The Development of Piano Writing on Nocturnes Since John Field The term “Nocturne” or “Notturno” (Italian) was first applied in the eighteenth century to pieces written for string ensemble to be performed at an evening party and then put aside.

Whether you’re a newbie or a lifelong connoisseur, all classical music fans agree: some pieces work better as background music than others…especially when we’re studying! A Mahler symphony is powerful in the concert hall, but in the study hall, its

We have the 3 Bs, The Five, and the Six. They’re all from different countries and cover some 300 years. Do you know who they are? The Three Bs are J.S. Bach (1685-1750), Beethoven (1770-1827), and Brahms (1833-1897). In those

When we think of FIVE in relation to music, all sorts of things come to mind: our five fingers at the piano, the five Russian composers known as The Mighty Handful, and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5, just for starters. Taking

Songs tell us about all sorts of things: love, the beauty of spring, and all about happiness. But there are lots of songs that just go to the negative. When we look at songs that say don’t, won’t or can’t,

Sometimes we don’t want the brightly lilting tunes of a flute or the ecstatic runs of a violin or piano – our mood wants something slower, something sadder, something for the dark hours. Music not for melancholy but for introspection.

We don’t generally think of music as belonging to a certain time of day, although the next time my local classical station plays The Grand March from Aida at 6 am, I shall throw the radio across the room…but I

When you go to the opera, it’s for the spectacle, the vision, the sound, and the light. But it’s the music that’s the central part. In many operas, there’s the one aria or the one chorus that has to be