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
-
The True Picture: Boccherini’s Night Music January 8th, 2023 The Italian composer Luigi Boccherini made his name in Spain at the Royal Court, and then, unfortunately, got caught there when his patron was side-lined and sent to the countryside. New rulers come in and the old ruler’s family gets -
Classical to Broadway: The Art of Robert Wright and George Forrest January 7th, 2023 What do Kismet, Song of Norway, Gypsy Lady, and The Great Waltz all have in common? They were all productions using the music of long-dead composers with updated lyrics. Robert Wright (1914-2005) worked with George Forrest (1915-1999) to bring classical -
On This Day
7 January: Janine Jansen Was Born January 7th, 2023Born on 7 January 1978 in Soest in the Netherlands, Janine Jansen is described as “a charismatic violinist of tremendous versatility and breathtaking virtuosity.” She has also been called the “Queen of the download,” with downloads of her recordings going -
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,