You may be surprised how many quotes come from the 1606 play King Lear, perhaps William Shakespeare’s greatest of tragedies—a work, which continues to electrify and has stirred composers Debussy, Shostakovich, and Berlioz as well as some popular music. The

The Mixolydian mode is somewhat of a paradox! Ancient tradition used it for lamentations, while modern authors ascribed erotic and joyous qualities to it. And to make it even more confusing, Plato entirely shunned the Mixolydian mode because he claimed

Written about children, but not written for children, the collection of short piano pieces entitled Kinderszenen (Scenes from Childhood) by Robert Schumann was a gift to Clara Wieck in 1838, two years before they were finally married. The final 13

Christiane Eberhardine of Brandenburg-Bayreuth, Electress of Saxony and titular Queen of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, was a bit of a religious celebrity. For years she resisted the pressure of the court to embrace the Roman Catholic faith, which her husband had

Beginning with a hushed sound, Nights in the Gardens of Spain by Manuel de Falla (1876 – 1946), immediately takes us into a hot, quiet garden in an exotic location. Originally designed as a set of nocturnes for solo piano,

“Minors of the Majors” invites you to discover compositions by the great classical composers that for one reason or another have not reached the musical mainstream. Please enjoy, and keep listening!

Simultaneously completing his compositional requirements at the St. Petersburg Conservatory and working as a freelance music teacher, Alexander Grechaninov and Vera Ivanovna Röhrberg had trouble making ends meet. Luckily, Vera received a small monthly allowance from her father so that

And once again, two huge copyright lawsuits have jolted the world of popular music over the last couple of weeks. In one case, Ed Sheeran is being sued for 20 million dollars over his single “Photograph.” It is claimed that