had rocky premieres, played before confused audiences, or were outright

After losing his right arm in a teenage hunting accident, Géza Zichy became one of the first professional one-handed concert pianists. His international career would take him to the capitals of Europe, earning praise from critics and audiences alike, while