What links Pergolesi, Humperdinck, Weill, and Monteverdi? The same thing that links Pavarotti, Alagna, and Caruso. They are part of a list of some 100 composers, conductors, opera singers, and others who have had minor planets named after them. We’ll

For well over one hundred years, Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 9, K271, carried the mysterious nickname “Jeunehomme.” That nickname turned out to be the invention of the art and music critic Théodore de Wyzewa and the Mozart specialist Georges de

Nursery Rhymes have always been popular with children and adults alike. These rhymes come from a variety of sources, including traditional riddles, proverbs, ballads, drinking songs and historical events. There has been much debate whether these innocent sounding rhymes have

A good many nursery rhymes have acquired various historical explanations. Although it is much debated whether such explanations are grounded in fact or simply a matter of urban lore, it is clear that these innocent sounding rhymes support multiple levels

One of the most dramatic scenes in an opera is the announcement of the hero or heroine’s death. It’s a striking point where histrionics come to the fore and emotions run rampant. These scenes were present even in the earliest

Escaping Nazi oppression, Bohuslav Martinů and his wife Charlotte arrived in Lisbon on 11 January 1942. Roughly two months later they boarded S.S. Exeter with destination Hoboken, New Jersey. As with other artists who arrived in similar circumstances, life in

On 14 March 1928 a concert honoring Manuel de Falla’s admittance to the French Légion d’Honneur took place in Paris. Falla insisted that music by some of his young Spanish colleagues should be heard as well, and Joaquin Rodrigo stole

Morton Gould (1913-1996) was never afraid to mingle popular and classical styles. Equally at home with a symphony orchestra, musical comedy, film music, jazz and popular music, musical eclecticism became a hallmark of his compositional style. He once said, “I