The love story between Robert and Clara Schumann is often regarded as one of the most romantic in classical music history. Happily for historians, many of their love letters survive. They document their inner thoughts and emotions, as well as
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Pstrokońska-Nawratil and Three Impressionists March 10th, 2023Grażyna Pstrokońska-Nawratil: Le soleil One of the important elements of so much of the Impressionist landscape painting is the sun. From the very first Impressionist painting, Monet’s Impression, Sunrise the sun is important, in this case, probably the most important -
The Horses of Music March 9th, 2023 The Japanese composer Tōru Takemitsu wrote his choral work Wind Horse between 1962 and 1966, taking his imagery from Tibet. ‘Tibetan nomads tie pieces of their national dress together, It is said, about the rope. The wind blows and the -
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9 March: Verdi’s Nabucco Was Premiered March 9th, 2023Soon after the successful première of Giuseppe Verdi’s first opera Oberto, Bartolomeo Merelli, the impresario at La Scala commissioned three further operas. The comic opera Un giorno di regno was a disastrous failure, and contemporary critics considered the question of -
Musings on Schubert March 8th, 2023 To start with, I have to confess that although I have long been fond of Schubert, he hasn’t been among my “favourites” (if such a term is appropriate). Somehow, I have found a barrier between Schubert and me that prevented -
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8 March: Hector Berlioz Died March 8th, 2023Celebrating his 60th birthday in 1863, Hector Berlioz was overcome by a “despair and disillusionment of appalling intensity.” Mourning the loss of two sisters and two wives, he became morbidly conscious of death. In 1864 he writes, “I am in -
Musicians and Artists: Blackford and Hokusai March 7th, 2023 Richard Blackford: 7 Hokusai Miniatures Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849) was an artist in ukiyo-e (pictures of the floating world). This genre of woodblock prints and paintings shows pictures of all kinds of subjects: from beautiful women to caricatures of actors and -
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7 March: Lisa Batiashvili Was Born March 7th, 2023Georgian-born violinist Lisa Batiashvili made her dreams become a reality. Ever since she was a little girl, she wanted to become a violinist, live in Europe, and have a family. And that’s exactly what she has accomplished. She was born -
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6 March: Yannick Nézet-Séguin Was Born March 6th, 2023The Canadian conductor and pianist Yannick Nézet-Séguin holds the leading positions at two of America’s most storied musical institutions, the New York Metropolitan opera, and the Philadelphia Orchestra. Born on 6 March 1975 in Montreal, Yannick knew from a very