An extraordinary premiere took place in Brno, Moravia, on 4 October 1936. Czech conductor Milan Sachs raised his baton to début the 1st Symphony by Antonín Dvořák. A critic wrote, “although the writing was at times awkward, the orchestration is

A blind woman steps on a Viennese stage and makes her way to a strange new instrument called the glass harmonica. The sounds it makes are whistle-like and otherworldly. (Eventually, rumors would circulate that playing it or even hearing it

The great Nordic countries of Europe have produced two significant composers over the last 150 years. Both were born in 1865, but Denmark’s Carl Nielsen always stood in the shadow of Jean Sibelius. Sibelius came from an upper-middle-class upbringing, while

Lying at home recovering from an illness, the young Jean Sibelius (1865-1957) took the opportunity to reassess his life. In early 1889, he’d played solo violin in Beethoven’s Romance in F with the Academic Orchestra. When he fell ill in

André Rieu is one of today’s most successful classical performing artists. In fact, he is one of the most successful touring artists in the world, easily outselling most popular music acts. Rieu founded the Johann Strauss Orchestra, the largest private

Hector Berlioz (1803-1869) was a master of orchestration and his 1844 book on the subject was the standard not for years, but for decades after his death. He lived his life with his heart on his sleeve and works such

The Theater auf der Wieden, located in the then-suburban Wieden district of Vienna existed only for 14 years, between 1787 and 1801. For most of this period, the director of the theater was the German impresario, dramatist, actor, singer, and

Let’s address one of the elephants in the music room; do we really recognise and pay attention to quality nowadays? Do we even understand what it is? How many of us can recognise high from low levels of quality? How