At the tender age of 5, Bohuslav Martinů gave his first public performance as a solo violinist in his hometown of Polička. The townspeople immediately recognized his exceptional talent and eventually raised enough money to fund his musical education. Martinů

Arnold Schoenberg (1874-1951) rightfully considered himself the musical successor to both Richard Wagner and Johannes Brahms. Simultaneously extending their traditionally opposed German Romantic styles, Schoenberg started work on a song cycle for soprano, tenor and piano in 1900. For his

When you’re tired of the television jingles and interminable repetitions of “The Wheels on the Bus,” you’re ready to explore the world of music that appeals to children. Much as we wish they would love the music that stimulates our

Dying is an essential part of just about every opera plot. Whether husbands or male lovers act out of jealousy, or wives or female lovers go mad, opera has given us a delectable variety of violent and unnatural deaths. Yet

In 1843, César Franck began work on his first non-chamber work, the oratorio Ruth. The libretto by Alexandre Guillemin is inspired by the biblical “Book of Ruth” and arranged in the manner of an operatic text. In fact, the three-part

Louis Victor Jules Vierne was seemingly born under an unlucky star! He emerged into this word nearly blind on 8 October 1870. Two serious operations in 1877 finally enabled him to read large print, and he eventually learned Braille in

If you are working as a roofer, miner, logger, fisher, construction-equipment operator or in law enforcement, you have selected a profession that is designated as high-risk or safety sensitive. Although these jobs are not especially lucrative in terms of payment,

César Franck had a rather ambitious and overbearing father! Determined to make the most profitable use of his son’s musical talents, he forced him into a career as a virtuoso pianist. Studies at the Liège and Paris Conservatory set the