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A Love Letter in Music
Schumann’s Fantasie in C, Op. 17
“perhaps the most impassioned music I have ever written.”Robert Schumann writing to Clara Wieck, March 1838 Never one for disguising his emotions, Robert Schumann wore his heart on his sleeve and his music reflects his joy at being alive –
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Moved to Tears
Music has the power to tug at the heartstrings, and evoking emotion is the main purpose of music – whether it’s joy or sadness, excitement or meditation. A certain melody or line of a song, a falling phrase, the delayed
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The Curious Soundworld of Alexander Scriabin
The music of Alexander Scriabin inhabits a distinctive, personal soundworld which is hard to define. It is the music of excess, ecstasy, tumult and passion. It is excessive, overripe, decadent, heavily perfumed, sensuous and frenzied, lacking in structure and sometimes
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Brahms and His Late Piano Works
Fantasien Op.116
Johannes Brahms’ (1833-1897) intricate late piano works, from Op. 116 to Op. 119, were composed from 1892 to 1893 and have been known for their reflective nature, amalgamated with lyricism, desolation and heart-warming moments. The probable dedicatee of these works,
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Schubert: The Grazer and The Wanderer
The musical Fantasy (or Fantasia or Fantasie) has its roots in improvisation and rarely follows a strict musical structure (such as Sonata or Ternary form). In this respect the Fantasy is related to the Impromptu (a genre favoured by Schubert).
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How Embarrassing—I Have a Dust Bunny in My Instrument!
I’d never had one…until today. A dense, dark grey ball the size of a quarter, rolling around inside my cello. I had been practicing the Spanish piece by Gaspar Cassadó Requiebros full of passion and fervor. While wailing on the
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Music in Words: The Kreutzer Sonata
“Music carries me immediately and directly into the mental condition in which the man was who composed it. My soul merges with his and together with him I pass from one condition into another, but why this happens I don’t
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Signor Alberti’s Moving Bass Line
Not invented by, but rather named for Domenico Alberti, who used this device extensively in his own keyboard sonatas, the Alberti Bass is a moving figure in the bass or left hand of keyboard music, derived from a three-note chord.
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