By the time Gioachino Rossini (1792-1868) had penned his final opera at the tender age of 37, he had become one of the wealthiest and most influential musicians in Europe. Coming from very humble beginnings indeed, he composed up to

The pianist Ignacy Paderewski (1860-1941) was a favorite with concert audiences but not universally beloved by music critics. In the event, Paderewski was much more than just a rich, irresistibly handsome, wild-haired composer and musician whose concerts generated a level

The Hungarian violinist Joseph Szigeti (1892-1973) carried the nickname “The Scholarly Virtuoso.” That nickname is hardly surprising as Szigeti authored a number of books. Among them, we find a pedagogical treatise addressing technical challenges and innovations in twentieth-century repertoire, and

Created between 1501 and 1504, Michelangelo’s “David” is perhaps the most famous statue in Florence, if not in the world. When it was finished, “no other artwork, modern or ancient, Greek or Latin, is equal to it in any respect,

The play Hedda Gabler, written by the great Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen premiered in 1891. It details Hedda’s struggles as a newlywed with an existence she finds devoid of excitement and enchantment. She is the daughter of an aristocratic general

Francis Poulenc completed his 15 improvisations for piano in 1959 with No. 15 in C minor, subtitled “L’hommage à Édith Piaf.” Although dedicated to Edith Piaf, it is not known whether Poulenc and Piaf actually met, though they had friends

Here is our little quiz for today. What is possibly the largest wind instrument in the world? I am sure you can immediately think of a number of vast instruments, the Wagner tuba, the ophicleide, the Alphorn, or some enormous

Béla Bartók (1881-1945) started his musical journey at age 5 with piano lessons at home before he went to the Budapest Academy of Music in his teens. His teacher, István Thomas, had been a student of Liszt and his training