For many of us, specifically if you’re not a wind player, the composer Anton (Antoine) Reicha is practically unknown. He does, however, appear frequently as a footnote in books on Beethoven. They were teenage buddies in Bonn and even played

In the afternoon of 27 May 1840, the greatest violinist the world had ever known died at the age of 57. Niccolò Paganini had revolutionised violin technique and essentially invented the concept of the virtuoso performer. His legendary 24 Caprices,

Samuil Feinberg was born in the Ukrainian city of Odesa on 26 May 1890. With its unique blend of Russian, Yiddish, and Ukrainian cultures, the city gave birth to a substantial number of exceptional pianists ranging from Benno Moiseiwitsch to

Alongside composer Ralph Vaughan Williams and collector Cecil Sharp, Gustav Holst (1874-1934) was a key figure in the early 20th-century English folk song revival. This movement was part of a process in which the English identity became located in an

The exceptional and legendary Alicia de Larrocha, born on 23 May 1923 in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, won four Grammy Awards after being nominated fourteen times, along with a Prince of Asturias Award for the Arts and other prizes and various

As soon as Richard Wagner had put the finishing touches on Lohengrin on 28 April 1848, he became embroiled in the stirrings of the 1848 Revolutions. He delivered a fiery speech, denouncing the evils of money and speculation, which he

Heinz Holliger, born on 21 May 1939 in Langenthal, in the canton of Berne, is one of the most versatile musical personalities of our time. A conductor, composer, oboist, and pianist, Holliger has never stopped searching for the limits of

When the poet Friedrich Rückert wrote his Liebesfrühling (Love’s Springtime) in 1821, he was courting his future wife, Luise Wiethaus-Fischer. This complete collection of four hundred poems was first published in 1834, and from this most successful cycle of love