Like many composers past and present, Erik Satie was in constant financial troubles. To escape his creditors he frequently changed his lodgings, ending up in a tiny room at 6 rue Cortot in the spring of 1890. Like a monk

Frédéric Chopin was not only one of the greatest pianists the world has ever known, he also left the finest body of music for his instrument. “In my music,” he once remarked, “one can divine the restlessness of the artist.”

“Giacomo Puccini and Elvira Gemignani” Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924) (in)famously described himself as “a mighty hunter of wild fowl, operatic librettos and attractive women.” Bravado self-assessment aside, his entire musical career hinged on the success of his second opera Edgar, began

How do we really know what a composer looked like? Do we trust paintings and etchings? Do we believe people’s images as mediated through another’s hand? Before photography came into widespread use in the mid-19th century, the only way of

During his initial years in Vienna, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart made the acquaintance of Franz Anton Mesmer. Mesmer was a trained physician who hypothesized that it was essential to maintain equilibrium between the natural magnetic fluid that filled all living things,

Why is chess such a popular game? For one, this ancient game of strategy is easy to learn but almost impossible to master. No matter how far you progress, chess reveals ever-new subtleties and intricacies of increasing complexity. It is

Welcome on board! Let’s continue our musical journey in the second largest metropolitan area in South America and the capital of Argentina – Buenos Aires. I talked of the “big four” in the Golden Age of tango music between the

Alex Cobbe’s piano collection at Hatchlands Park has one massive square piano that was immensely practical to its two composer owners. How do composers compose? We’re familiar with the images from movies, the composer with one hand on the keyboard