Alexander Scriabin (1872-1915) was short of stature and stood just over five feet tall. For a period of time he joined the military, but was mercilessly ridiculed and bullied because he was “small, effeminate and weak.” Commentators have suggested, “Like

English composer Edward Elgar used to create musical puzzles and then challenge his wife to solve them. He would create little piano pieces depicting various friends and Alice Elgar had to figure out who he was depicting.

There can be nothing more tragic to a parent than the loss of a child. Imagine the grief of the German poet Friedrich Rückert, who lost two of his children to scarlet fever within a period of six months. Attempting

An ancient proverb says, “a successful marriage requires falling in love many times, always with the same person.” And that is exactly what happened to Hans Gál and Hanna Schick. They were married for 65 years, and their devotion, dedication,

In the last decade of the 19th century, European culture was perceived as increasingly decadent and degenerate. Visual art had abandoned representation and liberated color and line; literature weakened the narrative structures and loosened meanings, and music used a technically

Franz Liszt was the ultimate rock star of the 19th century! Handsome, flamboyant and a genius performer with a natural aptitude for the stage, he eventually turned into a prolific thinker and monumental composer. Yet, that path towards enlightenment was

In ancient Greece, the coming of the New Year was celebrated by presenting a newborn baby to Dionysus, the God of Wine. Used as a symbol of rebirth, the newborn child also featured prominently in early Christian practices, and today

Winter – Spring – Summer – Fall: It’s not only Vivaldi who has his four seasons; other composers took up the idea. In Argentina, we find Astor Piazzolla applying the idea to Buenos Aires in a set of tangos. Collectively