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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Opera Doctors – The 18th Century July 30th, 2022 A 2006 article in the British medical journal BMJ looked at 200 years of opera and how they treated doctors. This prompted us to take up the question ourselves. Doctors – good guys or bad guys? Well, it depends…. Characters -
Food for Thought
Mealtime With Franz Liszt July 30th, 2022Franz Liszt had a number of worldly vices, and alcohol, cigars, and cognac ranked high on that list. Mealtime with Franz Liszt invariably meant getting hammered! When he attended a banquet in Prague in 1846, Hector Berlioz was in attendance -
King and Composer: Frederick II of Prussia July 29th, 2022 The court of King Frederick II (1712-1786) of Prussia was one of the most musically sparkling of its time. Led by its flute-playing king, the court began with a chamber orchestra with 17 members conducted by Johann Gottlieb Graun and -
On This Day
29 July: Robert Schumann Died July 29th, 2022On 24 October 1850, Robert Schumann took up his post as municipal music director in Düsseldorf. Although he complained about the amount of work and the occasional squabble with the administration, he felt happy and content. After roughly 2 years, -
The World in Miniature: Palmgren’s Preludes July 28th, 2022 Finnish composer Selim Palmgren (1878-1951) was a prolific composer for the piano, writing some 300 small piano works, 5 piano concertos, choral works and one opera (another opera was never completed). Although in his 1948 biography, Minusta tuli muusikko (I -
On This Day
28 July: Johann Sebastian Bach Died July 28th, 2022At the age of 57, Johann Sebastian Bach started to experience a number of health problems. Most serious was an affliction to his eyes, a condition that seemingly had plagued him from a young age. “His eyes had naturally bad -
Camargo Guarnieri: Chôro and Concerto July 27th, 2022 The Brazilian composer Camargo Guarnieri (1907-1993) met the poet and musicologist Mário de Andrade in 1928. The student was already a composer and the poet was working on a theory, encapsulated in his book Ensaio sopra la Música Brasiliera (Essay -
On This Day
27 July: Enrique Granados Was Born July 27th, 2022Pantaleón Enrique Joaquín Granados Campiña was born on 27 July 1867 in Lleida, Catalonia, Spain. His mother Enriqueta Elvira Campiña de Herrera hailed from Santander, while his father Calixto José de la Trinidad Granados y Armenteros, a Spanish army captain,