It’s one of the most romanticized love affairs in music history: dashing cross-dressing woman novelist George Sand becomes obsessed with, and then seduces, the sickly consumptive pianist-composer Frédéric Chopin. But how much of this story is real, and how much

We were looking at knitting books on Archive.org and found an interesting one from the WWI era. After descriptions and patterns for vests and balaclavas and scarves and all sorts of things to keep Our Boys warm and toasty at

Leonid Kogan, born on 14 November 1924 in the Ukrainian city of Dnepropetrovsk, is considered one of the foremost Soviet violinists in the 20th century. Somewhat in the shadow of his compatriot David Oistrakh, Kogan’s playing is characterised by pure

Ludwig van Beethoven, one of the most celebrated composers in history, left an indelible mark on the world of music. His vast body of work includes symphonies, concertos, chamber music, piano sonatas, and more. Such a massive output can be

Nicolai Medtner, who died in London on 13 November 1951, was one of the very last Romantic composer-pianists. Overshadowed by his contemporaries Scriabin and Rachmaninoff, Medtner made the piano the focus of his creative activity and frequently tempered a Russian

Alexander Borodin, born on 12 November 1833 in St. Petersburg, came from a noble bloodline. He was the illegitimate son of the 62-year-old Georgian Prince Luka Stepanovich Gedevanishvili, and a 25-year-old Russian woman, Evdokia Konstantinovna Antonova. As was customary at

Classical music has given us some famous and unforgettable melodies. We might not know what a particular tune is called or where it comes from, but they flicker across in TV programmes, motion pictures of all kinds, on social media,

The phrase “classical music” covers over a thousand years of music. The genre spans everything from massive works for choral ensembles to delicate solo piano works and everything else imaginable in between. If you’re new to classical music, it can