Over the centuries, classical music composers have come up with many creative ways to up the ante when it comes to spectacle. One of the loudest ways they’ve done so is by incorporating cannons in their music, lending a new

English composer Edward Elgar (1857–1934) wrote his Three Characteristic Pieces in 1899, revising an earlier Suite in D. The first movement is the very Polish mazurka, a work in triple meter with a quick tempo. The mazurka was a stylized

The Four Seasons, the fabulous collection of four violin concerti by Antonio Vivaldi have topped the Classical Music charts for decades on end. It has become part of modern culture, and the music is reshaped and arranged into different musical

Xavier Foley, a dazzling double bass player, is a multi-talented musician who is breaking boundaries. A prizewinner of the 2016 Young Concert Association Susan Wadsworth International Auditions, the 2014 Sphinx Competition, and a 2018 Recipient of the Avery Fisher Career

Beethoven sat for one portrait in his life. The painting that resulted from that one series of sittings has become an iconic image from cultural history. Here’s why: In it, Beethoven gazes past the viewer. He is seeing things that

The Spanish composer and teacher Conrado del Campo (1878–1953) was considered the most important Spanish music teacher of his time, teaching at the Real Conservatorio Superior de Música in Madrid for over 40 years. He was also a conductor, leading

English musician and historian Charles Burney, in his History of Music, vol. 2 (1782), credited three people with being the style leaders of the day: Felice Giardini, the director of the Italian opera theatre; J.C. Bach (London Bach), and Carl

“Dynamics” in music refers to the variation in loudness or intensity of sound. The use of dynamics adds depth, emotion, and expressiveness to the music, and the term encompasses a wide spectrum of volume levels, from the softest pianissimo to