Over the last couple of days, I have conducted a little musical experiment. I noticed that 35 out of 106 Symphonies by Joseph Haydn carry a nickname of sorts. There is a “Bear,” a “Queen,” a “Philosopher,” a “Surprise,” a

Alice Sara Ott has been described as one of the most fascinating artists of her generation. Equipped with impressive technique and sensitive musicality, her poetic piano playing is praised for its perfection and intensity. Following her debut release on Deutsche

The most valuable violins in the world sport colorful nicknames that disclose the providence of ownership or describe the sound quality or shape of the instrument. We just have to think of the “Molitor Stradivari,” the “Virgin Stradivari,” or the

A 2006 article in the British medical journal BMJ looked at 200 years of opera and how they treated doctors. This prompted us to take up the question ourselves. Doctors – good guys or bad guys? Well, it depends…. Characters

The court of King Frederick II (1712-1786) of Prussia was one of the most musically sparkling of its time. Led by its flute-playing king, the court began with a chamber orchestra with 17 members conducted by Johann Gottlieb Graun and

On 24 October 1850, Robert Schumann took up his post as municipal music director in Düsseldorf. Although he complained about the amount of work and the occasional squabble with the administration, he felt happy and content. After roughly 2 years,

Finnish composer Selim Palmgren (1878-1951) was a prolific composer for the piano, writing some 300 small piano works, 5 piano concertos, choral works and one opera (another opera was never completed). Although in his 1948 biography, Minusta tuli muusikko (I

At the age of 57, Johann Sebastian Bach started to experience a number of health problems. Most serious was an affliction to his eyes, a condition that seemingly had plagued him from a young age. “His eyes had naturally bad