In late September or early October 1828—two months before his death—Franz Schubert completed his C-major string quintet. He passed the work to his Leipzig publisher Heinrich Albert Probst on 2 October 1828, writing in the accompanying letter, “Among other things,

Towards the end of his life, Gabriel Fauré struggled with increasing frailty and deafness. In fact, sounds had become seriously distorted, with high and low notes “sounding painfully out of tune.” When Prince Albert I of Monaco approached Fauré in

The Planets, a set of seven self-contained orchestral “mood pictures” portraying Earth’s neighbors in the solar system, propelled Gustav Holst to international prominence. However, this sudden fame came with a hefty price tag. Holst had always wanted to be just

Around the middle of the 19th century, Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901) commanded the Italian opera scene. As one of the most celebrated composers in history, opera companies from all corners of the globe were asking for new works, or at least

On 7 May 1896, Johannes Brahms celebrated his 63rd birthday. His friends had organized a little party, and Brahms announced, “I gave this to myself as a gift today. Yes, to myself! If you read the text, you shall grasp

Beethoven was starting to have some serious health problems when Prince Nikolai Galitzine—an amateur cellist in St. Petersburg and great admirer of Beethoven’s music—wrote to him on 9 November 1822. “May I ask,” the Prince inquired “for one, two, or

Freshly married, Mr. and Mrs. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart visited Salzburg from the end of July to October 1783. For one, Wolfie wanted to introduce Constanze to his family and smooth things over with his father, who had been adamant that

The residential district of “Ziegelhausen” is situated at the eastern perimeter of the city of Heidelberg, Germany. Picturesquely located on the banks of the Neckar River it idyllically stretches into the “Odenwald Forest.” Dotted by charming bed and breakfast establishments,