In essence

1709 Posts
archive-post-image
Mozart’s Musical Journey
18 June 1783: “Congratulations, you are a grandpapa!”
Between June 1783 and July 1791, Wolfgang and Constanze Mozart had six children, but only two survived infancy. Their first child was conceived shortly after their wedding on 4 August 1782, and Raimund Leopold was born and baptized on 17
Read more
archive-post-image
“Vinum Regum, Rex Vinorum”
(Wine of Kings, King of Wines)
I am sure you are all familiar with the gothic tale Dracula. Written by the Irish author Bram Stoker in 1897, the novel tells the story of Count Dracula’s move from Transylvania to England to spread the undead curse, and
Read more
archive-post-image
Mozart’s Musical Journey
12 June 1784: “Menzl is, and always will be, an ass”
When Mozart returned to Vienna in late November 1783, he entered into the busiest and most successful years of his life. He performed and conducted a substantial number of his own compositions, and in addition to public performances he was
Read more
archive-post-image
“Hérminie was right again”
Jacques Offenbach and Hérminie d’Alcain
After Jacques Offenbach abruptly discontinued his studies at the Paris Conservatoire he gradually built a reputation composing for and performing in the fashionable salons of Paris. And at one of these cultured gatherings, his eyes fell upon a young Spanish
Read more
archive-post-image
Film Music and Concertos – Eleven Eleven by Danny Elfman
Composer Danny Elfman is best known for his film music – having produced music for well over a hundred films, he’s the modern film composer best known to most. His collaboration with Tim Burton is his longest-standing one, including writing
Read more
archive-post-image
The Writing on the Cards – The Tarot Suite of Victoria Bond
American composer Victoria Bond (b. 1945) took three cards from a tarot deck and wove a work for small ensemble and dancers around it. Commissioned by Kathryne Pirtle and the Orion Ensemble in collaboration with choreographer Daniel Duell, artistic director
Read more
archive-post-image
Mozart’s Musical Journey
2 June 1763: “The boy alone took up most of the concert”
Every year millions of visitors to the city of Salzburg eagerly make their way to Getreidegasse No. 9. Leopold Mozart and his family lived at that address for 17 years, and famously Wolfgang Amadeus and his sister Nannerl were born
Read more
archive-post-image
J.S. Bach and J.J. Bach: Departure and Farewell
We always think of J.S. Bach as a thoroughly German composer and always in terms of his own family – who he married, how many children he had, what those children did – but we rarely think of him in
Read more