Every music lover knows the Goldberg Variations by J. S. Bach! But who was this Goldberg, who so famously lent his name to one of the most remarkable compositions in the history of Western music? The story of how this

Born 450 years ago, Hans Leo Hassler (1564-1612) was the first notable German composer to broaden his musical horizon by studying in Italy. Not surprisingly, Hassler went to the city of Venice to experience the thriving musical environment surrounding the

In 1836, the exceptional pianist and composer Adolf von Henselt suffered a severe nervous breakdown. After taking a number of cures in local spas and private hospitals, Henselt decided to visit his old teacher Johann Nepomuk Hummel in Weimar. Hummel

When people see the name Anton Webern on a concert bill, they habitually run for cover! But Webern would not be Webern if he hadn’t studied the old masters during his student years at Vienna University. In fact, he studied

Robert Schumann composed in intense spurts of creative hyperactivity, generally focusing on a single genre. When he locked himself into his Düsseldorf study in October 1851, Clara Schumann excitedly reported in her diary. “Robert is working away on something new.

Although it has an older meaning, when we think of the “nocturne” we think of Frederic Chopin. He took his inspiration from the Irish composer John Field whose works were the first to take the title to the piano. A

Joseph Stalin was not a particularly nice man! Once he had consolidated near-absolute power in the 1930’s, he ruthlessly eliminated any opposition. That meant banishing “counter-revolutionary infiltrators” to the Gulag labour camps, deported nonconformists to the furthest regions of the

We associate Wagner with gloriously large orchestral sounds, with complex stories, and magnificent singing. It’s interesting, however, when we hear Wagner’s operatic writing from the viewpoint of the keyboard and in this recording by French pianist Wilhem Latchoumia, he shapes