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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Food for Thought
Mealtime with Johannes Brahms January 7th, 2023Johannes Brahms (1833-1896) essentially grew up in the slums of Hamburg. And although the famous “Herr Doktor Brahms” would later rub shoulders with Viennese high society, his eating habits apparently never changed. “I live in Vienna as if I were -
Musical Double Takes
Bach, Bentzon, Czerny, Rekhin, Rheinberger, and Madsen January 6th, 2023Johann Sebastian Bach was one of the first composers to contemplate a collection of preludes and fugues in all 24 major and minor keys. However, the concept of basing a musical collection on a theoretical system of scales/harmonies was not -
On This Day
6 January: Alexander Scriabin Was Born January 6th, 2023The Russian Composer’s Family History When Alexander Scriabin was asked about his origins, he proudly proclaimed, “I come from a noble and military family.” His family ancestry can be traced back to the thirteenth century when Russia was under Tatar -
AI Composes Classical Music
David Cope January 5th, 2023Algorithms have taken over our everyday. They are used virtually everywhere, from financial institutions to Google Search, Facebook News Feed, Date Matching, and myriads of online services like Amazon and Netflix. Basically, computer scientists describe algorithms “as a set of -
Leonard Bernstein
Thirteen Anniversaries January 5th, 2023In all, Leonard Bernstein composed twenty-nine musical vignettes that he published in four collections called Anniversaries. The final set, containing thirteen pieces, was written between 1964 and 1988, and published as 13 Anniversaries in 1989. As in his previous attempts, -
On This Day
5 January: Alfred Brendel was Born January 5th, 2023Alfred Brendel’s Family Background The legendary Alfred Brendel was born in Wizemberk, Czechoslovakia, on 5 January 1931. He considers himself a typical Austrian mix, with German as well as Austrian forebears, and a grandmother called Aloisia Guerra who came from -
Thoughts on Private Tuition January 4th, 2023 While many musicians learn from schools and academies, others learn from private teachers and through one-to-one lessons. But with all the different modes of education, teaching, and transmission of knowledge, there is a constant teacher, in common to all; the -
The Music of Poetry
Songs of Franz Liszt to Poetry by Victor Hugo II January 3rd, 2023Victor Hugo published his Les chants du crépuscule on 25 October 1835, as the second of four volumes commonly referred to as the July Monarchy collections. “Twilight Songs” includes a short preface, a prelude poem, and thirty-nine additional pieces. “If