As Einstein noted, time is relative, and for music this is especially true. Tempo, the speed at which music is performed, is not something that is set in stone. Every Allegro movement doesn’t move at the same speed, but is

Many decades before Bram Stoker severely frightened Victorian society with his Gothic horror novel Dracula, the English writer and physician John William Polidori published his short story The Vampyre in 1819. According to literary critics, Polidori wrote “the first story

When Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach joined the royal court of Frederick the Great of Prussia as an accompanist in 1740, a stable of some 17 musicians primarily devoted to the performance of chamber music greeted him. The monarch himself was

Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach: “Der Tag ist wieder hin” (Another day has passed), Gellerts Geistliche Oden und Lieder Throughout his 30 years of service to Frederick II, King of Prussia, Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach was never able to gain recognition

Robert Schumann: Piano Quintet in E-flat major, Op. 44 To prove his potential earnings from composition to his highly skeptical father-in-law —we all remember that Friedrich Wieck had taken Robert to court in order to prevent the “old alcoholic” from

Selling music in the Renaissance wasn’t that different from selling music today. Published music needed a way to differentiate itself from other, similar pieces of music. The title pages tended to look alike: Name, composers’ name (maybe), patron, voice part,

Desert Island? No problem. I’d take the five Beethoven Cello Sonatas hands down. Spanning all three periods of Beethoven’s life they essentially depict his whole life story — from the lyrical Sonata in F major Op. 5 Nr. 1 to

When Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach was born on 8 March 1714 in the city of Weimar, his father was employed as court organist at the ducal court. By then, Johann Sebastian had already acquired a fierce reputation as an organ