The legendary Italian tenor Carlo Bergonzi (1924-2014) is widely considered one of the finest interpreters of Giuseppe Verdi‘s tenor roles in the twentieth century. His elegant vocal technique combined nobility with great expressive warmth. To celebrate his birthday on 13

American clarinettist Richard Stoltzman was born on 12 July 1942. He has brought the clarinet firmly into the modern age. The clarinet first came to people’s attention through the Classical-era compositions of Mozart, Reicha, and others. It made its way

When you’re working from home and on deadline, not all classical music is created equal. Today, we’re looking at the best classical music to listen to while working from home, organised by the kind of work you’re trying to do.

Over the centuries, nocturnes – from the French word nocturnal – have been many things to composers: social entertainment, private confession, dreamscapes, and more. Nocturnes were initially written as outdoor serenades for aristocrats. But during the Romantic era, the nocturne’s

We forget that violin virtuoso Niccolò Paganini was also a virtuoso on other instruments. He encouraged Hector Berlioz to write Harold in Italy for the debut of his new Stradivarius viola (although he turned the work down in the end

Born in Lublin on 10 July 1835, the Polish violinist and composer Henryk Wieniawski was, according to Anton Rubinstein, the greatest violinist of his time. He lived and worked during a period in history when many composers were searching for

The waltz began life in the 18th century as a triple-meter dance popular in impoverished Austrian towns. No one could have predicted that it would become a metaphor for imperial glamour, psychological instability, and even civilizational collapse. Today, we’re looking

Few works in the orchestral repertoire have had a stranger journey to the concert hall than Franz Schubert’s Symphony No. 9 in C major, often nicknamed the “Great” C-major Symphony. For one, it started with composer Robert Schumann rediscovering the