Specific cities have inspired a huge amount of classical music over the years. Today, we’re looking at a selection of classical works explicitly connected to major cities, examining how each composer responded to each place. Some pieces reflect civic pride
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On This Day
3 June: Albrecht Mayer Was Born June 3rd, 2022Germany’s most popular oboist, Albrecht Mayer was born on 3 June 1965 in Erlangen. As a child he sang in the choir of Bamberg Cathedral, but he soon found his love for the oboe. After studies with Gerhard Scheuer, Georg -
Night and Day and Delius June 2nd, 2022 Frederick Delius: Summer Night on the River and A Song Before Sunrise Two works written in close proximity give us two different times of day. Frederick Delius (1862-1934) was a quiet master of the tone poem. Summer Night on the -
On This Day
2 June: Edward Elgar Was Born June 2nd, 2022Born in the small village of Lower Broadheath near Worcester on 2 June 1857, Edward Elgar was the fourth of seven children born to William Henry Elgar and Ann Greening. William Elgar hailed from Dover and had been working as -
Fatma Said June 1st, 2022 What do the Argentine tango, French poetry, and Beyoncé all have in common? If you said that they all brim with passion, you’d be right; but they’re all also things that inspire Fatma Said in her work. Fatma Said Sings -
David Teniers II’s Singeries and Cats May 31st, 2022 The Bavarian State Painting Collection has a painting from the late 17th century that just begs the question of where the artist got the inspiration for his work. The prolific Flemish artist David Teniers the Younger (1610-1690) was a contributor -
On This Day
31 May: Joseph Haydn Died May 31st, 2022When Joseph Haydn peacefully closed his eyes for the last time at 12:40 am on 31 May 1809, he was considered Europe’s most illustrious and famous composer. I have previously written a blog on Haydn’s Funeral and the macabre way -
Walkin’ round the World Again May 30th, 2022 Ensembles and Bands That Preserve and Evolve Ancestral Musical Expressions It is a horrifying fact, but as many as half of the world’s 7,000 languages are expected to be extinct by the end of this century. “The effect of language -
Musicians and Artists: Adler and Pollock May 29th, 2022 Samuel Adler: Pasiphae In the mid-1940s, Jackson Pollock started on a series of mythologically themed pictures, the largest of which was Pasiphae. Pasiphaë was the daughter of the god of the sun, Helios, and Perse, an Oceanid nymph. She was