Forgotten records

127 Posts
archive-post-image
One Laughs, The Other Weeps: Brahms’ Tragic Overture
In his catalogue, Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) only has two concert overtures and they were both written the same year: 1880. The first is the well-known Academic Festival Overture, written as a thank-you following the awarding of an honorary degree by
Read more
archive-post-image
A Lost Soul: Brahms’ Alto Rhapsody
In 1777, the German poet Johann von Goethe was traveling in the Harz mountains in the winter. He ascended the Brocken, the highest peak in the Harz, arriving at midday, and gazed out on a white world, with the landscape
Read more
archive-post-image
The French Wagnerian: Chabrier’s Gwendoline
As happened with many composers in the 19th century, just as they set off to be composers, their fathers intercede and off they went to commercial college, or law school, or medical school. Such was the case of Emmanuel Chabrier
Read more
archive-post-image
National Heroics: Liszt’s Mazeppa
Lord Byron’s narrative poem from 1819, Mazeppa, was one of the great influential pieces of Romantic writing. Plays, musical pieces, operas, novels, even circus performances were based on the work. The poem tells the legend of Ivan Mazepa (1639-1709). Mazepa
Read more
archive-post-image
Holiday Writing: Brahms’ Violin Sonata No. 2
Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) didn’t come from money and spent the summers of his youth playing the piano to entertain guests at summer inns outside Hamburg. He was promoted by Schumann in his role as editor of the Neue Zeitschreift für
Read more
archive-post-image
Choosing Your Partner:
Cimarosa’s Il Matrimonio Segreto
When fathers have plans and their daughters have other plans, it made for any number of comic operas and Cimarosa’s The Secret Marriage is one of them. Geronimo has two daughters, Elisetta and her younger sister Carolina. He wants a
Read more
archive-post-image
Old Music in New Bottles:
Handel’s Concerto Grosso, Op. 6
In the Baroque era, the Concerto grosso, the big concerto, was the workhorse genre. Unlike a regular concerto where one soloist contrasted with the orchestra, in a concerto grosso a small group of soloists, known as the concertino alternates with
Read more
archive-post-image
Symphony 7, 8 or 9: Schubert’s Great C major
Schubert’s final symphony, his ninth, was called the Great C major to distinguish it from his earlier Symphony No. 6 in C major (called the Little C major). Now, the word Great refers to the work’s majesty. It is the
Read more