For Renée Fleming, born on 14 February 1959 in Indiana, Pennsylvania, music was part of her earliest memories. “My memories so often involve someone singing,” she writes, “or me singing, or someone striking the first notes on the piano that

On 13 February 1882 in Podgórze, near Kraków, Salomea (Salcia) Friedman (Freudmann) gave birth to her son Solomon Isaac (Ignacy). She had already suffered six miscarriages and stillbirths before giving birth, and she had married the father Nachman Wolf (Wolko)

The “opera fantastique” The Tales of Hoffmann (Les Contes d’Hoffmann) by Jacques Offenbach was first played publically, without the third act, at the Opéra-Comique in Paris on 10 February 1881. The composer did not live to see the premiere, as

In 1885, as Johannes Brahms was writing his Fourth Symphony, Albano Maria Johannes Berg was born on 9 February. The “o” on his first name quickly disappeared, and he was the third of four children of Johanna and Conrad Berg.

The exceptional pianist and pedagogue Germaine Mounier, born on 7 February 1920 in Neuilly-sur-Seine, had a reputation as one of the most successful piano teachers in Paris. She taught a very large class at the École Normale over many years

Throughout the 19th century, the Rhine was an important symbol in German nationalism. It played a major role in the formation of the German state and spawned wide-ranging cultural symbolisms, including legends, poetry, and musical metaphors. Robert Schumann discovered the

Almost every biography of Fritz Kreisler quotes his famous saying, “I knew musical scores instinctively before I knew my A B C. It was a gift of Providence. I did not acquire it.” I have always wondered how this statement

Giacomo Puccini’s (1858-1924) La Bohème is one of his best-loved and most frequently performed operas. After its premiere on 1 February 1896 it was quickly adopted into the repertory of all the major theatres across Italy. However, the response of