Blogs

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Baroque Music
Operas, Concertos, Oratorios, Cantatas & More I know this is absolutely subjective, but for me personally, the Baroque music period produced some of the most intense, dramatic, devotional, appealing, and simply most beautiful music imaginable. In school, we are all
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Opera Doctors – the 20th century, Part III
Doctors in the 20th century continue their more complex and complicated paths. Tennessee Williams’ play Summer and Smoke, about a repressed minister’s daughter and the doctor who lives next door. She cannot accept his advances until, too late, when he’s
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Vaughan Williams’ Anniversary and a New Lark
Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958) took British music out of its German mindset and gave it its own voice. His 150th anniversary will occur on 12 October and a new version of one of his most famous pieces lets us hear
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Dance, Dance, Dance: The Canario
The Canario (Italian), or Canarie (French), or Canary (English) dance was inspired, as you tell from the name by a dance from the Canarie Islands. It was popular in Europe in the late 16th and early 17th centuries and appeared
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Taking Telemann Home
Der getreue Music-Meister
Georg Philipp Telemann published his collection Der getreue Music-Meister (The Faithful Music Master) in a set of 25 parts between 1728 and 1729. It was like a musical journal with 70 small vocal and instrumental works mostly by Telemann, and
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Collecting Musical Instruments on Paper
Between 1875 and the 1840s, if you bought a packet of cigarettes, it came with a cigarette card. This little trading card served two purposes: it stiffened the paper packets of cigarettes so they wouldn’t crush, and it served as
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Johannes Brahms and His Family
Johannes Brahms would not do well on Facebook, Twitter, or TikTok, that’s for sure. Of course, he is one of the most widely performed and beloved composers of all time. In the historiography of music, he stands alongside Johann Sebastian
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Beyond the Silver Screen
The Concert Music of John Williams
I’ve never made a secret of the fact that John Williams is my favourite film composer. With over 100 film scores to his credit, he has composed some of the most popular, recognizable and critically acclaimed film scores in cinematic
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