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
Latest article
Spotlight
-
On This Day
14 January: Fazıl Say Was Born January 14th, 2023For pianist Fazıl Say, music is a path to social change, in his native Turkey and beyond. In a speech for the 38th Congress of the International Federation of Human Rights in Istanbul in 2013, he said, “I strongly believe -
A Musical Diet January 13th, 2023 It is often said that what one eats is what one is, or becomes. Indeed, food fuels the human body, and good, diverse, nutritious quality food is key to a strong and durable body. It is of course the provider -
On This Day
13 January: Juan Diego Flórez Was Born January 13th, 2023Lady Luck smiled on Juan Diego Flórez in 1996. Cast in a small role in Rossini’s Ricciardo e Zoraide at the Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro, the tenor engaged to sing the leading role of “Corradino” in Matilde di Shabran -
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky and Aleksey Apukhtin
The Musician and the Poet January 12th, 2023In 1850, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky entered the School of Jurisprudence in Saint Petersburg as a boarding student. This most prestigious school for boys destined to become imperial administrators was to be his home for the next nine years. Being separated -
Édouard Lalo January 11th, 2023 “Be yourself, because everyone else is taken” “The glory of Édouard Lalo (1823-1892),” wrote a scholar in 1925, “was that he cast a shaft of sunlight into French music, expressing joy, life, and chaste tenderness free of sentimentality, and burning -
Clara Clemens and Ossip Gabrilowitsch January 10th, 2023 “A Gentleman Is Someone Who Knows How to Play the Banjo and Doesn’t” Considered the “greatest humorist the United States has produced,” Samuel Langhorne Clemens, better known as Mark Twain (1835-1910), had an uneasy relationship with classical music. He wrote -
The Father of Piano: Muzio Clementi January 9th, 2023 If you are a pianist, you probably have heard of Clementi and played his six piano sonatinas, Op.36. Indeed, Clementi was one of the most influential classical keyboard composers in music history. I was introduced to his piano sonatas years -
Felix Mendelssohn and His Circle of Friends January 8th, 2023 Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847) and his sister Fanny were born into a prosperous and prominent Jewish family. Extraordinarily talented, they grew up in a highly intellectual environment. Visitors to the salon organized by their parents included the poets Heinrich Heine and