In classical music, the Romantic Era lasted from around 1810 to around 1910. That century gave us some of the most famous symphonies in the repertoire. Nineteenth-century composers like Tchaikovsky, Brahms, Dvořák, Schubert, Mahler, Rachmaninoff, and others elevated the symphony
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History and Invention of the Player Piano February 26th, 2023 It sits there in the corner of the living room, dark, foreboding, and challenging all to make it show its true potential. The key home instrument for the rising middle class was the piano. The mark of gentility was knowing -
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26 February: Giuseppe Tartini Died February 26th, 2023Once Giuseppe Tartini returned to Padua from his two-year stay in Prague, he quickly set up his famous violin school “La scuola delle nazioni” in 1728. By that time he already had an international reputation, which brought students from all -
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25 February: Enrico Caruso Was Born February 25th, 2023Enrico Caruso, born on 25 February 1873 in Naples, was considered the greatest tenor of the century. For one, that assessment is based on the exceptional appeal of his voice, “fusing the full burnished timbre of a baritone with a -
In Love With the Music of Reynaldo Hahn February 24th, 2023 Reynaldo Hahn: Si mes vers avaient des ailes (Dilbèr, soprano; Ilkka Paananen, piano) Si mes vers avaient des ailesVictor Hugo If my verses had wingsEnglish Translation © Richard Stokes from A French Song Companion (Oxford, 2000) Mes vers fuiraient, doux -
Why Musicians Enjoy Puns and Quips February 24th, 2023 Musicians, like so many others, enjoy jokes, especially those that are puns related to music, composers, and musicians. Backstage, even onstage during rehearsals, these anecdotes, puns, and gags fly. Perhaps it’s because we spend so much time in a practice -
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24 February: Arcadi Volodos Was Born February 24th, 2023For many critics, Arcadi Volodos is the next legendary pianist. “He has everything; imagination, color, passion, and a phenomenal technique to carry out his ideas.” A San Francisco critic raves, “his fingers fly around the keyboard, faster and more accurately -
Musicians and Artists: Tōru Takemitsu and Cornelia Foss February 23rd, 2023 Tōru Takemitsu: Mori no naka de (In the Woods) German-born American painter Cornelia Foss (b. 1931) has works in the leading art museums in the US and specializes in paintings and portraits done around New York and Long Island. Her -
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23 February: George Frideric Handel Was Born February 23rd, 2023The Austrian poet and novelist Rainer Maria Rilke wrote, “Fame is nothing but the sum total of misunderstandings that cling to a name.” George Frideric Handel (1685-1759) is almost universally acknowledged as one of the greatest composers of his age,