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On This Day
12 March: Charles-Marie Widor Died
Charles-Marie Widor (1844-1937) left behind a substantial number of meticulously crafted compositions for various instrumental and vocal combinations. However, he is primarily remembered for his ten organ symphonies. Inspired by the magnificent Cavaillé-Coll organ at Saint-Sulpice in Paris, these works
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On My Music Desk…
Schubert Piano Sonata in A, D664
This, for me, is Schubert’s most genial piano sonata and one of his most popular. Like much of Schubert’s work, it reflects the Romantic spirit of the early 19th century, characterized by its lyrical beauty, harmonic daring, and emotional qualities,
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On This Day
9 March: Johann Pachelbel Died
Johann Pachelbel, famed composer of the even more famous canon, died in Nuremberg at the age of fifty-two on 9 March 1706. While his music enjoyed extraordinary popularity in Central Germany immediately after his death, 19th-century historians considered him a
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Simon Barere: The Pianist Who Died Mid-Concert at Carnegie Hall
Simon Barere was one of the great pianists of his generation. However, it is possible he is most famous for his sudden death, which occurred in the middle of a concert at Carnegie Hall in 1951. Today, we’re looking at
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Bartolomeo Cristofori and Lodovico Giustini
“Sonatas with loud and soft, popularly called with hammers”
1685 was a particularly stellar year for classical music, as it saw the births of Johann Sebastian Bach, Georg Frideric Handel, and Domenico Scarlatti. However, there is at least one more composer born in 1685 who played a highly significant
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Beethoven, His Brothers, and Their Tragically Rocky Relationship
Sometimes, it’s tempting to think of Ludwig van Beethoven as someone who just emerged from a god’s forehead, a la Athena. But in reality, Beethoven came from a very human family, just like everyone else – and a deeply dysfunctional
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On This Day
6 March: Zoltán Kodály Died
Zoltán Kodály died on 6 March 1967 at the age of 84 in Budapest. At the time of his death he was universally recognised as a composer, pioneering ethno-musicologist, ground-breaking educator, and music critic. The “Kodály Method,” created by colleagues,
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On This Day
5 March: Daniil Trifonov Was Born
Possessing jaw-dropping technique and outer-worldly interpretive skills, pianist Daniil Trifonov has been called the “most astounding pianist of our age.” Martha Argerich famously said, “what he does with his hands is technically incredible. It’s also his touch; he has tenderness
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