Women performers were accepted well before they were recognized as authors or composers. Clara Schumann and Fanny Mendelssohn are cases in point who achieved success more for their performing than music writing. Amy Cheney Beach defied traditional conceptions. She became
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When castratos ruled the opera stage, two of the most famous worked closely with the leading composer for the London stage, George Frederick Handel, to make their names in his music. He, obligingly, cast them as the heroes of his
The 2015 BBC Proms start in two weeks’time. As a child and teenager, I used to go to the Proms every year with my parents, who would pour over the programme as soon as it was published (this, of course,
Big hair, eclectic jewelry and high heels are her trademark. Ida Haendel is considered one of the greatest violin soloists of the twentieth century— born to play the violin. When she appeared earlier in my career with the Minnesota Orchestra
They start to appear as the snows disappear – enticing notices for summer festivals. Spend a week of music in the mountains, or at the seashore, or in a famous historical setting. Summer festivals are a wonderful time to explore
Today, the idea of a castrato singer is a bit embarrassing. For our hyper-masculine world (would you like muscles on that?), the idea of a male singer who can only sing at a soprano pitch just seems wrong.
John Dowland (1563 –1626) brought the art of weeping to an exquisite height in the early 17th century. This English Renaissance composer, lutenist, and singer became famed for his melancholy songs that have an inherent darkness that stands in contrast
We looked earlier at Sherlock and Opera and now, when we see what other music he ventured into, we find a connoisseur of the musical arts of his time at its highest point.