It’s one of the most romanticized love affairs in music history: dashing cross-dressing woman novelist George Sand becomes obsessed with, and then seduces, the sickly consumptive pianist-composer Frédéric Chopin. But how much of this story is real, and how much

We were looking at knitting books on Archive.org and found an interesting one from the WWI era. After descriptions and patterns for vests and balaclavas and scarves and all sorts of things to keep Our Boys warm and toasty at

Ludwig van Beethoven, one of the most celebrated composers in history, left an indelible mark on the world of music. His vast body of work includes symphonies, concertos, chamber music, piano sonatas, and more. Such a massive output can be

Classical music has given us some famous and unforgettable melodies. We might not know what a particular tune is called or where it comes from, but they flicker across in TV programmes, motion pictures of all kinds, on social media,

The phrase “classical music” covers over a thousand years of music. The genre spans everything from massive works for choral ensembles to delicate solo piano works and everything else imaginable in between. If you’re new to classical music, it can

Carl Maria von Weber (1786–1826) was much more than just the composer of an opera. In Hans Pfitzner’s memorable phrase, ‘Carl Maria von Weber came into this world to compose Der Freischütz’, which may be true, but he was so

For a number of commentators, Arnold Bax is far and away the most neglected British composer who flourished in the first half of the 20th century. Composing during a time that, say, the likes of Elgar and Britten, Delius and

Classical music has been made by countless brilliant composers throughout history. Among those great composers are a few who faced the extraordinary challenge of deafness. Today we’re exploring the lives of four exceptional composers who, despite the challenges presented by