Hot on the heels of the shocking notoriety achieved with Parade, Jean Cocteau went to work on a surrealist spectacle entitled The Wedding Party on the Eiffel Tower. He described it as a sort of secret marriage between Ancient Greek

5 Gedichte fur eine Frauenstimme, Op. 91, “Wesendonck-Lieder” The beautiful and talented poet and playwright Agnes Mathilde Luckemeyer married the silk merchant Otto Wesendonck in 1848. The couple moved to Zurich and Otto, having done extremely well in his profession,

3 Poems by Henri Michaux Although Witold Lutosławski experimented with serial and post-serial techniques, he always found the results rather unsatisfactory. This was particularly true of compositions utilizing the human voice. Awkward intervals and highly complex rhythms demanded a high

Richard Wagner consistently downplayed the significance of his musical education. Undoubtedly, he was very keen to cultivate the notion of the untutored genius, just as Ludwig van Beethoven had done. However, as we saw in our last episode, his first

The Parisian café-concert established itself during the Second Empire as a standard diversion of the urban bourgeoisie and working class by providing a combination of dinner and song. Offering entertainment provided by strolling entertainers singing drinking-songs, along with refreshments at

Christoph Columbus (1835) One certainly could not fault Richard Wagner for being persistent, but one has to question his judgment regarding his pursuit of Minna Planer. Minna did everything in her power to get rid of him! She fled from

Sonata for clarinet and piano (FP 184) Francis Poulenc Francis Poulenc Clarinet Sonata The French poet, novelist, dramatist, designer, boxing manager, playwright and filmmaker Jean Cocteau magnanimously announced in 1918, that his principal goal was the elimination of all foreign

At the tender age of 13 and accompanied by his mother, young Richard made his first journey to the city of Prague. They visited his two sisters who were employed as singers at the National Opera. The vibrant cultural and