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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Famous Classical Music Pieces July 4th, 2022 I read that popular culture in the 1960s and 70 reveled in the “Age of Aquarius,” but in the 2020s we are clearly in the “Age of Superlatives.” Everybody seems bent on breaking records in every field of human endeavor. -
Coloured Clouds in the Air – With Explosions!
A Fanfare to Fireworks in Classical Music July 3rd, 2022July is coming and for Americans and the French, it’s a time for fireworks. Le feu d’artifice! Times of joy for young and old. Colourful explosions in the air, designs and flourishes in ephemeral light, and the boom of excitement. -
Sergei Rachmaninoff and His Circle of Friends July 3rd, 2022 Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873-1943) was one of the last great pianist-composers in a long tradition stretching back to Mozart, Beethoven, Liszt and Brahms. He always maintained that “a composer’s music should express the country of his birth, his love affairs, his -
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3 July: Leoš Janáček Was Born July 3rd, 2022Hukvaldy was described as the largest fortified castle in Moravia belonging to the bishops of Olomouc. In time, a small village began to grow up beneath the castle in the second half of the eighteenth century. The village sported a -
Jiří Antonín (Georg Anton) Benda July 2nd, 2022 Mozart: “Benda was always my favorite” Jiří Antonín Benda (1722-1795), later known as Georg Anton Benda, was born 300 years ago on 30 June 1722 in the Bohemian town of Benátky nad Jizerou, twenty-two miles north-east of Prague. He was -
On This Day
2 July: Sibelius’ Finlandia Was Premiered July 2nd, 2022The so-called “February Manifesto,” issued on 15 February 1899 was a Russian imperial proclamation that revoked Finland’s autonomy within the Russian Empire. Finland was ceded by Sweden to Russia in 1809, and gained the status of a grand duchy. While -
Christian-Pierre La Marca July 1st, 2022 Christian-Pierre La Marca Plays Rameau’s Les Sauvages from Les Indes Galantes Described by Gramophone as ‘a master of his instrument and a musician of lyrical elegance and good taste’, French cellist Christian-Pierre La Marca talks to me from Paris where -
On This Day
1 July: Erik Satie Died July 1st, 2022Decades of heavy alcohol consumption finally caught up with Erik Satie in February 1925. He started to experience a rapid decline in health due to cirrhosis of the liver and pleurisy in January 1925, and he was initially cared for