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
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6 July: Vladimir Ashkenazy Was Born July 6th, 2022Vladimir Ashkenazy was born on 6 July 1937 in Gorky, presently called Nizhniy Novgorod, a city on the river Volga about 250 miles east of Moscow. The family name Ashkenazy is inextricably connected with Jewish history, in particular with “that -
The Sound of Summer Rain in Classical Music
Vivaldi, Rameau, Beethoven, Grofé and Whitacre July 5th, 2022Channeling the sound and fury of nature through an orchestra gives everyone, from the composer to the conductor to the orchestra (primarily the string section) a thorough workout. Antonio Vivaldi: The Four Seasons – Violin Concerto in G Minor, Op. -
On This Day
5 July: Wanda Landowska Was Born July 5th, 2022Wanda Aleksandra Landowska, born to Jewish parents in Warsaw on 5 July 1879, played a seminal role in reviving the popularity of the harpsichord in the early 20th century. A champion of 17th and 18th-century music and the leading figure -
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 -
On This Day
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