One of the few instruments of the orchestra that’s named for a person, the saxophone, was named after its inventor, Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax (1814–1894). His father, Charles-Joseph Sax (1790–1865) was also an instrument maker and had established a

‘Water games’ is one translation of Jeux d’eau by Maurice Ravel, others being Fountains and Playing Water. Each is equally apt: in this piece Ravel brilliantly evokes “the splashing of water and by the musical sounds of fountains, cascades and

Johann Strauss II was born into a famous and famously dysfunctional musical family just outside of Vienna in October 1825. As a boy, Johann pursued music against his father’s wishes. His father had begun a string quartet that grew into

Frédéric Chopin is one of the most popular composers in classical music history. We all know that his romantic piano works have captured the imaginations of listeners around the world. But have you ever wondered which of his pieces are

Credit: Bill Whitehead

The concept of percussion is rather easy: find something, hit it. Eventually, the development of hitting things to make definite sounds led to the development of the timpani – a tunable drum used to supplement the bass section of an

The colourful Christian celebration of Easter is again around the corner. And for many people, the Easter egg best symbolises this festival of the resurrection of Jesus. During pre-Christianity, the egg was seen as a symbol of rebirth and life,