In essence

1669 Posts
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Music for Every Room
Dr. J. Clarence Chambers’ All American
Dr. J. Clarence Chambers (1910–2006), in his studies at Amherst College, became the rehearsal pianist for the music department’s operetta performances. He graduated in 1934 from Columbia University’s College of Physicians and Surgeons and did his internship at Harlem Hospital.
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Children’s Play or Adult Play: Jumping Rope and Skipping
When composers are seeking to broaden their reach, they often look backwards to music for children or, their personal circumstances change so that children enter their adult world. Such was the case for Robert Schumann when he created his Album
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Heroic Adventures for Guitar
Carlo Domeniconi’s Sinbad, a Fairy Tale
The Italian composer and guitarist Carlo Domeniconi (b. 1947) took his education at the Rossini Conservatory in Pesaro and at the Hochschule für Musik in Berlin and combined with his interest in Turkey (he founded the classical guitar course at
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Ravel’s Trois Poèmes de Mallarmé – Fragile and Beautiful
It was in the summer of 1912 when hot off the heels of the sumptuous ballet score Daphnis et Chloé – his biggest creative undertaking to date – Ravel took some time off composing to recover and wait for inspiration
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Ralph Vaughan Williams’ Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis
Ralph Vaughan Williams’ 1910 Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis was his consummate mix of all that interested him: folksong and the glories of English music from earlier centuries and their modal scales. His form was the 17th century
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Show me the Money
George Frideric Handel
George Frideric Handel (1685-1759) was one of the all-time great composers. Restless and resourceful, Handel was a workaholic musician of great charisma with a genius for invention. For most of his life—at least during his time in London—Handel operated as
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“Narrative of a Dying Love”
Othmar Schoeck’s Elegie
The world of music is numerously populated by compositions that openly celebrate courtship, love, sex, and marriage. Equally numerous, although less overtly advertised, are works that exult in the suspension of a partnership, the break-up of a relationship, or the
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Martinů’s Experiments with Jazz
Czech composer Bohuslav Martinů (1890–1959) started his music career as a violinist, giving his first public performances at age 15. Townspeople supported his career and at age 16, he was given funding to attend the Prague Conservatory. He didn’t take
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