Paul and Yan Pascal Tortelier Sons frequently follow in their father’s footsteps. Sons of Maestros often end up waving batons like the Tortelier family. I was always a fan of Paul Tortelier the French cellist, conductor and composer. He played

According to his contemporaries, Johann Adolph Hasse (1699-1783) was one of the greatest masters of opera seria. Hasse had married the fabled Italian soprano Faustina Bordoni, and he specifically created the title role of his opera Cleofide of 1731 for

With his three last and largest tone poems – Ein Heldenleben (1897/8) the Sinfonia Domestica (1903) and Eine Alpensinfonie (1915) – Richard Strauss faced mounting criticism, charges of excess, megalomania, superficiality, and bad taste. For the eminent Richard Strauss scholar

In the summer of 1910, Gustav and Alma Mahler once more made their way to Toblach for their annual summer routine. Their personal relationship, however, was becoming severely strained. Much of the marital discontent can be traced back to the

Ludwig van Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 31, Op. 110 “Allegro molto” We have long known that Ludwig van Beethoven was a man of high eccentricity. Stories about his temper became legendary, and detail sudden rages, uncontrolled emotional states, suicidal tendencies,

The classic film noir Deception, starring Bette Davis, is a racy, classic tale of passion, jealousy, and lust for power. The romantic music written by Erich Wolfgang Korngold carries the movie. At the time, Korngold was an Austro-Hungarian Jewish refugee.

It’s a real treat, in these days of so much being available at the drop of an internet query, to find a recording of music that truly is rare. We heard the other day a recording of Johan Wenzel Kalliwoda’s

Christoph Willibald Gluck (1714-1787) was a prodigious musical talent. By age 13—entirely self-thought—he was a proficient vocalist and expert performer on the violin, cello, harpsichord, and the organ. Regrettably, his father, a successful and prosperous forester did not share his