In essence

1706 Posts
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Musicologist to the Rescue!
There are a handful of films featuring musicologists – those scholars of the history of music. Two recent ones have been Songcatcher (2000), where a musicologist finds ancient Scots-Irish ballads in Appalachia, and then there’s The Silent Touch (1992), where
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Debussy: Préludes Book II
An Exploration of Debussy’s Piano Music — Preludes After a two-year break, Debussy continued his work on the Préludes for piano, writing another 12 and again showing influences of all areas of popular and ancient culture and from artists, writers,
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Mixing Bach and Liszt: The Unfinished Fugue and the Fantasia contrappuntistica
The regularized austerity of J.S. Bach’s music, in particular The Art of Fugue, has fascinated many composers. Bach’s work was left unfinished, with the final quadruple fugue (Contrapunctus XIV) started but not completed before Bach’s death. J.S. Bach: Die Kunst
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An arranged and happy marriage
Claudio Monteverdi and Claudia Cattaneo
Claudio Monteverdi was a precocious musical talent who published his first collection of madrigals at age 15. Ambitious and highly confident he was hired as a singer and instrumentalist by Vincenzo Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua in 1590. Mantua and nearby
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Cows – 8 Different Ones
When Darius Milhaud immortalized his favorite Brazilian tavern in a brilliant ballet work, Le Boeuf sur le toit, he was joining in a long line of composers who brought the common cow into music. To take a look at the
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Claudio Monteverdi: (1567-1643)
“The modern composer builds upon the foundation of truth”
When Claudio Monteverdi secured his first job at the ducal court in Mantua, he had to report to the maestro di cappella Giaches de Wert. A Franco-Flemish composer actively working in Italy, Wert was one of the leaders developing the
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Debussy: Préludes I
A Look at Debussy Piano Music — Preludes Following the model of Bach and his 24 Preludes and Fugues from 1722, Debussy also wrote his own set of Préludes for the piano. Debussy began Book 1 in December 1909, finishing
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Krzysztof Penderecki: Symphony No. 7 “Seven Gates of Jerusalem”
Prague Spring 2017 72nd International Music FestivalClosing Concert: 2 June 2017Krzysztof Penderecki & Prague Radio Symphony For Krzystof Penderecki, born on 23 November 1933 in Dębica, Poland, music is a fundamental and essential part of the human condition. He started
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